The Experts Weigh In: Cleansing from Within

Image via blisstree.com

BY: KATIE BRESSACK, CONTRIBUTOR

The latest health craze is surprisingly not about which diet is the best (which is a departure from the norm); instead, the latest rage has been all about cleansing and detoxing. 

There are certain things that we should eliminate from our diets (like sugar), but doing a 100% juice cleanse for three days is probably not the best idea unless you can just sit and relax for three days. 

If you are a busy woman on the go, I truly believe that drinking juice alone for three days this is not the best idea. You may notice a decrease in your energy levels (or more mood swings) - the complete opposite of what you are hoping for.

As a Holistic Health Coach, I support busy women so they can balance their bodies with foods to help improve mood, energy levels and hormones. I believe that restricting our bodies is just another way to torment ourselves, the same way diets torment us!

Most of us are not getting the proper amount of vitamins and minerals from our daily diet. By making modifications to your diet, you can provide your body with the right amount of nutrients through real whole foods.

I know that doesn’t sound as glamorous as the latest juice cleanse, but by balancing your body with real whole foods you will be able to maintain this healthy lifestyle for more than a few days, perhaps even for the rest of your life.

Image via magforwomen.com

Signs That Your Body Might Need A Jumpstart

Before you decide to balance your body, take a moment to tune in and see what your body is trying to tell you. Ask yourself if you have felt one or many of these feelings in the past 30 days...

1.  Cravings - you are either craving sugar or salt - nothing seems to satisfy this strong craving

2.  You Feel Exhausted - even though you are getting at least 7 to 8 hours a sleep a night

3.  Increased Body Aches - you keep getting headaches and feel light-headed

4.  Mood Swings - your mood changes more than usual

If you have felt all of these body signs, no worries! That is exactly why I am sharing some healthy tips with you today.

Before we start to cleanse the body, we need to dive a little bit deeper and see what might be causing us to feel this way. There is always a root cause of why we are craving sugar or feeling exhausted and it might not have anything to do with food. By looking at your life through a holistic lense, you can begin to see that maybe you are reaching for that candy bar because you are stressed at work, lonely or tired vs. being solely addicted to sugar.

I always encourage the women I support to use the following questions as a way to check in with their inner emotions and feelings...

·         Do I need to spend more time with my loved ones and less time at work?

·         Have I been able to move my body enough these past few weeks? 

·         Can I limit the amount of stress in my life?

·         Have I been sleeping enough?

·         What foods am I addicted to?

Tuning in to where you are right now is the best way for you to move forward on your health and wellness journey! After all, to complete a journey, we must first know where to begin.

Image via urbanwellnessclinic.com

Why Cleanse The Body?

Depending on your daily diet, you may be consuming more added sugars, gluten, dairy and caffeine than you may realize. Too much of these types of foods can lead to a lack of energy, headaches, bloating and sugar or salt cravings. When we are not feeling our best, we tend to not take as much time for movement, relationships and healthy eating.

When we decide to move forward with a healthy makeover, we should look at more than just the foods that we are eating. A health makeover should encourage you to take a closer look at what is working for you, and what might be working against your body in all areas of your life.

What To Add In

Many of the foods available to us today no longer exist in their natural state. There are so many processed foods, gluten free foods, no fat/low fat foods that are all supposedly healthier for us, but they are missing the essential building blocks needed for our bodies to thrive, like healthy fats, vitamins and minerals.

The first step to balancing your body is by consuming real, whole foods. Cleansing should be about adding in the healthiest foods you possibly can to help your body with digestion and to improve your energy levels.

Aim for eating greens at least twice a day, if not more. Adding in a fresh green juice or smoothie would be ideal to get tons of greens into your body. Drink water with lemon throughout the day, add in fresh fruit and veggies, eat whole grains like quinoa and be careful about the meat and seafood you consume. Hormone- free, organic, grass-fed and wild-caught is the best.

Adding in healthy fats like avocados, coconut oil and walnuts is another way to help balance your hormones , not to mention these foods stop your body from craving the unhealthy foods.

What To Take Out

Foods that have sugar, gluten, caffeine and dairy can wreak havoc on your digestive system, zap your body of energy and become very addictive over time. I encourage you to take a close look at your diet, snacks included, to see what you are eating most often or in large quantities. You will probably notice that what you are addicted to are the foods containing sugar, gluten, caffeine or dairy.

When you add in the healthiest food for your body, you end up crowding out the unhealthy foods. It takes about 30 days for your taste buds to change, but you may notice that every day into your journey, you start to crave the sweets less and the greens more.

