Water Basics

I am finding myself thirsty with this cleanse!  This generally isn't the case because I do tend to drink a good amount of water.  In general, if we are drinking a good amount of water each day, we won't ever feel thirsty (outside of when we are outdoors on a very hot day or if we have eaten a meal that is much higher in salt than we would normally eat).   If we find ourselves thirsty, it is a very helpful signal from our body that we need more water.
This thirst on the cleanse makes sense though because water does make it easier for our bodies to clear out toxins and doing a cleanse provides our body with an opportunity to do more work on this level.  Drinking more water will facilitate a more effective cleanse.
Drinking a good amount of water also ensures that we are properly hydrated which positively impacts us on a number of levels including improving our ability to concentrate, supporting healthy bowel movements, and reducing the likelihood of headaches.
On a regular day, it is best to aim for 2 litres (8 X 250 ml cups) of water.  If we do an intense work out, we want to add at least another 2 cups (500 ml) to that total.  And during a cleanse, we might want to add another 500 ml to the total too.
Room temperature or warm water is easier on our system than refrigerated or ice water.
Most of us aren't natural water drinkers, so measuring out our water in the morning (in 2 X 1 litre bottles) makes it easier to ensure we actually drink 2 litres per day.  And the visual reminder of the measured water provides motivation to drink the water.
As well, if we aren't drinking a whole lot of water currently, we don't want to aim for 2 litres per day directly.  Slowly increasing our water trains ourselves (and our bladders!) and makes it possible for an increased amount of water to become a normal part of our routine.  Increase by 1 cup per day each week - i.e. if we normally drink 4 cups per day, increase to 5 cups per day for at least 1 week, then increase to 6 cups per day for at least 1 week and so on.  By the time we get to 8 cups (2 litres), we will have adjusted to the increased water intake being part of our daily routine and it will be much easier to maintain.    

Lily Family Veggies

Continuing with the exploration of Dr Joel Fuhrman's G-BOMBS (as discussed in his books The End of Dieting and Super Immunity), the O part of this formula is onions!  Along with onions, many of the other vegetables of the lily family (allium genus), including garlic, leeks, chives, shallots, and scallions are also included.
Onions and the lily family veggies contribute to our overall health by supporting us on a cardiovascular and immune level.  They help us maintain healthy heart function and balanced blood pressure.  They reduce our risk of developing a number of different cancers.
They also offer great anti-microbial support in their raw form  - having raw garlic when we first feel symptoms of a cold can help stimulate our immune system and reduce the severity of the symptoms/clear the cold more quickly.  
Mincing or finely chopping the lily family veggies makes it easier for us to gain the benefits from them.
Integrating the lily family veggies into our routine is pretty easy - they enhance the flavour of most meals that we would make and go well in sauces, stir fries, soups.  They are an easy food to eat on a daily basis and doing so, offers us great ongoing overall health support.
For people with digestive concerns, raw lily family veggies can be particularly difficult, so it is best to stick with cooked forms only if we note any concerns after eating them in their raw form.
As well, from a FODMAP diet perspective (which is a therapeutic diet to treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome and is based on problematic (for some people) naturally occurring sugars and alcohols in different foods), the lily family veggies are considered the most likely ones to cause digestive concerns, so for some people, they do need to be avoided entirely.  

Beans! Beans! Beans!

