The Juice & Smoothie King

Hi juicy friends!

This week I am honored to have a super special guest, my hubby Brian. He’s the Master of the House, the Pharaoh of Breville, the Vitamix Whisperer and he’s here to give you some special tips and tricks. Hope you enjoy and have a brilliant weekend tootsies….

Peace & family kitchen time,
Kris

PS. We forgot to mention that we use purified water or coconut water or even almond milk to blend our smoothies. Lately we’ve been enjoying some almond butter in place of avocado in our blender disco. Oh my, it’s good. xo!

Love Is the Ultimate Superfood

Superfoods have become such a hot topic, especially in the last several years, and have finally infiltrated the more mainstream health/medical world.

“Drink noni juice.”
“Put maca in your smoothie.”
“Add goji berries.” (to everything)
“Ingest spirulina.” (constantly)

We see it, hear it, and read about it everywhere, at every turn, or so it seems.

While I love dropping goji berries into a cup of herbal tea once in awhile, or enjoying the occasional raw cacao truffle (another food with superstar status), I believe that the fresh green stuff still reigns supreme:

-Raw greens and their fresh juices
-Sprouts (made from veggies/greens, not beans)
-Fresh wheatgrass

Greens, especially when juiced, are grand, sun-energy holding, blood-building stars. A powerhouse food that encourages the stirring up of old trapped toxicity. When this happens there is the exciting potential that the stuff will actually leave the body (obviously a sought after result). A few more reasons to adore greens? They leave no residue in their wake and are rich in enzymes and alkalinity. All music to my ears (and my tummy!). Eat them whole (except for wheatgrass, as that would not taste very good!), blend them, and juice them.

However, this blog is really not about food. In my experience with clients over the years, as well as on a personal level, I know that love is really the ultimate superfood. I’m not writing anything new here, but rather highlighting a topic that is never redundant. We are not only fed by the actual food we eat, but by our relationships, career, exercise, spiritual practice…and love. Try sitting down and eating a bowl of anything while feeling anxious or pissed off. Then try eating while calm and having a sense of love for the food you are about to eat and the people you are sharing the meal with. Very different experience. And that’s just relating to digestion.

A big shot of love injected into any situation will uplift, whether it’s in an argument with a loved one or during a bad day (or week) at work. Practice random acts of loving kindness to strangers, and of course when the love is in the air already – at a great party, over a cup of coffee with a friend – then simply feel it expand. There is no limit to how much love we can give and receive. I think it counts most when it is challenging to offer that love energy. This defines grace.

So what if your heart center is shut down a bit? It happens. This planet can be a challenging place to be at times.

Here are a few simple ideas to get that heart chakra opened up again:

-Laugh. Seems so obvious, but laughing is really the ultimate remedy. Nothing opens up the chakras (energy systems in the body) quite like a good, solid giggle.
-Rebound. Who wouldn’t be in a state of joy while jumping up and down on a mini-trampoline? I have yet to meet that person.
-Listen to music. Preferably songs that are fun, energizing, or emotionally moving!
-Nature: Get Outdoors and into Some Green. To be in the presence of nature is to be in the presence of magnificent love power.

So in my mind anything we could possibly eat, no matter the superfood status, pales in comparison to love!

Love feels good.
Love pervades.
Love heals all.
Love is really all there is.

Meredith Geller, a holistic nutrition and lifestyle consultant, guides her clients toward radiant health and vitality. She passionately believes in the transformative power of cleansing one’s system in order to achieve a higher state of wellbeing. Born and raised in New York City, she continues to call this great city her home.

Using Stimulation to Your Advantage

Unexpectedly hearing a loud noise when the room is quiet, you might feel a sudden rush of energy. This is the most basic form of stimulation, left over from your primal survival mechanism. Your body assumes the loud noise is a threat and prepares you for action by engaging the adrenal glands to draw more energy.

In reaction to the first onset of stimulation — a form of stress — we gain energy. We become more alert, our strength can increase, and we have the ability to process information more quickly and react faster. We aren’t confronted with those types of threats today, but face stress from too much work, family-related concerns, poor diet, breathing impure air, constantly having to be “on”, and not enough down time.

To varying degrees, based on the body’s perceived severity of the stress, cortisol is released as a stimulant. Since our adrenal glands were not designed to be used as often as they are today, it’s common for them to become overworked, resulting in an exhaustion called adrenal burnout.

