Juicing is a Natural, Easy-to-Use, and Affordable Way to Help Flush Toxins

It's that time of year again ... time to give the body a boost with a little clean up and clean out.

Juice therapy—or juicing—is a natural, easy-to-use, and affordable way to help flush toxins, leftover wastes, sitting sedentary in your body. Flushing toxins helps improve major body functions, as well as overall vitality, energy, healthy skin, and heart health, to name a few benefits.

Here are some common juicing fruits and vegetables, and the heath support they are associated with:

• Apple: general cleanser, fights infection, and stimulates digestion
• Apricot: blood builder, constipation, and skin problems
• Lemon: gout, arthritis, laxative, and sore throats (always dilute)
• Cabbage: obesity, antiseptic, duodenal ulcers, and constipation
• Celery: all arthritic disorders, builds blood, and diuretic

Juice is a relatively mild cleanse and can be done at home daily. One 8-oz glass would be a healthy addition to the daily diet. Why juice? First—when made into juices, fruits and vegetables have concentrated amounts of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants. Second—juicing increases the bioavailability of these nutrients. (Bioavailability is the rate at which a substance, in this case the health properties of the juiced fruits and vegetables, are absorbed by the body. In general, juiced fruits and veggies are absorbed by the body at a faster rate than when eaten whole or cooked.)

Juice fresh. Don’t juice, then store for later consumption. Doing this can lead to a loss of minerals, vitamins, and enzymes. You can make juices from fruit combinations or vegetable combinations, but do not mix fruit and vegetables. The combination of fruit and vegetables impairs digestion and limit the assimilation of nutrients.

Do you juice? We want to hear from you! Post your best juicing tips and recipes.

Got Drugs? Don't Flush. Drop Them Off at a DEA Take-Back Site.

Got drugs? Perhaps you have some old prescriptions lurking in your medicine cabinet or stuffed into the kitchen junk drawer? Resist the temptation to flush your old medicines. Drop them off instead.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has organized a National Take Back Initiative for this Saturday, September 25. Find a local drop site in your area on the DEA website here.

The FDA says some medicines can be disposed of in the trash by mixing with a substance like coffee grinds and sealing in a container. But many medicines can be harmful, if not fatal, if consumed by someone to whom they have not been prescribed. And flushing medicines down the toilet can also be harmful for the environment and leech into our water supply.

The FDA does have a list of medicines they feel are safe to flush. You can download the list here. But recent studies also suggest that pharmaceuticals can find their way into our lakes, streams, and drinking water. The effect on people and wildlife has yet to be determined. Why take the risk?

Play it safe. Gather your old medicines tonight and drop them off at a DEA take-back location tomorrow morning. We thank you!