Fitness

Young Living Cleansing Trio

IMG_0859So, I’ve been wanting to try the Young Living Cleansing Trio for a while now and I finally worked up enough guts to get it! Outside of my Elimination Diet and the supplements I was taking with it, this is my first type of cleanse. I figured that with all the bad eating in November and December (and let’s be honest January), this would be a good time to reset my system.

The Cleanse includes 3 products: Comfortone, ICP and Essentialzyme. The trio didn’t come with any instruction, but I am following the protocol in the book “Inner Transformation Using Essential Oils” by Doctors LeAnne and David Deardeuff. It a pretty simple process to follow:

Step 1: Introduce Comfortone pills one at a time working up to a maximum of 10 pills a day.
   Day ONE: 1 Comfortone in the AM
   Day TWO: 1 Comfortone in the AM and PM
   Day THREE: 2 Comfortones in the AM and one in the PM
   Day FOUR: 2 Comfortones in the AM and two in the PM
   Day FIVE and on: continue on this pattern adding one Comfortone a day until you have reached 5 in the AM and 5 in the PM or until you have a achieves 2-3 good BM’s a day, whichever comes first. (If you aren’t achieving this after a week there are a few tips in the book)

Step 2: Once you are achieving 2-3 BM’s a day you can add in ICP and Essentialymes.
1)Begin with 1 teaspoon of ICP in the AM and PM. Add 1/2 tsp each day working your way up to 1 Tbs in the AM and 1 Tbs in the PM. The best way to do this is to add it to a juice and drink it quickly (There are also some tips in the book for troubleshooting this process)
2)Start taking one Essentialzyme between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner. This helps break down all the build up.

Ok- here comes the gross part– you’ve been warned. You are suppose to stay on this process until you have passed the lining coating the bowel- this is long and black and is held together in a long tube shape and contains the gross stuff in the bowels. It can take a few months to pass this. (For a more scientific description see by 31 in Inner Transformation Using Essential Oils)

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So far I am on the first week, still working on adding Comfortones each day. Here are the observations I’ve made so far
1) Adding one pill a day really makes for easy transition into the cleanse
2) Taking the Comfortone at night will cause a BM within the first 30 minutes of waking- so just be warned if you are a wake up at the last possible minute to get to work type person.
3) Drinking A LOT of water is really the key to helping everything process. I felt much better on the days that I have been drinking a lot of water.
4) I haven’t had to watch what I’m eating or change my diet any and everything has still been fine. I think this really helps with not having headaches. When I was on my elimination diet, I had to cut out so much food and start supplements all at the same time and I was very weak and sick the first few days. Not so with this one!
5) You can take whatever supplements you normally take on this cleanse! I’m still taking my Vitamin B,C and D, Mindwise, Ningxia and Pro Plus!

I’ll be back next week to let you now how adding the ICP and Essentialzyme goes!

Elimination Diet Q&A

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This week starts week four of my elimination diet! It’s been rough, but everyone has been so supportive and great!
I’ve received a few questions so I thought I would write everything out in case you had some of the same questions!

Why all the test to go on an elimination diet, couldn’t you have just cut out food yourself?
I’ve tried this a few times and here is what I’ve ran into. With an autoimmune disease that specifically effects the thyroid, I read anything from just go gluten free all the way to only eat autoimmune paleo. And there are A LOT of things in between. I really wanted to find how my body was handling food and what my body would react to! And I’m glad I did! I figured I would have to go gluten free for the elimination diet, but my test showed my body reacts to Tapioca and Amaranth- both found in gluten free flours and goods. So if I wouldn’t have had the test done, I would have been putting things in my body that it was constantly reacting too.

Why did you pick the nutritionist you did?
I’ve talked to a few people about nutritionist and they have given me great recommendations. I ultimately decided to go with Jessica at Simple Steps Nutrition for a few main reasons: 1) She also has an autoimmune disease and thyroid problems, so she knows exactly what I am doing through and how I feel 2) She is familiar with Young Living Essential Oils so I was very comfortable discussing the oils I am using with her 3) She did a 20 minute free call to make sure we were both on the same page and to talk about my goals. During that call there were a few things that she said that really sealed the deal- the first being that she was going to perform the extensive test needed to truly test my gut and the second being that she doesn’t up-charge for these test. She charges you her cost, plus shipping and some other little fees. If you have ever priced some of these test then you know they can be expensive!

