Super Cleanse: Detox Your Body for Long-Lasting Health and Beauty
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About this ebook
Newly Revised and Updated—Unleash your life force with the power of cleansing!
Holistic chef and cleanse expert Adina Niemerow reveals the key to de-stressing, detoxing, clearing your mind, and revitalizing your body: by tapping into the miracle benefits of a cleanse. Updated with important new information and Adina’s fantastic new Super Slim-Down Cleanse, Super Cleanse can help us reboot and rejuvenate when our stressful schedules leave us feeling physically and emotionally drained. Here are eleven comprehensive cleanse experiences for both the beginning and the veteran cleanser, including more than one hundred delicious recipes for juices, soups, smoothies, salads, main dishes, and side dishes, with full menus for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There’s also a precleanse checklist, ways to ease the detox process, a rundown on the best juicers, tips for how to get the most out of your cleanse, and first-person success stories from Adina’s happy clients. Super Cleanse offers mini-retreats for the body, mind, and spirit and an enjoyable and effective way to jump-start your health and reenergize your life.
Adina Niemerow
Adina Niemerow began her journey as a holistic chef studying healing with whole foods and Asian traditions in modern nutrition at the Heartwood Institute. She continued her culinary education at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City and has worked at top wellness spas and restaurants, including the French Laundry. She’s been a personal chef to Fortune 500 CEOs, fashion models, musicians, and movie stars, and she continues traveling the globe searching for secrets to thriving on a clean diet. She lives in San Francisco.
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Super Cleanse - Adina Niemerow
THE NITTY-GRITTY ON CLEANSING
Word on the Street: We Are What We Eat
F ood is medicine—if we’re choosing the right things to eat. Some of the food we put on our table may be undermining our health in ways we don’t even realize. Many of the fruits and vegetables in our markets are sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and most meats are pumped up with antibiotics, hormones or fungicides. When we ingest these chemicals, they can have a harmful effect on the body.
The problem with many of the foods we eat goes beyond the meat and produce departments. Just take a stroll through the rest of the grocery store and you’ll see that most of what’s stocking the shelves bears no resemblance to food grown on a farm. A lot of it has been processed—irradiated, bleached or heated—to the point that it’s stripped of the life-giving enzymes, vitamins, fiber and minerals that our bodies need to thrive. Our bodies have a hard time digesting processed flours, sugars, oils and salts, so that food ends up clogging our intestines, severely impairing our bodies’ ability to efficiently absorb nutrients and void waste.
To take responsibility for our health, we have to become more aware of the food we eat. We need to be detectives when it comes to reading food labels and learn how to identify the ingredients that undermine our health. Don’t automatically trust a natural
sticker that’s been slapped on a package in the store. If we find out where our food comes from, we can better appreciate the importance of eating whole, organic foods.
Bottom line: Food that’s grown wild on this Earth, that hasn’t been genetically engineered, processed or tampered with, is good for us. Everything else is questionable.
THE DIRTY BAKER’S DOZEN
Eliminating the following things from our diets–even reducing our intake–can have a dramatic and positive impact on our health:
Bleached, refined flours
Refined sugars, high-fructose corn syrup
Table salt
Trans fats and refined oils (including processed corn, canola, sunflower, safflower and vegetable oils)
Meats treated with hormones or antibiotics; farmed fish
Foods sprayed with pesticides and herbicides
Genetically modified foods
Pasteurized dairy and GMO soy
Additives such as preservatives, nitrates, and artificial flavorings and colorings
Fast foods and fried foods
Sodas and juices with added sugars
Tap water
Alcohol
Drop Acid
The Dirty Baker’s Dozen (see the list at left)—especially in combination with stimulants such as caffeine, tobacco and drugs—elevate acid levels in our bodies. That’s a problem, because health and disease are directly tied to pH levels in our system: When the body is in an acidic state, it stops functioning properly and disease can take root. So one important function of a cleanse is to bring the body’s chemistry back into balance.
The 14-point pH scale measures the alkalinity or acidity of a solution—a pH level of 1 to 7 is considered acidic, and a pH level above 7 is considered alkaline. With the exception of the stomach, large intestine, skin and female reproductive organs, the rest of our organs and systems function optimally in a slightly alkaline state. If the body senses that any of its internal fluids (blood, lymphatic fluid, bile, cerebrospinal fluid, etc.) are too acidic, it takes action to restore an alkaline state. If our diets aren’t providing the alkaline minerals required to restore balance in these fluids, the body will leach the minerals from our organs, muscles, ligaments and bones. The part of the body that has sacrificed those minerals then becomes acidic and vulnerable to illness.
To reduce acid levels in our system, we need to (1) reduce acid-forming foods from our diet; (2) clear acidic, undigested food from the intestines; (3) flush toxins from the body; (4) add alkaline foods and drinks to neutralize acidity; and (5) relax the body and mind. When we do that, we can reduce congestion, inflammation and pain throughout our bodies, invigorate ourselves, and increase our flexibility. We can get to a place where we’re able to suck every juicy nutrient from the food we’re eating and maintain an alkaline balance in the body.
DRUGS AND DIGESTION
Over-the-counter, prescription and recreational drugs drive up acid levels in the body. In addition, some drugs—such as antibiotics—kill the flora (good bacteria) in the intestine that aid in digestion, hindering our ability to break down the food we eat. When we eat an alkaline diet, it boosts our immunity and restores a state of balance in the body. Many people find they’re less reliant on these acid-producing, digestion-unfriendly medications.
Acid or Alkaline?
A food can be acidic in its natural state but become alkaline when it’s digested—and vice versa. That’s because digestion oxidizes food—essentially burning it up. The by-product of that intestinal fire typically has a different acid or alkaline level from the food we’ve popped into our mouths. For instance, a lemon is acidic in its raw state. However, once eaten, it breaks down into carbon dioxide and water and leaves behind alkaline minerals such as sodium, potassium and calcium. On the other hand, animal products, such as meat or dairy products, can leave behind acidic compounds such as phosphates, sulfates and nitrates. See pages 217–218 for a chart listing the relative acidity or alkalinity of different foods.
Fresh juices and wheatgrass shots are great, quick ways to help alkalize the body. I’ve built green juices into the cleanses, but I encourage you to run in and grab a wheatgrass shot if you pass a juice bar.
An Acid State of Mind
There’s more affecting our pH levels than the food we eat and stimulants or drugs we take. Our thoughts and feelings also play a big part in how acidic our body is. When we’re stressed out, angry, unhappy, depressed or focused on negative thoughts, that actually increases the levels of acid in our body. On the flip side, when we’re happy, relaxed, positive and at peace, we reduce our acid levels.
So an important part of a cleanse is taking time to unplug from our usual routines and making time for meditation to rest and clear our minds.
WHAT’S YOUR pH?
You can test your pH by buying pH strips at your local health-food store, but another option is to take note of any symptoms you may be experiencing. There are several telltale signs for how acidic or alkaline your body might be. Symptoms of being too acidic include stiff joints, arthritis, muscle tension, stress headaches, addiction to stimulants, itchy skin or acne, anger, a short temper, and chronic negative thoughts. Check in with yourself to see if your body is trying to tell you it’s time to drop acid.
Clear Your Body, Free Your Mind and Spirit
A good cleanse reboots our whole being. It provides a magnified awareness, a fresh perspective, spiritual renewal and physical rejuvenation. When we get rebalanced, we get clearer about who we are and who we’re committed to being. That’s the miraculous and healing power of a cleanse.
GET READY … GET SET …
T o help you get prepared, here are some more details about the cleansing process and a few tricks of the trade to make doing a cleanse as easy as possible, including:
Additional info on the healing reactions you may experience, to ready you for what you might feel and see
Dietary and lifestyle suggestions for the week leading up to the cleanse
A checklist for the week before you start cleansing
Laying the groundwork with the above should help you alleviate unnecessary stress and avoid any surprises while you cleanse.
