5 Steps Toward Detoxification & a Body Reset

Zucchini & Crookneck squash with tomatoes, onions & garlic - roasted on the grill

Zucchini & Crookneck squash with tomatoes, onions & garlic – roasted on the grill

A good way to begin a healthy summer is by eliminating toxins from the body.       
What are toxins? Toxins are poisonous substances produced in living cells that are often responsible for causing disease, illness and negative side affects in our body. Toxicants are man made chemicals that can be absorbed into our bodies as well.

Both toxins and toxicants raise havoc on our health which quite often we don’t recognize as toxic overload. They enter our body through breathing the air, eating foods with these substances on or in them, and through the skin.

The ways we can clear them out of our body vary from fasting, to a cleanse, to daily clean eating. You can choose which one is right for you. The following are simple guidelines for clean eating detox.

1 – Drink plenty of pure water. Aim for at least 50-80 ounces a day of plain water.

2 – Clean out your digestive track and bowels daily. If you find it more difficult than you wish to admit to eliminate regularly, don’t stress, there are a few natural things that can help. Magnesium citrate is extremely helpful; you can get it in capsule form or powder form to mix as a drink, this product is called Calm and you can find it online or in most health food stores including Whole Foods. Some other help can be found by taking 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed and a good quality acidophilus supplement as well as drinking plenty of water as proper hydration helps promote healthy bowels.

3 – Eat clean, especially naturally detoxifying foods like dark green vegetables, leafy and cruciferous, as well as lemon juice, garlic and onions.

4 – eliminate processed foods – they are heavy with chemicals that are toxic and offer little nutritional value

5 – Daily exercise which includes breaking a sweat helps toxins move through and out of your body

6 – Eliminate ‘white’ foods such as breads, pasta, white rice, and potatoes-sweet potatoes and yams are always great to eat.

7 – Minimize or eliminate drugs that are especially toxic to the liver. When you detox the body, you often find less need for medications. As always though, NEVER stop taking a medication without the consent of your doctor.

8 – Relax daily. Clearing your mind also clears the body. Take time to sit quietly, walk gently, meditate and breathe fully and gently.

If you’d like to know more about a full cleanse or personal coaching to help you eat and live better please contact me and I will happily work with you. You can write to me at Dawn@InitiateWellness.com .

Do You Have Aderenal Fatigue?

Headaches, Tired, Craving Salty or Sweets, Feeling Overwhelmed, Dizziness, No Energy, Excess Thirst…are signs of adrenal fatigue.

If you feel overstressed, overwhelmed, no energy or feel like you have more energy after 6pm than you do all day maybe your adrenals are fatigued. Your adrenals are your stress receptors and if you’re constantly under stress your adrenals get overworked and end up not knowing what is a true stressor and what is daily stress. This causes them to work overtime and become drained.

Causes for adrenal fatigue are stress, overwhelm, too much responsibility and no time to unwind, slow down or relax.
Learn the signs and a few easy steps you can take to support your adrenals that are healthy for your whole body by reading Signs, Symptoms and Nutritional Choices for Adrenal Support 

In addition to eating and drinking properly it’s vital that you find ways to de-stress. As a health coach I work with my clients to find easy and do-able ways to find peaceful calm each day; I can help you too! Please feel free to contact me at Dawn@InitiateWellness.com or at 508-243-4523 to find out how I can help you on the road to better health, more energy and peaceful calm in your everyday life.

The Best Meals Are the Ones We Create

2015-06-16 19.01.55

Mahi Mahi with Yogurt-Lemon-Dill sauce, baked potato (out of sweets) and asparagus

I have a deep love for a few things, most of those things belong in or around a kitchen and those things include cookbooks, proper pans and Polish pottery. Of all the kitchen gadgets and electrics, those three are on the top of my list of necessities that I would rather not live without. I remember way, way…okay one more way back when I was able to flip pages in a magazine sitting on the floor beside my grandmother’s magazine rack (I wonder where that went?) on Friday nights reading through recipes and food articles from Women’s Day, Family Circle and Better Homes and Gardens. If I had to skim my list down further, though I love cookbooks and have probably over one hundred of them, I can live without them. This is why…

I have discovered that the best meals I make come from pure love of fresh, whole food cooking. Throw me in a kitchen and let me use whatever is available and I can likely throw a good, healthy meal together – given that the chosen kitchen doesn’t stock processed foods; in that case I could prepare a pretty strong chemical $#!t storm as they say.

