21 Day Detox......The last few days

With just a few more days left in the 21 day detox It almost seems effortless to eat like this. The shakes are a nice convenience. As has been my routine, always preparing my own food takes time. With this program, it takes just a few minutes to make my smoothies for the day, that's breakfast and lunch. One can get used to feeling good.

As I mentioned previously it's important to be intentional about reintroducing foods back into the diet. You don't need to reintroduce foods you don't plan on eating and you'd be better off continuing to avoid processed, sugar-laden, and devitalized foods. I highly recommend controlling your sugar intake like the FDA controls heroin; then again, you should do a better job of it. A few rules of thumb: counter an occasional high-sugar food with fiber and protein; ground flax and chia, rice bran, whey protein powder are great in this respect. When it comes to reading nutritional labels on packaged foods, I never buy or eat anything that has a higher added sugar content than the sum of the fiber and protein content per serving. For example if your favorite cold cereal has 10 grams of sugar and one gram of fiber and two grams of protein, you're getting a very unbalanced food. A better option is something with less than 3 grams of sugar per serving, 3 grams of fiber and protein.

It's also best to reintroduce foods starting with the least allergenic foods first. If you've suspected you are sensitive to milk then start with a high quality plain yogurt, then aged cheese, maybe cottage cheese, and lastly fluid milk. You may find that you are sensitive to the cheap homogenized stuff you were consuming, but can tolerate high quality organic whole milk. You may find that a high quality yogurt (unsweetened) and aged cheeses like Swiss and sharp cheddar are fine but drinking any kind of milk is out. For some raw cow or goat milk is best. Then there are certain people who don't do well with dairy at all. The challenge phase is the time to figure out where you stand.

Next you might start introducing grains and starches. Start with potatoes and other nightshades if you've eliminated them. I'd save wheat until last and consider only eating wheat that has been soaked, sprouted or soured. That goes for spelt, rye, kamut, oat, and barley as well.

The other concept to come away with is the idea of rotating your diet. It's possible that anybody can develop a sensitivity to any food if eaten daily year-round. Diversity is key. I recommend eating a variety of healthy foods as you alternate your meals throughout the week. In addition, eating seasonally and locally produced foods makes health and economic sense. Depending on where you live, locally may need to be within 1,ooo miles. But eating summer fruit right through winter grown in South America, New Zealand and who knows where, isn't necessarily good for you or the environment. And by all means support your local farmers. Better still, grow your own food as you are able, but don't eat bananas everyday, unless you live in Ecuador. Some foods are going to be worse than others from repetition.

Those I treat with food allergies are most often sensitive to a food or foods they love and eat two or three times a day. A rotational diet doesn't have to be difficult. It just takes some planning. For each meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner, have at least four options. Make enough for leftovers, and alternate.

The worst thing you can do is end a detox diet with a binge party. Then again, it may be the lesson you need to stick with healthy eating. Most of those I know who've done this get quite sick.

A post-purification diet is ideal, which continues the main principles but ensures you are covered, given your unique nutritional needs. The shakes or smoothies can be continued, but take a break even from them now and then. Everyone needs some core supplement support. This will be individualized depending on your needs. For example, a common core for an adult is SP Complete or Catalyn and a fiber supplement, along with essential fatty acids. You may need additional bone nutrients, trace minerals, and B vitamins.

Take time to assess and document what changes you've experienced through this journey: weight loss, more energy, better sleep, no more constipation. It's amazing to see the changes that can occur in blood work, cholesterol numbers for example.

I'm looking forward to staying healthy through the winter, how about you?

21 Day Detox......Day 13 - 15

Aren't the best gifts ones that appear unexpectedly and are just what you wanted... even if you didn't know you wanted it? A couple of days ago a friend and colleague stopped by my office bearing gifts, wild Alaskan salmon. Since moving to Spokane my family hasn't eaten as much fish as when we lived in California or Seattle. Now on day "what-ever" of the detox I've been ravenous for meat. It's really satisfying when you sense your body's need and can satisfy it.

Needless to say I brought the salmon home and ate it straightaway. I've been feeling the need to horde some of my food. My girls are like vultures sometimes. They seem to always want to eat what I'm eating no matter what they've already eaten. Briley kept wanting more of my salmon (after she's had a healthy portion) and I finally had to cut her off. It was good stuff. I baked it for 1o minutes and then broiled it briefly to finish it off. Salmon can not be overcooked. That is, you do not want to overcook it. I didn't.

