By Robyn Openshaw

i GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Manual

Published by Robyn Openshaw/GreenSmoothieGirl.com Orem, UT December 2017 Update

Copyright © 2013-2017 Robyn Openshaw/GreenSmoothieGirl.com Food photographs copyright © 2013-2016 Katie Dudley

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN 978-0-9831113-0-6

Printed in the United States of America.

Disclaimer

Nothing in this book is intended to claim to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This book is not a substitute for primary medical care, but should be seen rather as an educational resource. Do not eat any foods you have a known allergy to.

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ii Contents

About the Author ...... vii Acknowledgments ...... viii Foreword...... ix

Detox Program

Why I Created This Detox & Why It’s Unique ...... 3 Some Detox Ideas & Programs to Avoid...... 6 What This Detox Is ...... 9 Choose Your Level of Participation ...... 12 Program Options ...... 12 Levels of Participation ...... 13 Why Should I Detoxify Periodically?...... 17 What Are Toxins? ...... 18 Heavy Metals ...... 18 Persistent Organic Pollutants ...... 18 Opportunistics...... 19 Energetic Toxicity ...... 19 Emotional/Psychological/Spiritual Toxicity ...... 19 Food Toxicity ...... 19 What Is Your Body’s Toxic Load? ...... 21 Where Are Environmental Toxins Coming From? ...... 23 The Many Parts of Your System of Elimination ...... 39 Skin ...... 39 Kidneys ...... 40 Live ...... 41 Lungs ...... 42 Colon ...... 42 Lymphatic System ...... 44 Mouth ...... 45 Changing Your Body’s Weight/Fat Set Point ...... 47 What You Will Need for This Detox Program ...... 50 For Both Levels 1 (Beginner) and 2 (Advanced) ...... 50 For Level 2 (Advanced) ...... 50 Why I Chose These Foods & Habits for Detoxing ...... 51 Why I Recommend Infrared Sauna Treatment ...... 54 Why & How to Administer an Enema and Implant ...... 55 Food Elimination Diet: Food Intolerance & Allergies ...... 61

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox iii Detox Reactions or “The Healing Crisis” ...... 63 Frequently Asked Questions ...... 67 How much does the detox diet cost? ...... 67 What if I’m not losing weight?...... 68 What if I’m losing too much weight on this program? ...... 69 What if I know I have severe food sensitivities or allergies?. . . . 69 My doctor makes fun of detoxing—is this just a silly hoax? . . . . 70 What if I mess up? ...... 71 Why not 100% raw? Why potatoes, yams, & oatmeal (cooked food)?...... 71 Why do we eat extremely low amounts of salt in this program?...... 72 What if my symptoms continue even after Phase 1? ...... 74 Do I have to eat everything on the menu plan? ...... 74 What should I do if I'm hungry? ...... 75 What if I don’t have time to cook?...... 75 What do I do if I identify a food sensitivity?...... 76 What if I feel weak and light-headed—or if I’m diabetic? ...... 76 What if I can’t find a particular prepared food or ingredient for a recipe?...... 77 Am I losing fat, or muscle, or water? ...... 77 Daily Detox Habits...... 78

Meal Plans, Recipes & Shopping Lists

How I Planned This Section...... 83 Phase 1, Days 1–4 ...... 84 Introduction ...... 84 Suggestions for Success ...... 88 Meal Plan...... 89 Shopping List ...... 90 Recipes ...... 92 Breakfast Oatmeal ...... 92 Cucumber-Tomato Salad ...... 92 Hippo Soup...... 97 No-Fruit Green Smoothie ...... 97 Phase 1, Days 5–7 ...... 98 Introduction ...... 98 Meal Plan...... 99 Shopping List ...... 100 Recipes ...... 101 Classic Green Smoothie...... 101 Phase 2, Days 1–7 ...... 102 Introduction ...... 102 Suggestions for Success ...... 102 iv GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Meal Plan ...... 103 Shopping List ...... 106 Recipes ...... 109 Black Bug Soup ...... 109 Crunchy Avocado Salad ...... 109 Green Smash ...... 110 Hockey Pucks ...... 110 Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie ...... 116 Millet Porridge...... 116 Purple Heaven ...... 119 Phase 3, Days 1–5 (Overview)...... 120 Phase 3, Days 1–2 (Kidney Cleanse) ...... 121 Introduction ...... 121 Meal Plan ...... 122 Shopping List ...... 123 Phase 3, Days 3–5 (Liver & Gallbladder Cleanse) ...... 125 Introduction ...... 125 Flush ...... 126 Optional Epsom Salt Protocol ...... 127 Meal Plan ...... 128 Recipes ...... 128 Phase 4, Days 1–7 ...... 129 Introduction ...... 129 Suggestions for Success ...... 131 Meal Plan ...... 132 Shopping List ...... 133 Recipes ...... 135 Black and Green Salad...... 135 Corn Tortilla Chips ...... 138 Guacamole ...... 138 Homestyle Sweet Potato Fries ...... 138 Lentil Soup ...... 141

After the Detox

Transition Back to Real Life ...... 145

Appendixes

Appendix A: Food Sensitivity Chart ...... 151 Appendix B: Foods to Never, Sparingly, or Freely Eat ...... 153 Foods to Never Eat during the Detox...... 153 Foods to Eat Sparingly during the Detox ...... 154 Foods to Eat Freely on the Detox ...... 154

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox v Appendix C: Optional Substitutions ...... 155 Appendix D: Calendar Overview ...... 157 Appendix E: Testimonials...... 163

vi GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox About the Author

Robyn Openshaw grew up the eldest of eight children, raised on a tight budget where the menu was dominated by simple plant foods: whole grains and legumes, greens, fruits and vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

Her website GreenSmoothieGirl.com has tens of thousands of new visitors monthly and is dedicated to helping people achieve high energy and vibrant health. Its mission is to teach families how to live a whole- food lifestyle diet (mostly plants and 60%–80% raw) that is easy, inexpensive, and delicious—in addition to nourishing.

Robyn taught at a university and now lectures all over the U.S. the 12 Steps to Whole Foods course, The Green Smoothies Diet, and several recipe books. She is also the author of two children’s books, The Adventures of Junk Food Dude and Junk Food Dude’s Yummy Healthy Recipes.

She is a single mom of four competitive athletes with high-caloric needs who help develop and test her recipes. She received undergraduate and graduate degrees from BYU and the University of Utah and loves “arranging the elements” in the kitchen, reading and writing, cycling, running, and competitive tennis.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox vii Acknowledgments

Food staging & photography: Katie Dudley Katie is a genius with food photography, which isn’t an easy subject. I know tons of photographers but recruited her specifically to shoot my recipes. And she’s pretty genius with other photography as well. Visit www.katiedudleyphotography.com to contact her and see more of her fabulous talent. Editing & page design: Deb Tokarewich

Deb is a language master par excellence and nonpareil, with a fine eye for detail as well as “the big picture.” (I’m a former editor and know good from better from best; thus I hire only the finest.) She also loves playing with templates, fonts, graphics, photos, and other design stuff. Contact her at [email protected]. Cover photo: Copyright Andi Berger. Usage rights via Shutterstock.

vii GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Foreword

I am Robyn Openshaw and I'm known on the Internet as GreenSmoothieGirl. In 2007, I put up a website detailing my journey toward a whole-foods lifestyle that I believe saved my oldest child's life. He was below the 5th percentile for weight, a Failure to Thrive baby, in and out of the hospital and emergency room and doctors’ offices. He was on constant steroids, antibiotics, and bronchodilators for severe asthma.

I eliminated dairy, processed meat, white flour, and processed sugar and made the staples of our diet greens, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. The consequences of the dietary changes were astonishing. Six months later, he was at a normal weight and off drugs and would never visit a doctor’s office again.

He recently led his team to the 4A State baseball playoffs, where he was named MVP after hitting two grand slams and pitching an entire game in the finals in a 12-1 win. He led the state of Utah in RBIs his senior year and is a healthy 6'3".

An unexpected benefit of our whole-foods journey is that I found my ideal weight of 135 lbs. without “dieting,” losing 50 lbs. along the way and maintaining that weight. And I recovered from 21 chronic health conditions. Those included a large tumor, failing

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox ix eyesight, migraines, TIA mini-strokes, anxiety, three autoimmune conditions (all requiring drugs), and much more. I have been completely without all of those conditions for many years, drug free.

Instantly my site and blog became a viral phenomenon until, just a few years later, we were getting 150,000 visitors a month. That’s even though I knew nothing about the Internet and needed help (and still do!) even to post a photo on my blog.

The messages to me, from these unexpected results, were loud and clear: • People want to eat right, but they don’t know how. • People have been brainwashed by food cults and flop from one diet to the next, trying to regain their health. • People need a guide to rest, repair, and heal their digestive, endocrine, neurological, nervous, and circulatory systems from the damage of the Standard American Diet. I put the website up simply as a service since I had so many people asking me to teach them what I’d done. (The transformation in my family was very visual.) I did not realize at that time how desperately people need someone to help them get back to basics. By the time I put the site up, I was 12 years into my journey of intensively studying nutrition and health alternatives to the drug approach to health that is sometimes effective for crisis management but that has done nothing to improve Americans’ health.

I spent all of 2008 developing a guide to the simplest, most linear path from my own illness and obesity to the phenomenal health and ideal weight I’ve enjoyed for many years. It took form as my comprehensive course, 12 Steps to Whole Foods. Since then, I have added to it and pored over it and revised it many times to make it the best, most comprehensive nutritional tool anywhere.

One part of my journey was a fascination with the means we have available to us to address the chemicals lodged in our fatty tissues causing literally hundreds of diagnoses and problems and symptoms.

Did you know that we have ways to eliminate those bad guys that have taken up residence in our cells?

I tried lots of detox protocols and products. Some are good, some are marginal, some are downright risky and harmful. As I’ve studied the subject extensively for many years, truth has emerged and fiction and fantasy have fallen away. For a long time, I have wanted to create a detoxification protocol that is as effective as possible—and as doable as possible.

I spent 2½ years developing this program, which is longer than any professional project in my life—even the comprehensive 12 Steps to Whole Foods course.

I believe that solid information, an easy-to-follow plan, good recipes, and outstanding support are the keys to successfully detoxifying your body, mind, and spirit. This is what I have endeavored to create with this program, to be as helpful as possible for you. I believe that in the unnatural world we live in, we need twice-a-year cleanses to maintain our health (in addition to lots of water, exercise, and a whole-foods diet). x GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox The introductory material in this manual is very important background on detoxification in general, the science behind this program specifically, and what you can expect for your own life and health.

I had over 30 people test the detox prior to launching it. Every beta tester lost weight, varying from 9 to 20 lbs. in the 26 days. All of them had a positive experience and said things to us like this:

“I feel amazing! I’m sleeping less and have so much energy!”

In our first major roll-out of the program in August 2013, a total of 1,500 participated. The average weight loss of hundreds who filled out our post-detox questionnaire was nearly 13 lbs. in 26 days! You can read just some of the amazing testimonials at the end of this manual (see “Appendix E: Testimonials” on page 163).

So, welcome to the GreenSmoothieGirl Detox! You live in your physical temple 24 hours a day for as long as you walk this planet, so it might as well be the most pure, most beautiful temple reasonably possible while living in the real world.

Detoxifying your body yields rich rewards. I hope you’re as excited about this program as I am!

~ Robyn Openshaw

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox xi xii GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Detox Program

1 2 Why I Created This Detox & Why It’s Unique

Your detox program is 26 days long and goes through several phases that allow specific organs to rest, purify, and rebuild. You can choose to participate in Level 1, where no special equipment is needed. This is recommended for first-time detoxers who have been eating the Standard American Diet.

Level 2 is for people who eat a cleaner diet and are willing to own (or borrow) and use a juicer and an enema (bag or bucket) kit for coffee and/or wheat grass juice enemas.

I've studied many detox programs: for the liver, for the kidneys, for the colon, food elimination, gallbladder flush, parasite detox, and more. The problem with the piecemeal approach is the same problem I have with the medical approaches to health, in general: no organ is an island unto itself. While the liver is a separate organ from the colon and has unique functions, they are inextricably linked and are part of a larger system. If you cleanse the liver, you naturally may have intestinal purification as well. In fact, when the liver dumps toxins, they are received into the colon.

That said, each organ does have specific needs and its own unique ways of becoming clogged and weakened. The small and large intestines may have buildup of plaque, whereas crystalline structures and chemicals may build up in the kidneys.

Over the years of reading, researching, and trying a number of cleanse programs, I found that what I wanted (and couldn't find) was a comprehensive program.

With some ingenuity and by studying the needs of all of the organs of elimination, it seemed to me that we could clear stored toxicity from all of the organs of elimination in an all-inclusive, systematic program that acknowledges the interconnections of all these organs, which work in concert.

For the most part, detox programs seem to have no method to their madness. Each is simply a brief eating plan that eliminates classes of foods, or macronutrients. Some of them do plenty of people plenty of good, just by getting them off processed foods. Only some of them get you off animal products, which are acidic and difficult to digest.

Some involve elaborate schedules of taking herbs and supplements without resting elimination organs from heavy digestion or using nutrition to clean house appropriately. Many of them feature lots of recipes that utilize raw plant foods, which are good for allowing your body to rest. Other “food elimination” programs nix most of the foods you've typically been eating, without giving you any guidance on what to eat instead.

But most “cleanse” regimens and products on the market are nothing more than the equivalent of taking a glass of water with dirt at the bottom and stirring it.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 3 Why I Created This Detox & Why It’s Unique

These programs mostly move toxins around, and they will settle in possibly different places but not be eliminated. (For instance, garbage in the colon will be recirculated to the liver.) Significantly increased fiber in the diet will be very helpful in actually eliminating toxins.

Your body deals with toxins by burying them in fatty tissues. The nice thing about detoxing is that as we dig in to release those toxins, we release the fat cells as well. Your body has been harboring fat cells to protect itself from toxins. Now it can eliminate both.

In my extensive studies and experimentation with detoxification, I’ve learned we need to go through several stages. Here is what you can expect from this program:

1. It’s important to first clear the dirty colon, which helps to change the environment that parasites thrive in. Parasites are an under-discussed but major problem in virtually everyone, especially those who travel outside the U.S. and those who eat any animal flesh, ever. (A cubic inch of beef contains about 1,200 larvae.) For one week we focus on colon cleansing, although the entire 26 days will be loosening hardened mucoid plaque and eliminating it. 2. We focus on kidney elimination for two days after the colon is mostly clear. 3. Then we spend three days cleansing the crystalline structures and accumulated toxic elements from the liver and gallbladder.

The GreenSmoothieGirl Detox program has these benefits for participants:

1. You systematically test your food sensitivities by eliminating those that are commonly allergenic or reactionary and then adding them back, a category of foods at a time. If you already know you have significant sensitivities, you may wish to discuss with a holistic practitioner testing for common allergens that cause inflammation and possibly doing immunoglobulin (IgG, IgA, and IgM) tests. 2. You’ll develop your own chart of data to discuss these results with any practitioner you may work with. Good holistic practitioners will always address diet. Getting patients to complete a food-elimination program is very difficult, and I don’t know any practitioners with a complete plan that takes the guess work out of shopping, meal prep, and instruction on how and why you’re eating what you're eating. This is not a definitive food sensitivity test, but rather can give you clues. Many people have sensitivities (mild allergies) or full-blown allergies to foods and don't know that they are related to their health issues. 3. I tell you specifically why we’re doing what we're doing. The saying “I’ll go to the ends of the earth for you, if only you’ll tell me why” is relevant here. I researched an expensive detox that focused mostly on the right things nutritionally, but explained nothing. How frustrating for the user fighting her addictions and trying to stay motivated! As Oprah says, “When we know better, we do better.”

4 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Why I Created This Detox & Why It’s Unique

4. We systematically cleanse all the major body systems, in an order approved by detox experts, and with products that support and enhance the body's natural immune function along the way. In the Full-Support option, I bring in motivational speakers, qualified voices in the arena of detoxification. You’re hearing from more than just me, GreenSmoothieGirl, on important issues related to nutrition, your health, and this detoxification program. There are two conference calls during the program, shopping lists for your planning, meal plans with recipes, a manual with lots of info and a FAQ section, daily emails to encourage and educate you, and online help in a members-only group. 5. This program focuses on health and giving the body the right tools to rest major organs and eliminate effectively through the various organs involved in that process. Then the body is given the right nourishment for building strong blood, bones, organs, and tissues. 6. I give you information about what to expect in the form of the dreaded “cleansing reactions.” They are real and they are common, although many people cleanse without significant discomfort. You might as well know what may happen and what to do about it so you can sail through it peacefully. 7. You cleanse not just one organ, as with many focused detox plans on the market, but all of them. The goal is to flush and renew the colon, kidneys, and liver to serve you much better in the future. 8. Besides just the focus on food, we examine other habits that assist you in facilitating evacuation of a variety of toxins in the body via the skin, liver, and colon. And we won’t neglect the psychological and emotional issues, both good and bad, that arise when we cleanse. 9. I help you leave the detox with better nutritional habits for life, to maintain your rejuvenated inner vessel much better than before. 10. I teach you about other little understood ways that you are daily bombarded with chemicals, with tips on how to easily minimize or eliminate exposure.

If you purchased the manual only and would like to consider upgrading to be with us twice a year in a fully supported detox, check GreenSmoothieGirl.com for details.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 5 Some Detox Ideas & Programs to Avoid

Detoxification is not only a trendy topic—it’s becoming a watered-down concept that can mean almost anything. It seems to now be synonymous with the idea of doing anything that's different, diet-wise, than what you do now. In fact, it seems that as it becomes clearer that “dieting” doesn’t lead to long-term weight loss, that word has gone out of style and “detoxing” has taken its place.

As the word gets thrown around more and more, and hundreds of “detox” or “cleanse” protocols and products have popped up, the consumer may be confused.

Many people want, above all, for their detox program to help them lose weight. With 70% of America afflicted by weight problems, it’s no wonder that's a primary goal, with others secondary.

However, I recommend that you make cleansing every cell of your body, with good nutrition and minimizing toxin exposure, your first priority. Trust that weight loss is a natural by-product of that process—by choosing outstanding organic, raw, sometimes concentrated (as with vegetable juicing) fuels and undergoing natural but powerful detoxification protocols.

If clean detoxification is your primary goal, you will not be sucked into faddish, destructive programs. Recently a close friend of mine was reading about and planning to undergo a “kidney detox.” I asked to look at the article she was reading, which was published by the supplement company selling her an herbal combination they claimed was critical for the health of her kidneys. More upsetting to me, though, was what this program instructed the follower to do:

1. Drink a cup of olive oil 2. Chase it with a can of Coke

Anyone who knows anything about biochemistry is aware that soft drinks are terribly difficult for the kidneys to process. They are highly acidic and cause a uric acid buildup that can lead to kidney stones and gallstones and other problems of crystallizing structures building up in the joints, such as arthritis. Because the liver doesn’t have enough sulfates, it poaches them from joints, causing the joints to break down. To advise people detoxifying their kidneys to drink sugary, chemical soft drinks for their health is unconscionable.

Soda pop—the sugar kind or the diet kind—is the most acidic habit you can undertake. If you drink soda, it's a virtual guarantee that you'll have arthritis by age 50 and likely sooner, whether you’ve been formally diagnosed or not. Soda is not food. Nothing in it

6 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Some Detox Ideas & Programs to Avoid qualifies as food. It is simply liquid chemicals. A tennis teammate of mine was told by her M.D. (an osteopathic surgeon) that he would refuse to do knee surgery on her if she was going to return to drinking soda after the surgery, because it would just undo his work, and fast.

Another popular “detox” has people drinking expensive, high-protein shakes and bars. Again, this shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how the body detoxifies. Animal proteins such as meat, milk, and whey can be difficult to metabolize, especially when we manipulate macronutrients to eat more than our body was designed to be able to process, of any given macronutrient (fat, carbs, protein).

Perhaps the worst of all in this program and others like it I have seen are the whey or soy bars and powders. These are highly refined, made from inexpensive, hormone-grown cow excretions (whey protein) or estrogenic refined soy products.

All of our modern degenerative diseases have been linked to undigested proteins in the gut and in the bloodstream. We are eating far too much protein, so it’s a very unwise idea to manipulate macronutrients to excessively increase protein in a program ostensibly designed to give the body a rest. This is an egregious example of people who are simply selling a product rather than studying and implementing strategies that support our health.

Some programs flying under the “detox” flag include eating almost nothing but protein and some steamed vegetables. The only reason people achieve weight loss and may feel better temporarily on this program is the fact that they are not eating processed foods. Just because one class of bad foods is eliminated for a period of time and a second class of bad foods remains does not mean that the second class of bad foods are actually good foods! It merely means that your body is thrilled to have incremental improvement. I would prefer you to follow a sensible program that meets your needs nutritionally in all ways—rather than being part good, part bad.

Another famous old program called the Master Cleanse, has you drinking nothing but lemonade: water, lemon juice, and maple syrup. The basis of it is to give the body a rest, as all ancient cultures and religions have done very successfully with water fasting. That is certainly a good idea, as the body first metabolizes any abnormal cells when it is denied food. (It’s wise to go without food for a period of time, occasionally. It’s not wise to go without water. And ample water is critical to the detoxification process.)

Lemon juice is not only alkalizing (which is a very positive thing in a world with far too much acidity), but also a natural diuretic, helping reduce inflammation and release fluids. However, the massive amount of concentrated sweetener, in the form of maple syrup, is the reason people last longer on the “Master Cleanse” or “Lemonade Cleanse” than they would on a water fast. It keeps blood sugar high—or at least spiking and falling.

The highly sweetened lemonade is not good for the liver for many days on end and is another unsupported, unscientific approach to detoxification. Far too many people have done it, for 60 years now, because it’s an easy approach and because they’ve not been guided to a more sensible approach. Anything easy and cheap that causes weight loss tends to stick around.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 7 Some Detox Ideas & Programs to Avoid

These are simply examples of the programs that range anywhere from scientifically dubious, to nutritionally grotesque, to dangerous and unethical. When I ask friends who are starting one of these dicey programs why they want to, their answer is usually something like “Well, my friend tried it, and she lost 10 lbs. in two weeks.”

It’s always exciting to hear testimonials, but I hope you’ll demand more than that of any regimen you give your time, attention, and dollars to. Any time you eliminate sugar or calories, no matter how bad the rest of the program is, you're going to lose weight. All of the detox programs out there restrict calories, and most (except the Master or Lemonade Cleanse) avoid sugar. That’s always going to be a good thing.

If you follow one of these dubious programs just because your sister or mom lost some weight using it, of course it doesn't mean you’ll be detoxifying your many organs of elimination or helping your body in an effective way. (Weight loss is always good, if you're overweight. But there are better, and worse, ways to go about it.)

If you’re going to go to the trouble of changing your eating habits, denying yourself the treats you may have overindulged in much of your life, and reading some material in an effort to improve your health, why not be very certain that the nutritional principles that underpin the program are sound?

