Green Smoothie 5 Day Challenge – October 12th to 16th
We challenge you to join us and Seven Shores and drink one Green Smoothie each day for 5 Days – starting after Thanksgiving Weekend from Tuesday Oct.12th to Saturday Oct. 16th. See how you feel after … we will have a follow up on facebook.
Benefits to the Seven Shores Green Smoothie Challenge:
Creating a Habit of Drinking Green Smoothies
To help begin building our Immune Systems for the winter
To have Increased Energy all day long
To use the kale, spinach, carrots and other greens, veggies and fruit from our local farms … the combinations taste great … you have to try it!!
How the Seven Shores Green Smoothie challenge works:
Each day Seven Shores Cafe will make a fresh green smoothie for you in a 946ml (32oz.) Mason Jar.
Cost is $35 for 5 Green Smoothies (pre-payment can be made in cafe)
Pick up Smoothie in the Cafe anytime between 7am and 7pm
Return your mason jar the next day and receive your next smoothie
A chart will be in the cafe – tracking your number of smoothies consumed
On Saturday 16th receive recipes of the 5 smoothies
If you have a juicer at home and would like to do it yourself – we can provide the produce, juice and recipes for you to pick-up on Tuesday – $25 fee.
Information Night (location – Cafe):Thursday October 7th from 7pm to 8pm:
To know more about Building up Your Immune System and the Benefits of Drinking Green Smoothies – Come and Listen to Kristijana Rakic, ND – www.vibrant-living.ca You will also have a chance to sample a green smoothie and ask any questions about the challenge.
Seven Shores Cafe is about using local and organic produce and other products on their menu in support of the local farmer and keeping the food fresh and nutritious. The challenge is during the time of National Organic Week – supported by Canadian Organic Growers – Waterloo Chapter www.cogwaterloo.ca. The greens and veggies used to make the smoothies will be coming from our local organic farms: Pfennings, Fertile Ground and Transpire Organic Farm!
Since energy is in such high demand it’s important to explore where our body’s energy comes from so we can figure out how we can get more.
Where does energy come from?
Energy is produced by the trillions of cells in our body, therefore in order to gain more energy we need to address the health of our cells.
There are three essential components that determine how well a cell functions:
Oxygen
Water and
Elimination of Waste.
Oxygen
Oxygen is the source of all energy in the body. Without oxygen our cells wouldn’t be able to do any work. All metabolic processes in the body such as assimilation (absorption), elimination of waste, respiration, circulation and digestion requires energy.
So how do we get more oxygen?
The answer is simple, we need to breathe better, and by this I mean real deep diaphragmatic breathing – commonly practiced in yoga and meditation. Deep Breathing is simple and just practicing 10 deep breaths twice a day is a great start that only takes minutes out of your day, yet leaves you feeling much more energized.
To help you learn how to breathe deeply you can pick up CD’s or take yoga classes. You can also look on the web for videos that demonstrate diaphragmatic breathing. There are two videos that I found to be helpful in getting you starting on diaphragmatic breathing.
The first video explains the location of the diaphragm in the body and how it moves in relation to other organs.
The second video is a one minute demonstration of diaphragmatic breathing.
In addition to giving your cells an essential ingredient to make energy, diaphragmatic breathing is an excellent way to relax and calm down the nervous system. When you’re feeling stressed or anxious you can stop and take 10 deep diaphragmatic breathes essentially anywhere – your office desk, your car, in the elevator and so on.
Water
The second ingredient necessary for your trillions of cells to produce energy is water.
Water is the most abundant substance in the body. Up to 70% of our body is made up of water; furthermore 70% of our planet is also made of water, so it only makes sense that we need a substantial intake of water daily for optimal cellular function. Water is the medium in which all cellular reactions occur, thus if we are dehydrated even slightly it reduces cellular function, hence reducing our overall energy.
The recommended daily intake of water is one half your body’s weight in ounces. For example, if you weight 200 lbs, half your weight would be 100 lbs, thus you would need 100 ounces of water daily. There are 8 ounces in one cup of water, or 32 ounces in a litre. Therefore a 200 lb individual would need to drink 3 litres of water daily to stay well hydrated.
So how do we get more water?
The best way to tackle your hydration is by observing the colour of your urine. If you urine is clear or faint light yellow and odourless you are well hydrated. If you find your urine to be darker yellow and has an odour it’s a good indication that you are dehydrated.
If you find yourself thirsty it’s an indication that you are dehydrated. Don’t wait to feel the thirst to drink water. You body usually sends out thirst signals well after the fact of dehydration.
In addition to drinking water you want to consume approximately 75% of your diet in the form of raw uncooked food due to its high water content. This includes fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, and cold pressed oils.
Use freshly cut lemon or lime slices to spice up your water, oranges slices are very zesty and work well too. Over the summer months you can increase your water consumption through the use of herbal iced teas. As a rule of thumb, half of your daily water consumption should be in the form of pure water and half can be in other forms such as herbal or green tea.
Dextoification
The last component to producing optimal cellular energy is the ability of the cell to eliminate waste, also known as Detoxification.
Every cell in our body produces a natural waste as a bi-product of the work it does, and in order for the cell to be able to continue function optimally it has to remove that waste to make room for future waste. One of the biggest obstacles to detoxification and waste removal is that in addition to the natural waste our body produces, it’s also faces with environmental toxins and toxins from the food we eat and the water we drink, making it twice as hard to keep up with the detoxification process.
One of the most important components to waste removal is our lymphatic system. Stay tuned for the next blog which will discuss the lymphatic system in detail.
In order to support detox you need to:
Do a couple of really good cleanses each year with the fall and spring being the best seasons to embark on a cleanse.
Be putting healthy cleansing practices into everyday use to keep up with waste removal.
Some quick and easy tips on daily cleansing include:
Increase green leafy vegetable intake (green smoothies are fantastic – check out Newsletter 14 for recipes on green smoothies)
Eating whole foods
Drinking lots of water
Daily movement/exercise
Hot Yoga or Infrared saunas
Good quality fats – fish, nuts, seeds or supplements with a fish oil
In addition there are several things you want to avoid that hinder detoxification:
Processed foods
Fried foods and unhealthy fats
Sugar
Toxic exposure – chemical products such as house hold cleaner & beauty products, toothpaste, deodorant etc…
In Summary
In summary, if you want more energy and you want to get more out of your day with better focus and more motivation you need to respect and support all the trillions of cells in your body by increasing oxygen supply, water intake and supporting the removal of waste through daily detoxification!
Green Smoothie 5 Day Challenge – October 12th to 16th