You will also notice an improvement in your energy levels and digestion by eating real, whole foods and letting go of the sugar, caffeine and dairy. An added benefit is that your skin will have a beautiful healthy glow!

Water Is Key

About 34% of Americans only drink the recommended amount of water during the day - 8 glasses - even though most of us are drinking about 6 glasses of caffeinated drinks like coffee and soda.

Our body is made up of 70% water, and water plays a critical role in every bodily function. Not getting enough water leads to dehydration, and being dehydrated is one of the main reasons we crave sugar.

Dehydration can also cause fatigue, dry skin, and over time, digestive issues.

I encourage you to drink as much water as possible. We all need to drink more water, but some of us might need even more than the recommended amount depending on activity level and climate.

As soon as you get up in the morning, drink a warm cup of water with sliced lemons and continue to drink water throughout the day, drinking the most in the morning and early afternoon. Staying hydrated can help you cleanse the body, improve your energy levels, get rid of toxins and cleanse the skin. 

Image via wemakethechange.com

Keep A Journal

When you are starting to balance your body, it is important to keep track of how you are feeling. Are you craving certain foods? Are you experiencing food withdrawals in the form of headaches? Are your stress levels lowering? Do you need more support to reach your health goals?

By writing down how you are feeling as you change your diet, you will start to notice what you really need on a daily basis to nourish your body.

If you would like more support balancing your body and cleansing it from the inside out with real, whole foods then check out my Balance Your Body in 28 Days program.

I created this step-by-step nutrition and wellness program for the busy woman on the go, who wants to be healthy but needs support getting there.

This program has simple, delicious recipes that are quick and easy to prepare, allowing you to cook once and eat twice. I provide you with a daily journal, daily motivational emails delivered to your inbox, a "Busy Woman Must-Have Checklist" AND I support you in being healthier at work (plus so many more tools to help you become your healthiest self!).

For more information click here www.katiebressack.com/balanceyourbody and just for Strictly Nutritious readers, I'm offering 20% off using coupon code Balance13.

Katie Bressack left the corporate world to follow her passion to support busy women through nutrition and lifestyle counseling. Katie works to help implement simple, healthy choices that make a big impact on women’s health. With Katie’s support, the women she coaches lose weight, de-stress, increase their energy levels and reach personal and professional goals in a fun, loving and supportive space.

Katie is a Certified Health and Wellness Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and Board Certified by the American Association for Drugless Practitioners (AADP). She  also has a certificate from the Institute of The Psychology of Eating, is trained in The Hormone Cure with Dr. Sara Gottfried and is a Registered Yoga Instructor.

Check out www.katiebressack.com for your free healthy breakfast recipe book and to schedule your complimentary health discovery session. Follow Katie on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @KatieBressack!

The Experts Weigh In: How I Became A Farmer

Tara at Ferme de Gally in France.

BY: TARA TRANGUCH, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

On my 35th birthday, I was living in Paris, France, working at the headquarters of a telecoms manufacturing company. I spent my birthday tied to my desk on back-to-back global conference calls for 7 straight hours. When I went to sleep that night, I pledged that on my 36th birthday, I would not be doing the same type of work. 

Don't get me wrong - I loved living in Paris, and I honestly enjoyed working with my colleagues. I was blessed with a wonderful boss who mentored me and put me on interesting projects. Sure, there were the usual bureaucratic headaches that most employees of multi-national companies face today, but overall, my life was nothing to complain about! 

But... something was missing.

Tara in Champ de Mars, Paris.

I had started to realize that, upon waking, I was already looking forward to the end of the workday. On Mondays, I was already looking forward to the upcoming weekend, and I was starting to live for the next holiday. That was not the kind of life I wanted to continue living. So I asked myself "what do you want to do?".

My inner voice answered that question with the same response it had repeated for the past few years. To be honest, I think it was pretty tired of answering that question, as each time it voiced the answer, I brushed it off with an emphatic "Well that's just not possible! Be reasonable, Tara!". But nevertheless, that inner voice responded yet again "You want to be a farmer. You want to grow vegetables and work in the dirt".

I believe that inner voice is the innate truth within each of us that knows who we are and want we truly want. It is not governed by reason, and in fact, reason is its greatest opponent. In the world of scientific, rational thought in which we live, reason usually wins. But not this time.

As I fell asleep on my 35th birthday, I replied, "Ok. I'm going to be a farmer".

