EP: 17 Little New Years Message

Get up and get going, you got this!

Fall into new eating patterns

The first day of Fall was on Friday, September 22.  In Tennessee you wouldn't know it with the 80 degree temps.   The leaves are falling off the trees and things are beginning to die off for winter.  This is a great time to cleanse and prep your body for a new season.

WHY?  When the seasons change new food is in season and we tend to crave new foods and foods that provide us what we need for the season.  In the winter we usually crave warmer foods, stews, cooked foods and heavier root veggies and meats.  We need to be mindful of our digestion during this time, because these foods can take more work to break down if your digestion is already compromised.  

What type of cleanse is good?  That will be dependent on where your body is at the time of cleansing and what your goals are.  I am currently doing an 80% juice cleanse.  4 20oz all great juices, a seaweed soup for breakfast and a raw zucchini noodle pai tai for dinner.  Juicing is not my favorite thing because I love to eat. I do like it for the digestive break I get and also the amount of nutrients I am consuming at one time.  If you are not used to restricting the types of food you eat, then a food based cleanse is a good choice. I offer two different ones.  How I am cleansing would fall into either one if you wanted to be that strict.  

Do not complicate cleansing but do remind mindful that it serves a purpose much more than a fad.  Make sure your colon is eliminating extra during cleanse time or you will have a lot of gas and constipation.   Drink plenty of water and make sure you are able to rest. 

You got this! 

Combat Allergies

Oh the dreaded Allergies.  I am fortunate to not have them. When I moved to Tennessee in 1999 to go to college so many people warned me I would get them. They said they are the worst.   I am glad I am not speaking first hand, but I have many friends who get them along with people I see posting on Facebook.  I would like to offer you some simple tips and a little more understanding on why they keep happening and how you can prevent them.  

Sneezing and stuffy nose is a response the body is giving you to say, "Hey you have something in you I need to blow out" or "Hey you are dried out so Im going to give you some extra mucus or lubricant to keep you from being dry inside"   When it is saying that and your body can' t balance, the sneezing will not stop and your nose will become to full of mucus and snot.  

What we do want, is for our immune system to respond and offer us relief with just a sneeze and then the rest is fought off because our immune system is strong.  Our immune system being strong will bring us back to our gut. Our colon/gut is the center for all disease or discomfort and building that up allows our immune system to kick in and for allergies to move on through.

Simple tips for building the immune system and helping allergies:

Remove dairy from your diet. Yes I know, cheese is your happy place, or a glass of milk makes you feel good. Unfortunately dairy is mucus causing and leads to inflammation. This inflammation can be in your lungs etc.  If we are having mucus stuck in our nose, you can be sure it is present in our gut. 

Add in a probiotic: Choose a quality probiotic.  Capsules need to be more than 5 strands of bacteria. Liquid, I enjoy inner-Eco, I can find it at Whole Foods or online.  Begin eating foods that contain probiotics, like keifer water, kombucha, sauerkraut, and kimchi.  Adding in good bacteria will aid in fighting the bad and also boost your immune system. You can use a probiotic powder on your skin as a facial or also on a sore to help it heal.  

Use ear oil:  I have a post dedicated to ear oil. It will prevent drying and mucus build up in your ears and nose. 

Use local honey or bee pollen: If you have the option to get honey or bee pollen no more than a 50 mile radius from your home it will aid in your body fighting off allergies.  Do not choose it just when allergies are present, use both year around.   Bee Pollen is also great for balancing blood sugar, boosting libido and increasing energy.  

Allergies are not fun, but you do not have to be subject to them.  Stay consistent with the above and they will be greatly improved. 

Cleansing is not about deprivation

So many times in life we deprive ourselves. Food, love, happiness.  A self sabatage so to speak.  We have a feeling we want to achieve and we do the opposite to get there. Unfortunately,  most cleanses or detoxes are designed around this idea.    I understand you might feel like once you are cleansing the toxins you are depriving yourself. You are no longer getting sugar, artificial sweeteners, etc.  A well designed cleanse will not deprive you of vitamins, minerals and the nutrients your body needs to THRIVE. 

