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Bananacavo Energy Smoothie

March 24th, 2010

Let’s say you’re an athlete. You’re not a professional by any means, but you get out there a few times a week and really build up a sweat. Maybe you run, maybe you play a team sport, or maybe you just hit the weights and give your muscles a good thrashing.

Regardless, you come home happy but tired. You’ve left it all out on the court or the path or the gym floor, and you have no energy left. You know you should eat something, but man, it’s tempting to just flop down in the chair and relax. Who wants to spend a bunch of time in the kitchen preparing a tasty snack at that point?

So, maybe you reach for one of those chocolate bars that tosses a bit of protein into the mix and calls itself an “energy bar”. Sure, you get some fuel for your system, and it’s easy, but is it really what you want to put into your body? What if I told you there was a simple and easy snack that would take less than three minutes to prepare, but would give you an amazing amount of energy, help repair those overworked muscles, and taste great to boot?

That, my friends, is the beauty of the Bananacavo Energy Smoothie. Not only does it have a great name, it has a taste to match, and benefits beyond your expectations.

First of all, let’s go through the ingredients…

First, you have bananas. If you have seen a marathon or even run in one, you know that pretty much the only solid food they hand out at the water stations are bananas. Not only are they nice and mushy (so very easy to eat), but they are full of all sorts of things that a hard-working runner needs – right now. There is a ton of potassium in bananas, and potassium goes straight to your poor muscles, helping to break down the pockets of lactic acid that build up in your overworked muscles.

That lactic acid is what brings the pain, so bananas are like aspirin for your legs on a long run, and you’ll be thankful for it later. But on top of that, bananas contain natural sugars that help to fuel your body right now, rather than later. The mushy texture means that those sugars are digested quicker, and are available to your body faster. All good things, when you’re working that hard.

The other main ingredient in this smoothie is avocado. This fleshy green fruit might not be your first choice to pair with bananas, but the fats contained within are truly beneficial to the hard working body. These healthy fats are essential to maintaining proper health, and besides, they taste great.

To make the Bananacado Energy Smoothie, combine a whole, peeled banana with a half of the flesh of an average sized avocado in a blender. To complete the mix, add in a cup of cold water, the juice of half of an orange, a pinch of salt and a handful of previously soaked and softened almonds. Blend until smooth, and consume immediately.

I guarantee you, you’ve never tasted anything like this before, and once you go Bananacado, you’ll never go back.

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Thanksgiving Survival Guide – 4 Dietary Tips to Help You Stay Healthy Over the Holidays

November 25th, 2009

turkey_dinnerWith American Thanksgiving just a day away I thought I should do my part in helping you survive this often “toxic” time of year.

By toxic, I simply mean the overeating of heavy foods like turkey, stuffing, and pie that don’t necessarily energize your body.

You know what I mean, right?

Have you ever eaten so much that you’ve felt like falling asleep at the table?

Well, as you can imagine, this time of year is famously known for “dinner time narcolepsy”. So with that in mind, I wanted to take the next few days to give you some helpful dietary tips to prevent overeating and/or feeling the paralyzing effects of doing so.

Thanksgiving Survival Tip #1 – Food Combining is Key!

Food combining is the principle of combining certain foods together, while avoiding the mixing of other foods. The rationale is that different foods require different digestive environments (ie. acid vs. alkaline) and, thus, if such foods are combined, their respective digestive juices neutralize each other. As a result, these foods are not properly digested.

If foods are not digested properly, they cause disruption further down the digestive tract, impair proper elimination, and can seep into the bloodstream whereby they can be detected as “allergens”. Also, undigested foods that sit around in your stomach for hours are more readily stored as fat and make you gassy, bloated, and tired.  Pretty tough to lose weight if this is happening.

Therefore, food combining is just one of your digestive weapons to ensure that what you eat is broken down and assimilated properly.

FOOD COMBINING 101

The basic recommendations are the following:

1. Avoid mixing starchy carbs with complex proteins

Here are some examples: pasta with meat sauce, turkey and mashed potatoes, chicken and rice.

These are combinations that you want to avoid. One of the reasons that Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are so filling (and tiring) is because we tend to poorly combine our foods.

Instead, combine starchy carbs OR proteins with healthy fats (olive oil, etc..) and green leafy or cruciferous veggies. Good examples of this include: chic peas with kale, salmon with swiss chard and spinach, and turkey and veggies (other than potatoes).

