DR. BRYAN ARDIS: If you're not moving, you can't detox as fast. [Movement] is life

This is why you exercise: to build bones and muscles, cardio to keep your ticker ticking, and to clear your lymphatic system, your body's drainage system.

Your Lymphatic System: A Place Where Impurities Reside
 

THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM: WHAT IS IT?

The lymphatic system primarily consists of lymphatic vessels, which are similar to the circulatory system's veins and capillaries. The vessels are connected to lymph nodes, where the lymph is filtered. The tonsils, adenoids, spleen and thymus are all part of the lymphatic system.

Your lymphatic system is essentially your immune system.  All of the organs involved in the lymphatic system work to produce white blood cells to fight off infection.  

The spleen, which is located on the left side of the body just above the kidney, is the largest lymphatic organ, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). It controls the amount of red blood cells and blood storage in the body, and helps to fight infection. If the spleen detects potentially dangerous bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms in the blood, it — along with the lymph nodes — creates white blood cells called lymphocytes, which act as defenders against invaders. The lymphocytes produce antibodies to kill the foreign microorganisms and stop infections from spreading. Humans can live without a spleen, although people who have lost their spleen to disease or injury are more prone to infections.

Your tonsils are part of your lymphatic system.  Why do doctors insist upon having them removed?  They certainly should not be removed.  If they are swollen and infected, simply take Vitamin C, bring the swelling down and diminish the viral load of the infection.  Seems to me to be pretty easy.  But "doctors know best" I guess.  Uh, they don't.  If they're just following orders from their medical school days then they are just boobus. 

Tonsils are large clusters of lymphatic cells found in the pharynx. According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology, they are the body's "first line of defense as part of the immune system. They sample bacteria and viruses that enter the body through the mouth or nose." They sometimes become infected, and although tonsillectomies occur much less frequently today then they did in the 1950s, it is still among the most common operations performed and typically follows frequent throat infections.

SYMPTOMS of LYMPHATIC CONGESTION [good video here too]

Rings get tight on fingers

Soreness and/or stiffness in the morning

Feeling tired

Bloating

Itchy skin

Holding on to water

[for women only: Breast swelling or soreness with each cycle]

Dry skin

Brain fog

Cold hands and feet

FOOD REMEDIES for YOUR LYMPHATIC SYSTEM

The standard approach to your lymphatic system sounds like it is one of detoxing.  Yeah, since your lymphatic system is your immune system and it ain't working well, it means that you're chronically ill. There are foods and herbs to repair this condition and get your lymph system up to par.  Sydney Ross Singer suggests eating raw foods as one of the approaches to detoxing the lymph system.  I agree to a point.  One or two servings a day perhaps.  But your body really does well when foods are cooked.  Absorption is better.  His other suggestions I like.

Michelle Schoffro Cook recommends astragalus, echinacea, goldenseal or wild indigo root tea, though she doesn't explain why these particular teas improve the lymph system. 

Lynette Hingle recommends similar herbs. "Use herbs to clean out your lymphatic system. Dandelion root, yellow dock root, burdock root, goldenseal, nettles, parsley and myrrh cleanse your lymphatic system, says DetoxSafely.org."  In addition to these herbs, she also recommends the following "Eat natural foods that cleanse your lymphatic system. Some lymphatic cleansing foods are dark green vegetables, ginger, sea kelp, citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges, flax seeds, wheatgrass juice, radishes and garlic."

She adds some pretty sound advice on what to avoid:

Avoid processed foods. Processed foods put a strain on your lymphatic system, says DetoxSafely.org. Avoid white bread, candy, processed meats such as luncheon meats and hot dogs, fast foods, canned foods and packaged dinners, cereals and baked goods.