NOTE: You may have a preexisting condition or be at a place in your life emotionally that would make it unwise to do a particular cleanse—or start any cleanse—at this time. For instance, individuals who are hypoglycemic, diabetic, mentally ill or recovering from surgery should not cleanse without clearance from a physician—and women who are pregnant or nursing should not cleanse. I highly recommend speaking with your physician or licensed health-care provider for guidance. On the basis of your needs and current state of health, they’ll be able to advise you whether you should do a cleanse and which cleanse is right for you.
Healing Reactions in the Body
I mentioned healing reactions earlier in the book, but it’s a point worth reiterating. Depending on your pre-cleanse diet and lifestyle, and how stringent a cleanse you choose, you may experience a spectrum of physical symptoms as the body purges toxins. They’re an uncomfortable but normal part of detoxification, and they usually subside within the first two days. These symptoms may include:
Mood swings, anger, impatience or depression
Weakness
Headaches
Nausea
Cramping, gas, diarrhea or constipation
Hunger pangs
Body or joint aches
Wild dreams
Skin rashes or acne
Bad breath or a coating on the tongue
Insomnia or fatigue
These side effects are generally more prominent with the more stringent cleanses, such as the Urban Revitalizer, Winter Wake-Up or Green Buzz, and less prominent in gentler cleanses, such as the Laughing Buddha, Karma or Three-Day Face-Lift. If you’ve had a fairly clean
diet leading up to the cleanse, you might not experience any of these symptoms—lucky you!
Easing the Detox Process
Here are some dietary and lifestyle tips for the week leading up to the cleanse to help mellow the physical healing reactions you might experience:
If you don’t drink much water, start adding a few additional glasses of purified water to your daily routine.
If you eat meat every day, cut it down to every other day.
If you start your day with a cup or two of coffee, consider switching to drinks with chicory root, herbal teas or yerba mate tea.
If you make pasta, rice or noodles with dinner, try substituting an additional vegetable or quinoa (quinoa is a seed that looks like couscous, but it’s higher protein).
If you regularly eat frozen or processed foods, consider making simple, fresh meals at home that week.
If you smoke or drink alcohol, cut back on your daily intake so you’re not going cold turkey during the cleanse. To help curb cravings for nicotine, drink ¼ cup of lobelia tea sweetened with licorice root, or drink 10 to 12 drops of lobelia tincture in a glass of water several times a day. Lobelia tea, licorice root and lobelia tincture can be found in local health-food stores.
If you’re able to wean yourself from these things even a little bit, you’ll have an easier time cleansing.
TO JAVA OR NOT TO JAVA … THAT IS THE QUESTION
Two of the first questions I get from clients when they begin a cleanse are Do I really need to give up coffee?
and Can I just drink decaf instead?
The answers are Yes, you should,
and Please don’t, it’s just as bad.
When we understand the effect of coffee on the body and what’s in regular and decaffeinated coffee, we can see how they undermine the cleansing process and damage our bodies. Insights from Donna F. Smith, PhD, ND, CCN, shed light on the dark side of the dark-roast brew many of us love:
The Top Five Reasons for Kicking the Coffee Habit
1 Coffee sets off a chain reaction in the body that stresses the adrenals. The acid-based oil in coffee irritates the lining of the stomach and increases gastric acidity. That sparks the secretion of adrenaline by the body. Adrenaline stimulates insulin secretion, which fuels hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). The end results are tension, a mild rise in blood pressure, a craving for sweets 2 or 3 hours later, low energy and a depressed mood.
2 Coffee counteracts different medications. When our blood sugar drops, the body ups the production of epinephrine—which counteracts the medications typically prescribed for people suffering from pain, obesity, hypertension or depression.
3 Coffee causes nutritional deficiencies. Heavy coffee drinkers have a deficiency of the B1 vitamin thiamine. Symptoms of B1 deficiency range from fatigue, nervousness and malaise to aches, pains and headaches. In addition, regular consumption of coffee prevents nutrients from being absorbed effectively in your small intestines, which leads to further vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
4 Pesticides in coffee are toxic to the body. Coffee growers in Colombia—where a vast amount of our coffee comes from—often use harmful pesticides when growing their beans, such as aldrin, dieldrin, chlordane and heptachlor. Some scientists speculate that coffee beans are the most significant source of these toxins in U.S. diets.