When you view food as fuel for your body and a meaningful centerpiece for social gatherings you can thoroughly enjoy just enough food and no overeating because good quality food is so very satisfying.

Stock your refrigerator, freezer and pantry with healthy choices and build your meal upon what you feel like tasting each day. Keep colorful vegetables, assorted lean meats & fish, true whole grains (quinoa, barley, farro, bulgur, oat, etc.), beans of all kinds, spices and herbs, root vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams, carrots, ginger, onions and garlic stocked up.

Decide on your protein for the meal, add your veggie and your root veg or whole grain. It’s perfectly well to eat a meal of just vegetables, beans and whole grains a few days a week too.

Don’t stress over meals, keep it simple and healthy. You’ll find that cooking can be fast and easy as well as deliciously satisfying.

Your “Place” of Peace and Growth

2015-05-26 20.26.30Are you in an environment that feeds your spirit and calms your soul? When you come home at night, do you feel at ease, comfortable and ready to unwind and relax?

Your environment plays an important part in your overall health and daily habits. If you’re stressed even after you are home in ‘your safe place’ maybe it’s time to improve your surroundings. Making changes is most often a good thing even if your environment served you well in the past. As we grow, so shall our surroundings.

Make a list of the things in your environment, whether at work, play or home, that comforts you and a list of things that disrupt your peace. Decide what things you can change or improve and how you can work in things from your list of comforts.

If what you need is quiet time each day when you get home, let others in your home know, set a time to ‘get away’ to let go of stress each day and take it for yourself. Encourage others in your environment to do the same.

Making positive changes and adjustments in your life on a regular basis helps you enjoy living, enjoy being and it keeps your good habits going. Choose happiness; make necessary adjustments to your surroundings even if that means finding new surroundings elsewhere. In love and light.

Veggie Enchiladas

June '15 Veggie Enchiladas1 cup quinoa, cooked

1 15-oz can black beans or black eyed peas, rinsed & drained

3-4 handfuls torn kale or baby spinach washed and dried

1 cup salsa – your choice of mild, medium or hot (I used my own home canned salsa)

1/2 cup or more extra salsa to top enchiladas before baking

1 small onion, chopped

1 small  bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup (plus more to top) shredded cheese, cheddar, Monterey jack, or other

8 flour or corn tortillas (can use gluten free)

Combine first 8 ingredients in a bowl. Fill each tortilla with about 1/3 cup of filling and roll up tucking sides in halfway and lay in a 9 x 13″ baking dish seam side down. Spoon extra salsa over top and sprinkle with extra cheese. Bake in over at 350° for 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!

“I want to eat a loaf of bread but I won’t”

2015-05-13 Mood FoodI want to eat a loaf of bread, it’s sweet and soft and comforting but it goes against everything I believe in and everything I teach my clients so I settle for a healthy snack of veggie sticks with freshly ground pepper and raw, unsalted nuts. I eat them slowly and chew them carefully; mindful snacking.

Your mood affects the food you eat, but the food also affects your mood so I choose the better of choices. I’m not in a bad mood, maybe a little bit sad or rather misplaced and defeated…but only for a moment. I deal with it by writing about it in my journal, I’ll get it off my chest for now and keep it off my “belly.button.thighs” for always.

Why Are We Resistant to Change?

BHMP ChangeWe want change in our lives, we want it on a regular basis and we make plans to make the desired changes but we never quite follow through–but why not? Why does change excite us and tease us but scare us at the same time? Why do we plan to dive in fully but put the brakes on when we get to the edge of the diving board?

Some change is simple and it involves oneself only but some change would affect others and it would disrupt life as it is causing us to back up or at least slow the process of making change happen.

