The overarching theme of the Integrative Health Symposium held in New York City this past February was the healing power of “going green.” Brilliant minds in the fields of nutritional and environmental medicine repeated a similar message that may sound familiar from your childhood dinner table – “Eat Your Vegetables.” Yes, a very powerful medicine for preventing cancer and detoxifying your liver lives right in your refrigerator’s crisper drawer. Eating a heaping serving each day of green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, kale and chard can help up-regulate detoxification pathways in the liver that enhance your body’s ability to cope with day to day toxins and improve hormone metabolism. Foods rich in chlorophyll not only detoxify the body, but they also have anti-inflammatory action and support the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut.
Green Tea also deserves mention for its amazing ability to inhibit multiple steps of cancer growth and development. Drinking 8 or more 4-6 oz cups of green tea per day can have strong protective effects. Decaffeinated green tea will yield similar results.