Stress-free people are fat-burning machines. A stressed person’s system will switch from burning fat (as fuel) to carbohydrates in the form of sugar. Burning more sugar and less fat, the body will begin to store body fat instead of using it for energy. This leads to overworked adrenal glands, adrenal fatigue, reduction in sleep quality, and many stress-related impairments.

Biological Debt
The body goes into biological debt after energy from stimulation has dissipated. In the modern world, often brought on by eating refined sugar or drinking coffee to gain energy in the short-term, biological debt is a state of fatigue. Unfortunately, it is common for those who consume the Standard American Diet.

Energy can come from stimulation or nourishment. The more processed the food, the more stimulating its effect on the nervous system, and the less nourishing. The more natural and whole a food is — raw and sprouted being the best — the less stimulating and more nourishing.

Because of our insatiable desire for quick, convenient energy, our streets are crammed with coffee, donut, and fast-food establishments that provide short-term energy. The body can subsist on stimulating, nutrient-absent food for only a short period before becoming either exhausted or sick.

This problem was once only true for those who ate an unhealthy diet comprised largely of stimulating foods like refined flour, refined sugar, coffee, and caffeinated soda. But other forms of stimulating foods have become prevalent in the “heath food” world – cacao being the most notable. Cacao is a stimulant that contains caffeine, which can lead to dependency. Additionally, foods that contain caffeine raise cortisol, which lowers the immune system, making the body more vulnerable to infection and eventually leading to fat storage and inflammation.

Stress – Stimulation – Sickness
One measure of health is having cost-free energy — energy that lasts and does not have to be “stoked” continually with stimulating foods. The stoking of energy can only lead to less energy.

For the average North American, 40% of stress can be directly linked to diet. With the first onset of stress comes natural adrenal stimulation, which is healthy in small doses. The rise in cortisol, however, always results in fatigue. The degree of fatigue depends on the degree of stimulation. At this point a person should rest and remove the elements causing the stress, such as poor diet. Yet, this is when most people turn to self-imposed adrenal stimulation to regain energy – foods like coffee and refined foods in the regular world and cacao in the healthy and/or raw world. This results in a short burst of energy, greater fatigue, and more stimulation to re-energize.

Each time the circle completes itself, the severity of the condition rises, creating an incremental decline in health and an increased risk factor for serious disease. The first completion of the circle will likely result in a slightly increased appetite. The next time around will result in cravings, likely for starchy, refined foods (often making raw foodists more tempted by cooked food). Sequential passes involve difficulty sleeping, irritability, mental fog, lack of motivation, body fat gain, lean muscle loss, visible signs of premature aging, and sickness. If this cycle of chronically elevated cortisol levels continues, tissue degeneration, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and diseases can develop.

A healthy, sustainable whole-food diet and lifestyle does not require additional stimulation through food. Your body will re-establish its sensory system, functioning at a healthier, more energetic level, without the cellular-damaging need for stimulation.

Recalibrating
Have you ever noticed that sometimes the phone’s ring sounds very loud, and at other times it sounds relatively quiet? The key word is relatively. Our body has the ability to adjust to much of what goes on around it.

To calibrate its sensory system, the body must decide at what level it will sense stimuli. The only gauge the body has is the information we feed it: sound, sight, touch, smell, and taste. Our bodies are chronically over-stimulated, yet most of us don’t realize it. Constantly climbing to a new level to remain in the same place is difficult, but common. The solution is to recalibrate the body. A healthy plant-based diet free of stimulants will serve as a solid platform.

The Benefits of Stimulation
Not all stimulation is negative. It will always result in greater fatigue, but its value is based on what it is summoned for. “Production stress” is a positive stress that occurs when the adrenal glands are stimulated to achieve something that could not be done (or done as well) without stimulation.

An athlete who has recalibrated by eating a clean diet and abstained from all stimulating foods can borrow energy to boost performance from a small amount of adrenal stimulation before a race, such as drinking a cup of yerba maté (a South American herb) or eating a small amount of cacao. Extra fatigue a day or two later will be a small price to pay.

Using stimulation when it will not help you achieve something of value is an “uncomplementary stress,” such as the regular consumption of cacao. It is similar to shopping with a credit card. You get energy now that you don’t actually have, but you pay for it later.

