The Beauty Detox Solution (21 page)

BEAUTY GRAINS

The four best Beauty Detox grains are millet, quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat. These grains are gluten-free, and all except for buckwheat, also known as kasha, (which leaves a slightly acid-forming residue) digest to leave a slightly alkaline residue in the body. You should always eat veggies first and along with grains to control portion size. Still, these grains add important fiber and help stop cravings for refined carbs, like breads and pastries.

Even though you may not have ever eaten these grains in the past, they are generally easy to find: quinoa is even sold at stores like Trader Joe's and the “ethnic” section of your
local grocery store. They are very inexpensive (a pound of millet is around two or three dollars), easy to cook and prepare, and make delicious accompaniments to veggies and salads to add some density to meals. Products made from these grains are also available, including millet bread, millet cereal, kasha cereal, quinoa crackers, quinoa pasta, quinoa flakes and cream of buckwheat cereal. In fact, you'll find that it's easy enough to swap these grains for your current starch staples, like rice and pasta. When you switch to these grains and grain products, you will not miss anything! That is, except for the excess pounds.

Beauty Grains and Starches

It is important to soak grains at least eight hours, and preferably overnight. This will help deactivate the enzyme inhibitors that coat all grains (and beans) and will make them even easier to digest. Get in the habit of planning ahead. Soak some quinoa or millet the night before, and make enough to last you for a couple of days or to pack for lunch.

The reality is that sometimes we might have trouble finding certain products, like millet bread, when we eat in restaurants or when we are traveling. The key in these situations is to do your best! Rice is a better alternative to wheat, and brown rice is a better choice than refined white rice. Anytime we eat a grain or starch product, and especially when we eat these less than ideal grain or starch products, we should take a digestive enzyme to help them digest better. (See Chapter 6, Detoxing for Beauty, for more information on enzymes.) And remember, it is the norm, not the occasional exceptions to the rule, that really counts.

CHOOSE BEAUTY FATS AND EAT IN MODERATION

Fat should be limited in our diet. While fat has some important functions, such as helping to make our skin supple and beautiful, lubricating our joints, strengthening our cell membranes against oxidation damage, and helping to protect and insulate our nervous system, we will be getting enough fat naturally from our diet, in the form of avocados, seeds and nuts, so that we do not have to supplement or seek it out.

There are many different types of fat:

Fatty acids are the main building blocks of fats. Just as there are eight essential amino acids, there are two essential fatty acids that must come from foods: omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Most people get too much omega-6 fatty acid, which is present in foods like vegetable oils and margarine, but not enough omega-3. I recommend adding one tablespoon a day of ground flaxseed to your salad, which will supply your daily dosage of omega-3 essential fatty acids. We need these for proper brain and nerve functioning.

Okay, enough with the technicalities. Here's the deal: if your goal is to lose weight, it is a good idea to cut back on oil, even healthy oil. Oil is extremely dense and loaded with calories, so it can really plump us up. In recent years the media has popularized the consumption of certain plant oils, like olive oil, as a good source of healthy unsaturated fat. But oil is still oil, no matter how you slice it—or, in this case, pour it! I have included several oil-free salad dressings in the recipe section. If you want to lose weight, limit oil in your diet (though if you are naturally very thin, keeping some oil in your diet will help keep your weight up). I stopped adding olive oil to my salads years ago.

As you learned in Chapter 3, Eating for Beauty, a
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amount of fat should never be eaten with protein—that is an improper Beauty Food Pairing. Significant amounts of fat, and especially refined and heated fat, delay the secretion of hydrochloric acid, which is needed for efficient protein digestion in our stomach. If you are planning a fish, chicken or other animal protein-based dinner, I would recommend omitting the oil from your pre-dinner salad. Digestive enzymes high in lipase should be taken while consuming fats other than avocados. (See Chapter 6, Detoxing for Beauty, for more on this.)

IDEAL SOURCES OF PLANT-BASED FAT

Avocados:
Technically a fruit, avocados are a wonderful source of fat for your Beauty Detox. Dr. Norman Walker calls avocados “just about the finest fat we can put in our bodies.” With their creamy texture and beautifying oils, avocados are extremely filling and provide long-burning fuel. I have found them essential in my own diet, as they provide heaviness and help keep me feeling full until dinner. Those used to eating heavier diets will find avocados a savior and a good replacement for meat and dairy products. When we are trying to lose weight, we must limit all fat, so half of a large avocado or one small avocado a day is the maximum amount we should consume.

Avocados contain some water and digest very easily out of the system. That said, when eating avocados, it is best to consider them the concentrated food for Beauty Food Pairing. Eat them with greens or non-starch vegetables, or following other kinds of fruit. For instance, if you are eating a salad for lunch with avocado, avoid eating nuts with it. If you plan on eating a concentrated protein, like some fish at dinner, skip avocados in your green salad. An avocado would be too much fat to eat with protein—that is a combination for poor digestion and weight gain!

When eaten properly, avocados can be one of our best Beauty Detox friends. I personally eat one avocado almost every single day, or one and a half when I am really active. For a quick lunch, I'll layer some avocado slices on a few nori wrappers (the black seaweed that sushi is wrapped in, which you can get at health markets) with sprouts and lots of baby spinach, squeeze some lemon and seasoning on them and wrap them up. A super-easy, filling and healthy lunch made in about one minute!

Other beautifying fatty fruits you can try are durian (an Asian fruit) and olives, but adhere to the same food pairing rules as when eating avocados.

 

Raw, cold-pressed oils:
For certain recipes and dishes, a small amount of oil is allowable. It is best to use unrefined oils that are raw and cold-pressed. The best ones are unrefined coconut oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, pumpkin seed oil, hemp seed oil, borage seed oil, evening
primrose oil and sunflower oil. It is vital that we consume these oils in a totally unrefined state. If they have been refined in some way which could include processes such as bleaching or deodorizing, these oils are much harder on our liver and lack the essential fatty acids.