The weather is incredibly balmy today here in Toronto, Canada – it feels like spring! And thank goodness because I don’t know about you but I’m starting to feel the winter heaviness set in deeper. The perfect time to replace a few usual recipes with green detox recipes.

This blended green meal is made from powerful pomegranate seeds, walnuts and kale. The pomegranates make the texture of this gazpacho-like meal very chewy; so much so that you’ll find yourself quickly satiated.

The taste is very green and earthy, and while you sit there munching, think of all it’s living, raw energy course through your blood stream! It ain’t pretty but close your eyes, sup up your body machine and savour this natural `human nitro’ mixture.

Walnagranate Kale Detox Meal

Makes: 5.5 cups (1-2 servings)

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 Tbsp pomegranate seeds
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 apple, quartered and seeded
• 1 handful fresh parsley
• 2 handfuls fresh kale
• 1 cup filtered water
• 0.5 -1 cup (to texture) pomegranate and lime Ceres juice

Preparation

1. Blend walnuts.
2. Add remaining ingredients.
3. Blend until desired consistency.
4. Enjoy!

Tip for seeding pomegranates:

Roll the pomegranate on a smooth surface, a counter or cutting board will do, putting pressure on the fruit and squeezing it. You should hear or feel the seeds loosen from the rind. Cut the fruit width-wise (avoiding the top & bottom). Squeeze one of the ends over a bowl, collecting the juice and dislodged seeds. Take a spoon and scoop out the remaining seeds. Pick out the pieces of inedible yellow rind.

Who wants to live longer? This green detox blender meal is souped-up with powerful, age-defying antioxidants and phytochemicals!

The nutrients found in green cabbage and POMx Tea pack a powerful assault to disease and age-causing free radicals. Studies have shown that both these ingredients have cancer-fighting abilities. (Click here to access POMx studies which say it has more antioxidant potency than red wine, green tea, grape and acai extracts.)

The POMx Teas come in 5 flavours, I chose the delicious pomegranate blackberry for this green detox drink and just enough of it to lend the slightest hint of blackberries to this POMWonderful health concoction!

POM-Powerful Cabbage Detox Drink

Makes: 1-2 servings (4 cups)

Ingredients

• 2 cups green cabbage, chopped
• 2 stalks celery
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• 1 apple, quartered and cored
• 3/4 cup POMx Pomegranate Blackberry Tea
• 1 cup filtered water (or to desired consistency)
• 1 tbsp almond butter

Preparation

1. Blend ingredients.
2. Pour and enjoy!

If you’re as much of a fan of POMx Teas as I am, join them on Facebook! And stay tuned for an upcoming review on their Pomegranate Lychee Green POMx Tea.

Have you ever looked at movie stars and said, “Sure I could be thin and beautiful, too, if it was my job!” Well, there’s a new website that actually pays overweight Americans to achieve their weight-loss goals!

Recently covered on Time.com, HealthyWage.com launched in October when founder, David Roddenberry, discovered research in the Journal of American Medicine suggesting that small monetary incentives triple the effectiveness of weight loss and smoking cessation programs.

The lure of cash seems to be working: 5,000 people have signed up on HealthyWage.com so far. Click here to see a 2:30 minute news clip.

The website has 4 incentive programs in effect this year:

1. BMI Challenge provides $100 from corporate sponsors to obese Americans (nearly one third of the nation) who lose weight.
2. SuperSizer allows you to “bet” on your ability to lose weight.
3. Top Motivator pays you when you’re friends lose weight.
4. Weekly Weigh-in celebrates your success and commitment each week with product giveaways from sponsors and motivational support.

To qualify for the reward in the BMI (Body Mass Index) Challenge, members are required to weigh-in on the website once a week and have their starting and ending weight verified by a physician. If you achieve a healthy weight (typically 30-80 pounds) by December 30, 2010, you will be rewarded $100 for your spanking new slim figure!

It’s free to enter the BMI Challenge. The final deadline for this 12 month challenge is January 20.

Or, while you’re on the BMI challenge, you can choose to “super-size” your weight-loss efforts. Up your ante from $0 to $300 and increase the stakes to $1,000!

HealthyWage also pays America’s Top Motivator $1 for every pound lost by his or her top 100 motivatees in the BMI Challenge. Motivatees are HealthyWage members who designate a “Motivator” within the website.  Example: 100 motivatees x 200 pounds each = $20,000 prize.

The Top Motivator incentive celebrates the important role that friends and family play in encouraging and facilitating weight loss. The winner will be announced at the end of the BMI Challenge.

