"New-Life Diet," by Aimee Nadow.

"New-Life Diet," by Aimee Nadow: 

How educating myself and overhauling a modern diet changed my energy, optimism, and weight loss goals. 

(Disclaimer: The following information is intended as educational and is not meant to be followed without the advice and permission of your doctor and nutritionist. The foods and videos below are chosen by myself and I did not receive compensation for any of them.)

Stage 1: 2005-2012

'Eat Right For Your Blood Type': In 2005 I was hospitalized because of a week of Tropical Smoothies which lead to toxic leaching into my stomach, learned more about my blood type, and then struggled to find all of the right vitamins and nutrients after cutting out lots of processed foods, and you can read my story here. 

Stage 2: 2012-2014 

The Asian diet: In 2012 I went "gluten free" for two years and ate a mostly Asian diet while hosting Chinese foreign exchange students. I struggled at first with gluten withdrawal, and then the quick weight loss and energy boost eventually went away as I added gluten back into my diet at the end of 2014.

Stage 3: 2015-mid 2017

Pregnancy and Postpartum: I had the delightful experience of Hyperemesis gravidarum (morning sickness for duration of pregnancy,) gestational diabetes and preeclampsia: yay! I ate what I could. Postpartum I nursed for ten months and ate what helped, and naturally my weight dropped, then went back up again when I stopped nursing. 

Stage 4: July 2017-present

"Go Big or Go Home:" Everyone has different dietary needs and restrictions. I've been dogging my own for years so I decided to cut out everything that I think is causing my dietary challenges or may be unhealthy for me in some way. I decided to stick with the following (Thyroid, Adrenals, and Lymph-node healing) diet: 

-No caffeine*

-No dairy

-No gluten

-No added sugar(s)

-Add apple cider vinegar for acetic acid 1-2x/week

-High protein/fiber oatmeal for breakfast everyday

-Add vitamin (whole food)

-Reishi tea detox (every few days)

-Daily calorie limit 1500-1700 plus any extra from exercise 

-Exercise 30 min+ (3-4x/week)

-Add sleep/more REM
-MINIMAL processed foods (trying to eat foods with less than five natural ingredients) 

WEEK 3: 12.5 pounds lost total
UPDATE! Week 4: 13.4 pounds lost total

*I know all of you coffee lovers were cringing and considering ex-ing out of your browser as soon as you read 'no caffeine.' If you're committed to consuming coffee/caffeine and you want some great recommendations of my favorite blends from when I was a coffee addict check out my coffee review. If you're a tea drinker and that thought also makes you cringe you can check out my blog post: "The powers of tea! A review of my favorite blends."   or, my blog post: "The secrets of Chinese Green tea." 

But if you're GENUINELY interested in weight loss or nutrition or body health then I think you should forge ahead and learn a little about your adrenals and why you have to heal them (cutting sugar and caffeine) before you're going to get any results even if you're a warrior in the gym. 

Caffeine Detox duration: 6 days (only 3 bad days) of withdrawal symptoms.

No caffeine day 1: random feeling of alertness/wakefulness

No caffeine day 2: extra energy; did two workouts!

No caffeine days 3-5: Tough days. Uncharacteristically weepy emotions and general frustration. Luckily, still married. 

No caffeine: days 6-current: No cravings for coffee, only any 'hot' beverage in the morning; craving lasts for only about fifteen minutes (old habit) and then goes away.
(For "cheat" days during and post caffeine detox: Decaffinated almond milk or soy Starbucks latté with sugar-free vanilla and their Canadian bacon certified gluten free breakfast sandwich.)

Gluten Detox and Sugar Detox duration: 14+ days of symptoms.

My Gluten detox did not coincide with my caffeine detox so that I could better monitor the overall withdrawal symptoms. It was worse than the caffeine detox. Many days of a zombie-like "brain fog." The thought of eating gluten by accident and having to start that detox all over again is frightening. 

