Foods That Support a Healthy Lymphatic System
Start educating the patient on how to treat the lymphatic system – by avoiding toxins, chemicals, and foods that are hard to digest—that means processed foods that are steeped in pesticides, preservatives, and artificial ingredients.
Ensure the following foods are included in their nutrition program to support a healthy lymph system
- Water – Whilst it isn’t a food, but it is vital to life. Drink plenty of clean, purified water. Water keeps the lymph fluid hydrated and flowing smoothly.
- Beetroot – in fact all red fruits and vegetables
- Cranberry – Cranberry is an excellent emulsifier of fat. It will help break down excess fat for the lymphatic vessels to carry away. Choose fresh cranberry fruits and juices, not the sweetened and pasteurized processed ones.
- Leafy Greens – Chlorophyll, the green nutrient that captures sunlight, has powerful cleansing properties and beneficial effects on the blood and thus on lymph fluid as well. Look for dark greens for chlorophyll like kale, spinach, wheat grass, barley grass, turnip greens, dandelion leaves, broccoli, and mustard greens.
- Nuts and Seeds – Essential fatty acids, the healthy fats found in seeds like chia, nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, sacha inchi, coconut, and avocado, play a role in fighting inflammation. They also strengthen vascular tissue, help in the absorption of fat soluble vitamins and minerals, and aid in the removal of fat soluble wastes.
- Garlic – Garlic boosts immune function and combats harmful microbes. It improves circulation and aids in the cleansing of toxins.
- Ginger – Ginger has beneficial effects on digestion and circulation, two systems that are tied directly to the lymphatic system.
- Turmeric – Turmeric is related to ginger. It helps reduce inflammation, thins blood, and improves circulation.
- Seaweed – Sea vegetables help the body detox and eliminate excess fluid that can build up in tissues and slow the lymphatic system down. An alternative to seaweed is with regard to lymph drainage is fresh fruits; organic dried fruits; green vegetables such as kale, spinach, wheatgrass, broccoli; garlic; turmeric; raw, unsalted nuts and seeds (pre-soaked and dehydrated); foods that are high in iodine – organic baked potatoes with skin, cooked navy beans, boiled eggs.
- Citrus – Citrus fruits aid hydration, carry powerful antioxidants and enzymes, and help cleanse and protect the lymphatic system. They aren’t alone.
- Home-juiced fresh fruit and vegetable juices of all sorts will deliver more hydration, enzymes, and antioxidants to the body.
- Echinacea tea – reserved for extreme cases of lymphedema.
Red Foods
All red-staining foods tend to be ideal for moving lymph. Manjistha is a red root traditionally used as a dye that is known for its great lymph-moving properties. Berries, cherries, pomegranate, beets, and cranberries were all traditionally used as dyes and as natural lymph moving and detoxifying agents.
Beets in particular also have one other very important property that put them at the top of the list as lymph support foods. Beetroot thins the bile and as bile is responsible for about 80% of the immune response in the gut, it regulates the stool, digests good fat and gets rid of bad fat. Beets also scrub the villi of the gut, which is where the digestive lymph originates.
