Raw Food Diet Cleanse A Safe Effective Natural Way to Lose Weight, Feel Great and Clean Your Body

The purpose of a raw food cleanse, sometimes called a raw food detox, is to eliminate and cleanse the body of stored toxins. This is accomplished using only raw and preferably organic foods. A this type of cleanse can last anywhere from 7 to 90 days depending on what particular cleansing instructions you choose to follow. The goal of a raw food cleanse is not only to eliminate stored toxins, but also to give your organs such as your kidneys, gall bladder, intestines, stomach, pancreas-- all your organs-- a rest from the efforts of processing hard-to-digest food products. This type of cleanse will result in a higher level of noticeable wellness and health.

Specifically, a typical raw cleanse will not only utilize 100% raw natural foods, but will also eliminate foods such as meat, dairy, grains, sugar, flour, cooked foods, preservatives, artificial additives such as as MSG, coffee, other types of caffeine, soda, artificial sweeteners and alcohol. Just removing all of these foods from your diet will naturally elevate you to a healthier state of being. The most effective food to cleanse the body is raw food. Raw organic food has about 80% fewer toxins than standard processed foods.

Raw food is an ideal internal cleanser. This is because raw food is natural food. Raw natural food is unharmed by the damaging effects of heat and in this perfect state, can effectively help the body release toxins and also nourish and heal the body.

The raw food used in this type of cleanse should also be organic. Organic foods are "clean foods," and are free from the harmful pesticides sprayed on conventionally grown foods. The pesticides used on conventionally grown foods also depletes the soil of nutrients. So when choosing organic you are not only "eating clean," but the level of nutrients is greater, which is important, especially during a cleanse.

Another important part of a raw cleanse is simply pure water and lots of it. Since you are encouraging your body to release stored toxins, drinking water helps to flush these toxins out of your body through the kidneys and even your skin. Water is a vital component of skin tone, brain function, metabolism, digestion, every organ system of your body. While pure water should be an important part of every day living, drinking water during a cleanse is more necessary to thoroughly rid your body of wastes and toxic materials.

Fasting may or may not be a part of a raw detox. Water-only fasting is an ideal way to quickly rid the body of toxins. Combining a single day or even a few days of water fasting with a raw foods program is less severe and more gentle to the body than fasting for several days.
Another important component of a raw food cleanse is exercise. Exercise moves the lymph fluid though our body, helping to remove cellular waste products. Exercise is the only way to move the lymph. Exercise also helps to tone the body while you are losing weight and aids in reducing any uncomfortable side-effects of the raw cleanse, such as a possible bout of constipation.

Who Should Do a Raw Food Cleanse?

A raw cleanse or detox is beneficial to anybody who wants to be healthier and wants their body to operate at peak performance. This internal cleansing will show on the outside and some of the noticeable benefits of cleansing internally will manifest themselves in better looking skin, weight loss, more energy and healing.

Even if you are eating totally raw now, doing a cleanse using only raw foods will be helpful because this type of cleansing gives you different tools to add to your raw food diet. Some of these "tools" can be a day or two of juice feasting, a day or more of water fasting, a day of eating concentrated greens, and so on. The different tools will vary according to the type of raw food cleanse that you choose to do. No matter where your health is, cleansing using raw food for a specific amount of time will help you to achieve your optimal level of health.
Benefits of a Raw Food Cleanse
When you start to cleanse or detoxify your body you will notice numerous wellness benefits including weight loss, a better complexion and increased mental clarity. Some people have reported that aches and pains are reduced or eliminated and other health challenges have cleared up.
A raw detox is an excellent weight loss diet since it is both very safe and extremely effective. For those who do not need to lose weight such as athletes, pregnant women or those at their ideal weight, but want to be more healthier, feel better and look vibrant as well as other health benefits including ridding their body of toxins, a raw food diet cleanse is ideal. All you have to do is simply add more calories in the form of nut milks, juices and/or greens.

A raw food cleanse is beneficial for health and wellness for those those don't want to go totally raw with their daily diet. Doing a raw detox for a week or more will not only cleanse the body of stored toxins, but will contribute to overall wellness since it offers the organs a rest from the difficult task of digesting hard-to-digest substances and those lacking in nutrients such as meat, non-raw dairy products, processed and cooked foods. A raw food cleanse is also an ideal, but not a necessary way to start a raw food diet. After finishing this type of cleanse, you have the option of continuing to eat only raw food to help you go on to better health and wellness.