If the change you’re trying to make involves yourself only, what is holding you back? What does your desired change look like to you? Is it realistic? Is it convenient? Inconvenient? Is it too hard? Is it too big? Are you at a loss of where or how to begin?

If the change you wish for involves others, ask yourself the same questions adding, are the others aware of your desired change? How did they or will they respond? What’s the scariest part of making that particular change? What is the worst case scenario; best case scenario? What do you need to push you forward?

Breaking old habits can catapult you toward your desired outcome and force you toward making progress. Taking small realistic steps toward whatever your goal may be is how to get there. Every single journey begins with that first step more often than a giant leap. Outline your desired change and decide what first step you can take today to begin your journey toward change.

Simple Chicken Bake

I kept seeing a picture of chicken with potatoes and a veggie all cooked in the same baking dish so I decided to give it a try. This meal was one of the simplest meals to put together and the taste was deliciously comforting. I didn’t follow a recipe if there is one along with the photos floating around social media, I just added what I thought would taste good to me.

Here’s what I did, how it looked and how it came out…

I used 3 organic boneless chicken breasts

1 small bag of tiny red potatoes-scrubbed

3-4 servings of my own garden grown string beans that I sealed with a food saver and froze-they were so tasty-fresh

half bag of grated carrots – it added a nice natural sweetness

A couple of Tablespoons of a spice mixture for chicken

Drizzle of olive oil

Line the chicken on one edge of a 9×13″ baking pan – line the potatoes beside the chicken and then line the string beans or whatever vegetable you chose. Drizzle the olive oil over all of the ingredients then sprinkle with your chosen spice mixture.

Bake at 350°2015-04-29 18.10.57

When Enough is Plenty

2015-04-16 09.32.35-1The calendar page quote for last Monday has been running through my mind all week. If you don’t have enough, work on getting enough, but when is enough plenty? Why do we most often want more?

In my observations, we have more than enough of almost everything but we never quite seem satisfied – we rarely feel truly fulfilled. Why not?

I hear many people say that they are stressed to the point of exhaustion. I hear reasons why someone didn’t go for a walk, go to the gym, take time out for themselves, exercise in some manner whether doing yoga at home, hiking, stretching, taking the stairs and moving in some way. No one has time. This stress turns to food for comfort and healing. The food that is most often sought after is usually heavy, fatty, sugary, creamy, simple carbohydrate-filled quick energy boosters that leave you feeling more exhausted and sluggish. We also tend to eat more than enough, more than plenty which leads us to feeling like we failed for today; tomorrow is a new day, a chance to redeem ourselves until old habits kick in. Our daily efforts become our burden, leaving us feeling dissatisfied and discouraged – hopeless.

For one day, then two, then a week and so on, I challenge you to stop at plenty. I challenge you to take time for yourself each day, be it 10 minutes or an hour. I challenge you to have just enough feeling you have had plenty and you feel satisfied and fulfilled. I challenge you to experience the feeling of success in your intentions. I challenge you to challenge yourself.

Choose to be healthy, choose happiness over stress, choose just enough, choose mental clarity, good foods, good physical activity, and when you’ve had enough, you should stop.

Mind & Spirit Health Break

2015-04-15 12.13.18A healthy mind and spirit is important and it’s a good habit to take a little time out of each day for just that.

Today, while there is still a touch of snow melting away after a record snowy winter here in New England, it felt nourishing to get outside into the sunshine for a short while. Off came my shoes as I plunged my feet onto the recently uncovered earth and dead grass – dead but soft and springy earth. It’s a healing kind of energy to feel the earth under your feet and/or on your hands.

My plan is to take 10-15 minutes each day to let go, breathe slowly and deeply and exhale negativity out and rejuvenation in. Why don’t you give it a try too?! Just a few minutes of sunshine, outdoor air and peacefulness can make a world of difference in your day.

Get outside, rain or shine and detox the negative energy out of your body, mind & spirit!

The earth is warm and toes need polish!

The earth is warm and toes need polish!