• Additional note: My old list of "Top Ten Detox foods," can be found here.) Now I would substitute the Bolthouse Green Machine type-drinks (so much sugar) for the Suja Daily Greens.
• Alternative Organic Products review: http://nadow.blogspot.com/2013/09/2013-organic-product-review-guide.html

So why did I go to these diet changing extremes? I learned that I had completely worn out my adrenal glands from decades of caffeine intake and sugar consumption and that my lymph nodes were chronically swollen and I wanted to heal them. These issues are fairly common amongst Americans. To learn how to test for adrenal fatigue watch the following video and the subsequent educational videos which is how I also educated myself about the topic. 

Or, skip below the videos, to see some of the foods that I've been eating for that past month or so.

Adrenal and Lymph Node educational videos: (Content intended for adults.)

Now, here are some of the foods that I've added into my diet to replace old habits or to add newer, healthier choices in:

 1. Bone broth by Bonafide. 

 2. Dairy-free probiotics: Due to the fruit, this has a higher natural sugar content then I would like, so I only consume about 4oz, every other day.

 3. So Delicious Coconut "Cool-whip," as a dairy-free dessert replacement, just add frozen fruit for a delightfully refreshing dessert.

3. Daily oatmeal breakfast: High protein AND fiber. 190 cal/bowl. Two delicious flavors.  No heavy gunky normal "oatmeal" flavor.

 4. Citrus water for vitamin benefits; organic fruits (less) instead of traditional pesticide ones.

 5. Almond milk and coconut/almond milk substitute. Delicious and high in calcium. Super low (40) calories/serving.

6. Ice cream replacement: So delicious Coconut Milk "ice cream" alternative. High in calories and guilt, delicious flavor.

 7. Whole food multivitamin for better absorption. (Allegedly.)

8. Apple cider vinegar: the horror! The Horror! It's godawful. Mix with water. Take a chaser. 1-2x/week. Great before red meat to aid digestion. Great for getting rid of colds.

 9. Husband-approved tea: Reishi detox mushroom blend, one bag for a medium kettle, add a tablespoon of organic local honey (read about the horrors of imported honey here if you care) and shred one of the organic ginger-fingers (skin on) over the kettle and let steep from boiling for ten minutes before drinking. I can feel my lymph nodes clearing after this one.

 10. Dying-for-gluten snacks: these "hit the spot," for moments of preceived weakness: Glutino "pretzels," Vans GF cereals and cereal bars and crackers, and veggie chips.

 11. But what do you eat for lunch? The salsas for my veggie chips.

 

 12. But I just want a brownie/cupcake/treat! Try these coconut macaroon-style bites. Good god, so scrumptious!

13. I can't live without pizza/bread/fried chicken: No you shouldn't have to. Here are some good options!












Finally: Get a fitness/weight/nutrition/calorie App Tracker. I like: My Net Diary Pro. I've been using it for four years and I love the Lifetime weight and exercise tracking charts. ($3.99) This app also helps me track nutrients so that I can be sure I'm getting the right nutrition.

Final health plug: If you're interested in tracking cholesterol or your iron you can always give blood and find out for free! Plus, saving lives is a bonus!

The Horrors of Honey?

Go to your pantry. Take out your honey jar, and investigate its origins. Unless it says USDA certified organic, there's a good chance that it's illegally imported, mislabeled Chinese honey, which evaded taxes and could contain banned antibiotics.  Earlier this year, National Public Radio exposed the mislabeling from two of the biggest USA honey packers (which was the "largest food fraud case in history"):

"This is a huge deal for the industry. This is the first admission by a U.S. packer, the actual user,” that they were knowingly importing mislabeled honey, Eric Wenger, chairman of True Source Honey, an industry consortium that has set up an auditing and testing system to guarantee the true origin of honey, told NPR." 1

However, evading the $180M in import taxes didn't seem to help out the struggling company as GROEB (USA), one of the big packers, filed for bankruptcy on October 3rd, 2013, and this filing put an end to the class-action lawsuits against the company. Ethics aside, this case is not really "new" news, with reports of tainted and illegally imported honey having been reported back in 2011. Since then, the European Union has been in the vanguard of banning Asian honey, and our FDA which "checks few of the thousands of shipments arriving through 22 American ports each year," 2 cannot possibly regulate it all...and it's not just illegal Chinese honey that's being found, Indian and Vietnamese honey are also part of the problem. (How can we avoid filtered, stripped, tainted-with-antibiotics illegal honey? By buying local organic honey, which must be labeled as follows.)

