How to detox from caffeine, sugar, and white flour

Caffeine, sugar and white flour are substances that interfere with your metabolism and brain health — and the ones people usually have the most trouble giving up and getting out of their systems.

I recommend eliminating these items from your diet in a systematic way. This may help you avoid potential withdrawal symptoms, make you feel better, and jumpstart the process to better brain function and overall health. Follow the steps below to help make the transition as simple and painless as possible.

How to eliminate caffeine

If you have been drinking caffeine for a long time, you have to get off it over a few days. Minimize your pain and the difficulty of giving up your addiction by following these steps.

Step 1: Start on a Weekend

You may want to start on a Sunday. This will allow you to take naps as needed, since your body will be recovering from the caffeine and you are liable to be fatigued.

Step 2: Reduce Your Caffeine Intake

For the first three days (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday), cut your daily intake of coffee, cola, black tea or other caffeinated beverages in half. That means if you usually have four cups of coffee in the morning, you would have two cups of coffee in the morning on Sunday, one cup on Monday and half a cup on Tuesday. Doing this helps you wean your body off the caffeine, which should reduce withdrawal symptoms.

Step 3: Drink Green Tea

For the next four days (the remainder of the week), you can drink one cup of caffeinated green tea steeped for five minutes in boiling water. You may continue drinking green tea for all its wonderful health and weight benefits. (Note that I recommend green tea as part of your morning ritual.)

You can switch to decaffeinated green tea if you want to eliminate caffeine completely. Otherwise, it is fine to have one cup of caffeinated, organic green tea every morning. The caffeine is minimal, and the health benefits are great.

Step 4: Take Vitamin C

Throughout this process, I recommend taking 1,000–2,000 mg of buffered pure ascorbic acid (vitamin C) powder or capsules. This may help you detoxify and balance your system.

Step 5: Drink Plenty of Clean Water

You should also drink at least six to eight glasses of filtered water a day. You should do this regardless of whether or not you are getting off caffeine, but it is especially important for this process because it will keep your body well hydrated and can reduce headaches and constipation, and flush toxins out of your system.

How to eliminate sugar and white flour

Eliminating sugar is hard because it’s an addiction. But the physical cravings dissipate quickly once you stop eating it. Here are some tips for how you can successfully do this.

I recommend starting the same day you cut your caffeine intake in half.
The tried and true method from my experience with thousands of patients: Go cold turkey from all white flour and sugar products. (Don’t cheat — it will only make it worse!)
Include protein for breakfast, such as eggs, nuts, seeds, nut butters or a protein shake.
Combine “good” protein, “good” fat and “good” carbs at each meal. (Good fats are fish, extra virgin olive oil, olives, nuts, seeds and avocados. Good carbs are beans, vegetables, whole grains and fruit. Good proteins are fish, organic eggs, small amounts of lean poultry, nuts, soy, whole grains and legumes.)
Don’t go low-fat. Consume olive oil, olives, nuts, seeds and avocados every day. Despite commonly held beliefs, these good fats are NOT fattening.
Eat every three hours. Snack on nuts and seeds such as almonds, walnuts or pumpkin seeds (raw or dry-roasted only). One serving is a handful or ten to twelve nuts.
Drink at least six to eight glasses of filtered water a day.
How to ease withdrawal symptoms

The unfortunate reality is that making these changes in your diet is liable to cause a few withdrawal symptoms. They include:

Bad breath
Constipation
Achy, flu-like feeling
Fatigue
Headaches
Hunger
Irritability
Itchy skin
Nausea
Offensive body odor
Sleep difficulties (too much or too little)
These symptoms are actually a good sign. They mean your body and mind are eliminating stored toxins and are finding their way to balance and UltraWellness once more.

Those who consume the most caffeine, alcohol and sugar, and those who have the most food allergies, will have the most difficulty initially. In any event, symptoms of withdrawal usually disappear after three or four days.

What to do if withdrawal symptoms become uncomfortable

Make sure you drink at least six to eight glasses of filtered water daily.
To prevent headaches, make sure your bowels are clean.
If you are tired, allow more time for sleep.
Make sure you exercise daily to help fight off fatigue.
If you are hungry, have some protein in the afternoon such as a handful of nuts or seeds such as almonds, pecans, walnuts or pumpkin seeds, cooked beans, or a piece of steamed or baked fish.
If you’re irritable or have trouble sleeping, take a combination of calcium citrate (500 mg) and magnesium citrate (250 mg) before bed.
If you have an upset stomach, drink ginger or peppermint tea. Steep a tea bag in boiling water for 10 minutes, and drink up to four cups a day as often as needed.


Based on the book The UltraMind Solution by Mark Hyman. Learn more and join the UltraMind community at ultramindsolutionclub.com.

Pizza pasta

1 lb ground beef or turkey
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
4 oz pepperoni, chopped
2 cups water
4 cups spaghetti, uncooked
1 cups shredded cheese
1/2 cup black olives, chopped (optional)
1 cup peppers, sliced (optional)

Brown meat (both ground turkey and pepperoni) with Italian seasoning. When meat is done, pour it into a large pot with pasta sauce and water. Stir in pasta. Cover and cook on medium until pasta is done. Top with olives, peppers, and cheese.

