Acupressure to Boost Your Detox

This week we wanted to share a useful detox tip with you. Simply massage these two acupressure points to assist your body with its own natural detoxification processes.

The first point, "Tai Chong", located on both feet, stimulates the liver. Our body's second largest organ, the liver plays an important role in the digestion of fats; it also clears toxins from the body and purifies the blood.

The second point, "He Gu", located on the top of both hands, stimulates the large intestine. This lovely organ is responsible for eliminating waste, so you want to make sure it's alert whilst you detox! Give it a good pinch (no immediate effects, we promise).

Happy detoxing!

Images courtesy of www.chinesefootreflexology.com

Six spring health tips

When it comes to spring-cleaning, we know our stuff.

Here are our 6 top tips to use this spring as the launchpad for a great summer:

1. Listen to your body

As you transition from the cooler months into the beautiful balmy breeze of spring, listen to your body! Don't go cold turkey on the warmer, more nourishing foods – ease out of your winter diet slowly, gradually integrating more raw and cool foods into your diet.*

2. Take time for you

Every day. 15 min. Do what YOU want to do.

3. Slow down

You may have a spring in your step but that doesn't mean you have to live in fast forward. Be mindful. Eat slowly. Live thoughtfully.

4. Get yourself outside

Warmer weather means more of a chance to enjoy the outdoors. It's amazing what a bit of sunshine and fresh air can do for your health. Get your body moving while you're outside and you've killed two birds with one stone.

5. Indulge in health

Instead of focusing on what you can't eat, indulge in the healthy foods you can enjoy. Spring means gorgeous fresh produce, and new varieties of fruit and veg.

6. Keep it simple

Real, fresh wholefoods. Local and in season if poss.

*We'll be slowly easing you into our soup-free spring summer menu from October.

If you want your cleanse soup-free before then, try out a combination of our 6-packs.

Image courtesy of Kiyoshi Jiro, Kitchen Art.

Making the perfect green smoothie

When it comes to green smoothies, the main thing is to get the proportions right. We like to think in sprinkles and handfuls - it's easier and also, we just love getting our hands dirty.

In our last post, we outlined 4 components to the perfect green smoothie.

Here are our recommended quantities for each one:

1. Base

200-300mls depending on desired consistency

2. Greens

2 LARGE handfuls of your preferred greens

3. Fruit

1 MEDIUM handful of your fruit(s) of choice

4. Extras 

A sprinkle or two to add a kick to your smoothie

A full list of the ingredients we recommend can be found here.

If you haven't signed up to the Urban Remedy 5-Day Green Smoothie Challenge yet you can do so by joining our group here.

Green Smoothies 101

When it comes to Green Smoothies, there are 4 key components.

1. A solid base

•    Water

•    Green tea

•    White tea

•    Fresh juice

•    Coconut water

•    Coconut milk

•    Almond milk

2. Greens glorious greens

•    Kale

•    Spinach

•    Swiss chard

•    Silverbeet

•    Cos lettuce

•    Watercress

•    Dandelion

•    Cucumber

•    Celery

•    Herbs

If you're really feeling brave, try collard greens, mustard greens, bok choy, broccoli or even cabbage...

3. Fruity zesty goodness

•    Lime

•    Lemon

•    Banana

•    Orange

•    Apple

•    Pear

•    Kiwi

•    Berries

•    Mango

•    Pineapple

•    Papaya

•    Apricot

•    Nectarine

•    Peach

4. A little something extra

•    Acai

•    Goji

•    Cacao

•    Vanilla

•    Cinnamon

•    Spirulina

•    Wheat grass

•    Barley grass

•    Chia seeds

•    LSA mix

•    Protein

Next week, we'll be giving you the lowdown on ingredient proportions so stay tuned... And don't forget to sign up to the Urban Remedy 5-Day Green Smoothie Challenge here.

Let them eat cake!

We admit, sometimes there is nothing more delicious than having a little piece of cake. Ah… but it isn’t as naughty as it sounds, because the cakes we are talking about this week are healthy raw cheesecakes!

The art of creating the perfect raw cheesecake starts with building a solid foundation.

