Category: Healthy Living

If you flip through a magazine or turn on the television at times you might see some celebrity talking about cleanses.

One that seems to be extremely popular is the Master Cleanse also called the Lemonade Diet. The ingredients consist of lemons, pure maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and purified water. That’s it!

I’ve heard about this cleanse for years, and although some claim that it’s healthy, I have a hard time believing that based on the ingredients used.

How can that be healthy following that routine for several days? I think one of the main reasons it has become popular is because of the amount of weight some have lost. I can see how that’s possible, but it’s not a healthy way to lose weight.

I do enjoy juice cleanses the difference between the liquid cleanses I use, and something like the Master Cleanse is I’m not depriving my body of nutrients, I receive my nutrients from freshly juiced vegetables and fruit – whole foods in liquid form.

I make sure I’m receiving adequate nutrients to match my active lifestyle.

Yesterday I decided to ease into the juice cleanse with an extremely delicious “green soup” that I created.

Mustard greens are plentiful in my garden, so I picked about six cups of them. Ginger, garlic, onion, garden tomatoes and corn, were quickly added to my food processor, and I blended everything. Although I could have eaten this soup raw, I decided to heat the soup.

My daughter loves the soups I make, but some of the ingredients added to this soup (garlic and ginger) would have been overpowering (for her) in its raw forum. “Mom, that’s too spicy!” would have been the comment I received, accompanied by an accusing stare. I added the puree into a stock pot, and added three cups of water, balsamic vinegar, and sea salt to taste.

I let the soup cook down for an hour. The soup turned out  delicious. It was nutritious and filling. In my daughter’s soup, I added about 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast. I stirred and served. The results? My daughter said, “Mommy this is unusual but very yummy!” My main course was a bowl of the delicious of green soup, however it was my daughters appetizer. Her main course was a homemade vegan pizza.

Lessons learned from my first cleanse

In my early twenties, I did my first juice cleanse. Even before I became Vegan I did choose healthy foods. It’s how I was raised, and when I lived on my own, I incorporated many of the principles into my eating lifestyle.

However, fasting from solids made me realize that sometimes I ate out of habit. I wasn’t really hungry since my body was used to eating at a certain times, it gave me “cues” to eat even if I wasn’t hungry.

After that first experience, I only eat when I’m hungry. I’ve been on several cleanses since my twenties, and really enjoy taking a break from solid foods.

 Cravings

The one thing I crave when I’m drinking liquids, is a vegetable pot pie. Homemade pot pies were one of my favorite meals, and I associate them with cooler days, snuggling by the fire, sipping a cup of herbal tea, book in hand as I savor my delicious pot pie. I’ll be preparing a Vegetable pot pie a few days after I start eating solid foods.

Question: Have you ever tried a juice cleanse?

Photo: Suat Eman

About three years ago, I made a switch to an all raw diet. What got me started was a juice fast. I had already been eating a high amount of raw foods, but I had never consumed 100% raw foods for days at a time.

After the raw juice cleanse ended I decided to ease back into consuming regular foods by following a raw food diet. I had my reservations about maintaining a raw food lifestyle for a week, but quickly realized the “I can’t” was all in my head, and I quickly turned that negative thinking into an “I can, and will.”

Being the natural researcher, I did read about following an all raw lifestyle, the benefits, possible dangers, unhealthy choices, etc., I wasn’t doing it for weight loss, I didn’t need to lose weight. I was curious and wanted to check it out for myself, more important I wanted to be on top of my game so that’s why I did extensive research on the subject.

That raw food for a week, turned into two weeks, and before I knew it months had passed.The reason was simple I really loved the effects I felt and could see. Yes, even as a person who mainly eats whole foods I noticed a change! My eyesight improved, confirmed when I went for my checkup, and I noticed other minor things; More energy than I had previously (I thought this was impossible), clear eyes, glowing skin, etc., These days I’m not 100% raw, however seeing the impacts it does have (even with the healthy whole foods lifestyle I follow) my raw food intake is still high.

Over the years, I’ve read several books on the subject of raw foods, attended a few online and in person seminars, and pretty much learned as much as possible. I wanted to see what researchers (and “regular folks”) were saying about raw foods.

Video trailer: Raw for 30 days

During this quest, my virtual search led me to the Raw for 30 days trailer. The documentary focused on six people who had Diabetes. During their 30 day stay at the Tree of Life Wellness center they would only consume raw foods. The medical doctors involved, wanted to see whether following a raw whole foods liifestyles would have any effect on their diabetes. Naturally that peaked my interest, I have several family member that have diabetes. Additionally, I’d heard of a few of the Medical doctors involved with the study; Joel Furhman, Fred Bisci, and Gabriel Cousins. A few years before, I had purchased a few of Dr. Gabriel Cousins books.

Check out the trailer, it’s fairly amazing. Is it possible to heal yourself naturally from Type II Diabetes? Raw For 30 Days, shows that this can be a possibility. Its pretty powerful stuff, and definitely shows the impact of the foods we eat and the effects (positive or negative) they can have on our overall well-being.

Update: If you would like additional information about the Tree of Life diabetes program, log onto their site and fill out the 21 Day Reversing Diabetes contact form. Please note, that i’m not an affiliate of Tree of Life, so I don’t profit from you getting information or enrolling in any of their programs. I am passionate about health and always willing to share information I’ve heard about.

I’m always fascinated by those who embrace a healthy lifestyle, and am always looking forward to sharing them with my readers. If your looking for raw food recipes, please stop by Evelyn Parham’s website. Evelyn site features a delightful mix of health related articles and posts focused on tips to build a better blog. If you’re a twitter user, be sure to keep up with Evelyn’s tweets. Her twitter name is @Evelyn_Parham. If you use an RSS feed aggregator, don’t forget to keep up with her latest posts. Subscribe now!

