Watercress: One of the Top 10 Detox Foods

Watercress is high in beta-carotene, Vitamins A, B1 and B6, C, E and K. It also contains abundant Iodine, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc and Quercetin. It can be eaten in salads, soups, and sandwiches. The peppery little green leaves have a diuretic (elevated the body urine rates) effect that helps move things through your system. And cress is rich in minerals too. Watercress is easy to eat, and one of the healthiest foods around.

Quercetin is a flavonoid which is shown to reduce inflammation and is natural anti-histamine. Watercress is good for people with breathing and lung problems including allergies and asthma. It is also reported to be good for cancer, heart conditions, eczema, weight loss, parasites, circulation, kidney problems and lack of energy. The British Journal of Cancer reports "when treated with a combination of Quercetin and ultrasound at 20 KHz for 1 minute duration, skin and prostate cancers show a 90% mortality within 48 hours with no visible mortality of normal cells".

The Watercress Alliance conducted a study from the University of Ulster. They found that watercress contains compounds that help prevent damage to the DNA in white blood cells, an important trigger in the development of cancer.

Trouble in Your Family?

Problem: Someone in my family is turning everyone against me.


My Answer:
There is nothing you can do. This person is manipulative, and everyone in the family knows it. I was once a part of a family like this. The funny thing is, my ex married a woman 'exactly' like they said I was - and now he is stuck. No divorce this time without her parents taking him for everything.

The thing is, you have an enemy in the house. No one wants to hear the arguments because that will end the game.

Just stay away from them for a while. It took me 3 years. Tell them in writing, with you and your husband's signature, that you will be back when you can visit without being yelled at, or hearing any gossip from the sister.

The most important. You must never talk to this woman, not on the phone, not at family gatherings not ever. The family must know that under no circumstances will you be alone with her - talk to her - be in the same room with her. This way, when she says you did something/said something/ etc...they know she is lying.

Now, here is how you do it. You come across as 'I am aware that people are saying I am causing problems. I do not want to be the trouble maker so MY HUSBAND and I have decided to fix the problem by doing the following...."

You should have your children with you. There is the possibility that you do things that hit this person’s emotional triggers. You may not know that they have triggers. Your children may be able to help shed some light. But, including your children also helps empower them and make them part of your family.

Relationships & Marriage

A woman just asked: My husband and I don't fight. We have problems but we just work them out on our own. Is this bad?


My reply:

You are right. If you don't learn how to handle your problems, talk to each other, and deal with situations, he will just walk in one day and say 'I can't handle it.' He will pack a bag and walk out. That will be it. That is what happened to me. It was such a shock. On Tuesday I was 'suburban wife - normal - stereotype' and on Thursday I was looking for a place to live.

I am married to a great guy now. He is a great father. (guy #1 is so full of bitterness and anger that 10 years later he can't visit the kids more than 2 or 3 times a year.) But we sometimes fight light cats and dogs, even screaming at each other. We learned the 'art of letting it out' at marriage counseling.

The important thing to learn is how to have an argument, both of you air your grievances, and then learn how to make a compromise - or else come to a way that ends the argument that you both can live with. Sometimes my hubby just has the final words. Sometimes he thinks for a week or two - and then has the final word which is surprisingly similar to what I wanted to do :)

But, you need help. There are small things you need to learn how to do first, like sit and talk about nothing for an hour. You need to learn how to talk about your 'feelings' without the other person feeling that you are attacking them - or thinking that the purpose is to make them 'feel good.'

You also need to learn how to date, court each other. If you can't fight, then the rest is 'not working' even if you believe it is.

The problem in my first marriage is that neither of us knew what a healthy relationship should look like. We created what we thought was one, and in our defense, we thought we did right. But, we were both brought up on sitcoms where the good families always got along. This is unrealistic.

You also need to learn to build boundaries to the fights. There are things you can say/do, and things you can't. Like, you cannot bring up things that happen more than 24 hours previous. A fight needs to be focused. Or, you cannot say things like 'you are stupid, just like your dad.'

I did go to marriage training, and I read books, and we discussed different theories. Sometimes you need to take baby steps. You can't force your husband to change. This can be hard. But, if YOU fix your own part in the marriage, then he will naturally 'go with the flow.'

For example, if you learn how to speak his 'love language' and make him feel wanted, then he will feel less threatened and will open up and talk. Then, you can take another baby step. The more you learn, and the healthier you behave, the easier it will become.

Detox Foods: How to Get Started

You’ve probably read a lot about foods that remove toxins from your body, clean your blood, and even remove cholesterol and fat from your body. These foods have grown far beyond urban myth to medical fact. Their benefits have exceeded our expectations. Tomatoes and cabbage are being used to prevent and cure certain cancers. Psyllium, orange juice, grape seeds prevent colon problems, including cancer.

When detox you want to eat anything green, the darker the better. Stay away from anything that is white (not including garlic). I don’t think it is necessary to fast to detoxify your body. I’ve done the fast and non-fast. Both have reduced the sleep I needed, eliminated the black spots under my eyes, reduced the bulge in my stomach, and eliminated any puffiness.

However, if you do not detox often, or are trying to do a complete program at once (for the first time) then you need a doctor’s care. I’ll warn you that your sweat will have a strong odor, as will your feces, which may also change to black. Headaches are also common. But, if they are severe, your urine changes color, or you feel heart palpitations, then stop and consult a doctor.

I don’t recommend anyone do more than three days the first time. Take a week or two off, then do another two or three days.

The human body is amazing. It can prevent and cure most diseases when given a chance. A young body contains a force removes toxins through skin tissues and skin-like mucus membranes. This cause symptoms that we work hard t prevent: bouts of sinusitis, asthma, colds, or a combination of these. Every time we take a medicine to stop a runny nose, we prevent our bodies from cleansing themselves.
The body ages and soon it can no longer maintain the aggressive cleansing phenomena. The toxemia begins to go deeper into the organs and tissue.



Benefits of Colon Cleaning and Detoxifying the Body:

1. Every 1% you lower your cholesterol reduces the risk of heart attack by 2%
2. The colon cancer is reduced if the colon is kept clean
3. Reduce the severity and occurrence of yeast infections.
4. Reduce the severity and occurrences of allergies and asthma
5. May reduce eczema
6. May reduce adult acne
7. May reduce wrinkles
8. May reduce sleep problems

May reduce* There are other factors in play. The colon cleansing is only part of the problem.

Fruits Importance in Anti Aging

Fruits, are full of almost good things: vitamin C, fiber, nutritious fluids, and antioxidants. Fluids wash out the body and fresh lemonade is ideal. Its high level of vitamin C, labeled the detox vitamin, helps make toxins water-soluble so they flushed away easily. Humans are the only mammals that do not produce vitamin C in the liver. During Detox or colon cleansing the body needs higher levels of vitamin C than normal.

Getting high concentrates of vitamin C from lemons is difficult as the vitamin levels decrease with storage.

However, do not drink the processed lemon in bottles.

The following is a list of fruits and their vitamin C levels per100 mg flesh

Jujube 500
Apple 6
Barbados Cherry 1,678
Blackcurrant 155+
Blueberry 1 – 16%
Grapefruit 34
Kiwi 99 – 180
Lemon Juice 46
Logan 84
Mango 28
Cantaloupe 42
Orange 53
Papaya 62
Plum 10
Raspberry 25
Red currant 58
Rosehip 1000+
Tangerine 31
Tomato 19
Watermelon 10


99 Foods With the Highest Vitamin C Levels

The health guides state that people need 66 mg of vitamin C a day for the average adult.

Should We Return To Natural Soaps?

How Does Soap Work

Soap helps remove dead skin. Believe it or not, the skin is the body's largest organ, responsible for removing toxins and waste from the body.

Soap is made to remove the dead skin from the top layer of skin - the epidermis - and the microbes that eat them. Soap should be used with a brush to help perform this task.

A toner will close the pores and prevent them from being clogged with dead skin and pollutants in the air.

A good soap will do both. The soap does not need to lather to do this. There are different types of soap. A good soap is made from oils and fatty acid. The oils are mixed with alkali to form glycerin and the salt of the fatty acid.

