New Year's Resolution 5-Day Cleanse

Over the holidays, many of us overindulge. Great food, baked goods, etc., with friends and family is what I love about the holidays.

But many of those things can also "bog us down."  A cleanse is one of the most effective ways to feel lighter and look younger.

And if you have a New Year's Health Resolution, a cleanse is a great way to "jump start" your metabolism, and kick of your resolution.

Below is a simple 5-Day Cleanse that I have done a few times before--and always felt great afterwards.


The 5-Day Cleanse:

1. Immediately after you get up each morning, drink one cup of hot water with fresh squeezed lemon.
2. No dairy other than 1/2 cup of plain yogurt once per day.
3. Eliminate all grains, including rice.
4. Each day each one fruit (ideal fruits are apples, blueberries, or clementines)
5. Vegetables are free (each as much as you want), except--do not eat any of the "starchy" vegetables: potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, corn, squash, etc.
6. Eliminate all red meat.
7. No more than 3 ounces of protein to be consumed at each meal (tuna, salmon, tofu, chicken, turkey, sole, etc.)
8. No beans or legumes
9.  No coffee or alcohol.  Substitute green or black teas, herbal energy drinks, and herbal teas.
10. 8 glasses of water per day.  Add chlorophyll to water twice a day.  Mint flavoured chlorophyll is available.

Tips:

• 
• If you become constipated, add fibre such as ground flax seed, ground chia seed, or Fibre+ from Health, to smoothies/shakes and/or yogurt.
• Maximum of 15 nuts per days.
• If you feel tired or low-energy throughout the day, instead of drinking a coffee, try a Pro prolonged energy drink.

Recommended Grocery Items:

• Yogurt: use plain (not-flavoured), probiotic yogurt. Not skim or non-fat yogurt. Liberte brand is a very good choice--no sugar, good probiotic count.  Astro plain is a good compromise.
• Omega 3 eggs (hard boiled and kept in fridge--great snack or protein for lunch)
• Cinnamon tea (for cravings)
• raw almonds &/or walnuts
• green or red apples
• red peppers
• cucumbers
• carrots (including baby carrots)
• celery
• fresh lemons
• Imagine brand Soup Broth (vegetable or chicken
  --drink as much or as often as you like.)
• Pro prolonged herbal energy drink mix
   (to get you through the afternoon low).
• Vi-Shape shake mix for your protein smoothie.

Supplements:

1. Ground flaxseeds: add 1 tablespoon to shake/smoothie and/or yogurt
2. Acidophilus (probiotics): Makes sure capsules have >3 billion organisims per capsule.  Take 4 capsules per day--2 in morning, 2 in evening.
3. Chlorophyll: available at most health food stores.  Add 1 teaspoon to water twice daily--morning and evening.

Banned from the cleanse:
- mayonnaise
- sugar (including adding to tea)
- bread, pasta, cereal, grains, etc.
- potatoes
- rice
- red meat
- coffee
- wine
- beer
- alcohol
- dates
- raisins
- cheese (including cottage cheese, cream cheese, hard cheeses)
- beans (including hummus)


Sample Meal Plan:

Breakfast:
Vi-Shake--1 cup Almond milk, 1/2 cup frozen berries, 1 tsp flaxseed oil, 1 tbsp ground Chia seeds, 1 tsp mint chlorophyll.

Snack:
1/2 cup of plain yogurt with 1/2 cup of berries, 6-8 almonds, and 1 tsp of ground flaxseeds.

Lunch:
1 cup vegetable or chicken soup broth
salads with 3 ounces of tuna
carrot sticks, celergy sticks
or
Vi-Shake

Snack:
1 apple and 6-8 almonds

Dinner:
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- chicken breast
- salad
- steamed vegetables

Want Bigger, Stronger, and/or More Powerful Muscles?

Do you know how many muscles your body has?  Approximately 650.  How many do you care about?  Well, we need every single one of them to perform normal everyday functions--such as breathing, pumping blood, eating, pulling in our gut...

Now most of our muscles we do not really think about.  For example, there are approximately 200 muscles involved in walking, and obviously we do not monitor them.

If you want to better understand how your muscles work, and how to make them bigger, stronger and/or more powerful, read on.


Different types of Muslce Fibers for Different Jobs.

Skeletal muscles are the ones you see in the mirror--and they have two main types of fibers.

So called "Slow-Twitch" muscle fibers--Type I fibers, are the main type used for endurance activities. The "Fast-Twitch" or Type II fibers are brought in to work when a task utilizes more than 25% of your maximum strength. Contrary to popular belief, slow-twitch fibers are not only used for slow activities.  The action just does not require much of your fast-twitch strength for your slow-twitch fibers to take over.  And an effort does not need to be fast for your fast-twitch fibers to be involved.

Setting a personal-best squat or bench press is going to utilized every possible fast-twitch, and all the slow-twitch fibers, even though you are not probably moving very fast.

The average person has roughly an equal mix of slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers.  The exception is elite athletes, where gifted marathoners probably have more slow- than fast-twitch fibers, and Olympic sprinters probably have more fast-twitch fibers.

The fast-twitch fibers are twice as big as slow-twitch fibers.  While both types of fibers can get bigger, the fast-twitch fibers can grow much bigger compared to the growth of slow-twitch fibers.

Check out this article for tips and advice on building bigger, stronger, and/or more powerful muscles.

Energy Drinks--The Truth

What are you pouring into your body?  Do you really know?

Taurine--a very common energy drink ingredient.  Very exotic sounding, isn't it?  But what is it?  Almost all of the big name energy drinks--Red Bull, AMP Energy, Sobe Adrenaline Rush, etc.--contain taurine, claiming that is can spike your performance, and hone your concentrations, for hours.

The truth, however, is not quite there.  So what is taurine?  Taurine is an amino acid that acts as a neurotransmitter.  Research from Weill Cornell Medical suggests that it might actually work more like a sedative than a stimulant.  So instead of giving you wings, it may actually "clip" them.

Oh, but there is more.  Check out this article form Men's Health Magazine where they attempted to separate the science form the marketing.  Where they analyzed the claims and the ingredients of some of the most popular energy drinks on the market.  Where they tried to answer the question: Are energy drinks safe?

And the question: Do energy drinks contribute to body fat gain? Or can you lose weight by watching what you drink?

For a natural energy drink, research-based, that will help access your energy, awaken your metabolism, and clear your mental fog. Check out Go and Pro from ViSalus Sciences.  Go Energy shots are perfect just before a game, or your workout session.  Pro Energy drinks are great to drink throughout the day instead of coffee, and to drink during physical activity.