thenutritionwatchdog.com What's in your food? Discover which "healthy" foods are harming your health and which foods protect your body 
By: Cat Ebeling
Co-author of the best-sellers: The Fat Burning Kitchen, The Top 101 Foods that Fight Aging & The Diabetes Fix
If you’ve been feeling low on energy lately, or you had an over-indulgent weekend, doing some sort of “detox” can be helpful. But there are so many detoxes and cleanses out there that either a blatant scam, or just have no valid science behind them, how do you know what can do more harm than good?
Well, you can start out by doing a quick 2-3-day detox by doing a little intermittent fasting in the mornings, and breaking your fast with this delicious, detoxifying, fat burning smoothie. It is yummy, satisfying, refreshing, and–it has some great fat-burning, detoxifying, diuretic ingredients. Try it–You’ll feel leaner in just a couple of days!
Be sure and add plenty of fresh parsley or cilantro. Both of these deep green leafy vegetables have tons of magnesium in them, essential to help you burn fat more efficiently, and helping to get rid of excess water, as well as detoxifying your system. Eating foods containing large amounts of magnesium is also very calming and helps to lower blood pressure.
Cilantro is known to detox your body of metals like mercury, arsenic and lead. Cilantro is also known as a diabetes fighter, helping to lower blood sugar, and supporting healthy liver function. Cilantro has been used medicinally to cleanse and detox the liver, stimulate digestive enzymes, help kidney function, soothe the skin, balance blood sugar and increase mental powers. Both parsley and cilantro are loaded with phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals and anti-inflammatory compounds. It is also full of vitamins A, C, E, K, calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium.
The cucumber is loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and fiber. Cucumber helps to cleanse the liver, and works as a natural diuretic, helping the body to wash out toxins and fluids that may accumulate and make you feel bloated. The ginger and turmeric in this recipe are also great for fighting inflammation in your body.
Just note that we do NOT recommend large amounts of spinach or kale in smoothies (so we left those out of this recipe), as you can easily get too much oxalates, which can be harmful for some, as described in this article.
Ingredients
1 large bunch each of fresh parsley and cilantro
1 large thumb fresh ginger, chopped up in smaller pieces
1/2 medium organic cucumber, chopped in chunks
1 tsp or small root of turmeric
1/2 sweet/tart apple, chopped in chunks
2 cups liquid–coconut water, kombucha, or spring or sparkling water
cinnamon if desired
Directions
Blend in blender until smooth. Be sure ginger is well blended. Drink up!
Try this for breakfast or lunch for two days and eat a normal low carb dinner of protein and veggies. You’ll feel amazing!
