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What Do Detox and Wraps Have in Common?

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One of the latest trends amongst celebrities and health connoisseurs is to get wrapped like a sandwich and detoxify!

Saunas are So Yesterday

Saunas have long been recognized as a tool for detox and relaxation. Deep sweating has a bazillion proven health benefits. While sitting in a sauna, surely, you will sweat, big time. In addition to healing advantages, it creates a wonderful feeling from endorphins that release naturally.

Also, your core temperature rises. This, in turn, increases blood circulation, which can speed up the body’s natural healing process. Using heated infrared wraps, however, increases core temperature—but you don’t sweat like you would in a sauna.

Wrap with Benefits

This relatively recent trend takes sauna sessions to a whole new level. Clients are now, instead, wrapped in infrared sauna blankets. They lie in a makeshift bed, get burritoed up, and their core body temperature rises. There’s no sweating like in a sauna.

Founder of a new East Coast wrap facility, Ms. Berlingeri, explains that “Your body uses sweat as a way to cool down.” When the air is hot, you tend to sweat out minerals. But if the body isn’t trying to cool down as much, the amount of sweat decreases.

In a controlled environment, where the air is not hot, but your core body temp is raised, the detox reaction will be different. Berlingeri, along with others promoting the fad, claim that toxins are still released, but from a different source. She argues that water molecules vibrate, pulling toxins from fat cells.

Celebrity Testimonials

Whether you like them or not, their skin looks gorgeous. There are bunches of celebs who endorse the infrared wrap as a viable detoxification method. The session is aptly nicknamed an “urban sweat lodge.” Native Americans understand the benefits of deep sweat, but who knows if chiefs of yore would find this method legitimate.

Nonetheless, celebrity figures such as: Selena Gomez, Demi Moore, the cast of Orange is the New Black, and all of the Kardashian clan have partaken in the wrap—many of whom endorse the process as a method for attaining improved inner and outer beauty.

The Pundit Side

Raising core body temperature will, of course, fight off some evils. After all, that’s what a fever is all about, right? Whether wrapping yourself in an infrared blanket will burn away fat is something else to consider.

This technology was originally devised in France to help fuse broken bones. After many trials, it was discovered that the process burned a lot of calories. But that’s because the body was tricked into thinking it had a fever.

This is not a fix for weight loss. In fact, it may not be safe for those who suffer from high blood pressure. On the other hand, if one is hydrated properly before and after, who’s yet to say if this isn’t a remarkable, healthy, newfangled way of detoxing?

Immune Shroom
Immune Shroom

Is a Liver Cleanse the Right Thing for Me?

Some of the latest health trends are various types of “cleanses.” Detoxification programs, diets, and supplements claim to benefit the liver, kidneys, and other organs.  But are you in need of a good spring cleaning, internally speaking?

Get “Organ”-ized: What exactly DOES the Liver do?

In simple terms, the liver is a giant filter for your body. But it does so much more.  It processes your blood and cleanses toxins, but also does so much more. Did you know that your liver performs over four hundred functions in the body? Talk about an overachiever!

Here are just a few things the liver does:

  • It makes bile, which cleanses waste and processes fats
  • It creates clotting factors in your blood
  • It stores and releases glucose for blood-sugar balance
  • It creates proteins and iron for blood
  • It helps control and create blood cholesterol to manufacture hormones.
  • It helps you stave off infection and disease by producing immune factors and removing bacteria
  • It processes and also stores nutrients from everything you eat, including fats, carbs, vitamins, and minerals

The liver filters neutralizes and clears everything you absorb, including toxins and other waste.  These waste products include chemicals, many medications, harmful hormones, and alcohol.  So with all that work to do, it’s no wonder the liver is such a truly vital organ.

Cleanliness is Next to Healthiness…

Well, do I need to perform some form of liver cleanse? Many doctors maintain that since the liver regenerates itself rapidly, there is no need to perform a special “cleanse.”

Still, other medical professionals, naturopaths, and homeopaths disagree.  They maintain that because we live in such a toxic environment everyday and eat heavily processed diets, our liver easily gets overtaxed.  At the very least altering your diet will to help lighten the load on your liver. But still, many swear by a more formal liver cleanse and detox regimen.

Do I Need a Liver Cleanse or Not?

One thing all medical professionals agree upon is that we should take better care of our liver by watching what we eat.  Avoid heavily processed food, fried or overly fatty foods, overeating and excessive alcohol consumption.

