The Beauty Detox Solution (15 page)
Read The Beauty Detox Solution Online
Authors: Kimberly Snyder
BEAUTY TIP
Nix the Caffeine
When we ingest caffeine, it is absorbed throughout the body and affects many of our critical organs, interfering with numerous processes in the body. Caffeine is particularly taxing on the liver, which has to metabolize it. Too much caffeine can overload the liver and slow down the liver's ability to efficiently burn fat and cleanse out other toxins in our system. Caffeine can also contribute to increased levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that has been linked to excess fat storage, especially around our bellies. Caffeine can also promote nor-epinephrine production, which is another stress hormone that affects our brain and nervous system, raising our heart rate and blood pressure. It creates that jittery feeling we may be familiar with after having even just one or two cups of coffee!
This is one of the reasons I don't recommend drinking much green tea, and why I personally avoid it. Even though green tea contains some healthy antioxidants, one cup has around thirty-five milligrams of caffeine. White tea, with only about eight milligrams of caffeine per cup, or better yet, caffeine-free rooibos tea and herbal teas are much better choices, and they contain antioxidants, such as aspalathin and nothofagin.
GLOWING GREEN JUICE
If Dr. Ann Wigmore is the “mother” of the Glowing Green Smoothie, then I would consider the modern-day father of the Glowing Green Juice to be the delightful Dr. Norman Walker, who lived to be well over one hundred. The Glowing Green Juice is loaded with enzymes, oxygen, minerals and vitamins that, according to Dr. Walker, have been “liberated” from the other food components and are thus much easier to absorb into the intestinal wall. And because much of the good stuff is in the juice of plants, with a Glowing Green Juice you can take in even more of these nutrients, as well as the purest organic water on earth.
The Glowing Green Juice is pure liquid nutrition that will fuel our bodies. As we cleanse and become more alkaline, we need less stimulation from solid food in the morning, and the Glowing Green Juice provides enzymes, minerals and vitamins for our bodies and does not slow us down one bit. Since the Glowing Green Juice is stripped of fiber, it hits the system in a stronger cleansing way. For those that have a highly acidic and toxic body, initially the Glowing Green Juice can be too much of a shock to consume every day. Until we start to shift the body into a more alkaline state, the more concentrated sugar content of the juiced fruit in the Glowing Green Juice can also be too much for the system, as fruits are the strongest cleansers. Since it lacks fiber, I have noticed with many of my clients that initially, the Glowing Green Juice may not keep them full enough for long periods the way the Glowing Green Smoothie does.
If we continue to have problems with fruit, even after adequate transition times, we can substitute stevia for the fruit in the Glowing Green Juice. The Glowing Green Juice comes into play in the True Beauty phase,
after
we have made some other necessary adjustments. In True Beauty we will consume both the Glowing Green Smoothie and the Glowing Green Juice depending on the rest of that day's meal plan. Many will skip the Glowing Green Juice and will stick with the Glowing Green Smoothie for even longer,
or permanently, as they personally prefer it. I have many clients who have been on my plan for several years and, although they have the Glowing Green Juice occasionally and understand the theory of it, they prefer to stick with the fiber-containing Glowing Green Smoothie and function better with it. I personally regularly consume both.
You might be wondering about the juices available in stores. V8 and all the other pre-packaged, pre-bottled drinks simply don't count. The nature of the bottling process means that the juices have been pasteurized, and that means the vegetables and fruits have been heated to such high temperatures that the enzymes and much of the nutrition have been killed and denatured. It is literally the difference between life and death: choosing living green drinks made from living foods or heated, dead, enzyme-deficient drinks.
If it is easier for you from a time standpoint to make larger batches of green drinks and freeze them in portions, that is perfectly fine. So many of my clients do this. While fresh is ideal, enzymes and other nutrients hold up pretty well in the freezer. Don't worry about losing out on too much by freezing larger batches; you will still get plenty of minerals and nutrients from the drinks. It is more important that you stick to the plan and consume your green drinks every morning, rather than worry that you could not make the green drinks fresh some days.
