Since the first Earth Day in 1970 here in the US, participation has grown to an estimated one billion people in countries all around the world. It’s uplifting to know that so many people want to take care of this beautiful planet.
As the saying goes, “Think globally, act locally.” We can do a lot for the Earth by making simple adjustments to our diets and daily lives, such as eating lower on the food chain and using less plastic and fewer chemicals.
Simply being healthier reduces your personal carbon footprint. The healthcare industry, it turns out, has a massive environmental footprint, so much of which is due to avoidable chronic disease.
In addition to making you feel amazing, our cleanse helps you to be kinder on the planet by getting healthier, emphasizing plant foods, and reducing chemicals. You’ll even be inspired to do more home cooking because our recipes are easy and delicious.
Spring is when the body is primed and ready to clear out toxins, stagnation, sludge, excess weight, and inflammation, according to Ayurveda. Come spring, many of us are so ready for this. I know I am!
We can help that natural cleansing process along with a multifaceted cleanse. But it’s more common to turn to diets to spur along spring weight loss. There’s a big difference between diets and cleanses. Although diets can help you lose weight, they aren’t the best strategy, as research consistently shows. In a diet, the goal is to lose weight at any cost, usually through some variation of calorie deprivation and exercise intensification – the classic calories in vs calories out approach that relies on sheer willpower. Although calories do matter on one level, there are several other important factors that diets usually ignore – such as detoxification, oxidative stress, nutrient density, food sensitivities, stress, and how and why we eat. Aggressive weight loss without attention to these areas is not only an uphill battle, but likely to increase inflammation and initiate a vicious and frustrating weight loss cycle. Which, as we know, is very common.
If you want to lose winter padding, boost your natural spring cleansing power, and get healthier along the way, be sure your spring strategy more holistically addresses these concerns:
Detoxification. Whenever you lose weight, toxins are released from the fat cells, where they are commonly stored. If you don’t have abundant nutrient support (such as sulfur containing veggies, antioxidants, fiber, minerals, b vitamins, etc), toxins will not get excreted from the body. Instead, they get pulled out of the cells and recirculated through the body, where they cause more damage and make you feel terrible. Supporting detoxification along with any weight loss is vital. In its wisdom, the body may actually resist fat loss in an attempt to keep toxins in the fat cells where they do the least damage. Getting them out of the body in a safe effective way will help with successful long term weight maintenance, energy, and overall health.
Nourishment. This brings us to nutrient density. Whole, unprocessed plant foods offer tens of thousands of phytonutrients, antioxidants, and fiber, all of which are your best friend for losing weight and cleansing toxins. Phytonutrients reduce inflammation and free radical damage, support detoxification, and help your body actually repair itself. The fiber keeps you regular, so that you can most efficiently excrete the toxins that made their way to the intestines. Constipation doesn’t feel good for many reasons, toxicity being one of them. You can lose weight eating highly processed diet wafers, bars, and shakes, but these don’t offer the array of healing nutrients that whole plant foods do. Do yourself a million favors by centering your diet on abundant fresh, colorful veggies.
Food sensitivities. Another hidden factor in stubborn weight is food sensitivities. When we regularly eat foods our bodies don’t like, we set up an inflammatory dynamic that causes all manner of annoyances like eczema, arthritis, psoriasis, fatigue, and – you guessed it – stubborn weight. Uncovering your food sensitivities is vital for overall health and thinner peace. At the top of the list are gluten and dairy. Try avoiding those for a few weeks and see what happens!
Stress. No discussion of weight loss would be complete without addressing stress. When you are stressed for sustained periods of time, your body is going to hang on to every calorie for dear life. Not only that, but stress often results in emotional eating. Furthermore, stress diverts energy away from digestive organs (because who needs to digest your meal, when you’re being chased by a tiger and about to become a meal?), so you don’t digest well. Maldigestion/malabsorption paves the way for nutrient deficiencies, which can suppress the thyroid, which slows your metabolism, and things just keep getting uglier. Meditation, deep breathing, yoga, exercise, laughter, and mindful eating are all excellent ways to reduce stress.
Sustainability. The plan you use to achieve your desired wellness and weight should be something you can sustain long term and even enjoy. If not, you’re likely to revert pretty quickly to old habits. And that’s not good for the body or mood.
I hope it’s obvious that weight loss is much more complex than the simple calories in – calories out equation. And also that weight loss without concern for nutrient density will ultimately be damaging and keep you in the vicious weight loss cycle.
If you’ve been struggling with stubborn weight and feeling like you have no will power, please know that it is so much more than that. Processed food, toxins, stress, food sensitivities, and even our gut microbes strongly influence our cravings and stamina for making healthy changes.
