This juice is filled with cleansing and energizing ingredients like parsley and celery to boost you midday, when your energy lowers and you feel depleted.

Energy Pump

Ingredients

• 1 beet
• 3 carrots
• 4 celery stalks
• 1 romaine lettuce heart
• Handful of parsley
• Juice from 1 lemon

Preparation

1. Put all ingredients through a juicer
2. Add lemon and stir

Cheers!

Ready to take on More Than A Detox this Fall? September has always been the other January, so there is no better time to get back in the get-healthy game than NOW! Click here to grab the Early Bird Special, by September 19th, for the LAST chance to participate in 2016!

As I prepare for opening More Than a Detox: Fall, I’ve heard several questions from those interested in participating already.

So, in case you had questions like they do…

• What is a detox, really?
• Doesn’t my body detoxify itself?
• Is a detox safe to do?

I’ve put together my responses to the top 6 questions detoxers always ask, with the goal of encouraging this time-worn (yes, since ancient Egyptian times), yet hotly-pursued practice by so many wanting to feel amazing again, including educators and professionals, entrepreneur and celebrities.

1. Why is a detox necessary?

There are two types of toxins that can harm your body, external toxins and internal toxins. External toxins can be found everywhere like smog, pollution, contaminated water and household cleaners, body care products, old paint in your house, Bisphenol A and Phthalates found in soft plastics and even stress. Internal toxins build up in the body when it’s natural detoxification system cannot remove the excess waste matter caused by the body’s inability to digest the preponderance of processed-foods and food-like substances in the standard American diet (We deep dive into this in MTAD.)

Yes, your body brilliantly detoxifies harmful substances out of your body every day, but the modern lifestyle places a burden on your body’s systems that even your grandparents didn’t experience. Rest assured, when your body becomes overburdened with toxicity and obstruction, you will gain excess weight, experience low energy, have foggy and poor thinking and suffer from poor health.

2. Do I have to take supplements, pills or powders?

Some programs require supplements, pills and powders. More Than A Detox is a food-based program, and while I heartily believe there is a place for supplements in the healing journey, I recommend only a probiotic in the program for two reasons:

1. Supplements, like pharmaceutical drugs, can temporarily relieve your reason to eat healthier, which can thwart your urgency to achieve your result because you took a pill and lost the weight, albeit in a very unhealthy way. Without the symptom, you no longer have the leverage you need to do what it takes to create healthy eating and healthy lifestyle habits that last. Before anything, More Than A Detox is a program committed to providing an experience that alters your ideas of how and why you eat what you eat so you can get results that last!
2. Most of the programs that include supplements, pills and powders are part of the larger immediate gratification problem, where we take a pill for every ill. To achieve the real benefits a detox offers, you have to do the work. Plus, most of these products offered today are made from unnatural substances your body does not recognize, which further contribute to the larger problem of increased toxicity in your body.

3. Will I lose weight on a detox?

Your body stores toxins as fat on your body to protect you from their harmful effects. When you participate in a a whole, live-foods, nutrient dense program (like a detox) that eliminates common toxic-trigger foods and processed foods, you release those toxens. And by releasing toxins, you will also release excess weight.

In More Than a Detox, participants commonly lose 5-7 pounds (sometimes more!) in just one week. But everyone will achieve different results, depending on their state of health at the beginning of the program.

4. Is a detox safe?

Not all programs are created equal, but More Than A Detox is 100% safe:

• It is a clean, nutrient-dense, live-foods based program
• It excludes anything processed and synthetically made
• It supports your body’s own detoxification and elimination systems

While More Than A Detox encourages every participant honor the state of their health when they begin, it focuses heavily on the high-fiber, live, plant-based diet to magnetize toxic waster matter out of the cells to scrub your digestive wall clean. This approach promotes increased health and vitality, weight loss and glowing skin!

5. Will I experience side-effects on a detox?

Some people go through the detox feeling energized and high from eating healthier food choices, while others may feel tired or light-headed as they release toxicity.

This only happens if you detox too quickly, which simply means you are releasing toxins faster than you are eliminating them. This is called a healing crisis, and while this could be deemed super-great, in More Than a Detox I personally guide you in a private group throughout the whole process, to help you avoid experiencing any unwanted side-effects.

6. Is this like a juice fast, will I be hungry?

No, More Than A Detox is not a juice fast, so you will never be hungry. You will receive over 70 recipes in the Fall program for every juice, smoothie, snack and meal you eat. Funny thing is, detoxers often say how surprised they are with how much weight they lose, without ever feeling hungry!

