healthy lifestyle

While cleanse diets may seem like a fad, detoxing is crucial to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  We regularly consume artificial flavors and colors, pesticides, herbicides and other toxins in processed food.  The toxins are often stored in fatty tissues and build up over time.  This forces our organs to work overtime, increasing our risk for chronic illnesses and diseases.  People who cleanse regularly experience increased energy, fewer aches and pains, and a leaner, cleaner and healthier physique.

Try this three-week cleanse:

Don’t eat foods that tax or harm your body because they are difficult to process or digest (e.g., animal meat, eggs, and dairy); lead to unstable energy levels (e.g., sugar, alcohol, and caffeine); or cause inflammation (gluten).

Drink at least two quarts of water each day and eat meals with a simple combination of whole, gluten-free grain, a low-sugar fruit and/or vegetable, and a vegan protein.

As our parents grow older, many of us have found ourselves in the role of a caregiver for our aging parents.  Approximately 19% of all American adults are serving as a caregiver for people over the age of 50.  While you might be responsible for caring for your parents, you also have to remember to look out for your own wellbeing.

Caregiving can be extremely stressful, which makes good nutrition even more critical to maintaining your health and wellbeing.  But when you are busy taking care of someone, your own nutrition often becomes an afterthought and the temptation to eat processed food or sugary, junk food often wins.  Eating foods with high levels of sugar or trans fats desensitizes neurotransmitter receptors, leading to heartburn and low moods. 

Stress from caregiving can also have a detrimental effect on your immune system, causing frequent colds, cold sores, or other viral infections.  If you don’t eat healthy enough to rebuild your immune system, you make yourself more vulnerable to illnesses such as cancer, chronic fatigue, or other immune problems.

Here are a couple of ideas to help you care for yourself at the same time as you care for others: