Posts Tagged ‘challenge’

The Key Ideas of Successful Detoxification

Introduction:

Mike Perrine is a detoxification consultant, certified colon hydro therapist and the co-owner of Gravity East Village, a cleansing and detoxification consulting office in New York City. We asked him to write an article for the members of our nation that touched on an aspect of the raw food journey. Here is what he had to say:

Hello Raw Food Nation!

I’ve thought long and hard about the best way I can contribute to this amazing website. It’s challenging to touch on some of these subjects and not write an entire book. For the sake of space I’m going to keep these powerful (and I really mean it, you keep this up consistently and results will show) concepts as simple and no nonsense as possible. We’re trimming all of the fat today. You’ll notice that many of these concepts are very simple. It’s in the consistency where all the magic happens.

The Key Ideas of Successful Detoxification (aka raw food diet, aka vegan diet, aka cleansing program – they all work on the same principles):

1. Almost everyone starts out eating foods that challenge the body. It’s just a matter of degree. A bacon cheeseburger is a massive stress to the body. It costs enzymes, minerals and energy to deal with it essentially leaving you at a loss. Raw foods are amazing because they challenge the body far less. The moment we start consistently leaving out highly challenging foods our bodies will immediately begin to deep clean. (This key concept was taught to me by my good friend and mentor Dr. Fred Bisci) This is basic detox. “Bad food” leaves us at a loss. It’s something to deal with and recover from rather than something that elevates us physically and mentally. Raw food allows the body the energy it needs to go deep. And fasting is the ultimate elimination of challenges giving the body a full rest and ability to go deep in cleaning and rebuilding. When transitioning into a cleaner program and trying to decide what to eat, there are three things to consider. This is what qualifies a health food to be healthy:

1) What A food delivers: We all know this one. Almost every book on health covers this. We want good things from our food. Vitamins, enzymes, trace minerals… I think we get this one.

2) What a food removes: This is big! Very important. An apple a day keeps the doctor away because it’s loaded with raw fiber that sweeps the intestines clean. Health has more to do with elimination than input. (This point was was really emphasized by my great friend and teacher Gil Jacobs who works in NYC as a colonic therapist)

3) What a food doesn’t leave behind: The other side of the coin. If a food is leaving anything behind in your tissues or along your intestinal wall (see Dr. Shinya’s video at www.yourguidetodetox.com) it’s going to pollute your body. Plain and simple.

2. Raw food is not always easier on the body or more cleansing than cooked foods. This is really important because we see people shun a steamed vegetable, but they go to town on raw ice cream. Steamed asparagus is always going to be easier to digest and eliminate than heavy nut desserts like raw ice cream. What makes raw ice cream better than traditional ice cream is that it’s vegan, raw and less refined. (Now don’t take this the wrong way, I love raw ice cream!) I bring this up simply to put things in perspective.

“But what about the enzymes lost in the steaming process?!?!” – Yo chill… It’s minimal. We lose more enzymes stressing out about the enzymes. Steamed veggies are the easiest on the body, but for many people baked yams or squash and sometimes whole grains are extremely cleansing during their transition. Remember, there are 3 things that make a food healthy.

3. The rate at which your body releases toxins is determined by the rate that you leave challenging elements out of your lifestyle based on where you start from. When I first got into a vegan diet I remember eating an abundance of cooked foods and I still cleansed heavily and lost over 60 lbs. That’s how challenging my previous lifestyle was to my body. Eliminating stress alone allows some people to go into a state of cleansing.

There’s a big difference between the cleansing reactions of a 50 year old recovering drug addict and a 15 year old athlete. It has to do with the amount of exposure and accumulation over a lifetime and the strength of the person’s organs of elimination when they start the transition. This is important to understand: The success of any cleansing program is determined by 3 things (there’s that 3 again):

1) Consistency: Many people aren’t getting the results they want because they are inconsistent. “Oh I went on that trip and we had some BBQ, but when I got back I juiced a lot…” That’s great, it’s better than nothing, and there’s definitely no need to beat ourselves up about food, but to get dramatic results we need to be consistent.

2. Understanding Loosening vs. Releasing: The success of any cleansing program is determined by the strength of our detoxification organs. If we have liver problems or a sluggish bowel, the process may be more challenging. Here’s why, The great wisdom of the body gets a little foolish from time to time. The detox process is one of those areas. Every cell in our bodies begins to release the pressure of built up waste and gas when we consistently remove challenges. However, the cells don’t seem to “know” that the colon or other organs are not able to handle the request. So what happens? Lots of circulating toxins with nowhere to go. The end result can range from us feeling terrible (those notorious detox symptoms or “cleansing responses”) to very serious consequences. I don’t want to be negative about this process. I think it is the most amazing journey of transformation we can embark on. However, we have seen over the years people go too fast and get into serious trouble that could have been avoided by transition and bodywork.

3. Willingness:

Willingness to transition

Sometimes less than ideal foods are part of the program. I currently work with someone who fluctuates between 400 and even made it to 500 lbs. He has a massive drug history and binge eats daily. I put him on a diet of water, raw juice, raw salad, steamed vegetables, and BBQ chicken wings (and most of this food was not organic). It was the first time since going over 400 lbs. he went below 400. At the time he went from 465 to 395 in 5 weeks. That’s some deep cleansing! And we can see how quickly it happens. A completely raw diet has the potential to devastate him at this point.
The more quickly one transitions the more bodywork may be necessary to make it a smooth journey.

Willingness to assist the body

A few things to realize here
Many of the substances we find in our tissues today are stuck there for a reason. Our bodies never anticipated their arrival. I’m talking mostly industrial pollution/medical residues, over consumption of animal foods and processed foods and an overabundance of stress chemicals from modern living. This is the simple reason why we can’t always rely on our natural functions to take care of business. The colon is designed to pass a chemical free, plant based diet and in the process removing natural metabolic wastes. That’s it. So when the training is the same, but the job description changes we run into trouble. Plain and simple: Get a series of colonics. Get the sludge out (see Dr. Shinya’s video at www.yourguidetodetox.com) and decompress the gasses. The effect it has on your body is absolutely amazing. I could write a book on this alone. In addition to colonics, infra red saunas, uninterrupted rest and massage therapy make an excellent success formula.

The process of detoxification is our opportunity for transformation and self-discovery. It is a sacred and powerful journey. There is more than just physical transformation that occurs during this process.

I hope this serves you well.  I look forward to meeting all of you on the path!

Best,
Mike Perrine
www.yourguidetodetox.com
www.gravityeastvillage.com

How To Stay Raw At Work

So let’s say you have taken care of being raw at home; your fridge and your pantry  are rid of anything that might tempt you or throw you off track. That’s super! But what about when you leave home? So many of us have to venture out our doors for various reasons, most commonly to go to work. Well, your office might have a vending machine stocked with manufactured snacks, or that person who always decides to bring bagels and sweet goodies to leave in the break-room. Talk about temptation!

We need to arm ourselves with ways to maintain the raw food diet and lifestyle while in the work environment. This means sticking to your raw food intake percentage and doing it in a healthy and balanced way. There are a couple challenges when working in the office on the plant-based diet:

1. You may be tempted by refined sugar and refined carbohydrate “office-treats.”
2. You have to plan ahead (meaning you have to create more time) to think about and make food.
3. You have to have food and snacks in the office five days a week (i.e. you can’t run out of food and you can’t forget your food at home).
4. You have to deal with various social aspects.

