Nutrition

Chemicals, pollutants, radiation and other environmental toxins are invading our lives faster than ever before.

How do you effectively cleanse?

1)     Is it a 5 day fix once a year?

2)    Or is it something that you should do daily?

If you answered number 2, you were right in your thinking and that’s the way the Fitlife team and I operate.

How do I detox every day?

Here is a list of 7 things you can do daily to ensure your success.

Warm Water And Lemon

How you start your day is how you start your life. I like to start out by drinking a liter of warm water with lemon first thing in the morning. This helps the liver flush out impurities and keeps you hydrated.

Get Sweaty

After I’m done with the warm water and lemon first thing in the morning I head to the gym to get my heart rate up and get my sweat on. Sweating has been shown to cleanse your body and push out toxins. Not only do I sweat, I focus on breathing big breaths 70% of the toxins in your body come from your lungs.

Have A Green Juice

Getting back from the gym it’s time to get all juiced up. The different greens in the juice help give my cells what they need to thrive in an environment of free radicals etc. A simple recipe I like to follow is in the ALIVE Smoothie list.

Energizer Bunny

2 Kale

1 Lemon

2 Cucumbers

½ Apple

Cilantro

4 Celery

1 Tsp Turmeric

This juice recipe gives me tons of energy and helps my body get rid of waste.

Meet My Friend ACV

Apple Cider Vinegar is awesome. Taking 2 tablespoons a day helps get rid of mucus in the body and break down harmful toxins. It also encourages good gut bacteria, which is important when it comes to getting rid of toxins.

Eat Detox Foods

There are many foods that will help you detox. 3 of my personal favorites are…

Dandelion Greens – I drink this as a tea, flushes out liver and kidneys.

Cilantro – Clears up heavy metals and is a great anti-inflammation veggie.

Parsley – this is a great blood builder and helps get rid of free radicals.

Turmeric – One of the best anti-inflammatory veggies on the market.

Cayenne – my personal favorite spice helps your blood get rid of impurities.

Now that you know a few of the things we do every day to detox start to implement them. Also, if you are looking for a great detoxification system – go through the ALIVE Smoothie list  it will give you a step by step guide to getting great results.

Remember, these are all physical things to do. You should be focused on detoxing your mind as well. It’s even more important!

Answer:

The simple answer is, “That depends.” People’s levels of sensitivity to gluten cross-contamination vary tremendously, and it also matters whether you have a one-time exposure or whether you’re consuming gluten every day over a period of weeks or months.

But it may take less gluten than you think … possibly a lot less. Bear with me — there’s lots of number-crunching involved in this.

Major Glutenings Can Be Damaging

You certainly can get very sick — and also damage your intestines — by eating even a tiny amount of conventional bread or other gluten-containing substance.

For example, one study showed that consuming just 1/5th of a slice of regular bread (about 625 milligrams of gluten) one time is enough to cause nasty symptoms, including severe diarrhea and vomiting, and increase villous atrophy in your small intestine.

That makes a delicious-looking gluten-filled cookie a bit less appealing.

Of course, many of us have experienced symptoms from way less gluten than that. Two older studies found symptoms coupled with increasing intestinal inflammation (but not necessarily villous atrophy) in people who consumed just 24 to 30 milligrams of gluten — about 1/145th of a slice of conventional bread (otherwise known as a crumb).

Small Amounts of Gluten Daily Add Up

Consuming small amounts of gluten — more than 50 milligrams, or about 1/70th of that slice of bread — on a daily basis also can add up to increased symptoms and intestinal damage.

A 2007 study led by Dr. Alessio Fasano, who heads the University of Maryland’s Center for Celiac Research, found that people who consumed 50 milligrams of gluten each day had renewed villous atrophy after 90 days, while those consuming zero gluten or 10 milligrams of gluten each day did not.

Dr. Fasano and his colleagues say that many or most people with celiac disease can handle up to 10 milligrams of gluten — the equivalent of 1/8th of a teaspoon of flour, or 1/350th of that slice of bread — in their diets each day without experiencing adverse effects. The study frequently is cited as evidence that celiacs can handle “gluten-free”-labeled foods with up to 20 parts per million of gluten in them.

(For even more math that explains the concept of “parts per million” and how it translates into how much gluten you’re eating, have a look at this article: What Does It Mean for Products to Have Less than 20 Parts Per Million of Gluten?.)

Still, an analysis by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alluded to a real drawback of that University of Maryland study: It chose people to participate whose intestines were well-healed, meaning those people likely were less-sensitive to gluten cross-contamination than people who hadn’t healed on the gluten-free diet (many people’s intestines fail to heal completely, even after years on the diet). Even so, one person in that study who was consuming 10 milligrams of gluten per day — not 50 milligrams, the highest level — developed a full “clinical relapse” and dropped out of the study due to intolerable symptoms.

So, What Does This Mean To Me?

