Cleansing and Detoxification: Spring Cleansing Strategies

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Spring is the season of renewal and rebirth.

The earth comes to life again after a long winter off.

Flowers begin to bloom; trees begin to get leaves.

Your body begins to come alive and awake again after a winter of slow-down.

A great way to shed the sluggishness of winter and add some spring to your step is by doing a spring cleaning of your insides.

Reducing the Toxic Load

An effective cleansing plan must start with what I call “reducing the toxic load”.  No matter how many special detox teas you drink or potions or pills you take, if you don’t reduce the toxic load, both during the cleanse and afterward, your success will be short lived.

During a cleanse, you need to eliminate toxic chemicals in food, water and in the air.  If you decide to follow a cleanse regime that does not involve cleaning up your diet and environment, you are unlikely to see lasting results.  Once you stop the cleansing supplements, your body will soon return to the toxic state it was in when you started.

Foods to avoid while cleansing include all processed foods (just about everything that comes in a box, can, or bag); oils (with the exceptions perhaps of cold pressed olive, coconut, or flax oil); plus wheat, gluten, sugar, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, and peanuts. These last foods are all potential allergens or digestive irritants and thus can thwart the cleansing process.

An effective detox diet plan must also eliminate foods that are difficult to digest like high fat foods, starches, and complex recipes containing a combination of starch or sugar and fat.

 

Choose the Cleanse That’s Right For You

There as many effective cleansing plans as there are cleansers. That’s why on my Energy Recharge Green Cleanse I offer guidelines and ways to customize. Those who are ready to dive in head first follow Option A, which is the most rigorous plan, while others opt for some variation of B and C, which allow for more flexibility in meal planning.

When I first started my Energy Recharge Green Cleanse (ERGC) back in January 2008, there were very few online cleanses.

Now there are dozens, each one with its own special twist on the cleansing process. Some are food only; many involve a variety of products. A few, like my ERGC, are fully supported and include several support calls and a forum. My ERCG is one of the very few that includes daily journals that allow you to get feedback and support.

Regardless of how you get supported, I feel it’s critical to the success of your cleanse to have a support system in place. It’s a rare person that’s so dedicated and disciplined as to be able to engage successfully in a cleanse and see it through to the end with its emotional ups and downs, temptations to quit, and unpredictable effects in terms of detoxification symptoms.

 

Learning More About Detox Symptoms

On my blog talk radio show episode, Cleansing and Detoxification Strategies for Spring I discuss the concept of “detox symptoms” — what they are, and why they happen.

I also talk about the pros and cons of a variety of cleansing methods, including fasting, juicing, blending, potions and pills, and just eating whole fresh foods for cleansing so you can determine what’s right for you.

There are some foods that are especially good for cleansing. On the show, I went into detail about my top 5 favorite detox foods. These are described below.

There are many cleanses on the market today. There are potions and pills and herbal remedies. While these sorts of cleanses can be very effective, they can also be complicated and expensive.

I personally prefer food based cleanses.

On my blog talk radio show episode, Cleansing and Detoxification Strategies for Spring I discuss the concept of “detox symptoms”, what they are and why they happen.

I also talk about the pros and cons of a variety of cleansing methods, including fasting, juicing, blending, potions and pills and just eating whole fresh foods for cleansing so you can determine what’s right for you.  There are some foods that are especially good for cleansing.  On the show, I went into detail about my top 5 favorites.  These are also described below.

There are many cleanses on the market today. There are potions and pills and herbal remedies. While these sorts of cleanses can be very effective, they can also be complicated and expensive.

I personally prefer food based cleanses.

 

My Top 5 Cleansing Foods

Dandelion

Dandelion is a common “weed” that grows abundantly on lawns, in fields and along highways.  It’s known for the wispy sprays that top the stem after the flower dies away.  As I kid, I loved to blow on them.  It was said to be good luck if you could blow all the wisps away with one breath.

I later came to discover that dandelions are one of nature’s most powerful plants.  They are part of the sunflower family, another of my favorite plants growing up.

There are about 100 species of dandelion.  The entire plant is an effective cleanser.

