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My personal training and private yoga clients constantly talk to me about their physical goals, usually losing weight being at the top of their list.

Where to start

My advice is always the same. Start with a cleanse. You need to press the “restart button” before you begin something brand new. Your body, specifically your digestive system, is much like a computer and you’re trying to download a new program. If you haven’t restarted your computer in months, maybe even years, your computer will be running slow and sluggish.

When we regularly ingest processed foods, meat and dairy products, our digestive and lymphatic systems become overloaded, or congested, leaving excess toxins to remain rampant in the blood and in the digestive system where they cause chronic illnesses and diseased colons.

Great internal healing occurs when we cleanse through organic, primarily liquid based, raw foods. Uncooked foods maintain the enzymes within the food, as oppose to cooked foods which destroy the natural enzymes. After we eat cooked foods, it takes a lot of energy from the body to produce these enzymes in order to aid in the digestive process. In addition, because the raw food is also mostly liquid (smoothies, juices, teas, gazpacho’s) it doesn’t demand much from the body in order to break it down.

By allowing our systems to work less, we free up that energy to concentrate on healing. Raw vegetables, fruits and their juices, fresh air, and sunlight alkaline the body. They carry a negative charge, magnetically attaching the the acidic wastes and literally puling them into the eliminating channels for release. In addition, alkaline-forming foods are so beneficial because they help magnetize waste matter out of the bodies cells.

Are there any difficulties?

Raw foods help our digestive systems to heal, which allows our lymphatic systems to discharge these congestive toxins. This process can be uncomfortable.

Some possible side effects of detoxification include a temporary loss of energy, headaches, nausea or diarrhea. This is merely evidence that your body is throwing out those accumulated toxins.Some people will experience childhood illnesses or past experiences. If you experience low energy or bowel irregularities over a long period of time, you may have an overgrowth of yeast, or Candida, in your intestines.

How should I cleanse?

There are many different ways to detox. There’s the lemonade diet. There’s potions and colon cleansers. Fasting. Laxatives.

I personally believe the most gentle and nutritious way to detox is through raw food and juice cleanses. I either provide these cleanses (actually creating and making the cleanse for you) or, if you don’t live in Los Angeles and/or it’s too expensive for you at the moment, I can consult and guide you through your process via email/phone. See the testimonials page if you want to see what other clients have said – They all agree that with a healthy body come endless benefits.

If eating raw foods isn’t right for your body, I can guide and support you through other nutritious cleanse methods, such as body ecology diet, gluten-free, dairy-free, macrobiotic or vegan.

what are the health benefits to carrot juice?

• high in Vitamin C which is great for maintaining the appearance of our skin by slowing the decline of collagen
• our most delicious source of beta-carotene (plant version of vitamin A), which is our most famous antioxidant (posses life extension properties that protect us from the toxic effects of free radicals)
  
• Best known for helping our eyes. Beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin all concentrate in the retina of the eye.
  
• And carrots enhance the overall function of our immune system by increasing the production and performance of our white blood cells.
  
• The pectin in carrots lowers serum cholesterol levels.
• Carrots are beneficial for dry skin problems such as psoriasis.
• They also reduce the risk of stroke
  
• and as if that wasn’t enough, they counter the symptoms of arthritis and rheumatism

No wonder carrots were my favorite veggie growing up! I must’ve known inherently

———————————

For this Tasty Raw Carrot Juice recipe, be sure to buy organically grown.

“Bunny Love”

-7 oz organic carrot juice

-2 oz organic pineapple juice (organic frozen is best, either buy it whole and cut it to freeze or buy pre cut)

-1-2 oz organic fresh ginger root (it really adds a zing so be aware to add it a little at a time until you get used to it)

-1-2 tablespoons bee pollen

directions:

1) juice the carrots and ginger together in juicer (and pineapple if fresh)

2) put juice into a blender and add the pineapple if frozen (1 Cup)

3) add the bee pollen, it will add a creamy consistency

4) add ice if the pineapple isn’t frozen

What kind of fish to eat when you go to make dinner, go out to sushi, or to a restaurant?  here’s a quick cheat-sheet for ya.

The best choices are abundant, well-managed and caught or farmed in environemtnally friendly ways.

Best Choices:

• Spanish Mackerel*
• Prawn
• Black cod
• Pacific halibut
• Bay scallops
• wild Salmon roe
• Arctic char
• Sardine
• Tilapia (US farmed)
• Oysters (farmed)
• Imitation crab (AK pollock)
• Skipjack tuna
• Smelt roe (iceland)
• Giant clam/geoduck (wild)
• murugai/Mussels (Farmed)
• Salkmon (AK Wild)
• Albacore Tuna
  
• Striped Bass (farmed or wild)*
• Sea urchin roe

Good Alternatives: these are a great option, but there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts.

• Spot prawn (US)
• Shrimp (US, farmed or wild)
• Black Cod (CA, OR, WA)
• Yellowtail (US Farmed)
• Flounders, SOles (Pacific)
• Sea scallops (Canada, US)
• Blue Crab*, King (US, Snow
• Imitation Crab (except AK pollock)
• Skipjack tuna (Hawaii)
• Tuna: Bigeye, Yellowfin (troll/pole)
• Smelt row (Canada)
• Salmon (WA wild)*
• Albacore Tuna (Hawaii)*
• Sea Urchin Roe (CA)
  

AVOID:

Avoid for now as these items are caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.