Yoga for insomnia

http://blog.gaiam.com/blog/3-yoga-poses-for-insomnia-how-to-videos/

Phytonutrients

Get Your 4 Phytonutrients in These Prevention Power Foods

Most people know that we need adequate amounts of oxygen, water, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, and good carbs for great health. But you may not know much about a group of micronutrients, also called phytonutrients, that can help prevent disease and restore health and vitality. Phytonutrient-rich foods are essential to vibrant health and wellbeing, yet they are almost completely ignored by many diet plans.
There are about 2,000 known phytonutrients; many others are being discovered all the time. And, you guessed it, they’re found in fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices, nuts, sprouts and seeds. A single fruit or vegetable may contain more than 100 different types of healing phytonutrients that basically make up the immune system of the plant.
Once eaten, phytonutrients impart their incredible healing abilities inside your body. The thousands of phytonutrients are categorized into families, including carotenoids, catechins, flavonoids, lipoic acid, phytoestrogens, polyphenols, sulfurophane, and others. Let’s explore the phytonutrient families and find out how you can include more of them in your diet.
Anthocyanins
These natural, health-boosting substances give certain fruits their purple to reddish color. Not only does research show that anthocy anins have the capacity to boost short-term memory by 100 percent in just eight weeks, they also stimulate the burning of stored fat in the body to be used as fuel.
Up your intake: Anthocyanins are found in dark purple or red grapes, cherries, and berries, including blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.
Carotenoids
Not only do cartenoids help strengthen your eyesight and boost your immunity to disease, they are powerful antioxidants that, in some studies, reduced the risk of cancer and protected against the effects of aging.
Up your intake: Carotenoids are the yellow, orange, and red pigments found in foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, apricots, mangoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, papaya, peaches, and other similarly colored foods as well as dark green vegetables like broccoli and leafy greens.
Catechins
Want to lose weight? Be sure to add catechins to your diet since they activate fat-burning genes in abdominal fat cells to assist with weight loss, and belly fat loss in particular. According to research at Tufts University, catechins increase abdominal fat loss by 77 percent and double total weight loss.
Up your intake: Catechins are mainly found in green and black tea, as well as apples.
Flavonoids
Flavonoids are the miracle nutrients we keep hearing about in the media lately; they interfere with the stages of the development of cancer cells. Resveratrol, a particular flavonoid found predominantly in grapes, has demonstrated its ability to protect the brain from damage.
Up your intake: Flavonoids are found in berries, cherries, currants, pomegranates, red and purple grapes, red onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, apple (skin), and walnuts.
Now you can understand why phytonutrients play such a critical role in your diet. In the coming weeks, you’ll learn more about the disease-preventing and even disease-reversing powers of phytonutrients and how to get more of them in your diet.

To rename a snack...

I would love suggestions on a new name for this snack. It's been called some rather unappetizing names like White Trash and Puppy Chow and I hate both of those. So come, suggest.

1 box of Cinnamon Life cereal (or you can use any kind of Chex or Life or Golden Grahams)
1 large box of raisins
1 cup peanuts
1 stick butter
1 small bag of chocolate chips
2 cups chunky peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 box powdered sugar

Pour cereal, nuts, and raisins into a large paper sack.
In a saucepan, put butter, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and vanilla together. Over medium heat, mix everything very well.
Pour sauce over cereal mix in paper bag.
Pour in box of powdered sugar and shake really well.
Serve when cooled.

REVIEW: Scrubbing bubbles toilet cleaning gel

I'd been thinking about trying this new cleaning product since I first heard about it. I mean, something that keeps me from having to scrub out a toilet used by 4 boys? Sign me up! Unfortunately, it didn't exactly turn out as the commercials said.

According to the official site:
Scrubbing Bubbles® Toilet Cleaning Gel makes it easy to keep your toilet bowl clean and fresh. Simply use the Toilet Cleaning Gel dispenser to stamp a gel disc onto the inside of your toilet bowl. The discreet gel disc sits just under the rim. There's no need to touch the disc or the bowl with your hand, making Toilet Cleaning Gel more hygienic than traditional clip-on bowl cleaners.
The gel disc gradually dissolves with each flush, allowing a controlled release of cleaner and fragrance. Each disc lasts up to seven days and leaves no residue behind. Your toilet bowl will remain clean and fresh — with practically zero effort.
Available in two great fragrances: Fresh Clean and Citrus Action.

First problem: the "clean or fresh" smell of the cleaner mixed with the smell of urine. GAG!
Second problem: If the dispenser isn't lined up exactly, you use way more than is recommended. This usually leads to your first box being used faster.
Third and final problem: The claim is that the disc is "discreet and lasts up to 7 days". My boys promptly noticed the blue jelly like disc and I had to remind them to leave it alone. Also, the disc fell out after a whopping day and a half. Maybe it'd be better for families who have a less used toilet?

I bought my box at the base commissary for $2.68. To me, it's worth way less. I'll stick to my old methods from now on.

Foods for detox

Think of how much garbage you eat. The grease, the additives, the toxins. Now read how to get rid of them. FYI: I detox once a month, usually the week before my period.

Feeling sluggish? Achy? Bloated? Time to detox. But where do you start?
Start now with spring foods that have exceptional natural detoxifying power. In the rainy and muddy months of spring, nature provides a low-fat, low-mucus harvest of sprouts, greens and berries. Use the spring grocery list below and eat more of these foods from March through June to help detox and rebalance your body.
Though these certainly aren’t the only items you can eat during this time, they are the in-season foods most beneficial if you want to detoxify and keep your digestive and lymph systems working at their peak. These foods can help you feel better, boost fat burn and prevent illness during the months of spring!
For a more customized approach to eating for detoxification, find out your Ayurvedic mind-body type profile, or dosha, and use the tips in the Ayurveda for Detox DVD to tailor your eating, fitness and other routines to your mind-body type.
Click here for a list of foods that detox the body.