The Good, The Bad, and The Amazing Detox

So many big things are happening right now and I am getting super excited about the up in coming program that is under way. With my last post I have been getting tons of emails and questions asking why detox, what are the benefits, and what will I experience. So I have decided that maybe I should let you all know whats so awesomely amazing about detoxing!!!

Everyday we are taking in so many toxins and chemicals it is not even funny. Some toxins we cannot help but take into our body, these are the ones that are found in our air and water. Other toxins we fully bring on ourselves with what we put in and on our body, food and body products being the biggest culprits. But have no fear!!! Getting rid of the toxins, or at least most of them, can be just as easy if you are willing to put in the time and detox. It is recommended that you do a 3 week detox even season change or a week detox every month to help your body to heal and detoxify itself on a regular basis.

Detoxing not only gets rid of toxins but it also makes your skin look amazing, balances your hormones, give you better hair, can make you sleep better though out the night, increased energy (after detox is complete), shed a few pounds, de-bloat and bring your metabolism back to where it is supposed to be when done right. These are all areas that are highly affected when we have too many toxins in our bodies, and trust me we all, even the healthiest person alive, have too many toxins that lay with in us laughing away. These toxins lay deep with in our organs and cells and build up very easily, the majority of toxins are found in the intestines and your skin.

Yummy Detox Fibre Fill

Now I suppose you are wondering why get rid of the toxins, can't we just live with them since they are all around us. And I guess my answer to that is ya sure you can but you will experience a lot of symptoms that I am guess ing you would rather live without such as; chronic illnesses, auto immune diseases, weight gain, increased risk of heart disease, chronic headaches and migraines, premature aging of skin, imbalanced hormones, chronic fatigue, and much much more. So would you rather detox every now and then or experience these symptoms.

Now detoxing is different for everyone and what you experience also depends on which detox you take part in, as there are many types to choose from. Holistic healing detox's are my favourite as they not only heal the body & mind as a whole but it also focuses on a high nutrition foods combined with mostly raw meals so that you get the most out of what you are putting in your body. With a holistic healing detox the most symptoms occur on days 3-5 as thats when your body is working it's hardest to detox. The most common symptoms that most people experience are; fatigue, headaches, dehydration like symptoms as your body needs a lot more water during this time, mood swings, mild stomach aches and mild running nose. One can also experience constipation for the first two days or loose bowels as your body is trying to get rid of what it needs to. Most of the time the last two is what scares people and they think something is wrong but nothing is wrong it is just your systems way of getting rid of the toxins, however, if you do experience the symptoms for more than 5 days please stop your detox and consult a doctor.

So now you have some basic facts about detoxing, trust me I could go on and on about this topic for hours, but I will stop where I am. Detoxing is a must for some and a choice for others but either way I suggest that everyone complete a detox at least once in there life, if not way more. If you are
curious about learning more about detoxing please feel free to contact me, and if you are wanting to take part in a detox please read my post, Exciting News, the Future is Here. Xoxo my love's!

A delish detox energizer elixir 

Universal Love & the Green Goddess

Hey everyone, I really apologize for not posting the last few weeks but they have been crazy!! Between my boyfriend moving to Vancouver, working full time plus a few extra hours, being there for a few friends that needed me, and then just average everyday things, life has been crazy and the only down time I got was far and few in-between.  But after all the craziness I took the weekend to myself to re-centre, regroup, and just spend a little time with me! All of this me time this weekend really got me to look at what had been going on in my life lately and where all my time was really going, and this is what this weeks blog is about!

In the past year I have spent so much time focusing on myself, or so I thought, I forgot how exhausting it can be when you focus most of your time and energy on giving to others. Now focusing on others is what I kind of do as a job, after all I am a Life Coach and I am expected to help people out for 8 hours a day 5 days a week, but most of the time when I am not at work I am focusing on doing things I like and love, and spend a small portion of time outside of work trying to give to others. I know when I say it like that it sounds selfish and maybe it is but in a good way! You see when you give give give to others (and yourself) and do not take time to receive from others (and yourself) then you become out of balance. And what might you ask exactly makes us feel and become out of balance? Well I will tell ya!! There is this little energy centre in the middle of your chest cavity called your heart chakra that becomes out of balance. See your heart chakra is responsible for universal love and can only work properly when both giving and receiving in your life are in balance. We must be both open to giving and receiving in order for this chakra to work its wonders, open us up to universal love, and not cause us to become unbalanced or cause health issues.