• Monkfish liver
• Monkfish
• Shrimp
• Yellowtail (Australia or Japan, farmed)
• Halibut, Soles, Flounder (Atlantic)
• Bluefin Tuna*
• Salmon Roe (farmed, including Atlantic)
• Crab:King (imported)
• Tuna:Bigeye*, yellowfin*
• Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic*)
• Albacore tuna (imported)*
• Red snapper
• Octopus
• Bluefine, Bigeye and yellowfin Tuna*
• Freshwater eel
• Sea urchin roe (Maine)

*Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other chemicals.

Make Choices for Healthy Oceans

You Have the Power! Your consumer choices make a difference. Buy seafood from the “best choices” list to support those fisheries and fish farms that are healthier for ocean wildlife and the environment.

great websites for more info:

www.edf.org/seafood

www,seafoodwatch.org

• 2 cups raw hulled Sunflower Seeds (soaked & sprouted)
• 1/2 cup raw and hulled Sesame Seeds
• 1/2 cup Hemp Seeds
• 1/3 cup Red Onion
• 1 cup Parsley (chopped)
• 2 Lemons (juice of)
• 4 medium cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
• 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1. Wash hulled Sunflower Seeds, and soak in water for 4-8 hours. Rinse and drain and place in a colander or sprouting container for 2 hours at room temperature (for Sunflower Seeds to sprout).

2.Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth (if the blender is having a difficult time blending, you can always add 1/4 Cup water to get the blender started).

3. Chop up fresh veggies to dip into… or use dehydrated crackers for a hummus-like dip! Enjoy

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES?…

and gluten free, dairy free and raw?

is it true? Here’s the recipe, you be the judge!

Cookie Batter

• 1 3/4 cups cashew “flour”
• 3/4 cup ground oat groats (or use all cashew flour for a much sweeter dough)
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract or dark chocolate stevia
• 1/2 cup melted coconut oil (room temp is fine if it’s warm in your house)

Chocolate Chips

• Blend 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup carob/dark chocolate, 1/2 cup cacao.
• Put mixture in freezer, then chop into chunks.

THEN…

• In a large bowl, mix “Cookie Batter” ingredients with hands.
• Add and fold in Chocolate Chips.

Form into balls, roll in cashew “flour” and refrigerate. (I put them on a plate or on parchment paper)

BONA!!!

**you can add less coconut oil (just do 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup) if you don’t crave that taste or if it’s too “buttery” but you need some to bind the ingredients.

**you can just add dark choc pieces from a bar that you put in the freezer and add a little agave unless you want that “bittersweet” taste

It is also incredibly high in folic acid, B vitamins, and nucleic acids, and is thought to help cure chronic digestive and autoimmune diseases. And women, listen up: not only has bee pollen been tapped to stimulate the production of eggs from ovaries, it also plays a role in preventing and treating such cancers as breast and uterine. In this case, a spoonful of bee pollen just might save your life.

“Bee pollen is often referred to as nature’s most complete food. Human consumption of bee pollen is praised in the Bible, other religious books, and ancient Chinese and Egyptian texts. It has long been prescribed by traditional health practitioners-including the fathers of Western medicine Hippocrates, Pliny the Elder, and Pythagoras-for its healing properties. Bee pollen rejuvenates your body, stimulates organs and glands, enhances vitality, and brings about a longer life span. Bee pollen’s ability to consistently and noticeably increase energy levels makes it a favorite substance among many world class athletes and those interested in sustaining and enhancing quality performance.” Steve Schecter N.D

Most of the time I blend a tablespoon of bee pollen into my fruit based smoothies. It creates a funny pasty taste that you may not like, so test it with different flavors. Sometime I’ll sprinkle it on top of a shake or salad instead of blending it, but lately I’ve been craving the pure taste and taking it by the spoonful!

Only Bee Pollen has the following:

* All 22 elements of the human system.

*All essential amino acids and is a complete protein.

* Vitamins A, B Complex series C, D, E, K and Rutin.

* 28 Minerals, Trace Mineral needed for good health.

* Enzymes and Co-Enzymes necessary for good digestion.

* No cholesterol.

Bee pollen is also fine to use while on a cleanse, used in a juice or as a supplement.

First of all, what is “mindful eating”?

The Center For Mindful Eating says that mindful eating has several components, including:

*learning to make choices in beginning or ending a meal based on awareness of hunger and satiety cues;

*learning to identify personal triggers for mindless eating, such as emotions, social pressures, or certain foods;

*valuing quality over quantity of what you’re eating;

*appreciating the sensual, as well as the nourishing, capacity of food;

*feeling deep gratitude that may come from appreciating and experiencing food

The study, which was a follow-up on an earlier study that revealed middle-age gained less weight when practicing yoga over a 10-year period than those who did not, confirms that the increased awareness that yoga practitioners often experience may play a bigger role in weight management than the yoga asanas themselves.