The root is a common ingredient in detox teas and it stimulates the bile and liver.  It also acts as a diuretic and stimulates the release of toxins via your urine.

The leaves are cleansing and nourishing additions to salads, smoothies and soups.  A little goes a long way.  The bitter flavor stimulates the release of stomach acid and bile, which is why herbalists call dandelion a hepatic.

It’s also considered an aperient (gently moves the bowels), diuretic (makes you pee), tonic, and stomachic. It is useful with all kinds of conditions involving kidney, liver, gallbladder and inflammation of the bowels. The fresh root is good for helping with gallstones, jaundice, alcoholism, hepatitis, scurvy, and especially enlargement of the liver and spleen. Dandelion is also a tonic for female reproductive congestion.

 

 Burdock Root (Arctium lappa)

Burdock is a powerful detoxifier. It’s also a delicious food that can be added to soups, salads, stews, smoothies and stir-fries.

It’s considered by herbalists to be a deep cleaner for it stimulates the release of toxins through sweat, urine and feces.   It can also help lower your blood pressure.  In Healing with Whole Foods Paul Pitchford writes, “(Burdock) is a virtual cure-all for conditions of excess, and significantly purifies the blood while reducing fat and regulating blood sugar.”

In the West, burdock is known to cleanse the blood, and is useful in situations such as exposure to environmental toxins such as cigarette smoke or air pollution, heavy metals such as mercury, lead or arsenic, and chronic bacterial or viral infections.

In macrobiotic tradition, a popular way to use burdock is cut into match stick sized pieces with equal parts carrot and sautéed in sesame oil.  The resulting dish, called kinpura, is considered a deeply cleansing food.

 

 Avocados

We rarely think of avocados as a cleansing food but these nutritional powerhouses lower cholesterol and dilate blood vessels while blocking artery-destroying toxicity.

Avocados contain a nutrient called “glutathione”, a potent antioxidant enzyme that is used by your liver in phase 2 detoxification reactions.

According to the human genome project research, glutathione tends to be low due to genetics in almost 50% of the population due to a single nucleotide polymorphism (an alteration in a gene).  The enzyme glutathione-S-transferase, responsible for making glutathione, is missing or deficient in close to 50% of the population.

Glutathione is a master antioxidant that’s important for detoxification of synthetic chemicals, for blocking at least thirty different carcinogens and for increasing the activity of the most important aspect of liver detoxification, the phase 2 cytochrome P450 system.

 

 Cruciferous Vegetables and Leafy Greens

The foods in this detox category include kale, collard greens, dandelion, arugula, spinach, chard, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli sprouts and Brussels sprouts and many more.

Green foods are powerful allies in cleansing your liver by providing a plethora of minerals, antioxidants and cofactors that support liver detox pathways.  Greens are abundant in chlorophyll which has the ability to suck up environmental toxins from your blood stream and neutralize heavy metals, chemicals and pesticides. They are also cleansing to your colon as they provide an abundance of fiber to “sweep” your digestive tract clean.

Crucifers and leafy greens can be eaten raw, cooked or juiced. They can be blended to make smoothies, soups and salad dressings, marinated, processed with nuts and seeds to make crackers and bread, and eaten whole, dipped in guacamole or a healthy dip.  Leafy greens make tasty wraps, a cleansing alternative to tortillas, pita bread, sandwich bread and other popular grain based processed wraps and tortilla shells.

Bitter greens like arugula, dandelion greens, mustard greens and chicory help increase the creation and flow of bile and aid in the removal of waste from your organs and blood.

 

Turmeric

Turmeric is a bitter spice used extensively in East Indian cooking.  It contains a chemical constituent called “curcumin” that helps cleanse your liver, purify your blood, and promote good digestion and elimination. It stimulates your gallbladder to produce bile and scavenges free radicals. The spice is aromatic and has a bitter taste. The plant, which grows five to six feet tall, is found in tropical regions throughout Southern Asia; its fingerlike stalk contains the spice’s healing agents.

Turmeric has been shown to be a potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agent.  It has been shown to increase two very important liver detoxification enzymes, UDP glucuronyl transferase and glutathione-S-transferase.  Turmeric has also been found to inhibit free radical damage of fats and, prevent the formation of the inflammatory chemical cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2).

