The Benefits of Garlic and Glutathione for Deep Tissue Detox.
by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, MS, DC, CCN, DACBN
Garlic is a useful adjunct to detoxification, because it conserves antioxidant levels, particularly glutathione, protects against liver damage from acetaminophen, and can increase the intestinal activity levels of detoxification enzymes (in particular quinine reductase and glutathione transferase) used by the body to eliminate toxins.
Garlic protects your liver and heart from damage, and improves your ability to combat potentially fatal conditions like cancer and heart disease. Garlic may also help protect you from heavy-metal accumulation, smog and air pollution. It appears to be the sulfur compounds in garlic, especially allicin, that are most protective.
Glutathione is one of the most important substances for detoxification. It supports complex liver detoxification, like the kind we will be experiencing during the upcoming Deep Tissue Detoxification program. Because antioxidants get “used up” in the process of protecting you, exposure to toxic substances lowers glutathione levels.
“What if I Can’t Eat Garlic?”
So what if you are among the small but significant people who have adverse effects to garlic? According to ConsumerLab.com, large doses of garlic can lead to upset stomach, facial flushing, rapid pulse, dizziness, allergies or insomnia, and can affect the mind and concentration.
According to Chinese Medicine, garlic is a warming and drying herb, so people with a hot constitution should use it cautiously, as it can create the side effects mentioned above. People who have an angry temperament or reddish complexion would be classified as having a hot constitution and should proceed cautiously with garlic.
As a substitute for garlic, scallions or spring onions can be just as effective as garlic, with less pungency. Other foods and herbs, like broccoli sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables, dill, caraway, turmeric, oranges and tangerines, dandelion, burdock root, apples, basil and jerusalem artichoke also support deep tissue liver detox and can be used to support a successful detoxification program.
Enjoy the benefits of garlic if you can and if not, know that there’s more than one way to detox a liver, and choose enjoyable foods and herbs that assist in the removal of toxins, leaving you light, strong and energetic.
Happy Detoxing!
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Dr. Ritamarie is our key health care practitioner in our upcoming Fundamentals of Deep Tissue Detoxification course.
If attempts to “cleanse” or “detox” in shorter programs of a few days or a few weeks didn’t bring you the results you were looking for, you are likely a perfect candidate for our Deep Tissue Detoxification program.