Tonight we finished it off with some winter squash curry soup and mixed green salad. I was especially hungry after mountain biking this afternoon. It's been awhile so I was feelin' it. But I kept up with my fitter fellow bikers... most of the way. Mountain biking was something I took up in the early nineties. I was avid until moving to Seattle. Then I took up road biking more and running. By the alignment of Jupiter in the third house of Neptune or was it Chicken of Sea? I was able to ride today. It was very therapeutic and I was amazed how quickly my trail skills came back. And tomorrow, by about 4 pm, I'll need a warm Epsom salt bath.

I thought I might have trouble having energy for the ride being on the detox and all. I haven't been able to stay as prepared with my meals. I've been eating a lot of apples because we bought a box of Fuji's. I'll throw some veggies in my smoothies: carrots, celery and beets. My digestive system has been moving steady. I eat three meals; I eliminate three times. I've been losing weight, not my wish. I've tried to up my calories and protein. Hopefully I've levelled off. With a little more consistent exercise I can put some muscle on.

I've challenged a few things back into my diet. Eggs, almonds, oatmeal, and tonight because of guests I ate my wife's delicious salad with a little Gorgonzola. So far no reactions, but I haven't felt like I had any strong food sensitivities. I do notice if I eat certain grains too often I might get a minuscule patch of eczema and just not feel as good. Prior to the detox I'd been hitting some super-dark chocolate and sweetened banana chips fairly regularly. The night before I started I polished off our supply. I've missed something sweet and crunchy in the evening sometimes. I try to eat a hardy dinner and maybe have a piece of fruit and don't have the snack attacks.

Only one week to go. The other day I told my wife maybe I should give up eating anything with added sugar for a year. She thought that was extreme. I thought to myself... "I could do that." I probably won't. But After this detox my desire for sweet has been reset again and eating our low-sugar homemade delights will be just fine. I don't plan on buying any more banana chips.

Next time I'll talk about how it's important to rotate your diet, daily and seasonally. Food allergies are borne from repetition and excess.

21 Day Detox......Day 11 - 12

Cruising along now, I wish I could say I'm not even tempted by the cheese and rice chips my wife is munching on while we chat in the kitchen. I had to turnaround and converse while I searched the cupboard for some kosher snack that had somehow just magically appeared there to satisfy my desire for salty and crunchy. Alas, I had to resort to my banana coconut pudding with a little cocoa. I topped it off with cracked-cell chlorella, a detoxifying blue-green algae, and feel even more satisfied in my mind and palate. It's really pretty good (I have a greenish-brown ring around my mouth).

Over the last few years when I speak on detoxification and lead patients through the process, I am always asked about other programs, The Master Cleanse, Isagenix, liver flushes, etc. Although there are many I haven't looked closely at, the one's I've examined often come up short. Some of these do work to some degree, weight loss, an improved sense of health, but I've found most of them lacking what I consider basic and important attributes in a healthy cleansing or detoxifying diet.

For example I finally just looked over the Isagenix products, a very popular program. As is often the case I see some real problems with their ingredients. Most glaring is their use of fructose as a sweetener. For all you who read my liver articles recently you'll recall that fructose as an added sugar is very bad news. An effective and safe cleanse needs to support the liver, one of the most important detox organs. Fructose effectively congests the liver and is efficiently converted to fat. Next, I noticed in their fiber product Isagenix uses something called Fibersol-2 (produced by a proprietary method of controlled enzymatic hydrolysis of cornstarch). While this newfangled fiber may provide some of the health benefits of increasing fiber in the diet, it seems completely unnecessary to use a Franken-fiber created in a lab, when all around on God's green Earth is nature's fiber ("so turn Frakenstein into Franken-fine"). Lastly, I noticed some odd herbal additions that could be problematic, especially for those suffering from acid reflux; namely mint.

Not to pick on this one company, but my goal is to really feed the body while detoxing, support the organs of detoxification, and weed-out hidden food sensitivities or allergies. To that end, as we proceed through the last half of the 21 Day Detox, now is the time we can prepare for the "challenge phase."

Right, your asking, "wasn't the challenge phase days 1 through 10 or so?" Yes it was and continues to be challenging at times but one of the great opportunities we have nearing the end of the program is to begin to re-introduce foods back into the diet. One of the biggest mistakes I see by those finishing this program is to start haphazardly eating foods that have been eliminated. At this time, like no other, the body is primed to detect hidden food allergies. Food sensitivities and allergies are quite common, but often undetected. After a few weeks on a diet of this sort, the body will often produce a more obvious symptom after exposure to a food you were unaware was a problem. To know which food is to blame, one must introduce only one food at a time, in a sufficient amount, for a sufficient length of time.

