20 Houseplants That Clear Toxins From Your Home

Bringing a bit of nature into your home does more than brighten the atmosphere. Introducing houseplants into various rooms in the house can help reduce the chance of getting seasonal sicknesses (such as the common cold), remove airborne contaminants (volatile organic compounds, or VOCs), reduce the chance of headaches, lift your mood, decrease your blood pressure, reduce allergies, improve sleep and much more.

The 20 plants listed below are specifically known for their air purifying properties.  And while an open window may feel like all the fresh air you need, did you know that everything from toilet paper to common household cleaners can contain chemicals and release toxins like formaldehyde? Or that VOCs like benzene can be released into the air by everything from the paint on your walls, to the printed material found in your home?

So why not breathe a bit easier and enjoy the beauty of a new houseplant at the same time! A warning for pet owners: some common plants can cause toxicity in pets. 

1. GOLDEN POTHOS 

Golden Pothos (Scindapsus aures): clears formaldehyde and other VOCs.

2. FICUS ALII 

Ficus Alii (Ficus maeleilandii alii): Good general air purifier.

3. SPIDER PLANT

Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum): Clears benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene.

4. LADY PALM

Lady Palm (Rhapis Excelsa): Good general air purifier.

5. SNAKE PLANT

Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Laurentii’): Clears formaldehyde.

6. ALOE VERA

 Aloe: Clears formaldehyde and benzene.

7. MOTH ORCHID

Orchid (Phalaenopsis): Clears formaldehyde.

8. DWARF/PYGMY DATE PALM

Pygmy Date Palm (Phoenix roebelenii): Clears formaldehyde and xylene.

9. CHINESE EVERGREEN

(Aglaonema Crispum ‘Deborah’): Clears air pollutants and toxins.

10. CHRYSANTHEMUM

Chrysanthemums (Chrysantheium morifolium): Clears benzene.

11. Gerber daisy 

(Gerbera jamesonii): Clears trichloroethylene and benzene.

12. Red-edged dracaena

(Dracaena marginata): Clears xylene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde.

13. Weeping fig

Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina): Clears formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene

14. English ivy

(Hedera helix): Clears airborne fecal-matter particles.

15. Azalea

(Rhododendron simsii): Clears formaldehyde.

16. Heart leaf philodendron 

(Philodendron oxycardium): Clears formaldehyde and many other air pollutants.

17. Warneck dracaena

(Dracaena deremensis ‘Warneckii’): Clears pollutants such as those associated with varnishes and oils.

18. Boston Fern

Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata Bostoniensis): Clears formaldehyde.  

19. Bamboo palm

(Chamaedorea sefritzii): Clears benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde.

20. Peace lily

(Spathiphyllum): Clears formaldehyde, benzene, trichloroethylene, toluene and xylene.

Too Much Salt Makes Us Eat More and Drink Less

Salty food makes us thirsty in the short term, but in the long run, a high-salt diet doesn’t cause people to drink more fluids.

During a simulated mission to Mars, researchers looked at how a high-salt diet impacted drinking habits. The pair of studies found that a high-salt diet doesn’t make you drink more in the long-term. Instead, you retain water, and you end up eating more, but drinking less.

THE SALT STUDIES

In the first study, two groups of 10 cosmonauts each went on a simulated mission to Mars. The first group’s mission was 105 days, and the second group’s was 205 days. Both groups ate the exact same foods, but researchers changed the amount of salt in their meals for several weeks at a time. 

The second study examined why cosmonauts were drinking less and eating more. To figure that out, they looked at how mice handle a high-salt diet over time. It turns out that the cosmonauts in the study ate more because a high-salt diet increased their caloric needs. That’s because eating more salt causes more urea to accumulate in our kidneys. Our bodies have to produce that extra urea, and that takes more energy.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING?

The researchers believe that we produce more urea when we eat more salt as a defense mechanism. The urea helps our bodies hang onto water while still getting rid of excess salt.

Prof. Friedrich C. Luft explains in a press release, ”Nature has apparently found a way to conserve water that would otherwise be carried away into the urine by salt.”

SALT AND OUR HEALTH

What the study did not look at is how the high-salt diets impacted other health factors, like blood pressure or heart health. Our bodies need some sodium to function properly, but high-salt diets are associated with health problems like cardiovascular disease and kidney damage.

While there is not a total consensus on how much salt we should eat per day, the maximum amount falls between 1500 mg and 2300 mg per day, depending on your age and health.

If you have high blood pressure, heart disease or other health issues, you should stick to 1500 mg per day or less. For healthy people ages 14 and older, 2300 mg per day is the maximum amount of salt we should be eating. That’s between 3/4 teaspoon and a teaspoon daily.

Most Americans eat far more than that. In fact, the average American eats 3400 mg per day.

Top 15 Cleansing Foods

When it comes to cleansing your body of harmful toxins, food really is the best medicine. You’ll be amazed to learn that many of your favorite foods also cleanse the body’s detoxification organs like the liver, intestines, kidneys and skin, preventing harmful toxic buildup. Help ward off the harmful effects of pollution, food additives, secondhand smoke and other toxins with delicious fruits, vegetables, nuts, oils and beans.