2. Eat fruit alone, and on an empty stomach

Raw fruit will digest itself (because of its enzymes) in your stomach in 15-20 minutes. And if eaten right after a meal (as dessert for instance), then its sugars will ferment on top of the existing meal that is still being processed in your stomach. As a result, you will feel bloated, gassy, and perhaps experience some discomfort in your abdomen.

Therefore, eat fruit on its own (or with sprouted nuts and seeds to moderate sugar load) to enable optimal digestion.

The important thing to remember is that you need to listen to your body. If you are gassy, bloated, tired, or experience pain in your stomach, these are signs that what you are eating is not being digested properly.

And poor digestion is the first step to numerous health-related problems.

Thanksgiving Survival Tip #2 – Food Sequencing

Food combining is powerful. But let’s say that you are given a plate full of different kinds of foods. Let’s take the typical holiday feast as an example.

On your plate you’ve got turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and maybe some greens. Wow, I’m getting tired just thinking of it!

What do you do? Is there a way to eat your meal to help your body better digest it?

Yes! It’s all about food sequencing.

In a nutshell, here’s how food sequencing works:

1 Eat SIMPLE FOODS and ENZYME-RICH FOODS first

These are generally raw foods such as salad or raw veggies. Their enzymes will assist in the digestion of the foods you eat next. Bread would fit in here as well.

2 Eat COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES + FIBER-RICH FOODS next

These include your starchy root vegetables (sweet potato, yams, etc…). We eat these before heavier protein because they are digested more rapidly and thus can pass through the digestive
tract unimpeded.

3 Eat PROTEIN + FAT last

These take the longest to digest and thus should be eaten after the aforementioned foods. This is more applicable to those who eat animal proteins. If you are a vegan than your protein will
be coming from easy to assimilate plant sources such as legumes. Furthermore, plant-based proteins don’t carry saturated fats or cholesterol (only healthy fats) which further assists their digestion.

So, now let’s turn back to our example of turkey dinner. What would be the best way to “sequence” your meal?

Ideally, this is what it should be sequenced:

Greens –> Cranberry Sauce –> Mashed Potatoes –> Stuffing –> Turkey

Now I know that most of us like to enjoy different flavours on our palate all at once, but just give this a shot the next time you don’t a have a meal that is properly “food combined”. The difference will be noticeable!

Thanksgiving Survival Tip #3 – Keep the Sugar Monster Under Control

Did you know that many allergies are caused by food that is not properly digested?

Undigested food is often due to unbalanced mineral relationships, which prevent digestive enzymes from functioning properly. When these undigested food particles enter the bloodstream they can travel to different parts of the body and wreak havoc. If they travel to the head, the result can be headaches, fatigue, dizziness; in other parts of the body they can manifest as eczema, joint inflammation, asthma, and much more.

Ok, so how does this tie in with holiday eating?

The answer – SUGAR!

Sugar depletes enzymes by upsetting the body’s fine mineral balance. Because minerals are a key component to enzymes, if they are affected, so too will your ability to digest your food.

And digesting your food properly has really been the theme of this 4-part series, hasn’t it?

So the message is that when you eat sugar with other foods, you impair your body’s ability to digest them. For instance, having a glass of orange juice (high in sugar) with your morning breakfast makes your meal susceptible to not being digested properly. Whatever is in that meal is then more at risk of becoming a food allergen, overtime.

If you’re going to have sugar, do your best to ensure that it’s a healthy source such as fruit and that it is not eaten in conjunction with other foods. Refrain from having fruit or high-sugar desserts right after your meal. Give your body at least 1-2 hours to digest and then you can consider a little holiday indulgence.

Thanksgiving Survival Tip #4 – Use digestive enzymes!

Taking digestive enzymes with your meals can be one of the most impactful things you can do your digestion and your health.

Remember that when you cook your foods, you destroy their enzymes. As such, your body spends a huge amount of energy to produce and use its own limited supply of enzymes to digest your food. Many times, these foods are not even properly digested – leading to the passage of undigested food particles into the bloodstream! You remember the allergy talk the other day, right?

Therefore, to assist your digestion taking 1-2 digestive before and/or during your meal can be a huge bonus. Try it and you’ll see what I mean.

When selecting a digestive enzyme look for one that contains a wide spectrum of enzymes such as proteases, lipases, and various other “-ases” that will work on the various macronutrients within your foods.

Enzymes are the key to life. Enzyme therapy has even been used to help treat terminal diseases! Enzymes are needed for every single reaction in your body and when you run out of enzymes,
you run out of life.