We should begin to have each meal look like a mini cleanse, so to speak.  Everything we eat and breath can either be adding health and wellness to our body or adding toxicity. If we choose cleansing foods like leafy greens, healthy fats, and superfoods, we do a mini cleanse as we are eating these foods.  Mini cleanses will make a more intense cleanse not as bad.  

I recommend a more intense cleanse each time the seasons change.  In Tennessee we experience each season, and as they change we crave and desire different foods. A good juice cleanse or veggie fruit and fat cleanse (my 21 Day Signature Cleanse, cough cough) is good to prep your body. I know personally now that it is becoming spring I want fresh and raw foods. I crave juices and food with life.  

Either way when we cleanse we should not deprive. If you are cleansing and feel super hungry and malnourished it is not serving your body well. 

Misson Monday: Detox

Rebounding

So back when I first started to change into the way I am now, I found things that I read that just made sense to me, like colonics. I really didn’t have to think twice about getting old poop out of my body. It made total sense.  

 I would make one change and then continue it while moving to another. One thing my husband and I came across was rebounding.  We immediately  went and picked up a $30 mimi trampoline at the athletic store and thought how hard could this be?  It said to do it for 5 min and then move to 20 min.  We stuck it in front of the TV and for real, 5 min was HARD! 

Rebounding is simply jumping on a trampoline, just like the large one in your back yard.  The beauty of rebounding is that it is a cellular, lymphatic exercise.  It will wake up your whole body with minimal impact on your joints.  Imagine jumping up and down on the ground or concrete, the impact on your joints is very great.  When you jump on a trampoline that is greatly minimized.  

Along with rebounding being a great low impact exercise it is also wonderful for detox.   Imagine your cells and over time stress, poor eating, and lack of care becoming smashed or flattened.  Inside these flat, smashed cells are the toxicity you want to release out of your body.  As you bounce and your lymph system becomes engaged, your cells begin to wake up and in simple terms, release and dump toxicity.  This can come from your cells, inflammation in your joints and of course when you sweat.   Ten minutes of rebounding is said to be equal to 25-30 minutes of cardio or running.  

Another great way rebounding can detox is by loosening up your bowels and help with constipation.  Some colon therapists have rebounders in their office for clients to do before a colonic session. Now if you are women who has vaginally had children I know there is some prep work involved with jumping on a trampoline along with a couple bathroom breaks but it will be worth it.   

So if you are sore and achy, suffer from fibromyalgia, have a past back, hip or knee injury then this will be an amazing exercise tool. If you are on a detox or a cleanse it is another way to keep the body moving and to begin releasing toxins.  Trampolines can range from a basic being around $40 to the one I have below that comes with a stabilization bar.  The mecca of trampolines is the bellicon which is around $700.   

Detox: Misson Monday

Activated Charcoal.

I am about to let you in on a wonderful secret, especially if you are a drinker, or will be throwing it back during the holidays.  Activated charcoal is a must for your supplement cabinet.  It is great for bad breath and body odor, food poisoning, digestive discomfort and for hang overs. 

Activated Charcoal is extremely absorbent and can attract and bind to toxicity 100xs its weight. It has a  very porous surface that is negatively charged and attracts positively charged toxins and gas.  It "captures" these toxins and pulls them out of the body. 

If you choose to purchase Activated Charcoal make sure it is food grade. I have attached a link below to a quality coconut charcoal carried by Bulletproof.  I take charcoal when I am traveling to remove environmental toxins, we use it when we niacin cleanse and on the rare occasion I do drink I will take 3 or 4 capsules with water before bed to aid in moving the alcohol though my body.  Externally you can open a capsule and make a face mask, clean your teeth, or rub it on areas of your body that tend to be sensitive to breaking out.  Bulletproof sources their charcoal from coconut shells.  Other brands will source from wood or other environment materials and the term "activated" means it is made into a very fine powder for easy absorption. 

