In a solid woman fitness program, consideration needs to be taken into many key components.  Workouts are only one area.  Another would be diet.  Along with diet is the idea of introducing detoxifying your body.  After detoxing it is important to have a plan in place to protect your body from down time in your women fitness program.

Toxicity is a major problem in our society today. In the year 2001 alone, more than six billion pollutants were released into the environment. Over the course of a lifetime, we will be exposed to thousands of foreign compounds.

Where Toxins Are Found?
Toxins procure from heavy metals, chemical pollutants, pesticides, cigarette smoke, food preservatives, drugs, alcohol and even within our own intestines when unhealthy bacteria is present.

How Do Toxins Enter Our Body?
Toxins can enter our body through the food we eat, the air we breathe, and directly through our skin. To make matters worse, the majority of our population relies on unhealthy food, lacking the nutrients to fuel the body to remove or detoxify these pollutants.

Why Does This Matter?
There has been correlation between a number of symptoms and conditions in relation to toxin exposures. Migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia to name a few.

How Can Our Body Remove Toxins?

Healthy Functioning Organs
Detoxification refers to the body’s ability to transfer and eliminate toxins. Only water-soluble substances can be effectively removed from the body. Toxic compounds are customarily stored as fatty molecules and therefore do not dissolve easily in water.

The body therefore has the job of transforming these fat-soluble compounds into water -soluble compounds in order for the body to excrete.

The Liver
When the liver is working properly, the liver takes toxins and accumulated wastes that have built up in the blood and helps in their elimination.The liver is the main poison control organ in the body. It breaks down virtually everything toxic to the body, from metabolic wastes, pesticides, drugs and alcohol, to industrial and food processing chemicals. Failure of liver function will usually cause death in twelve to twenty-four hours.

Once the compounds are water-soluble, they can be removed from the body via the kidneys and/or in bile/feces through the intestines. An alkaline environment is a key factor for proper functioning kidneys. This is where nutrition plays an important role.
*The liver is responsible for metabolizing fat. If the liver is not functioning adequately, your body will not be able to metabolize fat and will thus store it.

Unhealthy Functioning Organs
Toxins and poisons formed internally, leak through the unhealthy intestine and to the liver. From there the toxins are not completely detoxified through the unhealthy liver. Toxins are then recirculated in the blood and may contribute to long-term health issues. The unchanged fat-soluble toxins leave the liver and store themselves in tissues such as brain, nervous system and fat.

Nutritional Support
Detoxification is heavily dependent on nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Here is a list that will improve and maintain detoxification in our body:

• zinc
• probiotics
• vitamins A, B3, B6, B12, C,E
• amino acids (l-cysteine, L-glutamine)
• green tea catechins
• lemon (liver detox)

Key point is to ensure you are eating your vegetables, 8 to 10 servings a day for optimal organ functioning. When supplementing with a multivitamin, ensure they contain the vitamins listed above. Most multi-vitamins contain the essential ingredients needed for adequate levels.

If you need a good, trustworthy product, Prograde VGF 25+ for woman is what I use and love. It can be found here: prograde.com

Immunity Fighting Agents to Protect Women Fitness Programs

Garlic for Healing
My dad used to eat a whole clove of garlic every night before hitting the sack. He said it helped boost his immune system. Europeans are so smart with their remedies. It so happens that garlic is called a “herbal wonder drug”. This is because garlic is a natural broad-spectrum antibiotic. It is also a powerful antioxidant helping to protect the body against free-radicals.

Oil of Oregano for Fighting Illness
Not to be confused with the spice, the oil is extracted from wild oregano plants.
It is known for:

• destroying organisms that contribute to skin infections and digestive problems
• strengthening the immune system
• increasing joint and muscle flexibility
• improving respiratory health

Vitamin C to Fight Infection
Vitamin C is one of the most well-known, cost-effective and universally beneficial antioxidants known to man. This vitamin encourages beautiful skin, helps boost the immune system and aids in the prevention of several types of cancer. Other benefits of vitamin C may include protection against immune system deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, prenatal health problems, eye disease and even skin wrinkling.

What can be indicators for a need for more high-vitamin C foods?

• Poor wound healing
• Frequent colds or infections

Excellent sources of vitamin C include: parsley, broccoli, bell pepper, strawberries, oranges, lemon juice, papaya, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens and brussels sprouts. .

Zinc for Overall Health
Zinc supplements help in decreasing the severity and duration of cold illness. It reduces the amount of pro-inflammatory cytokinesis, which is aggravated during the cold infections. This antioxidant also helps with wound healing, boosts immunity and protects against the infectious disorders and fungal infections, which includes pneumonia and conjunctivitis.

Ginseng for Stimulating the Immune System
Ginseng is the main ingredient in Cold FX that helps reduce the frequency, severity and duration of cold and flu symptoms by boosting the immune system. This herb is known for stimulating the immune and nervous system, reducing fatigue, reducing stress and anxiety and helps in treating diabetes.

Water for Nutrient Absorption and Transportation
Drinking plenty of water during an illness literally flushes the system. Water will help regulate body temperature and will transport nutrients and oxygen into the cells for healing. Water also helps organs to absorb nutrients better.

Herbal Tea
Drinking tea may help your body’s immune system fight off infection and contains many antioxidants, reducing cancer, heart attack and stroke risks. Tea will also keep you hydrated.

Veggies or Greens Drinks
This is a no-brainer, but to stress the importance of vegetables, vegetables prevent illness, disease and are powerful antioxidants. Vitamins also help to neutralize the acid-base balance in the body. An acidic environment is host to many diseases due to inflammation.

As you can see the implementation of a detox routine and immunity fighting agents is one of the best ways to protect your women fitness program and set yourself up for success.