Good In, Bad Out

I have a dark secret. I read Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP Newsletter.

It's pretentious and over the top but I can't stop. I've long had a girl crush on Gwynnie. It dates back to Sliding Doors; one of my fave films and she had an impossibly great hair cut. I still think one day I will cut my hair off super short like hers in the movie... one day when I don't have a double chin.

But back to GOOP-- Gwyneth is big on the detox diets. She's often spouting juice fasts and special supplements to drink instead of eating solid foods. Since I am not a millionaire movie star I cannot afford the expensive programs she talks about, so instead I've been doing some digging on the best foods to eat to naturally detox your body.

Here's the 10 bet according to one of my fave websites

10. Watercress- I have never eaten this before so I'm going to have to consult my Betty Crocker cookbook. The peppery green keeps free radicals away from your cells, helps energize cleansing enzymes in the liver, and is a natural diuretic.

9. Lemons- I'm a huge lemon lover. Anyone who's been out to dinner with me can attest to that, I love to squeeze lemon in my water and add some sweet and low for my hummingbird lemon water. Now I know lemons can alkalize the body and help with digestion.

8. Leafy Greens- It hasn't been that long since I blogged about the greatness of salads... now added incentive. Leafy greens boost chlorophyll levels in the digestive tract, which helps the body get rid of environmental toxins like smog and herbicides.

7. Fresh Fruit: perfect for farmer's market season, It's full of vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, and just about any other good thing you can name.

6. Cabbage- another one I've never cooked with, I've just had it in soups. I need to look up some ways to add it in to my diet because it's a huge liver cleanser.

5. Artichokes- probably my favorite food on the list. I eat them on pizza, fresh out of a can, in dips-pretty much anyway I can get them. My addiction is healthy because artichokes promotes healthy liver and gallbladder function and stimulates healthy digestion.

4. Beets- this is also on the list of foods I've never cooked with, but it's supposed to increase the production of antioxidant enzymes in the liver, which help the liver and gallbladder eliminate bile and other toxic substances from the body.

3. Ginger & Garlic- I love garlic. Eat it on everything, used to have a garlic cooker to make it in the microwave and just eat it. I'm a vampire's worst nightmare. And it will help clear free radicals out of your blood, so I'll have clean non-vampire sucked blood. Ginger and I are not friends.

2. Green Tea- Should probably swap one of my daily Diet Dr. Peppers for this. It's high in catechins — a flavonoid — which speeds up liver activity and increases the production of detoxification enzymes and is super tasty on a hot summer day.

1. Whole Grains- Pick whole grain breads, they are full of nutrients and antioxidants and incredibly high in insoluble fiber... a nice way of saying it helps you flush the toxins out of your body.

So these are going on my grocery list... so I can figure out ways to add them in to my food repertoire. Recipe suggestions?