If I’m going to follow a strict eating program, I want it to yield more than weight loss. I want it to improve my energy and digestion, clearing organs of elimination and decreasing my disease risk. I want to eat foods that support longevity. A recent meta-analysis done by Drs. Katz and Mellor at Yale University reviewed tens of thousands of published studies from the past 10 years. The primary conclusion of this huge study was that eating more plants prevents disease.

The best way to detoxify, then, at least for the nutritional approach (clearly there is much more to it than just addressing diet) is to give the body less food, and what food we do eat should be the easiest types of fuel to digest. That way, the body can devote its energy to cleansing. The easiest foods to digest are raw, simple plant foods. Those foods should have a minimum of ingredients and sugars, and any sugars should come from whole, unprocessed foods.

Gagging down glassfuls of oil followed by soda, eating processed bars and powders, preempting natural processes in the body by forcing a state of ketosis, starving yourself except to drink lemonade, and so many other ploys are not health-restorative plans. I hope they are a part of your past, not your present or future.

8 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox What This Detox Is

The 26-day, Full-Support Detox features foundational information, support from experts, palatable recipes, and instruction in practices. All of it is based on good science on what is known about the ways the human body detoxifies and how it can be aided and accelerated in that process.

The food you eat either fuels disease or fights it. There is no middle ground. There are other lifestyle elements besides food that are involved in eliminating long-held buildup in the body, and I address those as well in this program. But the most critical piece of the puzzle is food.

Detoxification means to change, neutralize, or clear toxins from the body; clear buildups of mucous and congestion; and eliminate buildup that impairs the function of arteries, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, bowels, and other body systems.

A lack of oxygen in an acidic climate is the perfect breeding ground for bacterial and viral infections. Signs of an acidic climate include green or yellow mucous, chronic congestion, fatigue, paleness or skin breakouts, depression or anxiety, headaches, low body temperature, thin hair or brittle nails, dry skin, yellow eyes, or excess stomach acid, ulcers, or gastritis.

If we are eating any version of the Standard American Diet (SAD), we have chemicals and waste products accumulating in the body that need to be cleansed a few times a year with a lot of water, rest, and an extremely pure diet. And even those who consider themselves to eat a good diet often have a lot of room for improvement. (I have found that many people say they “eat healthy” because they don’t eat as poorly as their neighbor does who goes to a drive-thru three times a day. Unfortunately, health and good nutrition are not always relative! We all need to clean house.)

I met a man recently who told me he was a health nut because he uses skim milk on his cereal in the morning. One of our detoxers in our first major roll-out said, “I am a nurse and I thought I knew a lot about health and nutrition. It turns out I had a lot to learn!”

Even if you do have a truly clean diet (80% raw plants, mostly organics, and no processed foods), you still need to detox since we are in an unnatural situation in the modern age. Many chemicals outside the food supply are in our environment and end up in our tissues. Some we can do little about, depending on where we live, what we do for a living, and what the habits of our family members are.

Once the organs of elimination mentioned above get backed up, the body’s oxygen supply is diminished and the immune system begins to fold in on itself. The body’s pH becomes

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 9 What This Detox Is more acidic, and you are at high risk for cancer, heart disease, and autoimmune diseases in addition to viruses and infections.

Molds and fungi breed prolifically in an acidic, anaerobic environment created by all these factors. Candida yeast overgrowth is common in Americans who eat the SAD, and it is very difficult to starve out once it has proliferated. Many detoxification processes take place at a cellular level.

Also, all disease begins in the gut. Most of your immune system is found there! Due to antibiotic use, the average American has little healthy bacteria in the gut—the organisms that are supposed to outnumber human cells, a thriving colony that is our main defense against viruses and bacterial infections. A healthy gut has good-to-bad bacteria in a ratio of 10-to-1. According to the extensive research of Dr. Bernard Jensen, the average American 30 years ago actually had the opposite: 10 times more bad bacteria than good! I can’t imagine things have gotten better since Dr. Jensen examined and worked with 10,000 human colons in the 1960s and 1970s.

The average American also has inflammation in the gut causing her to be unable to effectively digest her food. She has a buildup of hardened fecal material in the colon, causing peristalsis to slow and the entire organ to sag.

If you walked into your house and smelled something foul, you’d drop your purse and search relentlessly until you found it.

But body odor, bad breath, and foul-smelling intestinal gas and feces are all a result of built-up toxic putrefaction in the colon. These are not normal, natural conditions that we should accept. People either don’t know this, or they would rather have foul smells emanating from them than change their habits!

This is an indelicate topic and unpopular in modern Western culture, though many cultures talk about it openly. The fact that you’re reading this is good evidence that you’re ready to be done sticking your head in the sand.

The good news is that you have the power to turn it around. That’s what we’re here to do!

Here is what you can expect from the multi-organ, four-phase Full-Support Detox program: • You participate in an all-in-one program giving you food and practices to nurture the colon, the kidneys, and then the liver and gallbladder. • We have seen weight loss during this program of up to 24 pounds for women and 40 pounds for men. It is also possible to maintain your weight if you are underweight (see “Frequently Asked Questions” on page 67). • You get inside information, with conference calls in the evenings with leading medical detoxification experts, such as Rashid Buttar, DO; Thomas Lodi, MD; Trent Teegarden, DC; Evan Brady, DC; Judson Wall, DMD; Jack Tips, PhD, ND; Gaetano Morello, NMD; and more.

10 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox What This Detox Is

• You get our comprehensive manual with a brief, content-dense introduction to detoxification that you would have to read a dozen books to distill. You get a menu planner, shopping list, recipes, and step-by-step instructions to massively purge your body of poisons and build it for the next 6 months, or until you want to do it again, for sustained energy, peak performance, and minimized disease risk. • We’re leveraging the best of the world’s tried-and-tested methods for utilizing nutrition for fast, radical, optimal healing of major body systems using nutrition, in collaboration with renowned doctors educated in safe detoxification. • You can choose from two levels of participation: Level 1 for those new to detox wanting to give it a try, and Level 2 for those willing to spend more time and seeking an advanced, optimized experience. • If you take the 5-minute online survey at the end, I can build an empirical database to continually improve the program. But I will also donate $1 for every pound you lost to Mothers Without Borders, plus a $5 donation for every testimonial I receive about your experience with the detox to publish on the site. You will get an email later requesting that you fill out the survey and saying where to find it online. • The detox doubles as a food-elimination program to test for your personal food sensitivities. This will yield a chart to provide your practitioner a guide to treatment and dietary planning, and/or it can guide your own dietary planning. • You’ll have members-only access to the Detox Forum to ask your questions and get answers from us, as well as to see what other participants are talking and learning about. • You’ll have access to a private online group forum to ask questions about the program.

Important: If symptoms persist, or if you have serious health issues prior to or during this program, please seek the care of a qualified practitioner to address individual issues. Nothing in this manual or program should substitute for individualized care. Our full-support program is support in understanding the program and answering questions—but we do not diagnose, treat, or prescribe and we cannot administer individualized care.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 11 Choose Your Level of Participation

Program Options

The Full-Support Detox is a colon, liver, kidney, and gallbladder cleansing program. It includes the following: • The printed Detox Manual, nearly 200 pages of information about detoxing, with full color photos of recipes: • Easy-to-follow menu plans, shopping lists, and recipes. (This content is also found in the Quick Start Guide, for ease of use in planning, shopping, and cooking.) • All the parts of your body’s detoxification and elimination systems. • Toxins, the body’s Toxic Load, where toxins are found and simple tips on how to avoid them. • Where most detox programs go wrong, what to avoid. • Recipes and tips and videos on how to replace toxic cosmetic and home products. • How to change your body’s weight “set point.” • Habits to undertake that will work together with the diet to purify and restore organs of elimination. • An easy food-elimination testing program that yields useful data about your food sensitivities. • Tips for transitioning back to “real life” without falling into all the old habits. • Frequently Asked Questions. • A chart of foods to eat freely, sparingly, and not at all. • A printed Quick Start guide (one for your buddy, too) with menu plans, recipes, and shopping lists. • A laminated, wallet-sized card to take with you shopping, ingredients to avoid in cosmetic and self-care products. • Access to all the information and resources in the members’ site. • Support in the private online group forum from staff and other participants, to ask your questions and optimize your experience. Hundreds of detoxers said, in our previous live events, that this resource was invaluable to their success. • Daily emails from Robyn with helpful and timely content. • Conference calls or videos with detox-expert doctors on related topics.

12 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Choose Your Level of Participation

BONUS:

If you complete the online survey about your experience after the Full-Support Detox, I donate $1 per pound you lost plus $5 to Mothers Without Borders for any testimonial you write for publication on the site. Later I will send you an email requesting that you fill out the survey and telling you where to find it online.

Full-Support vs. Manual Only

You are welcome to use the manual on your own, any time of year. But the Full-Support online event gives you a number of opportunities, including being supported on the forum by others who are going through the program live. People undergoing major life changes, especially those that challenge cultural traditions, are far more successful when they have support.

The Full-Support program allows you to renew your commitment to your cleanse daily, with many phone calls with experts to educate and inspire you to complete the process. You can ask questions of our staff. You have all the materials available and a physical copy of the manual will be mailed to you. Finish strong and complete an online questionnaire when you're done (I’ll send you an email about it later), so I can continually improve this experience for everyone.

Finally, you’re likely to love the effects on your body, mind, and spirit of the detoxification program. So you may wish to use the Full-Support participant’s discount to become a lifetime member and participate twice a year to continue a healing process or to maintain your excellent health.

Contact Customer Support to find out how to upgrade to Full-Support.

Levels of Participation

Level 1—Beginner: Diet Only, Optional Supplements

You’ve never done a detox before. You want to do it, but you’re nervous. You’ve heard about this “cleansing reaction” or “healing crisis” and you know you’ve been eating the Standard American Diet most or all of your life, so you might have some uncomfortable reactions in store.

The thought of home colonics (or an enema) sound way out of your league. You don’t have a juicer. You have a blender and you’re up for doing something hard, but you don’t want to spend too much time, because you need the detox to fit into your lifestyle with a minimum of adjustments.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 13 Choose Your Level of Participation

If this describes you, you’re the perfect candidate to do the Beginner, or Level 1, detox. This means that you’ll be nurturing and cleansing your many organs of elimination, but at a slower pace. You can always do Level 2 with us next time, if the ideas of juicing and enemas feel overwhelming to you now. You’ll have plenty of good company as a Beginner in the art and science of detoxification.

If you have serious health issues but are new to detoxification and holistic health and feel overwhelmed, you may wish to do Level 1 and then return shortly thereafter and complete a Level 2 cleanse.

Level 1 is also the most budget-conscious way to participate, in terms of your time and expense. You will focus only on the diet and the habits such as skin brushing. If you can find a sauna and a mini-trampoline, you’ll do sauna sessions and rebounding.

This level is recommended for a detoxing newbie.

Level 2—Advanced: Diet, Juicing, Enemas, Optional Supplements

You’ve detoxed before. You’ve been around the block, trying maybe a colon cleanse in the past, or a liver flush. You know that all health starts with a clean intestinal tract and you sense that even if you get outside your comfort zone (and that can be temporarily nerve wracking), you want to have an adventure in the name of cleaning your inward vessel and living an abundant, high-level life. You’re excited for a challenge and want to take your purification to the next level.

You’re going to buy or borrow a juicer. (Norwalk is the best juicer, but others like Champion, Omega, Breville, or Jack LaLanne will work.) You’re willing to drink most of your nutrition and you’re willing to drink things because they’re good for you rather than simply based on the criteria of how sweet it tastes.

You’re a person of drive and commitment, a seeker, possibly an overachiever!

If that describes you, join us for the Level 2, or the Advanced cleanse.

For those with heart disease, if you have elevated cholesterol or blood pressure or triglycerides, it would be an excellent idea to get your biomarkers measured before and after the detox to see the results. Please seek the care of a competent health care professional when undertaking any major dietary or health change if you have significant health problems. The information in this program does not substitute for qualified medical advice, and every person is an individual with unique needs.

If you have cancer or other significant health problems, Dr. Max Gerson had remarkable success in his program recommending up to 11 8-oz. glasses per day of raw green and vegetable juices, and decreasing cooked or solid food significantly. His theories and practices related to the fact that cancer cannot live in the presence of oxygen and does not do well in an alkaline environment, either. Green juices alkalize and oxygenate the body more than virtually any other practice. If you seek an optimized experience, and weight

14 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Choose Your Level of Participation loss would not be problematic for you, you may wish to substitute fresh pressed green and vegetable juices for some of the cooked food in this program.

The differences between you and your Level 1 classmates are two major additions to the program:

1. Preparing and consuming a large quantity of raw, freshly pressed vegetable and fruit juices. Your body uses 35% of its energy in digesting food. Drinking vegetable juices only allows the body to devote this significant energy to cleansing and repair processes. Plus the antioxidant level of your liquid food is highly purifying and nourishing. This commitment will require more time, as well as purchase of more organic foods, and you must have a quality juicer, which will cost anywhere from $250 to $2,500. Before you commit to that expense, you may wish to look for a used one or borrow one from someone not using theirs. The best juicer on the market is the Norwalk, at $2,500, as it grinds and then presses the vegetables/fruits, with no heat damage/oxidation. (Juice will last 3–4 days using this machine.) My second-favorite choice would be the $450 Breville. You can get a Champion for about $350. It’s also a good machine but will get hot with extended use and is less efficient, but it would be my third choice. 2. Taking one or two home enemas daily, which will require 30 to 60 minutes daily and the purchase of an inexpensive enema kit. I will suggest two different kinds of enemas to you that serve multiple, excellent purposes in your cleanse.

These two steps—juicing and wheat grass or coffee enemas/implants—are phenomenally helpful in ridding the body of waste. I will explain the scientifically documented, time- tested practice of administering a coffee enema, which is easy and simple, if unfamiliar, the first time you do it. Note that we do not believe the coffee enema is addictive.

This practice, which opens the liver and kidney bile ducts to accelerate the release of poisons, has the potential to create a sense of well-being as well as reduce pain and discomfort as you detoxify.

I have also made a video showing how to do a home enema, for Full-Support participants, found in the “Detox” portal. Don’t worry, it’s G-rated.

On the one hand, participating at Level 2, you will have more waste materials breaking up and evacuating your body through the various organs of elimination. This creates the potential for more discomfort, as various organs can become overtaxed and clogged. However, the enemas have tremendous ability to facilitate the cleansing process and keep you emotionally and mentally positive throughout the process.

Level 2 participants can leave out main dishes in Phase 2 and Phase 4. I leave this up to you as you go through the program. But you can replace solid food with juices as much as possible, to increase cleansing, and possibly limit your solid foods to sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, and oatmeal.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 15 Choose Your Level of Participation

You will still add in small amounts of the foods being introduced, but alter the shopping lists if necessary, since they include all the dishes made by Level 1 and 2 participants who drink no juices.

16 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Why Should I Detoxify Periodically?

It’s a toxic soup we live in. I won’t insult your intelligence with a depressing parade of the ways our immune system and organs of elimination are daily assaulted by chemicals and free radicals that cause degenerative disease.

They come from air, water, cleaning agents, food, and even stress. Many people work around industrial chemicals, and some professions (such as cosmetologists and cleaning personnel) have high exposure to toxins.

Even the metabolic processes of the body create waste products. Add that to the bombardment from our processed, excessive-protein, chemicals-added diet, and the human body—which was beautifully designed to cleanse and purify and achieve peak performance each and every day—can, understandably, get overwhelmed.

The lungs excrete carbon dioxide. The kidneys excrete urine. The colon expels stool. And the skin releases salty water with other waste products, or sweat. These are the four major outputs that even the less healthy among us monitor at least loosely. We know when we don’t sweat enough or we are “constipated.”

However, we’re going to look more closely at a breakdown of detoxification and how we can go significantly further to aid those processes. We have to, in this unnatural world of pressure and overload on many of the body’s elimination systems. Spending the time to learn about it, tune into it in your own body, and engage in simple practices to decrease your toxic load may just cause your health to become significantly better.

Detoxification is a constant, daily process in the human body. Some of our organs of elimination are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for our entire lives. Detoxifying takes more energy than anything else that occurs in the organism! It’s important enough that we need to understand it in order to enhance it. We’re doing a comprehensive cleanse for the next few weeks. (After that, you should be assisting your detoxification processes every single day, with what you learn here, so that your engine runs cleaner.)

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 17 What Are Toxins?

In the modern world, we are damaged primarily by six categories of toxicity, briefly summarized here. I have borrowed heavily from the work of Dr. Rashid Buttar, one of the world’s leading experts on heavy-metal toxicity, who did one of our informational calls for the full-support program.

Heavy Metals Heavy metals include mercury, lead, antimony, nickel, cadmium, tin, arsenic, uranium, and others. Mercury is the second-most toxic element known to man (after uranium), and children would be sent home and a HAZMAT team brought in if a mercury thermometer broke in a school. Yet it is permanently in the teeth of most Americans, with cracked fillings emitting mercury vapor 24/7 in millions of us.

These heavy metals do major oxidative damage to cells, but they also displace many minerals you need for basic functions. They function as endocrine disruptors, causing major problems with hormones. Plus, many people are allergic to metals. There are several hundred studies linking metals to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases (autism, Alzheimer’s, etc.)

Besides our dental fillings, heavy metals in our bodies come from occupational exposure (inhalation of fumes or particles), leaded gasoline, and foods and drinks. Metals can accumulate and cause problems in storage sites such as liver, bones, and kidneys for many years.

Toxicity tends to affect the brain most. In addition to heightened cancer and hypertension risk, heavy-metal toxicity has very general symptoms, such as weakness and headache.

Persistent Organic Pollutants These deadly organic compounds, or “POPs,” are so persistent that mothers pass them on to babies. Many of them are insecticides discontinued after the 1960s, still causing birth defects and showing up in the blood of today’s newborns. They include DDT, PCBs, dioxins, chlordane, furans, and other insecticides.

These poisons are in all aerosol cans, pesticides, cleanings solutions, and varnishes. They remain in the environment for decades and cause increased cancer risk in humans, as they are difficult to eliminate and accumulate in our fat cells.

18 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox What Are Toxins?

Opportunistics Opportunistic infections include bacteria, viruses, parasites, yeast, and many other living organisms that take up residence in the human body. You must provide the right environment for them to thrive. Unfortunately, the first two classes of pollutants, heavy metals and POPs, alter the endocrine system and depress the immune system so that the host organism—you—are vulnerable to opportunistics. The overuse of antibiotics has contributed to the rise in highly resistant organisms creating more mischief in human hosts.

Energetic Toxicity High-powered energy waves pass over, under, and through us each day. We are bombarded by electromagnetic radiation from microwaves and power lines and by ambient radiation from cell phones, TVs, computer screens, and military radar systems. This type of toxicity is increasing in the environment exponentially and has been linked to why honeybee populations are disappearing and homing pigeons are not able to return home. (Other theories, such as exposure to pesticides, may contribute to the demise of the honeybee but EMF, or electromagnetic frequencies, are a major culprit, according to many experts.)

Emotional/Psychological/Spiritual Toxicity Memory and emotion—and our resulting mental health—powerfully affect our physical health. This is no longer up for debate as it has been so widely documented, and we are beginning to understand how stress, anger, and unresolved negative emotion (or lack of peace) actually damage cells.

A German oncologist, Dr. Hamer, lost his son in an accident, and he and his wife both developed cancer a year or two later. Dr. Hamer discovered that there is a psychological/emotional link to all cancer, and he healed himself and devoted his work to helping others do that as well. The key is to find and resolve toxic issues and memories, coming to terms with and releasing anger, forgiving, and loving unconditionally.

Food Toxicity Food has been increasingly manipulated with unknown consequences. Genetically modified foods, especially the alteration of most of the corn and soy supply, may be damaging our own DNA, since studies show that one gene mutation can affect hundreds of other elements in the ecosystem. There are also likely links between GMO foods and the twin epidemics of gluten intolerance and autoimmune diseases.

Hybridization of many strains of grain, in order to increase gluten for bread making and increase pest resistance and grain size, is likely also causing many problems in human health.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 19 What Are Toxins?

And irradiated foods and processed foods are two other practices that are highly likely to cause harm to the human organism in ways we are only in the beginning stages of understanding. We would be wise to avoid all of these manipulated foods—GMO, irradiated, and processed—and instead eat organic, non-GMO plant foods as much as possible.

One thing you should know is that organic foods are also non GMO. If you eat corn, soy, and/or wheat, choose only organics. Corn and soy grown in the U.S. is nearly all genetically modified, and the vast majority of wheat is heavily hybridized.

20 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox What Is Your Body’s Toxic Load?

Dr. Gaetano Morello, in his book Whole Body Cleansing (as well as other detox experts), calls the toxic load you are carrying the “Toxic Body Burden.” He says that your personal toxicity, mathematically, is

A - B = Toxic Body Burden with A being the amount of environmental pollutants you are exposed to that have become part of your cells and B being your ability to eliminate toxins.

Fortunately, you were blessed with the ability to effectively neutralize and eliminate waste products. Your body is a glorious, complex web of organs whose interplay makes every effort to keep you clean and functioning at a level where you can high jump, solve complicated math problems, and connect emotionally with God and other human beings in your life. Have you ever thought about the fact that your physical health is needed to do all three of those things?

Your body wants to detoxify itself. It has the power to do so. With simple supports, your body is the most spectacular organism on the planet, capable of healing itself. Believe in that!

There are two “unfortunately”s to temper that good news. First, unfortunately, many if not most of us are becoming overwhelmed with our immune system’s “maintenance” tasks. Virtually everyone now indulges in excesses of protein and lots of “fake” foods that the body does not recognize and struggles to break down as fuel. The body has to cope daily with a plugged-up colon and liver, and kidneys just trying to sweep the bloodstream minimally for truly life-threatening issues. It doesn’t have the energy to rebuild, to develop the grand palace that your mortal tabernacle was meant to be.

And, also unfortunately, there are now 85,000 chemicals in use in the U.S., nearly 5,000 of them approved as food additives and many others going into our air and water as by- products of manufacturing and as pesticides and herbicides to increase crop yield and pest resistance.

The average baby is now born with an average of 280 chemicals in her umbilical cord. Of those, 180 are known carcinogens (cancer causing) and 200 are neurotoxic (poisonous to the brain), according to journalist Randall Fitzgerald in his book The Hundred Year Lie. He documents the awful ramifications of our 100 years of believing that more chemicals will solve our problems.

Chemical use is skyrocketing and so are degenerative diseases and serious health problems in infants and children. Researching causation is terribly difficult, because it is

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 21 difficult for researchers to isolate factors among so many. How do you isolate one chemical’s impact on the human endocrine system? The endocrine system is inextricably linked to other bodily systems, and when a newborn infant has 280 toxic chemicals in her body, how do you isolate one to study its effects? Every effect of every heavy metal or chemical has not been thoroughly researched. Common sense tells us, however, that the two trends (increasing chemicals in the environment and increasing disease) are linked.

So we don’t yet know all of the precise effects every chemical has on humans and animals. Each new chemical or device approved for use in our environment can potentially create more damage in 20 years than it does now (one example is cell phone use). A new chemical or electromagnetic frequency-emitting device can do multigenerational harm as DNA is damaged and passed on. So, although we don’t know everything, we know plenty.

Some classes of chemical compounds are particularly troublesome, frightening even, because they are “endocrine disruptors”—or in another words, they mimic hormones and confuse the human body. The body then misfires in many ways, including producing offspring with anomalies, birth defects, and disease. Many chemicals we freely load into our air and water are just such disruptors, including chlorine and fluoride.

Briefly, I’ll cover some classes of environmental toxins, so you can become aware of them in your surroundings, especially your home, and eliminate or minimize your exposure to them.

22 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Where Are Environmental Toxins Coming From?

I've read entire books on the perils of the 85,000 chemicals in our environment, water, food, and products we use. I'm going to condense it for you here, by telling you quickly what products are worth making some effort to avoid, and why. I’ll tell you briefly what chemicals are in those products and what products you may wish to use instead.

Water

Many contaminants are in our tap water, including prescription drugs and steroids from people flushing the remainder of their drugs or eliminating them after metabolism! Drinking water can contain acids, salts, toxic metals, nitrates, and phosphates. Radioactive nucleotides, oil, plastics, and sediments are often found in our drinking water supply.

Bacterial and viral micro-organisms as well as fluorine and chlorine are some of the other risky agents known to damage human beings. Fluoride is added to water purposefully since the chemical industry convinced the American Dental Association that it prevents cavities in 1950. The science was sketchy but the PR campaign was brilliant. Fluoride is an endocrine-disrupting by-product of petrochemical and other manufacturing industries. Their success at passing it off as medication was a coup on two fronts: not only could they sell it, but they also didn't have to clean it up from the environment.

To learn whether your municipality fluoridates its water, go to EWG.org and click “National Drinking Water Database” on the right-hand side. Then type in your zip code and the name of your water company.

Fluoride is more poisonous than lead and is linked by studies to skin conditions, gastric distress, weakness and headaches, as well as osteoporosis, arthritis, bone and liver cancer, and many more health problems.

Chlorine is not only harmful when drunk in water, but also when absorbed through the skin. You absorb far more through your skin than you could drink in a day. (I have a $250 carbon filter installed by a plumber in my home to remove it from all of the water in my home, as well as the comprehensive filtration of drinking water at the kitchen sink.) Americans are drinking several hundred times more than the EPA considers “safe.”

Chlorinated water has been linked in research to high rates of colon, rectal, and bladder cancers. Other studies show drinking chlorinated water causes artery damage, heart attacks, miscarriages, liver problems, infertility, dandruff, birth defects, and immune suppression.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 23 Where Are Environmental Toxins Coming From?

Until recent tests were publicized, most people thought that bottled water was free of impurities. In fact, many of the same contaminants are in water bottled for human consumption in significant amounts.

This URL is the EPA’s list of the contaminants in our water:

water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/index.cfm

Note that our government sets an MCL, or Maximum Contaminant Level, acceptable in drinking water. If 6 mg (micrograms) of a chemical is a neurotoxin, 2 mg shouldn’t be acceptable either! The EPA is simply dealing with the reality of how ubiquitous these dangerous substances are in the plant, animal, and human environment.

While it’s helpful to look at the MCLs to evaluate where your environmental exposure is relative to that, do not let those limits designated to be “safe” lead you to the false conclusion that small amounts of poisons are acceptable and safe. Our toxic load is cumulative; that is, while X amount of chemical A has been deemed safe by some government panel, that doesn’t account for the added load of chemicals B, C, D, and E that can sometimes be greater than and more dangerous than the sum of the parts, synergistically.

Solution: Have a reverse osmosis water filter installed in your home, which removes more than 99% of fluoride and chlorine plus other chemicals and metals. Have a plumber install a carbon filter on the source of the water supply in your home so that you will not absorb chlorine through the skin. This should be about $250—and if you can’t do that, at least install an inexpensive shower head filter to remove most of the chlorine from your shower water, which is absorbed through the skin. Or buy filtered water in five-gallon refillable, BPA-free containers through a co-op or health food store.

Perfume

Companies can now utilize a loophole in the law to use chemicals in fragrances and not put them on ingredient labels because it’s a “trade secret.” The Environmental Working Group, working with Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, did a lab analysis that revealed 17 best-selling fragrances had an average of 14 chemicals not listed on their labels. Two- thirds of them have never been evaluated for your health. To see how toxic your perfume is, go to EWG.org and search on “perfume.”

Solution: Find essential oils you enjoy that meld well with your own pheromones and use them as fragrance. I love geranium and wild orange oils as perfume. If you are going to use commercial perfumes, hold your breath, spray on your clothes or hair, not your skin, and walk several yards away before taking a breath.

24 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Where Are Environmental Toxins Coming From?

Cookware

Aluminum pots. Unlike many minerals, aluminum has no known function in biology. It competes with calcium for absorption, increases estrogen-related gene expression in breast cancer cells, and can cause neurotoxicity. Aluminum transfers to food very easily and is linked to Alzheimer’s due to accumulation in the brain.

Teflon coatings. The EPA alleges that DuPont purposefully withheld information about the health hazards of using Teflon since the 1980s. Their female employees were having a high rate of birth defects. They were assessed over $300 million in fines and agreed to pay $108 million for marketing a deadly chemical also found in stain-resistant carpets, nail polish removers, and fire-fighting foam! Don't use Teflon pans that have scratches or wear, and avoid Teflon-coated pans at all if you are purchasing new cookware.

Blood samples reveal that carcinogenic perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) from Teflon is pervasive in people and water supplies worldwide. A toxicologist at the Environmental Working Group says even if you never had Teflon exposure again, your body would need 20 years to eliminate what is already in your organs and tissues. It causes cancer, reproductive problems, and developmental anomalies and delays.

Solution: Some companies now offer nontoxic cookware such as stainless steel, ceramic, or glass. Old glassware contained lead, but if the glass is made in recent years, it is nontoxic. Stainless steel, ceramic-coated cast iron, or stoneware dishes, pots, and pans, test as nontoxic as well and are a good idea.

Some companies are using a ceramic titanium finish on aluminum pans, which is 10 times harder than steel so it will not leach or scratch and is safe in the dishwasher. Scanpan, Ozeri, Healthy Legend, and American Kitchen sell non- PFOA cookware. Salad Master has excellent products, but is very expensive.

Antacids

These contain aluminum, which is toxic to your brain and should be avoided.

Solution: Antacids mask symptoms; they don’t solve the problem and can actually make your condition worse and create imbalances and an inability to digest foods. Avoid acidic foods. Take a nontoxic antacid from your health food store. Or talk to your holistic practitioner about other ways to address heartburn, acid reflux, or leaky gut. These may include avoiding spicy foods, citrus juice, carbonated and alcoholic beverages, black pepper, high-fat foods, vinegar, and chocolate. You may need to eat smaller portion sizes, chew well, drink aloe vera juice or the herbs slippery elm or marshmallow after meals, or drink a few tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar in water every morning.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 25 Where Are Environmental Toxins Coming From?

Lead

Lead has been virtually eliminated in paint, pencils, and gasoline. However, it is still in over 20 million homes in the form of old paint and lead pipes in old buildings. It is also found in lipstick, rubber and plastic manufacturing, and in toys painted in China. It causes learning and behavioral problems, reproductive problems, birth defects, and kidney dysfunction.

Solution: If it at all possible, live in buildings built after 1980. Avoid wearing lipstick and minimize plastic and rubber exposure, especially to the manufacturing processes.

Smoking

The consequences of smoking are well known, and secondhand smoke exposure has decreased with changed laws for airplanes and restaurants. But secondhand smoke exposure continues for 88 million Americans in homes, cars, restaurants, bars, and workplaces. It causes respiratory problems, ear infections, SIDS, and pneumonia in children. In adults, it causes heart disease and lung cancer. In addition to nicotine, there are hundreds of toxic chemicals in cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoke, including 70 known carcinogens.

Solution: Never smoke and never be with people who smoke. Do what you can to get someone you love whose space you must be in to quit, for your health if not theirs.

Car Exhaust

People who live in big cities or who spend a lot of time idling in their car in rush-hour traffic are exposed to the most car-exhaust pollution. It contains carbon monoxide, which is obviously deadly since it’s a common way people commit suicide. Exhaust also contains nitrogen and sulphur dioxides, benzene, formaldehyde, hydrocarbons, and PM10 (tiny particles almost impossible to eliminate that take up residence in lung tissues). These pollutants are well known to be asphyxiants, damaging to the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, liver, blood, and reproductive system.

Solution: Never idle the car in the garage. Try to avoid gridlock by rearranging work hours, driving less congested routes, taking alternative transportation, etc. Detox regularly using a far infrared sauna, vegetable juices and green smoothies, lots of water, and the other habits taught in this detox program.

26 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Where Are Environmental Toxins Coming From?

Dental Toxins

A long history of amalgam fillings has led to significant mercury exposure for many Americans. Even a hairline fracture in a filling delivers measurable, constant exposure to mercury gas. You can learn more in a visual way watching this YouTube video showing a mercury filling emitting vapor 1,000 times higher than the EPA’s allowable limits:

youtube.com/watch?v=9ylnQ-T7oiA

Mercury exposure related to dental fillings has been linked to many autoimmune conditions and fatigue disorders. Many dentists are no longer using them. Meantime, most dentists do not know how to safely remove them, or does not have the specialized equipment to keep you from being exposed to mercury gas, dust, and particles. So, find a holistic dentist who uses dental dams, to have yours removed. In addition to mercury, amalgam has four other metals in it, all of them inorganic and toxic for humans.

Root canals are even more highly damaging and toxic. The “gutta-percha” used to fill the canals is 15% barium. Bacteria are trapped in the canals and continue to produce toxins, contaminating bone, blood, and the liver and sometimes overwhelming the immune system, according to the research of Dr. Weston A. Price, DDS. He implanted toxic extracted teeth under the skin of rabbits, which invariably developed the disease of the person whose tooth was extracted, resulting in the rabbit's death. When he implanted healthy teeth under the skin of rabbits, they remained healthy. Price felt that removing the tooth is a better option than filling its canals with poisons. Root Canal Cover-up, by George E. Meinig, is a book that best summarizes the voluminous work of Dr. Price.

Toxins are also significant in dental implants (titanium), dentures (cadmium), and extractions.

Solution: Never have silver-colored (amalgam) fillings put in your mouth. Use white fillings only (composite, ceramic). If you have your silver fillings removed, hire a well-trained holistic dentist who, at a minimum, uses dental dams, which keep pieces of the filling from going down your throat. Some dentists also use oxygen masks for you and them, and other protections and precautions as they remove biohazards from your mouth.

If you cannot tolerate a deeply infected tooth, an extraction would be better than a root canal, according to dental experts who study the issue. (My holistic dentist says that zirconium implants, to replace the tooth, are far preferable than titanium implants. Again, we’re trying to avoid metals in our mouth, as the ions are not all bound in the metal amalgam.)

Some holistic dentists recommend far infrared sauna treatments, 1,000 mg of Vitamin C daily, and chelation IV therapy to assist you in detoxing mercury and other metals. Of course, avoiding refined sugar, soda, and other acidic foods will help avoid rotting your teeth in the first place.

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Canned Goods

Cans are made of aluminum. Now most food canners add a dull wax coating to keep aluminum separated from the food. Of course, the wax isn’t particularly beneficial either. And that layer of wax contains Bisphenol A, a xenoestrogen linked to many cancers. That's the BPA that has been removed from most plastic reusable drinking bottles.

Solution: Minimize or eliminate canned foods. Fresh food is better for you in a variety of ways anyway, including the fact that you can cook without sodium chloride (which is refined table salt).

Cosmetics

Note: Also be sure to see “Other Cosmetic Toxins” (page 31).

A variety of toxic ingredients are hiding in everything from your lipstick to your moisturizer. We have provided in the Full Support and Lifetime Detox programs a small card to help you remember the chemicals noted below when you shop, until they are committed to memory. Because the more these chemicals touch your skin, the deeper and more pervasively they store in your organs and tissues where they can do ongoing damage, even years after exposure, and erode your health.

Propylene (or butylene) glycol and sodium (or ammonium) lauryl/laurel sulfates are known to cause liver and kidney damage—and both are in the vast majority of shampoos, liquid soaps, moisturizers, foundations, lipsticks, tinted lip balms, and an astonishing array of food products as well. Formulators use it because it creates lather and silkiness, which consumers now expect.

EWG.org is the best resource to see the danger and toxic levels of your cosmetics. Go through your cosmetics and ascertain their toxicity, and then find safer alternatives.

Solution: Use organic cold-pressed coconut oil for moisturizer. It’s inexpensive, it may help address nutritional deficiencies as you absorb it into the bloodstream through the skin, and it will not make your skin oily, believe it or not. It is utilized quickly, and while it creates some cognitive dissonance to put oil on skin when you’ve been trained to think that oil is the enemy, this oil is actually antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial.

You can also make your own soaps and shampoos using essential oils and natural ingredients. Some recipes are in “Appendix E: Testimonials” on page 163.

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Talc

It seems innocuous enough—after all, it’s the major ingredient in “baby powder.” But don’t be fooled by the mild name: it's very similar to carcinogenic asbestos and it's toxic to breathe. Women who use it in the genital area increase their risk of ovarian cancer three to four fold! It’s well known since the 1970s to cause cancerous tumors. Still, the FDA allows it in antacids, garden pesticides, flea and tick powders, deodorants, soap, paint, paper, and all kinds of cosmetic powders.

Solution: Avoid using powder. And if you used pressed or loose facial powder, use a natural, nontoxic, talc-free minerals powder.

Mineral Oil

This is a petroleum product that is in tanning oils and virtually all cosmetic foundations, clogging the pores with plastic-like compounds and disallowing the skin to breathe and slough off dead skin cells. Women who wear foundation age their skin, and “baby oil,” which is pure mineral oil, contains several cancer-causing chemicals. Three impurities in mineral oil are known to cause breast cancer in animals. The EU banned petroleum jelly because it is so cancer causative. Avoid these other relatives of mineral oil as well: paraffin oil, paraffin wax, petrolatum.

Solution: Don’t use products containing mineral oil, which are generally the low- cost tanning oils and foundations as well as many other skin products. If you’re going to use facial powder or foundation, choose “bare minerals” instead—still not nontoxic, but far better than mineral-oil products.

Rancid Oils

Many cosmetic products tout the beneficial properties of oils. However, the reality of manufacturing is that from the time a raw material is picked from a tree or bush (primrose oil, for instance) to the time the consumer applies it to her face may be a year or more. For an oil to be truly nutritious to the skin, it should be used within a few months, at most!

Oils that are rancid, and that includes all refined oils, are carcinogenic. They age your skin. Unfortunately, the vast majority of oils found in skin care products are refined, for convenience in manufacturing, storage, and shipping. Few companies want an expiration or “use by” date only two or three months out, so integrity is sacrificed for practicality in the modern supply chain.

Solution: Use organic, cold-pressed coconut oil as your moisturizer. It will not make your skin oily and is quickly absorbed. It is wonderfully antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal. You’ll save lots of money using this simple ingredient and not buying expensive products full of toxic ingredients that make big claims

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but do not deliver youth or beauty. You can use it from the same gallon of organic coconut oil you buy for cooking—just transfer some by spoon into a small, recycled cosmetic jar.

Alcohol

Not only is alcohol drying and irritating, but it’s a solvent that strips away your skin’s natural protections, allowing bacteria, viruses, and fungus to gain a foothold. It is a petroleum derivative and causes premature aging of the skin and destroys the gastrointestinal barrier.

Solution: Use a natural astringent like natural, herbal witch hazel or raw apple cider vinegar.

Titanium Dioxide, Zinc Oxide, Iron Oxide

These are the alternative ingredients in “bare minerals,” the newest trend in beauty care products, particularly powders and foundations. Marketing strategy is to say that they are just minerals, which your skin needs, so they are good for you. I am not convinced this is true. But they are probably likely to be far less toxic than the mineral oil foundations found in drugstores (and even much more expensive) makeup, which contain propylene glycol, mineral oil, and many other harmful chemicals.

At high exposure levels, titanium dioxide and zinc and iron oxides led to slight incidence in lung cancer in rats, but manufacturers point to them being “not classifiable as a human carcinogen.” I am not particularly excited about them, but if you’re going to wear powder and foundation, they are likely preferable to petroleum products. They are also main ingredient in sunscreens, even those sold in health food stores touted as safer.

Solution: What skin really needs is clean air, natural oils, exfoliation, light skin brushing, and rest—not inorganic, ground-up minerals. Let your skin breathe most of the time rather than wearing pore-clogging foundation every day. If you don’t like the appearance of your skin now, consider that as you let it breathe with clear air, oxygenating exercise, regular sessions in an infrared sauna, vegetables juices and/or green smoothies, and organic coconut oil as moisturizer, you're making every effort to slow aging of your skin.

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Sunscreen

Wearing sunscreen may be associated with far more cancer risk than being in the sun. The Environmental Working Group released a study in 2007 that indicated 84% of sunscreens either provide inadequate protection or contain harmful chemicals. You can search on any product at EWG.org and learn its toxicity level as well as lots of “green” alternatives.

Solution: Go to EWG.org and look at sunscreens, for those rated most highly based on ingredients. Those that are safe are not chemically blocking the sun's rays, but physically blocking, so the sunscreens take some getting used to as they don’t “soak in” very well and can whiten the skin for a short time. Some of the safe alternatives (such as Green Screen brand), however, have tinted options to help avoid that.

Phthalates

The health impact of this class of chemicals often found in plastics, including water bottles, has been well publicized in the media. Researchers have discovered that high concentrations of these toxins in mothers lead to high incidence of feminine characteristics in their male offspring. Independent lab analysis found phthalates in 70% of personal care products, including fragrances, deodorants, moisturizers, shampoos, and hair mousse.

Solution: Use environmentally friendly personal care products free of chemical ingredients. And don’t purchase water bottles, which end up in our landfills at well over 1 million per day anyway—yet another reason to fill water from your filtered-water tap instead and recycle bottles or use reusable stainless steel or glass bottles.

Other Cosmetic Toxins

The problem with a more comprehensive list of toxic ingredients commonly found in cosmetics is how difficult it is to remember, or even read, these chemical names! The chemicals referred to in “Cosmetics” (page 28) are so pervasive in personal care products and are so toxic that they are worth memorizing. Anything with a long chemical name should be guilty until proven innocent, or at least suspect.

The following is a list of other chemicals you should avoid in personal care products. (This detox program kit contains a separate, laminated card with these chemical listed, for your convenience.) However, be aware that almost all cosmetics on the mass market have many of these chemicals, unless the store has a “natural” section. Those products that studiously avoid toxins are found at health food stores. (And if this hasn’t been confusing enough, just a note that some products at health food stores do have toxic ingredients, so keep your list handy.)

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These are common cosmetic ingredients linked to cancer, allergic reactions, liver damage, rashes, brain damage, and more: • cetrimonium (or cetalkonium) • isothiazolinone chloride • lanolin • chloromethylisothiazolinone • MEA compounds • cocoyl sarcosine • methylisothiazolinone • cyclomethicone • paraffin wax/oil • DEA compounds • phthalates • diazolidinyl urea • preservatives methyl, propyl, butyl, and • dimethicone/dimethicone copolyol ethyl parabens • DMDM hydantoin • propylene glycol • disodium oleamide (or laureth) • PVP/VA copolymer sulfosuccinate • quaternium-7, -15, -31, etc. • ethoxylated surfactants • sodium hydroxide • FD&C color pigments (made from • sodium lauryl sulfate coal tar) • sodium methyl cocoyl taurate • formaldehyde • stearalkonium/benzalkonium/cetrimonium • “fragrance” (this can be any of /cetalkonium chloride 4,000 chemicals) • TEA (Triethanolamine) laureth sulfate • imidazolidinyl urea • isopropyl palmitate

Solution: Look for natural, greener products at your health food store instead of a discount store like Target or Wal-Mart. Although standard markets are increasingly boarding the organic foods bandwagon, they are slower to offer nontoxic personal care products.

Brands like Kiss My Face, Vita Bella, All Stop, Burt’s Bees, Garden of Eve, and others are vigilant to avoid endocrine disruptors, heavy metals, and poisonous chemicals in their products. But many who call themselves “nontoxic” eliminate one toxic ingredient for another. So it’s imperative to know what toxic ingredients are and always read labels.

Deodorant

While there are a variety of toxic chemicals in commercial deodorants and antiperspirants, the worst offender in the bunch is aluminum. Your body has great difficulty eliminating it, and it accumulates in the brain. Research has found that individuals with higher levels of aluminum residue in the brain have higher incidence of dementia, including Alzheimer’s. Aluminum is found in some cookware, but you're applying it to your skin to be absorbed

32 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Where Are Environmental Toxins Coming From? into your bloodstream every day if you use any antiperspirant found in any mainstream market.

It takes a leap of faith to begin to use something else. But I am both a competitive athlete and a public speaker, and I haven't used commercial antiperspirant in 10 years.

Solution: At a health food store, you can find a crystal stick, made by several companies, to use on wet underarms as a roll-on. It lasts forever—you’re more likely to drop and break it than to use it up. Or keep a small container of organic, cold-pressed coconut oil. Rub it into the underarm when dry, for excellent bacterial control as a deodorant. Some find one to be effective, and others don’t. Everyone’s body chemistry is different. The crystal stick works better for me than the coconut oil recipes, but others have told me the opposite is true for them.

Safe deodorants are offered by Jason, Aubrey Organics, Pitt Putty, and a small company I like called PrimalPitPaste.com.

Treated Lumber

The culprit here is lumber treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA), containing copper, chromium, and arsenic. In fact, a report published by the Environmental Working Group states that the average 5-year-old playing for two weeks on a CCA-treated play set will have exceeded an acceptable lifetime cancer risk for exposure to arsenic. Fortunately, law prohibited lumber companies from using this chemical at the end of 1993. However, play sets and residential lumber prior to 1993 still present a health risk.

Solution: Don’t allow small children to play on older wood play sets.

Home Cleaning Supplies

A study in 2010 found that 10% of all our toxic exposures reported to U.S. poison control centers were from household cleaners. The worst are corrosive drain cleaners, oven cleaners, and toilet bowl cleaners. Also highly hazardous to your health are chlorine bleach, ammonia, and lye. In fact, homes are 25 to 100 times more toxic than environments outside the home. Carpet and paint are usually the most chemical-emitting sources of indoor pollution.

Solution: If you’re going to use toxic mainstream cleaning products, at least keep them in a covered container up high and far from where children can reach them. Buy VOC-free paint and natural-fiber, toxin-free floor coverings when you remodel. And choose environmentally friendly cleaning solutions such as enzyme cleaners or concentrated organics that are nontoxic and safe for exposure to humans, including children.

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Pesticides

According to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (those which remain in the environment and do not break down/decompose), 9 of the 12 most dangerous POPs are pesticides. They are categorized into herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and bactericides, according to the problem the chemical addresses. There are pesticides in active use to target algae, birds, bacteria, fungi, insects, mites, snails, nematodes, rodents, and viruses.

Documented health effects are cancer clusters in farming communities and neurological problems, birth defects and fetal death, and leukemia and lymphomas. According to one study, 25 million workers worldwide suffer from symptoms related to pesticide poisoning, every year—3 million of them are severe and 18,000 die.

