Chlorophyll is the plant pigment that gives plants their green color but its real claim to fame should be that it is chock full of vitamins and minerals. This emerald green superstar is found naturally in plants like spinach and kale, but you can also find it in a liquid dropper form at the health food store. Chlorophyll barely has a taste so it can be added to water, smoothies, cocktails... or made into this deliciously refreshing detox limeade. Cheers!
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Apple cider vinegar has a claim to fame as a health and longevity elixir. Its benefits are extensive: improves digestion, provides relief from heartburn, reduces blood sugar levels, increases energy, eliminates cravings and supports fat burning and weight loss. So it's no wonder people are getting on the ACV bandwagon! But, for many, once they try it, they struggle to incorporate it into their daily routine due to the intensity of the tartness! Over on Hello Glow, I go into detail about all the health benefits of consuming ACV regularly PLUS I give you eight recipes for hiding it in drinks, smoothies and salad dressings so you can get more into your life! Check it out by clicking the button below.
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Ready to make your 'cuppa' work for you? I've put together a list of my favorite medicinal teas that, in addition to tasting comforting and delicious, pack a punch on the nutritional front! Everything from burning fat with matcha to fighting inflammation with golden milk to detoxing your liver with dandelion, I've tried to cover the gamut when it comes to tea for every ailment. Cheers to the power of tea!
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Off the back of an indulgent holiday season, many of us feel the the urge to purge in January to get our asses back in gear after being pretty slack for a few weeks (or months)! My gentle 3-day cleanse is the perfect antidote to all that cheese, pie, and champagne from all those holiday parties. I say 'gentle' because there is nothing extreme or restrictive about this cleanse plan. You're eating real food the entire time so no need to worry about feeling deprived or starving. Since it's winter for us here in the Northern Hemisphere, I've designed all of the recipes to be warm and comforting. You'll be having winter-inspired smoothies or porridge for breakfast, Ayurvedic kitchari for lunch and cozy veggie-based soups for dinner. In addition to the yummy recipes, I also put together a list of stress-relieving practices so you can feel lighter, happier and more refreshed after you've finished! All the info for the 3-day cleanse is over at Hello Glow. Click the button below to be taken there.
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This 1-day cleanse is the perfect "reset button" after a holiday, wedding weekend, or one of those weeks of not-so-healthy eating. I know how tough it can be to commit to a cleanse for any real length of time (7, 14, 28 days), so I came up with this 1-day cleanse plan for when you don't want to fuss around with lots of meal prep or put your summer social activities on hold because you're "on a cleanse." A great day to do this cleanse is Monday or Tuesday after, for example, a big weekend of eating, drinking, etc. You can pick up the essentials from the grocery store on Sunday or Monday and get started right after that. As you can see from the photo, I purchased my green juices and nut milk. You can, of course, make these yourself but the beauty of this cleanse is that you don't have to spend much time in the kitchen!
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This stuff is straight Sunday night comfort food. Not mac n' cheese, not pizza, not take-out sushi....Nope, I want mushy, creamy, Indian-spicy dal. For my dal, I use split yellow mung beans. I've already expressed my love of mung beans here. But these are special mung beans. These have had their green husks taken off which removes the gaseous content of the bean making it much easier to digest. Without a husk to keep each bean intact during cooking, they all turn to mush. Mmmm.. So split yellow mung beans are the perfect food for babies/the elderly, as well as for healing the gut and cleansing your digestive tract.
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Spring is the time of year when our bodies naturally want to "spring clean" or detox after the heaviness of winter. If you tune in, you may notice that your appetite naturally begins to wane during the months of spring. Spring boosts natural fat metabolism which, in turn, decreases cravings, hunger and appetite in order to reset fat burning, start detox and loose any extra weight carried over from winter.
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The sun is out, the weather is heating up (at least in Denver it is!)....which means backyard BBQs, Sunday beer sessions, happy hours, parties and weddings are kicking into gear. Spring/summer is my favorite time of year and when I enjoy being the most social. Sometimes being social translates into being over-served.
As fun as drinking can be, the body really takes a hit. After a big day/night out, you gotta give your body some love. No one likes to feel badly after having a good time so here are my top tips for enjoying a drink (or 10) and not suffering (too much) the next day!
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As a nutrition coach, I always trying to get my clients to eat more vegetables. I follow a general approach of teaching my clients to 'crowd out' the junk by adding in lots of nutrient-dense foods, especially veggies. One of the common hurdles on the road to a plant-based diet is that fresh produce often entails a lot of prep work (washing, peeling, chopping) and that takes time! Time that most people don't have! So what do I tell them?? Eat frozen veggies. When it comes out of my mouth, a tiny part of me cringes a little because few things make me happier than coming home from the farmers market / grocery store and stocking my shelves and fridge with heaps of fresh fruits and veggies, and I want my clients to share in a similar (probably not quite so enthusiastic) joy. BUT I would much rather them eat all frozen produce than put the idea of eating vegetables in the "too hard basket" in view of the time factor. That said, I decided to do a little bit of research around the nutritional value of fresh versus frozen vegetables and I was pleasantly surprised and humbled. The science gave me the humbling I needed to shut down that little cringer when I promote frozen produce to my clients.
