Mostly everyone focuses on the outer aspects of the bodies, ignoring the inner, and much more at risk area of the body, thanks to the abundance of smoking, junk food among other culprits to name a few.
Here are 10 simple ways you can do yourself to keep your lungs and heart clean!
1. Don’t smoke – If visual evidence and government advertisements weren’t enough, many scientific researchers point out the poisonous effects of smoking on our lungs and heart, but yet we carry on. Smoking develops obstructive tar in our lungs, chemicals like carbon monoxide inhibit mechanical lung function contributing to huge problems like emphysema and cancer. So, Stop Smoking!!!
2. Eat lung cleansing food – Yes, there is food that helps the process, talk about mother nature! , foods like pistachios, plantain leaf, and cayenne peppers are all foods that promote healthy lung function, pistachios contain gemma-tocopherol, a type of vitamin E, it is believed to reduce the risk of lung cancer. Plantain leaf, popular in latin American cuisine is great at suppressing mucus, relieving from congestion. Cayenne foods generate body heat, it relieves irritation which is great for coughs and sore throat.
3. Stay away from dairy! – Discarding dairy from your diet would make it easier for your body to get rid of toxins during the cleanse.
4. Lemons to the rescue! – A quarter of lemon juice in a glass in water before breakfast helps a lot, so do cranberry and pineapple juices!
5. Embrace Potassium – Potassium rich drinks such as cantaloupe, oranges, chikoo, banana, sweet potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, apricots, berries, figs and dates along with lunch, help the lungs to detox, by better digestion and lesser load on the heart and lungs.
6. Exercise – Do exercises that aid in the cardiovascular development, treadmills, and ellipticals help a lot when used properly, but beats natural movements like swimming, jogging, walking, skipping to name a few, or better yet, play a physical sport! It would be tough at first but you’ll get the hang of it.
7. Garlic – A spice that tops the list when it comes to heart-healthy herbs is also a staple of Indian Cuisine. Garlic is said to boost cardiovascular health to a great extent by lowering LDL (bad cholesterol) in the blood. Garlic contains allicin which helps lower blood pressure and prevents thickening of the arteries. To get the best benefits, have 1-2 pods of raw garlic.
8. Eucalyptus – In boiling water add 5 – 10 drops. Stand over the dish with a clean towel covering your head above it. Inhale the steam until it cooks.
9. Eliminate household toxins – The things like detergents, cleaners and chemically induced “Air fresheners” have a hoard of chemicals in them, they emit caustic gasses or vapours that irritate the lungs.
10. Serrapeptase enzymes – They are very powerful enzymes mainly recently popular because of their usage in the treatment of a person who was an emphysema patient in Britain, they eat through scar tissue and hardened mucus in lungs due to years of chain smoking