APPLES

Because apples are high in pectin, a type of fiber that binds to cholesterol and heavy metals in the body, they help eliminate toxic build up and to cleanse the intestines. Just make sure they’re organic!

AVOCADOS

We rarely think of avocados as a cleansing food, but these nutritional powerhouses lower cholesterol and dilate blood vessels while blocking artery-destroying toxicity. Avocados contain a nutrient called glutathione, which blocks at least thirty different carcinogens while helping the liver detoxify synthetic chemicals. 

BEETS

Time to whip up some delicious borscht soup since its main ingredient, beets, contain a unique mixture of natural plant compounds that make them superb blood purifiers and liver cleansers.

BLUEBERRIES

Truly one of the most powerful healing foods, blueberries contain natural aspirin that helps lessen the tissue-damaging effects of chronic inflammation, while lessening pain. Blueberries also act as antibiotics by blocking bacteria in the urinary tract, thereby helping to prevent infections. They also have antiviral properties and help to block toxins from crossing the blood-brain barrier to gain access to the delicate brain. 

CABBAGE

Cabbage contains numerous anticancer and antioxidant compounds and helps the liver break down excess hormones. Cabbage also cleanses the digestive tract and neutralizes some of the damaging compounds found in cigarette smoke (and secondhand smoke). It also strengthens the liver’s ability to detoxify.

CELERY AND CELERY SEEDS

Celery and celery seeds are excellent blood cleansers and contain many different anti-cancer compounds that help detoxify cancer cells from the body. Celery seeds contain over twenty anti-inflammatory substances. It is particularly good for detoxifying substances found in cigarette smoke. 

CRANBERRIES

Cleanse your body from harmful bacteria and viruses that may be lingering in your urinary tract with cranberries—they contain antibiotic and antiviral substances.

FLAXSEEDS AND FLAXSEED OIL

Loaded with essential fatty acids, particularly omega-3s, flaxseeds and flaxseed oil are essential for many cleansing functions throughout the body.

GARLIC

Eat garlic to cleanse harmful bacteria, intestinal parasites and viruses from your body, especially from the blood and intestines. It also helps cleanse buildup from the arteries and has anti-cancer and antioxidant properties that help detoxify the body of harmful substances. Additionally, garlic assists with cleansing the respiratory tract by expelling mucous buildup in the lungs and sinuses. For the health benefits, choose only fresh garlic, not garlic powder, which has virtually none of the above properties.

GRAPEFRUIT

Add a ruby red grapefruit to your breakfast to benefit from pectin fiber that binds to cholesterol, thereby cleansing the blood. Pectin also binds to heavy metals and helps escort them out of the body. It also has antiviral compounds that cleanse harmful viruses out of the body. Grapefruit is an excellent intestinal and liver detoxifier. 

KALE

Steam some kale to benefit from its powerful anti-cancer and antioxidant compounds that help cleanse the body of harmful substances. It is also high in fiber, which helps cleanse the intestinal tract. Like cabbage, kale helps neutralize compounds found in cigarette smoke and strengthens liver cleansing.

LEGUMES

Add a handful of cooked beans to your next meal—they’re loaded with fiber that helps lower cholesterol, cleanses the intestines and regulates blood sugar levels. Legumes also help protect the body against cancer.

LEMONS

Excellent liver detoxifiers, lemons contain high amounts of vitamin C, a vitamin needed by the body to make an important substance called glutathione. Glutathione helps the liver detoxify harmful chemicals. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (not the bottled variety) to pure water to support your cleansing efforts on a daily basis. 

SEAWEED

Seaweed could be the most underrated vegetable in the western world. Studies at McGill University in Montreal showed that seaweeds bind to radioactive waste in the body. Seaweed also binds to heavy metals to help eliminate them from the body. In addition, they are powerhouses of minerals and trace minerals.

WATERCRESS

If you haven’t tried watercress, add this delicious green to your next sandwich—it increases detoxification enzymes and acts on cancer cells in the body. In a study at the Norwich Food Research Centre in the United Kingdom, smokers who were given 170 grams of watercress per day eliminated higher than average amounts of carcinogens in their urine, thereby eliminating them from their body.

Eating a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables assists with detoxifying harmful substances from your body. Who knew cleansing could taste so good?

Drexel University Investigating “White Genocide” Professor Who Wanted To Vomit When Airplane Passenger Gave Seat To Soldier

Remember the wingnut professor who said a white genocide would be a good idea?

Here he is getting absolutely destroyed by  Tucker Carlson.

This clown is also famous for saying he wanted to vomit when he saw a passenger give up his seat on a plane for a soldier.

Well, it looks like these actions are finally catching up with him.

From Heat Street:

A radical professor who once wished for “White Genocide” for Christmas and wanted to “vomit” after seeing someone give up their first-class airline seat to a soldier, is currently under investigation by his embattled employer, Drexel University, citing negative coverage that led to fleeing students and donors.

