Holistic Nutrition Bytes--San Francisco Nutrition Consultation » cleanse

#1 Tip to Ensure a Successful Detox

admin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 17:25:48 +0000

Want to find out? Join myself and my biz partner, nutritionist & chef Karen Digs, for a free tele-call next Wednesday, 1/12, and we’ll tell you!

Have you made your resolutions? If you’re like most folks, there are probably some health and fitness goals on your list this year. A great way to kick off a weight loss program is a detox cleanse. Detoxing has become very trendy these days, but did you know that there is a right way & a wrong way to cleanse? The Nutrition Divas will be hosting a FREE tele-seminar on Wednesday, 1/12 to discuss some detox dos & don’ts.

You’ll learn:
-specific foods to include & what to avoid
-the one popular cleanse you should avoid at all costs
-nutrients that you absolutely must have during detox, or it just won’t work
-the #1 tip to ensure a successful detox

When: Wednesday, January 12 at 6pm PST (9pm EST)
Dial in: (641) 715 3300; enter access code: 950150#

But wait, there’s more! We are featuring special guest speaker Dr. Christine Cantwell on the call. Dr. Cantwell is a chiropractor specializing in gentle and effective chiropractic methods that help your body express its innate capacity for healing. She will talk about how to make the changes you experience during your cleanse stick! Specifically, she’ll share insights and simple steps on how we can transform stress into fuel for positive change to get clear, so that we can experience lasting change from the inside out.

Join us, won’t you? As always, we’ll answer questions, and we have SPECIAL BONUSES for those of you joining our call.

Don’t detox until you’ve joined this call!

Want Nutrition Consultation?

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:54:23 +0000

Have you been wanting to consult with a nutritionist, but you haven’t found the time, or you’re wondering what is involved?

Are any of these troubling you?

*fatigue
*overweight
*mood swings/depression
*PMS
*headaches
*joint pain
*foggy thinking
*insomnia
*acne or skin irritations

I can help you reduce or even remove these issues from your life–for good!

Or have you been trying to lose weight, embark on a cleanse, or get healthier but just don’t know how to take the first step? Or are you wondering what you should be eating? Would you like to fine tune your diet and receive personalized attention dedicated to improving your health & lifestyle?

Look no further. I have a very exciting free opportunity for you! I have joined forces with certified nutritionist and therapeutic chef Karen Diggs (www.benourishedsf.info). We focus on women’s health, weight loss, and detoxification in our practice. To celebrate our new partnership, I am offering you a 30 MINUTE FREE NUTRITION CONSULT by phone. That’s right, absolutely free.

This offer is valid for the next six weeks. Please contact me (click link) to sign up. All that is required of you is to fill out an introductory questionnaire about your health concerns. Tell your friends and colleagues about this fabulous opportunity. Sign up for your 30 minute free nutrition consult today!

Life-Changing Opportunity

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:09:46 +0000

Do you want to feel better? Are you fatigued, stressed, overweight? Struggling with allergies, PMS, or digestive troubles? Read a lot about liver cleansing/full body detox on this blog and curious about how to get started on your own?

This opportunity is for you! My colleague Karen (www.benourishedsf.info) and I are now running group detox workshops! Below is the announcement. If you are not in the San Francisco Bay Area, you have the option to run the cleanse from wherever you are, because we will be offering a conference call or webinar option for those who cannot make the classes.

Cleanses can be life-changing and can open you up to good health in amazing ways. The cleanse lasts for 21 days. Cost $125. Call 415-786-7938 for info, or visit www.benourishedsf.info (click detox workshop) for easy online sign-up.

clarity can be yours

PROGRAM DETAILS
Dates: Wednesday evenings,
May 13, May 20 & June 3, 2009
Time: 7-9pm
Location:
Nandi Yoga, 309 8th Avenue
San Mateo, CA
94401
www.nandiyoga.com
Registration:
$125 by May 1
$145 after May 1
Space is limited, so register now!

