10 reasons to drink green tea

Just a quick dose for you today. We recommend that cleansers drink green tea during the cleanse as it’s known for its detoxifying properties. Here are some additional reasons to add a cup (or three) to your daily routine.

1. Much healthier source of caffeine than coffee
2. High in antioxidants
3. Aids in weight loss
4. Combats fluid retention
5. Protects against heart diseases
6. Increases exercise endurance
7. Antimicrobial
8. Supports a healthy liver
9. Reduces inflammation in the intestinal tract
10. Promotes longevity

Wow. It almost sounds like that’s all you need to do. Not quite, but a very good start to a healthier and longer life.

If you find the flavour of green tea on its own not to your taste, you might like to try flavoured green teas. Some of our favourites include T2 Gorgeous Geisha, T2 Green Rose, and Lipton Mint Green Tea.

Enjoy!

How do you like your green tea?

Beat the bloat

It’s ‘beat the bloat’ week here at Urban Remedy – yes, a whole week dedicated to the dreaded bloat! We think it deserves it… after all, bloating leaves you feeling and looking significantly heavier than you are, and for a lot of people makes that ‘skinny jeans day’ seem almost unattainable.

Let’s shed some light, first of all, on what it means when we say we feel bloated. Essentially (if there is no underlying medical condition), bloating is caused by one of two things: trapped air (aka ‘gas’) in your digestive tract (common) or fluid retention (less likely and more frequently encountered in women around their time of the month).

Bloating due to excess air is often caused by bad bacteria producing gas as they ferment (ew!) and feed off sugar inside of you. We all have these nasty creatures in our gut; the challenge lies in maintaining the correct balance of good and bad bacteria, thus avoiding bacterial overgrowth – medically known as dysbiosis or candida (for overgrowth of the bacteria candida albicans). It is worth noting that food intolerances (wheat, dairy etc) can also cause excess gas in the digestive tract.

Most of us are victims of bloating caused by excess air – for some it’s a case of jeans feeling a wee bit tighter than usual; for others bloating can be so extreme that it makes the simplest activities seem unbearable. Whichever end of the scale you’re at, I’m guessing you’d be happy to say goodbye to the bloat once and for all.

Now it may not be possible to banish bloating forever but there are certain things you can do to help reduce its frequency and intensity.

10 golden ‘beat the bloat’ rules:

1. Chew your food properly to activate digestive enzymes
2. Eat your meals in a relaxed setting, preferably at a table
3. Minimize your water intake with meals (1/2 glass max) to avoid diluting your digestive juices
4. Drink filtered water as tap water kills off good bacteria
5. Boost your good bacteria with probiotics (in natural yoghurt or in supplement form for more severe bloating)
6. Avoid foods such as: lentils, beans, cruciferous veggies (cabbage, cauliflower etc), onions (red are OK for some people) and garlic
7. Minimize your intake of yeast (pizza, bread, pastries, yeast added to condiments and sauces, wine, beer) and malted foods (soy sauce, malt added to drinks such as soy milk)
8. Cut back on wheat and replace with other grains such as rye, spelt, quinoa, millet, amaranth…
9. Avoid artificial sweeteners (sorbitol, mannitol, aspartame etc) and sugar
10. Say no to chewing gum; when you chew gum, you swallow air!

Grow your own vegetables

This week I received a parcel in the mail from Amazon, containing a book called One Magic Square - Grow Your Own Food on One Square Metre by Australian gardener Lolo Hubein.

I bought this book as I live in an apartment and I don’t have a whole lot of space to grow veggies, though I’m desperate to grow my own food for many reasons, not least because I prefer the taste of home-grown, organic vegetables.

Breaking down the notion that gardening is complicated, in the chapter entitled ‘How to Get Started’, Lolo walks the reader through planting their first garden with pretty much everything they need to know in just over one page. After reading that one page, I could literally have gone out and planted a garden and I am no green thumb… yet.