Philadelphia-based Drexel had previously investigated the “white genocide” tweets and ended up claiming that its professor’s comments fell under the category of “protected speech” and that he wouldn’t lose his job.

But according to documents acquired by InsideHigherEd, Drexel Provost Brian Blake sent an email to Ciccariello in this month, advising him that the institution will conduct “a special committee of inquiry to investigate your conduct and provide findings and recommendations to me concerning your extremely damaging conduct.”

Some serious bad news for this guy.

It is pretty stunning that he still has a job after his white genocide comment but it’s nice to see that Drexel is at least pretending to care about it.

Obviously, college campuses across the country are becoming dangerous places for conservatives to even exist let alone speak out.

Hopefully, this kind of nonsense won’t be tolerated at Drexel much longer.

Liberals Are HATING What Millennials Just Said About Trump In New Poll…

If it were up to millennials, Donald Trump would not be president today.

According to final polling, Clinton crushed Trump among millennials – 55% to 37%.

So any positives regarding Trump and his policies in a poll of millennials is sure to stand out.

One such positive is how millennials feel about Trump’s stance on trade issues.

As the Washington Examiner reports:

Three-in-five young Americans support Trump’s stance on trade issues and agree that he should “crack down on countries that engage in illegal or unfair trade practices that hurt American workers.” Just 13 percent oppose this position. Coincidentally, Trump announced a new wave of reciprocal taxes on Canadian lumber yesterday at a meeting with conservative journalists.

Interestingly Donald Trump’s trade policies are very similar to that of Socialist Bernie Sanders, who earned more votes from millennials during the Democratic primaries than Trump and Clinton earned in the presidential election combined.

The Washington Examiner continues:

The other major element of Trump’s agenda millennials support is his stance on police, despite the perception that millennials are protestors and think the police are racists. About 48 percent of millennials say they support Trump’s efforts to “end the ‘anti-police’ atmosphere in America and empower law enforcement,” while just 24 percent oppose.

Trump won the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police in September of 2016 for his “commitment to America’s law enforcement,” according to the union’s president.

All is not well for Trump among young voters, however.

Of those polled, 33 percent of young Americans support repealing and replacing Obamacare, while 45 percent oppose that position. About 28 percent support the temporary ban on six countries in the Middle East, while 48 percent oppose. About 23 percent support the building the border wall, while 50 percent oppose.

Trump, despite his poor showing among millennials in the 2016 presidential election, actually may owe his presidency to the fact that he didn’t do as poorly as expected.

Can trade move more young voters to Trump? Maybe. However, this could explain why Trump overperformed the 2016 polls with millennials. Red Alert Politics’ average of millennial polls projected Trump to win 25 percent of the millennial vote last November. Instead, he won 37 percent of voters under age 30 — resulting in an additional 2+ million more votes nationwide

However, Trump had the advantage of running against Hillary Clinton then, a candidate who was remarkably unpopular among millennials – at least compared to Obama, who won 66% of that vote in 2008 and 67% on 2012.

Trump might have that advantage again should the Democrats nominate Elizabeth Warren.

But if Trump were to face almost anyone else in 2020, perhaps Cory Booker or Kirsten Gillibrand or Andrew Cuomo, unless Trump can shore up his support among millennials, it could spell trouble for his campaign.

Gateway to Grand Finale – NASA's cassini makes last and fateful close flyby with Saturn's moon 'Titan'

NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully made its 127th and last close encounter with Saturn's hazy moon last week, enabling scientists to get their first glimpses of Titan's seas, weather patterns and rippling sand dunes.

On April 21 at 11:08 p.m. PDT (2:08 a.m. EDT on April 22), the spacecraft passed at an altitude of about 608 miles (979 kilometers) above the surface of Saturn's moon, beginning its final set of 22 orbits around the ringed planet.

After buzzing Titan, Cassini coasted onward, reaching the farthest point in its orbital path around Saturn at 8:46 p.m. PDT (11:46 p.m. EDT) on April 22. This point, called apoapse, is where each new Cassini lap around Saturn begins.

Following the encounter, Cassini transmitted its images and other data to Earth. Scientists with Cassini's radar investigation will be looking this week at their final set of new radar images of the hydrocarbon seas and lakes that spread across Titan's north polar region.

"Cassini's up-close exploration of Titan is now behind us, but the rich volume of data the spacecraft has collected will fuel scientific study for decades to come," said Linda Spilker, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The flyby also put Cassini on course for its dramatic last act, known as the Grand Finale.

Technically, Cassini began its 'Grand Finale' orbits at this time, but since the excitement of the finale begins in earnest on April 26 with the first ultra-close dive past Saturn, the mission is celebrating the latter milestone as the formal beginning of the finale.

Cassini's first finale dive will take place on April 26 at 2 a.m. PDT (5 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft will be out of contact during the dive and for about a day afterward while it makes science observations from close to the planet.

NASA says the earliest time Cassini is scheduled to make radio contact with Earth is 12:05 a.m. PDT (3:05 a.m. EDT) on April 27. Images and other data are expected to begin flowing in shortly after communication is established.

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