And, of course, the consequences for the environment are epic in scale. The financial cost of human health problems and environmental damage is estimated at $10 billion. However, this does not account for the fact that dollars cannot be assigned to the suffering from leukemia, birth defects, and so much more of the pain and suffering of human beings and animals.

Plants often become resistant to specific pesticides, but registering a new chemical can take years to complete 70 field tests and costs $50–$70 million. But every $1 of the $10 billion spent annually on pesticides yields $4 in crops saved, the farming industry calculates—so, apparently the vast toll on all life on the planet is deemed worth the cost to increase crop yield.

Roundup, the brand name of the world’s most commonly used herbicide, causes cancer, Attention Deficit Disorder, and birth defects—and this has been known since 1980. And its runoff kills 71% of tadpoles when used at one-third the maximum concentration. Yet its owner, Monsanto, continues to market it as one of the “safest” pesticides on the market.

Some pesticides such as DDT and Parathion are now banned in the U.S. because of decades of damage to the environment, but other countries still use them and export product to the U.S.

One thing to consider is that avoiding pesticides by avoiding eating plants is not wise, since processed foods and animal flesh have more, not less, pesticide residue. Animal flesh comes from animals that ate the same conventional produce that you do, only it’s concentrated in the animal’s tissues and organs. And you can’t wash most of it off, like you can with fruit and vegetables, or soak it overnight, like you can with nuts and seeds.

Solution: Wherever you can afford to purchase organic, it’s a wise use of your money. You can do this most cost effectively by finding local growers—and this also has the additional benefit of reducing your carbon footprint since that food does not have to use fossil fuels to travel thousands of miles to get to you. Organic produce also tastes better and has more nutrients because it has been grown in

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nutrient-rich soil. (Pesticides deplete minerals and beneficial organisms in the soil.)

When you must buy conventional produce, always use a good organic veggie wash, available at any health food store or online. You can also make your own inexpensively.

Imported produce from Chile and Mexico is likely to be coated in pesticides banned in the U.S. American-grown produce is preferable, although U.S. growers do use plenty of harmful chemicals.

For your lawn and garden, look for an organic lawn care company that uses all natural, chemical-free treatments. Don’t use Roundup! Buy organic soil and compost, fertilizer, and pest control.

Laundry

Commercial laundry soaps contain chemicals that are absorbed from clothes through the skin. The exposure from sources like these is essentially the equivalent of eating the chemicals, although people generally don’t see it that way, since they don’t realize chemicals absorbed through the skin end up in the bloodstream. (Obviously that is the case—consider medications delivered via a patch!)

Studies show that all the dryer sheets are anyway is perfume, and through loopholes in regulations, fragrances are more toxic than almost anything else because they are able to use dozens of chemicals (often more than 20 in one perfume!) not approved by the FDA. And some fragrances have been found to have up to 23 carcinogens in them!

Solution: You can save lots of money and avoid contributing to toxic groundwater around your home and your family's exposure to harmful chemicals. Natural products stores have eco-friendly options for laundry detergent, and many sites online teach you to make your own.

Benzene (The Gas Pump)

When I was a child, I would roll the window of the car down while my dad pumped gas and gulped lungs full of the fumes. I loved the smell of benzene. Now I know it to be a potent carcinogen. It mutates DNA; kills bone marrow cells; decreases oxygen exchange in red blood cells, causing anemia; and is difficult for the body to eliminate. Painters and workers in refinement plants or rubber or nylon plants have high exposure to gaseous benzene as well.

Solution: Start your gas pumping and walk away, upwind of the fumes, until the tank is full. Cover your nose and mouth with a mask if you paint.

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Aluminum Foil

The shiny side should not have any contact with your food. Aluminum is toxic to humans and leaches easily into food.

Solution: The dull side of aluminum foil is treated with a protective coating to prevent aluminum from seeping into your food. However, best to not use it at all. Use resealable containers or parchment paper instead.

Your Workplace

Those most likely to be subjected to high levels of toxicity are those in manufacturing and refining—construction, oil and gas, drugs, cars, packaging, cookware, paint, electrical lines, rubber, plastics, metals, and water treatment. Dusty work environments are distributing metals and chemicals into your lungs. Military industries, mining, cosmetologists, those around copy machines daily, and those in the dental industry also have high chemical exposure.

Solution: Changing jobs is a much more difficult proposition, especially in a weak economy. However, if you have a serious autoimmune condition, or cancer, and you work in a high-toxin environment, your job is not worth giving up your health for.

You can also petition your employer to make changes in the workplace to protect employee health, such as moving offices away from high-dust manufacturing areas, increasing air filtration, or providing equipment to avoid pollutants getting into mouth/nose/eyes.

Foods

There are thousands of foods with over 4,000 food additive chemicals approved by the FDA. So I cannot cover them all here. And I won’t even get into fake fats, refined salt (but see “Why do we eat extremely low amounts of salt in this program?” on page 72 for some details), genetically modified foods, and the effects of processing, barbecuing, and even cooking. That’s a different book. But of course, please eliminate those completely while on the detox. Here I cover in the briefest detail the three most dangerous and most common chemicals in our food supply.

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Monosodium glutamate (MSG). This is a neurotoxin, and you will notice health problems even at low exposure, especially headaches, swelling (water retention), tingling sensations, joint pain, stomach upset, and heart palpitations. Specifically, it’s an excitotoxin, which means that it stimulates nerve cells to death. It’s found in hundreds of foods, most notably the following: • Chinese food • Ramen noodles • Salad dressings and salad dressing mixes • Bouillon and seasonings like taco mixes • Doritos and other flavored chips • Sausage and luncheon meats • Canned soups • Dipping sauces • Almost everything at KFC • Accent (a meat tenderizer/flavor enhancer; it’s simply a brand name for MSG) These are ingredients that contain MSG that you need to know, to avoid as you inspect labels: • Hydrolyzed vegetable protein • Yeast extract • Sodium caseinate • Textured protein • Glutamic acid • “Natural flavors” Aspartame (brand name NutraSweet). Since this chemical sweetener was approved by the FDA, bumping out saccharin, it has become the food additive (in over 4,000 items in the U.S.) with more health-related complaints than any other. Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock’s research cites over 500 scientific studies showing how this chemical is causing serious neurological disease and other chronic and sometimes life-threatening problems. But the FDA will not reverse its support for it in the food supply because it is a billion- dollar industry and its purveyors have tremendous political power.

In fact, 75% of complaints about food additives in the U.S. are related to consumption of this neurotoxin. It causes headaches, dizziness, weight gain, depression, breathing difficulties, joint pain, insomnia, fatigue, rashes, seizures, and nausea, to name only a few. Many case studies show reversal of major health complaints when aspartame/NutraSweet is eliminated from the diet, including multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, fibromyalgia, diabetes, brain tumors, epilepsy, and more.

This chemical poison is found in virtually all diet sodas and almost everything labeled “sugar free,” including gum.

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Sodium nitrites and nitrates. This chemical may be the most potent carcinogen in our food supply, linked to pancreatic, colon, and brain cancer. It can be deadly for children. For 7 years, Peters, et al, looked for a commonality in children with leukemia and found only one statistically significant link: children who ate 12 hot dogs or more per month had 9 times the risk for developing leukemia. That’s 900% more leukemia in the hot dog- eating group!

Nitrites and sodium nitrates are found in virtually all cured meats such as lunch meats (pepperoni, ham, bologna, etc.), hot dogs, bacon, and sausage. If you must eat bacon, look for nitrate/nitrite-free turkey bacon.

Solution: First, know your excitotoxins, neurotoxins, and carcinogens. With that knowledge, read labels and studiously avoid products containing MSG, aspartame, and other chemical sweeteners such as saccharin, Truvia, and Splenda, and also never eat sodium nitrites or nitrates. Avoid fast food, processed meat, foods labeled “sugar free,” and Chinese foods. If you do eat any processed foods, avoid those with long ingredient lists with lots of hard-to-pronounce words.

If hot dogs are important to you, eat vegan, nitrite-free versions with sprouted, whole-grain buns. Avoid all sodas, but especially diet sodas. A brand called Zevia found in health food stores is naturally sweetened with stevia. Still not a power food by any means, still carbonated, and those addicted to sugar or aspartame may not like the taste as much, but it’s far better than the toxic alternatives. (Don’t drink it during your detox, however.)

In Conclusion

Obviously this brief review does not cover every source of toxic chemicals. However, it can give you a place to start, thinking about where the toxic load on your body is coming from that may be causing a variety of health problems. You’re interested in ridding yourself of these chemicals, or you wouldn’t be reading this manual. So you can start now, within the budget that you have, making different buying and lifestyle decisions.

Clear your pantry, bathroom, kitchen, and laundry room of toxic chemicals and vow to never buy them again!

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Let’s get familiar with the many body systems that are involved in the ongoing process of detoxification. Following is a very brief synopsis of the major organs whose primary function is to eliminate pathogens, waste products, and atoms with unpaired electrons called “free radicals” whose job it is to damage healthy cells.

Skin

Two square yards in size, the skin is your largest organ of elimination—and it shows the backlog if other organs are not operating properly, such as the liver or organ. The skin can look puffy, gray, yellow, saggy, or dull, especially in the face, when it is congested and/or detoxification of other organs is needed. It can retain uric acid and other impurities below the surface. Its pores can become clogged, skin can become less elastic, skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema may result, and blemishes or wrinkles may occur when skin is not healthy and eliminating well. Healthy skin is eliminating a pound of material a day!

Some techniques to employ for the benefit of making the skin a healthy part of your elimination include drinking more water: half your body weight in ounces, or 8 glasses of water a day for the average person.

Also, to open clogged pores and increase lymphatic drainage, you will be asked during this detox to use a natural-fiber stiff skin brush from the health and beauty section of any store (purchase one with natural bristles), and spend five minutes every day brushing your skin, while it is dry (before you shower or get in a sauna is a good time)—legs, arms, back, chest, stomach, neck, everywhere but your face. Use short, brisk strokes toward your heart (upward on your legs, arms, and lower trunk).

Our video on how to skin brush is on the GreenSmoothieGirl channel on YouTube.

Try ½–1 lb. of Epsom salt (available at any pharmacy) in a warm bath to help absorb the second most abundant element in human cells, magnesium. You absorb it easily through the skin and poorly through the stomach, which is also true of the sulfates in Epsom salts. Both elements help your body detoxify of drugs and environmental chemicals. It also relieves swollen joints and relaxes muscles.

And get in a far infrared sauna if you can. I have one in my house. I believe the detox effects are important for people living in the modern age. The traditional steam sauna at your gym is better than nothing, but a far infrared sauna is vastly more effective, with many unique health benefits.

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GreenSmoothieGirl.com arranges wholesale group buys of infrared saunas, so contact [email protected] for pricing if that is in your budget; otherwise, see if you can locate a sauna you can use. Wellness centers may have one you can pay to use or they may be able to tell you where you can use one.

Regular cells in the body operate best at 98.6° F, but immune cells are activated at 103.5° F. The far infrared sauna penetrates deeply, 2 inches, whereas a regular sauna is just heating the air and the effect is entirely superficial, takes much longer to work up a sweat, and can be very uncomfortable. You can find significant documentation of the healing effect of far infrared heat on skin, muscles, and elimination organs such as kidneys, as well as calculations of calories burned being 200–500 for 30 minutes in the sauna.

The first thing I noticed when I got my own sauna was how good my skin looked and felt after I used it. Not just right after, but the whole next day, my skin is pink and very soft. I can't believe how much I sweat in the sauna. I can run five miles and not perspire noticeably, and I’ve always wished I could, because sweating is so good for you. But after 30 minutes in my sauna, I am literally pouring off cleansing fluids.

Make sure to drink a pint of water before and after your sauna session. Also add a dropperful of GreenSmoothieGirl Ultimate Minerals to replenish lost minerals and electrolytes in fulvic and humic acid base that the body readily absorbs and uses.

Kidneys

The kidneys, urinary tract, and bladder are critical parts of your system of elimination.

The kidneys filter blood, and when they falter or fail, health comes to a crashing stop as we become poisoned by our own waste products. Even the by-products of normal cellular metabolism must be filtered by these two small but critical organs.

Getting sufficient water is critical for kidney health. (I knew a school teacher who ate a very healthy diet and was never overweight, but because she didn’t want to have to leave her classroom to use the bathroom, she avoided drinking water. In her 50s, she ended up with a kidney transplant, from her only child, and on lifelong anti-rejection meds.)

Ask yourself if you’d rather have to urinate more often in order to keep your kidneys functioning well, to filter your blood until you’re 100. Having to go to the bathroom is inconvenient, but a kidney transplant is far more inconvenient. Many detoxers complained to us that they urinated frequently. That's a good sign! Be thankful that your kidneys work so well to detoxify, via fluids, many chemicals from various places in the body.

Your kidney is also responsible for maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance, so drinking enough but not too much water is important—8 oz. eight times a day. Not a gallon a day,

40 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox The Many Parts of Your System of Elimination unless you work outdoors in the sun in a hot climate, you are running a marathon, and/or doing two sessions in the sauna!

Gout and kidney stones are best avoided by not only drinking plenty of water, but also not drinking soda and not eating animal proteins. A high-protein diet causes uric acid crystals to form in joints and can be extremely painful as the body tries to eliminate them.

Liver

The liver is perhaps the most important organ of elimination in the human body. All the blood supply circulates through it every three minutes. The liver is our manufacturing plant and detoxification central. It filters drugs, alcohol, ammonia (a poisonous by-product of digesting proteins), bacteria and their by-products, and worn-out red blood cells.

The liver is critically involved in metabolism. It converts carbs into glucose, removes excess glucose from the blood, and stores energy in the form of glycogen to burn when you aren't eating.

It also controls the metabolism of fats, makes bile stored in the gallbladder, and builds fats and breaks them down.

Level 2 detox participants will have the best purification of the liver. That's because access to the liver is through ducts. So when you use rectal coffee and/or wheat grass enemas, the ducts releasing into the colon open up and allow the kidney to slough off waste products that have built up. Even if you’re a Level 1 participant, check it out in case you want to add that component to your detox. It’s not too late!

Giving your liver a break from chemical pills, animal proteins, and sodas is terribly important to allow it to rest and come back able to serve you well for many more years. Failure of the liver results in much higher cancer risk, immune failures, and allergies. It also leads to hepatitis and gallstones.

The famous Dr. Max Gerson believed that the liver is the body’s most important organ. Part of his legendary cancer treatment, in addition to many of the other principles we use in this detox, was a mandatory coffee enema several times a day. That’s because as tumor tissue breaks down, it can swamp the body’s organs of elimination. So opening up kidney and liver bile ducts with rectally delivered caffeine not only powerfully reduces pain, but also increases liver cleansing.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 41 The Many Parts of Your System of Elimination

Lungs

The lungs are critically important in detoxification. Exercising and not smoking obviously are keys to lung health. Going for a walk five days a week for 30 minutes, and walking as briskly as you can, is a minimal requirement. But causing your lungs and heart to work hard several times a week is also a very good idea—through running or biking, even on a stationary bike if that is more convenient, or if you are elderly or have significant joint issues and cannot tolerate impact.

But you should also adopt a new habit during the detox that I hope you continue daily for the rest of your life. It is easy to do, powerfully stimulating, and helpful in cleansing the lungs—and just requires remembering to do it at a specific time each day. Take 30 very deep, slow breaths. When you’ve taken in as much air as you possibly can, gulp just a little bit more. Many people do this step, but the deep release at the bottom of the breath is extremely important, and few people do this:

Release the air with a long exhalation. When you get to the bottom and feel like that’s all the air you can naturally exhale, the real cleansing takes place. Push the air out in three short bursts or pushes. This is very important to eliminate stagnant air in the lungs and make way for cleansing, oxygenating fresh air.

This practice also will, over time, increase lung capacity. Lung tissue is living matter that cannot regenerate if it dies, so anything we can do to improve our lung function is important. You see plenty of elderly people with a cannula in their nose attached to an oxygen tank. Let’s avoid that by becoming conscious of our lungs and undertaking simple habits to nurture this huge, complex system of vascular tissues that serve us so well. Anti- inflammatory foods (like greens and vegetables) will help tremendously, but don’t neglect daily deep breathing.

Thirty breaths as I have described will cleanse the lungs as much or more as an hour of exercise will, and in a different way. A side benefit of the deep breathing, in addition to lung capacity increase and detox, is that you will find an immediate, noticeable impact on tension, stress, and anxiety. They decrease dramatically after the 30-breaths exercise.

Colon

The colon is the sewage system of the body, at the very end of your gastrointestinal tract and elimination system. Water is reabsorbed through the colon, so when it is toxic and dirty, those poisons are recirculated into your bloodstream over and over, causing cyclical problems.

It is often said that one should eliminate at least once a day, as a gauge of the health of the colon. I find this problematic, as plenty of chronically constipated people eliminate once a day. And many people regularly eliminate three times a day. The problem isn’t what’s coming out—it’s what is staying in.

42 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox The Many Parts of Your System of Elimination

Possibly a more important consideration than how many times elimination occurs in a day is throughput. Bernard Jensen, who examined at least 10,000 colons in his career and worked into very old age treating the digestive system naturally with colonics and supplements and nutritional therapy, said that you should eliminate soft, formed stool that would measure in length from your elbow to your fingertips. If the stool is hard and causes straining, if it is sticky, you don’t have nearly enough fiber and water in your diet. If it is foul smelling, it is usually because you are eating animal flesh, which takes a long time to digest and putrefies in our long digestive tract that was built for plants, not animals. (All carnivores have short digestive tracts.)

Ask a vegetarian who doesn’t eat processed food what happened when he or she stopped eating meat. It may sound laughable to say that their stool doesn’t stink, because we take for granted in the Western world that everyone’s poop stinks, even babies in diapers. But actually, it doesn’t. Does horse manure stink? I have horses near my house, and it smells like alfalfa. When animals (such as cows) are fed foods that are not natural for their biology or are rotting, or if they have the long digestive tract of a vegetarian but eat animal flesh, then their eliminations are the remains of foods they ate many hours or even days ago. And putrefaction is what causes foul orders.

To stimulate the peristaltic action of your colon, get in the habit of doing a transverse colon massage before you get out of bed every morning. I made a video showing this, available in the Detox portal for Full-Support members.

You start in the lower right deep in your abdomen, inside your pelvic bone. With a tennis ball, or deeply with your hands, massage in a circular direction. Slowly move up, and then move over to the left, just below your navel. Feel for your upside-down U-shaped colon. If you touch a sensitive spot, spend a little extra time massaging it, as that is likely where blockage is. As you reach the left side of your abdomen, move downward along the inside of the pelvic bone to the lowest part of your left-side abdominal cavity. Repeat one more time. The entire exercise should take you 2–3 minutes.

The other ways to ensure healthy movement of the colon are to (a) drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water a day, so the stool does not become heavy and sticky and (b) eat 35 or more grams of fiber daily, in the form of raw and cooked plant food (every meal or snack being at least 60% raw). Thirty-five grams is more than the USRDA recommendations, but that is because the government’s bar is low, and plenty of people meeting that standard's minimum could still be constipated.

The average American is getting a dismal 11 grams of fiber. Adding a quart of green smoothie to the diet will, in one step, double your fiber intake. A bowl of oatmeal such as what I have in this detox program will add significantly to the bulk needed for good elimination as well.

Metamucil and other chemical fiber/laxative products are not the answer. In fact, they are damaging to your digestive tract over time. They are a sorry substitute for the insoluble plant fiber needed to “drag” the digestive tract with roughage and bulk.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 43 The Many Parts of Your System of Elimination

For your colon, possibly the most constipating foods, which may cause depressed mood as your digestive system gets more and more sluggish, are (a) animal flesh, which your system is not built to digest well or quickly, and (b) white flour, which functions like glue. (Test this by adding a small amount of water to white flour, stirring it, and looking at its properties over the next hour!)

You may find that you have foul-smelling stool in the first week or two on the detox—and when there is no odor for several days, you have a sign that you’ve eliminated most or all of the buildup of toxic, old materials in your colon. (This is a lot more likely to occur within the 26 days if you utilize professional colonics, or at least the home enemas taught in this manual. Foods eaten during this 26 days digest quickly and do not cause foul- smelling stool.)

Lymphatic System

If the blood brings the groceries home, the lymph system takes the trash out. The lymphatic system is another circulatory system involving lymph vessels, lymph tissue, lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, and bone marrow. It isn’t usually listed in a review of organs of elimination because it’s part of the circulatory system. But I include it as worth considering here because it has multiple roles, with a critical one being removing waste products from the blood. So it is worth discussing because we too often take it for granted and ignore it. Certainly few people make any effort in the course of a day to encourage its healthy function.

The lymph system can become sluggish and slow easily, especially in people who are not active. The lymph nodes consequently can get swollen and infected, or even cancerous.

You can stimulate circulation of the lymph system, which often gets taken for granted and ignored, in several ways. • Dry skin brushing, as described in “Skin” (page 39). • Taking 30 very deep breaths in a day, as described in “Lungs” (page 42)—a good habit to get into when taking a walk, if that is part of your routine. • Jumping on a rebounder (a small in-home trampoline) for even 5 minutes a day while massaging your lymph system on your face and neck and under your armpits in short, energetic strokes. And also using tapping techniques (which I show briefly in a video in the “Detox” portal for Full-Support members). • Taking hot-and-cold showers, with 15–20 seconds of water as cold as you can tolerate (don’t make yourself miserable), followed by very warm (even hot) water, and back and forth for four cycles right before you get out of the shower. Always end on cold to close the pores. You’ll be amazed how quickly you warm up after getting out of the shower, and this practice can be very invigorating.

44 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox The Many Parts of Your System of Elimination

• Employing the thoracic pump technique. See my interview with Dr. Trent Teegarden demonstrating how to pump the lymph system easily, in about 60 seconds, a few times a day. It’s simple and easy for someone to use the heels of their hands right below the sternum, to pump the nexus of the body’s lymphatic system, 100 times. I am sending you this video as part of the Full-Support Detox option, so you can visualize it. Many studies link breast cancer to wearing bras. Women who wear bras less have far lower rates of breast cancer in every study done on this issue. Many theorize that bras trap lymph fluid, making it stagnant and ripe for cancerous cells to proliferate. So, rebound without a bra, and wear your bra fewer hours in a day. Those who wear their bras 16–24 hours a day are at highest risk.

Mouth

You are aware that the mouth can be a place for lots of bacteria to build up and cause problems, at the starting point of the entire alimentary canal. It is worth mentioning in any discussion, and especially of one exploring the body system involved in detoxifying the body.

First of all, toxic dental treatments put metals and chemicals in the mouth, as discussed “Dental Toxins” (page 27). But also, decaying food; alcohol, artificial colors, sugars, and chemicals in mouthwashes and toothpastes; and bacteria in the mouth lead to bad breath, dental and gum decay, and other problems.

I have never had a cavity since I started using the Sonic Care toothbrush. You may also wish to try the Bass toothbrush.