The surfactants (surface-active agents) in soaps remove grease and dirt because Surfactants have a molecular structure that acts as a link between water and the dirt particles. So the soap actually works like a magnet, or glue, that picks up the dirt and adheres it to the water which then drains away.

A good soap may contain a toner or astringent to tighten the pores, but adding moisturizers, perfume, colors, and scents may actually work against the process by being deposited on the skin and clogging the newly cleaned pores.

Soaps work because of the structure of water. Water molecules contain 2 hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom trapped between them. This makes the water molecule polar with a positive charge at one end and a negative at the other.

Ad an ionic compound like sodium chloride and the positive and negative parts of water are attracted to the positive ions and negative ions. This is what makes soap water soluble. The solubility of the soap depends on the strength of the attraction.

In this way, the fat in our skin, and on our skin are water soluble, making it easy for them to wash away. The epidermis needs a non-polar material that can be dissolved, moved, and then restored to its non-polar state, like a lipid, or triglyceride.

A lipid is made from two parts fatty acid, and an alcohol called glycerine. Both the fat and glycerine are water soluble.

Saturated fats are solid at room temperature, like l lard and butter. Unsaturated fats are liquids at room temperature like safflower oil. While the unsaturated fat is healthier, liquid soap is not easy to handle.

Cleansing and astringent herbs may be added to the mix, to improve the scent and cleansing ability of the soap. When the soap dissolves, dirt and pollutants are trapped, and sloughed away with the water.

As the soap takes away pollutants, dead skin, biological contaminants, and waste, the skin works less to remove toxins from the body. Drinking lots of water improves this task, and keeps the skin healthier.

This could be one reason why we are seeing woman in their 50s who look young. They have 'good' soaps, and a good diet that keeps their epidermis working well. Like all 'organs' a healthy epidermis looks healthy - and a chemically damaged and abused organ looks wasted, damaged, and color spotted.

My 5 Day Natural Holistic Free Colon Cleansing Program

This is a cross post from my blog www.healthafter40.blogspot.com This health blog is my most active, and ranks high among the blogging sites. I will be posting a daily journal there of my colon cleansing. I will not be posting the journal here - but in www.healthafter40.blogspot.com so you must go there to comment or follow my progress.


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My husband and I plan to start a colon cleansing program on April one. I will use natural foods and am aiming at 'cleaning out' the dangerous mucus build ups, not just restore my body's ability to create stools.

Feel Free to subscribe to follow this program. I am not going to become 'gross' or descriptive about my program, but I will tell you what I eat, the results, and how I feel.

I plan to do a full 7 day cleansing. At the end, you will have a basic understanding of the colon cleansing process. I will be posting articles within the next week to explain what I plan to do, and why.

The program will actually start a couple days early when I 'prepare' my body. Colon cleansing requires 'shocking' the body - but not making it ill.


USA Today, "Most people who eat the standard American 'goo and glue' diet have about 5-10 pounds of matter stored in the colon."

I will include fennel seed, flax seed, Psyllium but not senna. I will increase the fruits I eat, including (and most important) increasing the orange juice and adding rhubarb to my diet.

Some Facts About Life Expectancy

These numbers are from a report in 2000

the US population included 35.0 million people 65 and over. This number represents a 12% increase since 1990. The older population is growing.

Between 1990 and 2000, the total population increased by 13.2 percent, from 248.7 million to 281.4 million people. The population 65 years and over increased
by 12.0 percent. In 2000, there were 18.4 million people ages 65 to 74 years old, representing 53% of the 'mature' population in the US.

That means the total 'mature' population was about 37 - 40 million people. Or, to put this in perspective, the population of 'mature adults' in the USA exceeds the total population of Canada in 2007.

In 1960, only 7% of the Canadian population was over 65. Currently 11% of the population has reached this level, and in 2016 they expect that 16% of the population will be over 65. Currently, 4.4 million people in Canada are over 65.

This is a lot of people who 'beat the odds.' It is hard to imagine that about 16 million adults in the UK represent that 10% chance of reaching 70 years old.

So, next time you ask yourself whether all the exercise and healthy living are worth it, just remember the 40 million +/- old people in North America and how much fun they are having.