You’re probably wondering by now what all of this means to you — after all, if you’re careful, you’re probably following a strict gluten-free diet with no cheating, which means you’re 100% gluten-free … right?

Well, no. It’s just about impossible to be 100% gluten-free because “gluten-free” foods actually contain gluten. Grain products — those gluten-free breads, cereals, waffles and crackers — are the worst offenders.

Therefore, someone eating a “typical” gluten-free diet that contains normal amounts of grain products is consuming about 6 to 10 milligrams of gluten each day (again, up to 1/8 of a teaspoon of flour, or 1/350th of a slice of gluten bread) as part of those “gluten-free”-labeled grain products. That’s according to the University of Maryland, which considers this amount safe.

The FDA came to a different conclusion in its analysis: It found that for the most sensitive people, intestinal damage begins at 0.4 milligrams of gluten per day (1/200th of a teaspoon of flour or 1/8,750th of that slice of bread), while symptoms begin at 0.015 milligrams of gluten per day (less than 1/500th of a teaspoon of flour or 1/233,333th of that slice of bread). The agency based those conclusions on various studies, including two case studies involving recurrent symptoms in people who consumed communion wafers once each week.

Bottom Line: Your Mileage May Vary

There’s plenty more research to be done on this. Still, there’s little doubt that sensitivity to trace amounts of gluten represents a spectrum.

At one end of that spectrum, you’ve got people with silent celiac disease, who don’t get symptoms even if they eat huge amounts of gluten. At the other end, you’ve got people who are extremely sensitive to gluten cross-contamination and who cannot achieve good health unless they take steps to eliminate all sources of gluten in their diets, including many or all “gluten-free”-labeled foods.

Determining where you fall on that spectrum is a matter of trial and error. But it’s clear that some people react to foods that others can eat with no problem.

To Sum It All Up

• Although a few won’t react at all, most people will get really sick from the equivalent of 1/5th of a slice of gluten-containing bread (or more).

• People who are doing well on the gluten-free diet (i.e., whose intestines have healed) may be able to handle eating normal amounts of gluten-free-labeled foods (which contain a little bit of gluten) without symptoms or intestinal damage.

• People who continue to have symptoms, and whose intestinal damage hasn’t healed completely despite eating a careful and strict gluten-free diet, may need to drop potential sources of trace gluten from their diets, including gluten-free-labeled products, in order to heal their intestines and eliminate their symptoms.

Answer:

Pure oatmeal does not contain gluten. However, most oatmeal brands on the market today are not pure — they contain oats that have been cross-contaminated with a tiny bit of wheat, barley and/or rye. Since those grains do have gluten in them, that cross-contamination makes most oatmeal brands unsafe on the gluten-free diet.

For example, Quaker Oats states on its website that it cannot guarantee its oatmeal is gluten-free.

It’s possible to grow pure oats, and companies selling certified gluten-free oatmeal are using oats that do not have any gluten cross-contamination. Those should be safe for the majority of people with celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

• For more on this, see: I can’t eat gluten. Should I try oats?

So Which Brands Are Safe?

Fortunately for those who can tolerate oats, there are a variety of different gluten-free-certified oatmeals on the market:

• Bob’s Red Mill produces three different types of gluten-free oatmeal, including quick-cooking oats, rolled oats and steel-cut oats. Bob’s tests for gluten down to 20 parts per million. Make sure you purchase only gluten-free labeled oatmeal — Bob’s has several that are not gluten-free.

• GF Harvest is a celiac family-owned business in Wyoming. The company grows its own oats and performs extensive testing to make certain its fields remain uncontaminated, including testing the seeds it uses down to 3 parts per million. GF Harvest holds gluten-free certification along with organic and Kosher certifications. Products include organic gluten-free rolled oats and regular gluten-free rolled oats, which you can use to make gluten-free oatmeal.

• Glutenfreeda Foods offers four different types of certified gluten-free oatmeal, including apple cinnamon, maple raisin, banana maple and natural. All contain flax meal in addition to gluten-free oatmeal. Glutenfreeda sells its products online and in some specialty stores.

• Holly’s Oatmeal aims for the purest possible oatmeal — the company tests its oats to make sure they contain less than 5 parts per million of gluten. Holly’s makes gluten-free oatmeal in two flavors: plain and cranberry. Since the company also sells non-gluten-free oatmeal, make sure you only purchase products in the blue boxes. The oatmeal is available online and in some stores, including Whole Foods.

• Montana Gluten-Free works directly with farmers to make certain the oats it sells are not cross-contaminated with gluten. The company offers gluten-free oatmeal in two sizes: 3 lbs. and 7.5 lbs., both of which you can purchase at the Montana Gluten-Free website.

Note that other companies that sell gluten-free products (Arrowhead Mills, among others) also produce oatmeal that’s not certified gluten-free — be very careful to check labels, and assume a product isn’t safe unless it’s specifically marked as gluten-free oatmeal.