THE PROGRAM INCLUDES

• Before & After Total Body composition assessment ($50 value)

• Three group meetings led by Certified Nutritionists Mary Vance and Karen Diggs

• Carefully planned menus with delicious recipes

• Invaluable handouts, tips, information, and support

• How to transition from your cleanse onto your new healthy eating plan

• E-mail check-ins with your nutritionists

• Healthy snack demonstrations

IN JUST 21 DAYS

• Jump-start yourself to successful weight loss!

• Dramatically improve your energy and vitality

• Reduce food cravings

• Raise your productivity

• Reduce allergy symptoms and skin conditions

Please note that optional but recommended herbal and nutritional supplements and meal replacement shakes that promote detoxification are not included in registration cost.

WHY DETOX?

We are all living in a toxic world. When toxins from our food and environment accumulate in our body, we may feel tired, sick, and overweight.

Internal toxicity increases the risk of degenerative diseases, accelerates the aging process, and increases depression, allergies, and skin reactions.

This detailed and highly effective 21-day detox program is designed to gently and thoroughly flush the excess toxins from your system.

BENEFITS OF DETOX:
• Increased energy & vitality
• Weight loss
• Improve digestion
• Clear skin
• Reduce joint pain
• Ease PMS & menopause symptoms
• Prepare for healthy pregnancy & baby

Turmeric: Wonder Spice (recipe included)

admin — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:14:52 +0000

Plants are medicine. Herbs and spices have healing properties and are easy to integrate into your diet. They can be used to boost antioxidant levels, relieve stress, enhance sleep and relaxation, improve female hormones levels, reduce PMS symptoms, enhance fertility, relieve pain, and improve organ function.

One of my favorite spices, especially in the midst of a liver cleanse, is turmeric. Used widely in Ayurvedic medicine, turmeric is a member of the ginger family and gives curry its vibrant yellow color. Curcumin is the particular constituent responsible for turmeric’s bright hue.

looks like ginger.

Turmeric has been getting a lot of attention lately for its powerful anti-inflammatory properties. It is particularly helpful for joint pain, making it very effective for arthritis since it reduces both the pain and swelling associated with arthritis. It’s also very high in antioxidants, helping your body fight free radical damage and therefore keeping you feeling and looking younger. Here are turmeric’s key benefits:

*helps maintain healthy digestion
*potent blood cleanser
*may be useful in combating allergies
*liver cleansing properties
*superior antioxidant – protects cells and DNA from oxidative damage
*good for immune health
*promotes healthy, radiant skin

I’m using turmeric quite a bit right now for its blood and liver cleansing properties (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t want glowing skin and protection against DNA damage?). You can fine it in capsule form at health food stores, but why not just use it fresh? I find it freshly ground in the bulk section of my local natural foods store. It’s fresh and organic (avoid irradiated spices). I’ll throw a teaspoon into smoothies, or add to stir-frys, eggs, salad dressings, soups or stews.

For therapeutic purposes, take 1-2 teaspoons per day, mixed with cow, goat, or nut milks (ayurvedic method), or in smoothies, soups, etc. Or if you just desire an extra super antioxidant dose of miracle spice (when free radical damage is heightened: during times of stress, or a bad hangover, for example), throw some into your cooking. It pairs especially well with indian cuisine and is also yummy with lentils.

Now, just in time for Easter, here is a DELICIOUS moroccan inspired spiced lamb dish. Enjoy!

SPICED LAMB WITH LEMON ZEST AND PRUNES

SPICES
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. turmeric (If fresh is available, even better. Grate or press about 1 to 2 tsps.)
1 tsp. cumin
cayenne pepper to taste
3 sticks of cinnamon
sea salt and pepper to taste
fresh ginger, 1 TBSP grated
fresh garlic, 4 cloves, pressed or chopped
fresh cilantro to taste
fresh parsley to taste
1 TBSP fresh lemon zest

OTHER MAIN INGREDIENTS
4 carrots, chopped into 1 1/2 inch pieces or so (large dice)
1 onion, chopped
kalamata olives (maybe 10 or so)
prunes (around 6)
coconut oil for cooking
1 to 2 cups of chicken stock

Lamb loin, 1 -1/2 lbs for approximately 4 servings. Chop it into about 2″ size pieces to stew.
______________________________________________

*Mix all dry spices.

