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Wrap it Up!

Jan 26, 2012 by Elissa Goodman

Wrap it Up!

Get into the wrap game!  No, I don’t mean a hip hop career, I mean cleansing!  I love eating wraps for a cleanse diet because it’s a great way to eat all of your cleanse vegetables and have fun!  I love this collard green wrap in particular because it’s super elegant, and collard greens are packed with anti-oxidants!

Collard Green Wrap

  • 1 large collard green leaves (each at least 11 by 11 inches)
  • 1/2 Persian cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and cut into long strips about 1/4 inch thick
  • 1/2 large ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
  • 1/4 ripe tomatoes, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 1/3 cups mixed salad greens.
  • Sunflower seed spread (pick up at Whole Foods or one of your local, crunchy, hippie spots)
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to season

INSTRUCTIONS: Using a sharp knife, cut out the center of vein from the collard green leaf.  This will pretty much cut the leaves in half, which is what you want.  Now cut each half in half again, making 4 equal pieces.

Lay the collard green pieces on a work surface.  Spread 1 1/2 tblsp.  of sunflower spread in the center of each piece of collard green.  Lay 2 cucumber strips, 2 avocado slices, and 1 tomato slice over the spread on each piece.  Toss the mixed salad greens with enough extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to season to coat the greens lightly.  Place a few leaves of the mixed salad greens on top of the tomatoes.  Roll up the collard green pieces around the fillings, tucking under one side to hold the filling in.

Stick toothpicks through the wraps to keep them together.  Serve the remaining mixed salad greens alongside.

adapted from Vegan Family Meals by Ann Gentry.

 

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Eating Out Tips & Tricks

Jan 20, 2012 by Elissa Goodman

Eating Out Tips & Tricks

Even if you’re on a cleanse, you can eat out and eat well!  You’ll have to skip wine and dessert, but there are plenty of ways to make sure you have fun and have a great meal.  Here, I’m going to share my favorite eating out tips and tricks for cleanses that allow cooked food and cleanses that are all raw.  Don’t be shy about talking to your waiter about possible meal options! It’s so easy to order steamed veggies at a restaurant, even if they don’t necessarily have it on the menu.  Also, a leafy green side salad can become an entree if you order a double portion. Sync this list to your smart phone, so you can have it on hand when your out to dinner and lost for what to eat!

If you are on a cleansing diet that allows cooked food diet, look for steamed veggies, steamed fish, and a healthy grain.  The following is a more specified list of what works, and doesn’t work on a cleansing diet:

  • Wild Salmon, Atlantic Mackerel, Sole, Tillapia, White Fish are good fishes to eat, but ask the waiter to hold the sauce.
  • AVOID King Mackerel, Mahi Mahi, Marlin, Orange Ruffi, Shark, Sword Fish,  all Tunas, Sea Bass as these fish have too much mercury.
  • Couscous, brown rice, basmati (no white rice)
  • Steamed broccoli, broccolini, or broccoli rabe.
  • Sauteed spinach with garlic
  • Sauteed green beans
  • Steamed or roasted carrots and beets.
  • Grilled zucchini and squash (ask them to use as little oil as possible)
  • Grilled portabella mushroom
  • Roasted yams or sweet potatoes
  • Tossed side salads (ask the waiter to bring you olive oil and vinegar, or order vinaigrette – great to put on your veggies too!)
  • Leafy greens
  • You CAN have chicken or beef IF it is grass fed, hormone free.

Feel free to check to side menu and assemble a few sides to make a complete meal! Most menus will have items that will work for your personal cleanse, read the menu closely and ask the waiter when in doubt, just remember to ask nicely!

If you are on an all raw cleansing diet,  order more than one salad and indulge in a leafy feast!  Some salads will come with add-on’s that are not raw.  In this case:

  • Have the waiter bring you olive oil and vinegar for your salad, or order a vinaigrette
  • Hold the eggs, croutons, cheese, or any meats
  • Skip the corn,  it could be GMO, but add a quarter slice of avocado.
  • Eat a little raw snack (carrots, sliced apple, green beans), or have a veggie juice before you go!  If you have a little nutrient dense snack before you eat out, you’ll be less hungry and more able to enjoy the people and the event, as opposed to lamenting the lack of raw options at a steak house!

One of the best ways to cleanse is in the company of fun, supportive, loving people.  So don’t give up going out just because you’re cleansing.  You can do both!

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Alternative Sweeteners

Jan 9, 2012 by Elissa Goodman

Alternative Sweeteners

Eliminate sugar from your diet!  Sugar causes a person to gain weight, leaches calcium from to body, and destroys collagen.  It increases stress and impairs the adrenal glands’ functioning ability.  Sugar is addictive, toxic, and despicably snuck into almost everything we eat.  If you want to make an improvement in your health and loose weight, sugar has got to go!

The good news is, you don’t have to let go of sweetness all together!  Below are my favorite alternative sweeteners and using my guide will help you kick that sugar habit once and for all without sacrificing a little sweet-tooth!

Stevia. Stevia is derived from a South American plant leaf. It is 300 times as sweet as sugar, zero calories, and has no health drawbacks. It has a glycemic index rating of less than 1 and therefore does not feed candida (yeast) or cause any of the numerous other problems associated with sugar consumption.  Stevia works best as an alternative to sugar in hot beverages like coffee or tea.  If you’re interested in baking with stevia, look to specialty books or Web sites; since the herb’s sweetness and volume are drastically different from that of sugar, there’s no easy substitution formula.