If you use charcoal, how?  Do you think it is something you can incorporate into your cleansing routine? Let me know below in the comments :)

Detox: Mission Monday

It is Monday, everyones favorite day of the week, right? Let's detox that thought to. I am going to give you are reason to look forward to Monday and give you a mission for the week. This mission will open up your bodies pathways to get all the junk you have been holding on to, OUT!

I will start with simple tips and then move into ones that might require a little more work.  The important thing about detox is that it does need to go slow if you are fairly toxic. It allows the liver to not get overburdened and have you feel more toxic.  

Todays Tip:  Dry Brush

Dry brushing is a very easy way to remove dead skin cells, open up your pores and increase blood flow and metabolism in your body.  It is done with a brush that has harder bristles than your standard bath brush. Some even use a vegetable scrubbing brush.  

Our skin is our largest organ and is a pathway from toxins to come in and, with dry brushing, to go out.  What we put on our body it eats. If you are using a lotion with parabens, dyes, and artificial scents, your body is absorbing all of this.  If you can't eat it or would get sick from eating it, do not put it on your skin.  By the time things are getting to your skin it is a sign your inner body is needing to release.  Psoriasis, eczema, yeast, pimples, all manifest from the inside wanting to come out.  

First, you need to purchase a brush as your local drug store online or Whole Foods. You want to make sure the brush is firm and not soft. Most will say dry brush on the label. When waking up, or before your bath, you brush your body in long strokes toward your heart (always).  You will need for your skin to get pink or red and your will feel more energized and clean as you are doing it. Your pores will feel open, like when you are wash your face really good.  

If you have poor skin tone, cellulite or any skin conditions you will begin to notice improvement after a week.  If you do this in conjunction with reducing and removing toxic chemicals from your skin you are successfully helping to detox your skin.  

Have you dry brushed?  If you try it this week let me know how it goes! 

Perfect Superfood, Chorella

I love superfoods. Now I am not talking about blueberries and kale, they are great, but I am talking about those not found in your backyard.  I want your mind to be blown by their amazingness and to also know how to use them. These superfoods are real food supplements that can be used everyday to have you feeling like a Rockstar.

Chorella 
I chose Chorella because it is one of those superfoods that is not very mainstream like cacao or coconuts and I have recommended it a few times in the recent month.  Chorella is a single celled algea and full of amazing chlorophyll and B vitamins. It is also full of protein much like its green cousin Spirulina. Spirulina and Chorella can be a wonderful multi vitamin.
It is amazing for your digestive system as it helps to repair the colon and allow gut flora to flourish.  Chorella is also amazing at binding to heavy metals and moving it out of the body. Daily use of Chorella in tablet or powder form will help get rid of radiation from cell phones and scanners. It will help move out any mercury and toxins that come  from vaccines. It is great conjunction with cilantro for this reason.  If you are suffering from memory loss, dementia or early onset alzheimers it is a great addition to your prevention and recovery.  Chorella will also help with boosting the immune system to prevent cold and flus, help with Fibromyalgia, colon disorders like crohns and colitis and is great for constipation issues.
Chorella does contain large amounts of Vitamin K and can cause contradictions if you are taking medicines that deal directly with your blood.

The best way I enjoy Chorella is in a power smoothie with all my other favorite superfoods. I like to do this early in the day to utilize the benefits all day for great energy . You can sprinkle it on a salad, or make a green salad dressing. I also will mix it in my raw chocolate recipe because the dark chorella mixed with the dark color of cacao allows me to hid chorella and spirulina from my kids.

Do you use chorella? I want to know about your thoughts and success here in the comments.

Keep that Rockstar feeling and I am here when you need me,