Applegater Winter 2015
9
DIRTY FINGERNAILS AND ALL
Green and green (not the architects)
BY SIOUX ROGERS
A friend recently told me about the
ability of sunflowers to pull several types
of toxins from the soil. This process is
called phytoremediation. Sunflowers are
not the only plant with this property, but
the fascination with phytoremediation
took me down a side trail. Are there
plants that can pull toxins from the
human body? Well, actually there are.
Cilantro and parsley are just two of the
easiest plants to grow that also facilitate
the awesome benefit of pulling toxins,
i.e., heavy metals, from your body.
Cilantro cleanses
Cilantro—you either love it or yuck
it, but don’t mistake it for flat Italian
parsley, which is easily done.
An interesting serendipitous finding
made by the researcher Dr.
Yoshiaki Omura was that some
patients excreted more toxic
metals after consuming Chinese
soup containing cilantro (www.
kitchendoctor.com). This herb
also is believed to cross the
blood-brain barrier and remove
heavy metals from the brain
(www.naturalnews.com).
In addition, there are other
significant reasons to munch on
a few cilantro sprigs. Cilantro is
rich in many vital vitamins and
minerals, including folic acid,
riboflavin, niacin, beta-carotene,
vitamin A, and vitamin C,
which are essential for optimum
health. Antioxidants are found
Cilantro is believed to remove heavy metals in the stem tips as well as the
from the brain. Photo: www.evokeelegance.com. leaves of cilantro.
Nutritionists recommend
cilantro as “a good source of
potassium, calcium, manganese,
iron, and magnesium. Potassium
is an important component of
cell and body fluids, which helps
regulate heart rate and blood
pressure. Iron is essential for red
blood cell production” (www.
nutrition-and-you.com).
As I was stuffing my mouth
full of the aromatic leaves, I ran
across a couple more significant
Parsley is called the mother of all antioxidants. things I didn’t know—less than
Photo: www.edenbrothers.com. one cup of cilantro contains 225
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percent of the recommended daily intake
of vitamin A and 258 percent of the
recommended daily intake of vitamin K.
So who even thinks about vitamin
K? Well, I guess I should, since I have
now accomplished the compulsory senior
shrink of one inch. Yikes! I didn’t know
that Vitamin K has a potential role in
bone-mass building through promotion
of osteotropic activity in the bones. Also,
this small but mighty star plays a role in
Alzheimer’s disease—it is known to cross
the blood-brain barrier by limiting the
damage of neurons in the brain (www.
nutrition-and-you.com/cilantro.html).
Parsley purges
Please eat all of your garnish, which
most likely is parsley. Parsley, just like
cilantro, removes heavy metals from
the body. Coincidentally, it has many
of the same vitamins and minerals
as cilantro. Both of these herbs help
eliminate salt that has built up in the
kidneys, thus assisting the removal from
the body of accumulated poisons like
mercury, cadmium, and lead (http://
undergroundhealthreporter.com).
Parsley also boosts levels of the
antioxidant glutathione. “Glutathione
(pronounced ‘gloota-thigh-own’) is the
most important molecule you need to
stay healthy and prevent aging, cancer,
heart disease, dementia and more” (www.
drhyman.com). It is often called the
mother of all antioxidants. To get this
super enzyme working in your body,
consume sulfur-rich foods like “the
stinking rose,” aka “garlic, onions, and
cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale,
collards, cabbage, cauliflower, watercress,
etc.)” (www.drhyman.com).
There are other overlooked benefits
of this toss-away garnish. Parsley
additionally contains two types of
unusual components (and, no, I had
never heard of
Sioux Rogers
them, either): (1)
volatile oil components, including
myristicin, limonene, eugenol, and
alpha-thujene, and (2) flavonoids,
including apiin, apigenin, crisoeriol, and
luteolin. These qualify parsley to wear a
badge that says “I am a chemoprotective
food” because parsley can “help neutralize
particular types of carcinogens (like the
benzopyrenes that are part of cigarette
smoke and charcoal grill smoke)” (www.
whfoods.com).
Myristicin has been shown in
animal studies to inhibit tumors in
the lungs. The flavonoids contained in
parsley, with special reference to luteolin,
have demonstrated an antioxidant ability
that, when combined with oxygen
radicals, helps prevent the dreaded cell
damage causing disease and aging (www.
whfoods.com).
If I could plant only three things in
the garden to optimize my health, they
would be cilantro, parsley, and garlic.
Here’s to your good health and
happy munching.
Dirty Fingernails and All
Sioux Rogers
dirtyfingernails@fastmail.fm
Simple
Detox Drink
Blend one tablespoon of
organic parsley and cilantro with
12 ounces of water.
Filter through a strainer
(unless you like the texture of the
herbs) and drink up!
From Underground
Health Reporter (http://
undergroundhealthreporter.com).