Gluten-Free Oatmeal May Not Agree With You If You Have Celiac Disease

To make things even more complicated, a small percentage of people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity also react to avenin, the protein found in oats, which means they need to add oats to their list of prohibited grains.

It’s not clear how many people with celiac disease also react to oats — some estimates are in the range of 10% to 15%, but research is ongoing. In addition, there’s evidence that some types of oats are more toxic than others to people with celiac disease.

If you have celiac or gluten sensitivity, the only way for you to determine if you react to oatmeal is to try some (start with just a couple of spoonfuls) in its pure, gluten-free form — there is some anecdotal evidence that people who are more sensitive to gluten also react more frequently to oats, but there’s no research to prove it (see more on sensitivity levels in my article How Much Gluten Can Make Me Sick?).

Therefore, if you’re a diagnosed celiac, you should consult your physician first and then proceed very cautiously when adding gluten-free oatmeal to your diet. If your celiac disease symptoms return, stop eating the gluten-free oatmeal immediately.

Here are some things you should get out of your 5 Day Juice Fast

1. What is controlling you?

You will start to realize how much food controls you ALL day long. How we are so hardwired to always be thinking about what’s next to eat. Or the false I’m hungry that is often disguised with dehydration.

2. Bring attention to what is consuming you

When we are not so consumed with what to consume it allows us to spend more time thinking about where we are in life.

It allows us to contemplate things that we normally wouldn’t think about because we are too busy. You also start to see all of the little things that once bothered you to be some of your most cherished things. You will start to see these types of things as lessons and teachers.

3. It instantly reveals where you are lacking

Due to our busy schedules and deep ambition to always be moving forward in the US, we stay busy all of the time. If we observe nature you will see that every thing in nature has seasons of fruition and seasons of rest. Your body is the same way. You will need time to rest to become a brighter version of yourself. One of my favorite things to do during a fast is to get back to my spiritual life.

4. You become vastly more creative

Scientifically when we fast our brains go in starvation mode and this gives us hyper alertness. There is a documentary called Fasting that talks about the mental benefits and it is pretty astounding. Some of my most creative ideas came from being in a fast. You can reach this level by doing a 24 hour fast as well. One of my personal favorite ways to do this is to start after lunch one day and finish the next day around lunch.

5. So how do you get started?

Well, luckily we have it laid out for you. Simple. Easy and the best cleansing program out there. The good news is you will not need to order any fancy supplements to partake in this… just good ol’ fashion veggies.

Before you start juicing (or any diet change) I would consult with your doctor.

Prepare the right way by using our time proven and effective system.

Consider involving a friend or family member to join in on the experience. We find that when we do it together it makes for a much easier process and helps build deeper relationships.

The liver holds about one pint (13%) of the body’s blood supply at any given time. (1) The liver has many functions and is a very important organ. Here are some of the biggest.

Some of the functions include:

1. Production of bile: bile helps take waste and breaks fat down in the small intestine drink digestion.

2. Production of proteins that are needed for the blood plasma.

3. Production of cholesterol and proteins that help carry fats through the body.

4. Conversion of glucose to glycogen (used for energy).

5. Regulation of amino acids.

6. Processing of hemoglobin (the liver stores iron).

7. Conversion of ammonia to urea (ammonia can be poisonous).

8. Elimination of drugs and toxins from the blood.

9. Helps in regulation of blood clotting.

10. Defends against infections and responsible for removing bacteria from the blood.

As you can see the liver is involved in many functions throughout the body and has many jobs. When the liver breakdown toxins, those toxins are execrated from the body in the form of urine. That’s why it’s important to drink lots of water and keep hydrated. Detoxifying your liver is a great way to get rid of toxins and other harmful substances. The body holds on to toxins in the digestive, lymph, and areas of fat. It’s important to break down the toxins and eliminate them. A great way to detoxify the liver is to avoid consumption of alcohol, caffeine, pesticides and chemicals on foods, and sugar.

Start with a Juice Fast

A juice fast is a great way to help your body get rid of toxins and also start the “healing” process. During your 3-5 day fast you are consuming fresh organic vegetable juice. And since most of the insoluble fiber is gone from the juicing process, the juice that you consume is highly absorbable. You also absorb soluble fiber which is important for lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol.  I

Water

During your detox drink lots of water. I recommend drinking a cup of warm water and lemon each morning and night. Warm water and lemon has many benefits including helps with weight loss and helps maintain a neutral pH in the body.

Dandelions

Dandelions are great for liver detoxification. They are packed with nutrients that promote weight loss, have diuretic effects and help with liver functions. Dandelions and dandelion roots have a direct impact on the liver. They both promote the production of bile and also stimulate the gallbladder to release stored bile. Dandelion tea is great if you don’t have them to juice, they are one of my absolute favorites for getting rid of water weight.

Here are some great juice recipes for liver detoxification from fitlife.tv.