How long do you have to stay on the elimination diet?
Three months! I’ll be honest, some days it seems like it will be over in no time and all and then other days it feels like a lifetime! After three months, I can slowly start introducing foods on my “No” list back into my diet. With a few restrictions- 1) No dairy at all 2) Limit gluten as much as possible/ try to go gluten free if I can 3) Limit sugar and sodas 4) If I feel my body having a reaction to the food (headache, stomach cramps, things like that) then stay off those foods. I will retest again after the 3 months to make sure my gut has healed.

How do you go out to eat?
Very carefully! I good news is, I’m not allergic to any of these foods- so cross contamination isn’t as big of a deal for me. Most restaurants have an allergen menu and I study that before I go to the restaurant. I make sure to tell the waitress I can’t have gluten or dairy when I order and I order everything with no seasoning and butter. My favorite place to eat so far is Henry’s. We have been eating there for years and know the wait staff and I’m very comfortable with how they prepare my food! 90% of the time I’m eating plain shrimp and veggies. Every now and then I’ll have a steak somewhere-but I’m picky about where (because let’s be honest, no one wants to pay $15 for a bland steak so Henry’s is pretty much my go to for a steak)

Have you cheated any?
I have- There are sometimes that I feel if I have to drink another glass of water I will throw up. So I will order a sweet tea, take my medication with it and leave it at that. Normally it’s only about 1/2 a glass. And this is only once a week- if that. Also, I have four chemicals on my “No” list and two of those chemicals are pretty much found in all foods. (They are chemicals that are found in food as it starts to age or ripen- think ripe veggies, or aged meats and vinegar). So I’ve been able to try different foods that have these chemicals in them and see how I react. Like today- I had homemade pickles with my Gluten Free black bean burger patty- Bad Idea!! They were good, but the headache I’ve had for the past three hours after eating them wasn’t worth it!

So- that’s about all! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Elimination Diet: Week One Meal Planning

After 3 days of planning, two trips to the grocery store and a lot of frustration- I finally have my meal plan for week one!

I know 3 days of meal planning sounds like a lot, but I was sick, on medication and knocked out for most of that time and while the foods to stay away from were straight forward, the chemicals were not. High Fructose Corn Syrup is an easy one to find, but Benzoic Acid, Candida Albicans and Tyramine took a little more research. Thankfully, Sunday afternoon my nutritionist sent me a list of these chemicals and what they were in- It made life a whole lot simpler!

So here is Week One’s Meal Planning. Any recipes links will be included. Any changes to the recipes I’ll post at the bottom.

Monday
Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
Snack: Three Blueberry Banana Almond Butter Muffin
Lunch: Turkey and Green Apple Lettuce Wrap with a few green apple slices
Snack: Green Apple Slices
Dinner: Pork Chops with Roast Tomatoes (for Scott) and Asparagus

Tuesday
Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
Snack: Three Blueberry Banana Almond Butter Muffin
Lunch: Turkey and Green Apple Lettuce Wrap with a few green apple slices
Snack: Green Apple Slices
Dinner: Grilled Shrimp with Roasted Brocolli and Carrots

Wednesday
Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
Snack: Three Blueberry Banana Almond Butter Muffin
Lunch: Hamburger with Lettuce Wrap
Snack: Green Apple Slices
Dinner: Taco Night- with Shredded Chicken, Gluten free rice, and chopped Peppers

Thursday
Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
Snack: Three Blueberry Bannana Almond Butter Muffin
Lunch: Grilled Fist with Zucchini and Squash
Snack: Green Apple Slices
Dinner: Stuffed Peppers with Gluten free rice and left over veggies from the week

Friday
Breakfast: Blueberry Almond Milk Smoothie
Snack: Three Blueberry Bannana Almond Butter Muffin
Lunch: Turkey and Green Apple Lettuce Wrap with a few green apple slices
Snack: Green Apple Slices
Dinner: Steak with Roast Sweet Potatoes

Recipes or Changes to Recipes
Swanson-Organic-Chicken-Broth-Ingredients
Vegetable Stock (since I can’t have chicken). There are a lot of great Gluten Free Options on the market, unfortunately most of them had onions, mushrooms and garlic in them. Three things are on my no-no list. So I decided to make my own
* Celery
* Carrots
* Salt, Pepper and a Mix of Herbs that are on my YES list
Add to crockpot, fill with eight cups of water and cook for six hours. Drain, store in freezer bags and repeat the process.

FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP MINI BLENDER MUFFINS
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I had to tweak my favorite flourless muffin recipe
* I always sub Almond butter for Peanut Buteer and I found Juntin’s Almond Butter– which makes an Almond Butter with no sugar added!
* I added blueberries in place of chocolate chips. I will leave those out next time and probably just have these plain.
* I used a green banana in place of a ripe yellow banana since I can’t have ripe fruit
* And I left out the vanilla extract since I can’t have that either
* I just realized i left out the baking soda- not on purpose but because it was 11:00pm and I just forgot! They still turned out fine!

So there is week one! I haven’t made it to Saturday and Sunday yet. I will probably have leftovers.

My Adventure with an Elimination Diet!

Every since we have been using oils, I’ve been getting a little more health conscious. As you may know, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder about twelve years ago. When looking up what to eat I would see anything from go paleo to cut out everything except water (that’s an exaggeration, but it sure felt like it). I wanted to know what I needed to do for MY BODY. About a year ago I was listening to a webinar from a friend of mine and she mentioned seeing a nutritionist and how much that helped her. Ever since then, it has been something I have really wanted to do. Last month, I finally got the nerve to set up an appointment with one! We started some test that would give us a better reading of my gut health and well as my eating habits.

My test included an Expanded GI Panel, Symptom Burden Report as well as a Mediator Release Test. I know, I’m exhausted thinking about it! Here is what the test showed

Expanded GI Panel:
* Many yeast present in the gut (not surprising since that is a symptom of an autoimmune disease)
* Heavy growth of Proteus Mirabilis- not really sure what exactly it is, but it can cause kidney stones!! Cue the flashback to having one removed last summer!!
* Positive for being sensitive to Milk (casein)- which means no milk products….ever again…. not even butter.

Symptom Burden Report
* I scored in the high priority of EVERYTHING (expect for the male only section)
* But the main thing to work on was healing the gut!

Mediator Release Test– blood test which measures if you are sensitive to certain foods
* On the line for Non-Reactive and Moderately Reactive (only eat once or twice a week): Leek, Watermelon, Asparagus, Green Pepper, Sweet Potato, Wheat, Beef
* Moderately Reactive (take out of diet for 3 months): Benzoic Acid, Fructose, Tyramine, Candida Albicans, Cow’s Milk, Cheddar Cheese, Garlic, Basil, Pineapple, Corn, Crab, Clam, Chicken, Tapioca, hazelnut, Garbanzo Bean
* Reactive (take out of diet for 3 months): Yogurt, Amaranth

In addition to these restrictions, I have an anti-fungal diet list to follow because of the yeast overgrowth. Also since I have an autoimmune disorder, she is advising me to adopt a gluten free lifestyle.

For the most part this is only a 3 month reset and then I can closely start adding foods back in. But milk is gone for good and gluten if at all possible. I’ll post my Week One meal plan later!

Clean Eating: Weekly Recipe Roundup Week One

I have been trying to eat cleaner and healthier. I’ll be honest fried chicken fingers and sweet tea sounds A LOT better then grilled chicken and roasted veggies. But I know it’s not the best for me! So .. I’ve been taking a stab at creating healthy meals that have taste. Thank goodness the Golden Drop Society has a Fit and Healthy Facebook page where members can post workout videos and recipes! I’ve been inspired by the members of this facebook group and their awesome recipes (or talent for finding awesome recipes) So, I decided to do a weekly round up each Friday of some of my favorite things I cook during the week, in case your struggling like me!

Here are some of my favorites from this week!

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No Bake Energy Bites from Gimme Some Oven
+ I subbed Almond Butter for the Peanut Butter, They came out a little gooey but still taste amazing!
+ These are the perfect bites if you’re craving something sweet!

Healthy Mexican Chicken
+ My friend Lesley shared this on her instagram account (which is amazing for healthy ideas). It’s actually from another friend, Ashley Cribb (also a wealth of knowledge for healthy recipes) There really isn’t an exact recipe. I added in a coupe chicken breast, sliced onions, taco seasoning, salsa, and a can black beans. Stick it all in a crock pot and Enjoy!
+ Add some rice or anything else to complete your Mexican dish (avocado, chips & salsa)

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Italian Orzo Tomato Soup from Little Spice Jar
+ This soup is sooo good! I did change it up a little, but kept most of it the same
+ I left out the spinach and pesto. And since we are doing gluten free, I used White Arborio Rice
+ This makes A LOT of soup so I also didn’t add the rice to the soup while it was cooking. I made the soup and then sectioned them out, some into freezer bags and some into containers to put in the fridge. When adding the rice I did 1 part water to 1 part rice. I let that cook for 10 minutes. Then added the amount of soup I wanted to the pot and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

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Cauliflower Fried Rice from Little Sweet Moments
+ If your craving friend rice, this is a good substitute. No it definitely don’t taste like the friend rice from my favorite local Chinese restaurant, but the crunch of this dish does tool your taste buds….a little
+ I cooked this on the stove instead of the oven. I also used coconut amnions instead of soy sauce and olive oil instead of sesame oil.