So, when that plate of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and whatever is placed in front of you, give your body a helping hand by supplying it with the digestive enzymes that will help it breakdown these “dead” foods.

What Happens Next Week?

So there you have my 4 dietary tips to surviving Thanksgiving and staying healthy over the holidays. However, by the time next week rolls around you may be feeling a bit sluggish and in need of a kickstart to get your body back into the healthy eating groove.

If that’s the case, then I highly recommend grabbing a copy of our Total Wellness Cleanse program – it will do your body a world of good.

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Digestive Enzymes for Better Digestion

October 15th, 2009

Digestion is perhaps the most important function our body performs. Obviously, that’s up for debate but the truth of the matter is that faulty digestion is where most health problems begin.

Think of allergies, auto-immune diseases, candidiasis, constipation, eczema, asthma, and many more.

All of these problems (and tons of others) can be caused and/or attributed to bad digestion.

Bring in the Enzymes…

Our body produces 2 different kinds of enzymes: digestive and metabolic.

Metabolic enzymes are used in every single reaction in the body outside of digestion. These are also critical for helping to breakdown immune complexes and dead cells, and helping to rebuild new tissue.

Digestive enzymes are produced within the digestive tract and are used exclusively to assist in the breakdown of food.

The problem with digestive enzymes is that we only have a limited number of them.

That’s where the importance of eating more raw foods come into play. Raw foods are packed with food enzymes (the 3rd category of enzymes). These enzymes are inherent in every single living food and are there to help the digestion of that given food.

If you eat a raw apple, it’s inherent food enzymes will pretty much take care of the digestive process. However, cook that apple above 118 degrees fahrenheit and you can kiss those food enzymes goodbye.

When we eat food that no longer contains “food enzymes” our body is forced to expend more of its limited supply of digestive enzymes to break down the food.

Over time, this can become a problem as our digestive system weakens and digestion becomes compromised.

Digestive Support Nutrients

So we know that we need to support our digestive system by eating a greater proportion of living foods since they are enzyme-rich.

But what do you do if you occasionally eat cooked foods?

One thing I would highly recommend is to supplement with some digestive aids like digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid.

In general, you want to choose a digestive enzyme that covers a full spectrum of enzymes. You’ll see the suffix -ase on nearly all enzymes. For instance, maltase digests the sugar maltose. Lactase breaks down lactose. And so on.

However, there are other enzymes that do not end with -ase such as chymotrypsin, pepsin, trypsin, and pancreatin.

I personally use a digestive enzyme at any meal in which the foods are cooked. Since I understand the importance of proper digestion, as well as the fact that I have an underactive stomach (as do most people), I definitely feel that my digestion is much improved with the use of supplemental digestive enzymes.

Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is another digestive aid I use anytime I eat cooked foods, and in many cases raw foods as well.

HCl is naturally produced and secreted by the parietal cells in the lining of our stomach in response to the ingestion of fat or protein. However, when we eat more frequently than required by the body or over-consume fats or proteins, acid production begins to decrease.

And decreased HCl production can lead to faulty digestion, with symptoms like gas, belching, bloating, discomfort after meals, fatigue after meals, and excessive fullness.

As I just mentioned, most people have an underactive stomach. This means that their stomach does not produce sufficient HCl to properly digest their foods.

For this reason, I highly recommend taking supplementary HCl with your meals.

The only contraindication to using digestive enzymes and HCl is if you have an ulcer or other type of gastric inflammation as too much extra stomach acid may further irritate the situation.

HCl is primarily available as betaine hydrochloride. You can take one or more capsules before, during, and after your meals to assist your stomach in producing enough acid.

The combination of digestive enzyme and HCl supplementation will not only help you digest your foods better but they will also improve your energy levels, help slow the aging process, and prevent many chronic degenerative diseases from developing.

It’s very powerful stuff!

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Types of Edible Seaweed

September 29th, 2009

Today we’re going to look at 3 amazing types of edible seaweed. As I mentioned yesterday’s post, the health benefits of sea vegetables are absolutely ridiculous and now we’re going to learn some more specifics relating to dulse, kelp, and nori.

Dulse

Dulse is a seaweed highly rich in iodine, iron, and calcium. 

It can easily be added to salads and soups as it makes a great seasoning. Because of its sodium content it can also a replacement to table salt.

Kelp

Another great alternative to salt, kelp is usually used in smaller quantities because of its potent mineral content and strong flavour.

It has some protein and is rich in iodine, calcium, potassium, and many of the B vitamins. Kelp is other high in disease-fighting phytonutrients such as fucosterol, vanilin, and lutein.

