Sleepless Nights?

Safe to say that everyone I talk to does not sleep well and definitely does not get enough of it. Dr. Oz was saying that when we sleep our body replenishes our immunity, so when we don’t get sleep then we are more susceptible to all the bad stuff. It is important to shoot for at least 7 hours a night. Dropping it down to even 5 hours increases your death risk to 15%. If you need a natural sleep aid, try Astragalus Root supplement, 400 mg per day to be taken an hour before you go to bed. Happy sleeping!

Curb Your Sugar Intake.

We all tend to have an issue with sugar. It tastes great and is found in all our comfort foods. But what does sugar do the second it goes in your mouth? Watching Dr. Oz demonstrate, sugar sets off a fire storm in your body because it is an inflammatory. And eventually it rusts your insides. Cutting sugar out of your diet forever is pretty much impossible. So what can you do? Add anti inflammatory foods to each of your meals daily. Eat 7 walnuts at breakfast, celery sticks at lunch and fresh garlic at dinner. Simple enough.

Rehabilitate Your Liver

If you drink a lot or at least fear the damage you’ve done to your liver, then this little tincture might be for you. From that same Dr. Oz episode where I wrote about cholesterol, here is a simple fix. 30 drops of Milk Thistle Extract in a glass of water daily can help reverse lover damage.

Lower Your Cholesterol

Do you have high cholesterol? If your LDL is high and you fear heart disease and attacks then this natural remedy may be for you. I was watching Dr. Oz and he had a naturopathy doctor on and they said that yo-to dieting can lead to high cholesterol. If you’ve yo-yo’d at least five times in your life then your risk for a heart attack is pretty great. They said that a simple fix could be by adding Brewer’s Yeast to your diet. 1-2 tablespoons per day, mixed in with your food can help curb the icky blood vessel stickers.

michael pollan.

From Michael Pollan’s new book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, this (amazing) author on nutrition and food was on Dr. Oz and he had some stuff to say.

Who’s cooking your food? Corporations or people? Corporations are using the cheapest, worst ingredients and dress it up with salt, fat and sugar.

Get back into the kitchen and rekindle your love for cooking. If you do this, you don’t have to worry about counting calories or agonizing over getting enough nutrients, how much fat your taking in, etc. It figures itself out when you’re cooking, just in practice alone.

We’re being brainwashed into thinking we are incapable of cooking. Think about the companies selling you frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That’s ridiculous. The most simple food to make, but hey, we make it better and easier for you. But is it?

Pollan’s new FOOD RULES:

WATER: where does flavor come from? You can make the best flavors just by cooking food slowly in water. Dashi, a Japanese stock, makes everything amazing. You add kombu to your cooking water and remove before it boils. Benito flakes is a great add-on (fish and mushroom).

AIR: you cannot live on wheat flour alone. But you can live on bread. Buy your bread from a baker not a factory. If it does not go stale in a couple days it is not REAL bread.

EARTH: fermented food is super important. Basically eat from the earth. Live, fermented food. Kimchi, sauerkraut, wine, cheese…

FIRE: No no no on microwaves. This is not fire, so don’t use it. Think about when you cook on a grill, everyone is attracted to it giving it a sense of community. Do you do that with microwaves? Nope, it’s quite the obvious.

Here is Michael Pollan’s grocery cheat sheet list:

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ayurveda fat loss

I still love Dr. Oz, that’s never gonna change. I saw an episode where he had a great Indian doctor, Kurleet Chaudhary, who specializes in ayurvedic medicine. She talked about how easy it is to get your body back in shape by simply shifting your regular eating practices. 

Fat Fighting Tea

1/2 teaspoon whole cumin

1/2 teaspoon whole fennel

1/2 teaspoon whole coriander

Throw it all in some boiling water for five minutes and then sip on this tea all day long. Try to do this a few times a week. 

Another fat fighting, detoxifying, body strengthener: Triphala. This is made up of three superfruits: Amalaki, which works as an antioxidant, Haritaki, a detox-er/colon cleanser, and Bibhitaki, basically a fat melter. You can take it in powder form. 1/2 teaspoon of Triphala, 1 teaspoon of psyllium fiber, 1/2 teaspoon flaxseed in warm water and go for it. If you an’t handle it take it in pill form, take two tablets an hour before bed. 

Another way to reduce fat and get those pounds to shed is by reorganizing the calories in your meal. Basically eat 25% of your calories for Breakfast, 50% for Lunch and the remaining 25% for Dinner. Dr. Chaudhary says that your body’s digestion is at its best during lunch, so you can basically throw down during this hour. But don’t throw down after 7p because your body does not want to work at night and so your fat will be stored causing you to pack the pounds. So what should your meals look like? Breakfast should be easy to digest- egg whites, oatmeal, fruit. Lunch should be your heaviest- meats, cheese, desserts. Dinner has to be the lightest- soups, cooked veggies.

Last fat fighter is adding curry powder to all your meals. It helps you feel satiated and will help you to eat less. If the ones in the stores are too spicy for you, it’s easy to make: 

  • 5 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 large bay leaf
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 small (1 1/2 inch) cinnamon stick
  • 5 cloves

Grind em up in a coffee/spice grinder. Once blended add 2 tsp of turmeric powder. That’s your curry powder! 

Gharshana is a massage that helps with lymphatic flow. Not meant to be gentle it’s supposed to be vigorous. You apply pressure with raw silk gloves ($20, online) in whichever areas you want less fat. Go crazy with this to see results. 

meditation complete

I admit that I failed the blog by not keeping up with the posts for each day. But I did not fail this challenge. Loved looking forward to meditation every night. Through the yoga challenge and the meditation challenge I’ve realized how important these two things are in my life. I do feel that it would be beneficial for everyone to partake in- the boost in health both physically and mentally is enough reason to try it. But! I’m not here to push or preach. Do as you wish.

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