body cleansing foods and recipes

Summer Food Reset
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

 

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Disclaimer: I ain't no doctor, nutritionist, or dietician. The following statements are my unqualified opinions only and do not supersede those of your doctor. Just so you know.

With summer just around the corner we all want to fit into those bathing suits - well I don't, I just buy bigger size trunks. But I'm sure you do! So, I've compiled this article to help you on your way.

I get to meet all sorts of people. And very often, I come across health, nutrition, and fitness experts with whom I interchange information and strategies with. Below are some ideas to give your body a break, and point it back to a healthy direction.

Drink your vitamins and enzymes. Your body is a big chemical plant - it does all sorts of things with chemicals. Hormones send messages, acids break things down, and vitamins and enzymes are essential to processing foods into useable energy.  When you take vitamins in pill-form, you're doing the work for your body. And eventually the body will lose its own ability to get vitamins and enzymes out of the foods that you eat. Not a good scenario. To avoid this, you want to provide your body with the raw materials, so that it can leach out and manufacture its own vitamins out of the foods that you feed it. The best way to do this, is to make fresh, healthy juices with a juicer.

Without getting into too much detail, here are the vegeteables that can supply your body with vitamins and enzymes: Any dark leafy greens, citrus fruit, ginger, beets, carrots, apples, pineapple or papaya (enzymes). Run these through a blender and have yourself a power-breakfast! Mix a little spirulina in there to complete all the food groups.

Avoid sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and preservatives. Why? Because you don't need them. They make you fat, burn your body out, and decrease your body's ability to make its own energy from actual food. You may find that it can take weeks to recover from a high-sugar diet, but don't worry. Your body's ability to make energy will start working again and you'll start to have energy once more.

Allergies can make you fat and tired. The most common food allergies are: gluten (wheat), corn, soy, dairy, and peanuts.  Take them out of your diet for just 2 to 3 weeks and you may notice how good you feel (and look). To find out if you're allergic to any one of them, simply add them back into your diet one at a time and notice how you feel after eating them. If you're good, keep eating them. If they make you feel tired, head-achy, bloated, etc.. Eliminate them from your diet.

Exercise. Yes. What are you eating for if you're not exercising? Food is fuel. Use it or store it, the choice is yours. Many experts encourage people to "rebound" on a trampoline, jump rope or take part in any activity which makes your body bounce. This is so that your lymphatic system (the system that cleans your cells and organs) flows quickly. Since your lymphatic system does not have a pump (like your vascular system), it requires gravity to help move the impurities out of your body. Exercise speeds up your lymphatic system tremendously. This helps keep you healthy and helps you to lose weight.

You don't need to be a vegan. Seriously. Your body is happy to eat animal meat, and thrives on it. I've never met a vegan I couldn't beat in an arm wrestling competition!

Meat protein, along with vegetables, a little exercise, and non-allergenic carbohydrates make a strong, healthy body.

This year, it's different

This Year, It’s Different.
By: Chef Cristian Feher
www.tampabaychef.com

Wow, 2011. What a year! Kim Jong Il is dead, Justin Bieber sprouted a generation of kids with ridiculous hair, Schwarzenegger’s hanky-panky with the cleaning lady came to light, and you probably gained a couple of pounds. But 2012 is going to be different.

What resolutions have you made? Have you recycled last year’s resolutions again? Most of you probably woke up (late) on Jan 1st and said to yourselves, “This year is going to be different. I’m going to lose weight, get in shape, make more money, be happier, and make a difference in the world!” And although you may have failed in previous years, this time it’s going to work. You know why? Because one of my resolutions was to help you do it!

When I woke up on January first I tried to remember some of the wise things people have said to me over the years. I knew that I remembered these things for a reason - so, why not actually put them to use? Here they are:

“Money is a result of attracting positive attention by providing people with what is needed and wanted. Find out what is needed and wanted. Provide it.” -- A very wise man with a lot of money.

“Stay out of the attic! There are monsters up there [and a vast collection of gentleman's magazines].” -- My grandfather.

“Every day is a new chance to start again.” -- Tammy.

“Try? Do, or do not. There is no try.” -- Master Yoda.

“The only real pay in life is friendship, and the feeling that you’ve helped another.” -- A Buddhist monk. I don’t know his name.

“Pay it forward” -- I think that was the name of a movie. But I believe in that.

Although I’m not necessarily here to solve your money problems, or help you break in to your grandfather’s attic, I would like to help you get the most out of life when it comes to food.

For those of you who had a resolution to lose weight, and get in shape, here are some tips that will help you.

Cut the fat - As you will read in my upcoming book “Fat Chef, Skinny Chef” you’re fat because you eat fat. There are other less important determining factors, but fat is the big thing. Fat packs the most amount of calories per unit than any other food. By cutting out oils, butter, nuts, and animal fat, you’re not only drastically cutting calories, but you’re also forcing your body to use it’s own fat stores.

Go ahead, eat your carbs - You’ve been told for years that carbohydrates are the devil. And you’ve probably also found that not eating carbohydrates (although it does cause you to lose weight temporarily) also makes you feel tired, head achy, angry, annoyed, anxious, and such other undesirable conditions. It’s OK to feed your body carbs. Your body prefers them as its main fuel source. It’s the type of carb that matters most- avoid processed white carbs, and opt instead for healthy carbs such as sweet potato, al dente pasta, wild and brown rice, or just limit your carb intake to reasonable sized portions without any refined sugar in or on them. You don’t have to give up carbs to lose weight. You just have to be smart about them. You don’t buy 100 galons of gas to drive to the corner store, and you don’t need to eat 1800 calories of carbohydrates when all you do is sit around all day.

Move it, buddy! The easiest way to wreck your car, motorcycle, boat engine, or lawn mower is to let it sit for a long time without using it. You would think the opposite, but I urge you to try it for yourself if you don’t believe me. The best way to keep engines (your body is also a carbon-oxygen engine) working is to use them often. That’s why exercise is so important. This does not mean that you have to be that guy who’s wearing neon tights and a fanny pack, running up the street at the crack of dawn checking his sports watch to make sure that he beat yesterday’s time. You can get into really good shape by simply walking 30 minutes to an hour (continuously) every day. A brisk walk - or “constitutional” - keeps your engine parts lubricated and running well, and uses up that extra fuel you’ve been carrying around in the form of fat.

I guarantee that if you put these three things to use, and you keep it up, you will achieve your fitness and weight loss goals in 2012. And if you need my help to plan your meals, please let me know, I’m here to help!

I trully wish you a year of success and happiness. Thank you.