If used too often, borrowing energy will lose its effectiveness and become another form of stress that perpetuates the cycle. The strategy can be used only a few times a month. Ideally, a healthy, stimulant-free diet will provide you with all the energy you need through nourishment.

11 Tips and Tricks to Kick Your Coffee Addiction

Addicted to caffeine? No problem! Been there, done that. Boy, do I remember the days … working long hours, drinking two or three triple-shot soy cappuccinos. I’m surprised my adrenal glands are still functioning. Better late than never, though. I was determined to kick the coffee addiction, and I did just that with the help of the following tips and tricks.

- Fresh-squeezed orange juice in the morning can give some pure raw energy instead of stimulated energy from caffeine. And it tastes so good!

- Hot peppers can work wonders for caffeine addiction because they give a real rush of endorphins. For the hard-core folks out there, think habanera peppers. If you find those too hot, then start with a milder red pepper, and work your way up. The idea here is that it must be hot enough to release endorphins, the brain’s mechanism for dulling pain. The endorphins tackle two issues for you: providing energy so you don’t miss the caffeine and fighting headaches that may result from caffeine withdrawal. When I want a quick burst of energy, I just take a couple nibbles.

- Lots of green juices, including wheat grass, will help alkalize the blood and reduce cravings for caffeine. Add carrot juice either straight or in the green juice. The carrot juice helps give you a little extra energy boost.

- To help avoid severe withdrawal problems, consider tapering off gradually. You can start with half decaf, or just make the regular caffeine version with fewer coffee beans/ground when you’re making it at home (it’ll be more watered down than normal). Back in the day, one thing that helped me when I went to Starbucks was ordering a small regular coffee with a quarter of it as hot water. I increased that to half of the cup as hot water with the other half as coffee and so on. Of course, you can go half regular coffee with half decaf and eventually work your way to 100% decaf. Get organic when possible.

- Organic black tea and green tea are reputed to have a number of beneficial health properties, along with a more subtle caffeine boost than coffee. So, it’s a great way to enjoy a hot beverage with a little caffeine as you transition away from toxic, often pesticide-ridden, caffeine-filled coffee. And, finally, have herbal tea as a goal when you’re ready to eliminate all the caffeine in your diet. Enjoy it sweetened with a touch of raw agave nectar, or toss in a tablespoon of goji berries. Those make for an awesome treat at the end of the cup when they’re plump and warm.

- If cola or energy drinks are your brand of poison, you’ll get a triple-whammy benefit by weaning yourself off of these antithesis-of-health beverages. You’ll be eliminating not only caffeine, but also a fairly disgusting quantity of sugar (or artificial sweeteners that bring their own host of problems) and the carbonic and phosphoric acids that are bad for your blood, leach calcium from your bones and dissolve the enamel on your teeth. As with coffee, it may be easier to reduce your quantity gradually by ordering a medium instead of a large or pouring out the contents of a can when you’re 2/3 of the way through it. Another great idea is to gradually cut your fountain drinks with soda water when available at self-serve fountains (it’s usually dispensed by a little hard-to-see plastic tab that may or may not be labeled). This won’t help reduce the acidity, but it will help you taper off your caffeine levels without denying yourself the refreshing and cleansing fizz — what I like to call “Throat Draino.” Caffeine is much more addictive than bubbles, so once you’ve kicked your chemical addiction to caffeine, it will be much easier to phase out carbonated beverages entirely.

- Drink cold-pressed coffee made with a Toddy Maker. This still has caffeine, but it’s less acidic than regularly brewed coffee, so it’s a start (I’m all about the baby steps!). You can find these machines online.

- Drink Teeccino, which is herbal coffee. My husband and I have become huge fans of this. For my husband, it was love at first sip. For me, although I really enjoyed it, it wasn’t the perfect coffee replacement for me when I first stumbled upon it. Then again, I was such a hard-core coffee lover, I didn’t think anything would ever compare to the real thing. That being said, here I am, loving Teeccino — big time! Not only does it taste great, but it’s not acidic and safe for pregnancy and breastfeeding. It’s high in potassium, helps restore alkalinity, and the chicory root can help improve digestion. We love it plain (black), and we also enjoy it with raw nut milk for a nice creamy experience. I’ve even brewed coffee mixed with Teeccino for some of my coffee-addict friends to reduce the caffeine and help them transition. They love it.