Kale microgreens

Many people ask me where this desire came from. No one in my family works in agriculture, I majored in English and Chinese, and my career up until last year was in telecoms. There is no logical explanation, but there is a story - my story about my journey towards greater health and wellness.

I lived in China for most of my 20's. One Chinese New Year, I went with my girlfriends to Thailand for my first fast/cleanse/detox experience. It was only 3 days without food, but this cleanse sparked a change in the direction of my life. The next year I went on a 5 day cleanse, the following year a 7 day and by the next year, I was going on an annual detox. When I moved to Paris, making a ticket to Thailand less convenient and economical, I started doing 10 day juice cleanses at home. With each fast, I shed addictions - smoking being the biggest one. Sugar cravings and yeast addictions were another. One year during the standard post-fast 7-day raw food diet, I decided to keep going and to earnestly explore the vegan raw food diet. During the two years that I was high raw, I met David Wolfe and George Lamoureux and began integrating superfoods and superherbs into my diet. In fact, it was the winter right before I turned 35 that I met George Lamoureux of Jing Herbs. I told him what herbs and medicinal mushrooms I had been taking and in what quantities (roughly 1/2 tsp./day each of reishi mushrooms, eucommia and astragalus, for those who are curious), and he said to me "Time to increase the dosage. You are ready for a transformation". So I did, and within three months of our encounter, I had taken the leap of faith to change careers and try farming.

There is no logic to this story. How can a fast from food, a raw vegan diet and medicinal mushrooms lead to such a drastic change in lifestyle? Is there a logical explanation? Or is there perhaps a more - what we could consider - magical explanation? 

I believe that the plants themselves called me to a different kind of life.

Mung bean sprouts

Now before you mutter 'hippie chick' and exit the page, I'd like to state my case. Since making the shift to being a farmer, I have come across various webinars and essays about the communicative relationship between humans and plants. Stephen Harrod Buhner in The Lost Language of Plants describes how we are trained in reductionism, to look at the earth as a series of isolated units that function as a machine to support the human race. He says that our current cultural epistemology has us viewing ourselves as isolated from other life forms. Prior to this universe-as-machine mode of thinking brought about by the Industrial Revolution, people perceived nature as alive with intelligence and soul. They saw "Earth as a living being, not a ball of resources inhabited by human beings hurtling through space". He goes on to write: "We have always lived, surrounded by original language".

Part of that original language is generated by plants. Plants communicate through our nose, our skin, our eyes and our tongue. Buhner provides countless examples of cultures who listen to plants. For example, the Iroquois believe that if a person becomes ill, the plant that can heal that particular illness will stand up and begin calling to the ill person. Buhner writes, "To a Heliconius butterfly, a honeybee, or a moth this would not be strange; they would understand". I believe that my ingestion of plants and my openness to their nutritional and health-building properties resulted in them taking a leading role in my life's journey. 

They have called me to work with them.

Tara at Devon Point Farm in Woodstock, CT.

So how has this leap of faith panned out? Last year, I started farming as an apprentice at Devon Point Farm in Woodstock, Connecticut. Following the apprenticeship, I started my own farm, Serafina Says Farm. I currently grow sprouts and microgreens and make artisanal raw living foods for sale at farmers' markets, a local co-op, an organic delivery service and a few local restaurants. This coming season, I will grow organic vegetables for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) on 2 1/2 acres of leased farmland plots in Canton and Simsbury, Connecticut. In parallel, I am training to become a Certified Health Coach via the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). This is where I met Lauren!

Being a new farmer and an entrepreneur has its own challenges, but every day I wake up living for each moment. I love what I do all the time! Weekdays are just as enjoyable as weekends. Mondays are great because they signal the start of new projects, and I have an inner peace that was previously missing because I know that I'm doing what I'm meant to do. As I'm still a new farmer, I don't have more to share with you yet on what it's like to run my own farm, but I would love to come back at the end of the growing season and let you know how this first year goes. Wish me luck!

My concluding words to those of you who have made it this far: In my experience, the path to health and wellness if a step-by-step process. It's a lifelong journey that will change not only your physical well-being but also your mental well-being. Changing your diet and flushing out toxins will enable you to listen to your inner voice, to have the courage to live the life you dream about and to be who you are meant to be. It is not an overnight journey and you can never be sure of where the journey will take you. So take that first step, because the world is full of magic and mystery.

If I wasn't experiencing it firsthand, I'm not sure I would believe it either!