*Chop lamb and coat with dry spices, let sit or marinate for an hour to overnight. Do not put wet spices into dry mix.

*Cook chopped onions and carrots until mostly done, set aside.

*Use same pot, add more oil and cook lamb- browning it. To brown properly, make sure you have enough heat, but not too hot. Heat pan first, then add oil. Wait 20 seconds, to let oil heat, then add meat. Do not stir, let brown on one side, then another. Only put enough lamb in the pan at a time that you can brown. Use enough oil. Keep taking it out once browned and add to the bowl with the cooked carrot and onion.

*Add all lamb, carrot, onion, ginger, garlic, prunes and zest to pan with more oil. Add chicken stock to cover. Simmer until meat is tender, perhaps 45 mins, this will depend on the size you cut the meat. Add more stock if necessary. Season to taste.

*Last 5 to 10 mins of cooking add the cilantro, parsley, olives.

*Serve with brown rice, quinoa, or cous cous (if you are doing gluten.)

Liver Cleanse, Day 1 (recipe included)

admin — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:30:56 +0000

After 7 days of pre-cleansing, it’s time to embark on day 1 of the three week liver cleanse. See my previous post detailing the pre-cleanse.

Cleanses always hold the hope of possibility: it’s a time to clear your mind and body, quite literally. It’s a time to rid yourself of excess baggage, both physically and mentally. Physically, we shed pounds and abandon digestive problems and joint pain while welcoming clear skin and shiny hair. Emotionally, detoxification helps us uncover and express hidden frustrations, anger, resentments and fear and replace them with forgiveness, love, joy and hope. Because the liver is the seat of emotion (according to Chinese Medicine), repressed feelings can surface, and it is a time to recognize them and let them go.

This particular cleanse involves taking herbs that support liver and gall-bladder function and encourage removal of stored toxins. Antioxidants help counter-act any damage caused by excess toxins as they are released. I’ll make a cleansing smoothie twice daily and eat one regular meal. The smoothie is a functional food powder that contains rice protein (hypoallergenic, no dairy, soy, or whey), herbs, vitamins and minerals that assist in the cleansing process. I mix a green food powder (contains kale, beets, spirulina, and other superfood greens) in the smoothies along with flaxseed and psyllium to assist in colon cleansing. Psyllium binds with toxins and whisks them out of the body via regular bowel movements.

I start the days with hot water and the juice of a lemon with a dash of cayenne. Boy does that get things moving! This is an alkalinizing drink that is very liver-cleansing. I like the continue this ritual even after the cleanse is finished. After that, I do 10 minutes of meditation and deep breathing, then the morning smoothie. Off to work, or for an energizing walk.

I’m avoiding gluten and dairy (not much different from my normal diet), soy, sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. So for lunch, I’ll have a big green salad with fish or chicken, and maybe some grated raw beets and carrots with flaxseed oil and lemon and garlic dressing. I drink herbal teas and plenty of water throughout the day to help flush toxins. I’ll add cucumber or meyer lemons to the water to make it more “spa-like” and tasty!

I want to make sure and do regular yoga, including twists to help “wring” out my kidneys and liver, and long walks with the dog. I do skin brushing before hot epsom salt baths. The skin brushing stimulates the lymph and aids in removal of toxins. It’s nice to sweat if you have access to a sauna, as this is one way we detox. I also want to get plenty of sleep and take it a bit easy.

I also have a big pot of mineral broth on the stove; I’ll sip on it during the days and in the evenings (recipe below). This is a wonderful, alkalinizing broth that is very rich in potassium and other minerals. It nourishes the adrenals and is a wonderful complement to a cleanse, or can be used as the base for soups at any time. 2 weeks and six days left! Check back for updates.

