Do you have mysterious weight you just can't release? Feeling addicted to sugar and processed foods? Does the dreaded holiday weight gain get you thinking about how you'll start your new year? Bikini season got you worried about how you'll look at the beach? Tired of feeling sick & tired? Wondering where to begin? Overwhelmed by all the information?
Just as we need to thoroughly clean our house periodically, a cleansing detox program should be a part of every healthy lifestyle. Our environment, food supply and water are toxic! Toxins are found in our cosmetics, toiletries, the air we breathe, dry-cleaning products, carpets, paint, anti-bacterial products, air fresheners, home cleaning products, new furniture, pesticides, herbicides, medications, additives in processed foods and on and on and it is now clinically proven that we are all carrying a toxic load stored in our bodies. It's wise to give our body all the help we can because the disease rate has skyrocketed and we must be proactive if we wish to prevent dis-ease. Our bodies are constantly detoxifying themselves, but what happens when the toxic load gets to be too much? Well, our body stores the excess toxins in our fat and when the load is too high, it increases the stress load of our body, which causes our stress hormone, cortisol to stay high. When this happens, our insulin levels stay high as well. Guess, what, when these hormones are high, our bodies can't release fat! So, in order to reduce these elevated levels, we must reduce our toxic load. These toxins damage our cells accelerating aging and dis-ease. Beside this, if you are addicted to sugar, it's VERY hard to stop eating it because food manufacturer's are actually creating the food based on addiction science. They want you to be addicted and sugar is a class one drug, just as addicting as cocaine. Cleansing is the only real way I know of to get it out of your body. In ten short days, you can be over your addiction and on your way to a healthy and vibrant life! In my own experience, the best methods of cleansing include nutrient dense, vitamin and mineral rich fresh organic juices made at home. Adding this dense nutrition to our body helps the cells release the toxic load. It can be challenging to juice every few hours, and juice fasting is pretty intense and advanced for many people. This is why I've created the Green Smoothie Challenge. It's a gentler way to cleanse the body while still getting plenty of calories for the energy you need in your busy life. The Green Smoothie Challenge involves drinking delicious green smoothies, and eating fresh fruits and vegetables for ten days. It's very economical and you can blend all of your smoothies and even make some blended soups ahead of time for ease. Each year, I hold a FREE World Wide Green Smoothie Challenge! If you'd like to join this year's Challenge from January 12 - 21, 2015, you can sign up here. We'll cleanse together. I'll be there to support you and guide you along, help you get through the tough road-blocks you encounter and you'll feel like a new human on January 21, 2015! Get more information about The Green Smoothie Challenge at www.thegreensmoothiechallenge.com Grapefruit is well-known for it's ability to cleanse the body and burn fat. You can make this juice and drink it throughout the day. Ingredients: 1/2 freshly pressed grapefruit 1 quart distilled or purified water (do not use tap water) 3 drops Young Living Spearmint Oil 3 drops Young Living Tangerine Oil Yacon Syrup or stevia to taste. Recipe found in The Essential Oils Desk Reference Sixth Addition For information about purchasing Young Living Essential Oils, go here. If there ever was an oxymoron, this seems to be it. 'Healthy eating' and 'budget' don't seem to fit in the same sentence. I'm not going to tell you that you can eat healthy for less than $2 a day, but I can tell you that I am a working mom of 4 kids. We feed six people on largely whole foods and we do not have an endless amount of cash to spend. Yes, we do make sacrifices in other areas, I won't lie. For me, the thing is that if I don't invest in our wellness, I'll have to pay for our sickness down the road, and that's expensive! It just makes sense for me to invest in our wellness.