How Often Should I Do A Raw Food Cleanse?
The choice to cleanse your body is totally up to you. While some do seasonal house cleaning, others think of an internal cleansing as "personal house cleaning" and do a cleanse seasonally. Others may do a cleanse whenever they feel their body would benefit from it. The exact frequency and times of cleansing is totally personal and up to you. Your body will thank you and reward you every time you do a cleanse.
How Do I Start A Raw Food Cleanse?
If you are interested in doing a raw food cleanse, my advice is to seek out a knowledgeable person who will help you in doing a cleanse. This can be a holistic doctor, a naturopath, a health coach or someone who is simply helping others to eat raw and has helped other to do raw cleanses. You should not make up your own type of cleanse, especially if you have never done a cleanse before. Your cleanse instructions should include a specific meal plan for each day of your cleansing so that you can have your food prepared. I had the opportunity to interview Jinjee Talifero, creator of the 21 Days Raw Cleanse. Read that interview and learn about the raw cleanse she has successfully guided many through at http://www/raw-food-diet-magazine.com/raw-food-cleanse.html.
No matter what particular type of raw cleanse you do, a raw food cleanse is a gift that you are giving to your body and your body will thank you by giving back better health and vitality.

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One Natural Way To Treat Hypothyroidism - Add 8 Crucial Nutrients To Your Diet

The butterfly-shaped gland in your neck secretes two hormones (T3 and T4) which regulates your metabolism. When this gland fails to secrete enough of these crucial hormones, you have a condition known as hypothyroidism. 

Some of the signs and symptoms are chronic fatigue, pains in the muscles and joints, irregular menstrual cycles, depression, insensitivity to cold, constipation, fatigue, weight gain, dry skin, goiter and depression. 

 But many skilled practitioners don't know about the root causes of hypothyroidism which are: -Stress -Adrenal fatigue -Heavy metal toxicity -Oestrogen dominance -Reverse T3 If they understand these underlying causes, they can proceed with a natural way to treat hypothyroidism. 

As with other cells of your body, your thyroid gland needs minerals and vitamins to function properly. So what are the main sources of these nutrients? 

But first a word of caution about goitrogens. They inhibit iodine metabolism which is important in the formation of thyroid hormone. It is advisable for those who have started natural therapy to avoid these foods for a while. Though eating goitrogenic foods such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels, sprouts, radishes, spinach, strawberries, peanuts, soy-based foods etc. does not lead to thyroid problems, those who have the condition should take these foods in moderation after they have managed their condition by taking thyroid hormones. Iodine-Rich Foods T3 and T4 are the only hormones in humans that contain iodine.The lack of this has an adverse impact on all the tissues in your body. 

If you have an underactive thyroid gland, you should increase the iodine intake in your diet. Excellent sources of iodine are seafoods, seaweeds, iodized salt, sushi, nori, sea kelp, saltwater fish and dairy products such as milk, yogurt and cheese. Other foods rich in iodine are eggs, lima beans, asparagus, mushroom, garlic and squash. Selenium-Rich Foods One of the minerals that helps to regulate thyroid function is selenium. Brazil nuts, tuna, cod, salmon, beef, meat, chicken, mushrooms, whole unrefined grains, dairy products, halibut and sunflower seeds are sources of selenium. Tyrosine The thyroid needs tyrosine, a non-essential amino acid, to produce hormones. 

Many of the same foods that are high in both iodine and selenium such as tuna, cod, sea kelp, dairy products, banana and avocado are good sources of tyrosine. Zinc Zinc is another mineral needed in the process of hormone production in the thyroid. Lack of zinc has a negative impact on the thyroid. The sources of this mineral are sardines, cow's liver, lamb, fresh oysters, soybeans, turkey, beef, peas, pecans, whole grains, walnuts, maple syrup, ginger root, summer squash and asparagus Copper An imbalance of copper and zinc in the body can have an adverse impact on thyroid health as these two minerals work together to produce hormones. Good sources of copper and zinc are cow's liver and summer squash. You could also get copper from lobsters, oysters, crab, beef, mushrooms, dark chocolate, barley, beans, nuts and sunflower seeds. 