Ingredients

• ½ cup cashews
• ½ cup almonds
• ½ cup pecans
• 10-12 pitted dates (soak to make soft)
• ½ cup shredded coconut
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• ¼ cup raw cacao powder
• ½ tsp rock salt

Preparation

1. Blend cashews, almonds, pecans and salt until finely chopped
2. Add dates and cacao powder and blend well
3. Add remaining ingredients: shredded coconut and vanilla extract
4. Press into bottom of pan

Our 5 favourite raw cheesecake fillings

1. ‘Pomegranate Cheesecake with Clementine Gelato’ from The Raw Chef
2. 'Raw Orange Chocolate "Cheese" Cake Revisited' from Rawmazin
3. ‘Pear-Ginger Cheesecake’ from Both Halves
4. ‘Raw PB & J Swirl Cheesecake’ & ‘Raw Blackberry Lemon Lavender Cheesecake’ from Fragrant Vanilla Cake

Tips

• Feel the mixture, it should stick together when you pinch it. If it doesn’t, add more dates
• Test taste the mixture for sweetness, add a dash of vanilla extract if needed
• If your blender blade isn't very sharp, blend the nuts and salt first before adding the other ingredients
• Now that you have the foundation for your raw cheesecake, play around with the endless opportunities for raw fillings

How does detoxing help your skin?

You've undoubtedly heard that detoxing is good for your skin. In fact, healthy and radiant skin is the top detox benefit reported by our cleansers. Cleansing helps give your skin that sparkly, dewy, fresh look, and it also helps ease common skin conditions such as acne, dermatitis, psoriasis and eczema. But why and how?

The role and functions of your skin

The skin is the largest organ in your body. It protects you from external pathogens, regulates temperature, facilitates vitamin D absorption, enables tactile sensation, and importantly plays an active role in detoxification.

Its detoxification function has the biggest connection with skin appearance. If you’re overloaded with toxins – playing too hard, eating too much (or too much of the wrong things) and sleeping too little – it all takes its toll on your skin. Dehydration lines, breakouts, rashes and skin irritations are all signs your skin needs some serious TLC, and your body could do with a cleanse.

Detoxing and its impact on your skin

When you detox, provided you are avoiding all the right foods (our cleanse does just that), you are naturally eliminating skin aggravators and inflammatory agents such as dairy, yeast, sugar and gluten.

Juice cleansing gives your digestive system a rest, stimulates detoxification (gently clearing out all those skin-clogging nasties), and floods your body with delicious nutrients all at the same time. It's a recipe for skin success!

If you think a juice cleanse might be for you, check out our spring/summer menu. Our Fruit & Greens and Zingy Uplifter six packs are also a perfect skin-friendly supplement to a healthy diet. More info here.

6 recipes to make your heart sing

We're sure you've realised by now that we like to share the love and keep you updated on the latest and greatest health news.

Well, to celebrate Valentine's Day this year, we thought we'd share a lovely recipe collection we stumbled upon today.

6 smoothies and juices to make your heart sing and dance:
1. Frank Lipman's 'Blueberry Avocado' Smoothie
2. Kim Snyder's 'Rainforest Chia Seed Heart-Healthy' Smoothie
3. Cynthia Pasquella's 'Berry Healthy for Your Heart' Smoothie
4. Cherie Calbom's 'Green Lemonade'
5. Bonnie Taub Dix's 'HeartSmart' Smoothie
6. Lisa DeFazio's 'Heart Healthy' Smoothie

These 6 recipes will make your heart skip a beat for all the right reasons! Check them out here.

And while you're at it, check out our very own spring/summer recipes.

the Foodie's Guide to a Healthy New Year

If you're like us and you LOVE food, here's a nifty little guide to shaping up this New Year, minus the dieting. Yep, you can actually celebrate food and get healthy, all at the same time.

News Flash

For those of you who are not aware of it already, we launched some delicious <edible> cleansing extras in 2012. The concept was simple. As seasoned cleansers, we are all too familiar with the desire to munch on something between juices, so we came up with a guilt-free way of giving you exactly that.

Every ounce of these tasty little morsels is good for you. There's not a gram of sugar, yeast, dairy, wheat or gluten in sight. Nothing but beautifying good fats, muscle-toning protein, and revitalising vitamins and minerals in these bad boys. We're talking about our Activated Almonds and AMAZEballs (choc, green and almond-flavoured).

If you haven't already, check them out here. For the foodies out there who love to cleanse but need to chew, our cleansing extras are the perfect solution.

Foodie Guide

1. Make friends with food
Food is NOT the enemy; banish the word 'diet' from your vocab and think healthy, moderate eating instead!

2. Make your own food 
Get to know your ingredients and influence what ends up on your plate; you'll save money too! Win win.

3. Focus on the 'experience'
If you enjoy what you eat, you're less likely to fall victim to the 'restrict and binge' cycle. The key is moderation.

4. Reinvent your favourite 'naughty' dishes
Put a healthy spin on them. For example, if you like ice cream, try making it with coconut milk and stevia instead.

5. Keep it social
You don't have to go cold turkey (forgive the pun) and eat alone post-festivities. Get your friends involved in a healthy feast with a 'bring a dish' date. Who said eating had to be a solo activity?

And there you have it, a lovely little guide to getting healthy minus the diet factor...

Food is here to be enjoyed after all!