#BodyDetoxFriday: BLUEBERRY

This is more like a general interior clean-up. We live in a world filled with chemicals. They are in the water, in the air, in our food and nearly everything we touch. When we take in these chemical by breathing or feeding they tax our body’s resources and interfere with optimum health.

Body detox programmes clean up the gut, stored fat, all body organs, the blood and lymph. Regular body detoxification boosts energy, rids the body of excess waste, helps weight loss and strengthens the body’s immune system.

Let’s give some credit to the gut today. If the gut is not functioning properly we do not assimilate vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates or proteins.

Cleaning out the gut involves moving out debris while giving the body maximum nutrition that does not requires the digestive system to do a lot of work. My advice is to reduce or better still stay completely off animal proteins when you are on a body detox programme. Animal proteins are hard to digest, thus gives a lot more work to the digestive system and we don’t want that.

Meals and drinks made strictly with vegetables and fruits are an excellent means to flood the body with nutrients while allowing the digestive tract to rest.

I will unlock a secret body detox magician every Friday for this purpose and you can make whatever dish, salad, smoothie or juice out of it. The body detox magician for today is BLUEBERRY.

Blueberries contain natural aspirin that helps lessen the pains and tissue damaging effects of chronic inflammation. They act as antibiotics by inhibiting bacteria growth in the gut and urinary tract ultimately preventing infections. Blueberries have antiviral properties and are excellent digestive tract clean-up agents.

Snack up a cup full of blueberries today.

Follow @thegreenfoodshop on instagram for more recipes and tips.

Give your body a green treat today.

Olubunmi

#SkinnyThursday-Spinach

The skin is the outer covering of the human body, it protects us from microbes and the elements, helps regulate body temperature, and permits the sensations of touch, heat, and cold. I would rather look at this one from the looking damn too beautiful point of view. So, the skin is an instrument for catching fishes and the quality of care you give to it may determine the quality of fish it catches. LOL.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell the consequences of not pampering your skin because I have said it all and with a loud mouth for that matter. To simply put, the greener the skin the bigger the fish.

As usual, I will unlock a secret skinny magician every Thursday and you can make whatever dish, salad, smoothie or juice out of it. The Skinny magician for today is SPINACH.

This vegetable is awesome and does a great job at treating the skin. Spinach is loaded with antioxidants; it helps to reduce the onset of wrinkles. It strengthens the skin tissues and possesses anti-inflammatory properties which flush toxins giving a clear and glowing skin.

Give your body a green treat today.

Follow @thegreenfoodshop on instagram for more recipes and tips.

Olubunmi

#KidneyCleansingWednesday: APPLE

The Kidney is another great body toxin expeller; it helps filter waste products from the blood. They are also involved in regulating blood pressure, electrolyte balance, and red blood cell production in the body. The kidneys send toxins to the bladder and these toxins get expelled in form of urination.

Kidney cleansing is very essential. When the body kidney function becomes impaired the body gets overloaded with toxins due to the fact that the kidney is not able to filter waste from the body sufficiently.

So I thought it will be nice to give the kidney a treat at least once in a whole week. It’s the least we can do for it after so much hard work. Let’s go green on the kidneys, let’s give them life, and let’s make them feel better on Wednesdays.

I will unlock a secret kidney magician every Wednesday and you can make whatever dish, salad, smoothie or juice out of it. The Kidney magician for today is APPLE.

You are probably wondering right now…..Apples?

Yes, apples. They are natural cleansers for the kidney. They are an excellent source of Vitamin C and an antioxidant- quercetin which is also tied to improved heart health and cancer prevention. They are a great source of pectin, a soluble fibre that is wonderful for diabetic’s since it slows down the rate of blood sugar and removes excess cholesterol.

Give your body a green treat today.

Follow @thegreenfoodshop on instagram for more recipes and tips.

Olubunmi

#HeartyTuesday: BANANA

The heart is the body’s control room. It is responsible for pumping life sustaining blood through a network of vessels.  It keeps the body freshly supplied with oxygen and nutrients, while removing carbon dioxide and other harmful waste matters. The tissues of the body need a constant supply of nutrition in order to be active and if the heart is not able to supply blood to the organs and tissues, they will die.

Imagine how quickly a computer shuts down when something goes wrong with the CPU. Caring for the heart is important business and should be taken seriously. Let’s give Tuesdays to nurturing and caring for our heart.

I will unlock a secret hearty magician every Tuesday and you can make whatever dish, salad, smoothie or juice out of it. The Hearty magician for today is BANANA.

According to the National Academy of Science, diets rich in potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

 The Food and Agricultural Organization says diet rich in fibre may reduce the risk of heart diseases.

According to the American Heart Association, B vitamins help to breakdown homocysteine, an amino acid that at high levels is related to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

Bananas are rich in potassium, fibre and Vitamin B and as such can be recommended for a heart treat.

Give your body a green treat today.

Follow @thegreenfoodshop on instagram for more recipes and tips.

Olubunmi

#LiverCleansingMonday: GRAPEFRUIT

The liver is the largest glandular organ in the body and performs multiple critical functions to keep the body pure of toxins and harmful substances. Without a healthy liver, a person cannot survive.

The liver secretes a substance called bile. Bile’s salts break up fat into smaller pieces so it can be absorbed more easily in the small intestine.

In addition to producing bile, the liver detoxifies the blood to rid it of harmful substances such as alcohol and drugs, stores some vitamins and iron, converts stored sugar to functional sugar when the body’s sugar (glucose) levels fall below normal, breaks down hemoglobin as well as insulin and other hormones, converts ammonia to urea, which is vital in metabolism.

Now you don’t want to mess with this organ. You want to keep it healthy and you want to keep it pampered considering what you stand to lose if anything goes wrong with it. It wouldn’t be too much to give it some attention once in a week right?  Let’s dedicate Mondays to cater for and pamper our Liver.

I will unlock a secret liver magician every Monday and you can make whatever dish, salad, smoothie or juice out of it. The Liver magician for today is GRAPEFRUIT.

Grapefruits are rich in Vitamin C and antioxidants, two powerful liver cleansers. Grapefruits contain compounds that boost the production of liver detoxification enzymes. It also contains a flavanoid compound naringenin which causes the liver to burn fat rather than store it.

Give your body a green treat today.

Follow @thegreenfoodshop on instagram for more recipes and tips.

Olubunmi