HELLO

Welcome to the first day of the detox!! How is it going? Hope all of you taking part are feeling syked and have worked out what you are doing. If you have any questions please email me and I can blog about them.

Personally I've just started a 2 week holiday in Cornwall and it's warm! Makes up for a long cold wet summer in Cumbria. Consequently I'm having a fairly relaxed approach to the detox food wise but what is for sure is the stress detox is in full swing, which to be fair is something I really need, being a right stress bucket normally!

As I'm on holiday I'm going to write some blogs about none nutritional detoxing, including cosmetics and some mind emotional stuff. Also I will do some about juicing because I have got a juicer with me! Will have to post some photos of that action. Juicers are exspensive unlesss you get a hand winding one like I have, and then they are only about £20.

Warmest wishes to you all
Georgie

NEXT DETOX

Hi Folks

The next detox will be starting on September 3rd! Sorry short notice! It will run till September 22 - the day of the Equinox. For those who are super keen (or badly in need of it like me - I've been verging on a cold for the last week!) then the full moon is this coming Friday - August 31st - if you want you can start then. Otherwise Monday is good..

Remember do what YOU can. Go to the website www.equinoxdetox.co.uk and read about the options of what to cut out. Remember this is about you and no-one else, so do what is right for you and what you have time and energy for. Also remember its usually what you hang onto the tightest that you most need to give up. Like cheese and bread and coffee. But take a positive approach! This is about doing something for you!!

Ok, good luck. Remember the forum is there on the website so if you have any questions then thats a good place to post them, and I will answer them. Plus feel free to join in with any discussion.

With love
Georgie

Why Eat RAW

Raw food is more important than you might imagine. If we eat only cooked food we run the risk of our bodies treating our food as if it were an invader. Our bodies do not react in this way to raw food. 

51% is the is the key figure. If we eat more than 51% of our food cooked then we risk it being treated as an invader. If we eat 51% of more of our food raw, then this will not occur. If our immune system starts to treat food as an invader then all sorts of problems can occur. Inflammation, immune havoc and the development of food allergies and intolerances. In the long term this can lead to serious health problems such IBS, colitis, auto-immune disease, etc.

The key is to mix raw and cooked foods. For example fresh sprouts like mung beans, aduki beans, alfalfa and chickpeas are great mixed with cooked grains like rice, millet and quinoa.

Remember milk or any food that has been pasteurized count as cooked. Raw milk is one of the best sources of Vitamin C. But pasteurization destroys it all.

JUICE POWER

It seems more than ever this year that lots of people are poorly at the moment. Well I guess there's more than one way to detox. A cold at will do the trick. But I think I prefer to be driving the detox agenda with my body. 

JUICING!

I feel very blessed to be the proud owner of a 'masticating' juicer - the Oscar 900. Wow. Yes I am going to start extolling the virtues of juicing, because it is an amazing way of getting things moving in the body. Even if you are not doing a cleanse there is nothing better than a veg juice as a pick me up when you get in from work.  Even my Yorkshire boyfriend, who tends to be anti any food that is green, loves it!

At the moment loving my friend Sue's recipe = 2 glasses of juice:

2 apples

2-3 carrots

2-3 celery sticks

handful of spinach or kale

a chunk of ginger

1/4 lemon or lime

I feel like I've been one step behind myself all this year. Is the world spinning faster or something?


This detox has just started. So it's not too late to join in. Check out the website for the basics. www.equinoxdetox.co.uk

Big Hugs
Georgie

Teaching of the Tao

Happy Equinox Everyone!!

I just woke up to the Equinox in Texas! It was so amazing to go to sleep to the sound of cicadas and wake up to the noise of different birds than we have at home!

Today I'm posting the recording of a webinar I listened to the other night by The Barefoot Doctor. It is a sales pitch for his School of Warrior, however it's really interesting and he teaches some very valuable basic principles of The Tao, which are just great. So if you are into Chinese 5 elements, Tai Chi, Martial Arts or simply want to learn how to become more centered, calm and collected, then its really worth a listen. I'm so excited about it I think I'm going to join the full teachings.

Anyway, here is the link

http://school-for-warriors-blog.com/replay-magnetic-personal-power-9-2011/

Much love

Georgie

Earthing

A couple of years(?) ago I blogged about the difficulty I have breathing through my nose at night. This has got a lot better in the last year, although still not consistently so. I have come to believe that this has something to do with my ch'i being low. If I do certain things it improves and I have more energy, plus experience the bliss of breathing through my nose all night! One of the things that has really help me is understanding and putting in practice the concept of earthing.

