Food For Optimal Health, The Best Way to Naturally Detox, Superfoods

Natural Way To Detox

OK..........I get it, not everyone is going to run out and eat a bowl of flax seeds and I have to admit I will not pass up a great grilled steak with baked a potato, lets top it with cream cheese and chives and follow it up with a great dessert.  

That being said it does not hurt to understand a few foods that you can incorporate into your everyday diet (or at least once in a while) for optimal health. Also, if you have stayed away from some foods when you were a little younger it might be time to broaden your culinary horizons. Something like beets, as a kid they were considered "yucky" as an adult you will probably find them sweet, different and a great new experience. So take a look at the list and stay with some of the staples like apples and give one or two of these foods a try to boost your health and your life experience. After all it not every day you can have a new life experience even if it is beets or God forbid flax seeds! 

While I'm a firm believer that detoxification is an essential part of optimal health, I acknowledge there is a lot of misinformation on how to detox safely and effectively. I'm often asked, "What is the best detox/detox kit?" My answer is simple: We're all biochemically unique and thus, have different biochemical demands. There are a number of organs which aid in the removal of the dangerous exogenous and endogenous toxins from our body.

Therefore, it's highly recommended to seek the guidance of a qualified health-care provider before you begin a detox regimen.

That being said, there are a number of foods you can eat safely on a regular basis to get a gentle detox daily. Below are my favourites:

Beetroot
You can't beat beets! Beets are full of vitamins B3, B6, C and beta-carotene. They're also a valuable source of iron, magnesium, zinc and calcium -- all necessary to promote optimal detoxification and elimination. Beets also support good gallbladder and liver health -- organs that are paramount for breaking down and removing toxins. The high amount of fibre in beetroot improves digestion and helps eliminate bodily waste.

Sea Vegetables
Often known as seaweeds, these amazing foods house powerful antioxidants that help to alkalize the blood and strengthen the digestive tract. The algin in seaweeds absorb toxins from the digestive tract in much the same way a water softener removes the hardness from tap water. Sea vegetables offer the broadest range of minerals of any food, containing virtually all the minerals found in the ocean -- the same minerals that are found in human blood. Dulse is my personal fave.

Dandelions
Dandelions are considered a powerhouse food full of nutrients that are essential for anyone regularly eating the "Standard American Diet" (SAD). They're a rich source of minerals and provide a variety of phytonutrients. They're super antioxidants that support cleansing of the digestive tract and offer great liver support. Try adding dandelion leaves to your salad.

Broccoli Sprouts
Broccoli is part of the powerhouse brassica family of vegetables. Broccoli contains important phytochemicals that are released when they're chopped, chewed, fermented, cooked or digested. The substances are released then break down into sulphorophanes, indole-3-carbinol and D-glucarate, which all have a specific effect on detoxification. Broccoli sprouts can actually provide more benefit than regular broccoli as they contain 20 times more sulfurophane. Add these to your salads and get creative with them in your meals.

Flaxseed
One of my favourite "superfoods," flaxseeds serve many purposes. When detoxifying your body, it's essential to ensure toxins are eliminated properly. Ground flaxseeds provide a wonderful source of fibre that helps to bind and flush toxins from the intestinal tract. They're also a great source of health promoting omega 3 oils. Try consuming two tablespoons of ground flaxseeds in lemon water every morning.

Lemons
Who doesn't love lemon? This wonderful fruit stimulates the release of enzymes and helps convert toxins into a water-soluble form that can be easily excreted from the body. Drinking lemon water, which is alkaline-forming, first thing in the morning will help to balance out the acidity of foods we've consumed. Don't forget to add your ground flaxseeds to enhance toxin removal.

Garlic
No detox plan should be without some garlic: It's a powerful antiviral, antiseptic and antibiotic. Ridding your body of these pathogenic microbes can reduce endogenous (made by your body) toxins. The vital sulphuric compounds garlic contains makes it an essential detoxifier.