And I know, you may be a single mom or a one income family and it just doesn't seem possible to afford to eat healthy. Here are my tips that may help you to save some money. Eat with the seasons. In season produce is always less expensive and often on sale. Don't be afraid of frozen produce. In the US, visit the Grocery Outlet in your area for bargains on frozen produce as well as fresh. Shop bulk when you can. Many stores offer a bulk section where there is no limit of quantity you need to buy, but the prices are better than packaged foods. You can find nuts, flours, popcorn, grains, etc... Plan your week's meals. For me, this is better than taking anti-depressants! I can't believe how planning affects my life so positively. So I sit down on Sundays and plan and then shop. You will be amazed how this brings down your stress levels and your grocery bill! Processed foods and snacks cost a lot of money because in the end, they make you sick and overweight which ends up causing need for doctors and prescriptions. The 5 foods most damaging to your health are refined flour, refined sugar, table salt, pasteurized dairy and vegetable oils that are not cold pressed. I know, I know, that includes everything, right? Well, not if you make your own food. It can be very fun and fast and enjoyable. Just try it once. Sit down, find some recipes, make a shopping list, get your groceries and see for yourself how much happier you are and how much less money you will have spent when you planned for your week of meals. Shop Trader Joes and Costco. Both stores have a wide variety of organic and healthy choices. Download the EWG Dirty Dozen list. This will tell you which produce is heavily sprayed and which isn't so you can choose wisely what foods you purchase organic and which you don't. www.ewg.org/foodnews Sign up for a CSA delivery. You will pay far less for your produce and it's all organic and comes with recipes while being delivered right to your doorstep!! http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ Buy 1/4 or 1/2 of a cow or pig and stock your freezer with great meat. You can find out how to do this from many CSA farms. Order food from Azure Standard | Bulk & Organic Food Delivery | Bulk & Organic Food Online Azure Standard sells natural foods for less than you can buy them in the store! There is a once a month delivery to a specific location near you where you will pick up your delivery each month. I've used Azure for years! Very often meats are marked down when they get close to the expiration date. Make sure you smell it and it smells fresh, but if marked down, you can buy it and freeze it right away. Ask the butcher what day the meats get marked down! I hope this helps you on your journey to health and thriving! Comment below to tell us how you eat healthy on a budget! Are you an emotional eater? Whenever we find ourselves measuring our success or failure by how well we follow the rules, we are operating from a place of fear rather than freedom. The ultra-chic Paleo diet is based on a one-size-fits all approach to health. It parades itself through the streets of the dieting and wellness kingdom as the final answer that will solve all human quests for truth and longevity. And anytime we get stuck in the rut of thinking WE have found the ultimate answer, we are cooked, pun totally intended!
This is not to say that the Paleo diet does not have some great ideas to offer. It encourages us to get off of all processed food, yay! It encourages us to stop eating grains and legumes (may be good for a short time for some or a long time for others), but how does someone else even know what is going to work in my body or not? It does inspire many people to completely change their diet, usually for the much better, and to experience significant weight loss (but I notice many gain it back). It gets people eating a lot more veggies, woohoo! It gives people a framework to work within and a good starting point. But, I see many flaws as well, and most of the flaws I see are equally flaws with any overly strict eating regimen. The first flaw I see is that following an eating plan to perfection typically lacks balance and freedom and sets us apart from others and often-times gives us a feeling of superiority. And if you think long and hard about this, why do we need a feeling of superiority? Well, for one, it gives us a false sense of feeling powerful and if we need a false sense of feeling powerful, well, in short, we must feel pretty powerless in our lives. So, any strict eating regimen can make us feel better-than but it can't solve the root issue which is that we don't actually feel powerful or noticeable or important or we don't have a place to belong and we are just looking for a false way to cover over the real issue. Next, when we think we have found THE answer, this closes us off to other possibilities. It creates a state of mind that only allows us to play the game of life within a certain size playing field and anything outside that playing field becomes off-limits, which creates a limited experience of living. It also creates a feeling of righteousness or 'rightness' which inevitably leads to seeing anyone outside of our limited scope of vision as 'wrong'. This creates a sense of separation. And so, then we might want to look at why we feel a need to create a sense of separation between ourselves and others. Hmmmmmm. Thirdly, if we subscribe to 'one way' thinking, especially when it comes to our food choices, it actually creates a disconnection between ourselves and our bodies. Instead of listening