Another important aspect of this program is that it teaches you or reminds you how to eat wholesomely. The diet is not intended to be permanent. It's not an ideal diet for life for most individuals. Dietary needs are individualistic, and I'm not talking caloric needs. Some need more meat, some do OK on vegetarian sources of protein. In both cases I'm talking about eating real food, from real (healthy) animals and plant foods from nutrient-rich and chemical free sources. Keeping your sugar, caffeine, and alcohol intake in check. By the way, have I told you about my nickname for Kettle Korn? "Cancer Corn;" Perhaps I'll explain that later.

Inevitably we are exposed to dietary burdens, intentional and un. That's why I recommend some form of detox diet yearly.

By the way, if you slip up, don't give up! "It's not what you've done it's what you do next."

21 Day Detox......Day 7 - 8

Day 7 came and went. Things are stable. I actually couldn't grab lunch (a shake) until about 4pm and did just fine. Watching the family enjoy patties with melted cheese for dinner was.... forgive me, I had lustful thoughts. But I filled up on baked carrots and yams drizzled with olive oil, 3-Cs (cumin, cinnamon, cayenne), and salt; and artichoke dipped in olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Dessert was banana, ground flax, psyllium, stevia, unsweetened cocoa powder and chopped apple. Oh, and I also found a few stale brown rice crackers in the cupboard and dipped them in some salsa.

This morning, however, I am enjoying waffles right now! Last night I put some batter on to soak. How am I enjoying waffles on the 21 Day Detox you ask? In the past I've explored waffle making to the point of trying just about every variation of wheat-free, gluten-free, grain-free, etc. etc. This morning's version was made with lentil flour, black quinoa flour and a little brown rice flour. Soaking grains is an institution in our house. There are no eggs in this recipe, just a bit of guar gum and arrow root, salt, dash of vinegar, baking soda, melted ghee and high heat safflower oil. I also often add a little vanilla and stevia. I'll caution anyone attempting this recipe that because of the flours and overnight fermentation, it is prone to stick and brown. You have to watch the iron and open carefully. Still it came out. The whole family ate them. That along with today's smoothie surprise, the usual fruit with carrots, celery, and purple cabbage.

I have to run... stayed tuned.

I'm back. We had to run off to the last day of the farmers market. It's colder now than winter in San Jose. I have to say that Spokane has felt a lot like Seattle since moving here last April. We've really missed our year-round farmers market at Princeton Plaza, the citrus, yams, persimmons, and all the other fresh produce. But the changing leaves are beautiful. A little sunshine would be nice to. Halloween here will look like a bunch of kids in the same costume: "vinter-vare."

Something I've noticed while on this detox is how pervasive added sugar is in our lives and how much we desire it. If you've followed my blog you know I've addressed this before, but I'm reminded of how we are wired to fall for sugar. Sugar lead us to life supporting calories in times past. Now it's used like a drug to spike every packaged food under the sun, almost.

Now at day 8 I have found that my sense of smell and taste are amplified. Fresh produce is so full of flavor. I can smell cheese from three houses down (or at least from across the room). Dinner tonight was what I call open burritos, something we have regularly, but I ate mine with some modifications- a brown rice tortilla, black beans, lettuce, bell pepper, saute'ed veggies, avocado (essential food for this diet), cayenne, salsa, and my cheese substitute (all-purpose sesame seed savory spread). The way we eat this is to basically build a salad on your plate, top with black beans and everything else. I warm the tortilla and then fold and tear it into fourths. Using the fourth with a fork I scoop and eat. It's easier to get plenty of the veggies and stuff without the back of your burrito exploding. For dessert I watched the girls enjoy homemade Halloween cookies with Sunspires. After a week it's easier to not even think about eating the cookies. I did have to ask Jill to move the grated cheese away from me during dinner because every time I looked at it I wanted to grab some and put it on my plate.

Happy Halloween

21 Day Detox......Day 6

Only day 6! How long can this go on? I'm having random thoughts of baked goods thanks in part to my wife mentioning Rocket Bakery and cinnamon rolls. So spouses out there, if your mate is on a detox diet for 21 days (1st off try to be on it to) try not to eat like business as usual or at least keep your gustatory fantasies and indulgences to yourself.

