Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
We are all exposed to so many different and damaging factors everyday from a variety of things such as food we eat, cleaning products, grooming/beauty products, mercury fillings, the air/environment, the workplace and social places. It is important to go through a detoxification process at least once a year to get rid of toxins and help optimum health benefits.
If you’re concerned about the health of your skin, you and your dermatologist need to talk about Vitamin B3. This nutrient helps to protect and support the health of your skin.
detoxification
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Amanda Williams, MPH
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Today, I want to talk about detoxification and if you’re going to do a cleanse, the best way to go about doing this. There are many varieties of detoxes and cleanses. You can look at different processes that are geared towards removing chemicals or toxins from the body. This can help to try to promote weight loss and overall health. Some of these cleanses consist of only drinking certain liquids, eating certain foods or using different herbal remedies, but, at the end of the day, we have to recognize that the body goes through detoxification on a daily basis. What we need to focus on is not these crash detoxes, but what we can do to support daily detoxification.†
Metabolic detoxification is something that occurs in the body each and every single day. The body is very well equipped to go through and process unwanted chemicals so that the body can get rid of them. This includes foreign chemicals that we might be taking in from foods, medications, topical products and more.†
We have to make sure that the body has the tools that it needs to go through the metabolic detoxification process. When we start to have more added toxins, our body’s ability to remove them slows down. This can impact things such as energy levels, weight, skin health and more. This is an indication that we may be impacting some phase of our normal metabolic detoxification, meaning that we are adding additional workload onto those phases.†
When we look at what the body utilizes through the different phases of detoxification, we can look at our vitamins and minerals. B vitamins, including things like niacin, riboflavin and folate, as well as Vitamin E and Vitamin C are very important. We can also look at magnesium and selenium. All of these nutrients are important in helping to support proper detoxification of chemicals in the body.†
Powerful flavonols found in brightly-colored fruits can also help with detoxification. This includes nutrients from green tea such as sulforaphanes, EGCG and tannins, such as other nutrients found in vegetables such as broccoli. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is important because it helps to bolster up glutathione, which is also important for detoxifying the body. Milk thistle is beneficial for kidney and liver health as well.†
In this episode, Amanda Williams, MPH explains what a healthy detox of the body looks like. She details the multiple phases of the detoxification process and offers recommendations for supporting your body’s natural ability to remove toxins.†
Key Topics:
The liver is a very important organ and it is critical to nearly all biological functions in the body. But factors including air pollution, toxins from food and skin care products and alcohol can disrupt its function.
There is a safe, non-toxic way to detox your body that does not include crash diets. It is heavily reliant on vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that are consumed from foods, as well as antioxidants that are produced within the human body.
Since 2014, reported cases of Hepatitis A decreased about 30% from 2013 – reporting an incidence rate of just .4 cases per 100,000 population (CDC). But a recent outbreak of Hepatitis caused by imported frozen strawberries from Egypt and served in smoothies at Tropical Smoothie Café restaurants have now infected 55 people in six states.
Hepatitis A is a highly contagious liver infection that is caused by the Hepatitis A virus being transmitted through physical contact or consumption of contaminated food or water. Symptoms of this infection include nausea, fever, and abdominal pain, usually lasting less than 2 months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A simple blood test is used to diagnose HAV. Those at an increased risk for acquiring the HAV infection include, “travelers to countries with high or intermediate cases of HAV infection, users of injection and non-injection illegal drugs, persons with clotting factor disorders, men who have sex with men, and persons working with nonhuman primates.” The CDC also reports that the best way to prevent the Hepatitis A (HAV) infection is through vaccination.
Read more from the CDC on Hepatitis A by clicking here!
The outbreak has swept across six states, with 44 total infections reported in Virginia, 4 in Maryland, 4 in West Virginia, 1 in North Carolina, 1 in Oregon, and 1 in Wisconsin.
CDC spokeswomen Nora Spencer-Loveall says, “Due to the relatively long incubation period for hepatitis A (15 to 50 days), before people start experiencing symptoms, we expect to see more ill people in this outbreak.” According to CCN, the victims of the outbreak range in age, from 15 to 68. The company has since removed the imported strawberries from its cafes and have now purchased new strawberries from alternate sources.
Here are some delicious and nutritious recipes that do not call for strawberries!
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, “Herbs are one way to strengthen and tone the body’s systems. Milk thistle has been used since Greco-Roman times to treat liver problems. Several scientific studies support this traditional use. They suggest that a substance in milk thistle (silymarin) can protect the liver from damage caused by viruses, toxins, alcohol, and certain drugs, such as acetaminophen. Because it acts on the liver, Milk thistle can theoretically interact with several medications that are processed through the liver. Milk thistle may help protect the liver against damage from exposure to industrial toxins. In a comprehensive review of studies on milk thistle by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), milk thistle improved liver function in people with mild liver disease but did not work as well for those with severe liver disease, such as cirrhosis.”
For more information on HAV, click here to view ‘General Information: Hepatitis A’ from the CDC.