Finally, each week HealthyWage challenges members to continue their weight loss journey by sharing tips and reporting their weight loss progress in its supportive online community.  On Tuesday at 10:00 pm ET, HealthyWage reports who lost the most weight for the week. Sponsors may provide coupons or free products rewards for weight loss winners.

HealthyWage is an incredible opportunity for those looking to lose weight this year. The website is unique in that it was created based on encouraging results from published academic weight-loss and motivation research, as well as previously tested weight-loss programs using incentives.

Special Offer for Live Lighter Readers!

HealthyWage has graciously offered to give away 5 free SuperSizer programs to allow YOU (at no cost today) the opportunity to get paid $1000 for losing weight in 2010! The first 5 American readers to leave a comment below will receive this special offer!

So, Readers, would you be more motivated to achieve your health goals this year if someone paid you?

Fasting is hot these days. Everyone’s doing it either to lose weight, get healthier or more connected with their spiritual side. Even the most popular post on this blog is a safe, enlightening 3 day fast! And since so many people are fasting, wouldn’t it be nice to know when fasting is dangerous?

Individuals and health professionals who believe in the benefits of fasting will agree that it’s generally a safe practice for the average, healthy person.

Even then, some doctors warn that for the unprepared or ill-informed, fasting can lead to dehydration, faintness or over-eating on non-fasting days. To be uber prepared on your fast and reduce the severity of your detox symptoms, check out a safe, enlightening 3 day fast and adjust it to suit your sensibilities.

Note: Naturopathic doctors suggest that fasting for more than 3 days should be done under the supervision of a qualified health care professional.

If you’re not too sure whether or not you  should fast, check this list of people and circumstances that make fasting more harmful than helpful:

From The New Detox Diet, by Elson Haas, M.D.

• being underweight
• fatigue
• low immunity
• weak heart
• low blood pressure
• cardiac arrhythmias
• cold weather
• pregnancy
• nursing
• pre- and post-surgery
• cancer
• peptic ulcers
• nutritional deficiencies
• children

From The Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th ed.: Read the rest of this entry

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Feeling a bit off or even a lot off? it’s most likely your hormones! Everyone’s got them and they are fascinating, intricate chemicals that require balance or you’ll feel it. Dr. Natasha Turner demystifies hormones, how their imbalances affect our health and teaches us how to regain control of them in The Hormone Diet.

Warning! Before you read further, I feel that it’s my obligation to warn you that between the personable style in which The Hormone Diet is written AND my incredible Hormone Diet results, Dr. Turner has won me over! This may influence the following critique.

Why listen to the author? From her bio:

“Dr. Natasha Turner is one of Canada’s leading naturopathic doctors and natural health consultants. She is Clinic Director and Founder of Clear Medicine – a wellness boutique in Toronto. As an expert in nutrition and natural health, she is regularly featured in print and on television. [I saw her on Breakfast Television!] Her experience has contributed to the design and development of two commercial weight loss programs, which have helped to transform an abundance of lives. She also frequently lectures to both the public and health care providers on topics related to healthy hormonal balance.”

What does the book promise?

The book promises a “6 week health fix” and a “proven method for weight loss”. Dr. Turner has used her approach outlined in The Hormone Diet to “successfully treat thousands of patients with a broad spectrum of health goals.” She has helped people gain much-needed muscle, get healthier skin, cure headaches, improve sleep, ease digestive issues, gain more energy, improve fertility and/or sharpen memory.

Are there are questionable ideas or suggestions in the book?

Read the rest of this entry

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Add in an apple a day and you’ve got a sure-fire way to avoid the doctor’s office and live a longer, happier life. But why walk when you can run?

While this post will be especially useful for those just joining the healthy living bandwagon, walking is for EVERYBODY. Here’s why:

1. The easiest way to make activity a habit. We all know diets don’t work. Or if they do, the results don’t last long after the diet ends. What does work is healthy living which includes (mostly) exercise and good nutrition. Walking is a low impact, enjoyable activity that you can do everyday as part of your commitment to taking better care of your body.
2. Helps you lose weight. Many people at the beginning of their health journey (including myself!) make the mistake that going harder will give you faster and better results. This is a false belief that will actually do you more harm than good! Your fat burning zone is 50-60% of your maximum heart rate which translates into a walk that you’re just about to break a sweat and can still comfortably carry a conversation.
3. Will help you stay sane. Walking is a meditation exercise, if you choose. Walking outdoors, whether it’s your tree-lined neighbourhood or nearby park, is even better because it provides the added benefit of nature. Nature is known to having a calming effect on the nervous system, reducing stress. Read the rest of this entry

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post by holistic nutritionist and health counselor, Natural Neda.

