Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Cleanse: Day 3

Why is buying organic food a necessity? Yeah, it's super expensive, and I can only hope to one day be able to afford purely organic 100% of the time. But if you do a little research, it's shocking what you will find.

I found the following information on healthfreedomusa.com

Food the way Mother Nature made it is clean and wholesome. Your body knows just what to do with it. After all, it has had an awfully long time to figure that out.

Organic food doesn’t contain toxins like pesticides, heavy metals, dangerous industrial chemicals (for example, artificial flavors, colors or preservatives). And everything in it is natural: it’s real food, not "Frankenfood" created in a laboratory for profit regardless of the fact that genetically modified, synthetic foods have massive, well-known health hazards.

Dumb, dangerous food is laced with toxic industrial chemicals and additives because of the way it is grown, packaged, produced and manufactured. Its nutrient density (the amount of good stuff you get in the food you eat) is much lower than organic food while all of those industrial toxins act as poisons to the enzyme systems which life depends upon.

After all, we as a species have only encountered the 100,000+ chemicals added to toxic food and our toxic environment in the last seventy years or so. Our cells and bodies are used to real food: we don’t know what to do, biochemicaly speaking, with dumb food so we are poisoned by it. That’s why it’s dangerous.

And if the food has had its genetic make-up contaminated by scientists who have messed up the DNA of food with viruses, non-food genes, insect and human genetic bits and so on, our bodies have no way at all to deal with this dangerous stuff. This messed-up, dumb food made by smart–but not very wise–scientists working for rich — but not very responsible — companies, is called Genetically Modified Organism or GMO food. Sometimes it’s called Genetically Engineered (GE) or Biotechnical Modified (BM) food.

Whatever you call it, studies show that eating it is associated with slow, gradual organ system failure, perforated, bleeding guts, shrunken kidneys, damaged immune systems, increased serious and life threatening diseases like cancer, autoimmune disease, life threatening allergies, irregularities in the blood system, and a host of other dangerous, and deadly conditions.

And here is the dumbest part of all: this dumb and dangerous "food" does not have to be tested for safety before it is released into the food supply. It just has to have a patent on it. And patents do not take safety into account.

So what happens if you eat dumb and dangerous food? Nothing good and perhaps some really, really bad things. The US is the only country which does not require labeling of GMO food. So lots of the foods you eat everyday probably contain dangerous, dumb food including non-organic corn, soy,canola oil and many nutritional supplements!




It really is alarming, what most of America is eating, including myself. It seems almost impossible to completely avoid processed, chemically-rich foods. I think even small steps to make your diet more organic can go a long way, even if you can't afford to buy everything organic, which most of us can't. And isn't that a travesty that most Americans can't afford to buy REAL food? Food that hasn't been processed or pumped full of chemicals. Very, very sad.

Dr. Junger recommends buying all your produce from your local farmers market, or simply growing it yourself. Buying it there guarantees it's organic because it's local and isn't shipped from South America and doused with preservatives in order to stay fresh.

A family friend of mine is a honest to goodness food scientist. She works for a big food corporation (not sure which one) and performs "experiments" daily. Her experiments include creating food out of chemicals, testing the taste and so forth. Her latest project I believe was creating Progresso Soup. Hearing her stories, I couldn't help but wonder, do I really want to eat something that was a scientific experiment? Do I want to eat food laced with chemicals, toxins and whatever else they put in there to fabricate some sort of taste? It was a real eye opener for me.

Anyway, I think most of us get caught up in our fast-paced and day to day activities and forget to think about what we're ingesting. It's no wonder auto-immune diseases and cancer are rampant in our nation.

Well back to the detox.

Notes from Day Two:
I never really struggled with hunger except around mid-morning. This is already becoming a lot easier. My energy is about the same. I have noticed after I drink the Green Juice, I kind of feel like I drank caffeine. Lots of energy. Amazing that it comes from pure nutrients and not a stimulant-inducing drug.

Day Three: Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Breakfast:
Blueberry Smoothie with Cacao Powder
1 cup blueberries
1 1/2 cups almond milk
2 teaspoons cacao powder
1 to 2 teaspoons agave nectar
1/2 cup ice

Blend together until smooth.

Mid-morning snack: avocado with Sea salt

Lunch:
Whole Foods Grilled Chicken with Southwestern Salad Shaker
5 oz. grilled chicken

Whole Foods Salad Shaker:
Quinoa
Red Bell peppers
zucchini
black beans
sunflower seeds
pico de gallo (tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalepeno peppers, lemon juice, salt, black pepper)
Tomato-oil Herb Dressing (tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, white vinegar, garlic, basil, mustard seed, salt, black pepper)

Organic Raw Kombucha Gingerade (fresh pressed ginger juice, organic raw Kombucha)

Notes: The salad shaker from Whole Foods was super good. Going to have to get that again! The Kombucha Gingerade drink tasted pretty similar to gingerale.

**Notes on Kombucha



Kombucha is alternately known as a Chinese tea, a plant, or a mushroom. But it's not really any of these. It's a living culture of beneficial microorganisms, and in Kombucha's case, the whole is infinitely greater than the sum of its parts! Our Kombucha is delicately cultured - some liken it to fermentation - for 30 days. During this period, essential nutrients form like active enzymes, viable probiotics, amino acids, antioxidants and polyphenols. All of these combine to create an elixir that encourages health and wellness. Kombucha has been used for hundreds of years throughout the world as a daily health tonic. The culture resembles a light brown, tough, gelatinous disk—and because it's a living, growing entity, it can regenerate and create new cultures with every batch. In fact, GT's Kombucha and Synergy are made from Kombucha cultures that are descendants of the original culture GT grew to create his first bottles.

**Information and image found at synergydrinks.com

Dinner:
Green Smoothie
1 1/2 cups of almond milk
1/2 cup of coconut water
2 leaves lacinato kale or Swiss chard, coarsely chopped
1/4 avocado
1/2 cup mango chunks
1/2 cup ice
Blend together until smooth.

Notes: This is not my favorite but wasn't horrible. Meaning I wasn't cringing to get it down.

6 comments:

keelay said...

Great post Ash. You would love 'The China Study'. I am about half way through and while it does have it's critisisms and I don't see myself going 100% vegan or even vegetarian, having done the reading that I have done has allowed me to make educated decisions on what I put into my body has become an important part of my life. A lot Americans really have no clue what they ar eating and it's not entirely their fault. Our culture, government etc. can be very convincing that what we eat is safe, good for you, necessary etc. Anyway, glad to see my BFF and I are on the same page...per usual.

Ashley Blackburn said...

Oh Keelay. I just love you. We always see everything the same.

laura said...

i love kombucha. i get kind of jittery after it. but i like it.

Ashley Blackburn said...

I know. So funny you said that. I'm feeling all sorts of wiggedy wacked.

The Neilson Family said...

Ash so are you making these lunches? Do you go home or prepare them the night before. Has it been hard to find all the ingredients? You are doing good. I am sick about the water issue! any thing else we can do? Did you see that California has less than Utah!!

Ashley Blackburn said...

I've just made one of them :). The other two days I just bought lunch at Whole Foods. The ingredients are usually just at a typical grocery store. You may have to go to Whole Foods to buy some things. I know I am sick about the water too. Ahh!