Making green juices is one thing. Making green juices that taste good enough to consume is something else entirely. Through foresight and determination, I’d done a lot to prepare the stage and put support in place for myself. I got my ex-husband briefed, prepped and on board the program. I removed all traces of gluten or dairy products from the home and hid the soy sauces up high in the cupboard. (Was I thinking I could hide them from myself?!?) The kids made a commitment to gluten-free, dairy-free and LOTS of green juices and smoothies for the next 6 weeks, and I have enough kale, spinach and parsley in my fridge to feed an adult male gorilla for a week, but still…

…I still busted my detox on Day One.

*sigh*

I know, I know. You’re expecting me to be a stellar role model of health and discipline with will power of stainless steel. You were hoping I would succeed so I could encourage you. The fact is:

No amount of green food or swamp water supplements had any impact whatsoever on getting me through the spiritual wrestling match with my emotional eating patterns.

*Doh!*

Here are a few speculations as to why:

I clearly ignored Dr. Ritamarie’s suggestions to drink more water. In fact, I didn’t drink ANY water at all. Just green juice, and even that, I wasn’t drinking nearly enough because they tasted AWFUL!

I was running on a considerable shortage of sleep. Your ability to think clearly, make smart decisions and prioritize healthy choices is SERIOUSLY compromised by insufficient sleep. I’d been running on a couple nights of a couple hours of sleep and it certainly didn’t help my late night eating habits.

My house was messy. The kids are back this week. I would swear they each has a set of four arms–two for pretending to be busy doing homework and helping, and two more that come out when I’m not looking to sprinkle, tear, scatter, smash and smear stuff all over the house. They say that a person’s home is a reflection of their state of mind and well-being. If that’s true, last night I was living proof.

So, since we’re not here to brag about our shortcomings, but rather learn from them, here’s the action plan for the week to keep us all on track:

1. Take time to go through the sample GI document. Look at the detailed suggestions of how to start your day, prep for meals, and what to consume in between. Put the first steps in place. If you did as poorly as I did yesterday, let us know and we’ll add another week to the regime. Just getting in place all the little details of what need to be done can be daunting.

2. Set a policy for yourself about bedtime. You cannot pretend to be doing yourself any favors with all these foods, then think it’s okay to trash your adrenals by working until the sun comes up. (While Dr. Ritamarie is a model for healthy food choices, feel free to send her a little love note at 10pm reminding her that it’s almost bedtime.

3. Assuming that your preparation week has gone well, that you’ve gone through all the documents and are on target, you need to take and make the time to go through your first educational teleseminar. The more you understand the mechanisms at work, the better you’ll be able to put healthy habits in place.

We have a teleseminar this Thursday. We’ll be focused on answering any questions related to the content of the program up until this point in the program. The link has been sent to you, but here are some of the questions that we’ll be addressing:

• Why all this green? Why can’t we just do liquids, or a juice feast?  Why can’t we just do less green?
• Why “raw” food? I mean, couldn’t it just be a gluten-free detox?
• Wheatgrass makes me want to throw up just thinking about it. How am I supposed to get it down in the quantities recommended for this program? Is there something else I can do instead?
• Can we substitute powdered greens for fresh juices, sometimes? How often?
• Can you please pass along some acceptable transitional recipes or cooked food options that will maximize detox and minimize frustration for me, since I’m having a touch time staying on raw food?
• Is it okay to make our juices and smoothies in advance?

We’re going to find out how everyone else is doing, too, and as I said, if we need to add an extra week to the program, to be it. Let’s get the results we came here to achieve!

Love and support,

Tera

I’m always asked questions like, “What’s the best way to cure Chronic Fatigue“  or  “How can I get my hormones in balance?”  The strategies for both are amazingly similar.  In fact, when it comes right down to it, adrenal exhaustion, irritable bowel, eczema, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, thyroid problems, arthritis , depression and just about any condition you can name all have at least one thing in common.  All of these conditions can be traced back to a body overloaded by toxicity.

In our modern world with its modern conveniences, we are constantly inundated by “modern” toxins.  There are chemicals in the air, plastics in the food, pesticides and drugs in the water and toxic emotions spurred by watching the news.  Then there’s all the processing that takes what once was a real food and leaves it filled with empty calories, oxidized fats and enough  free radicals to cause a revolution!

I recorded a video clip on cleansing to  answer the questions I get all the time.  Cleansing is something your body knows how to do, as long as it doesn’t get overloaded.  And when it does, it’s time to take a break and allow healing and cleansing to take place.  Listen in for some tips and tricks.  Then afterward, have a look at my favorite I Love Lucy clip.

Dr. Ritamarie Discusses Cleansing and Detoxification Strategies.  For support in cleansing, visit www.sixweekdetox.com

” I Love Lucy”  – Lucy and Ethel show what happens when the liver gets overloaded with toxins.  It gets caught up when you do  a Deep Tissue Detox , a Green Smoothie Cleanse or a Juice Cleanse.

When I first learned about toxins and how to eat, breath, think and feel to eliminate them, (almost 25 years ago) I did my very first cleanse.  It changed my life.  I now do mini cleanses at least 4 times a year.

Give cleansing a try.  It will change your life.

Love, Health and Joy,

Dr. Ritamarie

Beth

A: While I’ve never seen any published studies linking leaky gut to toxemia of pregnancy, or even non pregnancy hypertension (high blood pressure), it is plausible that there is a connection.
Since leaky gut contributes to wide spread nutrient imbalances and allows toxins destined for excretion to enter the blood stream, leaky gut can very well contribute to blood pressure elevations as a result of mineral imbalances, holding onto fluids to dilute toxins or any of a number of other mechanisms

I’ve put people on detoxification programs and leaky gut repair protocols and seen hypertension go away.  I haven’t had enough cases of toxemia of pregnancy to be able to quote actual clinical cases.

Dr Ritamarie