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Article: Morning Routines
Because this is the first letter, I thought I would start
with the first things we do in the morning, as those set the tone for our
day. As we all have been told before
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”! The healthier I become, I realize that the
main benefit of eating healthy is not just avoiding disease in the long run,
but rather the way I feel immediately after a meal and for the rest of the
day. When I eat junk I soon feel tired,
emotional and crabby, and when I eat healthy foods I feel light, energetic, and
emotionally balanced. The human body goes through 3 eight hour phases during the
day. Regardless of when you sleep and
wake up, every person goes through the phases at the same time. From 12 noon to 8 pm is digestion. From 8 pm to 4 am is assimilation, and from
4am to noon is elimination. When we wake
up in the morning we are in the phase called elimination. This is when our body wants to eliminate
everything consumed the day before (or even weeks or months before) that are
waste products. For this reason, up until noon, we do not want to consume heavy
foods that interfere with the elimination process. If we do this, our energy switches to digestion, which takes energy away from elimination. Ideally we will consume high water high fiber
foods that help with elimination.
The best thing for elimination is liquids. Most people wake up dehydrated, as they have
not consumed water for up to 12 hours.
Before coffee (which is very dehydrating), before food, before anything
you do in the morning, drink at least 24 ounces of water. This will immediately get your blood flowing
more quickly, bringing more oxygen to your brain which means more energy! If you do not like plain water, you can add
the juice of one lemon, a splash of cranberry juice, apple juice or anything
else that helps you get that water into your body! I typically follow the 24 ounces of water
with a green drink, which is 1 TB of Green’s First, Vitamineral Green, Berry
Green, or any other powdered greens product mixed into a glass of water. Green drinks are very alkalizing, give you
lots of energy, and help with detoxification and elimination. They also help to provide you with high doses
of whole food nutrients that you would get from fresh fruits and
vegetables. With the green drink I take
a probiotic capsule (AKA good flora or friendly bacteria). These bacteria are helpful with digestion,
elimination, immune function, and many other things (they will be covered in a
newsletter of their own!). Both green
drinks and probiotics are available at the center, please call if you would
like more information!
Once your body is hydrated, you can move on to solid foods,
but most typical breakfast foods are not ideal.
They usually involve cereal, granola, oatmeal, bread, bagels, muffins,
yogurt, milk, eggs, breakfast meats, etc.
Most of these are very hard to digest, clogging foods. Not ideal for the elimination phase in the
morning! We want high water, high fiber,
which includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and raw protein powders. My breakfast varies, but most days I have a
smoothie. I also have some raw nuts or
seeds, or a raw bar of some sort (they sell a wide variety of flax bars and raw
cookies in the raw foods section at Jimbos).
I sometimes put raw hemp seed butter or almond butter (refrigerated at
Jimbos) on a flax cracker and then top it with dried goji berries, dried mulberries,
raisins, or dates. Get creative with your smoothies! You can chop up fresh fruit in a bowl, pour a smoothie over top, and sprinkle with hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, or flax seeds. A little bee pollen on top is also delicious! The following recipe will give you some smoothie ideas; remember that local seasonal fruit and vegetables are ideal! You can also try different types of raw protein powders (rice, pea, chia) and other mild flavored green vegetables as well!
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