Oil Pulling. You can also employ oil pulling, a powerful Ayurvedic tradition. It’s a cleansing practice that is demonstrated on video. The video can be found in the Detox portal (Full-Support members).

Simply add food-grade wintergreen or peppermint essential oils to 1 Tbsp. coconut, olive, or sesame oil (extra virgin, cold pressed, organic only) and swish it in the mouth for 15–20 minutes. Suck it through the teeth and swish it around in all parts of the mouth. Do not swallow the oil. Spit and rinse well.

A few of my colleagues were able to avoid expensive, toxic dental procedures with oil pulling.

This is an excellent detoxifying technique that many practitioners claim eliminates bad breath, whitens teeth, and resolves many dental problems, including stopping cavities from progressing (cavities can remineralize and fill in, as well). It certainly gets rid of millions of bacteria and associated by-product toxins that reside in the mouth, without damaging healthy microflora.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 45 The Many Parts of Your System of Elimination

But additionally, many doctors say it heals headaches, lung and skin conditions, gastrointestinal issues, and nervous system problems. I have also read evidence of it curing insomnia and even eliminating malignant tumors.

Certainly toxins are drawn to fats. (The body’s fat cells store toxins to keep them away from cells with critical functions. In a salad dressing, any toxins are found in the oil.) But also, oil pulling stimulates antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, painkiller, and anabolic natural chemicals to prevent and heal gum diseases.

It is easy and inexpensive—and worth adding to your regimen because you can do it while you do something else.

Note: It is best to do this practice first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, when bacteria levels in the mouth are highest.

46 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Changing Your Body’s Weight/Fat Set Point

You may have struggled with your body’s “set point,” the approximately 5- to 10-pound weight range your body wants to stay in. Our bodies, especially women, hoard fat at a place we consider to be above our “ideal weight”—probably an evolutionary adaptation, to protect reproductive function.

Many of us have a set point we would love to lower! It is not particularly easy, but it is possible.

Metabolism set point theory is complicated, involving interactions between the nervous system, brain, and fat cells. When the fat cells signal to the brain after a period of weight loss, a series of interactions can cause the body to hoard fat.

You must understand that Phase 2 will not likely result in weight loss, or not more than a pound or two. Don’t be disappointed, and don’t be spoiled by your rapid weight loss in Phase 1. Weight loss slows because your brain and nervous system are protecting fat stores. However, as you continue to detoxify cells, and for a short time increase calories (still lower than what you likely eat in “real life”), you are setting yourself up for more effective weight loss later. (At the end of the program, you will have five days where you are likely to drop a few more pounds.)

I reduced my set point by 7 pounds quite a few years ago and have stayed there ever since. With the detox, I set an intention to exercise as much discipline and patience as necessary to lower the “sweet spot” my body always wants to stay at, from 135 to 137 lbs. I felt that I had more knowledge of human physiology and was prepared to make the effort for more than just a couple of weeks to achieve that significant change in my body. This requires a commitment, and a long-range view, rather than a short-term “diet.” Part of my plan is to maintain better muscle mass, since I can eat more and weigh less that way. This involves a little less of what I enjoy (running, biking, tennis, yoga) in favor of more weight-bearing exercise I had not been doing for a few years.

At one point during the detox, my weight hit as low as 130. (That was on Day 24, after two days of watermelon fasting for the liver flush!) I was careful not to attach emotionally to that weight, since I know that the place I land to stay at is the only one that really matters. (I had to fight the emotional reaction that my weight going up, after that, was a failure—since hitting 130 felt like a big accomplishment. In the past, I hit that weight only every few years and only briefly, usually following a very stressful event that was NOT worth the accompanying weight loss!)

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 47 Changing Your Body’s Weight/Fat Set Point

I reminded myself that 130 is below the bottom of the “healthy” range for my height on modern weight-loss charts, to give myself perspective.

If you have a significant amount of weight to lose—20 pounds or more—and are serious about changing your “set point,” you must allow for periods of time for the body to stabilize. One detoxer wrote us that she was so disappointed because she “only” lost 13.5 pounds and wanted to lose 20! Please don’t compare yourself to those who lose the most—and celebrate that even several pounds in 26 days is amazing and exciting! Those who have the most to lose and those who are most strict with the diet (few cheats, and only legal ones) tend to lose the most.

Our bodies, just like our emotions and mental reality, like stability. Metabolism defends the set point by slowing down when you reach the outer limit of your typical 10-pound range.

This doesn't mean you cannot change your set point. It means patience is required to recognize leveling-off periods as normal and necessary for your body as it manages change. Continue to eat your detox diet even after several days in one of these leveling-off periods.

If you want to ramp up metabolism and/or digestion in Phases 2 and 3, consider doing one or more of these things: • Exercise! I cannot begin to enumerate all the ways moving your body and breaking a sweat in any way you enjoy gets blood, lymph, and oxygen moving. This is the only documented way to change the body's set point. • Vary your exercise. If you do the same thing every day, the body adjusts to it. So mix it up. Try interval running: running fast for 30–60 seconds, then walking for 2 minutes, then running again burns far more fat and keeps the metabolism revved, up to 8 times more than a long, slow jog. You can accomplish in 20–30 minutes what many runners spend 60 minutes trying to do. • Incorporate weight training. Use your body’s biggest muscles, like legs and buttocks. Muscle burns 18 times more calories than fat does! And women who lift weights burn 300 calories a day more than other women—while resting! • Undertake a few home colonics (enemas), using instructions found in “Why & How to Administer an Enema and Implant” (page 55). This will release any blockages in the colon slowing down your cleansing. • Cultivate positive emotions and release negative ones. Focusing obsessively on negatives about the detox can actually set back your weight loss goals. Take a series of very deep breaths a few times a day, reflect on your successes having come this far, and sit for a minute to imagine how much your GI tract loves you, how much your kidneys love you, how much more refreshed and thinner you look than you did 12 days ago! Positive energies make positive things happen. You can engage in positive flow or negative flow. Which do you choose? We cannot let go of physical material easily if we do not let go of emotional material, since physical proteins trap emotions. If you are struggling mightily with issues in your life and find yourself unable to let go of the need to look backward at past events

48 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Changing Your Body’s Weight/Fat Set Point

or spin with anxiety about the future, you may need extra help. Consider Body Talk, EFT techniques, other emotional-release practitioners, or just general counseling. Tell your counselor that your weight loss goals have stalled and you would like assistance removing emotional blockages. Changing your set point permanently, then, is largely a matter of managing your expectations. Because you likely lost some weight very quickly in the beginning, you may have expected continued weight loss at that rate. But none of my beta testers lost weight continuously and steadily. All of us, myself included, lost an impressive amount of weight in the first phase, but not in the second phase. That's not because you’re doing something wrong. Try to stay, in your second phase, focused on DETOXIFICATION and continue to celebrate and feel grateful for your accomplishments thus far! Keep your eye on the long- range goal.

Set your intention to stay the course and take careful note of the ways you notice your body healing, resting, and regaining energy. And remember, try to eat salt free—or at least extremely low in sodium (10 mg or less/serving)! If you eat more salt than that, your inflamed cells will stop their healing process and they will flare up and retain water. Not only will your detoxification be set back, but so will your emotional state as you suddenly “gain” 1–2 pounds! Your body LOVES you for not feeding it salt, so keep it up! The longer you stay in extremely low-sodium mode, the more ability your body has to heal cells and burn fat stores. (For details about this, see “Why do we eat extremely low amounts of salt in this program?” on page 72.)

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 49 What You Will Need for This Detox Program

For Both Levels 1 (Beginner) and 2 (Advanced) • High-powered blender. • Skin brush. • (Optional) GreenSmoothieGirl Tri-Omega Superfood—which is sprouted broccoli, chia, and flax seed—or one of our Sprouted Flax products would be very helpful in getting essential fatty acids and living, sprouted plant-based nutrition throughout the program and beyond, in your green smoothies. We also recommend our vegan, plant- based protein. More protein will slow down rapid detoxifying and ease the transition for those who eat animal proteins and may find the significant change in diet difficult. But it's a much cleaner source of protein than others you may have consumed regularly in the past.

For Level 2 (Advanced) You can eliminate any cooked dishes you wish in your prep and shopping and you will need these items: • Enema bag or bucket with a tip at EnemaSupply.com, on Amazon.com, or your local herb shop. • Optional: Colema board (to avoid getting up and down performing enemas, so you can administer a home enema comfortably). Excellent if you want to make cleansing a regular part of your future life. You can buy one on Amazon.com for about $250. • Organic ground coffee and/or 8 oz. fresh wheat grass juice, once a day. • Juicer. The triturating press Norwalk Juicer is preferred for no damage to nutrition in juicing and maximum juice extracted, but is expensive at $2,500; another juicer such as Champion, Breville, or Omega is less expensive at $250 to $500 and found at health food stores or online. • Consider scheduling a professional colonic or two, at the end of your detox. A colonic irrigates the colon much higher, using higher-tech instruments. It is not painful or uncomfortable, but it requires a professional’s involvement. You may be able to find a hydrotherapist with good equipment that allows you to irrigate the colon with oxygenated water to kill parasites (which are then flushed out the following day, in a two-day program). The professional colonic can help you relax without having to manage the logistics of the procedure, it can help direct the irrigation higher in your intestines, and you don’t have to get up and down to eliminate.

50 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Why I Chose These Foods & Habits for Detoxing

The foods in this program are easy on your digestive tract. I want your body to put a minimum of time into breaking down foods for fuel and tissue maintenance, because you need to free up as much energy as possible for rest, repair, and rebuilding. Dr. Gaetano Morello states that “detoxification takes more energy than any other process in the body. A phenomenal amount of ADP must be produced to rid your organs of chemicals built up there.”

To that end, raw, organic plant foods are easy to digest. They come with their own live enzymes, so the pancreas does not have to labor to supply them. They are recognized, absorbed, and utilized in minutes, maintaining energy without causing fat stores to increase.

I have also chosen the foods in the detox for their alkalizing properties, their oxygenating properties, their high insoluble plant fiber, and their high vitamin and mineral content. Each of these categories is extremely beneficial in creating a climate for the maximum amount of gain (flushing, eliminating, decreasing fat stores) with the least amount of pain.

We are not using any animal proteins, which take more time and energy and enzymes to digest, and no gluten in the first 10 days.

Gluten is optional, to test your food sensitivities to those grains—but if you are already gluten free, you have substitution options. The reason I add gluten back into the diet is so that you can test its effect on your body, as most people do eat grains unless they are severely gluten intolerant. We never add in nonorganic, hybridized gluten grains. And grains are optional, if you already know you are severely gluten intolerant.

Keep in mind that some food allergies do not manifest within an hour or two of eating them. Gluten (in grains) is a major example. Some people eat grain and do not have bloating or other reactions until the next day. So watch this very carefully and take note of whether you may wake up with a bloated belly the morning after you ate a gluten- containing grain.

Very importantly, all of your food is very low in sodium. The importance of this cannot be overstated. You will get used to the blandness of the recipes. And you will love the decrease in inflammation you’ll achieve by ensuring your cooking is extremely low in sodium, which is an important part of cellular healing and release of fluids and toxic elements from billions of inflamed cells. (For details about this, see “Why do we eat extremely low amounts of salt in this program?” on page 72.)

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 51 Why I Chose These Foods & Habits for Detoxing

If you must “cheat,” please do so with chia seed in water, or a piece of fruit already reintroduced into the diet, or a vegetable. Or an extra helping of something you already ate that day. Above all else, please do not eat any refined foods, animal products, or anything containing more than 10 mg of salt. This will cause a major setback in your detoxification goals.

You will spend the first four days preparing for a green smoothie (or juice) fast to follow. This will get you through the transition to only high-nutrition, mostly raw foods, which will likely decrease your calorie consumption. The next three days are green smoothies or juices only, to accelerate cleansing and weight loss.

I have been heavily influenced by my studies of the contributions to the world of nutrition, internal cleansing, and healing of Dr. Bernard Jensen, Dr. Richard N. Anderson, Dr. Ann Wigmore, Dr. Max Gerson, Dr. Johanna Budwig, Dr. Gabriel Cousens, and even Hippocrates. I am also indebted to my extensive study with doctors and practitioners who continue to carry on their legacy today, such as Dr. Thomas Lodi, M.D., at An Oasis of Healing in Mesa, AZ; Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D., at Center for New Medicine in Irvine, CA; Dr. Francisco Contreras at Oasis of Healing in Tijuana, Mexico; Dr. Thomas Rau and Dr. Petra Wiechel of Paracelsus Lustmuhle and al Ronc in Switzerland; and Dr. Brian Clement, N.D., at Hippocrates Institute in West Palm Beach, FL.

Each of these pioneers was (or is) a physician who focused on “food as medicine” rather than toxic, drug-oriented treatments that leave a patient weakened and dependent, with the health issues unresolved.

Not all of these experts agree on every subject. I have mostly stayed away from the more controversial subjects within the philosophies of some of these experts and practitioners. The things that they do have in common are as follows: • They had phenomenal track record of success for many years in helping people restore their health while doing no harm. • They studied and focused on the power of plant “food as medicine.” Level 2 detox participants will be invited to participate in some of the more “advanced” principles championed by Ann Wigmore and Max Gerson, namely, 1) the use of wheat grass juice, taken orally or administered rectally via implant (a staple in the Wigmore modality) and 2) the coffee enema (a critical component of the Gerson therapy). Because these are likely to be unfamiliar, I will explain why they are powerful in detoxification in “Why & How to Administer an Enema and Implant” on page 55.

Those ready to get very serious about improving their health may wish to invest in a quality juicer and join us in this advanced part of the detox as well. I do not find that 99% of the public will consistently make and consume raw vegetable juices in their daily routine. And the barrier to entry in a cleanse is the price of a good juicer (usually about $400, and the best-quality Norwalk is $2,500).

Dr. Gaetano Morello believes that while juices are phenomenally rich in antioxidants— which prevent aging, cancer, heart disease, and every other type of damage to cells—fiber

52 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Why I Chose These Foods & Habits for Detoxing

(removed in the juicing process) is critically important. I do, too. Thus I teach the practice of making and consuming a quart of green smoothie a day in my books and teaching for the general lifestyle, on some days even two or three quart in this detox, and other high- fiber foods as well.

However, if you drink three pints daily of fresh juice, you're getting the pure, healing nutrition of about 9 lbs. of vegetables!

Chewing 9 lbs. of vegetables in a day is a herculean task no one would undertake— certainly not raw. You'd have a sore jaw and you certainly wouldn't accept that task a second day, let alone for 26 days straight. Nor would all of that juice be efficiently extracted, since modern man no longer has a strong enough jaw or wide enough palate to break down fibrous greens and vegetables adequately.

Thus in this program, there is bulk and fiber to augment the powerful medicine of the juices (Level 2) or the green smoothies (Level 1) in the form of easy-to-eat potatoes, yams, oatmeal, and cooked vegetable soup.

Important: Do not eat any foods you have a known allergy to.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 53 Why I Recommend Infrared Sauna Treatment

One of the most powerful detox tools you can use is a far infrared (FIR) sauna. The healing radiant energy waves from the sun are leveraged in a sauna that doesn’t heat the air but deeply heats and vibrates your cells, up to 2 inches deep, in your body. Many studies have shown that your body releases mercury, pesticides, chlorine, and many other poisons quickly and safely using infrared sauna treatment. That’s far from the only benefit. Sauna and calorie restriction burns 700% more fat than calorie restriction alone. It dilates blood vessels and improves circulation, works the heart, and burns as many calories as a cardio workout of the same duration. And did you know that even though normal body cells function optimally at 98.6° F, immune cells go into hyper drive at 103.5° F? You’re stimulating and helping white blood cells to do their work everywhere in your body with every infrared treatment.

You can read my more detailed research on the health benefits of FIR saunas on GreenSmoothieGirl.com. You'll also learn how to obtain our group buy pricing on a sauna of your own, from my favorite company with beautiful cedar wood units that emit very low EMF and use no toxins in manufacturing. Or write to [email protected] for group buy pricing. Expect a sauna for your home to run $2,000 to $4,000.

After a Blendtec and a water ionizer, I believe an infrared sauna is the next best thing you can do for your long-term health. I get in mine almost every day when I’m not traveling and I love it!

Meantime, if a sauna in your home isn’t in the budget, see if you can find one at a local health practitioner, spa, or gym. Keep in mind that traditional saunas heat the air and the surface of the skin and do not have the powerful benefits of far infrared. They are also very uncomfortable to sit in for 30 or more minutes. They are better than nothing, but be aware that they are very different.

54 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Why & How to Administer an Enema and Implant

Dr. James Wiltsie, M.D., said, “As long as we continue to assume that the colon will take care of itself, just that long will we remain in complete ignorance of perhaps the most important source of ill health in the whole body.”

The Ebers Papyrus of the 14th century B.C. and the Edwin Smith Papyrus from about 1700 B.C. refer to enemas and give directions. Hippocrates, father of the allopathic tradition that is now called “modern medicine,” used and advocated for enemas.

The Essene Gospel of Peace from the 3rd century says the following:

The uncleanness within is greater than the uncleanness without. And he who cleanses himself without, but within remains unclean, is like a tomb that outward is painted fair, but is within full of all manner of horrible uncleannesses and abominations…seek, therefore, a large trailing gourd, having a stalk the length of a man; take out its inwards and fill it with water from the river which the sun has warmed. Hang it upon the branch of a tree, and kneel upon the ground before the angel of water, and suffer the end of the stalk of the trailing gourd to enter your hinder parts, that the water may flow through all your bowels.

Afterwards rest kneeling on the ground before the angel of water and pray to the living God that he will forgive you all your past sins, and pray the angel of water that he will free your body from every uncleanness and disease.

Then let the water run out from your body, that it may carry away from within it all the unclean and evil-smelling things of Satan. And you shall see with your eyes and smell with your nose all the abominations and uncleannesses which abode in your body, tormenting you with all manners of pains. (pp. 15-16)

Dr. Bernard Jensen wrote extensively of the hundreds of maladies that occur as the colon develops layers upon layers of “catarrhal mucoid plaque,” hardened, thick residues of the toxic, low-fiber diet of the Western world. With any cleanse, it can take a week or more to loosen these plaque layers for elimination. Enemas are invaluable for removing it quickly when it starts to loosen from the bowel walls.

An enema, then, is the flushing of the large intestine using fluids. An “implant” is used after you flush and expel from the colon at least a quart of water to clear the initial debris so that an implant can be most effectively absorbed.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 55 Why & How to Administer an Enema and Implant

The implant is a high-nutrition substance that is more efficacious than food in some important ways, because it is so quickly absorbed by the hemorrhoidal vein to transport quickly to the liver and kidneys.

The Coffee Implant

Drinking coffee, or caffeine in any form, is not beneficial to your health. (Note that we do not believe the coffee enema is addictive.) Why, then, would coffee be helpful implanted the other direction? Several distinct advantages make this a good technique for pain relief and accelerated, safe detoxification of the liver and kidneys.

The coffee enema allows the natural caffeine in the coffee to recirculate to the liver several times through the hemorrhoidal vein, opening bile ducts in the liver and kidneys and allowing them to excrete directly into the rectum. This way, toxins may be immediately expelled rather than recirculated through the blood supply.

As blood circulates through the liver, the entire blood supply of the body is detoxified in three minutes. The coffee held in the rectal cavity stimulates the nervous system, promoting increased peristalsis throughout the intestinal tract.

Dr. Max Gerson said the beneficial compounds in coffee stimulate the production of glutathione S-transferase, which is the “master enzyme,” “master antioxidant,” and possibly the most powerful detoxifier in the body. This enzyme binds with free radicals that cause aging, tissue damage, and cancer and quickly flushes them out of the body. Pain and swelling abates, and a newly cleansed patient has a renewed sense of well-being.

Long after Dr. Gerson’s time, a 1982 study showed a 600% increase of glutathione in the liver and a 700% increase in the small intestine in mice eating green coffee beans. Of course, putting the coffee directly in the colon augments this effect, because the caffeine, palmitates, theobromine, and other compounds directly stimulate the liver without running through the digestive tract.

My readers assume that the reason their mood improves and they feel energetic after the coffee enema is the caffeine. But Dr. Gerson said that because coffee flushes break up nests of parasites and Candida and the natural chemicals stimulate the release of bile, efficient elimination of waste causes the “natural high.”

Dr. Gerson also noted that coffee does not significantly damage beneficial flora that populates the colon, and that the enemas promote peristalsis, which is the organized, regular muscle contractions that naturally move food through the 35-foot-long tract and out of the body. Too many on the Standard American Diet have weak peristalsis. And those who suffer from bloating, stomach pain, and gas also often get relief from the coffee enema because the liver is often malfunctioning due to being overworked.

Diet alone simply cannot accomplish what diet plus coffee enemas can. Our first two times doing the GreenSmoothieGirl Detox with large numbers of people, we had many positive reports about colon blockages released through coffee therapy—as well as

56 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Why & How to Administer an Enema and Implant testimonies about feeling better and having higher energy levels, even if in a “healing crisis,” using this simple and inexpensive technique.

Many who could not really summon the courage to do coffee enemas in the beginning bought themselves an enema kit and some organic coffee and started midway through— and we had many comments about how glad they were that they did! This response from Brenda G. in San Jose (who participated in our first large-scale roll-out of the detox) is representative of many comments we got when we asked for improvement suggestions: “Encourage people to do the coffee enemas! They were a game changer for me! I wish I’d done them from Phase 1 forward!”

To make a coffee enema:

1. Bring 1 quart of water to a boil. 2. Add 3 rounded tablespoons of ground (not instant) organic coffee. 3. Reduce to low heat and simmer 15 minutes. 4. Strain the solution (throwing coffee grounds away). 5. Allow it to cool to body/room temperature before using.

Note: If you make the coffee with your coffee maker, use the brown coffee filters because the white ones have chemicals in them.

The Wheat Grass Implant

This technique is used with great success at all the Ann Wigmore Institutes, including the Creative Health Institute in Michigan, Hippocrates Institute in Florida, and Optimum Health Institute in California and Texas.

When you drink wheat grass juice, it is absorbed in the alimentary canal, of course, and goes through all phases of digestion. But wheat grass juice implanted rectally has different, unique benefits of nourishing organs that are further along the human digestive process.

Ann Wigmore discovered the phenomenal healing properties of wheat grass juice over 50 years ago. It is a complete food with its live enzymes, all of the amino acids that are the building blocks of protein, 92 minerals, and massive usable levels of Vitamins C, A, E, K, and B. The fiber is indigestible to humans, but the juice has phenomenal phytonutrients, equivalent to the nutrient value of eating 23 pounds of vegetables. Wheat grass builds red blood cells and allows your body to accelerate neutralization of many forms of toxins built up in many organs.

In reviewing the literature, I found case studies of these conditions responding favorably and healing with regular use of wheat grass juice: cancer, colitis, constipation, ulcers, hair loss, hay fever, asthma, arthritis, acne, diabetes, kidney disorders, nervous system disorders, infections, rashes, parasites, bronchitis, anemia, heart disease, and many more.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 57 Why & How to Administer an Enema and Implant

The juice, administered rectally, travels the hemorrhoidal vein to the liver where it assists in purifying the bloodstream. The juice also oxygenates and energizes the colon.