Planning Your Raw Food Stash

Planning is key when nutrition becomes such a high priority in your life. There are several different ways you can plan and prepare your at-work meals. The first, and most important, thing to do is to create a stash of dried foods and snacks in your desk, locker, car, or wherever you work. Some good ideas for this stash are goji berries or some other dried fruit, dried nuts and seeds, sea veggies, bee pollen, sea salt, and/or a jar of green powder (and a glass shaker jar). This food can be used as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, or for supplementing a plain salad that you didn’t have time to dress up. This stash will also come in handy on those days where you are hungrier than usual and have already eaten all the fresh food you brought for the day. Last, you will save valuable time spent planning and packing into baggies daily quantities of nuts, seeds , dried fruits , and/or sea veggies. Now you will have a 3-4 week supply of snacks there for you at work!

As long as you have some delicious raw options with you, you will be more immune to wanting to eat those office treats loaded with refined sugars and carbohydrates. Sure they smell great, but you know that what you have in your desk drawer, locker, or car will taste so much better! Even if it means having some raw chocolate or raw cookies nearby, it’s very important to have something with you that will satisfy you in the way cooked foods used to satisfy you when that craving hits.

Fresh Raw Food Options:

Now, for the fresh food preparation. Although this can take some mental time, physical time, and muscle to carry to work, you CAN do it and it’s completely worth it. When you want to make the food will be up to you and your work/sleep schedule. Some raw foodists like to make the food in the morning because it will be at its freshest. Others may not have time in the morning and may prefer to make an extra large salad, or soup for dinner for the next day’s lunch. Here are some ideas of what you can make or bring for breakfast and lunch:

Breakfast options:

• Fresh green juice
• Green smoothie (60% fruit blended with 40% green leafy vegetables)
• Superfood smoothie (with some fat and protein added to it like flax seed oil and hemp seed protein)
• Fresh organic fruit

Lunch options:

• Big green veggie salad
• Superfood smoothie
• Green soup with flax crackers
• Raw entrée (perhaps leftovers from last night’s dinner)

Now you can create your own combination depending on the below considerations:

1. Am I running on time this morning or running late?
2. What does my body feel like today? Examples would be: it feels like more liquids (smoothies and soups), it feels like more protein (hemp seeds, raw protein powder), or it feels like some extra superfoods.
3. What do I have to eat in my refrigerator?

What If You Are Running Late?

All of this considered, if you are running late in the morning and didn’t have time to make anything the night before for lunch–no problem! Pack some clean fruit in a bag, grab a container of leftover salad or green soup from last night, and be out the door. If you have more time, you can still grab the fruit for breakfast and then make a superfood smoothie in the blender in 5-7 minutes throwing in fruit, greens, and a bunch of superfoods (some fat and protein of some kind should probably be in there as well to sustain you for the rest of the afternoon). If you are not running late and have some time to spare in the morning, you can make a green smoothie for breakfast and a superfood smoothie for lunch. You get the idea here. You can use clean, old glass jars full to carry your smoothies, soups, and juices around without fear of them leaking out.

More tips to save you time making your work meals are to: 1) Make everything in batches. It’s best to make more than enough food so you can eat the rest another day without having to go through all the prep and cleanup time again. This can apply to superfood smoothies, salads, green soups, and green juices (if you have a high-quality juicer that makes juice that lasts up to 48 hours). And 2) Bring a bag of organic fruit to the office on Monday’s and store it on your desk or in the office fridge (if there’s space). This way, if you’re running super late, or if you completely forget to bring your food with you, you’ll have some fruit to snack on when you get there.

Embrace The Challenge

Yes, it is a challenge to be raw when you’re away from your kitchen for 9-16 hours a day, but if you can master this, nothing will stand in the way of your health and nutrition goals. And if eating more raw foods means that you are more focused, energized, and creative at work, isn’t it completely worth it? Just remember that planning, making food in batches, and adjusting according to your schedule and body-intuition will be key in your raw success–at work and beyond.

This article was written by Lenette Nakauchi, a raw foodist in Chicago who is passionate about teaching, coaching and demonstrating to others how to go and stay “raw” in a fun, healthy, sustainable way. Visit her website Go Raw Have Fun.