With that said, this program attracts newcomers as well as seasoned-veterans, so I do offer a challenge or two in the program for you to uplevel from what you thought possible before the program. This IS the beauty of participating in a group program! What you might have initially thought impossible when signing up, is now so easy, that you’re ready to challenge yourself.

While these are the top common questions I hear from detoxers over and over, rest-assured that we deep-dive into every question you have throughout the entirety of the program!

As I always say in the group, the more questions you ask, the more learning happens, for you and everyone in the group!

Ready to take on More Than A Detox this Fall? September has always been the other January, so there is no better time to get back in the get-healthy game than NOW! Click here to join the waitlist and be the first to hear when it opens on September 15.

It is not only possible to embrace your age and look 10 years younger, it’s a slam-dunk, sure shot, if you follow all that I recommend on my blog, especially my numero uno recommendation to drink green juice!

But because I focus on creating radiant skin from the inside out, I’ve not yet offered up a few of my favorite skincare recommendations.

I know, it’s about time!

Do you know that your skin literally eats what you put on it? So, like making clean food choices, I recommend avoiding products with chemicals, sulfates and even fragrances that are not essential oils in facial cleansers, masks, serums and moisturizers.

While green juice will always be my number one skincare recommendation because of all the ways it nourishes us on a cellular level, when we feed our skin high quality nutrients from the outside, we promote supple, glowing youthful looking skin.

And make no mistake about it, in an age where skincare is mass-produced in factories, the products I recommend here are as luxurious, restorative and as high-performance as any exquisite anti-aging product on the market, sans the pseudo-science advertising that appeals to your insecurities! Plus, my recommendations are clean and chemical free!

Here are a few of my favorite skincare recommendations, and PS – they are all Unisex = super awesome for men too!

Cleanser

 May Lindstrom, The Clean Dirt

The beauty industry refers to The Clean Dirt as the Holy Grail of facial cleansers. I couldn’t agree more. It’s addictive, but good addictive. It refines like a microdermabrasion treatment but never tears or stresses the skin. Instead of feeling, “scrubbed” your skin will feel soft, toned, plumped & smooth as your pores start to disappear and blackheads vanish. It’s a little pricey, but like any product that costs a little more, I use it ‘carefully.’

Toner

Dr. Alkaitis, Organic Herbal Toner

Another beyond a ‘current’ favorite skincare product, Dr. Alkaitis Organic Herbal Toner, this could be one of my all-time favorite toners! I love how my skin soaks up this herbal skin toner and absorbs its nutrients quickly, leaving my skin feeling fresh, smooth and plump. This is a toner that you don’t want to skip, since the long term results on skin balancing are absolutely uhh-maaazing! Because it smooths & plumps, lightly hydrates, re-balances oiliness, it’s perfect choice for everyone, even men! Use it in the summer as a light moisturizer.

Facial Oil

Evan Healy, Rosehip Treatment Serum – Rose

While I’ve used some very high-end facial oils that I love, Evanhealy’s Rosehip Treatment Serum is one of my all-time favorites. It’s sweet, rosy-leaf geranium and earthy, vitalizing carrot seed combine to balance and regenerate diverse skin conditions. This silky oil of rose hip seed absorbs beautifully and literally promotes a noticeable healthy glow! I use this oil in the morning.

Jason, Natural, Extra Strength Vitamin E Skin Oil, 32,000 I.U

This recommendation hails from one of my teachers, that it’s the best facial treatment for our skin. Vitamin E skin oil helps minimize the appearance of scars, stretch marks and other problems to reveal smoother, healthier skin. This formulation is a super rich, anti-oxidant packed, emollient treatment that will leave your skin feeling soft and deeply hydrated. Since this oil is very thick and a bit sticky, I use it at night!

Moisturizer

Cosmedix EMULSION Intense Hydrator

Cosmedix Emulsion is a combination of science and botanical ingredients that help firm skin and smooth lines and wrinkles, with conditioning moisturizers that help attract and retain vital moisture in the skin. Oo-la-la! I love this moisturizer because it’s a deep-dissolving facial moisturizer that the skin soaks right up without leaving a shiny finish. It formulated with a renewing blend of jojoba oil & shea butter and is a beautiful pre-makeup treatment.