MINERAL BROTH
1 c winter squash (butternut or yams or whatever is in season)
2 medium potatoes, any variety
1 c zucchini
1 c cabbage
2 c celery
3 carrots
1 c collards or chard
1 c kale
1 c onion
¼ c parsley
½ c beets
3 cloves garlic
½ c flaxseeds
6 slices ginger, size of a thumbprint
Handful of sea veggies (hijiki, wakame, kelp)
Use any other optional veggies you have on hand, such as broccoli or green beans

Scrub veggies and cut into chunks. Place in dutch oven and fill with filtered water to level of veggies. Bring to boil, simmer 4 hours or more. Add curry for zest if desired. Strain and keep the broth. Drink at least 1 cup per day. You may puree the vegetables and broth together in a blender and take as a heartier soup if desired.

Pre-Cleanse, Day 1

admin — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:52:05 +0000

As is customary, I shall embark on my annual springtime liver/kidney cleanse. Spring is liver season, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and is the most beneficial time to embark on a cleanse. According to TCM, anger, irritability, and depression are associated with excess liver heat or stagnation. Foggy thinking, headaches, joint pain, bloating, constipation, skin eruptions, and rashes are all signs you need a cleanse.

Check back for my weekly reports! I’ll be co-teaching a detox workshop here in San Francisco and will be participating with the group this year. We’ll continue to run these workshops regularly, along with weight loss workshops, so please contact me if you are interested in participating. The detox workshops are a GREAT way to jump start weight loss, reduce unwanted symptoms, clear your mind, and do something beneficial for your health.

Cleansing is a time-honored tradition that has myriad benefits: clear skin, stable moods, weight loss, reduced pain (joint, headaches, back/neck pain), better sleep, better digestion, anxiety reduction, more energy! Cleansing has become quite trendy and newsworthy as of late, and there are several different methods, some more extreme (and unsafe) than others.

We are all living in a toxic world, and just by stepping outside your door every day, you are exposed to pollutants from car exhaust on your way to work, office equipment where you work, and additives/pesticides in your food. Add alcohol, coffee, soda, (even water!) and medicine/drugs (prescription or otherwise) to the mix, and all these toxins accumulate in fat tissue and are stored in the body, where they can lead to endocrine problems and contribute to pain, weight gain, constipation, and other symptoms.

The good news is that your body is quite resilient and your liver’s main job is to neutralize the toxins that bombard you every day. When your toxic load exceeds your body’s ability to detoxify, however, you begin to experience symptoms.

There are a number of different detox methods you may choose, from cutting out wheat, dairy, coffee, and sugar to juice fasting, to raw foods, to the Master Cleanse, which involves drinking lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup (I do not recommend this method, which can be very harsh). The cleanse I follow comes in a kit and is easy to follow: take herbs, amino acids, and antioxidants to facilitate cleansing for 3 weeks while also eliminating gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, and coffee. Depending on your level of toxicity, you may experience some symptoms such as headache or fatigue, but this is a sign the cleanse is working.

I also recommend a week of pre-cleansing to prepare the body. From day one to day seven, begin by cutting out gluten, dairy, coffee, sugar, and booze. Add plenty of steamed vegetables and raw fruits, and begin some detox supportive activities like beginning the day with hot water and lemon, adding psyllium husk/flaxseeds to aid in elimination, exercise/yoga, and drinking ginger teas and green drinks. Hit the sauna – sweating helps!

So, for the next 28 days I shall embark on this year’s cleanse. To begin day one of pre-cleanse, I’ll have the following:
begin the day with a smoothie and spirulina, herbal tea
lunch: a green salad with chicken, roasted portabellos, lemon juice/olive oil/herb dressing
dinner: maybe some fish or lentil soup with kale (i think i have some leftover), cultured vegetables
snack: raw vegetable crudite, hummus
I’ll make a big pot of mineral broth to sip on in the evenings. See recipes section for the recipe. This alkalinizing +mineral-rich broth is excellent for cleansing. Here’s to a clean liver and a clear mind!

Fun Topics like Parasites

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:26:01 +0000

Let’s just jump right in here.