This is why I included all of these vitally important areas in one comprehensive, life changing program called the Ultimate Rejuvenation Cleanse. It’s a gentle, supportive, 4-week, online program that optimizes your spring cleansing and detoxing. Your health will noticeably improve in several areas, and weight loss will be a natural by product. The spring cleanse begins April 14th. I hope you’ll join us! To learn more or join the cleanse, click here.
I hope you’re crushing those New Year’s Resolutions! Or moving towards your dreams in a way that makes you feel hopeful and happy. Progress, no matter how tentative, builds momentum and life force energy. There’s so much reward even in taking just one step forward.
If you’re looking for a little activation energy to get started on your wellness plan, this is where our goals intersect.
I LOVE helping people transform their health the natural and lasting way. I’ve dedicated decades of my life to learning how to do that through many disciplines, including traditional nutrition, holistic health coaching, functional medicine coaching, yoga, and yoga’s sister science Ayurveda. Then I poured the best combination of that knowledge and experience into The Ultimate Rejuvenation Cleanse.
It is a cleanse, and so much more. In this 28-day program, you’ll cleanse out toxins, sugar addiction, and inflammation. You’ll also infuse yourself with deeply nourishing foods, habits, self care, and perspective shifts. You’ll learn experientially which foods serve your unique body and which ones don’t.
All these gains will stick around, and propel you towards your goals even after the cleanse is done. This is not one of those one-dimensional, deprivation diets where you drop some pounds and gain it right back plus a few more. The goal of this program is multifaceted nourishment so your body heals, rejuvenates, and you reach your ideal weight almost as a side benefit.
Additionally, you’ll cultivate fantastic energy, glowing skin, mental clarity, and profound wellness. You’ll learn a lot, get excited and inspired, discover great new things, and have expert support.
The program follows a gentle, luxurious pace. Slow and steady wins the race! In the first seven days, we build a strong self care foundation before we make a single change to our diets. During the second week, we start to make a few dietary shifts towards whole, unprocessed food. The third week is the official full cleanse week, with plenty of delicious food and self care the whole time. Finally, the fourth week is when we test for food sensitivities. Often it’s those hidden sensitivities that cause pesky health issues like low energy, weight gain, brain fog, sinus and skin issues, digestive woes, etc. This is a major key to well-being that most people miss.
You’ll get a content rich, inspiring email every morning, a 200+ page eBook with everything you need to know about the cleanse plus lots of bonuses, 150+ delicious cleanse friendly recipes, a Quick Start Guide that cuts to the chase, a private Facebook group to chat with me and other cleansers, a few optional live events including 2 conference calls, a shopping trip, and celebration dinner (if you’re local).
If this sounds like the perfect program for you right now, let’s take that step forward together – join the cleanse today! We can also stay connected on Facebook.
In our quest for health and vitality, we focus so much on the “input” that we forget the importance of the “output”. We can eat this, not eat that, take all these supplements, and stay hydrated, but if we’re not pooping regularly, we’re not going to achieve the wellness we are seeking.
Picture your fridge… you put all sorts of fresh veggies in the produce drawer. But if you don’t move them through there quickly enough, it’s all going to rot, make a mess and stink up the fridge, and you’re not going to benefit from all the nutrients the veggies contained.
Same with your digestive system… you eat all these luscious fruits and veggies, clean protein, fiber, healthy fats, etc. If you don’t digest them well and efficiently, they will in essence rot in your gut, and all the toxins and junk your body wanted to expel will get reabsorbed into your blood stream, causing a vicious cycle of toxicity and impaired function. There’s a reason you feel a little polluted when you’re constipated.
Health coaches will often ask their clients if they’re regular, and the client says oh yes, I go #2 regularly. Only later to find out that regular for that client meant once a week. No bueno! Some people have been irregular for so long they think it’s normal.
To be clear – regularity is a nice, easy, complete bowel movement every morning. There may be a sense of lightness, emptiness, and energy when you’re done. It’s okay and good to have another one later in the day too (which can happen if you’re really hydrated). Interestingly, how your poo looks can even reveal a lot about your health. Check out this handy, dandy doody chart!
If you’re not achieving nirvana on the throne, the top three common drivers of constipation include:
Low magnesium status. Magnesium is important for muscle contraction and relaxation, both of which are vital for good bowel movements. Low magnesium is unfortunately becoming more and more common as our soils are depleted of nutrients. Different forms of magnesium are helpful for different issues. Magnesium citrate is especially good for constipation (and can cause loose stools when taken in excess of your needs).