Actually my wife is a Godsend. To be married to someone as passionate as I am (well almost) about good health helps. Much of our meal prep, at least for dinner, just needed little adjustments to stay within the diet. We had begun to eat a little more wheat products here and there. It seems especially easy with children to gravitate to the processed snack foods and "Annie's Mac N Cheese Bunnies." I was making this for my girls the other day for lunch and realized that it's probably just as nutrient devoid as the Kraft version. OK, it's organic so you aren't getting as many pesticides/herbicides and you are supporting sustainable agriculture, but I hope no one thinks noodles made of refined white wheat flour and mixed with some reconstituted cheesy sauce is a balanced meal. I personally don't find these boxes much more convenient then say cooking up some quinoa, add a little butter, salt, brewer's yeast, and romano cheese. Of course I know the kids like the little bunnies or shells better. So... just add some rice bran or something to provide some fiber, B vitamins, and minerals. Vegetables anyone? Kids (and adults) can't live on white flour and sugar alone.

The timing of this detox hasn't paired well with the weather. Ideally you want to do a fall diet of this sort before the cold sets in. For someone who grew up with endless Indian summers, eating fresh produce year round, this is a little rough. I weighed myself today and think I might need to increase my calories. But then again, what is the ideal weight for a 42 year old male who's 5' 8 1/2" and isn't working out enough? Probably less than we might think. Do a little reading about longevity and caloric intake and you'll discover that the fountain of youth is eating just enough to stay healthy.

We are all imbued with natural mechanisms to eat (assimilate) the right amount of calories. And not just calories but of what sort, animal, vegetable, mineral. The data is in.... and is overwhelming; placing a laboratory animal (or you and me) into the feeding experiment we now find ourselves, a world with drive throughs and the nutritional catastrophe that are our grocery stores, and we end up with high rates of excess body fat, deficiency, poor fitness, and all the diseases that result: cardiovascular dz, diabetes, hypothyroidism, cancer.............................

These foods fool our bodies and minds to think we are being well nourished when in fact we are being poisoned.......... slowly. They fill our bellies but leave our cells wanting..... for the stuff they need to run, not just the fuel, the oil, the coolant, the cofactors and detoxing agents that the body uses to prevent self-destruct.

Think about it.

Soon I get a serving of meat; it that Monday or Tuesday? I will dream on that. In the mean time I'll whip up something exciting for my evening snack

21 Day Detox......Day 5

This was a good day. No more brain fog like yesterday. If anything, I had a little difficulty focusing, but not too much worse than I might have now and then. My girls have been gifting me with extra sleep in the morning. This morning I awoke to my eldest tapping me and glancing at the clock was surprise to see it was eight-o'clock. I was a little sluggish getting going, but felt fine after breakfast. I made brown rice hot cereal with a little butter and sweetened with blended fruit. The girls loved it and I found it quite satisfactory.

My energy was good through the morning and didn't feel as hungry as lunchtime approached. My smoothie, carrot sticks and celery with sesame spread was filling and lasted me until dinner, black-eyed peas and sautéed kale with garlic and soy sauce. I just polished off an evening snack of pumpkin seeds, coconut, grapes, whey protein, unsweetened almond milk, a cal/mag powder, ground flax, and topped off with SP Cleanse powder. I thoroughly enjoyed this, ceasing the temptation to hit the cold cereal.

I'm trying to exercise more. So far it's mostly stretching and strengthening exercises at home. Did some squats tonight with more stretching. I prefer outdoor aerobic exercise. With the shorter days and colder weather it's been less inviting. I just need to get back into my routine when I lived near Seattle. You layer up, hat and gloves, night or day, and just get out and go. Running mainly. I'd still like to get on my bike before the snow and ice hit. I'll probably have to stick with resistance training with our double-wide jogger stroller and two turkeys along for the ride.

Oh, my family continues to taunt me with candy corn, rice and corn chex, mint chocolates, and plenty of cheese. Maybe tonight in my sleep I'll have visions of sugar plums.

21 Day Detox......Day 4

This morning I awoke feeling like someone had drugged me. It was mostly my head, very groggy. I felt a little light headed as I tried to prepare breakfast and had a few mild waves of nausea. Some of this was my blood sugar but I'm definitely stirring up an internal toxic soup. Yesterday I took my 2nd and 3rd dose of SP Cleanse at 5pm and bedtime respectively. Since just like drugs, doses of herbs should take body weight into account and individual sensitivity, I may decrease to 5 or 6 caps 3x day. I've also found SP Cleanse sits better if I take it blended in the smoothie. Swallowing 7 capsule brings some air into the stomach and I've been having heartburn after my last dose. It's mild and doesn't last. Last night I took a little herbal remedy and it went away.