5 Long-term coffee consumption taxes the liver, increasing toxicity in the body and opening the door to disease. The function of the liver is to filter the blood so that it can clean and nourish the cells in our body. When the liver gets overloaded trying to detoxify chemical residues in coffee (and the foods and other substances we bring into our bodies), it becomes congested. And when the liver is congested, it doesn’t properly filter the blood. Impure blood ends up circulating through the body, impeding cells’ ability to regenerate and grow healthy tissue.
Unfortunately, drinking decaffeinated coffee isn’t any better than drinking regular coffee, because it can contain large concentrations of trichloroethylene—a chemical that’s also used as a degreasing agent in the metal industry and a solvent and dry-cleaning agent in the clothing industry. Trichloroethylene is also related to vinyl chloride, a chemical in plastic that’s been linked to certain types of liver cancer.
If you can’t fathom getting through the day without that coffee taste, try herbal drinks with chicory, which has the flavor you love without the harmful side effects. If you need a pick-me-up to start the day, give yerba mate a try. It has effective stimulants but doesn’t produce as many of the negative health effects that caffeine does. An even better, more healthful, option is herbal tea. Herbal teas seem weak to you? Pump them up by using two or three tea bags per cup of tea and letting them steep for a longer period of time. Add a bit of nut milk if you’d like to drink them latte-style (see recipe on page 93).
Healing Reactions in the Mind and Spirit
It’s not uncommon to feel a heightened sense of clarity and focus after the first couple of days of a cleanse. Clients have described it to me as a fog lifting. The way around hurdles in life may become clearer, and the path to achieving goals may suddenly become apparent.
Journaling can be especially uplifting during this part of the process. In addition to helping you work through obstacles that may have been silently affecting your health and state of mind, the journal provides a chronicle of your progress—documenting what might ultimately be a testimonial of your road back to wellness. Ideally, you’ll be able to reflect back on journal entries to stay focused on epiphanies or ideas you have during the cleanse and keep moving forward in a new, positive direction.
As our minds and bodies clear, doors can open to a more spiritual awakening as well. Eating clean, whole foods shifts vibrations in the body. Without toxicity dulling the spirit, we come alive inside again. With a heightened sense of serenity, calmness and balance, we can get to a place of quiet equilibrium and reconnect with our true nature, those around us and the Earth. For some of my clients, this spiritual side of cleansing is as profound as the shifts they feel in their mind and body.
ANGELA’S TESTIMONIAL
I’d been feeling the need to get off the caffeine merry-go-round and balance my energy somehow so that I could be more effective in my nonprofit work, as well as my career and personal life. When I found out Adina was leading a cleanse at Café Gratitude, I signed right up—even though it meant an hour-and-a-half drive, each way, for five days.
During the cleanse I experienced a sense of release on every level—physically, emotionally and spiritually. I lost weight, which was great, but that wasn’t the best part. By the fifth day, my values and purpose came into sharp relief. I was clear about my purpose to help heal the planet. My communications with other people became much more direct and loving as I began to feel more connected to everyone around me.
I’d never seen the connection between diet and the state of my relationships (as well as the state of the world) with so much clarity. And I realized that what I brought into my body and the lifestyle I chose were the keys to maintaining the level of clarity and peace I had found. It was an extremely intense but enjoyable learning experience that will influence the rest of my life.
A cleanse may start in the body, but it has the power to permeate your whole being. So I’ve built meditations, breathing exercises and mantras into different chapters to help spark holistic healing and a sense of reconnecting to spirit and the Earth.
Pre-cleanse Checklist
I based this to-do list for the week leading up to the cleanse on questions and comments from clients. Taking time to go through these steps in advance will help you select an appropriate cleanse, be sure you have everything on hand that you need to get started, and minimize the running around and common pitfalls (Honey, who’s feeding the kids?
) that can increase stress during a cleanse.
Choose a cleanse. Read through the cleanse chapters and select one that