Today I am on cleanse day #2 of my Isagenix cleanse and my boyfriend comes into my office and announces to me that he is hungry and wonders what he can eat. How can you tell who is responsible for making sure good healthy food is on the table around here? I decided to teach him how to make one of his favorite meals – lentil soup. It is so easy and quick to make that he can be eating it within the hour. You can easily double this recipe.

2 cups of red lentils
4 cups of water
1 onion chopped
6 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 inch of grated ginger
1 TBSP cumin
pepper flakes or cayenne to taste

Sautee the onion, ginger and the garlic either in coconut oil or just steam in water, while they are cooking add in the spices and mix together. Once they are soft, add in the rinsed lentils and the water.  Cover and let simmer until the lentils are soft anywhere from 20-30 minutes.  Eat as is or if you like, blend 3/4 to all of it in the vitamix to smooth it out.  You can add as much water as you like but adjust the spices accordingly.  Other options are to add a tablespoon of lemon at the end of cooking.  If you do not have fresh ginger or garlic around use powder.  I find this to be a very forgiving dish. Enjoy!

This is one of my favourite meals.  It is super easy and really tasty.  I don’t usually measure things so over time you will figure out what works best for you.  I will give a guesstimate as to what measures to use.

Soak black beans over night – about 2 cups
Rinse and cook until tender.
1 medium to large onion
6 cloves of garlic
juice of 1 large lemon or 2 small limes
1/2 tsp corriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 a hot pepper serano or jalapeno – may use pepper flakes instead.
1 pepper – green or otherwise
1 can of corn – must be organic non GMO or forget about it! 😉  Honestly, do not add it.
You can also add chopped cilantro to the base or mince and put on top.
I do not serve this with rice but that is also an option.

Chop onion and grill in coconut oil.  I like the spray from Trader Joe’s.
While grilling add in the corriander and cumin, stir
In food processor chop the garlic and pepper and lemon – I use a vitamix so I put the entire lemon in without the rind and blend it well.  Often people will chop and juice by hand, if you have a vitamix why bother.
Add this and simmer on low.
Add the beans and simmer
This is when you start tasting to see if it needs more spice.
Add in the colored pepper – you don’t want this to get mushy so you leave it near the end
Add in the can of corn with the juice.  You also want this to be a bit crunchy.
Simmer on low for awhile and serve.

If you are on your Isagenix cleanse and are having a meal day, you would eat it just like this with maybe a little chopped tomato or salsa and a 1/4 of a chopped avocado on top.  If you are not cleansing and want to fancy it up, add a dolop of organic sour cream, some salsa, chopped avocado and a few organic corn chips.  Use the corn chips as a spoon. This is a really easy, quick and tasty dish.  All vegetarian and all good!  It also keeps well for a few days and may be frozen.

Use organic whenever possible and if you can’t get organic corn or corn chips, skip them.  Watch the movie Genetic Roulette.  You will understand why.

To your health!

Whew!  Today I am doing a cleanse day.  I do them fairly regularly as part of a maintenance program.  A few weeks ago I had several groups of guests visiting over a three week period  and there was a lot of wine drinking and good food.  After the guests left I did two cleanse days and felt fab.  It has been about two weeks since I did those two cleanse days and I am doing another maintenance cleanse day today and it is totally kicking my butt!  I find the cleanse days interesting.  I coach and support people through the Isagenix cleanse and I am always fascinated by what happens to us, mentally and physically.  I don’t know why I am finding this cleanse day harder than usual but I remind myself that I am lucky to have the option to go a day or two without food.  I also realize that whatever I am feeling right now, is all self inflicted.  If I am feeling crappy, it is because I have been treating my body crappy.  Just because I have been on track with my diet since those two cleanse days earlier in the month, it doesn’t mean that I am going to feel as good on this cleanse day as I did on the two previous.  Drinking too much, over eating… people do it all the time.  With the holidays coming up people will be doing it much more than usual and by January they will be thinking of New Year’s Resolutions.  Why not plan in advance this year?  Mitigate the toxicity levels in your body by #1. reducing the amount of alcohol and caffeinated beverages you are drinking, #2. alternating your alcoholic beverages with water, #3. having a healthy snack or meal before going to a party where they will be serving food and taking some cleanse drink before you go to bed to help alkalize your system – four ounces will do it.  Whenever I am headed to a party or a big dinner I will always have an Isalean shake beforehand. This ensures that I am getting all the good nutrition my body needs and this way I do not show up ravenous to events only to be tempted by all the yummy foods.  If you would like to order some cleanse drink you may do so by clicking here and shakes by clicking here.

Diets and fad diets!  Oh boy.  There are so many out there.  I think that most people should know better but strangely they don’t.  I realize that not everyone is a health expert but really?  500 calories a day –  the equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an apple?  I suppose that people are so desperate to lose body fat that they will put themselves in harm’s way to do it, thinking that maybe this is going to be the magic solution.  The key to getting great results on a program are the following:

• Find something healthy and natural – check to make sure there are no artificial ingredients, colors or stimulants in it.  Stay away from anything GMO (genetically modified organism).
• Make a commitment – 90 days minimum.   This will give you a good chance to turn it into a lifestyle.
• Don’t over commit – I know clients who have gone on Dr. Bernstein’s program. Weekly injections, reduced calories and dramatic weight loss.  When they were sent back to real life on their own, the weight came back, often by 20-50 lbs extra.
• Find a program that can easily be integrated into your lifestyle.  A few months back I spoke with a trainer who owned a gym that promoted the Paleo diet.  He expressed how bored and uninspired he was becoming from eating a daily breakfast of cold chicken and vegetables.
• Cleanse your body regularly in a healthy, non-starvation way.

Here are some details about this diet:

It combines extreme calorie restriction with daily shots of a hormone produced by pregnant women called human chorionic gonadotrophin.

It requires that you eat only 500 calories a day.

If you stick to a diet of only 500 calories a day, you can lose 5 or more pounds a week but you won’t keep the weight off.  Decades of research show that you will regain the weight as the body starts to store fat.  When you try to lose weight again, it becomes more resistant and the body’s protective mechanism kicks in, which is to store the fat for the next time starvation comes.  Losing weight in this manner can create health problems such as hair loss, constipation and gallstones only to name a few.

If you would like to discuss healthy options,  please be in touch with me.  I have used the Isagenix cleansing and nutritional system for over 6 years with my clients and the results are phenomenal.  It has all the components needed to turn it into a lifestyle.  It is not a fad diet and combined with healthy eating, for e.g. the Weight Watchers method of eating (though stay away from their processed food line) is a good way to teach people how to eat well.  You can visit my site for more information at www.cleanseenergy.com and fill out the form for a free personal analysis.