When you are in the hands of the latest diet trend & the mental flux we go through with marketing & advertising, such as ‘Diet Water!?’ You are not in control until you decide that it is not working. Unfortunately, before … Continue reading
Why Raw? I knew that people experience endless benefits from eating their food raw: increased energy, less need for sleep, improvement in general health, uplifted mood, ideal weight, shining eyes, beautiful skin, younger looks, clearer thinking and intuition, enhanced creativity … Continue reading
Cheat meals are a nice way to keep your sanity and that is about it. The theory behind a cheat meal a week is to keep your metabolism from dropping due to consuming low calories all week. Well that one … Continue reading
I was raised on 70’s nutrition, which means that 90% of the food I ate while growing up came from a box or a can. I don’t blame my mom… hell, everyone thought they were eating healthy in the 70s, didn’t they?
Here’s something that one may wanna think about next time they go to eat the starter soup…but Waiter, there’s a toxin in my soup! Take a look inside any can and you’ll see a thin plastic film separating your food from the metal. That’s where the BPA is coming from. Manufacturers have been lining cans with plastic since the 1950s to protect the food from botulism and other bacteria that can grow if the can is damaged or corroded, and there’s no doubt that lives have been saved.
Imagine putting sugar in the gas tank of your Ferrari (and this metaphor is about as literal as you can get) – Italian racecars (another appropriate metaphor) have very specific needs when it comes to creating compression within the engine. If you toss something gross in there, your plugs don’t fire correctly and your pistons get all gummed up.
You might get warning signs – in other words, your body will start to ping, not unlike a race car engine. Problem is that we tend to ignore that pinging until your manifold’s warped and you’ve tossed a rod through your engine block.
Ok, enough of the car talk, because I’m totally talking out of my ass at this point. Let’s just say that I blew a head gasket and need major remachining.
As a result of all of this medical drama, I had to take a long, hard look at what I was eating. Now, I rarely put anything in my body that isn’t in its almost completely natural state. No refined grains, so processed foods, no hydrogenated-reconstituted-whathaveyou. If it came from a lab, it sure as hell isn’t going down my gullet. Here is a medical report letter just to show how toxic our canned soup is… http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/20/2218.2.extract
I’m still working on the sugar thing, but that’s an entirely different post altogether.
The moral of the story (if I even have one at this point) is that we need to be much more conscious of what we put in our bodies. Just because it has a pretty label and a $4M marketing budget doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
It’s pretty simple: if a particular food wasn’t around in your great-grandma’s time, then don’t eat it. Make you own from scratch!
If you’re like most people you probably ate too much and slacked on anything that resembled exercise over the holidays. Here are 10 simple and effective ways to get your body feeling better than ever in no time at all.
Buy a Sack of Lemons If you make only one trip off of the sofa today, make it a trip to your local health food or grocery store to buy a sack of lemons. Yes, a sack. Once you get home, squeeze the juice of half a lemon into a tall glass of water and drink immediately. This one step will help you to quickly reset your body chemistry.
Load Up on H²O Drink at least 10 more cups of water throughout the day, preferably with lemon juice added to each. Lemon juice breaks down acid waste in your body and restores your blood and tissues to slightly alkaline levels. Put simply, it means you’re flushing out toxins and excess fat — both of which are acidic — from your body!
Breathe Deeply Take a few deep breaths. Oxygen will not only energize your brain but it will quickly help to balance the chemistry of your cells — and healthier cells mean a healthier body.
Take a Walk I encourage a second trip off of the sofa. Boost your oxygen levels even further by bundling up and heading out for a brisk walk. Exercise helps to quickly oxygenate your body. More oxygen in your blood means its better equipped to nourish every organ and tissue, which increases energy, mental clarity and moods.
Turn to Peppermint Tea Instead of reaching for a caffeine jolt from coffee or cola, drink some peppermint tea. Research shows that peppermint provides a quick boost of energy and unlike caffeine, it’s isn’t addictive and won’t send your energy levels plummeting a few hours later.
Eat Your Veggies Make vegetables the focal point of your lunch and dinner meals. Okay, I know you’re probably cringing right now, but if you absolutely hate broccoli, don’t take it out on the entire veggie kingdom. Who wouldn’t enjoy some delicious mashed sweet potatoes or rich guacamole?
Take an Almond Break Snack on raw, unsalted almonds every few hours. Not only are they loaded with calcium, magnesium, protein and other important nutrients, their high fibre and protein content help to stabilize blood sugar levels. Stable blood sugar levels tell your brain that it’s okay to start breaking down fat stores to help you slim down.
Smoothie Nation Enjoy a delicious smoothie instead of a sugary snack or breakfast. Start with some almond milk instead of dairy to help rebalance your blood chemistry quickly. Add some frozen berries, half a frozen banana (peel the bananas prior to freezing and keep them on hand for a quick energy smoothie) and a heaping teaspoon of green powder like barley juice, spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass, or any blend available from your local health food store. In addition to containing loads of vitamins and minerals, green powders contain chlorophyll, which research proves eliminates toxins from your body, protect against cancer, and even defends your genetic material against damage!
Go Greens Eat at least one large salad per day. Avoid store-bought dressings full of rancid oils, preservatives, additives, and sugar. Try my blueberry dressing– it’s fast and delicious. Add 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen), 1/3 cup of raw apple cider vinegar, a pinch of Celtic sea salt, and 6 drops of stevia or a 1/2 teaspoon of unpasteurized honey. Blend with a hand blender or cover with the lid and shake the container well. Pour over a plate of greens or grated veggies. Store the remaining dressing in the fridge.
Take a Cue from the Vegetarians Cut back on your organ-meat consumption, or eliminate all together. Choose beans, fresh fish, or raw nuts or seeds instead of acid-forming meat. While fish like wild salmon may be acid forming in your body, it provides the essential fatty acids needed for a healthy brain, immune system and overall good health. Add beans to soups, stew, chili or wraps, or make them into delicious dips for a high-fibre, high-protein, high-nutrition source of energy.