I didn't feel clear headed until after lunch today. Oh, breakfast was an apple and banana smoothie and some beet. Midmorning I felt low blood sugar so I had a piece of brown rice bread with ghee. Technically the program allows cooked brown/wild rice, but I caution eating things made from brown rice flour, say bread, pasta, crackers, and tortillas (it's easy to get too much starch). Lunch was leftover vegetable soup, winter squash, and a brown rice cake (yes, that's my second serving of rice today) with sesame spread on it. My gourmet dinner, exquisitely prepared by my lovely wife, was spaghetti squash with a vegetable sauce. Not sure everything that was in it but I think it included kale, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, garlic, EV olive oil, Redmond salt, basil, oregano, thyme, and a little balsamic vinegar. I topped it with a little brewer's yeast. I also put some butter on my squash.

I didn't seem to have any cravings today. I've been keeping up my water intake to about 64oz without too much trouble. I've been lucky to drink half that prior to the detox. The only way to do this is to have a water bottle bottle you can see the water level and keep it nearby at all times. Oh, the other new symptom I had all morning was dry mouth. My eyes were also dry. I just kept drinking and finally this improved after lunch.

I'll probably close the evening with a light snack. Not sure what yet. I want another smoothie but the kids are all in bed. I'm thinking of jello. I'll have to make my gelatin dessert soon. I use agar, as I suppose that gelatin isn't totally legal. I'd say it's fine after day 10. I'll probably just add blended fruit, beet, carrot and maybe some stevia.

21 Day Detox......Day 3

Today everyone slept in a little, which felt great but made for a crazy morning. I managed to get the girls fed with my buckwheat pancakes from the freezer, topped with blackberries and honey-molasses syrup. Then I made them a smoothie to split and finally I made mine with one golden delicious apple, a few remaining raspberries out of the freezer, a little ground flax and all the supplement powders. I made a double batch so I could have it for lunch.

Made it to the office and felt good this morning, very satisfied and alert. By noon I was feeling hungry and made cheesy bread for my daughter (picked her up from preschool and she wanted to have an afternoon with daddy). I gave her some roasted salted mixed nuts I had at the office as an appetizer and I was salivating at this point. It's amazing how acute your sense of smell and taste become while doing a detox. I finally pulled out my smoothie from the fridge and had that with some baby carrots, celery and an apple. I was content after that. I didn't feel hungry until about five when we finally headed home.

I haven't had cravings or low energy. Quite the contrary; I have more energy, seem to sleep more soundly, and my bowels are working well. The only time I desire something outside the diet is when I see or smell it. This is more difficult having my family eat outside the program. But we generally eat very healthy, so it's not like they are holding a Big Mac and fries in my face and saying, "naanahhh naanahhh na na nahhh!" On the way home from the office in the car, my daughter said, "it smells like popcorn." I didn't smell it but it made me want it, and then I could smell it... in my mind's nose.

Dinner was leftover lentils, korma and rice. While the family topped their lentils with plain cream top yogurt, I added my sesame spread, which really tastes great. I'm feeling very good now; I may just have some cut up fruit in a bit.

By the way, this detox is an excellent way to detect food allergies/sensitivities. On day 22 I can begin to add foods back into my diet, one at a time. This can elicit a reaction even though I've previously never noticed anything.

21 Day Detox......Day 2

Good day and welcome to day 2. Things went well today. A little churning inside but things are moving in the right direction, if you catch my drift. The point of doing a cleanse or detox is to move things that shouldn't be in the body, out of the body. I wanted to highlight the main herbal product I am using for the first week to support and open the detox pathways in the body.

SP Cleanse from Standard Process is an impressive list of herbs formulated to support the emunctories (elimination organs). Here are the ingredients:

Juniper berry powder (Juniperus communis), red clover (flower) powder (Trifolium pratense), collinsonia (root) powder, apple pectin, burdock (root) powder (Arctium lappa), barley (grass) powder, dandelion (leaf) (Taraxacum officinale), Spanish black radish (root), Oregon grape (root) powder (Berberis aquifolium), cayenne pepper powder (Capsicum annuum), fenugreek (seed) powder, choline bitartrate, inositol, globe artichoke (leaf) (Cynara scolymus), fennel (seed), oat flour, dried beet (leaf) juice, beet (root) powder, milk thistle (Silybum marianum) (80% silymarins), Tillandsia usneoides, carrot (root) powder, broccoli (whole plant) powder, and kale (whole plant) powder.

