Dr. Ritamarie's Fresh'n Fun Living Blog

New Raw and Living Foods Salad Dressings Book

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on July 31, 2009 – -

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Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Cleansing Programs, Exhaustion, Gluten Free recipes, Kids Health, Living Foods, Raw Foods, Raw and Living Foods | 1 Comment »

Fermented Foods and Sprouts: Foods for Overcoming Chronic Fatigue and Exhaustion and Achieving Strength and Longevity

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on June 26, 2009 – -

Most people don’t consider treating their chronic fatigue and exhaustion from their kitchen, yet there is magic and medicine in 2 very powerful foods that can be grown and made at home.  Two of the healthiest foods on earth…sprouts and cultured vegetables…have rekindled a place on my dinner table.

During our Get Your Green On Class, Chef Alicia got me motivated to try my hand again at sprouting.  She made it look so easy, and the sprouts were delicious and energizing.  The video recordings of the class are available at http://www.drritamarie.com/GreenClass.

In addition to demystifying the sprouting process, Alicia shared her  amazing recipe for Sprouts Salad with Tex Mex Dressing.  I could eat it all day.  In addition to 5 hours of recordings, all divided into 15 minute segments for your convenience, you’ll get a 50 page green recipe and resource guide, filled with instructions for greenifying your diet.  Become a greenitarian and get instant access to this life changing class.  fatigue and exhaustion will become distant memories when you learn to eat this way.

I really enjoyed the fermented foods class I attended earlier this week, taught by Lila Wilds, Healthy Living Practitioner, and Judith Henderson, Master Chef.

I brought home a jar each of

• Coconut Kefir
• Cultured Vegetables
• Kim chi.

These live foods,  rich in friendly bacteria, vitamins and enzymes are valuable additions to your daily diet.  It’s easy for your gut to get out of balance.  Things like birth control pills, antibiotics, steroid medications, antibiotics in commercially raised meat and dairy, sugar, processed foods and environmental toxins contribute to the loss of normal gut flora (microorganisms) and to overall decline in digestive function.  This can result in health challenges ranging from bloating and gas to arthritis, fibromyalgia and even cancer.

Incorporating fermented foods daily will help restore your healthy intestinal flora.  healthy flora is important for synthesis of B-vitamins, digestion of food and protection from unwanted critters down there.

Cultured vegetables are so easy to make.  Simply cut up a bunch of your favorite vegetables (I like to include kale or other dark green, sea vegetables, cabbage,  and carrots, along with herbs like ginger, garlic, and cayenne.  The possibilities are endless.  Grate the vegetables or cut them into small chunks then bruise them by smashing with a potato masher or even a clean wooden baseball bat.  Massaging with your hands works too,  and it’s a good workout.

Add some kefir starter, cultured vegetable starter or probiotics and let sit for 3-4 days.  i love the taste, and could eat them all day.

The combination pf sprouts and cultured vegetables can’t help but get your energy strong and your mind clear.  Try it and let me know how it goes.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

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Energizing Raw Vegan Chocolate Pudding Recipe

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on May 29, 2009 – -

I made up this recipe this evening and had to share.  My 10 year old son Kevin loved it.

Choco Coco Pudding Bliss

• 1 young thai coconut
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder
• 4-5 dates, pitted
• 2 vanilla beans or 1/2 – 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract
• 1 tespoon spirulina (optional)
• cacao nibs and shredded coconut for decoration

Put the coconut flesh, cacao powder, vanilla and dates in blender.  Add 1/2 cup coconut water. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Stir in the spirulina if desired.

Top with a few cacao nibs and shredded coconut.

Oooh and Ahh with pleasure.

Please comment below and let me know what you think.  Kevin’s only comment when he tasted it was “WOW”.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

www.drritamarie.com

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Green Smoothie Cleansing Programs for Combatting Post-Holiday Exhaustion

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on January 14, 2009 – -

I am leading a group of 78 people through a Green Smoothie Cleanse. Cleansing is a great way to start off the new year. The stress and excessive eating of the holidays is a leading cause of post holiday weight gain, Adrenal fatigue and exhaustion and digestive problems. Cleansing can maximize your energy and clear your system of accumulated toxins.

The way I do the cleanse, without any fats, helps rest and rejuvenate the liver.  One of my past cleanse participants told me last week that during the last cleanse she did with me, her autoimmune symptoms disappeared and she had so much energy she was bouncing through her day.  That’s big.  I only had space to post a few of the many success stories on the Green Smoothie Cleanse web page. There are so many exciting stories, that I may just create a separate page so I can share all of them.

To get started with green smoothies, you need a blender, some greens and some fruit.  You can follow recipes or make up your own.  The Green Cleanse Recipe Guide and Menu Planner has over 50 recipes, plus instructions on making up your own.  I have a new book I’ll be releasing this year that has over 150 green smoothie variations.

Here’s a delicious one I has yesterday.  This makes almost a whole Vitamix full (64 ounces), so if you have a smaller blender, cut it in half.

Tropical Cherry Paradise

• 1/2 a pineapple, skin removed
• 1 mango
• 1 cup frozen cherries
• 1 cup frozen peaches
• 4 handfuls pre-washed baby spinach (about 1/2 of a 1 pound tub)
  
• a few dandelion leaves

Blend and serve.  I didn’t add any water to keep it thick.  Thin with water to your preferred consistency.

For a FREE collection of  green smoothie recipes visit www.GreenSmoothieCleanse.com and put your name and email address into the box to the right.