to the needs of our bodies, we are following a predetermined set of rules that may or may not be right for us. We are each created biochemically individually. Some of us do well with more carbs and some of us do well with more protein. Some need a good amount of fat, like me. Some will get well on a Paleo diet, others will become sick. It is much more important to learn to tune into our own bodies than to follow someone else's prescription for health. Of course, it is possible to eat a Paleo diet and be healthy and be doing it for healthy reasons. The tell-tale sign will always involve balance. The important thing is to become curious with ourselves. What is really the motive behind our motives? It certainly is not wrong to eat Paleo and Paleo certainly is not the end-all be-all diet for everyone. I eat very healthy because I want to take good care of myself and feel well. But I also have a lot of freedom in my relationship with food and that freedom took many years to acquire because it involved being courageous enough to wipe the mirror clean and become very, very honest with myself. When I did that I saw that how I looked was where I got my sense of worth. So, it involved finding my worth, not getting more strict with my eating. The Paleo diet is a very high protein diet and there is now evidence that this kind of a diet (consisting of more than 100 grams of protein per day) can actually promote cancer growth because of the increase in IGF-1 hormone in the body. This is our growth hormone and too much of it may actually cause tumors to grow. If we have poor digestion, this diet can be very hard on the body and cause inflammation in the gut. Inflammation is the root of may diseases, so we need to be easy on our body in this regard. If you are eating Paleo, I highly suggest adding fermented foods into your life to improve your ability to digest all of the protein. For me, disorder means out-of-order. Our eating is out-of-order when we eat for reasons other than physical hunger, when we eat so we can get outward approval or when we don't eat when we are hungry. If you eat when you are not hungry or you keep eating when you are full, these are also signs of our-of-order eating. So, if you find yourself stuck in any out-of-order way of eating, I encourage you to notice it, and notice any shame or judgments that you may be feeling right now, and just get curious about why you feel a need to be so restrictive in your life. What is the bad thing you are afraid will or won't happen if you find balance in your relationship with food? If you'd like to do some discovery work in this area, feel free to set up a complimentary consultation with me here. Lemon is one of my go-to oils because it's inexpensive, its known to be a disinfectant, anti-tumoral, antibacterial, antiviral, liver cleansing, mood uplifting, stain removing, anti-blemish, anti-wrinkle, food flavoring, immune stimulant, amazing oil with so many uses! Did I mention it's inexpensive too?
I love adding lemon oil to my diffuser in the morning because it is very energizing and uplifting. It also is shown to disinfect the air I breathe! I also start my day by adding a drop or two to my water. The oil is cold-pressed from the rind of the lemon and it takes 3,000 lemons to produce 1 kilo of oil, so it's highly concentrated. Lemon oil is detoxifying and contains high levels of d-limonene which is shown to be a powerful tumor inhibitor. Lemon oil can also be used in place of Goof Off! Just rub a couple of drops where there is sap, gum, or label residue. Works like a charm! For a simple lemonade you can combine 2 drop lemon oil, 2 TBS honey and 2 cups water, adjust amounts for your personal taste. Always use oils in glass, not plastic containers! Do not apply citrus oils to skin that will be exposed to the sun because it may cause burning. Do not use near eyes. Use cold mist diffuser to mist into the air to lift mood and disinfect the environment. Apply a drop to blemishes or wrinkles as needed. Rub on cellulite to help cellular detoxification and possible elimination of cellulite. For a free guide called, 120 Uses for Everyday Essential Oils (My favorite ones I use daily!) and for information on why I only use the highest quality grade A Therapuetic essential oils from Young Living, go here. You will also find out how to order this oil and my other favorites if you are interested! When my kids ask for seconds, I share the recipe! Today I made this for breakfast and it was so delicious. The great news is that its grain free, but it doesn't taste like it!! The texture is amazing.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 banana 4 eggs 1/2 cup tapioca flour 1/2 cup coconut flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon powdered stevia I get my tapioca flour in the nutrition section at my local grocery store. I use Bob's Red Mill brand, but you can get it online too. I use an alcohol free vanilla. Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 1.5 quart bread pan. I use a stoneware bread pan. In a blender, add butter, maple syrup, banana and eggs. Blend. Add coconut flour, tapioca flour, baking soda and spices. Blend well. Pour into greased bread pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 50 minutes to one hour. If you can handle waiting, allow to cool before serving. For me, not chance, I ate it HOT with butter!! Do you like Ranch, Caesar, Vinaigrette, Blue Cheese? Want to serve delicious salads but don't want to compromise your health? Well, here is your solution! Seven healthy recipes for your favorite dressings!