Of course, what's especially alarming at this moment, 45% of American FDA workers (around 6,500 workers nationwide) have been furloughed currently pending the government shutdown. 68% of the staff at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in surveillance presently have also been furloughed. So honey testing aside, all major "routine establishment inspections, some compliance and enforcement activities, monitoring of imports, notification programs, and the majority of lab research" has stopped. 3 I did some additional research into the effects of the Government Shutdown on the FDA and discovered that the full time FDA meat production facility employees will still be working, but this is still troubling. It is estimated that the FDA inspects 80 facilities nationwide per day, so if the shutdown continues to Oct. 17, another estimated 960 facilities will go without being inspected. What is really interesting, are the horrifying 2013 warning letters to companies that failed inspections which you can read here. There are major companies listed there with violations of illegal drug residue (mainly in cows which were sold living in inadequate living conditions), misbrandings, insanitary conditions, mislabeling, unapproved supplements, modified tobbaco products...the list goes on and there are over 25 pages of summary violations.

So what began as an investigation into illegal honey mislabeling, has led me down the closed hallways of food inspection, reminiscent of the horrors of the meatpacking industry in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Why aren't we hearing more about this?

2013 Organic Product Review Guide

Greetings Readers! It is with great excitement that I present my 2013 Organic Product Review Guide! These are products worth buying, trying and sharing. 

I love organic products. I feel so much better about using them on my skin than I do about using many of the harsh products that I have bought in the past from CVS, Mary Kay, and the mall. Born with sensitive skin, I have also been limited to unscented and hypoallergenic products, and being a girl, I’ve tried many of these as well. So today I’m going to share my experience using organic, hypoallergenic, natural and sensitive skin type products as I skip along on my quest to find the healthiest, easiest and most cost effective cleansing and beauty regimen.

Although I had been buying my natural products on The Vine.com, (which I reviewed last spring on this blog, here…) I recently discovered the small businesses on Etsy.com, which, if you have never visited this site, is an online marketplace “to buy and sell all things handmade, vintage, and supplies.” I decided to check out some of the smaller organic goods sellers, and found a few companies worth mentioning. It is important to me to try to buy products from small American business owners, and I especially like supporting female business owners.

Firstly on Etsy.com, is Alena over at Bella Organics, (http://lovebellaorganics.com) who was very friendly and supportive of sending me some products to test out. She grew up on a farm, and stands by her motto: “Love your body—Pure and Natural. Never any toxic ingredients, only organic, healing botanicals.” She started making organic products after having moved to the city and becoming more tired and sick. 

I wasn't allergic to any of her products and I tested many. My favorite of her batch, was the "Chocolate Lip Balm" which you can buy for $3.50. What a bargain! Expect to get one from me for Christmas, colleagues! :) Her other flavor of lip balm, was a bit dry for my overly and already dry, cracked lips, but also worked to hydrate them, just as the chocolate flavor did. 

Another product I was surprised to find in my goodie box was "Organic Sunscreen." I was very excited to see what ingredients would be in that! Its main ingredients were essential oils, zinc oxide, and aloe. It had the texture of a light facial butter, and the scent of mint. It was a very refreshing layer to add over my makeup. 

Her "Not Scented Body Butter" hydrated my legs to feel and look as moisturized as a supermodel's and wins my "Best Skin Moisturizer for the Body" award. It was the first time my husband Tom had noticed my smooth legs in years: a win! 



