cegan, Author at Carol Egan

Health Hack #17 – The Purge

Temptation is a beast.

No matter how committed you are to eating healthy, if you are tired, and you have junk-food at the ready, it will derail you, hands-down. It’s not rocket science. Our body produces an appetite-increaser hormone called ghrelin when we are tired and/or stressed, and sends signals of hunger to the brain.

If you are committed to getting healthy, safeguard your commitment and purge your cabinets of all the junk food in them!

Stock your fridge with live, whole foods, like vegetables and fruits. Be prepared and you’ll create greater momentum and stick-to-itness your get-healthy goals!

Now I’d love to hear from you. In the comments below, let me know…

Do you struggle with excess weight, exhaustion or foggy thinking?

Have you tried to take control of your health, but dropped the ball?

How can I help you get healthy?

Share your thoughts and ideas.

Health Hack #16 – Low Sugar Fruit

By cegan

Have you ever heard of candida?

Candida is a fungus which lives inside our body in a very small amount. It helps with digestion and absorption of nutrients.

But if our body becomes imbalanced, and begins to grow disproportionally in our body, it can cause leaky gut, poor digestion and even depression… and it thrives on, indeed loves, highly refined carbohydrates and sugar.

For a healing interim, eating only low-sugar fruit might be the best thing to do, to to advance get-healthy efforts, and stop candida from growing rampantly in your body.

Stick to berries, grapefruit, lemons, limes and green apples. These fruits are the lowest in sugar, and your best choice to uplevel your health game!

Green Lemonade

By cegan

lemonade If you follow me on social media, or here on the blog, you know I am a BIG fan of green juice. Green juice is the single-best thing you can do for your body and your health! Green juice is my numero-uno recommendation.

Here is why I drink green juice everyday and recommend it so highly:

Requires no digestive fire
Anti-aging
Deeply nourishing
Pulls toxic waste out of your cells and tissues
Quells inflammation
Alkalizing
Oxygenating
Energizing

The Recipe

Ingredients

1 Romaine heart
1 cup spinach (handful)
2 cucumbers
8 celery, stalks
1 lemon, juice
Stevia to taste

Juice the lemon with a citrus juicer. Juice all other ingredients in your juicer and mix together. Like it spicy? Add 2 inches of fresh ginger root.

Enjoy… and cheers to you and your most vibrant health!

PS – Don’t have a juicer and want to buy one? My top recommendation for just starting out is the Breville Juice Fountain Press. It is the very best for newcomers, because of it’s efficiency to make juice and ease to clean! Sure, there are many touted as better, and there are many that ARE very better, but if making juice is too time-consuming to make, or the juicer is too time-consuming to clean when you first start out, you won’t make it! And I’d rather you drink green juice, than not, so go with the juicer that WILL work with you, as you grow and develop this new healthy habit! And do know this,

Never had green juice? Post your questions below. I'd love to share more about this potent, miracle drink! Want to add more juices and healing recipes to your days? You can get a whole guide here.

A Detoxing And Energizing Juice To Help You Power Through The Midday Slump

By cegan

energizing-juice 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

Put all ingredients through a juicer
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!

“Classic” Leek and Pea Soup

By cegan

pea-soup I so enjoy creating healthy spins on classic recipes. Really. I giggle, laugh and think to myself when I finally find the perfect set of ingredients for a recipe, eating healthy really is this easy and delicious! Surely everyone I know would LOVE this recipe if they’d just give it a try, and this recipe is one from the new FREE Bonus for More Than A Detox: Fall, Soupify, 10 Healing Soups to Detox, Lose Weight and Beautify.

This super simple pea soup recipe is nutritious, rich and creamy, satisfying and delicious! Double-up the recipe to store in the fridge for the next few days.

Peas are high in fiber and antioxidants, low in fat and calories, plus a unique array of health-protective phytonutrients.

[serves 1-2]

Ingredients:

2 cups peas (reserve 1/2 cup) (fresh or frozen)
2 cups almond milk
2 leeks
1 avocado
1/4 onion
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Fresh herbs (mint, parsley or rosemary)

Directions:
In high-speed blender, process peas (except for reserved), leeks, almond milk, onion, salt and pepper. Add avocado and process until smooth and creamy. To slightly warm, process a minute or two longer in your high-speed blender.

Garnish with remaining peas and herbs of choice

Buono Appetito!

Your Burning Questions Answered: 6 Top Questions Detoxers Always Ask

By cegan

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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:

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!
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.

Beet Hummus

By cegan

Isn’t this recipe gorgeous?!

During More Than A Detox we remove all foods that are hard to digest, or known to trigger a common toxic response in the body. My Beet Hummus, one of the new recipes in the Fall program, successfully achieves that, yet still tastes super delicious and is super satisfying! But don’t let the season limit you, it’s just especially amazing during the Fall season when local root vegetables fill the farmer market tables!

Do keep in mind when preparing this recipe, raw garlic is very strong, so prepare your recipe according to your preferences and this notation!

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups steamed beets
½ cup tahini
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon cumin
Juice from 1 lemon
Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Fresh chopped parsley to garnish

Preparation:

Peel and chop fresh beets into bite-sized pieces. Add one inch of water and a metal steam basket to the bottom of a pot. Place the pot over medium heat and place the chopped beets in the steam basket. Cover and steam the beets for 10 to 15 minutes until tender but still firm. When done, remove and set to the side to cool.

Add all the remaining ingredients to a high-speed blender and mix until smooth. Serve with beautiful seasonal veggies from your local farmer!

Buono Appetito!

Ready to get your healthy on with More Than A Detox: Fall and the 60+ delicious recipes it offers? September has always been the other January, so there is no better time than now to get back in the get-healthy game! Click here to join the waitlist and be the first to hear when it opens on September 15.

Off The Mat And Onto Your Plate

By cegan

off the mat and onto your plate This article was originally published for Freed Marcroft, an award-winning law firm in Hartford, Connecticut, as part of a series they posted to support their clients in taking care of themselves while going through a divorce.

This article speaks to the importance of eating healthy, with their previous posts on the benefits of yoga and spending time outside and exercising.

Yoga, combined with meditation and spending time outside in nature are foundational credos that I too teach my clients. These practices are grounding. These practices will bring you back to your most powerful self, especially during stressful times.

Both practices set a mighty stage for you to choose healthy for you and your family.

But, they are just one aspect of wellbeing. Proper nutrition is essential for you to maintain healthy balance.

So how can you take all the lessons you learn in meditation and yoga off the mat and onto your plate?

I offer you three nutrition-based ways to do just that, to take your lessons from the mat to your overall healthy lifestyle goals.

Just breathe = Just prepare

Like your breath is important in your meditation or yoga practice, preparation is important in your stay-healthy game. Preparation will ensure you eat healthy and nutritious foods no matter what the day brings.

I recommend choosing two days a week (like Sunday and Wednesday nights) to prep healthy foods, to have fresh, delicious options easily at hand. Here’s a few of my favorites ideas:

Wash greens and store in salad spinner, or an aerated plastic bag.
Wash, slice, chop and cut veggies and store in sealed glass bowls.
Wash berries and store in a colander,m which will prevent spoilage.
Pre-package smoothie and juice ingredients the night before, so you’re ready in the morning to blend them up.
Make a few dips, like guacamole or pumpkin seed pate. They will turn your veggie snacks into a treat!
Pack a green apple in your desk drawer at work, in your brief case or handbag, in your car. Vow to eat your green apple before you eat the junk food that is screaming your name, and I promise, you will be surprised how many times this one tip can save you!
Always have a ripe avocado ready to go. Healthy fats satiate and can hold any stressful craving at bay
Pack a paring knife in your car to cut your avocado, veggies or fruit when you’re on-the-go.

You are not your thoughts = Healthy is fun

This is one of the mightiest lessons meditation and yoga teach — you are not your thoughts. Like the thought, “the posture is hard to do, I’m just a novice,” it’s just your thoughts that the posture is hard that makes it hard for you to do.

Like the thought, “meditation is hard, I don’t like it, I can’t do it,” it’s just your thoughts that meditation is hard that makes it inaccessible to you.

Indeed, like the thought, “taking time to prepare healthy foods for the week ahead is hard, I don’t have enough time,” it’s just your thoughts that taking time to prepare healthy foods is hard that stops you from doing it.

Wayne Dyer said, “Change your thoughts, change your life.” If you nail this practice from yoga and meditation, and start recognizing them to shift your thoughts about eating healthy foods, you’ll accomplish your goals in half the time you ‘think’ it will take.

There is no wrong way to do things = The Wholly Trinity

One of yoga’s guiding credos teaches there is no wrong way to do things. My guiding credo to optimize your health and nutrition and reduce stress is what I call the Wholly Trinity. This is my playful, whole-foods spin on getting green in your body everyday in three ways through green juice, green smoothies and green salads.

Greens reduce inflammation and rejuvenate, remineralize and rebalance. Pound for pound, greens offer more nutrition than any other food so they are an excellent food to include in all the ways I recommend.

Green Juice is my top recommendation for clients to add into their diet. Green vegetable juice requires no digestive energy, so even if you are stressed green juice ensures optimal nutrition. Think an IV infusion of pure vitamin and mineral-water-rich, enzyme-active and phytonutrient laden fuel directed straight to your cells and tissues.

Green Smoothies are a whole-foods, fiber-rich, nutrient-dense ‘meal-in-a’glass’ and likely one of your best meal-on-the-go options. Green smoothies are akin to a salad in a glass, with endless ways to ‘beef up’ the nutrition you most want. They also retain all the fiber of it’s ingredients that satiate longer than juice.

One of my clients favorites is Instant Glow, a smoothie loaded with ingredients to bring your cells to life, and balance to your body, so you radiate health from the inside out! This recipe makes about 64 ounces — a full Vitamix pitcher full, so cut back if you want a smaller portion.

Green Salad: My third recommendation for the Wholly Trinity is a meal-sized Green Salad everyday. Include your favorite greens and/or wild lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and especially sprouts, avocados and olives. Here’s one of my favorites.

You can even make a salad of just simple greens, but do note that ingredients like sprouts peak in nutritional value, and avocados and olives will satiate you and satisfy you because of their healthy plant-based fats.

To dress your salad, I recommend two of my favorite, but ‘atypical’ mouth-watering delicious ‘dressings’ as new lighter fare recommendations — fresh marinara or fresh salsa. Both ‘dressings’ will transform your salad to a whole ‘next-level-healthy-salad-experience’ while keeping fat to a minimum (Healthy fats are essential, but layering an oil based dressing on top of olives and/or avocados is more than you need.)

If you follow my three tips for taking your meditation and yoga lessons “off the mat” and onto your plate, I promise you’ll find yourself not only in a healthier body with a healthier mindset as you learn to navigate your way through divorce, but also feel full of energy and confidence to create you newly!

Would you like more smoothie recipes to help you on your way? I've got you covered right here!

Embrace Your Age And Look 10 Years Younger: My Favorite Skincare Recommendations

By cegan

Skincare Recommendations 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!

Energizing Smoothie Bowl

By cegan

Smoothie Bowl-2 Smoothie bowls are one of the biggest breakfast trends these days — and for good reason! Smoothie bowls are power-packed with nutrient dense fuel you to rev you up for the day and they taste super delicious! Plus, they satiate your hunger and satisfy your need to chew!

Include leafy greens like spinach, kale or romaine for alkalizing nutrition. Include your favorite fruit for sweet fiber! Add avocado or cashews to make it super creamy, and add coconut oil for an extra boost of energy!

Best part? Because they’re in a bowl, you can top them with more of your favorite healthy ingredients … and take them on the road with you!

Three of my favorites? A drizzle of almond butter, a sprinkling of bee pollen and a healthy portion of hemp seeds!

Serves 2

Smoothie Bowl Ingredients:

2 cups baby spinach
2 bananas
1 cup strawberries
1/2 – 1 avocado or small handful of cashews
1 date (soaked)
1 Tablespoon raw, unprocessed coconut oil
1 Tablespoon chia seed
Almond milk (to achieve desired texture)
1 serving of HealthForce Naturals Green Alchemy Protein (or clean protein powder of choice)

Topping Ideas:

Sliced fruit
Chia seeds
Hemps seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Cracked walnuts, pecans or almonds
Bee pollen
Drizzled almond butter
Drizzled tahini

To Make:

Blend all ingredients for the smoothie bowl until thick and creamy. Pour into a bowl, add your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Want more healthy and delicious recipes to increase your energy and look uhh-amazing in your jeans? Sign up here to learn about my upcoming seasonal detox that offers way more than just losing weight, More Than A Detox: Fall.

Health Hack #17 – The Purge

Health Hack #16 – Low Sugar Fruit