You can’t turn on the TV, drive down the road or go to a party without being confronted with America’s hottest obsession: weight. Diets are a billion-dollar industry; companies spend millions and millions luring you to try the latest diet (low carb, high protein, low fat, no fat, you name it) with promises that this will (finally!) be the solution-your shortcut to a thinner body. Advertising efforts also deeply affect our children, who develop distorted body images and are often on diets as early as nine or 10 years of age.

Our culture touts diet pills, celebrity workouts, convenience foods and trendy diets to help us achieve our desired weight, but these quick-fix solutions have backfired. America’s populace has reached its highest weight in history. About half of Americans are overweight; one-third are obese. Diets steer us away from our common sense and dip deeply into our pocketbooks while eliciting few, if any, lasting results.

Diets don’t work because each person is unique, with different needs based on gender, age, ancestry and lifestyle; how could one diet be right for everyone? Diets don’t work because they are extreme solutions. As in physics, if a pendulum swings to one extreme, it has to swing equally to the other. A diet might work for a short amount of time, but research shows that almost all diets result in a 10-pound gain once off the diet. Diets don’t work because they are too restrictive. People who fail on diet plans are not flawed and weak. Diets by nature require discipline and restriction at levels that are unsustainable by a healthy human body.

Read the rest of this entry

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Do you drag yourself out of bed in the morning or crave a `pick-me-up’ in the afternoon? Do you have low self-esteem, trouble concentrating or hair growing where it shouldn’t?

Hormones control everything in our lives. They are powerful chemical messengers, the communication system between the brain and body. They affect everything from sexual reproduction to mood, sleep, appearance and almost every other aspect of daily life.

Many of us show signs and symptoms of hormonal imbalance every day. Not only do whacky hormone levels affect our quality of life now  but left unchecked, these imbalances age us and increase our chances of developing conditions like cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease.

The answer for hormonal imbalance is clearly… balance! In the quest for optimal health, Natasha Turner, N.D., may be the white knight galloping in to save us all. Her expert solution is in The Hormone Diet, a 3-step wellness program focusing on hormonal balance so we can age gracefully and remain youthful.

This approach to total wellness is intriguing for several reasons:

1. It’s a natural, holistic solution. Dr. Turner recommends and provides direction for an anti-inflammatory detox, nutritional supplements, exercise, sleep, stress management, toxin-free skin care and natural hormone replacement, along with a personalized diet plan. Read the rest of this entry

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You know those really great days when you feel on top of the world? Everything seems to be going smoothly and even when it doesn’t, you laugh it off? These are the days where you love life and appreciate all its ups and lessons because you can see that it’s ALL GOOD.

That’s the power of cleansing. You can actually create more of these effortlessly productive and pleasurable days just by regular cleansing!

There’s a cost, though. It’s a hassle! Even this Easy, Gentle Cleanse for the First-Timer has many steps, restrictions and time requirements between the exercise and food preparation for the all-natural, veggie-focused diet.

This post attempts to make a week-long cleanse silly-easy for you. And you never know, you might be surprised to find you actually enjoyed the process and be feeling so fine by the end of the week that you’ll continue cleansing for a month (the ideal for most people)!

STEP 1: MENTAL PREP

Read an easy gentle cleanse for the first-timer and become aware of the basics. You don’t have to follow it to the letter, just know that the idea is to reduce exposure to toxins, flush the toxins out, heal and repair the body and replenish the good bacteria. This post will also guide you in creating a grocery list (see sample in Step 3).

STEP 2: MEAL PLAN

Read the rest of this entry

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The saying, “We are what we eat” clearly describes the science behind nutrition as well as its importance to our health. But it seems that some believe the way we eat may be just as integral to our healthy living pursuits.

Last week’s Metro article, “Fast eaters gain more,” reported that Japanese researchers found a correlation between eating behaviour and weight gain. Apparently, those who ate fast and ate until they felt full were 3 times more likely to be overweight!

The study, published in the British Medical Journal a few weeks ago, had a respectable pool of 3,000 volunteers. Researchers took measurements and asked questions about other factors, such as eating habits, physical activity and smoking.

The importance of how we eat may not be news to some Live Lighter readers. Back in May, my Naturopath suggested several eating behaviours we could adopt to improve digestion. Basically, the answer is to put a little soul into it and eat consciously.

So do you think it’s reasonable to assume that by just slowing down and really appreciating bodily nourishment, it may actually help in weight-loss?