There are two common problems that cause digestive symptoms: food allergies/sensitivities, most commonly to gluten and dairy (milk and cream). Consuming foods to which you are allergic is essentially like taking a blow torch to your lush green lawn, leaving it barren and charred. It completely destroys the villi (lining) of your gut, and the lining becomes inflamed. When this lining becomes damaged, food particles can leak through and become tagged by the body as antigens, and the body mounts an immune attack, seeing the food as an invader (after all, food is not meant to escape from your digestive tract). This is leaky gut! When you eat the food, you experience an immune response, and this is one way food allergies develop. If you are repeatedly eating foods to which you’re allergic, your immune system is running on hyper-drive and can begin to run amok and attack itself: an origin of auto-immune disease.

The second issue that causes digestive symptoms is pathogens or low-grade chronic infections in the digestive tract such as parasites, overgrowth of “bad” bacteria, and yeast. Either of these two issues causes tissue damage and inflammation in the digestive system, and that leads to constipation, gas, bloating, diarrhea, heartburn, or indigestion.

Conventional medicine only looks at extreme symptoms and therefore only recognizes acute parasitic infections, meaning it’s present right now and isn’t going away: chronic and severe diarrhea for 3 weeks after trip to Mexico = parasite = treatment. Outside of this model, no thought is paid to a parasitic infection and it is usually misdiagnosed as colitis, heartburn, IBS, etc. The misdiagnosis can be detrimental, as seemingly unrelated problems begin to crop up, such as hormonal imbalance. Because your immune system is stressed constantly fighting the infection (that you may not even know you have), your cortisol levels rise in response to stress and female hormone levels therefore drop since your body is using all raw materials it uses to make hormones to produce excess cortisol. Weight gain, infertility, and menstrual irregularities can occur.

It’s not really possible to test yourself for parasites. You need to see a practitioner and do a stool sample to test for giardia, amoeba hystolitica, blastocystis, and cryptosporidium. These tests can also check for pathogenic infections like c difficile, klebsiella, h pylori, e coli overgrowth, candida, etc.

We do a lot of digestive testing and repair at our Mill Valley office and can consult over the phone and send out the test kits that you can do at home. Call 415 383 9903 to make an appointment if you want to test.

If you do suspect a parasite, it’s easy to do an herbal cleanse on your own, as I’ve written about previously, but the treatment won’t work unless your lifestyle factors are in place. First off, you need to minimize digestive inflammation by cutting out potentially allergenic foods such as gluten, soy, and dairy. Focus on whole foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, cultured/fermented foods, and protein. Work on stress management, getting to bed by 10:30pm, and exercise.
Depending on the degree of infection, you can choose antibiotics, herbs, or both to kill the parasite, followed by a round of probiotics to recolonize the gut. This takes about 6-8 weeks.

It’s also advisable to follow up with a candida treatment after the parasite cleanse because candida is almost always a secondary infection to a parasite. This can be a similar herbal cleanse using goldenseal, berberine, oregano oil or leaf, caprylates, and pau d’arco, among others. A candida cleanse diet should be followed as well: in addition to gluten, cut out anything with yeast or mold such as beer, cheese, mushrooms, and also minimize fruit and starchy veggies. If you suspect candida, test for parasites too since they go hand in hand.

Parasites are little bugs that cause big damage. Check back often, as they’ll come up again.

Why Antacids are NOT the Solution for Reflux

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:38:59 +0000

Do you experience frequent heartburn/reflux? Indigestion? Maybe you take over the counter antacid relief, or your doctor prescribed you Nexium (the purple pill!) or Prilosec. After all, it makes sense: if you have stomach acid burning your esophagus, you need an antacid to neutralize it for pain relief, right?

i don't feel so good.

Actually, this is not always the case. Conventional medicine has a knack for treating the symptoms without uncovering the underlying cause of what causes the reflux. In cases of chronic heartburn, it’s actually LOW stomach acid, not too much stomach acid, believe it or not.

