LIFEBOD

Category: Detox

  • 16 Things To Know Before You Start Juicing

    It’s been a while, my readers. As most of you might not know, I was in the U.S. for almost 4 months. Now that I’m back in Asia, I have a bit of time to impress my juicing wisdom upon you. Here it is!

    1. Choose organic vegetables and fruits whenever possible.
    2. If you have to use non-organic produce, find those with thick skin like oranges or pineapple, so you’re minimizing your pesticide exposure.
    3. If it’s thin-skin produce, avoid the dirty dozen and choose the clean 15 whenever possible.
    4. Use a slow masticating slow juicer to retain the enzymatic and raw benefits (I use a Hurom that I lugged back from Korea). Those regular centrifugal juicers cut the produce and causes rapid oxidation.
    5. Carrot and green apple juice is the easiest starter juicer. I’ll share more juicing recipes in time, but for now, 3 medium carrots, and 1 large apple will yield a good 8 oz glass.
    6. Don’t throw away your pulp. Use it to make compost for your garden.
    7. If you are controlling your sugar intake, substitute fruit with vegetables.
    8. Wash your vegetables with a tsp salt to a 1.5 liter bath to remove dirt and kill creepy crawlies like pests and worms. Scrub the crevices with a toothbrush, or just cut it out. Stuff lives in there.
    10. The sooner you drink your juice after juicing it, the more nutritious and safer it is.
    11. Never leave it in room temperature for more than a few minutes if you live in hot climate. Refrigerate your juice under 8C.
    12. Avoid drinking juice that is more than 3 days old, especially if you live in a hot climate.
    13. You can freeze some juices to stop spoilage, but not all juices will thaw and look pretty.
    14. Make sure you don’t be a hero and juice vegetables that are not commonly used for juicing. Stick with what is common. Some produce are toxic raw (Ie. tapioca, su jai choy, etc).
    15. Drink juice on an empty stomach so that you can absorb the nutrients.
    16. Finally, listen to your body. For example, bittermelon is very good in controlling your blood sugar level. However, if you’re experience hypoglycemia or your muscles are going all tender, cut it out and reintroduce it back sparingly, gently and slowly.

  • The Lifebod Method for Achieving Wellness

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    Health, wellness and fitness really isn’t only about the body. If it were, then all we need to do is stop eating stuff that’s bad for us and just exercise, right?

    In order to be healthy and happy, you have to take care of your total self…

    Mind, body and soul.

    To help you understand the concept a bit better, I hereby present to you, the Lifebod Method.

    mindbodysoul

    I’ve also expanded the methodology to show you what I mean by detoxing and nourishing your mind, body and soul.

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    Mind


    DETOX: Throw Away Negative Thoughts
    The first thing you must do, is stop all the thoughts that don’t serve you, and throw them away. Thoughts like “I’ll never be able to lose weight” or “I’m not good enough” or “He/she left me because I wasn’t good enough for him/her” needs to go, BIG TIME.

    Suck it up girl friend, pick yourself up boy friend. You can’t hold on to the past and waste your future. I don’t need to quote an expert for you to get this concept. It’s a no-brainer here, bad thoughts about yourself is not going to make you happy and you need to stop the negative brain-commentary and get serious about dumping your-sad-self so you can date your-awesome-self.

    NOURISH: Feed Your Mind with Positive Thoughts
    After you throw all the stinking thoughts about yourself away, you then replace them with kind thoughts like, “I may not be there yet, but I’m on my way.” Loving statements like, “I am great at (insert activity),” or “As long as I get up, it’s not over” is what you need to feed your mind with.

    Think of your mind like a garden. Pull out the weeds, trim the bushes, and highlight only the blooms and healthiest plants. You’ll realize that if you spend time pruning, fertilizing, and watering the garden it will start to look more beautiful.

    Exposing yourself to positive thinking quotes help, and only, and I mean ONLY meditate on positive messages and watch things that serve to build you up and not tear you down. Feeding your mind with all things good is key to healing the mind.

    Body


    DETOX: Detoxify Your Body
    If you weren’t born yesterday and have drank water that flowed through leaded pipes, inhaled carbon monoxide, secondhand smoke and ingested anything from artificial sweeteners, flavorings, to preservatives, your body is polluted. You actually need to detox. There are toxins, heavy metals, parasites, bacteria and viruses that lurk around in your body and that needs to go before you can truly heal yourself physically (at least from the perspective of naturopathy).

    There are many types of detoxes out there, but the most popular ones target the liver, colon, and gallbladder. Some are better than others. Just make sure you chose a safe and proven program where you can get support and be monitored as you do it. Also, be sure to talk to your doctor before doing anything, as some programs may not be suitable for you. I’ll share the one I use in the coming weeks.