Iron Anemia or iron deficiency is commonly present in patients who have hypothyroidism. To increase the intake of iron, they should take green beans, lentils, red meat, romaine lettuce, parsley, thyme, turmeric, pumpkin seeds, soybeans, organ meats, oysters, clams, spinach, lentils, blackstrap molasses and white beans. 

Vitamins Vitamin C is needed to metabolize tyrosine while vitamin E metabolizes selenium. Patients with hypothyroidism suffer from Vitamin B deficiency. It is essential in cell metabolism. Sources rich in Vitamin E and B are whole grains, fish, seafood, eggs, dairy products and leafy greens. Fruits are a high source of Vitamin C. Protein and Fibre Protein and fiber help to ease the symptoms of hypothyroidism. Good sources of protein are seafood, fish, beef and eggs. Leafy vegetables, green beans, various fruits, whole grains and nuts contain fibre. 

 To summarize briefly, a diet to enhance thyroid production would include mainly seafood, fish, lean meat, leafy greens, whole grains, diary products, eggs and fruits. It is advisable to exclude carbohydrates, soy, and cruciferous vegetables which contain goitrogens.

http://ezinearticles.com/?One-Natural-Way-To-Treat-Hypothyroidism---Add-8-Crucial-Nutrients-To-Your-Diet&id=7792724

How to Lose Weight, Without Losing Your Mind

With all of the oodles of dietary theories out there and their conflict with one another, it is a wonder that we are able to remain sane. However, accomplishing a weight loss goal, achieving optimal health and vitality should not be reserved to the select few who seem to have it all figured out. These are gifts that we all deserve to reap the benefits from without having to follow an arbitrary strict set of dietary guidelines.

Below are 8 tips that will fit into any diet and lifestyle while setting one up for success in weight loss, greater health and over all wellness. Implement these tips and achieve your weight loss goal without losing your mind.

 1. Keep it simple. Stop stressing about what diet to follow. What to eat should not be so complicated. Although, there are food allergies that call for the elimination of certain foods, after that, it really should boil down to Michael Pollan's manifesto: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

 2. Ditch the guilt. I know this is easier said than done, but guilt gets people in some serious trouble. Guilt tends to set one up for a binge and can cause one to abandon any healthy goals they have for themselves. The more one binges the guiltier one feels and so the cycle ensues. Instead, acknowledge the behavior and move on.

 3. Breath. Before embarking on any meal or snack take 3 deep breaths. Breathing not only calms you down (this allows for better digestion), but it puts you in the present moment, so you are aware of the edibles that you are about to consume. Shoving handfuls of chips in your mouth becomes a lot more difficult when you take the time to breath.

 4. Clean up the kitchen before you eat a meal. When there is a task that you are dreading it can take away from the enjoyment of the meal you just worked to create. Furthermore, people tend to pick at the meal's leftovers or sweet treats during the clean up process. If there is less to clean up, there is less time to pick. If you are not in the habit of doing this it may take a minute to get the hang of, but I assure it is simple and worth it.

 5. Sit. This tip elaborates on tip 4. Only eat when sitting. This eliminates a lot of "picking" that occurs as what most think of calories that don't count. They count. They add up quick. They offer very little satisfaction.

 6. Have fun. When your life incorporates activities that ignites your passion you are far less likely to use food as your source of pleasure, so sign up for that sewing class, cooking class, dance class or go out to dinner with your friends more often. It really isn't a waste of time.

 7. Pay attention. After, you finish eating pay attention to how you feel. Do you feel tired? Energized? Foggy? Alive? If you really tune in to the way foods make you feel, your body will direct you to towards the foods that fuel you and away from foods that drain you. After noticing that macaroni-n-cheese makes you feel grumpy and groggy, I guarantee its appeal will wane.

 8. Move. Movement ignites feel good chemicals in the brain the suppress hunger as well as igniting your inner fire (i.e. your metabolism) and it is a wonderful stress release. Pick a movement that inspires you. Believe it, or not, not everybody loves logging hours at a gym, so if the gym does not tickle your fancy, find something that does. Any movement counts.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Lose-Weight,-Without-Losing-Your-Mind&id=7735213

Weekly Diet Plan

Most people think that diets are a way to lose weight quickly so they deprive their bodies of things that it needs and end up miserable and hungry. Most diets are considered fad diets, such as low carb diets, atkins diet, slim fast diets, no fat or low fat diets and on and on and on.

The problem with these are they never last and they don't provide you with results that you want and you end up frustrated having to start all over with something new.