When rats were fed curcumin, the active constituent of turmeric, for 14 days, glutathione-S-transferase production increased by 16%, and a marker of free radical damage called malondialdehyde decreased by 36%.

Turmeric looks similar to ginger, except that it’s bright orange and the roots are smaller.  It’s what gives curry its characteristic bright yellow color.

 

The Energy Recharge Green Cleanse

My Energy Recharge Green Cleanse is a food based cleanse, although you can supplement with detox herbs and formulas if desired, but it’s not required.

Whether you live in a small town in the Midwest or a bustling metropolitan area, you have access to grocery stores and can get an abundance of fresh produce. That’s all you need, along with a blender, to do my Energy Recharge Green Cleanse.

We currently have over 100 people ready to begin their cleanse on Monday. They’ve been busily preparing by simplifying their food choices and increasing their green foods.

It’s not too late to join!

The spring 2012 Energy Recharge Green Cleanse begins on Monday, April 23rd.

It includes recipes, menu plans, recordings and support calls for guidance and detailed instructions.  There’s a community forum to provide support and accountability, as well as a sharing of recipes and resources.

Click HERE for details and to decide if the Energy Recharge Green Cleanse is just what you need to sweep out the cobwebs and jumpstart your body into vibrant health.  And a side benefit is a flatter belly, a clearer mind and enough energy for all the things you love.

I look forward to getting to know you during the next Energy Recharge Green Cleanse.

Love, Health and Joy,

 

 

 

Dr. Ritamarie

P.S.  As a bonus when you register for the Energy Recharge Green Cleanse you’ll also get three months of ongoing support from me through our Eat Green be Lean Community.

Click HERE to get details and join in.

 

Super Cleanse Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 3/4 bunch of parsley with some stems
• 1 handful arugula
• 1 handful kale
• 1 handful broccoli sprouts
• 3 leaves dandelion greens
• 1/4-inch slice turmeric
• 1/2-inch slice ginger
• 1-inch slice burdock root
• 1/2 – 1 avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1 green apple, cored (optional)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 teaspoon milk thistle seed powder (optional)
• enough water to blend

Directions:

Blend and enjoy.

Hot and Cleansing Liver Juice

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch kale
• 3 leaves dandelion
• 1 cucumber
• 1 small sliver of fresh turmeric (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 green onions (scallions)
• 1 handful broccoli sprouts
• 1 pinch cayenne
• 3-inch piece of burdock root

Directions:

Run all the ingredients above through a juicer.

Benefits to the Body:

This juice is the ideal liver cleanser.  It’s stimulating and does powerful work to keep your liver functioning at its best.

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: 7 day cleanse, 7 day detox, burdock root, cleansing, cruciferous, dandelion, detox, detox foods, detox recipe, detoxification, Dr. Ritamarie, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, energy recharge, Energy Recharge Green Cleanse, Green Cleanse, green leafy vegetables, green smoothie, green smoothie green cleanse, green smoothie recipe, spring cleanse, toxicity, turmeric
Posted in Cleansing Programs, Detox Program, Raw Food Recipes

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Flatten Your Belly with Simple and effective summer cleansing smoothie strategies

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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As I get ready for my quarterly Green Smoothie Cleanse, I’ve been pondering the concept of time.

Somehow it seems there is never quite enough time to complete all I would like to do.One way I buy back some time is by doing cleanses.  That may seem like a strange comment.

Let me explain

Have you ever calculated how much time it takes you to plan meals, make meals, eat meals and clean up after meals?  There is a bit of a time investment.  Even if you’re eating out a lot, thinking you don’t have the time to prepare your own meals, the time savings is not that as great as you think, considering you have to drive to a restaurant, order the food, wait for it to arrive, eat it, pay for it and drive home.  Even the fast food drive through concept takes time, and unless you eat while driving, there’s still the time it takes to chew your meal.

Some cleanses save time, some require additional time.