I also received several product samples from Ann over at Ann's Herbals, who is also on Etsy.com. (www.annsherbals.com) Ann got started making products to help sensitive skin, eczema, and itchiness, trying to avoid harsh ingredients. Her products were especially suitable for me! 

Her lip balm was the first lip balm ever to moisturize my lips for over four hours with only one application. To get this result I used her "Lavender Vanilla" flavor. It was light, smooth, and worked for hours. 

Another product of Ann's that I loved was her "Simple No Pimple" body soap bar. It was great for the neck, chest and back, and just took away the excess oil and irritants on the skin, and restored the skin to a soothing feel. I'd share a photo of the bar, but I used all of that product gleefully, and now it's gone! It is available at her website above. 

I was also excited to try the "Simple No Pimple" salve, but I put it on before bed and when I awoke it had got in my eyes and irritated them, so don't try using it like that! Luckily, having been using the aloe listed below, I haven't had too many pimples, but the salve does help when I've got one or two to deal with. 

One of my favorite Eco-Chic brands is Giovanni Cosmetics. I first tried the Volcanic Ash Exfoliating Face Wash, and ever since I've been trying more and more of their products. I highly recommend them. (Florida readers: Their "Smooth as Silk" Shampoo and Conditioner's are at Publix now!)

The shampoo smells like the light scent of grapefruit, and the conditioner really fills in dry, cracked hair in a non-greasy or dandruff building way. That smooth feeling really took the frizz out of my hair, and for September in Tampa, that's saying something! 

Another new weekly staple is the detox-mask, also with Volcanic Ash and Antioxidants. While you might think these products are too drying, the Açaí and Goji Berry really moisturize well. Giovanni's products have all really made a mark on me. They are definitely worth checking out. As you can see in the photo on the right, my exfoliating mask is almost gone because I love that one so much. It's my third tube this year! The black facial soap on the right is a lighter, daily version of the facial scrub, also great on the body areas that are prone to acne. 

Best Facial Moisturizer: Nature Republic's Aloe Vera Gel. How to clear acne? Aloe cooling gel. Who knew? Of course it soothes burns and dry skin, and it's in practically every skin care product out there, but I had never thought to put it on my face until I saw my brilliant Chinese student doing exactly this yesterday. Then she showed me the "before" pictures on her iPhone, and I was surprised how clear her face had become since the photos. "Three days," she said when I asked her how long it would take to work. I had figured about a week.

So I put it on two weeks ago. The first morning after using it, my face had gone overnight from red and itchy and raw to white, and clearing and fresh. Still, I had stress and heat acne, so I reapplied twice today. Excited to see the results after two weeks. Much improvement already! This is the jar we've been using. It's Korean and you can order it on Amazon for about $6, but honestly, we have many similar products in the USA, so I'm guessing your after-sun cooling gel with Aloe will also work. Check the percentage of Aloe.

Organic Makeup: The best brand that I've been able to find for organic make-up is Physician's Formula Organic. My best friend from college recently wore this brand for her wedding and looked radiant. I've used these products before for years, and after taking a break for a higher SPF foundation, (hello summer in Florida) I've switched back to these.

The light tinted moisturizer is great for sensitive skin, even with the light scent that it has. It does has SPF 15, too. It just seems a tad oily, so when I forget to use toner at night my skin gets greasy.

Update to Tinted Moisturizer: (9/16/13) Lately, when I put it on in the morning, I find that my eyes are extraordinarily sensitive to light. It appears I'm allergic to the scent/make-up. Back to the drawing board. 

The Physician's Formula Organic mascara is pretty heavy for an organic formula, so it's definitely better to use a lighter color (like brown instead of black) or less product.

This product, the Physician's Formula "dark circle corrector" really does help to take the sleeplessness off of your face. It's double-sided roller balls cover with a yellow tone, and then even out with the skin shades, for a more refreshed look, even when you're exhausted or traveling. Worth the $14 sticker price!

 So I hope that you've enjoyed my organic product review.

What's your favorite organic product? Please share products or brands that I should check out and review below!