"The phytonutrients from these multiple ingredients help the body eliminate toxins that originate in the environment, as well as metabolic toxins that are given off internally. The vitamin complexes, minerals, and phytonutrients in SP Cleanse support the body's internal waste-removal systems to encourage healthy kidney function, help purify the blood, support lymphatic system function, promote efficient gastrointestinal elimination, and maintain healthy liver detoxification function."

I will consume 150 capsules of this over the first seven days. Then the diet and protein/nutrient shakes continue for the duration of the program. Why go through all this trouble?

Obviously the "carrot" for some is guaranteed weight loss, lowering BP without drugs, or maybe giving that statin drug the boot. These are all worthy motivators, but for me none of these are why I'm doing it. I weigh the same as I did as a sophomore in high school, I have low blood pressure and my cholesterol level is ........ I actually don't know but 5 years ago it was normal (by the way, cholesterol level is a red herring).

My motivation is the same as it was ten years ago when I buried my father after he succumbed to pancreatic cancer. I decided I can either live in denial or fear, or be proactive in caring for myself and others. To that end I've encouraged my patients to seek a healthy path. Inevitably we all live in a world that exposes us to increasing levels of toxins, those from without and those we make inside just by being alive.

I battle the same forces as everyone else, the desire for easy pleasure- quick unhealthy food, while not exercising (though I do find some types enjoyable if I'd just make the time) and not getting enough sleep. Anyway, so since grad school I've certainly amassed additional strains on my body that can be helped by a purification process. Just like fasting regimes or retreats, the idea is to clean the inside of the body (physically, mind and spirit). Satiety mechanisms are reset, habits are broken, new ones are made and I am reminded of the supreme responsibility I have in my own health. Not my genes, not my parents, not MacDonald's, not fate, not my victim status.

So back to today. To hasten the GI tract I added beet to my smoothie at lunch and it did the trick. I had some vegetable stew and apple. Then dinner was vegetable korma, lentils, and brown rice. Sound boring? Not when it's made with fresh homemade ghee (google it), fresh ground spices for the curry, coconut milk and sea salt. Since I couldn't eat the homemade pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting that Jill made, I'm hunkering for my banana chocolate pudding....

Mashed banana

1 heaping tablespoon of ground flax seed

1/4 tsp of stevia powder

dash of cinnamon

1 tbsp of carob powder (OK, I'm out, so I used organic unsweetened cocoa powder)

enough liquid to mix it into a delicious gelatinous dessert

Oh, and topped with shredded coconut.

Tomorrow it's time to take the detox diet to work. Wish me luck.

21 Day Detox......Day 1

I've decided to embark on a cleanse/detox for the next 21 days with a few of my patients and thought I'd post updates on how things are going.

The program involves an all-you-can-eat paleolithic diet with no grains except at most one serving of brown or wild rice, millet, or quinoa per day; up to two servings of lentils; eating twice as much vegetables as fruits; no corn, potatoes, soy, eggs, dairy, animal products EXCEPT organic unsalted butter or ghee; no sugar, sodas, fried foods, unhealthy oils, HFCS, canola oil, margarine, shortening, and most processed foods with additives. One serving of wild fish, FR chicken or turkey, wild game or grass-fed beef or bison is allowed after day 10. The core of the program is protein/fiber shakes, 2-3 per day, with a greens and fruit powder. In addition, there is an intensive herbal supplement to support the detoxification pathways in the body.

Today was a little rough watching the family eat one of our usuals for breakfast- apple pie oatmeal... a proprietary recipe. After my first smoothie I had to make a sesame butter spread to dip my baby carrots in or fear I'd fade away before high noon. Lunch was another blackberry smoothie, green salad with a vineigrette and pumpkin seeds. Dinner was winter squash soup, a little brown rice.. and yes, a slight "cheat;" we had left over salmon enchiladas made with Ezekial sprouted tortillas. Yes there was a little cheese, potatoes, corn, and black beans in there, but I limited my portion and it was for the sake of using up leftovers. (Hopefully none of my patients will read this.)

Really this program is about taking a break from unhealthy patterns and really allowing the body's elimination pathways to work unhindered. My weakness lately- banana chips fried in coconut oil and lightly sweetened. Oh, and very dark chocholate; like so dark I have to eat it wearing a headlamp. Anyway, hoping I can get to bed early... at least earlier than usual.

Stay tuned for my Klingon banana pudding recipe that will definitely be made (and eaten) tomorrow.