Earthing 

This is all about electricity. We are electrical beings. We are surrounded by electronic appliances in our lives, all of which create positive charge around us and in us. So, rather than being neutral or preferably slightly negatively charged, we go around charged up! This causes inflammation, irritation, anxiety and can stops us sleeping well. 

This is not a new phenomena. There are famous winds around the world like the Mistral in southern France famous for making people angry and irritable. This is because the geology that the winds blow over robs the air of negative ions - leaving it charged with positive ions. Conversely everyone knows the calming, good feeling we get from being by the sea where the air is charged with negative ions. 

Earthing is about getting our bodies into the right electrical state and this can be done simply through contact with the earth. Be your own electrical conducting rod, simply by having contact with the earth. Walking barefoot and sitting on the ground will draw out the excess positive charge, calming us down and reducing inflammation. This is a very simple but powerful healing concept. 

Earthing has really helped me and I've had a very enjoyable summer barefoot walking and snoozing on a rug on the lawn. Now it's getting chilly and wet... not so easy, so I'm going to buy an earthing bed sheet. This is an under-sheet that has a silver threat woven through it. You plug it in to the electric socket (it only has contact with the earth) and it earths you while you sleep!

I'll let you all know how I rate it. 

Cacao-cashew snack

I don't know about you guys but when I'm detoxing I sometimes get a bit peckish in the afternoon. Probably because I ate mainly salad for lunch. My latest yum snack that is also really good for you! Is raw cacao nibs with cashews. Raw cacao nibs are really quite bitter, but are very nutritious - full of antioxidants and a great source of magnesium! The cashews are sweet enough to balance the cacao and bring out the delicious flavours. They complement each other so well! 

I take a few cacoa nibs - like 6-8 in the palm of my hand then add 2 whole cashew nuts and swing 'um back. Bloody lovely!

Detox - Personal experiences

Thought I might just share a bit of personal experience. I've been doing these detoxes for a few years now and what I love is what I've learned about my body's relationship with food. 

I've come to realize that my life is SOOO much better for me without wheat, dairy, sugar, caffeine and alcohol. Wow, that looks a bit scary when I write it down. But there it is - it's been a long process getting there - 6 years in fact. First went caffeine, then sugar, then wheat and dairy and now alcohol. Well ok, when I say went, it's not like I never have those thing! Blimey! What I mean is that they are not an every day norm anymore, they are occasional foods. And life is soo, soo much better as a consequence. Calmness, clarity of thought, energy! Feeling happy. 

It's been a process whereby my brain has been re-wired. Foods that previously I would have gobbled up and then felt like rubbish afterwards, now I don't really want...

This re-wiring of the brain takes time and more importantly repetition. This is what is so beneficial about doing this detox a couple of times a year. This is the repetition that our sub-conscious brain needs to starts to 'get it' and turn our tastes and desire around and line them up with what makes us feel great!

Foods that make me feel great

I personally thrive on a diet that comprises of plenty of raw foods; loads of fresh salad, vegetable and fruit; some fish or meat everyday; some grains and pulses; quite a lot of different oils and fats; and plenty of fresh water and herbal teas. Plus superfood supplements like sea kelp, super greens and maca.

What's right for you?

What's right for one person will not necessarily right for another. Some people are naturally vegetarian. I've found that I'm not. If I eat a vegetarian diet I get really hungry for sugar, I believe this is because there's not enough oil and protein a vegetarian diet for me.

Try taking different things out of the diet each time you do the detox. That way you will find out what foods slow you down and which one's make you zing!

Kombucha - quite a lot has been added to that discussion on the forum for anyone interested. Would love to hear your experiences and thoughts. http://www.equinoxdetox.co.uk/forum.php#/20110915/kombucha-866933/

Make your own detox toothpaste

Hi Folks

I wrote about Bentonite clay being a powerful detoxifier the other day and ways to get it into your system... I mix it with lemon water in the morning.

I've also been thinking about making my own toothpaste with it. A great way to detoxify the mouth and you can swallow the stuff to detox the digestive tract to.

This link is to a video by Daniel Vitalis about making your own toothpaste with clay. Love it!

http://www.danielvitalis.com/2011/07/how-to-make-your-own-detoxifying-toothpaste-and-details-on-my-annual-trip-to-peru/