Water fasts require the least amount of time at all.  No prep, no cleanup.  The problem with water fasts is that your metabolism slows down and you can’t quite accomplish all that you might when you’re eating.  The good news about fasting is that your appetite goes away after about four days.

Juice cleanses are the most time consuming, especially if you’re dedicated to drinking the 3-4 quarts a day of juice generally recommended to cleanse effectively.  It takes me the better part of an hour per quart to prepare the foods for juicing, juice and cleanup.  Juicing is similar to water fasting in that your metabolism slows down and different in that you feel hungry all the time.  My experience is that my appetite doesn’t go away after four days as with fasting.  The lower energy makes me less productive.

Cleanses that require potions and powders, enemas and other cleansing rituals are very effective but it’s very time consuming to make all the potions, do the enemas and cleansing rituals, meditate  and rest in between as suggested.  I once read about a cleanse that sounded great, and I was all ready to begin.  Unfortunately it required several enemas a day, cleansing baths, skin brushing and other rituals, in addition to special teas, drinks and foods.  The only way I could have done it was to take time off.

Of course, the most effective cleansing occurs when you take a break from your day to day and dedicate your time to the cleansing process.  I did 28 day supervised water fast once. I was at a health center and all I did was drink water, rest, walk a bit and read.  It changed my life.  I highly recommend that everyone take a month to cleanse sometime.  It’s the best.

Unfortunately, not everyone has that opportunity, so we fit periodic cleansing into our day to day routine.

That’s why my current cleanse of choice is a green smoothie cleanse.  It may not be as deep a cleanse as a water or juice fast, but it certainly has amazing results.

Every 3 months, I take a 7 day break from chewing and fats and I drink green smoothies
morning, noon and night.  I have plenty of energy to work, exercise and enjoy my family.  I save precious hours of food prep, chewing and cleanup.  Smoothies are easy to make, quick to clean up after and take a lot less time to consume than the equivalent quantity of fresh produce would take to eat.

 

When you make them as I suggest, between 40 and 60% green and 40 – 60% fruit, they provide an abundance of minerals, amino acids and anti-oxidants.  Leaving out the fat gives you’re a liver a break and allows it to devote more cycles to cleansing.

I lead my very first online green smoothie cleanse about 4 years ago, informally with about 25 people.  It was so successful I created an official program with recipes, menu plans, shopping lists and lots of bonuses.

It’s evolved now to a full website with videos, audios, a support forum, bonuses, and daily journals and coaching questions.

I’m getting ready to lead another cleanse starting Monday, and I am so ready.

This cleanse will be a bit different for me in that I’ll be in Tucson, staying at my sister’s house.  She’s done my Green Cleanse before, and she’s excited that she’ll get to do it with me in person.

We kick off on Monday evening, with a teleseminar called:

“The Art of Cleansing with Greens- Putting Your Best Food First to Get Started “

Later in the week we’ll have a teleseminar called “Gut Healing Secrets” and I’ll do some Spotlight Coaching and answer your questions.

Our last teleseminar of the cleanse is “Eating Healthy in The Real World: Tips and Tricks for Taming Emotional and Social Eating and Living in a Body You Love”

The cleanse includes full access the calls and all the materials, coaching, recipes and guidance of for a full  7 days.

For a limited time, we’re including these extra bonuses:

Early Bonus 1: Eliminate the Gluten and Accelerate Your Health – a special report containing information and inspiration packed articles, recipes and foods to avoid lists for gluten free diets.

Early Bonus 2: Balancing Your Hormones Recording -  A 90 minute audio class in mp3 format containing diet and lifestyle tips for optimal weight, vibrant energy, strength, stamina, and joyful longevity.

Early Bonus 3: Balancing Your Hormones Power Point Presentation – A pdf file containing the slides that accompany the 90 minute audio class.

Early Bonus 4: Balancing Your Hormones e-book – Complete written transcripts of the entire 90 minute Balancing Your Hormones audio, as an e-book in PDF format.

Please comment below and answer these questions:

Have you ever cleansed?  If so, what’s your favorite way?

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: cleansing, cleansing strategies, detoxification, DrRitamarie, green smoothie, green smoothie cleanse, loscalzo, Raw Foods, raw foods cleanse
Posted in Cleansing Programs, Green Smoothies, Raw Foods

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Reduce Belly Fat and Brain Fog Strategy2: The Magic of Burst Training Exercise

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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In a previous post I discussed  7 of my favorite strategies for reducing brain fog and reducing excess belly fat.  These are:

1. Get a handle on stress.
2. Burst exercise
3. Regulate your Blood Sugar
4. Eat a Nutrient dense diet rich in whole, raw plant foods and test nutrient levels and function regularly
5. Balance  Your Immune system, avoid allergens and eat a Gluten Free Diet
6. Get sufficient high quality  Sleep
7. Incorporate regular Cleansing and Detoxification, like a 7 day green cleanse every quarter.

As you know, I am a big fan of exercise. Not only do I LOVE to move my body and work up a sweat, I recognize just how important it is as a  vibrant health solution.

I all too often see people who are struggling with their health, in spite of eating a pretty clean and nutritious diet.

When I ask them about their exercise, they often reply,”Exercise? I don’t have time for exercise!”

Let me ask you this. If you were building a house would you follow standard protocols for housebuilding and include all the parts needed to create a sturdy house, like foundation, sub-flooring, floor, studs, wall boards, sheet-rock, roof…etc?

Or would you decide you didn’t have time to put in the wall beams and go right to sheet-rock? Unlikely! The house would lose some of it’s integrity if you did. In fact, it would most likely fall down with a huff and a puff just like the first two houses in the 3 little pigs story.

When you are working on building or rebuilding a strong and healthy body, you CAN’T omit any of the important ingredients.

Exercise, unfortunately, is the one that falls by the wayside most quickly.

BUSY PERSON’S GUIDE TO EXERCISE

One of the best ways to get started is what’s called burst training.

Burst training has become one of my absolute favorite methods of exercise.  What this entails is short bursts, between 30 and 60 seconds, of extremely intense exercise.  It needs to be at intensity that you cannot continue past 60 seconds.  I prefer 30 second bursts.

Research shows that 30 seconds of full out exercise to the point of panting induces the equivalent amount of growth hormone as does 30 minutes of aerobic exercise.  The good news is that the growth hormone surge lasts up to 90 minutes.  Growth hormone, in a nutshell, it stimulates growth, cell reproduction and regeneration.  It stimulates the building of muscle and the burning of fat.  Burst training is also good at regulating blood sugar and insulin levels

In a nutshell, research has shown that 30 seconds of maximum intensity exercise increases growth hormone and decreases insulin as effectively as 30 minutes of aerobics. An added benefit is that growth hormone stays elevated for 90 minutes.

The TIMER SYSTEM FOR EXERCISE

I set a timer to go off every hour to remind me to do 1 minute of exercise. The first 15 seconds is warm up, the next 30-40 seconds are all out full intensity that leaves me panting and then a cool down of 10 – 15 seconds.

My favorite bursts are my small stair climber and running up and down the stairs with a 10 pound medicine ball. My video will show you how I do it.

The other day I also decided I would like to be able to do 100 push-ups without stopping. Right now I can get to 29.

SO what I do is as many push-ups as I can several times throughout the day. For the past three days, while on a green cleanse, I’ve done between 100 and 110 push-ups each day.

Start with doing as many as you can. Decide what your goal is and do that many throughout the day. Your strength will increase the more you keep it up. Each exercise session is short and sweet. You can fit it into even the busiest schedule.

Another resource for getting started on an exercise program is a new virtual event called  “Women Getting Fit”

I’ve been invited to be part of this unique series, organized by my friend Michelle Melendez, a personal trainer and fitness instructor.

I met Michelle at a holistic practitioners seminar and was impressed by how fit she looks as well as her passion to get people moving.

The event is free and runs from March 8 through April 14. There are 2 calls a week, so you can easily fit it into your busy schedule.  My talk is scheduled for March 17.

Michelle Melendez, the founder of  the “Women Getting Fit” Wellness Teleseries, starts off the event with “Three Big MistakesYou Make When Starting An Exercise Program.