Low stomach acid. This is also very common (and in a bizarre twist of fate, can be the cause of acid reflux). One of the best ways to increase your stomach acid and improve digestion/elimination is to slow down, relax while you eat, and chew your food very well. If that doesn’t do the trick, try sipping apple cider vinegar during your meal or taking betaine HCl. (Best done under the guidance of an experienced health coach specializing in a functional medicine approach.)
Dehydration. Almost no one drinks enough water. The best way to stay hydrated is to drink a couple large glasses of room temperature water upon waking. Then sip water every half hour throughout the day. Try not to drink a lot immediately before or right after meals, so that you don’t dilute your precious digestive juices.
If you fully implement these three strategies and still suffer, you may wish to schedule a consultation with Charlotte Ott, our resident constipation expert. She loves talking about poopin’!
For a long time, Monsanto’s weedkiller glyphosate (the main component of Roundup) appeared to be nontoxic to humans. Consequently, farmers began using it liberally on their fields and crops, which rapidly increased residues in our food and water supply (especially on wheat). Unfortunately, a large and growing body of evidence suggests that glyphosate is causing a variety of serious chronic conditions, even at the “safe” levels we are all being exposed to.
Far from being an innocuous herbicide, glyphosate:
Is increasingly found in higher levels in our food and bodies, even in breast milk.
Is the most heavily applied herbicide in the world, with 1.8 million tons applied in the US alone.
This isn’t one of those cases where negative effects are only seen at unrealistically high intakes. A review published in 2016 in Environmental Health points out that there is “…evidence of heightened cancer risk in human populations at levels of exposure actually experienced in human populations” and that kidney and liver damage occurs “in the range of what are now generally considered ‘safe’ for humans”.
Conventional wheat is especially noxious because it is routinely doused with glyphosate at least three times during cultivation, with a heavy dose right before harvest. This final dose dramatically increases glyphosate residues in foods made with wheat.
Due to this cumulative data, at least 13 countries have banned or severely limited the use of glyphosate. The US is not one of them. Not only that, but the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for glyphosate in the US is almost six times higher than in the EU (1.75 vs 0.3 mg/kg body weight/day).
To avoid glyphosate-related health issues, especially if you already suffer from hormone imbalance, kidney impairment, fatty liver, digestive woes including Celiac, or food sensitivities, it would be wise to:
When eating wheat, alwaysbe sure it’s organic.
Minimize or eliminate wheat in general.
Choose organic produce as much as possible.
Avoid using the weedkiller Roundup in your yard or garden. You can absorb it through your skin and lungs.
In our next post, we’ll share some great alternatives to wheat!
I have a friend who smokes. Not all the time, but maybe a little more than “just when she’s out drinking”. She is polite about it, and doesn’t expose us to her second hand smoke. The rest of my friends don’t smoke, and as a whole, are vigorously and vocally anti-smoking. So as you might suspect, my smoking friend periodically gets a little well-intentioned flack from my anti-smoking friends.
At one point, she asked why it’s okay for all of us to get on her case about her occasional smoking, when it would be politically incorrect, mean, and hurtful for her to get on anyone else’s case for their unhealthy daily habits, like eating too much sugar, eating too much in general, not exercising, drinking too much alcohol, not prioritizing sleep, etc? You know, the kind of stuff we all do a little too much, a little too often. Are these things not as dangerous as cigarette smoke?
Well, dang. She had a point.
Dr David Katz, founding director of the Yale-Griffith Prevention Research center, said, “Children today will experience more chronic degenerative disease as a result of their poor eating habits than from cigarettes, alcohol and drugs combined.” Although he was talking about kids, research suggests that this probably applies to adults too. Quitting smoking is certainly low hanging fruit for improving health. But so is quitting sugar, and the like.
This conversation reminded me of the biblical quote about removing the log from your own eye before trying to remove the speck from someone else’s. So my take home message was this – when I find myself getting judgmental about my friend smoking, instead of getting on her case, telling her what she already knows, I’m going to ask myself, What’s MY “smoking” and what am I going to do about that?
What are your thoughts about this topic? Comment below!
Staying hydrated is so important, but we want to caution you about keeping packs of plastic water bottles in your car all summer. A recent study found 93% of all bottled water contains dissolved microplastics. The intense heat in the trunk of your car warms the plastic bottles, which causes even more plastic to dissolve into the water. These molecules have a wide array of unpleasant health effects, including disrupting your hormonal system. Do you and your family a huge favor, and fill up your Hydro Flasks or Life Factory bottles with nice cold water before you head out. It might not be as convenient, but health issues are even less convenient!
