The Green Smoothie Challenge

The Green Smoothie Challenge
Lose Weight and Feel Great!

The Green Smoothie Challenge

Kick start your heatlhy lifestyle with The Green Smoothie Challenge! I have created this cleanse as a way for you to refresh and rejuvenate. Many people find that they lose a lot of weight, increase their energy levels and improve their health. So, come join the fun at my new Web site http://www.thegreensmoothiechallenge.com/
Get your friends to do it with you. This makes it so much easier!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Changes

In the last few months I developed some sort of eczema or psoriasis on my eyelids of all places! I am trying to see this as a blessing because because maybe I would not take such serious steps to cure it if it were in a less obvious place. I believe that all disease is the same. In short disease = dis ease within the body or imbalance. I have always struggled with things like my energy level and moods but I have never really experienced a visible symptom of dis ease. It has been humbling for me much like the entire last three years of my life. I believe stress has a LOT to do with this. It has forced me to take my stress level very seriously. I am the type that can tend to take on way too much and then not have time to nourish my spirit. In the last few months I have experienced very shallow breathing which is a huge sign to me of uneasiness. I realized that I have been using food to comfort myself. At the same time I have not been good about reading my Bible and praying and meditating. I am going to make these, as well as deep breathing a big priority. I also plan to tackle the things that are causing me stress.

We need to listen to our bodies before big problems arise. I could do all sorts of things to take away the symptoms of this problem, but if I do not take it out by it's roots, like anything, it will get worse. So, I have gone on a very extreme diet and am taking a product called Zeolite. I am following Gabriel Cousens, MD Phase 1 diet which is basically comprised of no sugar, even fruit sugar, no grains, no dairy, no meat. What is left you ask? I am eating fish, but mainly I am eating green smoothies, salad, sprouted buckwheat and nuts and seeds. He gives many recipes so I do not get sick of eating this way. It does take a lot of focus to do this but now that I am two weeks into it I am a different person. It absolutely amazes me and my husband and those who are very close to me to see the difference. I am taking in a LOT of greens and chlorella, spirulina and blue-green algae. My mood is amazing. My energy is great. My eyes are bigger. My skin is clear. I am thriving. In order to stay on the diet, I wrote myself a note about my motivations for doing it. I really had not been feeling well. My moods swings were really bad. My feet were killing me which is changing so much. My feet are feeling better. I am hydrated, which is very amazing to me. I am usually dehydrated. I feel warmer. I just stand amazed at the affect food can have on a person!!

The most amazing thing that happened at the beginning is that the minute I quit eating grains and sugar, I dropped 5 pounds. Then I went to a health seminar and they said that the two most damaging foods are processed carbohydrates and refined sugar. Those things were making me retain water and it just went out of me the minute I stopped eating them. My skin cleared up in those three days too. My eyes don't feel heavy either. I am still amazed at what it does to take just those two food groups out of my life.

I will continue to give updates on this process. I am planning to be on Phase I for three months. I will do a green juice fast in there too. I am also planning to do at least one colonic as I have heard that this is the first step one should take when trying to rid oneself of dis ease. Colon cleansing is the first step to good health. I hear that the gravity method is the way to go.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Never Try to Lose Weight!!!

Have you ever been on a diet? How many have you tried? Have you learned that for the most part, diets for the sole purpose of weight loss don't work? I have never in my life been able to lose weight simply to be more thin. Some people can and it always amazes me because trying to lose weight has usually ended up in gaining weight for me. Does this sound familiar to you? The funniest statement people make to me is, "you are so lucky to be thin." WOW, they think it's luck. No, it's actually hard work and hard work alone, but the hard work is not about being thin. Yes, I want to be thin like anyone else, but not just for thin's sake. It is proven that excess weight causes disease. Excess weight causes frustration, depression, worry, guilt, fatigue, etc... and it's these reasons that motivate me to eat well and the end result is being thin, but it is not the motivation. Having discipline in the area of eating well carries over into every other area of my life. It is that simple, the other areas are motivation enough for me to keep on keeping on. I don't want to be sluggish. I don't want cancer, heart disease, etc... and I will work to do what I can to prevent it based on the knowledge that I have.

How do you stay on a good eating plan?
1. If you fail to plan, then plan to fail. Sit down on Saturday and make your meal plan. Go to the store and buy all that you need for the week. I make it pretty simple. I keep a list of healthy snacks. I keep a couple of treat foods made. I drink my green smoothie, I eat a salad for lunch with dressing that I make once a week. I usually have an avocado and some soaked nuts on my salad and I dress it with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, Himalayan salt and cracked pepper. The only meal I spend much time on is dinner which I plan out so that I am not stuck at the last minute having to order pizza!!

2. Don't fall pray to the temptation of thinking constantly about all the foods you can't eat. Instead, get creative with what you CAN eat. Focus on all the things you CAN choose from and make up your own recipes!! The other day my kids and my husband were eating chips and guacamole. The guacamole had some things in it I couldn't eat and I am not eating corn or cooked foods right now, so I couldn't have any. I wanted it so much so I got to thinking about what flavors were there that I COULD eat. I made the yummiest salad with romaine lettuce, avocado, yellow pepper, tomato, celery, cucumber, parsley, basil, and I dressed it liberally with fresh lemon juice, lots of Himalayan salt, fresh ground pepper, and olive oil. It completely hit the spot. I made it again the next night and my whole family loved it.

3. Make a list of all the ailments you might like to get rid of and how you would feel if you could feel any way you'd like to get the most out of life and be able to serve your family, neighbors, community and all those around you. I want energy and vitality so much that it is not worth it for me to sacrifice those things by eating something that will give me a few moments of gratification and maybe days of feeling bad. It's simply not worth it. It is truly amazing to me what happens when I am true to myself with my eating. I get organized. I am a better mom and wife. I am a better friend. I think less about me and more about others. I prioritize. I can think clearly. I set goals. I pray and read my Bible more often. In fact, I can't think of one negative thing that happens when I am disciplined in this area. TRY IT!!!

4. Get some good books on health and read a little often. Whenever I feel unmotivated, I start reading about how food affects my health. A couple of books I really enjoy are "The Fast Track Detox Diet", "The Raw Food Detox Diet", "Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine" and "How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy". Find the type of eating that works best for you and read a lot about it. Let your health be your motivation and the weight will fall off.

The Addictiveness of Processed Food

I have often awoke in the morning feeling physically horrible after a night of having "fun" by drinking wine and eating french bread, processed carbs, cheese and desserts. I am tired, bloated, and unable to function at my peak. I have so often thought of not eating these types of foods and really limiting my wine intake in order to feel better. But then, I struggle with the fact that I want to live a life of moderation and not extremism. I tend to think back to biblical times and what they ate in order to keep myself in check with my own eating. They feasted at appropriate times, they fasted at appropriate times and they ate their daily fare well, daily. What did feasting look like back then? Was the food actually harmful to their health or were they celebrating the bounty that God had given them in it's natural form? It had to be the latter because they did not have foods that were processed and refined and irradiated and treated with formaldehyde, pesticides, and other toxic, disease causing chemicals. Feasts were not held daily either.

When I eat food in its natural form and that is what makes me thrive. When I put processed foods in my body they act like poison and make me miserable. It's that simple. I believe that the tastes that God gave to food and spices are sufficient most of the time and that everything does not need to taste like it is the most amazing thing I ever ate. Sometimes my kids don't absolutely LOVE the taste of something. I often tell them that eating is about nourishing our bodies, it is not always about gratifying our flesh. This is where I imagine that I differ from many people. When I eat only to gratify my flesh, eating only what I LIKE, then I feel that I become addicted to those kinds of foods. This is absolutely unhealthy. I have given this a lot of thought lately. Why is it so difficult for people to give up sugar and white flour and refined, processed, harmful foods? Why do people ingest things that are harmful to themselves, that are disease causing? Why do we, as a society refuse to believe that what we put into our bodies is affecting our health? Why is it easier to believe that putting the wrong oil in our cars is bad for our cars? Well, I guess it's because our cars will break down faster than our bodies will.

In the last few months I have tried to do the "moderation" thing meaning that I have allowed myself to eat more refined foods than I normally would. I think partly I don't always want to be the "different" one. So, guess what happened? I found myself depressed, always thinking about the next yummy thing I want to eat but shouldn't. I have been exhausted, unable to wake up early to get to the gym, I gained 5 pounds, my back has been killing me, etc..... This has lead me to really try to figure out what is going on. What I have found is that food, refined, processed foods that have been stripped of essential nutrients and have had synthetic additives put into them are addicting. Stop and ask yourself. Can you stop eating those things right now? Ask yourself if you knowingly ingest things on a regular basis that are not good for your health. Have you tried to give these things up and go on a diet? Were you successful? Do these foods give you energy and vitality or do they make you gain weight and risk your health?

Are the foods you eat regularly known to cause heart disease and cancer? If you know that what you eat causes weight gain and being overweight can lead to disease and death, should you continue to eat these things? Do you sneak food or eat things that you committed not to eat? Is a few moments of pleasure more important to you than your health and your life? Do processed and refined foods have a hold on you? It's important to ask ourselves these questions. Maybe you just enjoy processed foods and don't overeat them. I cannot do that. For me, moderation of things that are harmful to my health does not really work. Maybe if it's only every very little once in a while, but moderation on a regular basis absolutely messes me up completely.

Our culture has made it so normal to eat these damaging foods that obesity is now one of the top health concerns in our country. People can't lose weight. It is just so sad. Once we understand that those foods are actually addictive, then we can begin to move on and realize that it is not so much our lack of self control, it is much more a lack of knowledge. We are living on food that has little to no nutritional value and then after we eat, we are hungry because our bodies are trying to ask us for nutrients that we are not ever going to get from a compormised diet. Our bodies are crying out for nutrition which is disguised as hunger. We end up craving more of the bad food and so the viscous cycle goes. It is a lack of nutrition much more than it is a lack of self control in my opinion.

One way to combat these unhealthy cravings is to eat nutrient dense foods. The most nutrition filled foods are those that are deep green or sprouted. These are the biggest cancer fighters! One of the easiest ways to add a lot of these nutrients to our bodies is by drinking green smoothies. My favorite green smoothie is a mixture of organic blueberries, strawberries and greens such as kale, spinach, baby lettuce mix, or romaine lettuce and water. I add "Power Organics" Klamath Power 3 which is a mixture of blue green algae, spirulina and chlorella. Nothing will help remove cravings more than deep greens. I buy mine through www.rawvegansource.com I also add a tablespoon of raw, organic sprouted chia seed powder and a scoop of brown rice protein powder. That is my breakfast right now. You can change up the green smoothie and there are all sorts of recipes out there. 'Green for Life' is a book specifically about green smoothies.

Constantly feeling guilty about what we eat is unhealthy. Instead we must become proactive about dealing with the addictiveness of processed foods. Food addictions are commonplace today and it's no wonder. I was watching basketball the other day and I was AMAZED at the constant bombarding of commercials about unhealthy foods. It practically makes you not be able to withstand the temptation. They throw it at us just like they do sex, violence, etc... We have to wake up to this type of brainwashing. If you are realizing that food has a hold on you, do not feel like an alien from another planet. It is commonplace now.

My next blog entry will be about ways to combat these addictions with a good diet. I will give you tips on how to change your lifestyle to one of health and wellness.