Your stomach acid should be around a PH of 2, incredibly acidic, so that it can break down food into a liquid (chyme) that travels to the small intestine and then the large intestine, where nutrients are absorbed and waste travels onward and outward to be excreted. If your stomach acid is at a higher PH, more alkaline, food cannot be properly broken down, and any pathogens, bacteria, or anything else that might be possibly contaminating your food won’t be killed. When food is not properly broken down, it sits in the stomach and ferments/putrefies, giving off gases and causing a burning sensation in the stomach and/or throat. This is reflux. It also travels out the other end, causing gas and bloating.

If you have chronic heartburn, GERD, or ulcers, chances are very good that you have h pylori, a nasty bacteria that causes ulcers, gastritis, and systemic inflammation that can lead to cancer and heart disease. The 2005 Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to 2 scientists for “the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.”

Antacids make the heartburn worse because they lower stomach acid further, making it easier for h pylori to thrive and making it harder for you to digest food. That’s why reflux worsens over time. No purple pill will kill h pylori – it will only exacerbate it over time.

Low stomach acid is a common problem and worsens with age. If you see undigested food in your poop, or if you belch or fart a lot, you likely have low stomach acid and are not absorbing necessary nutrients from your food. Also, low stomach acid makes it easier to get h pylori and other bugs in the first place. H pylori can also be transmitted through undercooked chicken, meat, or even by kissing.

Of course, reflux can also result from consuming foods to which you’re allergic, spicy foods, whatever. But if you are experiencing it regularly, time to figure out the cause. H Pylori and other bugs can be tested for via stool test. Then you can do a mastic gum cleanse for 60 days. Mastic kills the h pylori. It’s often used with bismuth to soothe, and DGL licorice to heal. Once the h pylori is gone, your stomach and gut can heal – both will be inflamed as a result of the infection. You can take digestive enzymes to help digestion and to increase stomach acid. Follow up the program with a good course of probiotics to recolonize the gut.

Don’t live your life covering up symptoms of a very uncomfortable problem. Why take a pill for the rest of your life when you can get rid of the problem itself?

Radiant Health & Vitality for the New Year

admin — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:18:23 +0000

The dawn of a new year means renewed inspiration and attention to health and well-being for many folks. Losing weight, exercising, eating better…. whatever your resolutions may be, I invite you to explore my keys to good health. Here’s to your best year yet!

Eat only whole, seasonal, preferably organic foods. A whole food means just that: you are consuming a whole, natural, unrefined food. Egg whites are not a whole food; consume the whole egg. Fruit juice may sound healthy, but it is very high in sugar and lacks the fibrous part of the fruit. White flour was once whole wheat before it is refined and bleached. Packaged and processed foods may claim “low fat” or “all natural,” but they may have refined flour or hydrogenated oils/trans fats. Eat out of the box. Shop the perimeter of the store. Visit your farmers’ market. Eat REAL foods. If you can’t pronounce the ingredients, don’t eat it.

Aim for balance in your life. Too much stress, eating the Standard American Diet of fast foods or processed foods, skipping meals, too many drugs (prescription, over the counter, recreational, whatever), too much sugar, too much booze…. all of this makes your body acidic. Your body should be slightly alkaline, and when you consume acid-producing foods like caffeine, too much meat, and excess sugar, your body becomes acidic, creating a welcoming environment for viruses and bacteria to flourish. Pain and degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis, cancers, arthritis, etc. begin to take hold in an acidic body. Your body wants to maintain a state of homeostasis and will deplete your calcium and magnesium stores to offset acidity. Get plenty of green leafys, and explore some of the spirulina/chlorella green food powders on the market. Incredibly alkalinizing and high in micronutrients.

Maintain healthy gut flora. Digestion is the key to good health. If you’re not digesting properly, you’re not absorbing important nutrients and fatty acids from your food, and your health will suffer. You may experience cravings or overeat. Maybe you’re constipated (are you pooping every day, at least once?), or you’re gassy or bloated. Your inner ecosystem is a delicate balance of bacteria, and when this balance is upset (due to… you guessed it: stress, poor diet, too much sugar, parasites, pathogens, bacteria), bad bacteria can proliferate, causing candida overgrowth and unpleasant symptoms. Try a good digestive cleanse (see previous posts for candida and parasite cleansing), then follow up with a good probiotic for several months. 80% of your immune system is in your gut, so healthy gut = strong immunity.