- Make a beverage (or food) with raw chocolate powder. Raw chocolate has only small amounts of caffeine, but it has a stimulating effect from theobromine. Many people love raw chocolate for the feel-good buzz they get.

- Rest and adequate sleep! I can’t emphasize enough that getting enough sleep at night (and rest) is one of the big keys for helping to maintain great energy levels, so you don’t feel the need to reach for caffeine.

- Set a schedule for yourself. Decide a plan of attack for eliminating coffee from your diet and write it on your calendar. Remember, part of the addiction is the experience associated with consumption (such as going to a cafe or wrapping your hands around a big, warm mug), so look for surrogates. Find new places and new cafes, and wrap your hands around a big mug of green smoothie, warm herbal tea or yummy Teeccino.

Photo Credit: Ahmed Rabea

Love List: Staying healthy on the road…

Travel bunny,

This crazy sexy healthy lifestyle is all well and good at home, but how the heck do you take it on the road? Answer: forward thinking and planning ahead. I don’t know about you, but my job requires lots of travel. I have a choice, I can let my health fall apart or I can do my best to stay balanced in unfamiliar territory. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of bum f@ck nowhere it can be a mind bending challenge to keep clean and green. Check out the top tips that help me love my love-a-liscious self while on the go.

1. Amazing Grasses: If you can’t get a green juice, this tasty powder is your next best option.

2. Magic Bullet blender: This little blender is perfect to take on the road. Roll up to the local grocery store and grab a few smoothie items and whirl.

3. Vegetarian iPhone apps: There are so many cool ones to choose from. My favorites are VegWeb (for simple & delicious recipes) and Vegan Steven (helps me locate veg-friendly restaurants and grocery stores anywhere!).

4. My supplement case: I adore the Roam Wellness Travel Pak. It’s so perfect for travel.

5. Jump ropes and yoga mats: Call ahead to see if your hotel has a gym. If not, come prepared. Even 15 minutes will do and you will feel much better and brighter.

6. Substitutions: Politely asking the waiter to pull this side from that entrée and use this dressing from that salad… Charm will get you everywhere. Asking for the restaurant to meet your dietary needs does not make you annoying – it’s HOW you ask that counts. Rude folks get spit and lard in their soup. FYI, ethnic restaurants always have the best options. Also, don’t forget to ask for a vegetarian meal on the plane and if the food is crappy – just skip it all together. A little fasting never hurt anyone. Plus, did you know that eating while flying can make ya stuffy, aka constipated? Make sure to stay wicked hydrated and just say no to soda and pasteurized juice. H2O is the way to go.

7. Sleep: No matter how crazy my schedule gets I never compromise on sleep. Bring a leopard eye mask and hit the pillow for your nightly 8 hours.

8. Super Witch Bath: My friend Ellen, (the most amazing cranial sacral massage therapist and so much more) gave me this dynamite recipe. I use after coaching sessions and travel. Mix 2 cups of Epsom salt, ½ cup of raw apple cider vinegar, ¼ cup of baking soda and lavender in a warm tub and soak your cares away. Great for removing acid and anything you’re holding onto emotionally. Just ask for it to melt away…ahhh…

9. Chiropractic adjustments and a deep tissue massage: There’s nothing better to set me right after trains, planes and automobiles. In fact, I worship my gals at Woodstock Integrative.

10. Spice Packs, Cooler & Utensils: These odds and ends help me insure that I always have the tools I need when I need them! If my meal needs some pizzazz at a restaurant, I have my trusty spice packs on hand, which I keep in little recycled spice containers. Usually, I’ll pack some sea salt, garlic powder, Spice Hunter’s Zip Blend, and Stevia. I keep them together in a plastic bag and store them in my purse. I also keep a small cooler in the car for juices and smoothies on the go. And last but not least, I bring my to-go ware in case I need utensils. That way, I can eat my chow anywhere and I’m giving some love and respect to mother earth by skipping the plastic guys!

11. Chlorella: This super duper little supplement is great for detoxing radiation après flying. I up my dose when hurdling through the air in a metal tube.

12. Sauna: I gave myself an infrared sauna for a birthday present a few years ago. It’s definitely the gift that keeps on giving (and reducing cellulite!).

Peace & the open road,
Kris

Photo Credits: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11