However, you might want to consider taking more effective steps if you suffer from any of the following chronic symptoms:

  • Constipation, heartburn, bloating and/or gas
  • Weight gain, tiredness/sluggishness
  • Headaches
  • Pain in right side
  • Bruising or skin and eye discoloration/yellowing
  • Depression, anxiety, or moodiness

Of course, you should always consult a professional to accurately diagnose any symptoms and create a treatment plan.

Fifty Ways to Love your Liver

Keeping your liver in top form is not a difficult task. Some simple changes to your diet and lifestyle can help you stay cleansed and healthy.  First, as mentioned, revamp your diet.

Exercise is also beneficial, as it aids in the regulation of your insulin levels, cholesterol, blood pressure, and numerous other metabolic functions where your liver plays a part.

One Liver, Hold the Onions!

Actually, onions and garlic are among the many beneficial foods that help keep your liver cleansed, so add them to your diet, along with the following:

  • Vegetables: particularly leafy greens, spinach, cruciferous veggies, cabbage, beets, carrots, asparagus, tomatoes, and the aforementioned garlic and onions.
  • Fruits: especially citrus like grapefruit and lemon; apples and avocados.
  • Alternative or ancient grains: quinoa, millet, spelt, and other low-gluten or gluten-free grains are best.
  • Healthy fats: nuts (walnuts in particular) and nut oils, seeds and seed oils, and olive oil. Avoid corn and soy oils, however.
  • Lean protein: seafood, poultry, eggs, lean pork and grass-fed beef are all good options.
  • Other supplements: green tea, turmeric, dandelion root, milk thistle, B vitamins, and artichoke leaf are all said to offer benefits to the liver.

Is a liver cleanse the right thing for you? Only you and your physician can make that decision. In the meanwhile, making healthy diet and lifestyle choices can only aid you overall.

 

Is it Time For a Family Vacation from Electronics?

When you think of vacation, travel and expense are initially what come to mind. But, what if your family decided to spend time together, even at home, even for one full day, but with no electronics?

Face-to-Face Vacation

One of the concepts behind vacation is escape. You need a break from your job, the household responsibilities, and other day-to-day stressors. In today’s world, however, we need to add cell phones, computers, tablets, and other electronics to that list. Without realizing it, we’ve almost eliminated face-to-face interaction with our family. It may be time to reintroduce and rekindle that concept. Taking a vacation from screens and wi-fi may be just what the family doctor ordered.

Expert Advice

The American Academy of Pediatrics, several years ago, recommended no more than two hours of screen time per day, per child. Since then, they’ve had to revisit this recommendation—because it’s unrealistic. Kids carry smartphones. They use them to text, email, play games, and sometimes to answer or make a call. Most students, at any age, use the Internet for schoolwork. But mostly, kids are using electronics for entertainment.

Children, and truly, people in general, use electronics to watch TV or movies, listen to music, play video games, and even to enhance real-time conversations by verifying facts with Google. It’s because of this pervasive day and nighttime use that the AAP had to re-examine its advice.

When Intervention is Needed

Let’s be honest. Electronic use has become habitual and almost naturally unnatural. If your family participates in any of the below, give yourself a bonus point for each:

  • Everyone, when home, talks face-to-face and doesn’t text each from room-to-room
  • Phones are not permitted at the dinner table
  • When it’s time to walk away or turn off the screen, there’s no argument
  • When it’s time for bed, electronics are turned off completely
  • When playing video games, there are little or no anger issues like screaming or cussing
  • The kids are getting a full, good night’s sleep
  • The kids are familiar with exercise and the outdoors

If, however, your family didn’t get any points (or very few) for the above list, then it’s probably time to detox from an overload of electronic consumption.

Off-Screen Vacation Itinerary

As with most vacations (in the real world sense), the longer the better. With taking a break from electronics, even one day can significantly make a positive difference.

Boredom can breed creativity. Adults born before, let’s say, 1980, learned to spend time interacting with others or found ways to entertain themselves without a screen. There may have been TV and the beginnings of the insurgence of video and DVDs, but mostly, people spent their time other ways. Giving your family the opportunity to visit an experience from the “old days” can provide a new prospective to life—and actually living it.

Do it Together

If you ask or expect your youngsters to disengage in electronics for any period of time, plan to join them in the challenge. Start out by choosing one evening per week. Cook dinner together with music in the background. Play a board game before bed. Take a walk or a ball outside and stroll or play. Or perhaps you’ll all come up with something new and imaginative.

If that schedule is a success, it can always be expanded to a full day off. Maybe a weekend vacation from electronics can go on the calendar and be replaced with camping, going to the beach, or a number of activities you can all do together. It’s not what you do necessarily; it’s that you all agree to give the “virtual” a break and create some essential “real” memories together.

For other tips on maintaining best health for you and your family, check out www.GetThrive.com