Artichoke
Artichokes are not only a very tasty food, they're also incredibly healthy. Artichokes have been shown to increase bile production and purify/protect the liver. They also have a mild diuretic effect on the kidneys, ensuring proper removal of toxins once the liver breaks them down.

Tumeric
Curcumin is the active ingredient in the spice turmeric, which gives it its yellow color. The rate at which your detox pathways function depends on your genes, your age, lifestyle and a good supply of nutrients involved in the detox process. Curcumin is used a lot in Ayurvedic Medicine to treat liver and digestive disorders.

Apples
Apples are full of wonderful nutrients. You get fibre, vitamins, minerals and many beneficial phytochemicals such as D-Glucarate, flavonoids and terpenoids. All of these substances are used in the detox process. One flavonoid, Phlorizidin (phlorizin)

Dr. John Dempster is a Naturopathic Doctor in Toronto. He's the founder of The Dempster Clinic -- Center for Integrated Medicine and embraces the biochemical uniqueness of each patient. With a large focus on regenerative and anti-aging medicine, he focuses on optimizing nutritional and biochemical imbalances. Dr. D can be contacted through his website, www.thedempsterclinic.com

Pineal Gland, Third Eye, Food That Feeds The Pineal Gland

Food that Feeds The Pineal Gland

Our pineal gland otherwise known as our master gland or the gland that governs over our third eye is the center of psychic awareness in the human mind. It is about the size of a pea and sits inside a cave located... behind the pituitary gland. It naturally produces a hormone called melatonin which regulates human daily body rhythms that deal directly with the day and night cycles.

Developing and expanding the function and the energy of your pineal gland is extremely important as it affects every system in your body physically and it has the potential to determine the expansion or the contraction of your psychic awareness, consciousness, and experience.

Sunlight is extremely important for the pineal gland and yes sunlight is a form of food as food is any substance that nourishes the body. Sunlight can be taken in and digested through the eyes, skin, hair, nose hairs, and ears and should be consumed for at least 30 minutes a day. To fully engage the pineal gland, sunlight should be taken in through the pupils.

Seaweed vegetables that are sun-dried by the sun contain high amounts of vitamin D, many vitamins in the B-vitamin family and iodine. Those vegetables include and are not limited to kombu, arame, wakame, dulse, nori, etc.

Dark leafy greens like our kale, turnip greens, mustard greens, bok choy, collard greens and so forth are extremely nourishing for the pineal gland as this gland absorbs the properties of the green color of the vegetables and properly distributes them to the appropriate systems of the body so that the body is thoroughly nourished.

Consuming meats including fish that has high amounts of mercury, carbonated beverages, fluoride in our water and our toothpaste and access to smog negatively affect the pineal gland and can block its ability to function properly.

When you consume meat from an animal, you are ingesting the DNA of that animal and therefore taking on the negative and positive experiences of an animal which could interrupt the ability of the pineal gland to take on its own psychic awareness blueprint of the individual.

The proper foods can positively affect your pineal gland but you can also activate your pineal gland by eating more of a raw foods, vegan, or vegetarian diet, running an ozone machine in your home to clean up the air in your home, and drinking filtered water.

As much as the pineal gland needs sunlight, it also needs to produce enough serotonin to be activated so that it can increase its psychic awareness therefore serotonin is produced when the brain is asleep and therefore sleeping in a very dark room is extremely nourishing for the pineal gland as well.

Foods that produce serotonin are almonds, bananas, hot peppers, rice, potatoes, and black-eyed peas and when consumed can also nourish and feed the pineal gland as well.

My note: I found this to be of great interest and especially the part about taking on the DNA of what you eat ~ it gives eating beef and other tortured animals a whole new aspect. Even blessing what you eat may not wash away or be able to neutralize the harmful aspects of this one. Food for thought.

Also how we absorbs the sun through every pore and even through our eyes. While it may seem obvious to some, I never considered it in quite the same way I am considering it now. I hadn't thought of it in quite these terms but it is wonderful to know these things. These two glands are so valuable ~ no one properly appreciates how much they have to do with our ability and openness to receiving and allowing full consciousness. Taking care of them is paramount to our wellbeing. And so it is...