You can grow your own wheat grass and obtain a special juicer, or you can call ahead to many health food stores or even Jamba Juice franchises and have them prepare the juice for you. (Do not use frozen reconstituted juice!) Use it as quickly as possible after it is pressed, or keep it covered and refrigerated until use to minimize oxidation of nutrients.

Tip: Drinking 2 oz. is also very helpful in a detox, in addition to using 8 oz. as an implant.

Taking the Enema and Implant

What you need: • Enema bag or bucket (available online and in health food stores), with tubing and enema tip • Small container of coconut oil • Either of the following: • One or two large towels to place under you on the floor. • A Colema board (available for about $200 online, or you might borrow one), which allows you to lie flat, positioned over the toilet, so you do not have to get down onto and up off of floor. It makes the home colonics very easy and pleasant. What you do:

1. At 9 or 10 a.m. (or whenever you have the time and need an energy boost; even twice in one day is fine, and multiple enemas are recommended for cancer patients in the Gerson Therapy), put one quart of room-temperature water in your enema bag or bucket and hang it on a towel rack or a shelf near you (not on the shower bar, as it will create too much pressure). In fact, if you are lying on the floor (rather than on a Colema board with one end over the toilet, the most comfortable and beneficial way to take an enema), you may want to hang your enema bag from a lower place than a towel rack, to reduce the pressure of fluids entering your body, which can cause discomfort. An enema bucket is easy to clean for reuse. It is freestanding and does not need to be hung.

Tip: Read your enema kit instructions—some will not need any gravity.

2. Attach an enema tip to the tubing that comes out of the bag or bucket. Clean the tip well after each use and discard it after this detox. 3. Generously apply coconut oil to the enema tip and release a few ounces of water into the toilet, to eliminate air bubbles. Reapply the oil throughout the enema process whenever needed.

58 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Why & How to Administer an Enema and Implant

4. Lie on your side on a towel and relax. 5. Insert the enema tip several inches into the rectum. About 4"–6" should be fine, unless you encounter any discomfort. 6. Release the valve on the tubing, keeping it in your hand, to allow the water to flow into the rectum. 7. Lie back, relax, and take deep breaths. 8. Take in as much water as you can. Ideally you will take the entire quart. This may not be possible the first time or two. When you feel too much pressure, stop the water flow with the valve. Take some deep breaths and massage the colon. Water may move in a moment so that you are able to allow more water in. 9. Hold the water for a few minutes, if you can, before you release it. Don’t worry, although the pressure feels intense, your colon is a strong muscle and will not explode! The worst that will happen is that you will release a little water onto the towel you are lying on or, if you're using a Colema board, you'll release it into the toilet. So don’t panic. Your first experience with an enema is unfamiliar and can be scary. But millions of people have done this since the ancient times! It’s a wonderful way to flush the colon, and you will get comfortable with it quickly. 10. Remove the enema tube/tip. 11. Spend a few minutes on the toilet massaging your colon to release all of the enema water. The water does not necessarily expel all at once, as it has to move around bends and folds in the colon. This clears the colon for the implant. 12. Release the valve to drain water from the tube except for the last few inches in the tubing. 13. Pour into the enema bag or bucket ONE of the following: 8–16 oz. of wheat grass juice OR 1 quart of coffee (see instructions in “The Coffee Implant” on page 56) 14. Insert the enema tip several inches. 15. Relax. 16. Release the valve and allow the juice/coffee to flow completely into the rectum.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 59 17. Hold it for 12 minutes. By then, in the case of an 8 oz. wheat grass implant, you will likely not need to expel it at all as it will be absorbed. Retaining it as long as possible is important for the nutrition to end up in the liver rather than be expelled. (That said, consider that the entire blood supply circulates through the liver every three minutes, so even a few minutes is worthwhile!) 18. Remove the enema tube/tip. 19. Spend a few minutes on the toilet to expel any remaining juice or coffee.

60 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Food Elimination Diet: Food Intolerance & Allergies

Many, if not most, Westerners have developed food sensitivities in recent years. Most common among them are gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, and many allergies to nuts and a variety of other foods.

Science is only slowly learning why we are experiencing a meteoric rise in food sensitivities—but a likely culprit is genetically modified foods, particularly grains such as wheat, corn, and soy. As grains have been cross-hybridized and genetically altered for maximum yield, pest resistance, and high gluten for bread making, the animal and human consumers of those foods are inevitably affected.

Many studies have shown us that one chromosome affected in genetic alteration of a plant affects the entire ecosystem for generations, including those organisms that eat that plant, and so forth, on up the food chain. When nature has been altered, the effects on other organisms in that ecosystem have been negative.

Monsanto and a handful of other huge corporations have furthered an aggressive agenda of altering our food supply. They would have us believe that the effects will be greater yields for hungry third world populations. (They would also have us believe this is their motive.) However, the evidence is increasingly alarming that what has long been predicted will bear out: that animal and human life have been, and will be, affected as we alter natural foods. And we will not be able to control or repeal those far-reaching effects of genetically modified organisms.

As we have unnaturally increased gluten in grains, the human gut has responded by rejecting excesses of proteins. Many of our inflammatory diseases are related to partially digested proteins in the gut and in the bloodstream, and gluten-containing grains are often a culprit.

In this detox, we eliminate gluten in the beginning. It’s critical that you do not “cheat” on the cleanse by eating a bite or two of bread or other grain products. Without completely eliminating those foods, you are unable to use this detox program as a scientific test for your own food sensitivities. You will generate a complete chart of outcomes when you introduce each of the classes of foods most likely to cause you digestive or other difficulties.

Doctors I have consulted regarding this detox told me that an elimination diet is the only truly effective way to identify gluten intolerance, more effective than IgG testing. Again, remember that gluten intolerance will actually manifest the day after you eat grain. Most other foods will cause a reaction shortly after eating it. And for some, bloating, gas, and/or

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 61 Food Elimination Diet: Food Intolerance & Allergies indigestion occurs quickly after eating bread or other grain products. But others have a delayed or extended reaction.

Just because you identify citrus or grain or legumes or tree nuts as a sensitivity does not mean that you are “allergic” to these items for life. Except in the case of extreme allergies, often when you abstain from the foods causing you problems and then you completely detoxify your gut, you can eventually go back to eating those foods.

That said, there are nearly always substitutions. If a recipe calls for cashews and you have a sensitivity to that food, use pine nuts, sesame seeds, or raw sunflower seeds soaked overnight. If a green smoothie recipe calls for one fruit you don’t tolerate well, you can substitute any other.

Important: Do not eat any foods you have a known allergy to.

62 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Detox Reactions or “The Healing Crisis”

Invariably, when you radically change your diet, as you do in this program, you will note a variety of changes. Many of those changes will likely be positive. More energy, weight loss, and improved digestion (soft, formed stool, increased output) are highly likely to be results for you, usually immediately.

Other common positive benefits reported in our research include reduced or eliminated cravings for junk food, prettier skin and hair, people commenting on how radiant you look, higher sex drive, more positive or stable mood, and blood sugar swings and crashes eliminated.

But detox symptoms do occur. Consider that residues of many events in your life have built up in your fatty tissues. For instance, scientists have documented that when overweight people go on diets, their levels of organochlorines (a dangerous class of pesticides) rise dramatically, as fat cells shrink and release their stored toxins into the bloodstream, where they circulate. This can affect thyroid production as well as the central nervous system (including the brain).

A bacterial infection you had 20 years ago has left by-products in fat cells that may come out now. The intoxicated beach week when you graduated college left metabolic by- products in your liver that may be finally broken down and eliminated only now. Exposure to toxic chemicals when you painted a rental property long ago may have residual effects stored in millions of fatty cells. That high-protein diet you went on left behind some of the antibiotics and hormones fed to the animals you ate. If you think you are getting that old infection again, you're not. It’s good news: the last vestiges are leaving your body. But the liver is dumping large amounts of toxins into the bloodstream.

The idea here isn’t to retain these overloaded fat cells, but to be prepared for them to release toxins, should that occur, and assist these toxic substances in evacuating the body. We do this by drinking extra water and using kelp in some of our recipes to nourish the thyroid and provide natural iodine.

In my research published in detail in The Green Smoothies Diet, about 18% of respondents who had undertaken a regular green smoothie habit reported an unwanted or uncomfortable “detox reaction.” Sometimes this is also called a “healing crisis” because the temporary blockages causing pain or discomfort are truly helping you on your way to better health.

Although most experience higher energy overall during and after the detox, some experience a loss of energy or even a bit of dizziness or blood sugar drops. These symptoms are due to shifting fluids and metabolites in the cells that can be faster than is

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 63 Detox Reactions or “The Healing Crisis” comfortable as well as a high rate of toxic materials leaving the body via the many organs of elimination. Your body is currently putting an inordinate amount of energy into waste removal. So a loss in energy should be honored and respected. While it is not comfortable or fun, it is common and temporary—and an important part of the process you've committed to.

Should you not be able to tolerate the diminished energy, you can slow down the cleansing process and level off blood sugar fluctuations, without adding toxicity, by drinking GreenSmoothieGirl vegan protein powder in your green smoothies or mixed with water.

The most common symptom of the healing crisis is headache, especially if you consumed caffeine before the detox (in the form of soda, coffee, or tea). Loose stool is another common symptom. These and other symptoms are generally temporary and often disappear in a few hours, but likely will not last longer than a few days. A few cleansing reactions can take up to two weeks to resolve themselves, including skin breakouts and diarrhea.

Should you experience these reactions, get extra rest, drink more water, and consider slowing down your detox by eating a bit more cooked food (still whole foods, like cooked potatoes or sweet potatoes or vegetables), and slow down the intake of greens for a day or a few days.

If a symptom persists longer than two weeks, that may indicate something more than a detox symptom. It is probably related to a food sensitivity that will require careful note taking as you eliminate it from your diet and then add it back in, observing your body's response.

Other commonly reported detox reactions in my research include bloating, cramps, vertigo, fainting, skin breakouts, nausea, gas, constipation, dizziness, lethargy or weakness, runny nose, mucous in the back of the throat, and liver pain.

Before you undertake your detox regimen, you should know that sometimes the things leaving you are not just physical. Emotional reactions are not uncommon, including depression, mood swings, and an emotional crisis arising.

We are highly integrated organisms, and our physical selves are inextricably linked to our emotional and spiritual parts. It stands to reason, then, that when the fuel changes and habits shift, there will be a period of psychological tension as a new homeostasis is found. It makes sense that as the body “lets go” of things that do not serve you well, the emotional/spiritual self may let go of things it wants to be done with as well.

Our psyche, of course, wants to be well. But it also seeks comfort zones, and change can be stressful. Be patient and tender with yourself as you undertake a positive, but radical, change for 26 days. Occasionally a detoxing person will report a sudden flood of emotions, often sad ones. This may be explained by the theory that emotions are trapped in the proteins of the body. (How can neurotransmission of ideas, thoughts, and emotions take place if there is not interplay between the physical and emotional?)

64 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Detox Reactions or “The Healing Crisis”

In a cleanse, millions of protein molecules evacuate the body from their current homes; these proteins may be lodged in skin, nerves, muscles, bone, and organs, but especially fatty tissues. As proteins break loose from the myriad places they have been stored in the body (where they have caused increased disease risk), they can release negative emotions that we have felt “trapped” with, perhaps for many years.

Many people who are serious about following an excellent detox protocol report feeling not only physically purged and purified, but emotionally redeemed in some unexpected ways as well. Be aware of any “letting go” you experience. If you find yourself dwelling, during the detox, on a past experience, a history of hurt, resentment, or anger, realize that as the “brooms” of fiber and minerals and enzymes break down waste products in your body, emotions may also be swept up.

Your body’s intention is to sweep them out. Let them go, say goodbye, and find some peace in detoxifying from the inside out! Also consider learning about EFT, doing yoga, repeating affirmations, and/or earthing.

I did not understand the science of how integrated a human organism is when I completed my first 21-day detox at the age of 27. The experience I had then was astonishing in how metaphysical it was, which I did not expect. I found myself releasing, along with physical materials, emotions that I’d long buried. As they left me, I felt old, familiar pain pass through me in a physical, even visceral way, and then leave me forever. I experienced joy and release and, inevitably, intense emotion as I went through this brief transition. Although I expected only physical cleansing, I was able to forgive a long-held grudge that had held me back in my life’s progress. Those feelings never returned, despite a lifelong interaction with the person I’d held a grudge against.

Don’t be afraid, if you feel swamped, overwhelmed, even “at loose ends” as you navigate the rather formless emotions that course through you as your body undergoes change. It is natural and normal. It can be uncomfortable. It is, however, necessary.

Set your intention now to enjoy the detoxification process your body is about to undergo. Understand that it is an adventure—it can be a roller coaster ride, but a rewarding one for those exercising patience. You can do it kicking and screaming, avoiding, verbalizing your doubts and fears to anyone you talk to about it—or you can gravitate toward it, be fascinated by it, and embrace it in every way.

Keep in mind that thoughts and words have their own energies, so you get to choose whether you keep it positive or let it become negative. Let these detox protocols do their work with the support and participation of your heart and soul!

Think of your cleanse experience as transformative on a cellular level. The liver regenerates itself every few months, and epithelial cells in the gastrointestinal tract regenerate in less than a week, just as examples. As clichéd as this may be, you are, very literally, what you eat. So as you supply outstanding, high-mineral, high-vitamin organic plant foods to your body for several weeks, you are giving your cells an opportunity to completely regenerate themselves with clean-burning, nontoxic fuel.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 65 Detox Reactions or “The Healing Crisis”

Another potential effect is slight anger or aggression, which is often related to addictions. Anyone detoxing from tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs or pharmaceutical drugs, or coffee or soda, may have heightened cleansing reactions that take a negative emotional turn, as these are toxins that are not digested, assimilated, and eliminated like food is. They do not easily find their way out of the body, so that when you detox using orthomolecular medicine (or nutrition), chemicals must find an exit and can cause some dramatic discomfort doing so. This should make sense as we consider that drugs often cause dramatic effects being ingested.

Should you have physiological or emotional symptoms lasting longer than two weeks, please seek the counsel of competent health care professional, such as a naturopathic doctor or an MD who practices holistically.

And if you are one of the majority who experience uncomfortable symptoms, drink extra purified water. Get plenty of sleep (your body may need extra as you go through heavy phases of detox). Slow the cleansing down for a day, with a bit less green smoothie and/or vegetable juice and with extra oatmeal, yams, potatoes, or brown rice (the cooked foods allowed in the cleanse) taken with digestive enzymes you may purchase at a health food store or online.

66 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Frequently Asked Questions

• How much does the detox diet cost? (page 67) • What if I’m not losing weight? (page 68) • What if I’m losing too much weight on this program? (page 69) • What if I know I have severe food sensitivities or allergies? (page 69) • My doctor makes fun of detoxing—is this just a silly hoax? (page 70) • What if I mess up? (page 71) • Why not 100% raw? Why potatoes, yams, & oatmeal (cooked food)? (page 71) • Why do we eat extremely low amounts of salt in this program? (page 72) • What if my symptoms continue even after Phase 1? (page 74) • Do I have to eat everything on the menu plan? (page 74) • What should I do if I'm hungry? (page 75) • What if I don’t have time to cook? (page 75) • What do I do if I identify a food sensitivity? (page 76) • What if I feel weak and light-headed—or if I’m diabetic? (page 76) • What if I can’t find a particular prepared food or ingredient for a recipe? (page 77) • Am I losing fat, or muscle, or water? (page 77)

How much does the detox diet cost? One of our beta testers is very frugal, a 32-year-old tennis coach who lives alone and doesn’t usually cook. She spent $350 in the 26 days of the detox. She told me many of the ingredients are things she hadn't ever eaten before—and in some cases had never heard of—and had nothing on hand. Many of the things she had to purchase are things that have a life beyond the detox. Salt-free/very low-sodium seasonings and other ingredients are far from “used up” and can now be part of your cooking repertoire, saving you money in the future.

Other people who have more ingredients on hand will spend less.

Another, also a single woman, said she spent $1,000 less on her credit card the month she did the detox. She wrote me, “I know it’s because I wasn’t eating out.”

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 67 Frequently Asked Questions

What if I’m not losing weight? Every one of our beta testers lost a significant amount of weight in the first phase of the detox. (My daughter and I each lost 7 lbs., despite being already in our “ideal” weight range, and those who had a significant amount of weight to lose lost 8–25 lbs.)

If you did not lose weight in Phase 1, you should definitely go to a practitioner in natural (bioidentical) hormone solutions and have a full blood panel workup. Not just a T3 measurement, but a full blood panel. The T3 measurement, that many OB/GYNs will evaluate, as an isolated factor, has a huge “normal” range as our medical system has defined it. And looking at that hormone without the interplay of the precursor hormones and a variety of factors upstream and downstream of T3 is to not truly evaluate if there is a problem.

The blood test is fairly expensive and most insurance companies will not pay for it, so ask your bioidentical practitioner if she knows any M.D. to write the prescription, if that works for your insurance. But this is a must-have if you are not losing weight on 800 calories a day or less! With severely depressed thyroid function, you simply cannot lose weight. And this is a problem for a significant portion of the population, particularly women. Along with an inability to regulate metabolism, low thyroid will make you tired and irritable, among other symptoms.

If you haven’t lost any weight, or less than you'd like in Phase 2 and 3, see “Changing Your Body’s Weight/Fat Set Point” (page 47) on the importance of leveling-off periods in a sustained effort to change your body’s set point for weight and fat ratio. During these two phases, you must be patient and focus on the detox benefits. Then you should see another weight drop in the last five days of the detox. I personally lost 4 lbs. in the first phase, and another 3 lbs. in the last phase. I lost only 1 lb. in the two middle phases combined, and my weight bounced around during that period.

That said, you can control your consumption of any of the dishes in this week’s menu to no more than 1½ C, to increase the likelihood of weight loss. However, I would prefer you have a healthy helping of Lentil Soup (page 141), Hippo Soup (page 97), Black Bug Soup (page 109), oatmeal, or sweet potato to keep you feeling satisfied. Long periods of hunger are deadly to any diet because we have only so much willpower. Do not exceed quantities of avocado and nuts, if weight loss is a goal for you.

In general, do not decrease your amounts of green smoothies or other raw food in favor of cooked food. As long as you're following the recipe, they are not the reason you may not lose weight at some phases. Besides plain veggies, they are the lowest-calorie, highest- micronutrient thing you can eat. And because you can consume a lot of it in a short time, it fills your stomach quickly with nutrient density. So, all the raw food quantities in this program are mandatory. Cooked food is optional, and you can always eat less of it (though I highly recommend eating your full portion of breakfasts).

68 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Frequently Asked Questions

What if I’m losing too much weight on this program?

One of my beta testers on this program was a 30-year-old single woman, already underweight, with severe gut and endocrine issues. I was in close contact with her during the detox as her weight fell. She did lose 7 lbs. but then gained it back afterwards, as did several other already underweight detoxers I monitored doing the program.

As a new higher-calorie food is added into the diet, it then becomes okay for you to eat extra of that food. People who are underweight in the modern industrialized world (where high-calorie foods are ubiquitous) are generally people with major food-digestion problems who are not utilizing nutrition. They may be diagnosed or undiagnosed Crohn’s Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), colitis, leaky gut, etc. All of these are variations on a theme: the gut has become inflamed or even progressively diseased and is not functioning to utilize nutrients to maintain health.

If this describes you, of course you need detoxification as much as anyone. After the program ends, you also need to implement as much of Step 8 in 12 Steps to Whole Foods as possible, to begin to rebuild your gut with food. (I have found that dried probiotics do not build a healthy population of microorganisms in the GI tract to heal and rebuild, although they may help support an existing colonization of beneficial flora.)

But to achieve as much of the benefit of the detox protocol as possible without losing too much weight, consider increasing calories in the following ways that are highly nutritious and should not materially affect your detox in a negative way: • Add 2-3 scoops of GreenSmoothieGirl organic, vegan protein to your green smoothies daily, or shake up a scoop in 8–12 oz. of water. • Eat a couple of avocados every day. • Eat a few tablespoons of good fats, including coconut oil, olive oil, and flaxseed oil. Add these to your salads, green smoothies, or on top of sweet potatoes or oatmeal. • Eat extra bananas and other fruits. • Eat extra nuts and seeds, or nut and seed butter (very low sodium). • Eat more of anything and everything—larger serving sizes.

What if I know I have severe food sensitivities or allergies? If you have digestive problems, skin problems, mood disorders, or known gluten or other allergies, I highly recommend you repeat Phase 1 on the detox. This will give you a longer period of time to rest the digestive system from all but a few nonallergenic foods. I also recommend you add another week at the end, to add in more specific foods, one per day (or at least one per meal). Document what your reactions are.

Eliminating foods that are causing your problems for several months or longer as your gut heals will be critical to regaining your health.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 69 Frequently Asked Questions

My doctor makes fun of detoxing—is this just a silly hoax? Academically and visually, in my opinion, the best way to verify that colon cleansing has powerful results is to read one of Bernard Jensen's old texts such as Dr. Jensen's Guide to Better Bowel Care: A Complete Program for Tissue Cleansing through Bowel Management. Dr. Jensen examined over 10,000 colons in his career. He didn’t use high- tech equipment such as modern doctors use almost exclusively, but rather he put patients through a protocol that caused them to eliminate many pounds of hardened “catarrhal mucoid plaque.” That is, a buildup of materials in the lining of the small intestines and colon due to many years of eating inappropriate, heavy, difficult-to-digest, and gluey/fiber-free foods. It stands to reason that long periods of poor eating habits will cause organs of elimination to become tired and malfunction.

If Dr. Jensen’s books aren’t available to you—or aren’t enough visual, obvious evidence for you—you can certainly search on the Internet and find hundreds of photos of eliminations from people who stopped eating heavy proteins and used fasting or cleanses, usually with clays and herbs, to bring long-accumulated residues out of the body.

And, finally, seeing photos is one thing, but experiential learning is the most powerful. I had my doubts, too, frankly, until I underwent a serious 21-day cleanse myself nearly 20 years ago. The results shocked me and made me a believer. (It also committed and motivated me to healthier eating habits like almost nothing else could.) They were consistent with the results that had been described in Dr. Jensen's books. (Also Richard Anderson, N.D., whose books Cleanse and Purify Thyself, Books 1 and 2, were helpful as I began to learn about detoxification some 20 years ago.)

Now, these suggestions to put your mind at ease about whether cleansing is actually (a) valid and (b) necessary have focused only on colon cleansing. In fact, I want you to experience purification of other body organs and systems, such as blood and lymph, liver and kidneys, lungs and skin. Crystalline buildup in kidneys and gallbladder, through flushing and eating nourishing alkaline foods, can be naturally broken down. That way you’ll never even know that eventually they would have put you through the very painful experience of passing “stones.”

Fiber will bind to bile and remove a much higher amount of the by-products of your own cells’ breakdown and sloughing off. But fiber will also carry away chemicals that may have had residual effect for many years trapped in various organs. It makes sense that residues remain, since the body was not designed to digest, assimilate, or eliminate a heavy chemical load. Part of the sloughing process will be due to resting from the usual onslaught of bad foods most people subject their body to. But for the most effective elimination through all of those organs, you are highly encouraged to participate in all of the parts of the detox, including skin brushing, deep breathing, and drinking an appropriate amount of water.