Mask

Dr. Alkaitis Organic Exfoliating Enzyme Mask

I love Dr. Alkaitis’s Exfoliating Enzyme Mask. Add a teaspoon to a small bowl and whip up with a little water to activate all it’s vital nutrients! This organic Exfoliating Enzyme Mask is ideal for skin that needs to be renewed, refreshed, and rejuvenated. It’s a super gentle, yet effective enzyme peel similar to those used at a spa with zero down time or irritation. It exfoliates & removes dead skin cells, delivers essential skin nutrients and brightens & lightens the skin.

Any specific questions or skincare needs you want to address? Pop your Q's in the comment box below! I'd love to help you choose!

And … if you want to do the real work of creating radiant skin, join me in my upcoming, More Than a Detox program! Get on the list now to grab the early-bird special!

How many times have you put off something you wanted for ‘some day’?

Or until next week? Or even just waiting until tomorrow?

If getting healthy is your primary goal, whether that means losing weight or slowing down the progression of a chronic disease, remember …

‘Some day’ is not guaranteed.

This lesson sideswiped me last week. Actually, it rocked me to my core for days.

Back in July I saw a past acquaintance on the news, in a wheelchair. Though I only met her a few times, and though I didn’t know the progression of her disease, I emailed her immediately to offer her my services.

From the outside, she had it all. Brilliant. Highly regarded business acumen. A loving family. Prestige and international acclaim in the business world. Pioneering success. Unlimited wealth.

But I learned that she was very sick with a disease that the medical community describes as “progressive” and “fatal.”

So I reached out and proposed a very simple plan to help her change her diet, to reduce inflammation in her body and to heal her digestive wall, two necessary steps for any one of us to take to reclaim vibrant health.

I proposed moving in, or moving nearby to her home for 30 days, to prepare and cook very specific, healing, restorative meals to help her slow down and reduce the impact of the disease.

We exchanged several emails and talked on the phone, and while she was pondering whether or not to start working with me, I learned that she passed away.

This news shook me. To my core. I was full of such optimism, so much hope.

I am not an Executive Health Coach to simply help you look great, although that’s an awesome perk!

I am an Executive Health Coach to help you live a full, meaningful and very long and healthy life!

But you have to start NOW.

Because even waiting until tomorrow could turn into the next day, and the next could turn into some day.

And as I just painfully learned, someday may not come.

I hope that this story inspires you to choose you and your health today. If you’ve been circling around and know you’re ready to take action – click here for your complimentary consultation.

When I was diagnosed with Leaky Gut Syndrome, Adrenal Fatigue, Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism, chronic constipation, acute anxiety, chronic urinary tract infections and more … I wasn’t looking to change the way I ate.

I wasn’t looking to align with any particular dietary style. And I surely wasn’t looking to go against the grain and eat differently from everyone I knew, including all my family and friends.

I was simply looking for a way to feel better.

My body was sick and I needed to find a way to feel good again.

After spending hours in exam rooms, going from doctor to doctor for each different symptom, it made sense to me to look beyond the symptoms I experienced and start looking at why I felt so poorly.

That’s when I discovered that reclaiming my health was really very simple, just basic common sense.

Some foods are very hard for the body to digest and literally cause obstruction within, and some do not.

Some foods generate energy. Some don’t.

Some foods elevate. Some don’t.

Some foods cause blockage. Some don’t.

Beyond family traditions and cultural norms, personal favorites and the latest gastronomic obsession, food is, in it’s most primal sense, fuel to help us be who we want to be, what we most want to create, what we most want to feel and experience and accomplish.

My impetus was never about food, but only about feeling better.

But as I began to feel better, I began to use food as fuel to leverage opportunities and experiences that would have otherwise likely never happened.

That’s when I discovered that self-mastery was the lowest common denominator for me to be my best me.

That when I am aligned with my highest self, when I am crystal clear on what matters most to me, when I own my power and am in the driver’s seat of my life rather than reacting to people, circumstances and events, every choice I make flows from an empowered place. I am self-possessed. Clear.

After that revelation — how could I continue eat foods that do not serve me and my larger goals if I am aligned with my highest self?

Thus began my life long obsession with using food to create vibrant health, increase productivity and live an extraordinary life.

So, think about what you have been fueling your body with lately and ask yourself:

Do your food choices serve you?

Do the foods you eat energize and stimulate your mind and creativity and highest self?

Do others in your life inspire you to be your very best you?

Could you look and feel better for your age?

And lastly, what is your lowest, common-denominator? What is that single thing that pulls you towards being, looking and feeling your very best you?

Did your answers to any of the above surprise you?

If you’re ready to stop making excuses and start using food to fuel your highest self, let’s have a conversation about how you can get started. Click here to schedule a complimentary consultation.