There is no denying the convenience of frozen produce, but let's check the science on whether we are sacrificing micronutrient and antioxidant value for the sake of luxury...
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I haven’t eaten any animal protein (meaning: chicken, fish, pork, red meat, etc.) since I left Australia last Christmas to travel in Asia. I began my meat-free life in India at the Ayurvedic detox center, as animal products (except for milk) were not an option. The wellness retreat in Thailand where I stayed for yoga teacher training served only vegetarian meals. In the Himalayas in Nepal, we learned that no animal is allowed to be slaughtered in the Everest region (the Sherpas who live there are Buddhists) and therefore meat for the trekkers comes to the region either by plane or by road. It is then transported up the mountain to the teahouses on the back of a yak or Sherpa, in a straw basket “protected” from the sun and flies by a tarp over the top. After walking past a few of these yak trains or over-loaded Sherpas, my vegetarianism while trekking was confirmed. From there, we headed to Ubud (Bali) which is like a healthy hippie vegetarian heaven. There are at least a dozen restaurants right in the main part of town serving up incredible and unique plant-based cuisine so I thought choosing the meat option seemed like a waste. By the time I got back to the U.S. in April, I figured I would want to tuck right in to a nice piece of wild-caught Alaskan salmon or a beautiful organic and pasture-raised chicken breast, but I didn’t. There was nothing in my body or mind telling me I wanted meat again. I didn’t feel malnourished, weak, or tired; in fact, I felt light, energetic and wayyy less bloated! The latter being the most exciting for me as I have struggled with my digestion for quite some time. While I’m not saying my digestion is 100% healed with perfect elimination and zero bloating, I am confident that it is much better than it was six months ago. No longer eating animal products may be a large factor or a small factor in that equation, but one thing is for certain - you need a strong digestive fire to digest animal protein and, at the moment, mine is still a little flicker.
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I came to Vaidyagrama for two primary reasons: 1. I wanted to see and experience the Ayurvedic panchakarma process first hand after studying it this past year, and 2. I wanted to get my menstrual cycle back (after 2 years of no period from being on oral contraceptives for so long) and heal my polycystic ovaries. I started the panchakarma process (diet, medicines, treatments, etc.) on January 5th and my period arrived on January 11th - a day full of gratitude, jumping for joy, and much, much relief! Over the past two years, I had been to more alternative healers than I could count on one hand on my quest to bring my cycle back naturally. As much as I tried to stay positive and keep experimenting with new methods with the hope that “this one has to work,” I always had in the back of my mind the gripping fear that something was seriously wrong and I was never going to be able to have children. I was diagnosed with polycystic ovaries which is a condition that can be no problem for some and cause infertility for others. There is no real “cure” in Western medicine; the focus is more on managing diet and lifestyle so that the hormone imbalance doesn’t worse and cause further complications. Since being diagnosed with this condition, I have talked to many different people and done much of my own reading / research in an effort to learn as much as I can to heal myself. Indirectly, I have become really interested in how women’s hormones and menstrual cycles get so out of whack and how we can naturally bring our system back into balance.
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As you may know, I was studying Ayurveda in Sydney over the past 9 or so months before I left on my traveling adventure. Ayurveda is the wisdom of life and longevity and perhaps the oldest existing body of knowledge on the healing process. It is not just a medical knowledge system, but an art of living in harmony with the laws of nature. When Ayurveda talks about wellness, it includes physical, mental/emotional, spiritual, social and environmental wellbeing - as holistic as it gets! It encompasses diet and nutrition, lifestyle, exercise, rest, relaxation, meditation, breathing exercises, medicinal herbs, and cleansing and rejuvenation programs for healing body, mind and spirit.
As I had been studying the principles of Ayurveda, as well as learning the various treatments to bring the health of a person back into balance, I wanted to see Ayurveda is action in India, where it originated. My teacher in Sydney suggested that, if I wanted to experience the real deal panchakarma process (body, mind, spirit cleansing/detox treatment), I should go to a place called Vaidyagrama near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, southern India. Vaidyagrama is an experimental green Ayurveda healing community born out of the desire to “live simple, live well, live healthy and live happy!” How cute is that? It is a small, but lovely, eco-retreat in the middle of nowhere….which helps with pacifying temptations to sneak out and get myself some chocolate and a cappuccino! I stayed at Vaidyagrama for the month of January. Sounds like a really long time, but it went by so quickly - I could have easily stayed another few weeks!
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