Moving through the Detox

There are many things that we will encounter in life that will shift our body into what is known as a healing crisis, or a detox.   Often times when we incorporate new, healthy habits into our lifestyle, such as a change in diet, increased physical activity or new herbs or supplements, and our body must cleanse out the toxins in order to function with a renewed life force.

A healing crisis may include a variety of symptoms, and this is completely normal as our body begins to heal, and especially if your new lifestyle includes changing your diet, exercising or eliminating addictive behaviors.  This may manifest in symptoms similar to a head cold, the flu and may include increased frequency and loose stool, increased urination, a rash, mucus, fatigue, agitation or other uncomfortable signs.  The best way to combat detox is to help move it through.   Below are a few suggestions to move through the detox now and avoid one in the future.

1. Biannual Cleanse

A great way to avoid a healing crisis in the future is to implement a biannual cleanse. one in both spring and a fall is an amazing gift to your body.  There are so many options for this, including a juice fast, raw food challenge, sugar detox, liver flush or Ayurvedic, kitchari cleanse.  Whichever one resonates with you is a great way to give your body a pause from the constant bombardment of food and give our system a chance to rest, process what is in our body and cleanse it from our system.

 

2. Detox agents

There are many foods that help to detox our bodies on a everyday basis a few are:

Cilantro for heavy metals, including mercury. Cilantro releases deposits of neurotoxins. Just be sure to also use a binder, such as clay, to attach onto these toxins and pull them out of the body.

Vitamin C rich foods help remove waste and repair damaged tissue.

Drinking half of your body weight in water flushes toxins from your cells and out of your body.

Green smoothies not only provide fiber for flushing the system, but activate your body to cleanse.

White onions, garlic and dandelions detox the liver.

Beets aid in flushing out toxins while also cleansing the liver.

The pectin in apples help remove food additives and metals.

 

3. Drink Plenty of Pure

Drink at least half of your body weight in ounces in water everyday to flush waste from your cells.

Lemon water stimulates your lymphatic system, aids digestion and promotes health liver function, all necessary for detoxing your body.

 

4. Skin scrub

It is often easy to forget that our skin is our largest organ.  Do you know that it is a major source of detoxing out toxins when our liver is overloaded?  When we have skin imperfections, rashes, acne, etc, it is another form of detoxification.  The first step is lightening the load on our liver, doing a liver cleanse, making sure we focus on healthy fats, eating liver supporting foods, so less detox happens through the skin. It is estimated that we lose, on average 1 pound of waste through our skin every day.  By exfoliating our entire body through a dry skin brushing or salt scrub, you are ridding the body of the dead skin cells, and making way for an easier flow of your waste.  The scrub also aids in stimulating your lymphatic system aiding in drainage, tightens skin and stimulates hormones.  (http://www.naturalnews.com/040389_skin_brushing_detox_health.html)

 

5. Go for a walk!

Walk or find another form of cardio exercise that you love.  Exercise, boosts your immune system and stimulates your lymphatic system.  Exercise aids your body in delivering oxygen and nutrients, increasing energy and making it difficult for bacteria and viruses to survive.

 

6. Supporting your Lymphatic System

Did you know that you have 3 times as much lymph fluid as blood?  Did you also know that while we have the heart to circulate our blood, we have no specific muscle dedicated to move this fluid.  The lymph system cleans and clears our body of waste and debris and the major source of moving and cleaning this fluid is through our movement.  Cardio exercise, walking, yoga, lymph massage, skin brushing, these are ways that we move this fluid and are able to clear the toxins out of our body through sweat, urine, respiratory and elimination.

 

7. Coffee Enema

This is one of those things that no one likes to hear, but I will tell you first hand, it is a miracle worker.  The coffee stimulates your liver to release toxins and flush them out.  Here is a great video on how and why.  Coffee Enema How-To

8. Self Care

Finally, self care is imperative for keeping your system strong and healthy and aiding your body in detoxification.  Rest, pampering and meditation can do wonders to keeping your system optimal.

By supporting your detox in this way, it will help your body to move any toxins that your body has stored over the years, out of your cells, out of your blood, and most importantly out of your body.

 

By supporting your detox in this way, it will help your body to move any toxins that your body has stored over the years, out of your cells, out of your blood, and most importantly out of your body.

 

What will do you to take care of yourself? Comment Below!

"Like" Imagine Health on Facebook!

 

I *heart* Mushrooms

I had a funny thing happen to me yesterday.  I handed samples of my new favorites, reishi coffee and tea, to friends of ours, not to be sales-y, but just because I honestly wanted to share, which I love to do with anything that I am passionate about.  Now, for anyone who knows me, I have been a lover of mushrooms for some time now, and have been deepening my knowledge more recently. Well, apparently, lack of sleep and moving myself and 4 children out of a timeshare that we exploded into for a week, had me a bit  discombobulated, so when she asked me what it was good for I drew a complete blank.  As I walked away, the myriad of reasons that I love mushrooms and consume them daily came flooding back. If you would let me,  I would love to share them with you.

Just off of the top of my head...

Why I Love Mushrooms

1. Mushrooms are awesome for your immune system.  Whether your immune system is low or you have an autoimmune disease, mushrooms will support you.

2. Mushrooms are classified as adaptogens, recharging your adrenals, helping your body handle stress, remain in a calmer state, and use your energy for more productive purposes.

3. Mushrooms protect against radiation from cell phones, computers, the summertime sun, and other environmental forms of radiation.

4. Mushrooms inhibit blood vessel growth into fat and cancer cells, preventing our bodies from feeding them and enabling their growth.

5. Mushrooms work to clean toxins. In fact, I've heard that you could literally grow mushrooms on toxic waste and not only will they clean the toxins, but they are safe to eat afterwards!

6. Medicinal mushrooms are an excellent source of antioxidants.

7. Medicinal Mushrooms are anti-inflammatory.

8. Mushrooms are a great source of micronutrients.

9. Mushrooms grow in a network.  When you are taking mushrooms, you undoubtably feel more linked in to the universe. (Laugh if you will, but try it out and see for yourself!)

10. Medicinal Mushrooms are incredible for the whole family.

Please contact me if you would like to chat more about the power of mushrooms, and join in on our "Fungi For Forty" Experiment!  There is no time like the present to take control of your health!

"Like" Imagine Health on Facebook!

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar!

I just experienced my first real sugar fast, and I'm not going to lie to you, it wasn't pretty and it didn't last nearly a fraction of the time I was hoping it would.
Learning a bit about sugar right now.  This includes white sugar, natural sugars, whole food sugars, high glycemic fruit, white starches, flours, breads and grains.
I'm not going to get into a lecture. I would just like to link you to a couple of short videos and ask you to think for a minute about your relationship with sugar.
I've been thinking a lot about my relationship with sugar lately. I'm looking forward to my real sugar fast. I know I need to prepare myself better, but I also know that it is time, that it will be best for my body to give sugar a rest.

 Drinking one soda a day...

 And a musical interlude...

Watch the Bears

Cultured Veggies

Cultures and Ferments go back to the earliest civilizations.  Every "culture" has their own cultured foods. Wine, sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, relish, mead, kefir, beers, kvass and the list goes on.

Originally a mode of preservation, the process of fermenting your food cultivates an irreplaceable ingredient of a healthy diet, probiotics.

Probiotics are the good bacteria, supporting and protecting our body from disease and illness.  According to Donna Gates in "The Body Ecology Diet", probiotics "are essential to a wide range of bodily functions.  They help white blood cells fight disease, control putrefactive bacteria in the intestines, provide important nutrients for building the blood, assist digestion, protect the intestinal mucosa, prevent diarrhea and constipation, and contribute to bowel elimination. They also manufacture important B vitamins and are the most abundant source of vitamin B-12."

Taking care to include a source of cultured food in your diet on a daily basis will arm your immune system against the everyday bombardment of bacteria and viruses that we are exposed to.  I personally, feel stronger and have superior digestion when I am consistent with consuming fermented foods.  There is such wide variety of ferments that something can be found for everyone's tastes. You can find fermented foods at your local health food store, or you can make them yourself.  If you do decide to purchase your ferments, be sure that they are in the refridgerated section of the store, and state that they are not pasteurized and that they contain live cultured enzymes.  A few of my favorite brands are "Real Pickles", which carry an assortment of cultured vegetables, "InnerEco" brand coconut kefir, and "GT" Kombucha.  There are many resources for doing it yourself. My teachers have been Sandor Katz, Donna Gates and Sally Fallon, all authors of wonderful books.

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to fermenting foods.  Wild fermentation, as is taught by Sandor Katz, and culturing, described by Donna Gates.  Essentially, wild fermentation collects wild bacteria from the air as each type of bacteria is attracted to a certain food.  Whether you are fermenting cabbage, sugar or honey, they have their own bacteria and yeast that are attracted to them.  Keep your equipment clean and sterilized, and there is no need to worry about harmful bacteria being introduced.  Donna Gates brings a closed culture style to the table, adding the preferred probiotics to the food and sealing it in a closed container to allow the cultures to proliferate in a controlled environment.

Whichever is best for you is your own choosing, I will show you both methods.  I recommend trying out both and going with whichever compliments your body.  Our four fermented staples are cultured veggies, coconut kefir, coconut yogurt and kombucha.  This will be a three part series starting with...

Cultured Vegetables

One of the most popular forms of cultured veggies is sauerkraut. In our home we keep a large batch in the fridge at all times.  The whole family enjoys homemade cultured veggies mixed with fresh ground tahini, a little salad dressing, as a side dish to help digest a protein such as eggs, or straight up, in a bowl, with a pair of chopsticks.  This week we harvested a delicious garlic kraut.  Every  month we pick a new variety of veggies to ferment.  This week we plan to bottle up a big bowl of radishes from the garden.