How to Make a Non-Sweet Green Smoothie

I’m often asked by people who have blood sugar problems and candida overgrowth how to make a green smoothie without fruit.  I usually call them green soups, and I make them very often.  Take a look at this you-tube video of me demonstrating how to make one of my favorites, Italian Green Soup.  A have a book of Soup Recipes that’s packed with highly nutritious, hearty recipes that are great for winter nights.

If you’re not already a Green Smoothie addict, go ahead and try one.  They are delicious, energizing and an amazing way to provide your body with a powerhouse of nutrients.

What’s your experience with green smoothies?  Do you have a favorite green smoothie recipe?  Go ahead and share in the comments field.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

http://www.FreshnFunLiving.com

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From Fatigued to Energized: Detoxification and Cleansing Programs to Restore Vibrant Health

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo on January 10, 2009 – -

You have a right to feel good. You can and will experience vibrant health as soon as you identify and remove the obstacles that have been in your way –  the ones that leave you with feelings of fatigue, discouragement and chronic exhaustion.

You live in a toxic world.  You’re surrounded by a sea of  pollutants, synthetic hormones, and cancer-causing chemicals.  These toxins stress your organs and leave your immune system weakened.  It’s no wonder you’re not feeling as good as you’d like to feel.

The good news is that you can take steps to enhance your body’s ability to detoxify, allowing you to lead a healthier life with a lower risk of developing cancer, autoimmune conditions and other debilitating diseases.

Periodic deep cleaning is a desirable thing.  You do it to your home, your car, even your pets, if you have them. Yet you may never have even thought about doing a periodic cleansing of your internal organs.

Throughout the ages, various forms of cleansing have been used.  Water and juice fasting are among the most rigorous methods.  A variety of potions and powders have been developed to cleanse the colon and the liver. The Master Cleanse is one of the more popular cleansing programs of our modern time.

Many of these cleansing methods work well. All have advantages and disadvantages.  None works perfectly for everyone. Genetic makeup, body type, activity level, work and family demands, and stress level are amongst the factors that play into how successful any given cleansing method will be for an individual at any given time.

All types of cleanses have similar goals.  Each program serves to give your digestive system a rest while enhancing your ability to release toxins.   Exercising to the point of perspiration, as in brisk walking, jogging or cycling,  is a very important part of any cleansing program.   Sweating, dry skin brushing, loofa scrubbing, and saunas are excellent ways to enhance detoxification and  stimulate the elimination of toxins through the skin,  your largest organ of elimination.  Giving the liver a rest by reducing or eliminating fat from your diet frees it up to more efficiently remove toxins from your blood.

A large percentage of your body’s daily work is digesting food. When you’re digesting complex foods, other vital functions, like growth and repair, slow down. The result of continually eating hard to digest, low nutrient density foods is a slow breakdown of your body’s organs and a decline in function.

I’ve done lots of cleansing programs, ranging from straight water fasting for 28 days to various herbal regimes with lots of potions and pills and a complicated schedule of supplementation and procedures.  By far my favorite is a Green Smoothie Cleanse, during which the only nourishment I take in is in the form of delicious blended green drinks, loaded with phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals and easily digested amino acids.

After I did the green smoothie cleansing program myself a few times, I had such good results that I decided to share it.  Since the hardest part of the program is staying committed to doing it, I decided to provide support in the form of an online forum, daily email and audio movitvation, teleseminars, books and recipe guides and digital recordings.

This program started out as a one week regime of drinking green smoothies in place of your regular meals with the intent of providing high nutrient density with minimal digestive expenditure. Because the smoothies contain little or no fat, your liver and gallbladder get a break.  Because you’re   drinking your foods, rather than eating them, your digestive track has very little work to do.  As a result, you have a lot of free cycles left over to focus on the highly lucrative job of growth and repair.  All the extra energy you save by freeing up your digestive system allows your body to focus on cleansing and repair.

There are now three variations of the program, to address the needs of beginner and advance cleansers alike.  The beginner version of the program calls for replacing 1 or 2 meals with green smoothies and making healthy choices at the other meals.

Because there are no fancy or expensive potions and pills, and there is plenty of nourishment, this kind of cleanse can be fit into your busy schedule.  Teachers, athletes, doctors, lawyers, massage therapists, writers, busy moms and executives have all joined me on this program with great success.  I even had a couple of triathletes join the program and continue to exercise intently.

While it is easy in theory to do this on your own, there is something about the accountability that keeps people coming back to do it again and again.  Personally, I like to do green smoothie cleanses once every 2 months and a green juice cleanse once a year.  I feel like that really helps to give me the energy to lead the busy life that I do.

I’m trying an experiment this time around.  I designed a pre and post cleanse menu plan to help make the transition to the cleanse a bit easier.  This around, I’ll be offering a continuation of the coaching and support through one week of post cleanse eating.

Each time I conduct a cleanse, I’m joined by 50 to 60 health seekers.  My vision is to one day branch out and have thousands of people around the globe giving themselves the gift of internal cleansing together during a one week green smoothie cleanse.

My next Green Smoothie Cleanse starts MondayJanuary 12.  I have some special teleseminar guests lined up, and one will be sharing techniques to help overcome emotional eating.

I prepared a quick video to show you the materials I include in the program.

http://screencast.com/t/n9jfUvin5v

You can sign up at http://www.GreenSmoothieCleanse.com

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

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