 

Several years ago, I used to work for a local university hospital. I worked in Research/Family Medicine department. Part of my job involved traveling with a group to various locations statewide. Extremely popular at these events, were the free health screenings that we conducted.  One of the most popular, were free blood pressure screenings.

If there was a need, we offered follow up classes (also free) to increase the persons awareness and offer ways to reclaim their health.  Three classes were offered, smoking cessation, healthy eating, and weight loss. The clients were encouraged to take the classes appropriate for them. Quite a few were urged to take all three. I enjoyed my time there. It was a great learning experience, I met numerous people and had a chance to interact and give people valuable information on ways they could reclaim their health.

The only thing required of them was to actually make those changes.  Of course, that isn’t always easy. Change can be extremely hard. Surrounding yourself with those who are supportive, and are willing to give you a firm, but loving push when needed can be helpful too.

Over the years, I’ve had several people ask me if I could supply them with information on ways can improve their health. (People that are around me for any length of time, know I’m extremely passionate about health.) I always tell them to follow up with their health care provider, if they haven’t already done so, and I’ll try to include tips or at least point to a service that can assist them with their needs. Over the past few weeks, Celebrate Life has received a variety of health related questions. In time, I’ll be including a few of the questions asked (along with my answers) on this site.

Below, I’ve included one of the questions I received regarding high blood pressure.

Question: Help! My blood pressure is high, can you suggest any tips on lowering it naturally?

What is High Blood Pressure?

High Blood Pressure (or hypertension) is a serious medical condition in which the blood pressure remains unusually high. If it’s left untreated it can be a risk factor for cerebrovascular diseases as well as coronoary heart disease.

Fact: Many people don’t know they have high blood pressure

According to statistics, one in three adults has high blood pressure. Many of them don’t  know it. We saw this a lot during our free health screenings. This is why high blood pressure has often been called the silent killer. It’s important to get your blood pressure checked to make sure it falls within the normal range.  If it is left unchecked high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack, or kidney failure.

Six ways you can naturally lower your blood pressure

1. Lose the weight

If you are overweight, change your eating habits. Almost everyone will see a reduction in their blood pressure if they shed a few pounds. The weight isn’t coming off overnight, it took a while to pack on those pounds so it’s going to take some time to melt them away too. Clean up your diet, start selecting healthier food options and exercise into your lifestyle, Be consistent you want healthy eating habits combined with exercise to become a habit.

Despite what the media might portray, weight loss shouldn’t be just about vanity. You want to maintain an ideal weight to prevent some of the health related issues associated with being overweight. That said, even if you are at your ideal weight you can have high blood pressure, or other health related diseases too.

 

1. Add DASH to your daily eating habits

 

Dash stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. How are you going to do this?  Increase the fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and low fat or fat free dairy products in your eating lifestyle. You want to reduce the cholesterol causing foods, fat, red meat, and sodium.  Start reading labels, educate yourself on what you’re reading and making healthy changes to in your eating habits.

Why does DASH work? This diet is packed with vitamins and minerals which our bodies crave.  The foods offered in DASH are naturally good for your body making them a powerful tool in getting lowering your blood pressure.  The DASH diet has proven to lower blood pressure in just fourteen days.

The foods we eat play an important role on our health. In many cases we don’t see the results from our unhealthy eating habits until much later. If you’re not making healthy eating choices you are nutritionally starving your body.

 

 

1. Reduce the sodium/salt

 

In 1997 the Trials of Hypertension Prevention, Phase II (TOHP II) it was found that blood pressure was lowered by reducing the amount of sodium in the diet and losing weight. Reducing, or eliminating sodium can be extremely challenging.

I’ve listed a few salt alternatives. Check them out.

Salt free options

• Garlic powder (not garlic salt)
• lemon juice
• lime juice
• roasted garlic
• Unsalted (and ground) sunflower seeds or sesame seeds

 

1. Exercise

 

You don’t have to go to the gym to have a good workout there are numerous exercises that you can do effectively at home.  Walking, gardening, push ups, jumping jacks, running in place, following a fitness video, etc., are just a few of the ways you can workout from the convenience of your home. You’ve got to move to exercise, so start doing it.

 

 

 

1. Relax!

 

Studies show that high stress may affect your blood pressure. Think of ways that you can eliminate the stressors in your life. Even better, don’t let issues you encounter take control of your life. I meditate, exercise, play with my daughter, read, listen to music, etc.,

 

 

1. Reduce your alcohol consumption

 

Drinking excessively or binge drinking can lead to a stroke.  Studies say that people who drink an excessive amount of alcohol (over two cups per day) increase their risk of high blood pressure. If you’re going to drink do so in moderation limit your intake to two glasses per day.

Moving Forward

Stay focused and educating yourself, is a great way that you can start taking control of your health. Check out support groups either locally or online. Support is extremely helpful, and it can build a since of comraderie interacting with those experieincing similar issues. Change can be hard so don’t beat yourself up if you make slipups think about the reasons why you went back into old habits and try to come up with ways to avoid them happening again.

If you don’t take action, your high blood pressure won’t go away. Continung to ignore your condition can lead to other conditions such as kidney failure, heart diseases, heart failure, stroke, and other health related issues.

Although this article is focused on people suffering from High Blood Pressure, I believe we all can learn from it too. In the Westernized culture, statistics show that many people need to make changes in their health, and step up their exercise routine too. We have only one body; it makes sense to ensure that it is maintained correctly. If you’re not already, think of ways you can modify your lifestyle choices, so that you can eliminate the potential health related issues associated with bad habits.

Question: What improvements do you want to make in your lifestyle? Have you made improvements already, if so leave us a comment.