Perform some sort of meditation or relaxation every day. Start with 5 minutes in the morning, and 5 minutes in the evening, working up to 20 minutes twice a day. This could include deep breathing, meditation, yoga, chi gong, or tai chi. Massage helps too.

Get at least 9 hours of sleep every night, in a dark, quiet room: think cave. This has been shown to help repair the entire body and reduce illness. Your body heals and detoxifies while you sleep.

Finally, replace worry with action. Worry is a signal that something is off balance in your life. What is it, and how can you fix it? Go ahead. What are you waiting for?

New Year’s Cleansing

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:57:30 +0000

Happy new year, everyone! January is famous of course for resolutions, one of the most popular being weight loss. The start of a new year is a good time to reverse the celebratory eating that the holidays bring, but there are several different ideas to consider.

If you want to lose weight, consider adding a detoxification component into your plan. Toxins from food and chemicals from your environment cause the body to hold onto excess weight, so if you have trouble losing or keeping weight off, or if you suffer from allergies, headaches, PMS, or skin troubles, this could be a good consideration for you.

Do you always feel hungry and deprived when dieting? Don’t beat yourself up: it’s not always a question of willpower. You may be eating foods that are wrong for your physiology, or you may be low in critical neurotransmitters (serotonin, dopamine) that can lead to weight gain or cravings. Amino acid therapy using 5-HTP, the precursor to serotonin, used together with tyrosine, is effective for weight loss.

Do sugar cravings sabotage your weight loss efforts? Consider a candida cleanse. Yeast or candida overgrowth can cause powerful sugar cravings; after all, sugar feeds yeast, so an overgrowth of this bad bacteria can drive you to crave sugar or refined foods. Aside from sugar (and even alcohol) cravings, do you suffer from frequent yeast infections, bloating, poor immunity, “foggy” thinking, or if you have taken antibiotics or birth control pills, consider a candida cleanse.

Scientists estimate 70% of our population – both men and women – suffer from candida. These infections can proliferate due to weakened immune systems, mineral deficiencies, and acidic blood, conditions that together create an environment where pathogenic yeast and fungi can thrive, causing infections. Eating a poor diet high in refined, processed foods, taking antibiotics or other drugs, drinking alcohol, and parasitic infections can lead to candida overgrowth.

If you suspect you have candida, take the following steps to be yeast free. First off, the diet: remove gluten (bread contains yeast, and removing glutens will reduce intestinal inflammation) and all refined and processed foods (anything in a box!) and sugars from your diet. This should include all fruits and fruit juices and alcohol. Avoid mushrooms (fungus) and tomatoes as well. Pick a time when you feel you’ll have the least temptation. Plan on doing this diet for 3-4 weeks ideally. It’s ideal to add probiotic rich foods like cultured vegetables or kefir and also high quality fats such as coconut oil (has anti-pathogenic qualities), flaxseed, and olive oils. Get plenty of mineral rich leafy greens!

Along with the diet, take an anti-candida supplement that contains all or most of the following: caprylic acid, pau d’arco, berberine, grapefruit seed extract, zinc, biotin, olive leaf extract. In addition, take oregano leaf extract in a tincture or capsule form. Oregano leaf is an ideal candida killer. You can often find it in anti-candida supplements, but I like to take it separately for maximum effectiveness.

You can stay on the supplements for 4-6 weeks, then follow up with a high quality probiotic supplement to help restore a healthy balance of gut flora. Also, try some stress relief: meditation, yoga classes, walking, gardening, whatever relaxes and rejuvenates you.

A word of warning: some people will feel worse before they feel better. If you fee achy, flu-like, or nauseous, you could be reacting to the yeast dying off, which overwhelms your body and your liver. Try a liver support tincture or cut the supplements in half or stop them and gradually start back up again. Imagine it – you could be a different person by February! Free from cravings and on your way to losing all the weight you want.