Artichoke Syrup. I discovered artichoke syrup at Cafe Gratitude, where I run my cleanse, and fell in love instantly.  Artichoke syrup is rich in inulin, a type of fiber that feeds the friendly flora of the intestinal tract. It has an exceptional sweet taste and a very low glycemic index, making it a great sweetener for people with candida-conscious diets and diabetic blood sugar awareness. Research indicates that the inulin found in artichoke syrup may improve gastrointestinal health and calcium absorption.

Yacon Syrup. Yacon’s health benefits and taste have long been appreciated on its native soils in South America.  Yacon Syrup is an organic sweetener that tastes somewhat like molasses, and can be used to enhance the flavor of any food needing an extra sweet touch. It has half the calories of sugar, and also contains a high concentration of the inulin.  Yacon is not just sweet to the palate, but a friendly dietary addition for diabetics and those looking to cut calories.

Lucuma Powder. Lucuma has a uniquely sweet, fragrant and subtly maple-like taste that will bring your desserts to life without making your blood sugar levels skyrocket.  Plus, this naturally occurring sweetener actually gives your body healing goodness; lucuma is an excellent source of carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.  It boasts of plentiful concentrations of beta-carotene, which makes lucuma a powerful immune system booster, and it is rich in iron, B2 and B1. Lucuma has such a great taste that it’s flavor is sometimes preferred to vanilla or chocolate when used in ice-cream.  Its low sugar content makes it a healthy alternative to sugar for people who have diabetes and it is a great sweetener for women who are breastfeeding.

Raw Honey. Lastly, one of my favorite sweeteners is raw honey.  Raw honey is used by many cultures as a remedy for many health ailments including ulcers, digestion problems, and even seasonal allergies. Studies have shown raw honey to have antibiotic, antibacterial, and antimicrobial properties. Many people use honey topically on cuts and scrapes to help fight infection. With antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, enzymes, carbohydrates, and phytonutrients, raw, unprocessed honey is considered a superfood by many alternative health care practitioners and a remedy for many health ailments. Choose your honey wisely. There is nothing beneficial about processed honey.

As with all sweeteners,  use in moderation.  Any sweetening agent that gets overused can overwhelm the liver and get turned in bad fat.  Syrups like maple syrup and agave syrup have some plus sides, but they are both wrought with controversy in the health community and there are better options available.  By no means do natural sweeteners give us license to spoil a sweet tooth rotten, but they’re an improvement over sugar. So use the profiles above as guide to get you off of the nasty, toxic sugars, not as a liscence to binge on somethings else.

What has your expereince been with sugar and using an alternative sweetener? Post a comment below!

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Start the New Year CLEANSED!

Jan 2, 2012 by Elissa Goodman

Start the New Year CLEANSED!

What’s your New Year’s Resolution?  Do you want to invest more time in your career?  Do you want to take more walks and spend time in nature?  Are you pledging to spend more time with your kids?  Or do your really want to learn guitar?  No matter what your new year’s resolution is, the best way to enter the new year and get started is by doing a CLEANSE!

Cleansing enables you to get out the old junk from your system that keeps you in less than perfect health.  You know what it feels like to take all the trash that sits in your garage and dump it so you can finally park your car there? Cleansing is the same way! You don’t really need that old toxic buildup in your body!  Believe it or not, letting it sit there prevents you from really moving forward in your goals!

If your New Year’s Resolution is to loose weight, then you definitely need to cleanse!   Cleansing is the best way to reset our systems so we can take on new eating habits and attune our palates to the healthiest foods.  Additionally, you have me as a coach, to guide you through the cleanse and start you on a path to truly changed nutrition and visible weightloss.  Even if you have written off the age old tradition of making a resolution,  the new year is still a great time to cleanse!  You want to be free and clear to accept the fantastic gifts that the new year has to offer to you.  When you clear your body, you  clear your mind and you clear your soul!  A gunked up body keeps your mind fuzzy, your motivation low, and your ability to enjoy success muted.  You need a clean slate to start a new game plan, and cleansing is the way to wipe away the old so you can bring in the new.

Hit the reset button, and truly enter the New Year with the freshest, most vibrant you!

Sign up for the cleanse using the link above, or click HERE!

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Swiss Breakfast

Dec 19, 2011 by Elissa Goodman

Swiss Breakfast

Breakfast is our most important meal and this Swiss Breakfast recipe is a nutritious and tasty way to start the day. It has a unique combination of sweetness and tartness and can be served hot or cold so it’s a great breakfast dish to include as part of your diet year-round.

Ingredients:

1 cups gluten-free rolled oats

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 TBS  raisins

2 TBS sprouted organic sliced almonds

2 TBS organic dried apricots, chopped

2 TBS organic sunflower seeds

1 date, chopped

1 TBS organic dried cranberries

Directions:

1.Mix all ingredients together.

2.Bring 2 cups water to a boil.

3.Add mixed ingredients. Turn heat to low and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally until water is absorbed, about 7 minutes.

4.Cover, and set for about 2 minutes before serving.

5.Serve with your choice of dairy-free milk.

Serves 1

 

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