True Beauty Story
MARY STEWART IS A THIRTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WHO HAD BEEN TRYING TO
have a baby for thirteen years with her husband. They tried everything from in vitro fertilization to acupuncture. When I met them, they had already given up on the idea of conceiving their own child and had started looking into adoption options in the United States and other countries. It was around then that Mary called on me simply to improve her overall diet.
As we started working to make changes to her diet, she vacillated on sticking to her ideal lunch and dinner options, but she stayed true to one thing: her morning Glowing Green Smoothie. Within seven months of consuming it once or twice every single day, she became pregnant! The high quantity of greens, packed with minerals and chlorophyll, helped rebalance her body and made it healthy enough for her to carry a baby. Today she is the proud mother of a healthy nine-month-old son. She even named him after the street I live on!
Recipes for both the Glowing Green Smoothie and the Glowing Green Juice can be found in Chapter 11,
Beauty Recipes
. Remember that the recipes for the Glowing Green Smoothie and Glowing Green Juice I provide are mere guidelines. I get so many people emailing me to say, “I don't like celery. Can I switch to cucumber?” or “Ugh, please don't make me eat cilantro!” I won't! You can and should feel free to mix and match your greens and fruits, depending on what is local and seasonal and on your personal preferences. Think of your favorite fruits as your favorite go-to jeans, and your leafy greens as your many different cute tops. The jeans (or fruits, in this case) are really the support for the fabulous, eye-catching tops (or leafy greens), which are the most important part of the outfit.
True Beauty Story
MARGARET REILLY IS A TELEVISION PRODUCER IN HER EARLY THIRTIESâINCREDIBLY
young to have the amount of responsibility she has been given. She works extremely hard and is also very stressed on a daily basis. When I met her, she needed to lose about twenty pounds. She was actually five days into the Master Cleanse, a liquid cleanse program, and while she had no energy, she was pleased that she had already lost four pounds. Still, she knew that she could not continue that drastic a cleanse while working as hard as she did, and she was looking for more of a long-term approach. In general, she ate lunch at her desk and ordered takeout for dinner. She had no energy to go to the gym or exercise in any way. She admitted that her lunches and dinners were her “treats,” the parts of the day when she just got to eat what she wanted and temporarily feel good.
That left us with the perfect starting place: breakfast. I started her on the Glowing Green Smoothie every single day. At first she was still hungry afterward and ate some eggs “for protein”âher usual breakfastâbut as we shifted, she found she needed only the Glowing Green Smoothie. Naturally, she started cutting back on her coffee and her lunches got lighter. After three months, she had lost a total of seventeen pounds. She had so much energy from her Glowing Green Smoothie that she started going to the gym at least three times a week.
Now it has been a year since I met Margaret. We have shifted other parts of her diet, and she has switched to the Glowing Green Juice, which is her only food until lunch. Then she always has a Glowing Green Smoothie as her afternoon snack. She has lost a total of twenty-five pounds, and she looks absolutely beautiful. Her face even looks different, as her jawline is more defined, and she has smoother, firmer skin. Her job is still stressful, but
she
does not get as stressed anymore. She is more grounded and much happier.
Variety will ensure you get a wide range of the key minerals, as different minerals are present in higher quantities in different greens. As you continue on this plan, you'll be surprised to see that your personal tastes and preferences for different greens will expand as we start to alter the biochemical makeup of your body. I used to not like kale that much, and avoided arugula at all costs, but now they are two of my staple faves. Who would have thought that would happen? So remember, as your body changes physically, so do your tastes. Also, choose seasonal and organic greens and fruits whenever possible! They don't have to travel very far to reach us, thus reducing our carbon footprint. They will also be more rich in minerals as they have more time to ripen in the field or orchard.
BEAUTY
DETOX
RECAP
Minerals are necessary to build our beauty. Our most plentiful sources of minerals are greens and other vegetables.
Enzymes help reverse the aging process, increase beauty and help us lose weight.
We start each meal with raw vegetables or greens to ensure we are getting a plentiful supply of enzyme-rich foods to increase our enzyme reserve.
Starting in the Radiant Beauty phase, the Glowing Green Smoothie and the Glowing Green Juice are an important part of the daily diet, providing us with large quantities of easily assimilated minerals and enzymes.