Yesterday's blog looked at the Greens component of Dr Joel Fuhrman's G-BOMBS (as discussed in his books The End of Dieting and Super Immunity).  And today's blog looks at the B which is beans, specifically legumes!  Legumes are a fibre rich healthy protein source.  There are many different types of legumes, including chickpeas, pinto beans, kidney beans, navy beans, lentils etc. 
Legumes offer blood sugar balancing support and can help to reduce the risk of developing a number of different cancers.  They are also a low cost, nutrient rich, and low calorie protein source and it is a great idea to aim to integrate them more regularly into our diet.  
Many people are unsure of what to do with legumes, but they are quite easy to work with and mix well with all sorts of dishes, including as a base for dips, sprinkled over salads, mixed into soups or stir fries.   There are loads of recipes on the Internet or cookbooks in the library or the bookstores to gather ideas from too (great authors to look for include:  Sarah Kramer, Dreena Burton, Kristy Turner, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Jae Steele).   
I prefer to use dried legumes (if you do use canned legumes, aim to get ones in BPA free cans) - they require at least 4 - 6 hours of soaking before being cooked though, so there is some planning required.  I find it easiest to remember to soak legumes when I combine the soaking with something that is already part of my morning routine.  I always soak legumes after I have made my AM smoothie - when I am putting away the smoothie dishes (which includes the measuring cup), I can generally remember to do so if I want to soak legumes for supper.  After being soaked for 4 - 6 hours, most legumes generally take 60 minutes to cook.  
For some people, legumes are hard to digest.  In general, lentils, mung beans, aduki beans tend to be the easiest on the digestive system.  And slowly increasing our intake over time tends to make it easier on the digestive system as well.
For people with more in depth digestive concerns, legumes can still be an option, generally in smaller serving sizes and less frequently.  If following a low FODMAP diet, the easiest legumes include chickpeas, lentils, mung beans, and butter beans (preferable no more than 1/4 cup per serving and preferably no more than 2 - 3 times per week).  Interestingly, from a FODMAP perspective, the legumes are easiest on the system when they are canned - this allows the GOS/fructans (which are the concerning components of the legumes, FODMAP wise) to leach into the canning water and reduces the amount in the legumes we eat. 

If following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, the easiest legumes on the digestive system (once symptom free) include lentils, black beans, kidney beans and navy beans.      

Greens! Greens! Greens!

In his book The End of Dieting, Joel Fuhrman MD discusses his Nutritarian Diet which focuses on the concept of eating more nutrient rich foods and eating less foods with low nutritional value.  This is a pretty simple guideline that we can work with on a daily basis to help improve our nutrient intake and our overall health.
In The End of Dieting (and his previous book Super Immunity), Fuhrman mentions G-BOMBS which are foods that offer particularly powerful support for our immune system and help to reduce our risk of developing cancer.  G-BOMBS stands for Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Seeds and aiming to integrate these foods into our diet on a regular/daily basis is a great goal to work with.  
The Greens part of this equation can include kale, collard greens, bok choy, chard, spinach, and darkly coloured lettuce.  Greens are flexible and can be integrated into our diet pretty easily.  The tender and low taste/flavour greens like lettuce, chard, and spinach can be eaten as a salad or blended into a smoothie.  The stronger tasting and tougher greens like kale, collard greens, and bok choy can be lightly steamed or sautéed and mixed with a lunch or supper meal.  For some people, raw greens are hard on their digestive system (this can especially include the brassicas:  kale, collard greens, bok choy), so sticking to the cooked form will be best.  Greens also support healthy liver cleansing and are a great addition on a cleanse.  Whichever way we integrate greens, aiming to eat them more often offers us an easy way to boost our health on many levels!

Hello 2017!

The start of another year brings the start of another cleanse for me!  I do a cleanse for the month of January each year and it always feels like a great way to reset and a positive way to start off the new year.
A cleanse can look differently for each person.  My regular diet doesn't include meat or dairy or eggs or refined sugar and during the cleanse, I also remove gluten, unrefined sweeteners, prepared/processed food, nightshades, soy.  I focus on whole foods prepared at home and there are still loads of foods to choose from!
The above picture is of my AM smoothie ingredients.  I use 1 green apple, 1 cup leafy greens (I generally just use 1 leaf and today's leaf equalled more than 1 cup!), 2 inches of cucumber, 1 tbsp hemp seeds, 2 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 3/4 cup water.  I place all these ingredients in a blender and the smoothie is ready to drink pretty quickly!  Please note the 1 tbsp measurements are done with an eating tbsp (which is smaller than a true measuring tbsp) and are more of an approximate each day.  I have this AM smoothie even while not on the cleanse and luckily it is also cleanse friendly, so I don't have to make any adjustments!
I hope to post more regularly during the cleanse with cleanse friendly suggestions as well as general health focused posts.
Sending wishes to everyone for a new year that is filled with continued learning and growth.  All the best for 2017!

Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen for 2016

The Environmental Working Group has released their 2016 Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen lists! The Dirty Dozen list includes the foods that are most contaminated with pesticide residues and the Clean Fifteen list includes the foods that are the least contaminated.




The Dirty Dozen includes:
1. Strawberries
2. Apples
3. Nectarines
4. Peaches
5. Celery
6. Grapes
7. Cherries
8. Spinach
9. Tomatoes
10. Sweet bell peppers
11. Cherry tomatoes
12. Cucumbers
These foods are listed in order of pesticide residue contamination with number 1 (strawberries) being the most contaminated.

The Dirty Dozen Plus includes:
1. Leafy Greens (Kale and Collard Greens)
2. Hot Peppers
These foods are contaminated with especially concerning residues, organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, which are particularly harmful to our central nervous system.

The Clean Fifteen includes:
1. Avocados
2. Sweet Corn
3. Pineapple
4. Cabbage
5. Frozen Sweet Peas
6. Onions
7. Asparagus
8. Mangos
9. Papaya
10. Kiwi
11. Eggplant
12. Honeydew Melon
13. Grapefruit
14. Cantaloupe
15. Cauliflower
These foods are listed in opposite order than the Dirty Dozen with number 1 (avocados) being the least contaminated.

Each year, these lists provide us with excellent information that we can use as helpful guidelines when buying our food - aiming to eat only certified organic Dirty Dozen foods when possible is a great strategy to reduce our pesticide exposure and to support our overall health.  See http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/index.php for more info.

Microbiome Basics

I recently 'attended' a webinar presented by Liz Lipski PhD on Balancing the Gut-Brain Axis.  Loads of interesting information on our human microbiome (which are the microbes that live on our skin and in our genitourinary tract, gastrointestinal tract, lungs and sinuses) was covered including:

- The microbial DNA that makes up our microbiome outweighs our human DNA by 150 to 1!

- We each have between 200-1000 different species in our microbiome - most are commensal or friends to our system.

- Our microbiome has an in-depth impact on a number of our body's processes/systems, including impacting our immune function, our metabolism, as well as our cardiovascular, skin, digestive, and overall emotional health.  

- The specific makeup of our microbiome is individual to each one of us.  For example, people who have asthma have a different microbiome in their lungs than people who do not have underlying lung concerns.

- The more diverse our microbiome, the hardier we are.  Infants, who are much more susceptible to illness than most non elderly adults, do not have an established microbiome in utero - the building of the microbiome occurs initially through the vaginal birth process which allows for a more full diversification of the microbiome.  Babies who are delivered via c section will have a different microbiome more reflective of the microbiome of the skin.  Bathing c section delivered babies in mom's vaginal secretions can help to establish a more well balanced and diverse microbiome.  

- The great majority (90%) of the communication between the gut and the brain goes from the gut to the brain - we produce 80-90% of our serotonin (the 'feel good' neurotransmitter that impacts our overall emotional health) in our gut rather than our brain!  

- If we are experiencing depression or anxiety, it is very important to ensure that our gut function and microbiome are well balanced - by doing so, it can be easier to find more balance, emotionally, as well. 

- There are specific strains of bacteria that produce different neurotransmitters (including serotonin and GABA) and there is a developing field of research into psychobiotics which are probiotics specifically designed to support emotional health.

- When our gut microbiome is imbalanced, we have more tendency to crave simple carbohydrates/simple sugars. 

- Our microbiome is very flexible and responds quickly (within 24 hours) to positive dietary changes.  

- Eating a whole foods diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and healthy protein sources offers excellent support for establishing a healthier microbiome.  

-Foods rich in polyphenols (including onions, apples, green tea) offer extra support by feeding and strengthening specific beneficial strains (lactobacilli, bifidobacteria) in our microbiome.   

- Fermented foods, including miso, sauerkraut, yogurt, also offer excellent support in establishing a healthy gut microbiome.