Love, health and Joy,

 

Dr. Ritamarie

 

P.S. The best way to start an exercise program is to just DO IT.

Start with 5 minutes a day and increase at your own pace.

Get motivated, educated and inspired so you can start an exercise program you love!

Today’s Question:

What’s your favorite form of movement?

Tags: allergens, belly fat, blood sugar, brain fog, burst exercise, detoxification, Gluten Free Diet, how to exercise, push-ups, Vibrant Health
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Articles, Brain Fog, Fitness and Exercise, Reduce Belly Fat

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Reduce Belly Fat and Brain Fog: Adrenal Gland and Stress Connection

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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7 of my favorite strategies for reducing brain fog and reducing excess belly fat were outlined in a previous post .

1. Get a handle on stress.
2. Burst exercise
3. Regulate your Blood Sugar
4. Eat a Nutrient dense diet rich in whole, raw plant foods and test nutrient levels and function regularly
5. Balance  Your Immune system, avoid allergens and eat a Gluten Free Diet
6. Get sufficient high quality  Sleep
7. Incorporate regular Cleansing and Detoxification, like a 7 day green cleanse every quarter.

Today’s post discusses getting a handle on stress to reduce belly fat and brain fog.

It should be no surprise that managing stress tops my list of brain fog and belly fat reducing strategies.

Face it.  Stress happens.  You can’t necessarily control the external circumstances.  You can control your response to them.

When you’re stressed, your adrenal glands produce adrenaline and cortisol.  Adrenaline is responsible for helping you to perform heroically, like in the story of the mom who lifts a car off her child.

Cortisol rises more slowly than adrenaline and lasts longer.

One of it’s jobs is to cause fat to be released from storage and turned into sugar…which is a very good thing if you’re running away from a tiger.   It also causes you to become more efficient at burning fat for energy – you’re not going to be able to refuel while in pursuit by a hungry animal.

Since most modern day stressors don’t require physical exertion, like getting stuck in traffic, financial concerns, an over demanding boss, or  juggling children’s activities cortisol can work to your disadvantage.   When your fat stores are released and turned into sugar, the lack of physical exertion causes your blood sugar levels to rise, which causes extra insulin to be released.  Insulin triggers the extra sugar to be converted back into fat because you don’t need it in your sedentary life.

Most of the fat is stored on your waist.

Then there’s the effect of  cortisol on your brain, explained in detail in the 7 Strategies to reduce belly fat and brain fog.

Managing your stress levels, and reducing the amount of time you spend in fight flight mode, also known as sympathetic nervous system dominance, is mandatory if you would like to reduce belly fat and brain fog.

It takes some retraining, yet I know from both personal and clinical experience that it can happen.  One of the easiest practices you can start is breathing and appreciation.

With an investment of as little as 3 minutes a day, you can create a breathing and appreciation practice that can transform the negative effects of stress to highly beneficial ones.

The best description of this is on the Heart Math website.  I’ve been employing these methods for years and have taught them to thousands of patients and clients.  The results are miraculous.

I’ve taught this technique to many patients and students with great success and even have a recorded teleseminar and work book available to guide you through it.

Other practices that can help you dissipate the negative effects of stress are yoga, meditation, massage, Reiki and tapping, also known as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) .

It’s important that you find a method that works for YOU.  My personality and lifestyle is such that Heart Math works better for me than meditation and yoga because I need only invest small amounts of time throughout the day and I can do it while I do other things.  It’s the best technique for all of us chronic multitaskers!

The next article in this sequence is Reduce Belly Fat and Brain Fog:  Blood Sugar Level Regulation

Tags: adrenal exhaustion, Adrenal Fatigue, adrenal glands, belly fat, blood sugar levels, brain fog, cortisol, detoxification, DrRitamarie, Gluten Free Diet, immune system, insulin, loscalzo, managing stress
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Brain Fog, Chronic Stress, Reduce Belly Fat

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Adrenal Fatigue: 3 Tips to Make Your Weekend Count

Written by Ritamarie Loscalzo

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Adrenal fatigue is estimated to affect 80% of women at some point in their lives.  That’s 4 out of 5 women who’ll experience exhaustion of a key gland pair – the adrenals.

You’re not alone if you feel frazzled and exhausted by the end of the work week.  While our fast paced age of technology has done wonders for keeping us connected like never before, it comes with a price.

Used to be you only got your adrenals fired up when tigers and lions were chasing you.  As soon as the threat was handled, your adrenals would settle down and you’d return to a calmer and more steady pace.

When you’re at work, managing the tigers of deadlines, unhappy customers, unruly students and the abundance of stressors that frequent your day to day life, your nervous system operates from a state called sympathetic dominance. When you meditate, rest, do yoga and take time to “smell the roses”  you operate from parasympathetic dominance.

Who cares?

You need to if you desire to be focused instead of foggy, energetic instead of exhausted and  fit instead of fat.

You see, in sympathetic dominant mode, your digestion slows down, the valves between the various parts of your digestive tract tighten (leading to constipation and abdominal discomfort), and the high level thinking part of your brain, the prefrontal cortex, is inhibited, your hippocampus, gate keeper of your short term memory,  gets damaged and DHEA, sometimes called the anti-aging hormone, decreases.  The end result is you feel bloated, foggy headed and worn down.

In parasympethic dominant mode, the opposite happens.  Your digestion becomes more efficient,  your prefrontal cortex is enhanced, your hippocampus repairs and DHEA increases. As a result you feel calm, clear headed and focused and young.

By you may be wondering how to lengthen your stay in parasympathetic dominance.

Start by using my 3 tips to make your weekend count.  They will put you into parasympathetic dominance and enable you to rejuvenate before starting the hectic pace all over again on Monday.

Make the weekend count by using it to regroup and give yourself the gift of self care.

1- Set aside 30 minutes for you! Go ahead and look at your calendar and schedule it in.  And KEEP the appointment with yourself.  Do something you love to do.  Take a bath, lay in the sun, read a book…just do something that’s strictly for you.  You’ll feel rejuvenated as a result.

2- Take time several times a day to express appreciation to someone, to yourself or to the universe for the blessings in your life.  Studies have shown that 30 seconds of appreciation is the most effective means of restoring balance to your system.  The Institute of Heartmath has performed dozens of studies on the benefits of appreciation.

3- Take some extra time to sweat. Yes, sweat.  When researchers analyzed the sweat of participants after exercise,  they found it loaded with toxins.  Exerting to the point of a good sweat has many benefits with regards to cardiovascular health, hormone balance and detoxification.  And surprisingly they found that the sweat after running for 30 minutes was more full of toxins than the sweat produced in a sauna. If you use your weekend to sweat away toxins, you’ll feel more focused and peaceful when you start the week again.

If you find yourself thinking, “I already know that”  in response to the simplicity of these tips, ask yourself this:  “Am I taking action?”

Many of the people I work with in group programs and individually are looking for the more glamorous solutions to their health challenges and fail to handle the underlying sympathetic dominance.

Sympathetic dominance is a real problem. No matter what herbs, supplements and foods you eat to support your tired adrenals, if you just keep forcing them to work hard, you won’t be able to restore them.  And burned out adrenals can lead to thyroid issues, hormone imbalances, insulin resistance –which contributes to excess belly fat— and chronic fatigue.

I urge you to slow down and use the weekend to restore balance.  Once you get that piece wired, we can talk about how to increase your parasympathetic dominance during the week.

To find out the impact of sympathetic dominance on your health, you can answer a set of questions, check physical signs, look at a few markers in routine blood work and even order specialized hormone tests.

In my new course, Assess Your Own Body Chemistry I teach how to evaluate for signs of nutritional deficiency and hormonal imbalance.

Love, Health and Gratitude,

Dr. Ritamarie

Tags: Adrenal Fatigue, appreciation, chronic fatigue, detox, detoxification, digestion, digestive tract, Dr. Ritamarie, DrRitamarie, health challenges, heart math, HeartMath, hormonal imbalance, nutrition, self care, supplements, thyroid, tired
Posted in Adrenal Fatigue, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Stress, Detox Program, Exhaustion, Fatigue Treatment

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