70 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Frequently Asked Questions

What if I mess up? If you had to travel and didn’t plan ahead, or you went to a work party and succumbed to a temptation, all is not lost. (Although you’ll be happier with yourself, and with the outcomes, if you are a purist on the cleanse. It is worth it!)

Do not quit on the process just because you made a mistake. Go right back to the program and pick up where you left off. A 95% detox is about 95% better than a 0% detox. So forgive yourself, pick yourself up and dust yourself off, and soldier on.

What will happen? Well, now the body has to spend a bit of time recovering from the insult, just as it was getting some momentum in the focused “house cleaning” and “rebuilding” tasks it was working on. It will need to contain and clean up after the invaders, and that diverts attention away from the process we had begun.

If you find yourself bored by the prescribed diet and wanting something different, eat a plate of fruit or put some unsalted butter on your baked potato or yam. Or put a pinch of stevia or maple syrup, some coconut milk or coconut cream, and a shake of cinnamon in your oatmeal. These ideas will give you a treat without dramatically sabotaging your cleanse program.

Why not 100% raw? Why potatoes, yams, & oatmeal (cooked food)? In early 2011, I traveled to speak in the Pacific Northwest with my friend, author, nutritionist, and raw-food celebrity David Wolfe. He said in one of our lectures, “If I were going to eat cooked food, I would eat sweet potatoes and oatmeal.”

Later that year, I was reading all of the materials produced by the Gerson Institute (and Dr. Max Gerson). The Gerson Therapy, whose track record against cancer far exceeds the success of modern oncology, features 11 glasses daily of raw vegetable and fruit and green juices. This did not surprise me, because green and vegetable juices are so nutrient dense and they let the body rest from digestion (which takes 35% of the ATP, or the body’s energy, produced in our cells). But it also has featured, for 70 years now, lots of well- cooked potatoes, oatmeal, cooked Hippo Soup (page 97), and occasional brown rice and sweet potato.

Why? Gerson points out that, baked or boiled in its jacket, a potato is good food. It and oatmeal are high in vitamins and minerals. But more than that, for immune-compromised people, it provides lots of bulk and fiber, for good digestion, for a feeling of fullness, and for a soft cushion in the 30+ feet of gastrointestinal tract. This slows absorption of the fresh juices, green smoothies, and many vegetables called for in the GSG detox protocol.

Only Level 2 participants in this detox will be juicing vegetables and fruits. However, for many people suffering from chronic health problems, a buffer from the natural-but-strong power of many raw vegetables and pure juices can be soothing and easier to digest than just raw food alone. Also, for an extended period of time, cleansing can be accomplished more comfortably if there is bulk in the stomach from these simple, nutritious, but soft and cooked foods.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 71 Frequently Asked Questions

My own family is deeply indebted to the Gerson Therapy, as my grandmother followed the diet to the letter in the early 1980s. She consequently beat metastatic melanoma cancer (while refusing chemo and radiation), which her M.D. in Houston told her was 95% fatal without chemotherapy and radiation.

The Gerson Therapy, which I have researched (and read hundreds of its detailed case studies of cured cancer patients), and the Dr. Ann Wigmore Institute, the Budwig Institute, and the Hippocrates Institute, all of which I have studied at, have heavily influenced my thoughts about good orthomolecular medication and nutrition. The principles and practices that underpin it have left a major imprint on this detox program.

I am grateful for the work of Dr. Max Gerson, Dr. Ann Wigmore, Dr. Johanna Budwig, Dr. Brian Clement, and others. These pioneers have advanced the true principles that when the body is provided optimal living and plant-based food and juices, its natural, powerful immune function is stimulated and supported to eradicate many chronic degenerative diseases of the modern age.

Why do we eat extremely low amounts of salt in this program? One of the most important principles of the GreenSmoothieGirl Detox that gives so many people a successful experience is to practically eliminate sodium chloride, or table salt. This is not an easy thing to do while purchasing any prepared foods. Salt in foods is literally the hardest ingredient to avoid, even in the health food store. It’s harder to find salt-free or extremely low-sodium foods than it is to find foods without sugar, oils, MSG, gluten, or anything else! Every manufacturer wants to add salt because without it, consumers don’t buy—because salt enhances flavor.

Unfortunately, besides neurotoxins like MSG and aspartame, sodium chloride may be the most problematic, health-damaging element in our food supply. You are going to have a very educational experience observing what happens in your body when you practically eliminate table salt. It will be revelatory, as many detoxers have told us in the past.

There are still trace amounts of natural sodium, which is an element in your cells that your body needs, in the food you’re eating on the detox. You will not be deprived of the salt your body needs, because it needs very, very little—and, unfortunately, if you’ve been eating any version at all of the Standard American Diet, you have far too much salt in your diet and in your cells.

Salt causes many problems. And this is very familiar to cardiac patients, who are virtually all told to massively reduce sodium (salt) in the diet. But most of us just cruise toward disaster, not thinking about salt until we’ve been given our very own diagnosis of some cardiovascular disease.

The imbalance in your cells of too much sodium and too little potassium has been discussed in great length by many practitioners and authors, but perhaps in most detail, over the longest period of time, by the great Dr. Max Gerson and his successors. His work influenced my development of this detox program. By spending 26 days increasing

72 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Frequently Asked Questions potassium in the cells and decreasing sodium, you are allowing great cellular healing and repair to take place.

Many people have reported to us that doing the GSG detox, they had dramatically less pain and quickly eliminated or decreased joint pain. This is likely due, in part, to the body’s inflamed tissues and cells releasing stored poisons and fluids as dramatically less salt comes in. Eating toxic, refined table salt in the diet causes the body to retain fluids. You have likely noticed this. I know that if I eat something containing refined salt—or even too much unrefined salt (Original Crystal Himalayan or Real Salt)—I wake up in the morning unable to make a fist, because my fingers are swollen. This is a clear indication that the body has too much salt and needs to be cleansed of that excess.

When you significantly reduce your salt intake, the detoxification and repair your cells are able to do are accelerated. In a few cases, detoxers have reported a short-term increase in joint pain, likely due to stored toxins moving through blood, joints, and tissues on their way out. But the vast majority report feeling easier movement, decreases in edema, and disappearing pain in joints.

Some detox symptoms—such as feeling light-headed, dizzy, or lacking energy—can be related to fluctuating elements causing fluids to fluctuate in cells. Many shifts are taking place in your body at once. They are good shifts, even if they cause changes, some of which may be temporarily uncomfortable.

As potassium (from your detox diet) increases and you stop giving your body so much harmful salt, cell fluids will shift and a tremendous amount of repair becomes possible.

Something to remember is that just because you are not in homeostasis (the place of equilibrium you were in the day before starting the detox), and just because you have feelings of discomfort (which are common), that does not mean the process you’ve begun isn’t good and worthwhile. Also, just because you’re having a feeling of discomfort, that does not meant there’s something “wrong” or that the detoxification process is somehow bad.

One of the testimonials we received after we did the detox on a large scale for the first time with 1,500 people was from a woman who went to her doctor, wanting his permission to quit. She was experiencing a loss of energy as her body was spending its resources on cleanup, and she felt light-headed and strange. Her doctor, instead, congratulated her and said he wished all his patients took such initiative. A couple of weeks later she wrote us, ecstatic about her 13 lb. weight loss and long-term unexplained pain symptoms that had completely disappeared after the first few days on the detox program.

Important: If symptoms persist, or if you have serious health issues prior to or during this program, please seek the care of a qualified practitioner to address individual issues. Nothing in this manual or program should substitute for individualized care. Our full-support program is support in understanding the program and answering questions—but we do not diagnose, treat, or prescribe and we cannot administer individualized care.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 73 Frequently Asked Questions

Be vigilant about keeping very low in sodium. Read labels very carefully of any spices you may choose, because some that you may think are salt free or extremely low in sodium really aren't. Make sure they are from the health food store, with ingredients like herbs and garlic rather than anything with monosodium glutamate (far worse than salt), autolyzed vegetable protein (which contains MSG), or chemical names you don’t recognize.

What if my symptoms continue even after Phase 1? In Phase 1, we’ve eliminated meat, dairy, all processed foods, and also nutritious foods that include fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, and grains. These are classes of foods that have the most reactions. Foods with the highest numbers of reactions are dairy products, nuts, and grains.

If you still have symptoms even in the first week, one of a couple of things may be the case: • You have a pervasive food sensitivity (more likely a stronger reaction than just a “sensitivity,” possibly a true allergy) to a food whose presence still is having an effect. To test this, you may want to repeat Phase 1 and take an extra week on the elimination program to see if symptoms abate with a bit more time. • You are reacting to other things in your environment besides food. • You have some degenerative gut issues that will take time to heal. You unfortunately may have to take a longer time and develop more patience to heal from a very entrenched problem in your body. Don’t give up—just get very scientific about tracking what causes your symptoms and what gives you relief, and be very rigorous about avoiding the forbidden classes of foods. And, again, doing Step 8 of the 12 Steps to Whole Foods course will be very important for you, after this program ends. It’s not just about food sensitivities. It’s about eliminating foods that take longer to digest, in the interest of giving many systems a much deserved rest. So don’t “cheat” and set back your cleanse by introducing a food we are eliminating for a good reason.

Do I have to eat everything on the menu plan? No, you don’t. As your metabolic needs decline and you adjust to cleansing over three phases, you will likely find yourself needing less food. The raw food is the most important, although it’s okay to have less of it, as long as you aren't eating other foods disallowed on the program. Watch your shopping list and buy less if you see your caloric needs and wants declining. This is fairly common.

The cooked food is the least important, so eliminate those foods first if the menu plan calls for more than you want to eat. The cooked food is there for three reasons. The least important one is that some people feel they need hot, cooked food for their sense of well- being, simply because of lifelong habit.

The second one is to provide enough calories to keep you comfortable while not slowing down your cleanse significantly like other refined or low-fiber foods would.

74 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Frequently Asked Questions

And the most important reason: the cooked food is included to provide lots of fiber, the bulk that drags and cleans the digestive tract, while the raw, fresh juices are “cleaning house” with phytonutrients and rebuilding tired organs.

You can eliminate any of the cooked foods, and if you want to replace it, more green smoothies and/or more vegetable juices are always allowed.

What should I do if I'm hungry? Here are some suggestions to curb those hunger pangs and cravings: • Eat bigger servings. Men particularly, who have a higher caloric need, may need to eat larger portions of many menu items. But anyone can feel free to increase portion sizes (adjusting your shopping lists accordingly!). • Anything you’ve eaten previously in the program is a fair cheat. Especially good is any fruit we have added into the program—it’s easy to grab and go and can assuage cravings for snacks or sweets. • Add a scoop of GSG organic vegan protein powder of any flavor to a green smoothie or in water with any meal or as a snack. • Drink lots of water between meals, which helps avoid hunger and improves the detox experience. Anytime you want, stir a tablespoon of chia seeds into a tall glass of water and drink it. Your hunger should be gone in 10 minutes.

What if I don’t have time to cook? There are a few main dishes in Phase 4 that involve 30 minutes of food prep/cooking. The rest of the food on the menu is very simple to prepare. If you don’t want to do ANY food prep, consider these three ideas: • If you have more money than time, hire someone. I have help at $12/hour who juices for me and makes green smoothies and salads. I made my own everything for 43 years, so I did my time. Nothing to feel guilty about—think of a health-conscious homemaker who might be happy to have a job working several hours a week for you, where she can bring a little one along. • Choose a “buddy” to do the detox program with you, who maybe struggles for cash paycheck to paycheck, and see if he or she will do the food prep if you pay for all the groceries. I have seen several symbiotic relationships with this arrangement, where everyone gets what they want most! Some people have more time, and some people have more money. Matching up one person from each of those categories can be a match made in heaven.

Or share food prep tasks with your buddy, as I describe in Phase 1, and it’s easy! Several detoxers had their adult child prep food and then the parent paid for the Full Support Detox for two, plus the groceries. The parent was thrilled when the child then got healthier. It’s best if your detox buddy is someone you live with, who lives very close to you, or is a coworker. Then you can plan together and exchange food. • You can mix a scoop of GSG Tri-Omega Superfood or Sprouted Flax plus a scoop of our vegan, organic protein with 12 oz. of water, and it will satisfy as a snack or small

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 75 Frequently Asked Questions

meal. Feel free to do this a few times a day, when you're busy and you didn't get your meal prep done. It’s even better if you just make green smoothies for a day and add both of those nutrient-dense products for meals at any time in the program when you are very busy. Another thing to consider, though, is that the most important thing in the menu plan is also one of the easiest. That’s the green smoothie. If you did nothing but green smoothies, you’d have a tremendously effective detox. (Most people prefer to chew some food, though!) Doing as much green smoothie, and as little other food as possible (or only the easiest things, like baked potatoes and oatmeal), is a brilliant way to rest your organs and give your body time and space to rebuild.

What do I do if I identify a food sensitivity? When you complete the detox, you should have a list of foods you eliminated and then added back in. For 8 hours after you eat a food you’ve added in Phase 2 or 3, note any gastric disturbances (bloating, gas, discomfort, constipation, diarrhea) or other symptoms, like headache, fatigue, skin reactions, etc.

Some foods that are very good for you can cause a reaction. For instance, my experience working with thousands of people on whole-foods habits is that highly detoxifying foods—especially greens, vegetables, coconut oil, homemade granola (high in fiber), etc.—will cause people’s digestion to change, sometimes radically. The obvious conclusion, for people who have not studied nutrition and for whom nutrition has not been a priority, is that this is a food that does not agree with them.

It would be premature to make that conclusion. If all green foods cause detox reactions, it would be a tragedy to eliminate the most important class of foods there is. It is, then, worth it to complete an extensive cleansing process and see if digestive disturbance caused by those foods calm down.

Grains causing sensitivities are another matter. You can eliminate them without causing significant deficits in your nutrition, since grains are nutritious but their properties are found in other foods. Probably due in part to genetically modified grains, most people have anywhere from a mild to a severe degenerative gut issue.

People are highly individual and food sensitivities will require the analysis of a naturopathic doctor, or another physician trained in diet/nutrition, food sensitivities, and holistic health. However, “Appendix A: Food Sensitivity Chart” on page 151 is a good starting place for you to explore what foods to eat more or less of.

What if I feel weak and light-headed—or if I’m diabetic? Usually people who have low blood pressure and/or hypoglycemia issues ask this. People who normally eat a lot of meat (or other animal flesh products) also often have an initially difficult adjustment to eating only plants. This doesn't mean that eating plants isn’t for you; it means that whenever we make a radical change, discomfort is a possibility while the body adjusts.

76 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Frequently Asked Questions

Diabetics may need to adjust fruit downward. The no-fruit green smoothie can be used anytime throughout the program instead of adding many fruits. Lemon juice and stevia in water are your base, and you just add a few slices of apple and a handful of mixed berries but make the rest of your smoothie green.

Eat very little banana. And do not eat any fruit as snacks. Greens and low-sugar vegetables are your best friends. The Phase 4 Lentil Soup (page 141) is also your friend.

Consider adding a scoop of GSG organic vegan protein powder to your green smoothies and/or drink it as many times a day as you need, mixed in water, with meals as well. Although the protein powder will slow down your detoxification somewhat, you’re still eating very low on the food chain, you’re eating foods that digest quickly, and you’re eating practically no salt.

If baking potatoes are a problem but you do well with sweet potatoes, try those instead.

And cinnamon is a wonderful blood sugar stabilizer. You can put it in capsules and take them with meals—or find ways to add cinnamon to your recipes, as appropriate and to taste.

It’s okay to make reasonable modifications as you go through the program, if your “cleansing crisis” that arises is more than you are willing or able to deal with.

What if I can’t find a particular prepared food or ingredient for a recipe? • Use common sense and substitute something very similar. Can’t find a certain vegetable? Use a similar one instead. • Can’t find salt-free bread? Use an extremely low-sodium (under 10 mg) bread or sprouted English muffin or whole-grain tortilla. Or make salt-free Hockey Pucks (page 110) but substitute a different grain, like amaranth, millet, rye, triticale, or quinoa flakes. • Can’t find watermelon? Substitute green smoothies all day instead. (Accomplishes similar things, but is less fun.) • Can’t find a specific fruit called for? Just sub another fruit you are able to locate. Just make sure to add no more than one new one in a day. • If you’re a Full Support detoxer, check out the forum. Readers share recipes there sometimes.

Am I losing fat, or muscle, or water? You will eliminate trapped water in inflamed tissues in this program. You can ascertain this answer for yourself by doing a body fat test before and after the program. We had two detoxers, one male and one female, do this and report back that 95% of the 12 pounds they lost was fat. The program is too short and not calorie suppressed enough for your body to begin to metabolize muscle. But fluids are part of what is lost.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 77 Daily Detox Habits

In addition to the diet, there are several principles and habits I’d like to review with you before we get started. They are important to understand so that you can commit to them. It's important to do several things (or as many as you can) daily during the detox, noted in the list below, plus two that are optional but very helpful. And there are also three things to studiously not do.

Make sure you DO: • Skin brush. • Drink 8 glasses of water. • Massage your colon. • (Optional) If at all possible: Get in an infrared sauna for 30 min. • (Optional) If at all possible: Take a home colonic.

Note: These habits are discussed in more detail below.

Make sure you DO NOT EVER: • Eat more than 10 mg/serving of salt • Eat any animal proteins or processed food at all (see “Foods to Never Eat during the Detox” on page 153) • Eat any food after 7 p.m. (this gives the body a 12-hour break from digestion, an important part of the detox) As part of your daily routine, upon waking up, do the following:

1. Before you get out of bed, massage the transverse colon for a few minutes. Ideally you will have a tennis ball next to your bed to massage deeply in your abdomen, but if not, use your fingers to press into your lower right abdomen, inside the pelvic bone. In a circular motion, massage straight up, and then over to the left under the navel, and straight down on the left side next to the pelvic bone. This “wakes up” the peristaltic activity and contributes to healthy muscle tone and function in the large intestine. If you encounter a tender area, this may be an area of blockage you should spend a little extra time massaging.

Tip: See my video demonstrating this technique under “Daily Content” in the Detox portal (I also send it to you via email in the Full-Support version of this program).

78 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Daily Detox Habits

2. Drink about 1 oz. of water for every two pounds of weight. So if you weigh 150 lbs., drink about 75 oz. of water each day. That’s 9 glasses! If you are doing Level 2 of this cleanse, you can cut your water intake in half so you aren’t in the bathroom every 30 minutes. You will get plenty of fluids with the vegetable juices, which have a high water content. 3. To help your lymph system “take out the trash,” do either or both of the following: • Spend 5 minutes skin brushing, to increase lymph circulation and clean skin pores to improve detoxification through multiple avenues. (For a visual demonstration, see the Detox portal for a video showing exactly how to skin brush.) • Jump for five minutes on your rebounder. Massage your lymph system in short, light strokes as you jump. On the sides of your neck, massage upwards using your fingers. Massage the sides of your torso, from low to high. Rub the sides of your breasts, from bottom to top, on the outside, in brisk strokes. (See the Detox portal for a video of me showing this habit.) 4. Spend 30 minutes in an infrared sauna if possible. Start at a temperature of 130°–140° F if you have not built up a tolerance. A temperature of 150°–160° F is beneficial after you have used the sauna several times.) Some people do up to an hour at a time. I don’t, but occasionally I do two treatments in a day and take my work in with me or get in with someone I’ve been wanting to spend time with.

Tip: See the Detox portal for the video of me showing my own sauna and talking about how I use it. The video will also be sent to you via email if you are in the Full- Support Detox.

5. (Level 2 detoxers only) Do a coffee or wheat grass juice enema. See “Taking the Enema and Implant” on page 58 for details.

Tip: Do not do a coffee enema at night, as it could interfere with your sleep.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 79 Daily Detox Habits

80 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Meal Plans, Recipes & Shopping Lists

81 82 How I Planned This Section

In this section you will find the “nuts and bolts” of the detox program. You will be best prepared to complete the detox if you first read and understand the full content of this manual.

I designed the menu of the detox after studying many protocols and trying many detox programs over the course of 20 years. I have also read extensively on the science of detoxification in the toxic modern world. I had many frustrations with how they were run, the nutrition principles underpinning them (usually nutrition ignorance!), and the paltry support (if any).

As I developed this detox program over the course of three years, I wanted it to be easy to follow and the food easy to prepare. I wanted you to not be starving and miserable. I wanted there to be outstanding nutrients, but also enough fiber and bulk. I wanted the food to be palatable. I wanted to minimize the kitchen time required. I wanted food and easy techniques to be primary, with supplements and anything expensive secondary and optional. I wanted newbies to be able to participate successfully—and well educated health nuts to be challenged.

Note: All recipes make 1 serving unless otherwise indicated.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 83 Phase 1, Days 1–4

Introduction

In this first four days, we eliminate most fruits. This is the most difficult phase of the cleanse, as you will eat no sweet foods. Your addictions to processed foods may be fierce in the first several days, so hang on for the ride, listen to the support calls or watch the videos, and keep in close contact with your Detox Buddy. And not least of all, remember that if you weather the storm of the first four days, not only does it get easier but you will likely work through any detox reactions and start noticing some exciting improvements in energy, skin tone, sleep, cravings, and other health benefits in a short period of time!

Keep in mind that Phase 2 will be easier, and Phases 3 and 4 will be easier still. That said, if you have major reactions in Phase 1, or if you already know you have significant food sensitivities, I highly recommend you repeat the first four days of Phase 1 before going on to add foods back into the diet. This way you give your body a more significant rest, and you will have more noticeable effects when foods you are sensitive to are added back in.

It is important to avoid fruits (except lemon juice, which is alkaline forming in the body and has cleansing and diuretic effects) in addition to nuts, seeds, legumes, and all grains except oatmeal. This is part of a food-elimination experiment you are undergoing in order to add foods back in, one at a time.

For those who are coming from a diet favoring protein (animal products), we recommend getting some GSG organic vegan protein powder in any flavor you like and making sure you get 1 to 3 scoops per day. Putting it in your green smoothie is an easy way to adjust more easily to this clean-burning, plant-based detoxification diet. But you can also drink it mixed in water.

Keep careful track of any changes in your digestion, energy, and other functions and symptoms as we eliminate these several food groups. Those most likely to discover food sensitivities are people who have known allergies (to pollens, foods, chemicals), a history of digestive problems, energy disorders like chronic fatigue syndrome, skin conditions, or symptoms no one has been able to diagnose. If any of those describe you, you should particularly be on the alert for subtle things you may notice that change as you eliminate, and then add back in, legumes, nuts, fruits, grains, etc.

Note: For anyone suffering from low blood sugar, low blood pressure, or fatigue/low energy, one permissible modification to the meal plans during any phase of this detox would be to use lots of cinnamon in a capsule with meals. Also, consider adding any flavor of GreenSmoothieGirl vegan protein powder to green smoothies or to water with any meal. Doing this will slow detoxification down a bit, but will not significantly sabotage

84 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 1, Days 1–4

our very low-sodium, plant-based goals. See also “What if I feel weak and light- headed—or if I’m diabetic?” on page 76.