A Few Thoughts on Life Expectancy

I spent the morning looking through life expectancy charts. At first they were rather daunting. There are the world life expectancy charts which provide very vague numbers, and have no relevance to your current age, lifestyle, or mitigating circumstances.

If you are Canadian, expect to life between 70 - 75. If you are from the United Kingdom then you get to live to 77 - 80 years old.. a bit less if you are from the United States.

But, if you read the UK government's forms you get a bit of a different picture. If you are a male, and 44 years old, then you have a 50% chance of reaching 93. If you are male, and 60 years old, you have a 16 - 20% chance of reaching 93 years old. Canadians can expect to live between 75 and 80 for all income brackets, male and female. Americans born in 1980 (sorry, can't find older stats) can expect to live to 73.

The general numbers are not too far off. If you were a male born in 1850 then you had a 10% chance of living until 70 years old and 11.5% for women. The same groups born in 1960 would have a balanced 12% chance of reaching 80. Children born in 2000 will have a 16 - 20% chance.

Of course, you may be wondering how to get into the 11%. With the new health discoveries and understanding of fitness, an improved diet, and a safer lifestyle will all work to keep us living longer - and healthier. Hereditary factors will come into play too.

I am not sure I want to reach 93 if I am in a nursing hoe. However, it would be nice to life to 80 and stay on my feat until the very end.

The leading causes of death in 2003 were:

The leading causes of death For Americans in 2003
Rank Cause Deaths
1 Heart disease 684,462
2 Malignant neoplasms 554,643
3 Cerebrovascular diseases 157,803
4 Chronic lower respiratory diseases 126,128
5 Accidents 105,695
6 Diabetes mellitus 73,965
7 Influenza and pnemonia 64,847
8 Alzheimer's disease 63,343
9 Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome,
nephrosis 42,536
10 Septicemia 34,243
11 Suicide 30,642
12 Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis 27,201
13 Essential hypertension
and hypertensive renal disease 21,841
14 Parkinson's disease 17,898
15 Pneumonitis due to solids
and liquids 17,457
LiveScience Chart / SOURCE: CDC

So, when you look at these numbers, and remove things that you are no tprone to, your chances of living longer are looking positive.

I wanted to bring this information to light because I was talking to a friend a few days ago who said 'what is the point.' She was 50 and thought it was too late to extend her life. We have a better chance than our parents. They had no choice but to live on fat, purins (meat), and starch. Many of the healthy foods available to use were unheard of to them. There is a point - enjoying life.


My next couple of posts are going to explore the increased life expectancy a little more, and explain the phenomenom a little.

The Truth Can Set You Free

I recently read an article at a favorite website. The article was called 7 Signs That You're Living in Denial.

I'm Never at Fault: Others are always at fault, aren't they? You keep doing everything right and they just ruin things for you, do they? Sorry to have to say this, but not assuming responsibility is one of the most obvious signs that you are living in denial.

Everything Has an Excuse: "I'm not going to do this because..." "I would have done that, if not for..." Do you somehow manage to find excuses for everything? Good for you, maybe you will find someone who pays you for that, but for the time being, your attitude is yet another sign that you are simply living in a fantasy world.

Everyone Else is Wrong: Are all of the people who don't agree with you clueless? Are they that ignorant, can't they understand your brilliance? I'm sorry but, if that's the way you see things, I am afraid that the problem lies elsewhere. One tip: it's not with everyone else.

It's All One Big Conspiracy I Tell You: Does it seem that everyone and their dog is working against you? Are you just a poor innocent victim in what seems to be one huge conspiracy against you? In that case, have you considered getting some help? No, everyone is not conspiring against you, and it's about time you stopped living in denial and started seeing how things actually stand. You can read the rest of the denial problems by clicking here.

This problem is also called 'ego personality disorder' and it ruins lives. The good news is that it can be managed and overcome. Many people with this disorder see it as their protection. Their self esteem is so low that they must overcompensate to protect themselves. But, step one to freedom is learning that you are the same person whether you live in a fantasy world or the real world. Loosing the EPD will only bring good things for you - like friends.




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