As I mentioned before, there are two basic routes with fermenting.  The first, traditional, ferment is wild fermenting.  Our friend, Franky Giglio, from Three Lily Farm has a few recipes on his family farm blog.  Instead of making my own video, I asked Franky if it was ok to share.  He does a wonderful job explaining the process.

Click Here for Franky's Video Blog 

Next is a Video with Donna Gates, herself explaining her technique of a closed system culture.  Visit this link for the Renegade Health Show Fermentation Blog.

Both Franky G and Renegade Health have published books on the subject, that I recommend checking out.

Next week we will visit making coconut kefir!

Happy Culturing!

Immuno Latte

I love my morning coffee.  Really Love coffee. 

MAYBE the only thing I like better is a latte.  

Unfortunately, it's not good for me and my constitution.  There are lots of good substitutes, but really when it gets down to it you need something full bodied, warm and deeply satisfying.

In comes my reishi, chaga latte.  

Tree mushroom are an amazing medicine.  I'm going to keep my explanation short, as you could literally write a book on them (and there are plenty of books regarding the subject) I suggest looking in it further if this entices you.  What I will tell you are the basics.  They are immunomodulators.  What does this mean exactly?  They strengthen your immune system.  Over time it will build, however I feel the effects in the beginning myself.  Please don't get this confused with immune stimulators.  Herbs in the echinacea family, for example, are immune stimulants.  These are great if you feel a sickness coming on, however overstimulating your immune system is not healthy if it is not fighting against an oncoming cold or flu.  You will overtax and burn it out.  Also, good to note, these immunostimulators should not be taken if you have an autoimmune disorder. In this case your system is already overstimulated and attacking itself.  This is where immunomodulators come into play.  If your immune system is low it will bring it up, if it is high it will bring it down.  Reishi, "The Mushroom of Immortality" and Chaga, "King of Medicinal Mushrooms", are two of my very favorite mushrooms.  When I am consistently consuming them I feel stronger, healthier and tend to ward off sickness easier.  

Tree mushrooms are very woody and cannot be eaten as a ground mushroom.  They are best used in tea, soups and powders. When making a tea from a medicinal mushroom you need to decoct it. Which is cooking at a slow simmer for about 2 hours (other herbs that require decoction can generally be simmered for 45 minutes).  Strain the herb, and if you'd like, take the strained herb and tincture it to further pull out medicinal qualities, such as immunomodulating polysaccharides. For this recipe, all that you need is the tea.  I make a large pot of tea and use it for the family over the course of the next few days.  Mushrooms go a long way for the price and as far as bang for your buck, here it is.

In this recipe I've added Maca for its hormone balancing qualities, cacao for antioxidant and as a delivery system for the medicine (Cacao helps to deliver nutrients into your blood.  Take it with medicine verses low quality milk and refined sugar to optimize the medicinal benefits). Coconut oil and butter for the multitude of coconut oil as well as slowing the release of the latte into my system and making it into more of a meal (Don't be afraid of fats as we need these for proper brain function and believe it or not, in order to lose weight!) A sprinkling of cinnamon helps balance your blood sugar.

Try it out and let me know how you like it!  

Visit my Imagine Health Facebook Page  with any questions or comments!

 

And without further ado...

 

Reishi Chaga Latte

2C warm Chaga Reishi Mushroom Tea (Decoct (simmer) mushrooms 1- 2+ hrs and strain)

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp coconut butter

10 drops vanilla sweetleaf stevia

3 tbsp cacao nibs

1 good tbsp of your favorite honey

1 tsp-1tbsp maca

Twist of your best salt

Blend Well

Top with a dash of cinnamon and enjoy!

Zappers

For anyone that has not begun to delve into the world of parasites, the effects they have on our bodies and their eradication, we have been learning that it is not a road to look at lightly. Once you learn anything about them, you want to get them OUT! They can cause all sorts of chronic conditions, and MOST of us, healthy or not, DO in fact carry them. I recommend learning a little about them. I haven't gone as deep into it as others, because it's pretty disgusting. I understand the seriousness of it all, and am not sure if I can handle full disclosure. There are all sorts of cleanses and remedies out there, one that has come to our attention is The Terminator Zapper by Don Croft. I highly suggest doing your own parasite research and checking out parasite cleanses. In that be sure to also research The Terminator II Zapper. It's the zapper we've heard the most about.
http://www.worldwithoutparasites.com/index.html
We are looking into purchasing them wholesale and are offering them at an amazingly low pre-order offer for a limited number of zappers for a limited time.
They Retail for $134 +s&h, the cheapest I've found them for is $115 +$7 s&h
What we'll be doing as a very limited offer is $95 and if you are local, there is no shipping charge, for non-local, we'll ship them to you at exact cost.
The order ends Friday, June 12th, so to take advantage of this one time low price, contact us now!