“The researchers found that people who ate mindfully – those were aware of why they ate and stopped eating when full – weighed less than those who ate mindlessly, who ate when not hungry or in response to anxiety or depression,” states a press release from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center released August 3. “The researchers also found a strong association between yoga practice and mindful eating but found no association between other types of physical activity, such as walking or running, and mindful eating.” Click here to read the whole report.

Basically, yoga helps people be more aware of their actions, which helps them better gauge how much food they need and control weight. That sounds about right to me. Anyone else?

Running can be for everyone, you can run, too!

If you can walk from the couch to the refrigerator, you are not too heavy or slow to run. If you can go to a 45 minute spin class, you can run outside for a few miles.

Running doesn’t imply that you are running a marathon. It doesn’t mean you have to run everyday. Having an aversion to running just for the sake of it is only limiting yourself. I move through so many emotional and psychological blocks when physically running.

Here are my suggestions if you are open to the concept to running:

• start on a treadmill or the dirt, jogging slowly for a 30 sec-1 minute, walking recovery for 2 min.
  
• after 5 to 10 minutes of this, take your jog speed a little faster to a light run, increasing your interval from 30 seconds to a minute or a minute to 90 seconds. Walking recovery for 90 seconds.
• after 15 to 20 minutes, stop.
• walk for another minute or two, slowing the heart rate and letting the muscles relax
• stretch AFTER your run, not before.
• Do these stretches:
  

1. take your right ankle over your left lower thigh (above the knee) and bend your knees as if you’re sitting in a chair. you can hold onto the railings of the treadmill or hands and back against a wall.
2. take your left ankle over your right lower thigh and repeat above directions. These two exercises stretch the hip flexors and glutes.
   
3. stand up straight, legs strong, cross right foot over left foot and begin to lean over. you can slightly bend your knees so you can get deeper into the position. This will stretch the IT Band.
   
4. stand up straight again and repeat the above, crossing the left foot over the right foot and leaning over.
   
5. stand erect again, this time grabbing your right foot or ankle behind you, bottom of the foot to the glute, stretching the quadracept.
   
6. repeat number 5 with the left foot.
7. stand up straight and take your arms to the sky, reaching and stretching from your hips.
   

• remember that every single run after the first is easier
  

If you get shin splints easily, it means you have overworked the tibia and you definitely want to start on a treadmill or dirt. Also, avoid going downhill, and avoid sports that have a lot of back and forth movements like tennis or basketball. Shin splints can also be caused by a person running to long, too hard or training to intensely.

to stretch the shins after a run:

• stand flat foot, knees slightly bent and lift the toes with the heel of foot on the ground. Do both feet until you can’t do it any more.
• Find a step and hang the heel part of your foot over the edge. Great shin stretch.
  

• if you have a little more time, the lunge is great too for your legs in totality.
  

Here are a few more questions commonly asked:

Q. What shoes do I buy? do I need to buy expensive running shoes?

A. A pair of light, good fitting sneakers or walking shoes works fine. You don’t want to waer old sneakers that don’t fit or are worn down. but you don’t need to buy new shoes. you’re not going to be doing high mileage. If you DO begin to run more often, and further, you can go somewhere that isn’t a specific running store/ specialty and you can find cheaper shoes. I like ascics a lot and bought my last pair for 45 dollars.

Q. I can’t run because I’ll get hurt and have to stop.

A. True, runners get occasional muscle and joint aches, but these should go away quickly. Treat muscle aches with ice or an anti inflammatory gel or cream like Traumeel (homeopathic).  Jeff Galloway (running coach, marathon runner) began teaching beginners in 1974, he was worried about some of the participants. “But everyone finished the class,” says Galloway. “you don’t get inured if you follow the ‘no huffing, no puffing rule.” Also, take it slow starting back into a running regiment. Take a few days in between running to let your body recover. And *listen to your body!!!!

After you try this concoction you’ll understand why!!!! Grab a blender and toss in:

• 1 handful kale or collard greens
• 2 handfuls spinach
• 2 stalks celery
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 cup blueberries or strawberries
• 1/2 banana
• 1 scoop hemp protein
• 1 cup almond milk, rice milk, oat milk or water
• pinch of Himalayan pink sea salt

This drink gives me energy for hours, unlike any energy a caffeinated drink could  provide. Another plus about this drink is that it really alkaline’s the system, helps you keep weight off and it is incredibly cleansing for the system (lymphatic and digestive).

You can take away the banana for less sugar or add more to make it sweeter. You’ll still get the beautiful benefits of all the green vegetables.

If you want it to be more savory and less sweet, you can alter the recipe this way:

• 1 handful kale or collard greens
• 2 handfuls spinach
• 2 stalks celery
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 avocado (if you have a good blender toss the pit in there, it will make it super creamy!!)
• 1 cup water
  
• a few squeezes of fresh lemon
• a couple parsley sprigs
• pinch of cayenne pepper

I like this variation for a mid day snack or a lunch or dinner replacement with hemp protein. If you let it blend longer and get really smooth, it will even warm in the blender and come out tasting like a savory soup!!

Okay now that I’m drooling–time to make my shake!!!