My Commitment to My Adrenals: No Fatigue, Just Sleep!

When I work with people with fatigue symptoms, related to thyroid and adrenal overload, I talk about several key things:

1. Whole foods, fresh diet, high in raw foods
2. Proper hydration
3. Omega 3 fat balance
4. Getting off allergenic and inflammatory foods, including gluten, dairy, and sugar.
5. Fresh air and sunshine
6. Exercise
7. Restoring their adrenal reserve and enhancing detoxification via sleep.

I model the first 6 beautifully. I am committed to being as healthy and vibrant as I can be so that I can be a role model to others.

So why is number 7 so ###!!## hard for me?

I did really well on my sleep commitment the first week of my 30 day challenge.

My adrenals loved me for it, and I warded off a bout with adrenal fatigue by giving myself what I needed.

So why can’t I make a firm and lasting commitment?

I’m backsliding. I won’t even say how late it was when my head finally hit the pillow.

There’s still lots to do…there always will be. Yet I am off to meet my pillow and keep my commitment to me.

I made no commitments today and I kept none. What a deal. Tomorrow is a new day.

I did make myself a quart of green juice to start the day. It was lovely. I also did a great job on my omega 3′s today.  The subject is on my mind, as balancing the immune system was the topic of the week for Balance My Body.

I noticed dark circles under my eyes…not good for a fatigue expert to look tired. Not good for someone who prides herself in looking much younger and having the body of a 20 something year-old to notice signs of aging.

Commitments for Sunday, and the rest of the week.

• I will get outside and exercise
• I will make at least 16 ounces of green juice and 32 ounces of smoothie
• I will get my omega 3′s again
• I will eat consciously and with gratitude
• I will…can I say it and mean it…I will…..I will…..go to bed by 11PM…at least Sunday

Please hold me to it. Write me and ask me what time I went to bed. I can’t lie.

Post below and be bold enough to check in and make sure I am doing what I committed to. Sleep is vital for health. Food is great, exercise is great, greens are great…but they will only take me so far if I keep burning the candle at both ends.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Sleeeeeeeeeeeep!

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

WISH: Detoxification to Support Adrenal Exhaustion, Low Sex Drive and Digestive Issues: Sleep and Fun are Important Components

Detoxification and cleansing programs are in the news, on the health food store shelves and talked about now in casual conversation. They are said to cure everything — adrenal exhaustion and chronic fatigue,  sluggish thyroid, depression, decreased sex drive and even cancer.  Seriously, you’ve probably heard about detoxification over and over…yet do you have a clear understanding of what the process is all about? There are powders and potions, and olive oil liver flushes and lemonade diets that have become popular, yet what really is detox and why is it important?

On my interview for the Women’s International Summit for Health (W.I.S.H.) I discuss the process of detoxification, it’s importance in hormone balance, digestive health, energy, sex drive and every other function your body does for you.  Learn how to support your body’s natural detoxification mechanisms daily and when to engage in a special program.  If you haven’t already listened in, you can sign up at Women’s International Summit for Health (W.I.S.H.).

If you’ve already listened to the call, you know that we decided to do a Women’s 3 day mini green detox program.  It’s short, easy and powerful.  And you don’t need any special equipment or potions to make it happen.  All you need is a blender, some fresh, raw leafy greens and some fresh or frozen fruit.  Are you ready to begin?

To start, download my FREE e-book “Blended Greens for Health and Longevity”.  If you’ve already participated in my powerful 7 day Green Smoothie Cleanse, you can use your Green Cleanse Recipe Guide, with over 50 delicious smoothie and soup recipes.

Here’s what to do:

Preparation for 3 Day Green Cleanse and Detoxification Program

Download “Blended Greens for Health and Longevity” or search the web for green smoothie recipes.

Join in on the Raw Divas 3 day green smoothie mini course for day to day email support.

The essence of the program is to do the following for 3 days

• Drink Green smoothies and green soup all day long, as much as you’d like and as much as you need to keep you satisfied.
• In addition to the green smoothies, you may eat one or two large salads, loaded with greens and rainbow vegetables and fresh whole fruit.
• For Dressing, you can keep it simple by blending cucumber, apple and fresh herbs, or blend tomato,celery and lemon juice, or tomato, mango and lime juice, or red bell pepper, tomato, lemon or lime and herbs.  Or, make up your own simple blend – it’s easy.  You can also get the e-book  70 Healthy Salad Dressings Recipe Book, a collection of  easy, low fat  and tasty salad dressings you can make in less than 2 minutes.  For the 3 day cleanse, choose dressings that contain little or no added fat for best results.

You’ll soon be feeling lighter, cleaner and clear-headed.

If you like how you feel, who knows, you may decide to keep it going a little longer, or may even decide to join on my next green cleanse.

Comment below if you’re joining in.  Make a commitment to yourself and to thousands of women across the globe.

And also join in the ongoing 30 Day Sleep and Fun Challenge.  Every day, we’re posting our commitments to health supporting activities that we’ll do that day.  It helps keep you on track.  Take a look through previous days posts to see the kinds of things people are accomplishing.

So what do fun and sleep have to do with detoxification?  Lots!  Fun changes your chemistry, decreases internally produced stress toxins and frees your liver to more effectively detox.  The WISH call talks more about this.  And sleep is master at helping you to cleanse.  While you sleep, your detox mechanisms are going full steam ahead and cleaning you up from the days debris.  Between the hours of 11 and 1, your liver is especially active at detox, unless you’re still awake.  Then you get hungry because of the increased metabolic fire that’s intended for detox. So sleep, especially before midnight is very important for cleansing

My challenges lately have been not taking enough time for fun and sleep. That’s why I started this challenge.  I’m making progress, but as you’ll see below. I’m not perfect yet.

My report card from yesterday:

1- bed by midnight - I had so much to do with the WISH summit, Balance My Body Program and private client follow-up that I missed my deadline and made it to bed by 1:30am.  Still, a lot earlier that I’d been doing before this challenge started.  Progress, not perfection is my motto.  The important thing is my awareness is there and I am not unconsciously staying up too late.  Plus I feel so energetic at midnight.

2- running in the sun - it rained here so running up and down stairs was the best I could do

3- 15 minute fun break - my fun was creating a kelp noodle lunch!

4- 2 quarts green smoothie - this is easy for me by now.  I love my green smoothies

My commitments for today

1- get out for a run in the sun (its sunny again)

2- finish writing a chapter in my new book

3- bed by 12:30 – I am being realistic here…knowing what needs to be completed

4- Green smoothies only ’til dinner

Are you joining the 3 day green detox challenge?  What are your goals?  What are you committed to today?  Comment below and be sure to sign up here to be notified whenever I post a new article here so you don’t miss anything.

Subscribe to Dr. Ritamarie’s Creating Vibrant Health Blog

Love, health, joy and happy green detox to you.

(how appropriate that we begin on Saint Patrick’s Day, the day of the green.)

Dr. Ritamarie

Committing to Your Health: Day 8 of the 30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge

Wow.  This commitment thing is really working for me. Even though I haven’t been 100%, I’ve been close and making commitments keeps the sleep issue in my awareness.  I made a conscious decision to stay up late to finish my work for a call on Saturday.  I could have chosen to go to bed at midnight and gotten up early in the AM to finish, but I know myself too well to even begin to think I’d be ready for that.  I think better late at night than early in the AM.  Maybe next month I’ll be ready to sleep from 10 til 4, but not yet.

One of my readers, Joz,  sent me this very interesting article on sleep, that I thought I’d share.

TWO HOURS OF GOOD SLEEP BEFORE TWELVE O’CLOCK IS WORTH MORE THAN FOUR HOURS AFTER TWELVE O’CLOCK , excerpted from Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation by Andreas Moritz

10 PM to 2 AM .  This is a crucial period of time during which most of the body’s energy is used for CLEANSING, REBUILDING AND REJUVENATING the body. The liver receives most of the energy and conducts an astonishing range of activities. These include the supply of vital nutrients to all parts of the body, breaking down of noxious substances and keeping the blood clean. In addition, the liver cells produce bile at this time, which is needed to digest food, particularly fats, during the following day. Another important function of the liver during this time is to synthesize proteins, which serve as the main building blocks of cells, hormones and blood constituents.

The liver requires all the energy it can get to fulfill these and many other responsibilities. This can only happen sufficiently if you  SLEEP between the hours of 10 and 2.  If you use up the nighttime energy for eating or for mental and physical activities, the liver is left with too little energy to do its extremely vital work. The kidneys also need energy during this time period to filter the blood plasma, and keep the body fluids balanced and blood pressure normal.

Although the brain makes up merely 2 % of our body mass, it normally contains more than 25 % of the body’s entire BLOOD SUPPLY.

However, during this phase, 10PM to 2AM, much of the blood moves from the back of the brain to the liver, to give it what it needs for purification tasks. If you are mentally or physically active at this time, the liver doesn’t receive enough blood to work with, so it can’t cleanse the blood sufficiently.

This results in the accumulation of toxic material in the blood stream. If toxins keep circulating in the blood, they will settle in the interstitial fuild (connective tissues) of organs and systems, thereby rasising acidity and damaging them, including the liver itself. High blood toxicity can and does lead to secretions of stress hormones, brain fog, and injured capillaries, arteries and heart muscles. Most heart disease is the result of a poorly performing liver that is unable to remove all toxic, noxious substances from the blood on a daily basis. If we do not give the liver the energy it needs to conduct the most basic physiological activities, we sow the seeds of illness throught the body.

For adults, the most important process of cleansing and renewal occur during the 2 hours of sleep before midnight.  During this period, you enter a dreamless state of sleep where oxygen consumption decreases considerably, which results in profound rest and relaxation. The benefit to your body of this single hour of deep sleep is approximately equivalent to that derived during the three or four hours after midnight, when the oxygen consumption rises again.

Doctors at the University of California at San Diego have found that losing a few hours of sleep not only makes you feel tired, but also can affect the immune system, possibly impairing the body’s ability to fight infections.

Thanks Joz!

SO My report card for the weekend:

Saturday and Sunday fulfilled my FUN quota.  I ran around the lake, visited for hours with a friend, played games with my 11 year old, had a date with my husband, spent time in the hot-tub with my husband, watched my teenage son’s learn hockey skate lesson and ate delicious raw food.

As for sleep,I made it really close to midnight on Saturday and Sunday. I was a little late Sunday because I felt driven to lie in the far infra red sauna for a half hour.

My commitments for today:

1- Green Smoothie – 2 quarts

2- weight training exercise

3- bed by 11:30  (how daring of me!) maybe even earlier

4- write a chapter in my new book

5- quality time with the kids

How about you?  How was your weekend?  What are you committed to today?

Let us know.  Post your comments below.

Love, Health and Joy to you,

Dr. Ritamarie

30 Day Fun and Sleep Challenge: Recommitting to Health Goals

I  am making good progress towards establishing my healthy sleep pattern.

It’s always amazing to me how much power there is in creating a goal and committing to it.

Earlier this year, I created a product with Jane Hardin, who’ you’ll get to officially meet before too long.  She’s a registered dietitian who has completed training in Living Foods Nutrition and has  a lot of experience working with terminally ill patients in a counseling capacity.  We created a program called Creating the Vibrant Helath Mindset because we both have seen the  mindset in making long lasting changes in your habits.  This is the first of many projects we’ll be doing together.

This week, I’ve reconnected to the value of continuing to revisit my goals and make commitments based on these.

I’m pleased to report greater success on my sleep goal for yesterday!  Yeah!

So here’s my report card for yesterday:

1. 64 ounces smoothie/green soup – DONE
2. Off computer by 11PM – Surpassed. I was off by 10:06PM!
3. Sauna 30 minutes – missed this because I went to bed early!
4. Bed by 11:30 – Surpassed - in Bed by 10:15 – My 11 year old son, Kevin, has recently been worried about the toxic smells at school.  They watched a video about the dangers of marker inhalation, and talked about a 13 year old who died as a result of marker inhalation as a way to get high.  Kevin accidentally got a big wiff of a marker at school the other day and got dizzy and light headed.  Since then he has been reacting to smells, like air fresheners, wipes and cleaning supplies used at school.  He is scared of dying from breathing them.  He asked if he could sleep with me last night so he could feel safe.  So he and I went to bed at 10:15.
5. Fun reading for 15 minutes – missed this because my Kevin slept with me.  Fun was talking to him and cuddling instead.
   
6. Lights out between 11:45 and 12. Surpassed Lights out by 10:15

My commitments for today:

1. Exercise 30 minutes
2. Fun: Quality time with my husband – a date for dinner at Beets Cafe!
3. water – 8 cups
4. Get myself signed up to take the Vibrant Health Mindset Course and recommit to my own goals.
5. Bed by midnight

How did you do yesterday? What are your commitments for today?  Comment below.

Enjoy!

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

30 Day Sleep and Fun Challenge Day 4: Support Your Adrenals and Decrease Fatigue

Wow.  What a day.  I’ve been in sessions all day, and didn’t get to post my commitments for today until now.

It’s quite interesting for me…making a public commitment to go to sleep.  It has really been driving my late night behavior.  Last night it was particularly tempting to just ignore the commitment and work late, as I had lot to do.  Yet I would have felt really bad having to post that I went to bed at 3 when I committed to 12.

I did a class on adrenal health last night for my online program, Balance My Body Blueprint.  It was a great reinforcement for me to teach everyone about the importance of breathing, sleep and having fun.  I’ve been focused on breathing and appreciation all day and I love how it feels.  This activity can ease the burden  your adrenals and alleviate fatigue.

So here’s my report card for yesterday:

1. Exercise: 2:30 – 3:30 get out for a run and do a few weights – I did this at 4:30.  It was a beautiful day and i had a great time.
2. Fun break:  9:30 PM – after my Balance My Body Blueprint teleseminar call on Balancing Adrenals – I am afraid this was a flop, unless you count cuddling with my 11 year old…which I think is fun.
3. Off computer by 11:30, in bed by 11:45, lights out before midnight. I was off computer by 11:27.  My 11 year old was troubled by some school events and needed cuddle time with Mom, so I lay with him in his bed, dozing, until I went to my own bed, lights out by 12:15!  Great accomplishment!

And here’s my commitment for today:

1. 64 ounces smoothie/green soup
2. Off computer by 11PM
3. Sauna 30 minutes
4. Bed by 11:30
5. Fun reading for 15 minutes
6. Lights out between 11:45 and 12.

How did you do yesterday? What are your commitments for today?  Comment below.

Enjoy!

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie