Flatten Your Belly with Simple and effective summer cleansing smoothie strategies

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

Green Smoothie Cleanse Recipes – Low Glycemic

Our Summer 2010 Green Smoothie Cleanse is officially over, and we’re transitioning into the Post Cleanse Week.  Chronic fatigue symptoms are abating, allergies are improving and the consensus is there is an overall increased sense of well-being the cleanse promotes.  This week is as important as the cleanse week itself.  This is wher new habits are formed and the imporvemetns made dueing the cleanse are either re-inforced or left behind. Continuing on a high raw food diet plan helps people sustain the benefits long term.

Here are a couple of delicious recipes shared by one of our Green Smoothie Cleanse Participants.  They use in-season, fresh, raw and ripe produce and just the right amount of seasonings.

“Spring Garden Soup”

4 tomatoes
4 celery stalks
2 cups spring mix
2 cups romaine heart
2 limes juiced
1 garlic clove

“Spicy Garden Soup”

1 Tomato
1 English Cucumber
1/2 Zucchini
2 handfuls string beans
8 cups Spring Mix
1 garlic clove
1 ginger nub
1/4 cup lime juice
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups water

Blend and enjoy!

Love, Health and Joy to You,

Dr. Ritamarie

Adrenal Fatigue: Tips to Restoring Your Energy and Your Health

Do you ever wake in in the morning, even after a long night of sleep, only to feel sluggish and wishing you had another few hours to rest?

This is one of many signs of adrenal fatigue.

Adrenal fatigue is a common condition in our fast paced, stressed out society.

Your adrenal glands are your body’s mechanism for responding to stressful situations.  In the olden days, this meant getting chased by a tiger or dealing with severe cold without shelter or proper clothing.

Fortunately for us, tigers and lack of clothing are not problems we deal with on a regular basis.

Unfortunately we have our own modern day tigers, and they chase some of us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Modern Day Tigers that Stress Your Adrenals

• Deadlines at work?
• Juggling kids schedules with your own?
• Worry about the economy?
• A sick parent or child?
• An unreasonable boss?

Whatever it is, the response is similar to a real tiger chasing you.  Your adrenal glands step into action and do what they do best…shift you into what is often called “fight/flight mode”, and in scientific terms, “sympathetic nervous system dominance”.

In hyper vigilant adrenal state, your heart rate increases, your respiration quickens and the blood supply to your brain and vital organs decreases and is sent to your extremities…so you can run away or fight.

In addition, your digestive track activity decreases and the sphincters– the valves between sections of the digestive tract– tighten.  This is to protect you from needing to use the bathroom in the middle of running away from or fighting a tiger.

Translate this into modern life.  If you find yourself stressed out and worried quite a bit of the time, you increase your risk of indigestion, constipation, gas and bloating as well as heart and circulation problems due to prolonged increased heart rate.

Oh, and I forgot to mention.  In fight flight mode, your sex drive goes away, too.

Doesn’t help to be having lustful thoughts when you’re trying to get away from that tiger.  On a biochemical level, the same chemical molecules that make the adrenal hormone cortisol, which gets elevated under stress, are also needed to make estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, all needed for libido and reproductive function.

Another problem with cortisol is that in excess it can cause damage to your mitochondria, the energy producing mechanisms in each of your cells.  Cortisol also damages your hippocampus, the part of your brain that helps with short term memory.  Ever walk into a room, only to forget what you went there for?  That’s likely because your hippocampus has been impeded by the cortisol you produced when you were stressed out.

Yikes!  SO if this is you, what can you do to fix things?

In my over two decades of clinical practice, I’ve seem many cases of adrenal burnout and the damages caused by chronic stress.

Fortunately there are actions you can take reverse the damage and repair your adrenal glands.  But if you keep getting stressed out, you’ll be a lot like a hamster on a wheel….working hard but never getting anywhere. Repairing your adrenals and transforming your response to stress take some time and retraining, and the transformations you experience when you do can be miraculous.

3 Tips for Combating Adrenal Fatigue

1- Learn stress management and stress transformation techniques. One of my favorites is called Heart Math, and uses a combination of deep breathing, focusing on your heart and feeling appreciation.  It completely changed my life.  I did a 90 minute stress transformation teleseminar a couple of years ago that guided the participants through the process and the response was dramatic.

2- Nourish your adrenals. Did you know that 80% of the vitamin C used in your body is used by your adrenal glands?  Excessive stress depletes your vitamin C stores and can lead to allergies, poor wound healing, easy bruising and increased susceptibility for colds, flu and other infectious disease?  Your adrenals also use lots of B vitamins, especially pantothenic acid and B6.  That’s why a lot of B complex formulas are called Stress formulas.  Eating a whole foods, high raw, high green diet will ensure you have adequate intake of nutrients to maintain your adrenals when they are brought back to normal;however, when you’re in the mode of recovery, supplementation is often needed.

3- Support your body’s detoxification systems by periodic cleansing. Face it, eating on the run, making even occasional poor food choices and being stressed out impair your liver’s ability to do it’s job of cleansing.  One of my favorite ways to cleanse my body is with green  smoothies. Even though I eat really healthfully, exercise on a regular basis, and do my Heart Math exercises daily, I’m not perfect.  I still get stressed out sometimes, I’m exposed to toxins and I eat on the run more often than I’d like.

I personally do a Green Cleanse at least quarterly by taking a week off eating and just drinking green smoothies or juices for 7 days.  I am always amazed at how much more energy I have when I do this.  That’s why every 3 months, I lead a group green smoothie cleanse.  I have hundreds of success stories from people who feel they got their life back after a green cleanse.  This time around I’ve added a new component – daily interactive journals.  The details about the cleanse, go to my Green Smoothie Cleanse Website.

If you’ve already done a green cleanse or a short cleanse and are ready to take it to the next level, I suggest you do a deep tissue detox like my Six Week Deep Tissue Detox or something similar.

Bedtime and Wake-up Rituals for Adrenal Fatigue Support

One last tip for rebuilding your adrenals – create supportive bedtime and morning rituals that re-establishes
your circadian rhythm. Here’s a starting set that I recommend to my adrenal fatigue patients:

1. Shut off all electronics within an hour of bedtime.
2. Eat your last meal within 3 hours of bedtime.
3. Fill a 16 ounce glass with pure water and the juice of 1 lemon and put it by your bedside.
4. Find 3 things to appreciate before you fall asleep.
5. Find 3 things to appreciate before you get out of bed.
6. Drink the water as soon as you get up.
7. As soon as you get up, go outside and get 5 – 15 minutes of sun, even if the sun is not out.  Face in the direction of the sun and sip your water.

Get going on these habits, cleanse regularly and master the Heart Math techniques and you’ll soon be bouncing out of
bed in the morning with vim, vigor and enthusiasm for life.

I hope to meet you soon on a green smoothie cleanse.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Green Smoothies vs Green Juice, Fruit Friend or Foe, and Other Controversial Topics

Green Smoothies have been my friend for close to 25 years now.  My daily smoothie habit is a part of my life, just like brushing my teeth.  When Dr. Brian Clement spoke here in Austin earlier this month, he brought up a very controversial issue…Green Smoothies vs Green Juices.  He flat out said that green smoothies were “a step above soft drinks” because 90% or nutrients are lost through oxidation  when the fruits and vegetables are blended.

I personally have a hard time with this.   Nutrient destruction can occur as a result of damage by heat, light and air.   The amount of damage is a function of severity and  It is generally accepted that nutrients begin to be damages when heated above 118 degrees F.   I have not found any studies that confirm this.  In fact there is quite a bit of evidence that refutes this.

First of all we need to define what we mean by nutrients.

1. Macronutrients: nutrients consumed in large amounts , ie protein, carbohydrates and fats.
2. Micronutrients: nutrients consumed in small mounts , ie vitamins, minerals, enzymes

Not all are similarly sensitive to oxidation.  Take minerals for example.  You can leach them out with prolonged heat, but its hard to destroy calcium by blending.  In fact, calcium becomes more available after blending because ti’s released form the cell walls, a feat ordinarily accomplished by stomach acid – which becomes deficient as we age and abuse our bodies.

The smoothie vs juice debate is a hot topic these days.  Her’s an excerpt from an excellent article written by Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health.  Kevin gave me permission to reprint it .  Thanks Kevin.  You saved me some precious time.

There are 5 important issues to address when discussing the Green Smoothie vs Green Juice debate, according to Kevin.

1. Oxidation
2. Fiber
3. Sugar Content
4. Available Nutrients
5. Ease of Making them.

Number 1: Oxidation

It’s said that high speed blenders can oxidize your nutrients so that when you drink a smoothie you won’t get the health benefit of it.

This is why you should drink juices instead.

This is false.

Victoria Boutenko did a study using potatoes in a blender and in a juicer and found that the potatoes in a blender oxidized much more SLOWLY than the potato juice.

• Fiber actually protects the smoothie from oxidizing quickly.
• Juices should be consumed right after you make them for the highest nutrient profile.
• Twin gear juicers like the Tribest are best for slowing the oxidizing process when you juice.  (Sold  in the Renegade Health store)

So the bottom line is this…

Smoothies oxidize slower, which means you will be able to preserve more nutrients for longer.

For oxidation, we like smoothies best.

Number 2: Fiber

Don’t we need fiber to prevent heart disease?

Why would we take the fiber out when we make a juice?

These are good questions.

First off, we do need fiber… but if we’re eating a high raw diet we’re getting plenty of fiber.  Your body won’t miss the fiber from the juice.

Why take the fiber out of the juice?

For fast absorption (and maximum) of the nutrients.

A juice to me is like a power-packed supplement to your regular healthy diet.

For fiber, the smoothie has more, but the juice has a different purpose.

Number 3: Sugar Content

For sugar content, if you’re using fruits and sweet vegetables for your juices and smoothies you’re going to get sugar.  Most people can deal with moderate amounts of sugar in their diet for an extended period of
time.  (Higher sugar for shorter periods)

Because there is fiber in your smoothie, your body will absorb the sugar slower.  This is good for your pancreas. When you juice fruit, you take away the fiber and this can cause your pancreas to struggle to regulate your blood sugar.

For this reason, I recommend smoothies with sweet fruits and veggies and juices with greens and low  glycemic fruits like lemons and limes.  This way you can enjoy your fruits without blood sugar spikes and enjoy a nice, clean green juice!

Just to recap, smoothies contain more fiber, don’t oxidize as fast, and allow for slower nutrient absorption.

Juices have less fiber, oxidize quicker and allow for quick absorption.

Now again, this doesn’t mean that juices are bad, they just have  their place.  We use them as we would a supplement.  Drinking an organic vegetable juice is an opportunity to get great nutrients and minerals straight into your system.

4. Available Nutrients

When you juice a veggie, you strip away all the fiber.  This makes  the nutrients extremely available for your system to absorb. When you blend a veggie, you break down the fiber making the nutrients easier to absorb, but you still have a bunch of fiber that will slow absorption in your intestines.

For sugary foods this is ideal.  For greens it’s good too, but not as good as a green juice.  When it comes to readily available nutrients, juices take the lead.

5. Ease of Making Them

Smoothies hands down on this.  Put your ingredients into a blender  and turn it on.  Cleaning with a blender is simple too. Rinse it out a bit, add some water and soap, then put it back on the base.  Turn it on for a few seconds, then use a sponge to clean out what’s left.

Juicers are harder to clean because they have more moving parts.

To get the best of both worlds, you can use your blender to make juices.

Add your juice ingredients to the blender, add some water, and blend.  When you’re done, strain everything through a nut milk bag and you have your juice ready to go.

http://www.renegadehealth.com/smoothieweek

Check out Kevin’s Smoothie Wee Specials…1/2 off Kevin’s  “Smoothies for Optimal Health” book, and discounts on Kev’s Super Smoothie Powder.

For the second topic, Fruit friend or foe,  we’ll continue tomorrow.

Bottom line:  enjoy your smoothies and have juice too, for a powerful nutritional boost.

For a super powerful nutrition and energy boost, check out our Green Smoothie Cleanse as part of our  “Drink Green Stay Lean”  Coaching Program.

Love, Health and Joy to You,

Dr. Ritamarie

Kelp – Magic from the Sea to Combat Adrenal and Thyroid Fatigue and Create Vibrant Health

Kelp is a great food for adrenal fatigue, thyroid balance and detoxification. Who’d of thought—back in the days when I was first learning to scuba dive in the thick kelp forests in northern California—that someday I’d be eating the slimy stuff?

Now that I know that kelp is one of the most nutritious foods around, I eat it on a regular basis. Only I don’t eat it in it’s slimy state. Usually it’s ground up as a powder or dried into long crunchy chip-like pieces.

My favorite kelp of all is called bullwhip kelp. It grows in the moving cold waters of the Pacific Northwest. When sun dried and carefully packed, it is crispy and light, salty and delicious. Kids love it.

Another form of kelp is called Laminaria Digitata. Say that 10 times fast! The claim to fame of Laminaria Digitata is its effect on thyroid function. 10% of the iodine in Laminaria digitata Kelp is T3 and T4, the nickname for your thyroid hormones. I’ve seen people reverse abnormal thyroid lab tests in 6-8 weeks by taking laminaria digitata.

Bullwhip kelp can be eaten and enjoyed as is, like chips. It can also be added to salads, soups, steamed vegetables, smoothies, soups and salad dressings. My favorite source of bullwhip kelp is Dr. Ryan Drum , noted herbalist and sea vegetable gatherer. His articles about kelp and other sea vegetables are as outstanding as his kelp.

I store my kelp in airtight containers because this kelp is very sensitive to moisture. If it does get left open and softens, I crisp it up in the dehydrator, set at 110 – 120 degrees for 30 – 60 minutes.

According to Ryan Drum. , “most kelp it made up of a body or thallus that are actually leaf-like structure called blades. Blades come from stipes which are long stem-like structures. The holdfast is a type of root that anchors the plant to the ocean floor. The American variety contains gas-filled bladders at the base of the blades that keep the leaves close to the surface.”

Kelp and the entire family of sea vegetables are incredibly nutritious, yet unfortunately are underutilized and under appreciated in our Western Culinary regime. For those who frequent Japanese restaurants, sushi and seaweed salad may be familiar menu items, but few, save for those on a macrobiotic diet, a raw foods diet or of Asian origin, serve these gems from the sea at home. They are simple to prepare and serve and can add fun and diversity to your daily culinary repertoire. Served as part of main meals and in salads, soups and wraps, sea vegetables offer an abundance of otherwise hard to get nutrients.

Nutrition Benefits of Kelp

Kelp is very rich in nutrients and phytochemicals. It’s loaded with chlorophyll, fiber, and minerals, including significant amounts of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chromium, copper, lithium, manganese, selenium, vanadium, sulfur, and iodine calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, B-vitamins and many other trace minerals naturally found in the ocean. According to Dr. Drum,3-5 pounds of sea vegetables will fully mineralize an adult human for one year! That’s approximately 1-2 ounces per week. A 1/3 cup (1/4 oz.) serving of Kelp provides up to 30% of the RDA for iron, which is 4 times the amount of iron in a serving of spinach. Magnesium is twice as abundant in Kelp as in collard greens.

When purchasing kelp, care must be taken to be sure it was grown in unpolluted waters. Kelp can act like a sponge and will absorb toxins and contaminants from the water.

Just a Few of the Health Benefits of kelp

Anti Cancer Effects – The lignans in kelp can inhibit angiogenesis, the process by which cancer cells metastasize. The lignans also inhibit estrogen synthesis in fat cells and reduce the 4OH and 16OH metabolites that are considered a significant risk factor for breast cancer. Kelp is also rich in folate, a B vitamin that can significantly reduce risk of colon cancer.

Thyroid health – The high level of iodine, especially in the form of T3 and T4 as in laminaria digitata kelp, supports thyroid health and protects the thyroid from radiation exposure.

Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease – The folate in kelp helps breakdown homocysteine, a dangerous metabolic by-product. . Homocysteine can directly damage blood vessel walls, and high levels are associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Kelp is also a very good source of magnesium, which has also been shown to reduce high blood pressure and prevent heart attack.

Anti-Inflammatory Action – Kelp is a source of fucans, carbohydrates that can reduce inflammation.

Relief for Menopausal Symptoms – Kelp’s abundance of magnesium helps restore normal sleep patterns, especially in women who are experiencing symptoms of menopause.

Cashing in on the Health Benefits of Kelp

There are many ways to enjoy kelp. I put a teaspoon of the powder in my smoothies just about every day. I add it to salad dressings, soups and sauces. I’ve even added it to brownies.

Kelp noodles are one of my favorite dishes. Search the blog for several delicious kelp noodle recipes.

Here’s one of my favorite kelp recipes , taken from my e- book “Greens from the Sea”

Land and Sea Slaw

• Cut kelp into thin strips using a kitchen scissor.
• Soak kelp for at least 10 minutes in enough water to cover, until softened. Drain.
• Grate land vegetables
• Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl to make dressing.
• Combine land and sea ingredients into a large bowl and toss with dressing.

Adjust seasonings to taste.

Enjoy kelp and other sea vegetables on a regular basis, at least 1-2 ounces per week. It will go along way to protecting your health, improving your hormones and making you strong and lean.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie