Category: Detox

And….Go! Detox Day 1: Be Mindful, Set Goals

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Kale Celery Green Apple Juice

Kale Celery Green Apple Juice

Feeling fantastic already?!?

Hope you got completely sick and tired of gluten yesterday and stocked up on all those raw foods. It’s game day!

To start out Day 1, here’s last year’s video of the Green-Apple Juice in a juicer (ignore my daughter who thinks she’s Inspector Gadget). I prefer this concoction juiced vs. blended, but blending is perfectly wonderful too. If you’re blending and you don’t have a Vitamix or a Blendtec, consider using a food processor for the veggies and apples, and then blending that concoction with the water and ice. It’s likely to slide down easier. And, you can also substitute one of this week’s smoothies for today’s green juice. Surprise!

Juice vs. Blend? What’s the difference and why the extra appliance? Check this quick info by my pal Kris Carr. She talks chlorophyll and alkalinity–it’s worth a read. My juicer is the Jack Lalanne Classic Juicer –a brand new hand-me-down gift, and it works just fine. It costs around $100 if you buy it from their website. Just an FYI. I tend to use my Vitamix daily (green smoothies, soups, hummus, dips), and my juicer weekly. Not saying that’s perfect, just what I do.

So, TODAY. Be mindful of every tea sip and food morsel — believe you me, that morning fruit is going to be the BEST FRUIT you ever ate! This day is by far the hardest, but you can absolutely do it. Don’t forget, however, that you can increase your serving sizes of detox food if you’re feeling like you’re really low on calories (starving, hunger pangs, spacey-ness). Add fresh fruit, raw nuts and seeds, or an avocado for quick, extra energy, and carry those with you just in case. If the detox meal plan is very different from your typical, then Day 1 is going to be a big eye opener. Embrace the change!

And think about your Detox Goals today. What do you want out of this? To ditch sugar cravings, increase veggie cravings, or lose weight? Are you hoping to grow wings and fly by Day 7? Keep me posted!

And finally finally, you should have more energy today than you’re used to. Laugh louder, smile harder, and type more. I want updates in the Comments section.

Green juice cheers!

xoxo

7-Day Detox: Alternate Recipes

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Photo by: Green Plate Studios

Photo by: Green Plate Studios

Detoxers! If the recipes look amazing except for that ONE… here a couple substitutes. Easy, and you likely already have the ingredients:

JUICE:  BEET CARROT APPLE 

SMOOTHIE:  PUMPKIN SMOOTHIE: Use unsweetened non-dairy milk, and keep the agave (lucky you!)

SOUP:  SPICED RED LENTIL, TOMATO, and KALE SOUP

SALAD:  FULLY LOADED KALE SALAD: Use rice vinegar as a simple dressing

MAIN DISH:  CHICKPEA RATATOUILLE (or the Cannellini Ratatouille from Skinny Dish! if you have a copy (sans bulgur))

Looking forward to eating and drinking with you all!

The Biggest Detox Question: What About My Morning Coffee?

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5 AM LatteLots and lots and lots of people love their morning cup ‘o Joe. Like 90% of Americans. (I may or may not be in that 90%.) AND, if you’re going to truly detox your body, you need to skip the java.

A true detox is coffee-free because coffee (and it’s high caffeine content) decreases nutrient absorption (which is EEEsential for an effective detox), dulls the tastebuds making detox food (and all food) less satisfying, makes the body more acidic, taxes the detox organs (the lovely liver and the kidneys), fires up your adrenal gland in a not-so-pretty detox way, and often contains other naturopath no-no’s like sugar and creamer. Brutal, right?!

BUT!! Eventhough doing the 7-Day Detox starting on Monday *should* be coffee and caffeine-free, and you *should* take the next 3 days to wean off of caffeine, you can still do a world of detox good without a world of caffeine withdrawal headaches if you have to cheat ever so slightly…

Instead of coffee, have caffeinated tea (in order of detox diet supremacy preference):

1. White Tea: With the least caffeine and the most antioxidants, do it up. Also known as the supersonic tea supertonic. My favorite is Tazo’s Cucumber White. It’s no Joe, but it’s certainly someone!

2. Green Tea: It’s got a mediocre amount of caffeine so you shouldn’t get that knife-in-the-back-of-the-head headache (I may or may not know about that first-hand), but it also has a ton of healthy antioxidants, and tastes gross with milk & sugar (a good thing!). If you don’t like green tea, try ROASTED green tea like the Haiku brand found at Whole Foods Market. Tastes like a campfire!

3.Green Tea Latte: The one at Starbucks is amazing, but even a tall size without syrup has 31 grams of sugar. Might as well have coffee with coffeemate! Make your own:

matcha

Homemade Green Tea Latte
Makes 1 serving

1 Tbsp green tea matcha powder* (extra credit if it’s unsweetened)
8 ounces unsweetened soymilk
1/2 tsp stevia, or 1 tsp sugar (if you must)

Whisk ingredients together over medium-high heat until bubbly.

*The sweet matcha powder has 12g sugar per tablespoon, which is ok as long as you use unsweetened non-dairy milk

And there you have it! THREE ways to not NOT detox because you fear the lack of caffeine. Day 1 is the hardest — have the Green Tea Latte on that day and then sip through some plain green and white tea after that. See you in a few days!

7-Day Detox Starts January 7th!

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Green juice
Join in on the fun! Whatever your reason: holiday recovery, German potato salad detox, or because 2013 is YOUR year. Starting on Monday, January 7th, I’ll be doing it, leading it, and cheerleading you through my mild 7-day detox. New recipe alternatives and juice and smoothie concoctions. Are you in?!

Skinny Dish! 7-Day Detox Testimonial

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Day 1: Green Apple Juice

Guest Post by Megha Shah Even

I began the 7-Day Skinny Dish detox, along with my husband and sister-in-law, as a healthy start to the new year. My experience with other detox programs is limited: it has been a year since my last detox and with the assumption that all detoxes are alike, I was dreading this one. It turns out that my last detox stunk. This detox is AWESOME!

The first thing I noticed was how bright and vibrant all the veggies looked when I wasn’t cooking the life out of them. I could really taste each fruit/vegetable. I was sure I’d never had blueberries that tasted so good! Although the individual ingredients in each recipe were familiar to me, the combination was such a delightful surprise. Each meal was packed with flavor and I was eager to try out the following day’s recipes. There were a number of standout meals: Mango Summer Salad, Veggie Pupusas, Tofu Feta, Walnut, and Beet Salad, Curried Lentil Stew, Arugula Salad with Pan-Seared Butternut Squash. However, the real star of the show was the Fiery Cashew Dip (*drool*).

Another surprise was the realization that I’ve likely been dehydrated for over 10 years. I immediately noticed a difference with the increased water intake–my skin felt soft and aglow! I found a strange comfort in the water-pee-water-pee rhythm of my days. The shakes/juices (Green Apple Juice. YUM.) provided a nice perk in the morning and mid-afternoon tea was a great way to simulate the ritual of morning coffee. I did not feel hunger at any point during the week and found this detox to be f-u-n! I suggest asking a friend or family member to join in–it was helpful to share funny texts with my husband and sister-in-law throughout the week. The only negative for me was a moderate headache in the evening for the first four days. I blame years of caffeine addiction.

In my opinion, the 7-Day Skinny Dish detox takes a common sense approach to healthy eating. I was able to keep the party going for another week due to all the leftovers. Post detox, I have added kale to my weekly shopping list and have incorporated quite a few recipes into my weeknight meal line-up. I have continued with a high daily water intake and have increased the percentage of raw foods in my diet. I felt lighter and shed a few unwanted pounds without really trying. I enthusiastically recommend this detox to anyone who wants to jumpstart a healthy lifestyle, or is simply in need of a fresh approach to healthy eating. Word up, people! Do it! BEST. DETOX. EVER.

Megha Shah Even is a GreenSchool Educator at The New York Botanical Garden in Bronx, NY., where she leads plant science workshops for students in grades K-8. She is a compost enthusiast (loves food, hates waste) and is often spotted near grubby patches of land sneaking post-lunch organic matter into the soil. Megha is also an apprentice on a rooftop farm and currently lives in Queens with her husband, two cats, many plants, and an efficient army of red worms.

And Here It Is: Diet Soda Causes Heart Problems

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Photo by: Rafakoy

Diet soda always seemed so good to be true, didn’t it? Sweet but no calories? A sugary, bubbly, and guilt-free green card? Well, a new study out of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Columbia University Medical Center found that people who drank diet soda daily had a 43% increased chance of suffering a vascular event (heart attack, stroke, vascular death) than people who drank none, and that was after taking into account pre-existing vascular conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and metabolic syndrome. The researchers are unclear why diet soda had such harmful effects. Interestingly enough, however, researchers found that regular soft drink consumption and a more moderate intake of diet soft drinks did not appear to be linked to a higher risk of vascular events.

I’ve long discouraged diet sodas and artificial sweeteners because while they can technically help you meet your fluid needs, they leave your body wondering why it didn’t get any sugar out of the sweet-tasting beverage, causing you to eventually crave and scavenge for sugary treats. This makes you grumpy and crazy, and causes you to cycle through diet sodas, candy bars, guilt, more diet sodas, free-based sugar, and so on. Plus, many individuals feel more anxious after consuming artificial sweeteners and often have trouble falling asleep at night, regardless of caffeine consumption.

If you need to sweeten and a touch of real raw sugar or agave nectar won’t do it, stevia powder like Truvia (made from stevia leaves) has zero calories and is made from nature, not chemistry. Plus, it doesn’t have the unhealthy heart or  sugar-craving delirium side-effects. For beverages, however, straight up water jazzed with fresh fruit and cucumber wedges, or filtered water seltzered with the at-home Soda Stream, are always best.

Sorry to bear the bad news, diet soda lovers! But, the good news is that after 3 diet soda-free weeks, your taste buds will adjust and you’ll be clear out of the health risk woods. Plus, you’ll feel shockingly amazing. No more panicked vending machine runs!

Detox Day 7: Superfoods for Superyou!

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Can you believe it’s the last day? What a super journey this has been! Now that you’re accustomed to inhaling so many of nature’s powerfoods (berries, quinoa, broccoli, kale, spinach, beans, lentils…), I thought this would be a good opportunity to introduce a few of the not-so-common ones so you can consider taking your newly found health one step further. What you’re already eating/not eating is HUGE, and these extras might just help you be even MORE superpowered!

Blue Green Algae: Superstar immune-booster. Basically flavorless and comes in powders, flakes, or frozen. Can be tossed into smoothies without changing the flavor. The TJ’s Very Green Dietary Supplement contains spirulina, a popular blue green algae. But, lots of folks swear by E3 Live.

Chia Seeds: Loaded with antioxidants, essential fatty acids (more than salmon), protein, and fiber, these little guys help keep you energized and help reduce unhealthy cravings. They are easy to digest and don’t need to be ground like flax seeds. Add them to breakfast cereals, muffins, cookies, smoothies, pancakes, anything really!

Maca Root Powder: Helps to balance hormones and battle stress by strengthening the adrenal gland. Has proven helpful in treating fertility, poor libido, and menopause. Can be added to oatmeal, smoothies, or rice dishes.

Raw Cacao: Helps elevate mind and mood, and is skyhigh in antioxidants. It contains theobromine which promotes alertness without the side-effects of caffeine. Add it to smoothies, or use it in baking or for puddings. Find it at your local health food store or check it out online as seen here.

Congrats on all you’ve learned, changed, and become this week. Cheers to energizing food and living life to its fullest! I’d love to hear how you benefited from these 7 days–please share! XOXO

Detox Day 6: Time to Start Thinking About Day 8

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Mmm! A half-plate of veggies

Happy Day 6! What’s the latest? Still feeling good? Sleeping well and feeling energized? Now is a perfect time to start thinking about what happens the day after tomorrow. Will you go back to your pre-Detox eating? A modified version? Take today and tomorrow and make a plan for what you’d like to do long-term. Here are some popular, healthy, and realistic post-Detox modifications to consider:

1. Go back to drinking the morning cup of coffee you missed, but with vanilla almond milk instead of cream and sugar. Try this creamy, dairy-free concoction. Or, enjoy green, white, or black tea as your morning caffeinated beverage.

2. Continue eating the level of fruits and veggies with a giant heaping of cooked veggies at either lunch or dinner, and a giant serving of raw veggies at the other meal. Shoot for HALF your plate being veggies (either raw or cooked) at mealtime.

3. Continue with shakes or smoothies in the morning, but add a protein powder such as this hemp seed one from Trader Joe’s. High in protein, fiber, and essential amino acids, and makes your morning drink more filling.

4. Add a more substantial morning meal such as gluten-free oatmeal (Trader Joe’s has amazing gluten-free oats that seem exactly like traditional rolled oats) with a handful of dried cranberries for sweetness, raw cashews, cinnamon, and cooled down with a dash of unsweetened non-dairy milk. Or heat up a cup of cooked quinoa from the previous night’s dinner with dried fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and non-dairy milk.

5. Enjoy a raw food bar in the afternoon to satisfy your sweet tooth–they’re easy to keep on hand, easily survive life in the bottom of bags, and can be stepped on without changing shape. Examples: Larabar, Pure Energy, and KIND. These can all be found in any old grocery store, TJ’s, or Whole Foods.

6. Continue with the Detox as your constant (developing your own menus using the guidelines), and veer from the Detox for special weekend days, when you go out to eat (trying your best to keep with the guidelines, but allowing yourself those treats you may have been missing), have potlucks, or attend parties.

7. Do the Detox 1-2 days per week or 7 days a month, and a modified version on the other days.

What else will you do to carry on the healthy changes you made once the Detox is done? Hopefully you’ll all continue drinking all those energizing fluids!

Enjoy this day and the new, healthy you! XOXO

Detox Day 5: Alkaline and Feelin’ Fine

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Tahini Dressing for Veggies, in SKINNY DISH!

Woohoo to Day 5! You are just a few days away from multigrain tortillas! That is going to be one fantastic burrito 🙂

You may or may not have caught the acid/alkaline breeze in the Detox wind convo. Well, here’s the deal: Our blood and tissues love to be at a pH (measure of acidity/alkalinity) of about 7.35-7.45, which is slightly basic/alkaline. This is where your immune system is an immediate bad-guy destroyer and your overall health is sky high. As you loved learning in high school chemistry, the pH scale ranges from 0 to 14 with 0 to 6.9 being acidic, 7 being neutral, and 7.1 to 14 being basic (alkaline).

Contrary to what you may think, foods that are more acidic do not make your blood and tissues more acidic. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Oranges, tomatoes = acidic. But shocker, they make your blood and tissues more alkaline. As you could have guessed, pretty much all veggies, fruits, dark leafies, unprocessed grains, and other healthy foods help to make your blood and tissues more alkaline, while meats, dairy, eggs, sugary goods, highly processed foods, coffee and alcohol make your blood and tissues more acidic. One reason loading up on healthy fluids, fruits, and veggies, and avoiding all the other foods is so good at helping you detox, is because you’re working the alkalinity. For more on pH, check here and here and here.

Now for some extra credit: Want to check your very own pH? Using your SECOND urine of the day, pee on one of these test strips (or ones similar). Is the Detox working? Hurrrahh!

You never thought this would be so much fun! Keep truckin’ and Happy Weekend! XOXO

Detox Day 4: Calories

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Broccoli Leek Soup, SKINNY DISH!

No doubt you’re feeling pretty jazzed that it’s Day 4. Afterall, you’re a Detoxing star! You’ve got your little ziplocks, you’re all smiles, and hopefully the days have gotten easier, the cravings for unhealthy foods are dissolving, and you’re feeling lighter and freer (but restraining from bra-burning…). Someone said the other day that this Detox is downright easy. Not just “not bad,” but simple! Well that’s exactly what I was hoping for. While challenging at times, it is completely doable and perhaps even enjoyable.

Alright, so what’s the deal with calories on this plan? Are you feeling lighter and freer because of the magic plant foods that raise your metabolism, the lower calories, or just because I keep saying that you’re feeling lighter and freer…. yoooou’rrree getttting skiiinnnnyyyy…? A little bit of all that!

Each Detox day has about 1500 calories at a minimum, 60-80 grams of protein, and around 50 grams of fiber. Adding extra servings of nuts, seeds, avocado, fruit, etc. increases all those numbers. This is not a starvation diet, juice fast, or air diet. It’s plentiful, nourishing, and reboots your body. It can be short-term or long-term. Either way, it should include supplemental vitamin B12 and vitamin D (the amounts in a common multivitamin are perfect). Both vitamins are needed because you’re not eating many–if any–foods that are fortified with these little dudes. Vitamin B12 is actually a bacteria found in animal-derived foods and dirt. I imagine you’re washing the dirt (and B12) off your produce (a wise move). Vitamin D is made in the body after sun exposure, and many latitudes aren’t getting adequate sun this time of the year. Foods that ARE typically fortified with B12 & D are non-dairy milks, cereals, and fake meats. So, not a bad idea to supplement when you’re relying heavily on raw foods.

As an example, Today’s Plan including a 2-cup serving of Purple Nurple, a 2-cup serving of Curried Lentil Stew, and all the other recommended serving sizes has 1459 calories, 61 grams of protein, and 49 grams of fiber. The average American gets about 12 grams of fiber a day. You may or may not have been the average American prior to this Detox. Regardless, you are moving some serious crud out of your system. Cheers to crud movement!!

So, March On!, and clean, cleanse, and recharge your core some more. Just a few days left!