It gives suggestions for over 30 different plots, including salad plots, curry plots, anti-cancer plots, stir-fry plots, pasta/pizza plots, berry plots and soup plots. My favourite is the autumn/winter curry plot containing kale, bok choy, cauliflower, fenugreek, onions, peas, carrots, rutabagas, daikon and coriander. All that in one square metre. Brilliant. I’m planting my first garden this weekend and am planning to start with one of the novice salad gardens, so wish me luck!

Community gardens
If you don’t have the space to grow your own, you might like to join a community garden. To find out more visit Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network.

So tell me, do you grow your own? What has been your biggest home grown success? 

The how-tos for healthy grocery shopping

While health food stores are becoming more mainstream, not all of us have the luxury of living close to one. Last week when I was catching up on my favourite blogs, I saw a great video online from Dr Frank Lipman.

In a short and sweet 3 minute video, he offered some very practical tips on how to navigate an ordinary supermarket and come out with a healthy basket.

Watch the full video:



Here’s a quick summary for you:

• Never go shopping when you’re hungry
• Choose foods as close to their natural state as possible (or as author Michael Pollan says, don’t eat food that your grandmother wouldn’t recognise)
• Shop the outside aisles where the fresh foods are
• Your first choice should be fresh foods, then frozen, then tinned 
• Take a copy of the dirty dozen and clean 15 guides with you (this is a guide to the fruits & vegetables with the most and least pesticide residue after testing). You can view it here in an earlier Dose. 
• Choose organic dairy, and if you don’t eat dairy, a good alternative is almond milk, as are dairy products made from goat’s and sheep’s milk
• Choose plain, Greek yoghurt over flavoured and low-fat yoghurts which are generally laden with sugar or artificial sweeteners 
• When it comes to meat, avoid processed meats and opt for natural grass-fed meat and organic, free range chicken. If they're unavailable or out of your price range, the next choice would be antibiotic and hormone free meats, and then lean meat as most toxins are in the fat. 
• Avoid fruit juice unless you squeeze it yourself; all bottled juices from shops and supermarkets are pasteurised, a heat-treating process that destroys enzymes, lowers vitamin concentrations and alters the taste. 
• Avoid cereal with cartoon characters on the packet as it's usually very high in sugar
• Avoid the bakery sweets; if you have a sweet tooth, go for raw chocolate 

I’ll add my own piece of advice to that – avoid the confectionery and snack aisles.

Happy shopping.

Do you have any further tips on healthy supermarket shopping? Any particular products or brands to recommend?

How does alcohol affect your liver?

Since we’re in the business of detoxing and all that jazz, we thought it was high time we got up close and personal with that lovely (not so little) organ of ours: yes, the liver.

The liver is the largest internal organ in the human body (the largest organ overall being on the outside: the skin). Soft pinkish-brown in colour, our liver weighs approx 1.4 to 1.6 kilos (yikes!). It sits in the upper right hand side of the abdominal cavity, just below the diaphragm.

Its job: multi-faceted. The liver is the master of all trades: detoxification, metabolism, glycogen (glucose) storage, protein synthesis and hormone production to name a few.

But let’s get down to the nitty gritty, the question we all have playing on our minds. How have the end of year (and new year) festivities taken their toll on our livers?

How is your liver really doing? To get a clearer picture, here are a few useful facts:

• When you sip on that beautifully chilled glass of pinot gris, you’re essentially asking your liver to halt all of its normal activities and deal with the incoming toxin of the moment: alcohol. Processing alcohol (or more specifically its component ethanol) is the priority – normal metabolism slows down; toxins build up.
• Your liver can only metabolize about ½ an ounce of ethanol (contained in a beer, a shot, a small glass of wine) in an hour. Any more than that (put your hand up if you're guilty) and the alcohol spills into other parts of your body (yuck!), circulating until your liver is ready to metabolize it. This is one of the reasons we feel so awful the day after a bender - your body is deperately trying to catch up.
• If you drink in excess frequently, your liver’s ability to break down lipids (yes, fat) can be reduced on an ongoing basis and these lipids then build up in the liver (hence the term ‘fatty liver’). 
• Symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, skin trouble, bloated tummy (to name a few) are all signs that your liver needs some TLC.

There is still hope to repair your poor liver. Aside from moderating your alcohol intake (try drinking a glass of water for every alcohol drink… this really helps you to pace yourself!), we suggest that you give your liver a break every now and again to allow it to rest and repair. Detoxing your diet is a great place to start but a juice cleanse can really push your liver cleanse that step further!

Oh, and if you really want to give your liver that extra bit of love and attention, supplement with milk thistle. Flordis do a great supplement called Legalon.

Drink more purified water (because it's good for you)

Water. Drink more and drink good quality, pure water. It is as simple as it sounds. Our bodies are around 70% water and it is recommended that you drink 30ml per kilogram of body weight.

For precisely this purpose, we're giving away a stainless steel water bottle (that lovely looking bottle to the left) with every 3 and 5 day cleanse delivered from today until we run out (we have around 500 to give away, give or take the few that I will keep for myself).

According to Wiki (the source of all arguable truth), in 2004 only 42% of the world's population had access to clean water. So in Australia we are incredibly fortunate to have access to such good quality water, though you can do better than tap water and we believe it's worthwhile investing in a good quality water filter.

Good water filters remove bacteria and toxins (and make your water taste nicer!). Purifying your own water is also much cheaper and better for the environment than buying bottled water.

To make our Spicy Lemonade and Cashew-coco smoothie, we use water filtered by our beautiful clay water filter from Southern Cross Pottery. Upfront, they are not cheap, costing from $229 upwards, however the replacement filter lasts for 12 months or 2000 litres and the water costs 11.5c per litre in the first year and 2c per litre thereafter. The water is honestly the best I've tasted and I've also invested in one for home. I know I sound like an infomercial, but I promise I have no friends there and I'm getting no kickbacks (yet, anyway).

Not quite as effective or cheap in the long run, but very easy and convenient, are the Brita OnTap filters, available from Kmart, Target, etc.

Here's to water!

Stave off the blah this festive season

As we head out the door this afternoon for a wee holiday break, we thought we’d send you a quick email with a super easy one day refresh plan to give your system a bit of a reboot between Christmas and the New Year. To make it easier, you can prepare everything the day before.

Start the day with hot water and lemon. This one is a habit for life that we highly recommend.

Breakfast detox juice (make at home or from a juice bar)
2 apples
1 carrot
Handful of flat leaf parsley (or mint)
Handful of fresh spinach (or other leafy greens)
2 sticks of celery  

Mid-morning super green smoothie
Small handful baby spinach
2 cos lettuce leaves
1 kiwi fruit
1 banana
½ cup apple juice
Optional superfood like spirulina
Optional chia seeds or linseeds
Some ice cubes
Wash/peel ingredients, blend, serve.

Lunch – healthy lentil salad
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
2 tbsp walnuts, roughly chopped
½ cup tinned or cooked dry brown lentils.
Season with sea salt, lemon juice and olive oil.
Minted yoghurt dressing optional (1 tbsp of yoghurt mixed with fresh chopped mint).

Mid afternoon snack
Hummus with cucumber and capsicum sticks.

Dinner – detox salad (serves 2-3 as a main)
150g red cabbage, shredded
2 small or 1 large carrot, grated
1 apple, thinly sliced
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1 celery stick, thinly sliced
1tbsp toasted pinenuts
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp linseeds

Dressing
1tspn grated ginger
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp virgin olive oil
Little honey to taste

Serve with grilled salmon or on its own.

Dessert
Handful of fresh or frozen raspberries

Having only a juice and smoothie up until lunchtime will give your digestive system a really nice break. The lunch and dinner salad recipes are super healthy and packed with fibre, protein and good fat.

We hope you have a very happy and safe holiday season.

See you next year!