Not only is today the first New Moon of 2015, it is also the Chinese New Year. If you need to double down on any New Years resolutions, now can be the time. Don't give up on your New Years efforts or dreams of a healthier and more radiant body!
What does the moon have to do with diet or my smoothie you may be asking? Well, if you haven't heard, the Moon Diet is one of the latest and greatest diets coming out of southern California and I'll give you the rundown.
The first premise is that occasional or intermittent fasting is very good for our bodies. This makes sense when you consider the fact that we likely were forced to fast throughout our human evolution. Fasting proponents explain that the primary reason to fast is to give your digestion systems a break and allow for deep cellular cleaning and repair. Dr. Allen Sears, who is on the cusp of human longevity research and anti-aging, tells us that with regards to slowing down the aging process, it all has to do with the teleomeres. Teleomeres are the little tails on the ends of our DNA strands and the longer they are, the longer and younger you will live, basically.
Turns out, one of the best ways to extend your teleomeres is to fast. The Moon Diet recommends that we fast twice per month; for 24 hours on the full moon and another 24 hours on the new moon (basically once every two weeks). The assumption is that as the moon pulls the great waters of our oceans creating tides, it also pulls water from the cells in our bodies. Since the full and new moon have the strongest effect on our tides, it stands to reason that this would be the prime time to detox with a short fast. Proponents of this diet say that one can loose up to six pounds of water waste in the 24 hours of the fast.
One way to try this fast/diet is to have a power-packed green smoothie on the mornings of the new and full moons. Then you have just liquids for the rest of the day, until you wake up the next morning.
Your liquids which would be limited to: fresh pressed vegetable juice, homemade broth, water, and herbal teas.
Whether I am fasting or not, I've found that starting the day with a green smoothie will set the tone for the whole day with regards to how I eat. My blood sugar seems to stay level and I don't get cravings because (I believe) my cells are satisfied and have received hydration, healthy fats, and loads of easy-to-use micro-nutrients.
On the occasion I just say "forget it!" and have doughnuts for breakfast I know I am going to be off all day, which is OK once in a while, but I won't feel as good that day (sometimes a chocolate old-fashioned is still totally worth it). But for the day-in/day-out way we fuel our bodies, it has to be clean it has to be lean and it should probably be green.
Ingredients:
1 banana
1 head of romaine lettuce
1 small handfull of raw wallnuts
1 big handfull of strawberries (fresh or frozen)
1 bunch basil (just grab the bunch of greens in one hand and the stems in the other and twist; discard the stems)
1 cucumber-(peeled, seeded, and corsely chopped)
1 and a half cups fresh filtered water
Literally throw everything into a blender and waaz it up until smooth and creamy.
It will end up a bright, gorgeous green which will make your cells absolutely vibrate with excitement at the prospect of getting all those highly acessable, usable nutrients! The walnuts offer wonderful brain fats and the basil (like all fresh herbs) while packed with so many vitamins and minerals as well as anti-oxidants, are also natural anti-fungal and anti-viral.
Please let me know if you try this type of fast and how it goes for you.....
Drink up and Enjoy!
All the best,
Rochelle