Nori

Nori is probably the most common seaweed as it the one used to make sushi. It is very high in protein (nearly 50% protein content), fiber, vitamin A, calcium, iodine, iron, and phosphorus.

Because it comes in sheets, nori is easiest to use when making wraps (instead of using wheat-based or lettuce wraps).

Seaweed Recipes

Now that we’ve looked at some common types of sea vegetables, I want to give you some ideas as to how to use them. Here are  recipes from our Total Wellness Cleanse to get you started.

Winter Squash Kelp Soup

One 5″–6″ piece of kelp
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium winter squash, cubed (about 1 quart)
1 small handful parsley, chopped
Fresh ground black pepper

1. Lightly rinse kelp

2. In a soup pot, cover kelp with water and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Remove and cut the kelp into small pieces.

4. Return to the pot with the onion and squash; add water to cover.

5. Simmer for 20–30 minutes until squash is soft, or pressure cook for 5–10
minutes. Puree soup is desired. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Avocado Sea Wrap

1 avocado, cut into lengthwise strips
1 small handful alfalfa sprouts
¼ cucumber, julienned
1-2 Nori sheets leaves, rinsed and carefully unfolded
Juice of ½ lemon
1-2 tbsp olive oil

1. Lay the avocado strips, alfalfa sprouts, and cucumber inside the 2. Drizzle some lemon juice and olive and roll to make a wrap.

There are plenty of ways to incorporate edible seaweeds into your diet. Besides recipes like these ones, the easiest way is just to sprinkle them on your salads and soups as seasoning. Then, if you want to get more fancy, you can give some elaborate (yet simple) seaweed-based recipes a shot.

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Digestion and Enzymes- Another Reason to Eat Raw Foods

September 13th, 2009

Digestion is one of the most important functions our body is able to perform. Unfortunately, most people don’t digest their food properly.

In my experience, having worked with thousands of personal clients, faulty digestion or an “underactive stomach” is the most common health concern I notice.

So why is digestion a health concern?

Well, consider that improper digestion can lead to nasty conditions like leaky gut syndrome, allergies, and auto-immune disorders – just to name a few.

Think Back to When…

The last time you ate a heavy cooked meal.

Did feel really tired (and full) for several hours?

I know I did.

And it’s not fun.

Think about those big family Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners where you’d stuff yourself with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, bread, wine, and on and on….

Thankfully, those kind of meals are rare.

Cooked Foods Are Dead

Remember that cooked foods are dead. 

They contain no functional enzymes since the heating any living thing above 118 degrees fahrenheit denatures them.

This makes it inherently difficult to digest these foods. After all, there’s a reason that all living foods contain enzymes that will naturally assist in their digestion.

But as soon as their cooked…all bets are off!

What this means to you is that your body now has to secrete more of its own digestive enzymes from the pancreas to breakdown these “dead” foods.

And by the way, these enzymes can run out. When they do, you run out of life!

Think of the Toughest Piece of Steak Ever

To help you understand just how hard it is for your body to digest dead foods – especially cooked proteins – let’s consider a piece of steak for a moment.

To begin with, animal protein (even in its raw state) is very tough for our stomach’s to digest. 

But what happens when we cook meat – or a steak in this example?

All of the steak’s proteins become denatured (just like those enzymes we talked about). They get all bent out of shape, coil together, and make it even tougher for our stomach to breakdown.

Just think of how many times you need to chew each bite of that steak just so you can swallow it! Maybe 100 times? 

Just imagine how much strain is now put on your stomach to further digest it.

So Remember This…

When you cook a protein, you make it tougher and, thus, harder for your body to breakdown.

Here’s another example…

Taking a raw egg, throwing it in a frying pan, and watching it ” coagulate” into a fried egg.

Which do you think is easier for your body to breakdown – the raw “liquidy” egg or the tough, protein-denatured fried version?

If you said the latter, then you’re right.

That’s why if you someone has digestive difficulties and they love their eggs, one of the best things they can do is eat a soft boiled egg instead of a hard boiled egg. 

Less cooking time makes it slightly easier to digest.

Bottom Line – Raw Foods Are Easier to Digest

Based on what we just discussed I’m sure you can appreciate just how much easier it is for us to digest raw foods.

Raw foods are packed full of food enzymes, which assist in their own digestion.

They don’t contain cooked, undigestible proteins.

And they’re actually good for you. They contain tons of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that you simply don’t get in a cooked food.

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