You can't deprive your body of certain things and think you're going to feel fantastic while you're doing it.

This article is here to provide you with information about working a good diet into your life one week at a time. Metabolism describes the body's ability to burn fat. So the higher the metabolism, the more calories you burn.

So let`s improve it! This is easier than you might think. Drinking more water helps a lot, but the major keys to raising your metabolism are as follows. While, this approach to weight loss is most natural and healthy, it is not easy.

This is the reason that companies invent and produce diet pills and supplements in order to make it easier for people to lose weight and up their metabolism. One of the most popular categories of these pills, are fat blockers and fat binders. They work by reducing the amount of fat that your organism assimilates from foods. Fat blockers (the most well-known example is Orlistat, marketed as Xenical) in particular, inhibit the lipase enzyme in the intestines which breaks up fat making it ready for digestion. As a result, the fat cannot be absorbed by the organism so it passes freely through the bowel. Fat binders work by binding to the fat molecules, again making it unabsorbable by intestines. Fat blockers and binders have very nasty side effects (among them are uncontrollable foul-smelling anal discharges. Removing fats from your body in this way is not natural and therefore unhealthy.

Can you actually lose weight and still eat at the same time?? Yes. There is more to it than just eating. It depends on the foods you eat, which is completely obvious. The name of the diet is calorie shifting. The way it works is when you eat different forms of calories on a day to day basis it prevents your metabolism from going into auto-drive and instead stimulates it to be much more active. It gets right to the root of the problem, it changes the way your body responds to food, so effectively you end up with a more responsive metabolic response to everything you eat. This causes significant weight loss through eating normal sized meals and as a result allows your body to continue burning fat even once you stop the diet, because your metabolism becomes much more active overall.

You must intake plenty of water. He must drink water regularly and at least 12 liters/day Reduction in salt is necessary. It is impossible for most of the people to eliminate salt from their diet but it has to be avoided as much as possible.

You must eat small portion of meals in a day but it should be eaten frequently. So instead of eating two or three big meals, eat five small meals. You want to eat a little something every two to three hours so your body never has a chance to go into "store the fat" mode. When you go too many hours without eating, your body starts to think it is starving and goes into a so called survival mode. When it does this, it holds onto and stores all the bad fats in the body because it doesn't know when it's going to get fed again. You must eat high nutrition food that must include protein, vitamins and should avoid junk food, as it will result in bad health, and weight gain.

Look out for programs that teach you shortcuts and don't teach long term sustainable healthy eating. Who cares if you lose 10 pounds one month if you gain it all back the next month because you didn't learn anything. This is a lifestyle change that can be done in a weeks time. After a week, it will be natural to eat less, more often, and you will no longer have to think about it.

While it seems somewhat counterintuitive, eating more often is the secret to weight loss in some respects. Obviously this does not entail running out and eating everything you want. Instead, smaller portions of certain foods more often, spread throughout the day is the course to take. In this way, it's actually healthier to eat five smaller meals where you eat to contentment than to gorge yourself at 3 or less and many diets are based on this.

You will see results and feel better and healthier as a result of your diet.

http://goarticles.com/article/Weekly-Diet-Plan/4040121/

Dieting Obstacle When Life Gets in the Way

Dieting Dilemma No 1: When Life Gets in the Way That pesky thing called life has a way of fouling up our the best laid plans.

First you decide you're going to start keeping your car cleaner, thinking, "I'll wash it every Saturday morning." Great, you have a plan. Saturday comes along and someone calls inviting you to go golfing. "I was going to wash the car, but I can do it when I get back," and off you go. Maybe you do wash the car later that day, maybe you tell yourself, "I'll wash it next Saturday. It wasn't that dirty anyway." Next week Saturday comes along and someone invited you camping so you're in the woods thinking, "Oh, well, I can't wash the car from here, can I?" Another Saturday rolls around and you've forgotten all about your car washing plan, so even though you're not doing anything else you're thinking, "I don't really FEEL like washing the car right now. I'll do it later," and so it goes.

"Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." -- John Lennon It happens to all of us. You join the gym and immediately get the flu. Sign up for a adult education class and you're car breaks down on the first night. When you need to water the grass there's no rain in sight, but wash the car and what always happens?