Balancing the heart chakra is something that does not come easy to everyone, especially those who are in the helping profession, parents or who are extra sensitive to others feelings. When my heart chakra is out of balance or just needs some extra love and care I notice a lot of things in my life change; I begin to feel like I have no time alone/to myself, I am exhausted all the time, I begin to let negative feelings such as disappointment and desperation in, I begin letting negative self talk into my space and I get upper back tension. These signs that I experience are just some of many that you may notice but you can easily balance yourself to relieve yourself of any of these. I am going to give you a few exercises that help to balance and open your heart chakra:

1) Tapping!!! For those of you that know me I am a huge fan of EFT (emotional freedom technique) or tapping. To use this exercise to help open and balance your heart chakra take your index finger and your middle finger and begin to tap on your sternum for roughly two minutes while repeating to yourself "I am open to the love of others and I mirror the same love back". This will not only help to open your heart chakra but balance it so that you will not only receive but give love as well.

2) Eat some green food!!!! The heart chakra is also associated with nature as well as love, and green is a not only the colour of the heart chakra but is also the colour most associated with nature!!! So eat some green natural, organic goodies!!!! My favourite are green smoothies and kale chips. By feeding yourself good for you greens not only are you receiving the love that nature indented for us but you are also giving yourself love and respect thus opening your heart chakra.

3) Mediation, meditation, meditation. Now I know I say this is the answer to everything but it truly is. If you are feeling blocked or like your heart chakra needs a little love and balancing do a heart balancing/opening mediation. Get into your meditation posture (sitting, or laying down comfortably) and close your eyes, start focusing on your breathing, let your breathing get deeper and deeper, then start to focus on your heart centre, see your heart centre as a bright green light that is open and equally balanced, ask your guides (either spiritual or angelic) to help you to open your heart more and balance it. This mediation is wonderful and can be done in 5 minutes or an hour, it really depends on what you need.

4) Last but not least be open to all the giving and receiving happening around you. Be willing to give love to loves, such as opening doors, a shoulder to cry on, a coffee, or anything; BUT also be willing to receive a compliment, a prize, a day off work, any kind of help at all. If we are not willing to give or receive we close ourselves off to the most amazing kind of love there is, universal love and trust me you do not want to close yourself off to this!

Now I know I make it seem like you should be walking around hugging everyone, helping everyone out, and such but this is not what I want unless you can balance it with receiving as well. See a perfectly balance heart chakra not only gives and receives but it also has boundaries, it knows when to say when and knows what it is capable of and not. Boundaries are something each and everyone one of us can work on, even me. Learning to say no to something is not a bad thing, telling someone that you cannot help them move is not going to shut down your heart chakra because at that moment you are giving yourself love and thus still giving. I do not know how many times I have told people that I cannot come out with them or help them because after working with people and giving for 8 hours I just need a break and this is okay. Giving to yourself is just as important as giving to others as long as you are doing it with your boundaries in mind.

I could go on and on about balancing, healing, opening your heart chakra and same with boundaries but I will cut it short here. If you have any questions, or would like to know more feel free to drop me a line of some sort. Just remember to let your green goddess from with in you project her love for giving and receiving equally, so that you can become open to the amazingness of universal love!!! <3

Heal Yourself...With Your Mouth

Gluten Free Veggie Pasta and Kale Chips!!

Food, food, food!!!! Food is one of the biggest parts of our daily lives and also plays one of the biggest impacts when it comes to the health of our life. Food can not only impact our physical health but it also plays a huge impact on our mental health, spiritual connect, and emotional well-being. A lot of us do not take the time to think about what we are putting into our bodies and how it is affecting us. We tend to make decisions of what to eat out of convince rather than deciding to eat for optimal health and well being, and I was once one of these people. For those of you that know me my diet has changed many times over the years from eating crap take out all the time, to salads every day, to having a protein shake or two a day, to gluten free, and then finally to being gluten free, meat free, dairy free and consuming mostly organic foods. It took me many years to figure out what worked for me and what did not work for me in my diet and in some ways I am still figuring this out. I read tons of books and articles on food educating myself and learning why eating certain ways and items can make us feel better and others can make us feel not so great. Here are some tid-bits that I have picked up over the years from educating myself that have lead to my decisions and lead to me feeling better than I ever have felt before.

All aboard the gluten free train! Gluten is a protein that is located in most grains that include but are not limited to; wheat (this one is the biggest candidate), barely, some oats, and buckwheat. This protein was not actually located in grains 50 years ago but is actually an additive due to grains being genetically modified to keep up with the rate that the human race is consuming them, this protein also helps increase their storage life. Anyway, gluten can affect the human body in many many ways; bloating, foggy mind, fatigue, depression, chicken skin (or the little tiny red bumps that you get on your biceps and thighs), gas, IBS, vitamin deficiencies, swelling of joints/muscles and much much more. Gluten can also make certain diseases and illnesses worse; fibromyalgia, MS, IBS, Crohn's, anxiety disorders, chronic depression, and arthritis. For me, my first indicators of why I should go gluten free were; looking like I was 6 months prego every time I ate gluten, constant low energy, chicken skin, and I hate to say it but gas. Not everyone's body has a gluten intolerance but everyone can benefit from limiting the amount of gluten you ingest. I suggest trying to eliminate gluten from your diet for a week and see how you feel, some differences you might notice are; feeling lighter, more energetic and happier!! Plus lets face it there are some truly yummy g-free foods out there these days...cupcakes anyone?!

Organic vs GMO foods....this I know is sometimes a touchy subject for people because of cost and the old saying what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I understand cost is hard for some people to wrap their minds around, however, how does ingesting wax, formaldehyde and food colouring every time you bite into an apple that cost you maybe 20 cents cheaper than an organic one sound? GMO foods were created for a few reasons but the biggest one is so that the food can have a longer shelf life and grow in conditions that it was not meant to grow in. One of the best examples I can think of are blueberries; GMO blueberries have had salamander cells added to them so they can resist frost and also have blue food colouring added to them as after they have been picked they lose their colour with in the first few days. Now I do not know about you but having salamander cells crossed with my blueberries does not sound like something I want to put into my body. GMO foods contribute to many many health issues but I will only list the most common here; weight gain (yes even though you are eating your fruits and veggies you will still gain weight!), acne, seasonal allergies, vitamin deficiencies, Autism, ADHD, and many more. Now I know buying organic can be costly, and I will be honest I buy as much as I can organic but I do cheat with a few things, here is a list and link to the foods you should be buying organic as they contain the most harmful chemicals and additives: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/dirty-dozen-foods#slide-1.

Meat Free and Dairy Free Cabbage Rolls!!

Last but definitely not least the two touchiest subjects; meat and dairy!!! These are very very touchy subjects and once again not everyone needs to go meat free and dairy free but everyone can benefit from having less of the two in their diets. Meat is one of the biggest contributors to; hormone imbalances, infertility, immune system deficiencies, obesity, heart disease, MS, crohn's, cancer (as meat is acidic and a cancer free body needs an alkaline diet) chronic fatigue syndrome and high/low blood pressure. The Canadian Food guide recommends having 2-3 servings of lean meat/proteins a day and the average Canadian usually ingests about 3 servings of meat and about 2-3 servings of protein making that an average of 5-6 servings a day, and to top it off a serving size is about 3 ounces or the size of the palm of your hand not a 10 ounce t-bone. Unlike meat which has been included in our diets for many years, dairy was never meant to be included in our diets, it was added because humans were not getting enough vitamins from other sources and because of the creamy delicious taste. Human's had to develop a make shift enzyme in their body to even digest dairy! Ingesting dairy takes a huge toll on the body it takes about ten times longer to digest something that contains dairy than it does to ingest dairy free items. Indicators of being lactose intolerant are; acne, hormone imbalances, gas, bowel issues, phlegm in the lungs/throat area upon waking, asthma, vitamin deficiencies, etc. I know what you are thinking; but we need protein and the vitamins from meat and dairy to live, yes it is true you do need protein and vitamins, like vitamin D, to live but there are so many other ways to get these besides meat and dairy. Some excellent sources of protein that do amazing things for your body are; lentils and beans, spinach (yes I know it is true!!), nuts/seeds, broccoli, cabbage, hemp, brown rice, and my favourite quinoa. I would like to note that I did not include soya, or  edamame in the protein sources because 90% of the worlds soya and edamame is highly processed and genetically modified.  As for the vitamins that your missing from dairy try adding more greens to your diet, almonds, hemp hearts, cacao (raw chocolate!), and the easiest, spending a minimum of 30 minutes outside a day. Now like I said before I am not saying everyone needs to go meat and dairy free it is a choice you need to make for yourself, but even simply cutting back on meat and dairy and using other sources to get your nutritional requirements does wonders!! Try having two meatless days a week and switch to organic, free range meat sources and you will see a difference with just that.


Listen to your body, and not society, on what your body needs to function to its best ability.  Your body will tell you what food it can and cannot tolerate you just need to listen to it carefully. When I first started trying to figure out what kind of a diet worked for me I would take a few minutes right after each meal to do a mental scan of my body and see what was going on, then about an hour later I would do the same thing again once the digestion process had started, this helped me to really figure out what my body wanted in my diet and what it did not. Often we eat certain foods because we think we have to, its convenient or because it is socially acceptable but this leads to so many health issues that could be avoided. Not everyone needs to live a vegan gluten free life but making simple changes to how you consume food and why, could save your from a lot of physical, emotional, and mental pain down the road. Plus I must say there really are delish things you can make that are healthy, gluten free, dairy free, meat free and amazing in taste. I encourage everyone to take what you have learned here, do a little research and then figure out what it right for you, after all its all about loving your body because it is the only one that you have!