    NOURISH: Feed Your Body Nutrients
    Usually, a good detox program also makes sure you get enough nutrients to heal your body during and after the detox. Just make sure you add plenty of nutrients to replace some of the loss of minerals and electrolytes caused by the detox. I’d say don’t do the detox and nourishment separately, but really look into a program that targets them both passionately at the same time. The idea is, feed yourself lots of raw juices, organic fruits and vegetables that are high in all kinds of vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

    Soul


    DETOX: Bind and Release Strongholds
    This one is a slippery slope and I’ll try not to sound too much like Deepak Chopra. Some people may not believe in a soul, or that there is a God. If you fall in this category and believe you can be truly healthy and happy without the soul element, then by all means you can skip this part.

    For all of us who do believe there is a spiritual element to our being, and that good and evil happens in this realm, you need to detox your soul too. Things like ancestral curses, charms from black magicians, spiritual blindness, and strongholds that imprison you in any way, need to be broken, bound and released to the care of the Supreme Intelligence (aka God). You do this by meditating on sacred verses and prayer, lots and lots of prayer to cleanse your soul.

    NOURISH: Feed Your Soul with Peace, Love and Harmony
    Remove the spiritual thrash, and nourish your soul with spiritual peace, love and harmony. I don’t want to confuse spirituality with religion, because some people can have one without the other, but as a theist, these two often converge for me.

    As a Christian, meditating on the word of God and praying does center my spirit. I also draw from some of the wisdom from other faiths (like detachment, mindfulness, meditation techniques) is something I find very nourishing. Soul nourishment preferences differ from one person to the next, and some people do it within the context of religion while others don’t. Whatever works to feed your soul into vibrant health is what you want to be doing.

    There you have it, the Lifebod mind, body and soul model of care.

    In the coming days, I will share with you what I’m doing to get a healthier, happier me. Meanwhile, do let me know how you like this and if you have any suggestions on how I can improve on this model, do share it with me.

    Blessings to you,
    Jackie

  • Spring Cleaning: Detoxing My Body, My Life

    It’s been a while. I had been too busy to write a post, though I’ve recently gotten a bit more active on Instagram. May is even busier, and going into June I will be here and there, and everywhere. So I figured I’d fit in a quick one before two more months pass.

    A year back, I was so caught up in the hype of my weight loss that I forgot to share that one of the major reasons the weight was able to melt off (it wasn’t possible before no matter how hard I worked out and controlled my diet), was that I went through a 7-day elimination detox and rejuvenation program — twice.

    daynight

    It’s important to note that I have fluctuated between 68kg – 71kg depending on my dietary habits and activity level over the past 6 months. I was going through a rollercoaster ride with a life challenge, and must admit I indulged in foods I liked while I was on holiday. However, I thank God I didn’t wake up back at 85 kg when I realized some battles are better left to, well, God.

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    Now it’s a year later, and I’m at the end of my 2nd day detox while writing this post. This time around, my body reacted a lot faster, possibly due to the fact that my body isn’t quite as toxic as it was a year back.

    Carrots and carrot juice

    DAY 1
    My healing reactions happened mostly in the first day, with aches on the left side of my neck, sudden itching on my face, and waking up in the middle of the night because I felt uneasy.

    DAY 2
    Today though, things moved into the emotional as my body goes through the process of resetting itself. The general malaise from the sudden change of diet makes me feel a little less like myself, and a little more like what I imagine someone would feel on 10 cups of coffee a day while running on 2 hours of sleep the night before. I feel wired but tired.

    This feeling is not new. I felt this way on both my detoxes last year too, but to be honest I forgot how that felt like until today. I was also a little paranoid in a hypochondriac way for part of the day, because I just felt so insecure about what was happening and wanted to make sure they weren’t signs of trouble.

    But today, the stiffness in my joints are completely gone. My limbs are pliable, my usually dry-skin has retained it’s moisture from the 15 drinks I have a day, and the annoyingly stiff nose I’m super aware of has gone softer. It sounds ridiculous that I notice stupid things like these, but they’re incredibly annoying to breath through a nose that feels like it’s made of rubber – when it isn’t.

    I have no idea what causes that, but I know the detox changes things on the cellular level as I flood it with raw juices and have my glutathione production go up by 600%, using a method I’d prefer not to plaster all over the internet. If you want to know, you can write me.

    My smile lines have dimished from view, and my skin is so hydrated – but I feel a little vulnerable. Like a carnivore who has had all her teeth pulled out, and made to go on liquid and baby food diet.

    But I know, as I have experienced in the past, that good things come to those who wait patiently with positive expectation.

    So bring it on DAY 3!