Miso Salad Dressing Caesar Salad Dressing Blue Cheez Salad Dressing Creamy Pear Vinaigrette French Salad Dressing Vinaigrette Creamy Green Goddess Dressing It can be overwhelming to trade out your old favorites for new healthy choices! It's easier than you think to get rid of the food that no longer serves you and replace it with options that will create health and vitality! It's actually fun! So, where do you start? Step 1 Kick the Processed Foods to the Curb! Replace all of your bagged, boxed, processed, tempting food! Donate it to your local food bank if you can. Get it out of your house so when the craving demons come out, it's not there to call your name! If the food is not helping you reach your goals, get rid of it. And remember, the devil lives in boxes and bags of tempting food and will relentlessly call your name and since you are not the Christ, you don't need to be tested! It will NOT help this process, trust me on this one, get the devil out of your house!! Step 2 Restock Oils and Fats You'll want to have good oils on hand for cooking and making dressings, sauces, etc... Get rid of any processed vegetable oils such as Canola, Vegetable oil, Crisco, etc... They are damaging to your heart cells!For more information on this, see my article, Healthy Fat, What's That? The oils to have on hand are cold pressed organic oils such as flax and olive oil. A great brand to use is Omega Nutrition. They make olive oil, flax oil, coconut oil and a few others. They do not ever expose their oils to heat, light or oxygen, so they stay fresh for a long time. You'll want to have some ghee to cook with as well as butter. I also get grass fed lard at my farmer's market. It's great for frying. I prefer to use Kerrygold or Strauss brand butters as they are from grass-fed cows. You can also find Organic Valley butter at Costco usually. Condiments & Spices A pantry will be most useful it is stocked with foods to please your palate as this is THE necessary ingredient for your success! Start with spices. You want some good Celtic, Himalayan or Real Salt. Get a pepper grinder and some peppercorns. Fresh pepper has many health benefits as does good salt and other spices. For spices, Trader Joe's, Frontier, Simply Orgnanic and The Spice Hunter are some of my favorite brands. Some good spices to get you started are cinnamon, nutmeg, oregano, thyme, basil, parsley, garlic salt, onion powder, cumin, marjoram, ginger, cayenne, Italian seasonings, ground mustard seed, garlic powder, all-spice, coriander, curry, cream of tartar, dill, paprika, sage and any others that suit your fancy. Other things to keep handy are canned, organic, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Apple cider vinegar and raw wine vinegar. Mustard and Dijon mustard. Gluten free soy sauce or coconut aminos. I always, always have fresh onions and garlic on hand too. Natural Sweeteners There are so many delicious recipes you can make to satisfy your sweet tooth! Some of my favorite sites for healthy recipes are www.elanaspantry.com www.marksdailyapple.com and www.beyonddiet.com . Don't forget to check out my sweet recipes too! My favorite healthy sweeteners and the ones you will find in the recipes on these sites are: pure birch xylitol, rapadura, coconut palm sugar, raw honey and stevia. Flour In many of the baking recipes, you'll see them call for almond flour, coconut flour, sometimes buckwheat, tapioca or quinoa flour. Have some of these on hand or plan your baking ahead! I always have almond and coconut flour on hand. You can easily make a grain flour by grinding grain in your high power blender. You might want to do a little experimenting with my flourless pancakes or cupcakes to get the idea of how delicious food can taste without all the processed carbs! Canned Goods In addition to canned tomatoes, I like to have some jarred spaghetti sauce on hand just in case I get in a pinch. I look for an organic brand made with olive oil. I also keep canned beans, artichoke hearts, pesto, nut butters, Amy's organic soups, canned pumpkin, coconut cream and pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix, just plain old pumpkin). If you like hummus, it's good to keep garbanzo beans and tahini handy. I also like to have organic chicken and beef broth on hand for when I don't have time to make my own stock. Nuts and Seeds You'll need something to grab and go to snack on. Nuts are the perfect thing! I like to make my own trail mix with nuts, seeds, unsweetened dried fruits (make sure fruit is the only ingredient!) such as goji berries and coconut flakes with dark chocolate. You can also make your own flavored nuts, Here are some recipes. Herbal Teas Teas can greatly benefit your health and are a great way to stave off the desire to eat. My favorite teas are white tea and I also love Slique Tea by Young Living. If you want to curb your cravings, calm your anxiety and slow your desire to eat when you're not hungry, Slique is a great tea! You can order it at www.youngliving.com To order, you'll need to note my member number which is 1802065. For more questions about Slique Weight Loss products please email me at maria@mariarippo.com. Healthy Grains The ones I eat regularly are gluten free oatmeal, quinoa, millet and rice. I also like to keep some brown rice pasta on hand and you can also try the ones made from quinoa, millet, etc...to find the ones you like. Other good pasta alternatives are kelp noodles and spaghetti squash. Shredded zucchini also makes a great pasta.
Step 3 Recipes! A well stocked kitchen will do no good on it's own. Start finding recipes for simple food you can make. Find a few snacks you really enjoy. Here are two posts I wrote on what we eat for snacks. Consider finding a week's worth of go-to recipes you enjoy for you main meals as well. If you are stuck and would like help, consider setting up a complimentary coaching appointment with me for some pointers!. |
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Chichen Itza, Mexico 2015
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