Look at your tongue in the mirror. See the white fur, the yellow yuck? It's saying "clean me!"Nobody wants to walk around with a slimy tongue tainting food's flavors. A clean tongue makes every mouthful a taste explosion, every kiss a sweet sensation, every word a fresh breeze.

The traditional Tibetan greeting of sticking their tongue out evolved because they understood a person's health through their tongue. "The tongue doesn't lie. It reflects one's health and habits," explains Ayurvedic doctor Rama Prasad.

Recall the last time you fasted or had the flu and your tongue got a cheesy coating? This is the body eliminating toxins through the tongue, evident through the furry morning tongue. "Periodic purification with a tongue scraper helps to clear digestive toxins," suggests Rama Prasad. Plague on the tongue is also the major cause for periodontal disease. So scraping your tongue protects your teeth also. A pure tongue helps to clear ear, nose and throat problems by reducing contributing toxins.

A copper tongue scraper is ideally recommended in Ayurvedic texts as its antimicrobial and enzyme activator. It reduces sulfur compounds that cause bad breath, improves taste, freshens breath, clears toxins and stimulates digestion. Copper keeps clean as it's non-porous and antibacterial. Copper is also soft on the tongue and easily bent into the perfect U-shape.

Use the copper tongue scraper every morning before drinking but after brushing and flossing your teeth. Gently scrape the tongue from back to front five times then rinse the mouth well. Obliterate oral thrush connected with Candida by scraping it away.