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A medical doctor at the Asokoro Hospital in Abuja, Dr. Ify Ozule, has advised Nigerians endeavor to carry out detoxification of the body regularly. The medical doctor told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday that it could improve health and prevent malignant conditions such as cancer. Ozule said detoxification or cleansing used to be considered a treatment for alcoholism or drug addiction. According to her, the term is also used to refer to a method of dieting and other processes of removing environmental and dietary toxins from the body. The doctor said toxins enter the body through foods and drugs but that the human body had been designed to naturally eliminate waste through organs such as the skin, liver and the kidneys. She added that food colourings, preservatives and artificial sweeteners, found especially in junk food, could remain in the body as toxins. "When you eat a light portion of food, your body digests it immediately it comes; but when you eat a lot, the food accumulates and digestion slows down keeping toxins in the body longer. "There is nothing to show that waste accumulates; however there is evidence to show that when you undergo proper dietary detoxification, you feel better and your well-being is improved." "When you undergo proper dietary or herbal detoxification, you feel better; you have increased energy and concentration, your skin is clearer, you're basically brighter, you tend to lose more weight, you have better digestion. "And there's a history to prove that when you have a lot of toxins in your body, you are more prone to malignant conditions like cancer. So proper detox is like cancer protective, those are the basic benefits on the whole of detoxification," she noted. Ozule added that a dietary and herbal detoxification could relieve people with occasional nausea, pile or a history of constipation. She said detoxification could be the answer to weakness of the body, headaches, irritability, excessive menstrual pain, general aches and any unusual skin conditions. She said a person could cleanse the body on a daily basis or for as long as one week, depending on the severity of their situations. "Reduce fat intake, avoid junk food as much as possible, reduce your fat intake and increase your fiber intake – by fiber, we are taking about vegetables. "In our diets we have a lot of fiber containing foods, we have efo, egusi; we have vegetables, ugu, we have onugbu or, bitter leaf, we have cocoyam leaves – we have all sort of leaves. "All those leaves usually will have fiber in them and even our eba has roughage in it, depending on the type of garri. "I think yellow garri or white garri has more roughage; those actually help to increase your fiber diet and when you have increased fiber more cleansing and more digestion will take place in your system," she added. Ozule said pastries such as meat pies and doughnuts were junk foods because they lacked fibre or roughage. "Eat brightly coloured fruits like tomatoes, carrots, sweet potato, pawpaw, because they have a lot of antioxidants which mop up toxins in the system and aid digestion. "Take fruits and vegetables that are red, yellow, green, orange – the colours of the rainbow -especially if they are organic and not grown with fertilizers," she advised.
She also urged Nigerians to exercise more because by working out, the sweat glands released toxins through sweat and also urged them to drink a lot of water to avoid dehydrated.
Ozule counseled that substances such as alcohol, nicotine or caffeine should be avoided during the period of detoxification.

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