These examples aren't meant to give you a pessimistic outlook but instead to point out why persistence in the face of obstacles is what separates the haves from the have nots. It's not what happens but what you DO with what happens that matters The best approach is one-day-at-a-time, or even lesser intervals depending on what you are attempting to do. If you're trying to quit smoking, you might want to take things half-an-hour at a time. With food or eating it can be one meal at a time, one hunger pang or craving at a time, or whatever interval works for you. 

Choose your Time Interval then Make it Happen If you say you'll never do something again (smoke, overeat, over drink) it never lasts (you must build in the possibility of occasional lapse), but if you wake up in the morning and decide for that day, and only that day, that you will follow through with your plan, for just that one day, then it does happen. There's a real rush of accomplishment when you wake up and realize that yesterday you did follow-through; you accomplished what you set out to do. And that's when it's easier to decide your intention for that day (or that hour) once again. Each accomplishment builds onto the next, and it gets easier and easier.

Learning to follow-through takes practice. Let Successes Build, Lapses Pass It takes practice to get proficient no matter what you are learning, so plan to persist. Small lapses aren't failures, they are only lapses, and you then decided for the next time period. You will find that you are following through more often than not as time goes by. Doing this allows you to pre-plan when you know you'll not stick to your eating plan, thereby making it okay on occasion to over indulge.

Holidays, special occasions. People who maintain a healthy body weight do this all the time without thinking about it. When you give yourself permission to indulge, it's amazing how much less you'll feel like overdoing it.

What About Those Obstacles and Unexpected Events? What about when you decide and something comes up unexpectedly? For instance, you decided you're going to work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work at 6:00 PM. This works great on Monday and Wednesday but Friday someone asks you to join them after work for drinks or dinner. Maybe that cute co-worker you've had your eye on. What do you do? Do you say, "No, thanks, I have to work out," and risk never getting to know that person, or "No, I already have plans," and sound like a jerk, or "Maybe some other time," and you know there'll never be another time, or "Yes, that sounds great," and then you berate yourself for being a whimp and not following through with your workout plan? Either way you're not going to feel good about your decision and you're setting yourself up to fail. Set Things Up So You'll Succeed - No Matter What Instead, set things up so you will succeed, no matter what.

Before you decide what you want to do, think it through completely. This is part of the "Creating a Compelling Outcome" process (included in the Ending Emotional Eating Workshop). When you decide what you'd like to do you must also consider everything else that will be affected and whether your plan is workable in the real world.

Maybe Friday night workouts are going to be interrupted often. Better then to choose a different day or time. If you thought about it before-hand you may have realized that things would often come up Friday evenings, so you decided to work out on Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, or some other schedule. Thinking about what might interfere is why many people do their exercise in the early morning hours.

Working out in the morning virtually ensures nothing else will interfere. No one invites you out for 6:00 AM except maybe your running partner! If you want to get up early, think it through. Are you a night person? Early morning hours probably won't work for you, but some other time will.

Do you have a spouse who'd complain loudly? Consider them as well, but don't let everyone else's preferences keep you from doing what's best for you. Consider others and any objections they may have, and then decide in advance how to counter those objections.

It's basically a way to look at your plans from all the angles, figure out the danger zones, decide in advance on strategies to keep you on track, and then get started. Secondly, realize that once in awhile you won't be able to keep to your plan. That's okay. Holidays interfere with gym hours. I've been annoyed when the gym was closed on Christmas Day! Sometimes despite your best efforts, things come up. That's okay too. You must be somewhat flexible, but at the same time persist to make sure you have scheduled a plan that can work the majority of the time.

Use This Process on Any Change You'd Like to Make If you're making changes in your eating habits, do the same thing. I've done this successfully with many eating habits such as my old "Once a week cheese burgers and fries habit" which is now down to seldom or a couple of times a year. I did this by taking my four times a month cheese burgers and fries habit and cutting it back first to three times a month, then twice a month. Finally it was easy enough to just drop it.

The habit was broken once I broke the regular cycle. Remember too, you're not setting up a perfectionist situation, but a plan you can live with and work with. Choose one small thing to change, one habit, one event. Achieving small wins daily builds to enormous successes, and life goes on. Enjoy every moment of it. Then, when those special situations arise, you'll know what to do, because you've already planned ahead, and even if you abandon your plan, for a vacation perhaps, you just get right back on track when you return feeling refreshed and excited to get started again.

Relaxing like this on a vacation many find they eat a lot, play a lot and any weight they gain is lost within days of their return.

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