Devon Point Farm in Woodstock, CT

Tara Tranguch is a former corporate world maven turned farmer. Last year, she left her life in Paris and moved to her home state of Connecticut to pursue her inner passion. Tara now runs her own farm, Serafina Says Farm, where she grows sprouts and microgreens and makes artisanal raw living foods. She confesses to being really in love with plants - so much so that she's  currently dreaming up a way to make her living room rug into a patch of living grass. In her own words, "Wouldn't it be great to sit on the grass while watching a movie, or walk on grass while inside?". If Tara were stranded on a deserted island, she'd be just fine eating coconuts and seaweed for the rest of her life, and when it comes to guilty pleasures, Tara admits to loving the new TV show The Carrie Diaries because it allows her to relive her childhood in the 80's. If you ever find yourself at a farmer's market in Connecticut, look for Tara's goods!

Snack Attack: Spicy Baked Chickpeas!

Image via flickr.com

In honor of full-disclosure, I should tell you a few things...

1) No matter how health-conscious I become, I will never say 'no' to a good snack.

2) If I ever have the pleasure of being invited to your home, I WILL (no doubt about it) sneak a peek inside your pantry to assess your 'snack factor'. 

3) If your snacks are savory, kiss them goodbye.

4) If they are sweet, breathe a sigh of relief. You're in the clear.

5) I consider a person's 'snack factor' very important when choosing a mate... and you should too!

It's pretty clear I love to snack. I can barely get through the hugs and hello's when I go home to see my parents without making a beeline for the pantry to see what's up. It's shameful but true (right, mom?). So since February is all about the   L-O-V-E and snacks are my one true culinary love, why not spend the month featuring my favorite healthy treats?

Last week, I went back for more of Ella Nemcova's 'Cleanse Cooking Class' at Freshmade NYC. We started things off with her recipe for Spicy Baked Chickpeas. This snack is reminiscent of munching on a handful of your favorite nuts, without the high fat content! Chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) are a great source of protein. Just 1 cup provides you with 30% of your daily requirement! In addition to protein, chickpeas are packed with fiber, antioxidants, potassium (for heart and kidney health) and thiamin (for brain health and mood regulation). Could this snack be any more impressive?!?

The onset of Blizzard Nemo last weekend left me with all the time in the world to try making them on my own. Did I forget to mention that they're SUPER EASY too?

Here's the play-by-play...

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and arrange a rack in the middle of the oven. You'll need 2 cans of chickpeas (again, chickpeas, garbanzo beans... same thing) and extra-virgin olive oil (try to use the good stuff)!

Drain and rinse your chickpeas well. Then pat them dry with a paper towel or clean dishrag and throw them in a large mixing bowl.

Add 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil.

Sprinkle with 1 tsp. ground cumin, 1 tsp. chili powder, 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper and 1/2 tsp. sea salt. Mix well to evenly coat.

Place the chickpeas in an even layer on an ungreased baking sheet...

...and bake 30-40 minutes until crisp. Just watch carefully at the end so they don't burn!

Look at that beautiful snack! This basic recipe has endless possibilities! Next time I'm making a sweet version!

Snack away, my friends! There's no shame in THIS snack!

Join the Cleanse Cooking Class: This Wednesday, February 6th!

One more thing! If you would like to attend Ella Nemcova's last class of The Ellavation Cleanse Cooking Series this Wednesday, February 6th at 6:30 pm at Freshmade NYC, please call Cara at 212-475-0500 or email info@freshmadenyc.com. There are a few spots left!

This class will cover snacks, smoothies and other gentle sweets you can eat while detoxing!

Ellavation Cleanse recipes are based on the principles of the elimination diet. Ellavation is easy to do; no starvation, no fasting and no gimmicks. The recipes feature only real food, and best of all, these recipes are delicious, so you'll want to incorporate these body-changing secrets into your lifestyle for good.

About Ella: After spending a year traveling to over 30 countries, Ella Nemcova, a Certified Holistic Health Counselor, honed her global palate and paired it with her passion for nutritious foods. The result? Her fabulous plant-strong catering and fine foods company, Regal Vegan Inc., which is currently enjoying success with their signature product: Faux Gras™ and their newest sensation, Basilicotta™ - an herb-infused cashew cheese. Ella is a whiz at finding the magic balance between decadent food and holistic nutrition. Through both her product line and her cooking classes, Ella creates incredible food that delights, heals, and inspires people to live more uncompromisingly healthier lives.

Classes are held at:

Freshmade NYC

636 Broadway, 5th Floor, Suite 516

(btw. Bleecker and Houston)