Make a note of any adverse reactions as you add each new food in each phase. We are not adding in every food, just foods representatives of certain food groups. You will note any reactions in “Appendix A: Food Sensitivity Chart” on page 151. Common intolerance or allergic reactions include but are not limited to the following: • Bloating, gas, diarrhea, indigestion, or abdominal pain • Headaches, migraines • Mucous in the throat/sinuses/nose (consider using a neti pot, obtained online or at a health food store) • Wheezing or trouble breathing, anaphylaxis • Tingling or itching in the mouth • Swelling of lips, face, tongue, throat, or other body parts • Dizziness, light-headedness • Hives, itching, dermatitis, rash, or eczema • Fatigue, restlessness, joint pain, depression, restlessness (earthing is helpful) It is very important to keep grains completely out of the diet during the detox, until specifically instructed to add them back in. Grains with gluten are possibly the #1 culprit for digestive, energy, and mood problems as grains have been heavily hybridized and genetically modified in the U.S., mostly to increase gluten content for bread making. A massive amount of evidence links hybridized grain to health problems in the Western world.

Other wheat-like grains that are ancient and nonhybridized generally do not cause problems, except for people who have developed degenerative gut issues (such as Celiac disease) related to the damage done by these hybridized gluten proteins. Those ancient grains include Einkorn, spelt, and Kamut.

Because Europe and other countries do not allow the tactics of Monsanto and DuPont, which have genetically altered our plant foods, some people who are noticeably gluten intolerant in the U.S. have no problems eating grains with gluten in Europe. Conversely, Europeans who eat bread in their country with no problem come to the U.S. and experience health problems here that disappear when they go back home. Likely the prevalence of GMO and hybridized foods are at the root of this phenomenon.

Silos in America use a mercury fumigant, to prevent mold. Mercury is one of the deadliest metals. It’s wise to avoid all grains except nonhybridized and organically grown grains like spelt and Kamut (also quinoa, millet, etc., which are not technically “grains,” though they are used similarly). Grains are also acid-forming foods, and one of our goals with this program is to eat more alkaline to reverse acidosis conditions in the body causing burnout of many tissues and organs.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 85 Phase 1, Days 1–4

We are also eliminating fats entirely in this first phase, except for 1 Tbsp. daily of flaxseed or hempseed oil, which provides your Omega-3 fatty acids. This is important to support your emotional health as well as aid in cleansing and provide critical components not available in your vegetable-dominant phase of this diet.

We are preparing, in the first four days, for a more significant detox beginning on Day 5 with liquefied, raw foods only, in the form of green smoothies, for three days.

Note that in Phase 1 we will shop twice. In each of the following phases, you can do all your shopping once a week.

The first four days, we are bringing your caloric intake down dramatically from a typical diet. You are getting as little as 800 calories a day, no more than 1,000! However, you will be FULL after breakfast and lunch, you can have a snack daily (steamed veggies) if you want, and you will be satisfied at dinner. GreenSmoothieGirl organic vegan protein mixed in water, and perhaps a scoop of GSG Sprouted Flax or Tri-Omega Superfood as well, are easy ways to stay satisfied easily and with high nutrient density.

If you have weight to lose, you will likely lose more than you mathematically calculate to be possible, based on calorie burn, this first phase. That’s because with no sodium, and with high potassium plus lots of fluids and nutrition, you are releasing fluids trapped in inflamed cells. One of the influences on this diet I have designed is the Gerson Diet, which has cured thousands of people of cancer (including many Stage 4 cancers and even pancreatic cancer) for over 80 years.

Anyone eating the Standard American Diet has inflammation, and inflammation is at the root of all disease. The Gerson Diet eliminates it—and quickly!—with sodium eliminated and high potassium added. This is not a modality practiced by MDs or taught in medical school. There is no code to bill it to insurance, and it is far outside “standard of care.” If everyone followed the Gerson Diet for two years, I believe most of our medical industry would disappear due to lack of demand. Many elements in this detox are modeled after Gerson’s genius and the work of other practitioners routinely beating diseases as daunting as cancer.

Eliminating weight related to fluids involved in inflammation is an exciting phenomenon to observe happening, and your body will love you for taking the pressure off. You're reducing inflammation. You’re reducing cancer and heart disease and autoimmune disease risk. Furthermore, you’re squeezing billions of fat cells down to nothing—and with them, long-stored toxins are releasing through the liver, kidneys, blood stream, and bowels.

The idea of the first four days is that as your body is adjusting to lower calories, you have lots of bulk to fill your stomach with and keep you comfortable and happy. Then we transition for three days to even lower calories but still a full stomach, with green smoothies. You won’t likely feel terribly hungry after the first four days because your metabolism is ramped down.

The point of eating very low-calorie, enzyme-rich, easy-to-digest foods is that your body is resting from digestive tasks and able to turn its attention to cleaning house. (Your body

86 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 1, Days 1–4 knows to do this! It wants to do this. It gets behind when it can't devote resources to repair when all hands are on deck for maintenance.)

It’s the Steven Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People) quadrant, applied to nutrition and the human body. When you can turn your attention away from the always demanding Urgent & Important quadrant (digestion) to the usually neglected Important & Not Urgent quadrant (detoxification and repair), phenomenal change happens.

I tested this menu first with my daughter. We followed it to the letter. I refined the recipes, shopping lists, and instructions. Then I handed it off to pairs of my friends who wanted to try it and then grilled them in detail about their experience.

One thing to note is that elimination, of all kinds, will be much higher than you normally have. (This is a good sign!) You will urinate a lot. Several bowel movements a day are not uncommon. Mostly that is because you are eating a very high-fiber diet. But also, after several days, hardened mucoid plaque from the 30+ feet of the intestines will likely begin to release, especially if you do Level 2 colonics.

In the green smoothie days (5–7), your bowel movements may be very green. If you are doing Level 2, you may notice orange or red in your stool from carrot or beet juice. When my daughter and I did the program, she told me she urinated far more than normal. I noticed that I was sweating often, when I normally never would. Everyone who beta tested the program reported these symptoms, including some of us having night sweats.

Most experienced sugar cravings in the first few days. A few experienced diarrhea for a day or two. All of these things are evidence that your body is putting its energy into cleaning house. These are the channels through which excess toxicity is eliminated.

From the beta testing, I have some very important “Suggestions for Success” for you. If you follow them, you will not be hungry the first four days, as your body adjusts to lower- calorie but higher-bulk foods. I was never hungry the first five days, and I lost 5 lbs.! (This is exciting, considering I started out in the “ideal” weight range on standard charts.) I did, however, fight my cravings for fruit or sweet foods.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 87 Phase 1, Days 1–4

Suggestions for Success

• Shop 1–2 days before you intend to begin the detox. • Plan for 2 hours of preparing food the day before you begin the detox. This will make those first four days very easy. When all the food requiring more than 5 minutes of prep time is made in advance, you will not find yourself ravenously hungry with 20– 60 minutes of cooking to do. (That’s deadly to your willpower!) Having the food available as you begin to feel hunger is the key to staying with it. • If you live with or near your Detox Buddy, consider dividing the work in half. This is how I recommend you do it. Detoxer #1 does all the shopping. Keep in mind that you’ll double ingredients on the shopping lists. Detoxer #1 also has two food prep tasks: prepare the lemon juice (a quart for two people is needed, about 16 lemons’ worth, for the 4 days) and the cucumber/tomato salad. Detoxer #2 makes the Hippo Soup and bakes 8 potatoes to last both of you four days. (Just reheat the potato, cut it open, top it with flaxseed oil and green onion. Or reheat the soup.) If you divide the work, it should take each one of you an hour or less. • You may feel absolutely stuffed trying to eat the portions prescribed, especially breakfast and lunch. Trust me, as counterintuitive as this sounds, just do it! The meals are so low calorie, you will still be hungry by the next meal. • Should you feel hungry late at night (your all-vegetable dinner will digest before bedtime), don’t cheat. Instead, stir a large spoonful of chia seed in a tall glass of water and drink it. In 10 minutes, your hunger pains will be gone! And chia is mucilaginous to absorb toxins and is high in Omega-3 fatty acids, protein, iron, calcium, vitamin C, and other minerals and vitamins—and low in calories. It’s a habit you might find yourself retaining after the detox! • Eat your next meal or snack when you first begin to feel hungry. Waiting until you are extremely hungry is a sure way to feel discouraged and deprived. • While juicing lemons, squeeze a bit extra for future uses in the cleanse. I put 1 Tbsp. in each section of an ice cube tray, then put them into small freezer bags when they are frozen. You can thaw them quickly by putting one or more in a Ziploc sandwich baggie, then putting it in a bowl of hot water. • Order GreenSmoothieGirl organic vegan protein powder (any flavor) and also one of our Sprouted Flax or Tri-Omega Superfood products as soon as possible, to arrive in time for the program to begin. • If you tire of smoothies at any time during the detox, you may substitute a large plate of salad with a bit of apple cider vinegar and olive oil. But be sure to get those alkalizing greens in, one way or another! • You may substitute monk fruit for stevia for any recipe in this book. If you do, make sure to adjust your shopping list. • Snacks to ward off hunger, anytime: • Lemonade made with water, fresh lemon juice, and stevia to taste • Water with 1 Tbsp. chia seeds stirred in, up to three times a day (very filling!) • Any vegetable or fruit you are already eating or juicing (a rule for the rest of the detox). Note: For more allowed food lists, substitutions, and charts, see Appendix B (page 153).

88 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 1, Days 1–4 Meal Plan

Levels 1 and 2, unless otherwise specified.

Breakfast

• 1 pint No-Fruit Green Smoothie (page 97). Optionally add one scoop of GSG protein powder and 2 Tbsp. of GSG Sprouted Flax or Tri-Omega Superfood. • 1+ C Breakfast Oatmeal (page 92)

Snack

Levels 1 and 2: 2 C steamed broccoli and/or cauliflower. Season with a salt-free variety of Spike or another extremely low-sodium seasoning, if desired.

Level 2: 8 oz. veggie juice, using any veggies from shopping list

Lunch

• 1 pint No-Fruit Green Smoothie (page 97)—identical to breakfast, but different greens. • 1 baked potato, cooked in its jacket. Drizzle with flaxseed oil or hemp oil and sprinkle with fresh parsley, garlic, and/or green onions. Be sure to eat the skin, where the fiber and most of the nutrition are.

Snack

Level 2: 8 oz. veggie juice

Dinner

• 1 C Cucumber-Tomato Salad (page 92) • Hippo Soup (page 97), as much as you want • Level 2 only: Remaining veggie juice

Whenever You’re Still Hungry

• An extra helping of a food you already ate that day, especially a fruit that has already been introduced • A scoop of GSG organic vegan protein powder (any flavor) mixed with water

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 89 Phase 1, Days 1–4

Shopping List

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Produce green onions bunch 1 1 2 2 sm. red onions 1 1 1 1 med. yellow onions 2 4 6 8 baking potatoes 4 8 12 16 organic potatoes for soup lb. 1 2 3 4 Swiss chard bunch 1 2 3 4 lemons 2 C juice needed; freeze extra 12 24 36 48 chopped garlic in jar Tbsp. 8 16 24 32 sm./med.cucumbers 4 8 12 16 med. ripe tomatoes 8 16 24 32 fresh basil or cilantro optional celery stalk 4 8 12 16 parsley bunch 0.5 1 1.5 2 leeks if not available, use onion instead 1 2 3 4 broccoli/cauliflower use one or mix lb. 1 2 3 4 spinach 10 oz. bag 3 6 9 12 Additional for Level 2 Option organic carrots lb. 10 20 30 40 organic celery bunch 2 4 6 8 lrg. organic beets 4 8 12 16 organic greens kale, collards, etc. bunch 1 2 3 4 organic cucumbers 1 2 3 4 organic ground coffee for optional enema can 1 2 3 4

90 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 1, Days 1–4

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Canned Goods raw apple cider vinegar small bottle Bulk Items gluten-free rolled oats C 2468 chia seeds optional C 0.511.52 Miscellaneous liquid stevia bottle1122 flaxseed or hemp oil for baked potato oz. 4 8 12 16 organic cinnamon Tbsp.2468 Spike seasoning (salt- free variety) or other extremely low-sodium seasoning bottle1122 GSG Tri-Omega optional, for no-fruit Superfood or Sprouted green smoothies Flax

GSG organic vegan optional, for no-fruit protein powder (any green smoothies flavor) inexpensive citrus juicer ($20 at discount store)

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 91 Phase 1, Days 1–4

Recipes

Note: All recipes make 1 serving unless otherwise indicated. If any yields are too much, you are welcome to cut the recipe in half—or freeze it for later use, as all detox recipes are fair game for eating later in the program.

Breakfast Oatmeal ⅓ C organic regular (not instant) rolled oats (Bob’s Redmill makes this, and you can optionally buy gluten-free oats, though oats are naturally low in gluten) 1 C water optional: pinch cinnamon optional: few drops liquid stevia

Bring water to a boil, then add oats. Reduce heat and simmer 10–12 min. Add cinnamon and stevia if desired.

Tip: Soak raw rolled oats in water the night before in a saucepan with a tightly fitting lid to neutralize the anti-nutrient called phytic acid. In the morning, bring the pot of oats and soaking water to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer 6–8 min. This makes your oatmeal very easy to digest.

Cucumber-Tomato Salad Makes 8 (1 C) servings

4 organic cucumbers 4 ripe organic tomatoes 1 small red onion (do not double this for 2–3 people) ½ C raw apple cider vinegar optional: fresh basil or cilantro, to taste

Chop all ingredients and mix together well.

Note: A GreenSmoothieGirl reader said that lime juice and cilantro substituted for the apple cider vinegar and basil is delicious! If you do this, make sure to make these substitutions on your shopping list.

92 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Breakfast Oatmeal

93 Cucumber-Tomato Salad

94 Hippo Soup

95 No-Fruit Green Smoothie

96 Phase 1, Days 1–4

Hippo Soup Makes 13 (1 C) Servings

4 stalks celery OR 2 medium-sized celery roots 1½ lb. (3 medium or 2 large) fresh tomatoes 2 medium yellow onions ½ bunch parsley, chopped 1 large leek (or 1 onion if leeks are unavailable) 4 cloves garlic (or 4 tsp. from a jar of chopped garlic) 1 lb. organic potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled Spike (salt-free variety) or other extremely low-sodium seasoning

Chop all veggies. Cover with water in a pot and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 hour. Cool for 1 hour. Optionally, purée in a blender for a creamy soup. Eat within four days.

Tip: Some readers who don't love the bland Hippo Soup tell us they stir their Hippo Soup and Cucumber Tomato Salad together and they like it much better!

No-Fruit Green Smoothie ¼ C fresh lemon juice 2 C water 1 huge handful spinach OR 2 large chard leaves (with stems) optional: 1 scoop GSG organic vegan protein powder (any flavor) optional: 1 Tbsp. GSG Tri-Omega Superfood or Sprouted Flax optional: ⅓ dropper liquid stevia, or to taste

Blend all ingredients until very smooth and drink immediately.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 97 Phase 1, Days 5–7

Introduction

Your gastrointestinal tract has been given plenty of fiber for several days, and any impacted fecal material will be somewhat softened as we head into a more intensive phase of cleansing—especially if you repeated Days 1–4, which you may wish to do if you have serious health issues or significant food sensitivities. Please consult with your health care practitioner before making major dietary changes. Adding 4 days will make this a 30-day program and continue to decrease your cravings as you eat no sugars, even fruit sugars.

You should find by the end of it, if not sooner, a higher level of elimination. Looser stool is common as your body is flooded with both nutrition and fiber. Be aware that it can take some time for mucoidph plaque coating the walls of your intestines to begin to release, because the “rubber tire”-looking material took years to form and doesn’t come out in just a few days, usually.

If you find that you need more food and choose not to follow the juice-only or smoothie- only plan, rather than add other foods please add a baked potato or bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and a pinch of stevia if you wish. (Remember, no dairy milk or nut milks added—only water.) We are keeping it simple, with a minimal number of foods, so we have a more pure test when we add them back in, one at a time.

You are always welcome to drink a glass of water with a large spoonful of chia seed mixed in. Remember, 10 minutes after you drink it, you will not be hungry anymore!

Rather than eating cooked foods (potato, soup, oatmeal) on an empty stomach, take digestive enzymes with them or eat them with your juice or smoothie, to provided needed enzymes. This allows you to continue to allow your pancreas a much-needed rest period.

You also begin to add fruit back to your diet. Berries are hypoallergenic, so we add those first. Then bananas. Then apples. Please make note in your Food Sensitivities chart if you have (or do not have) a reaction as you add these foods. Remember to pay special attention to your digestion. Loose stool is not, however, indicative of a food sensitivity at this point, since you have massively increased fiber and fluids, so there are other more likely reasons for that reaction for a day or two.

98 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 1, Days 5–7 Meal Plan

Breakfast

Level 1: 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101)

Level 2: 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101) or veggie juice, with apple added now: (all organic ingredients) 1 bunch greens, 2 carrots, 3 celery, 1 apple, 1 large beet (to last all day; freeze or refrigerate any extra for subsequent days)

Lunch

Level 1: 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101)

Level 2: 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101), or veggie juice with optional 1 Tbsp. GSG Sprouted Flax or Tri-Omega added

Dinner

Level 1: 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101)

Level 2: 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101), or veggie juice with optional 1 Tbsp. GSG Sprouted Flax or Tri-Omega added

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 99 Phase 1, Days 5–7

Shopping List

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Produce

choose from spinach, bunch (see organic greens chard, kale, collards, Note below) 8 16 24 32 beet greens, cabbages organic apples 2 4 6 8 bananas 4 8 12 16 Additional for Level 2 Option organic carrots lb. 5 10 15 20 organic celery bunch 2 4 6 8 lrg. organic beets 4 8 12 16 organic greens kale, collards, etc. bunch 3 6 9 12 organic cucumbers 3 6 9 12 Frozen Items frozen mixed berries 7 lb. bag 1 2 3 4 Miscellaneous

GSG Tri-Omega optional, for green Superfood or Sprouted smoothies Flax

GSG organic vegan optional, for green protein powder (any smoothies flavor)

Note: We've based this unit on medium-sized bunches. But bunch sizes vary widely, so keep an eye on what you're buying. But if you happen to have leftover greens, remember that they can be washed and then frozen in Ziploc freezer bags to be used in green smoothies later.

100 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Recipes

Note: All recipes make 1 serving unless otherwise indicated. If any yields are too much, you are welcome to cut the recipe in half—or freeze it for later use, as all detox recipes are fair game for eating later in the program.

Classic Green Smoothie This will make 2 quarts. So, per person, you will need to make ½ this recipe again for your daily 3 quarts.

1. Start with 2½ C water/ice in the blender. 2. (Optional) Add 1½–2 scoops GSG organic vegan protein powder (any flavor) and 2–3 Tbsp. GSG Sprouted Flax or Tri-Omega Superfood. 3. Add any 3 of these greens on any given day: mustard greens, beet tops, dandelion greens, spinach, collards, kale, romaine, mixed spring greens, cabbage, and chard. 4. Blend until liquid comes to the 5–5½ C line (add more greens if necessary to come to this line when blended). 5. To the remaining green smoothie mixture in the blender jar: • On Day 5 add frozen mixed berries to taste, with lemon juice and a bit of stevia (for extra sweetness) and extra water, if needed, to the 7–8 C line. • On Day 6 add 1–2 bananas plus frozen berries to the 7–8 C line—and you may no longer need lemon juice/stevia unless you prefer your smoothies quite sweet. • On Day 7 add 2 apples, 1–2 bananas, and frozen berries to the 7–8 C line. Make a note each day of any reaction to the new fruit added.

Note: The way I have written the recipe relies on your paying attention to the amount of blended water, greens, and fruit in the markings on the blender jar. I wrote it this way because greens are highly variable in size. “Handfuls” are similarly imprecise. If you wish to make it your own way, you can. The basic proportions I use are ⅓ water, ⅓ greens, and ⅓ fruit. The idea is to maximize the amount of greens, and minimize the fruits, to your own tastes.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 101 Phase 2, Days 1–7

Introduction

In this phase we will add more fats, the kinds easily digested by your liver, back to the diet. In the first four days, we are also adding sunflower seeds, then pumpkin seeds, and then sesame seeds, cashews, and almonds. We will add grains in a very limited way and will focus on more in the fourth phase. Now we are testing nuts and seeds—not all of them, but a representative sample—and more fruits. We also continue to eat low-calorie, high-fiber, detoxification, and alkaline foods.

You may eliminate any main dish this phase that you don’t wish to make or shop for and replace it with juice or a green smoothie, if you wish. This will accelerate weight loss and detoxification. (If you do this, you will need to purchase more green smoothie ingredients than the shopping list indicates.)

Again, we recommend 1 scoop of GSG organic vegan protein and 1 Tbsp. GSG Sprouted Flax or Tri-Omega Superfood added to every green smoothie every day.

Suggestions for Success

Again, don’t wait to wake up on Monday and look at your menu plan—that’s a recipe for failure because you won’t have the ingredients and you’ll be rushing off to work. If Phase 2 starts on Monday, buy your ingredients on Saturday, and on Sunday get familiar with what’s happening in the coming days and make recipes in advance.

I suggest this schedule to minimize kitchen time and avoid being caught unprepared. In addition to the shopping, it involves 2 hours of kitchen time the first day and 30 minutes on three other days. Other tasks will take just a few minutes before a meal. • The night before Day 1, plan to spend 2 hours prepping for the next few days. Make Hockey Pucks, Porridge (enough for 3 days; reheat each day), Purple Heaven, and Black Bug Soup. Also bake two sweet potatoes and make 2 quarts of green smoothie to last you through Days 1–2. (Detox Buddies who live together or near each other can each make three of these items, to cut the work in half. But double the shopping amounts, of course!)

Note: Store Hockey Pucks in the refrigerator or they may mold.

• On Day 2, soak 1 C raw almonds for Crunchy Avocado Salad.

102 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 2, Days 1–7

• On Day 3, make 2 quarts of green smoothie (for Days 3–4 lunches) and Crunchy Avocado Salad (for Days 4–7 lunches). • On Day 4, make Green Smash. • On Day 5, make 3 quarts plus 1 pint of green smoothie (for Days 5–7 lunches and Days 6–7 dinners). • When you shop, get avocados you can use 5–6 days from now. Fairly hard ones should be okay. If you’re worried they’re already ripe, put them in the fridge to avoid over- ripening. Avocados are delicious and nutritious—and worth the hassle—but tricky to plan for! • Starting in this phase, feel free to use 1 Tbsp. avocado oil or coconut oil to lightly sauté veggies to bring out more flavor in recipes like Hippo Soup, Green Smash, and Black Bug Soup. And try sautéed veggies on top of baked potatoes, brown or wild rice, and quinoa!

Meal Plan

Levels 1 and 2, unless otherwise specified.

Breakfast

Millet Porridge (page 116) OR Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie (page 116) (each day using a different nut to test sensitivities)

Snack (optional)

Level 1: Melon OR grapes (only one type of fruit per day, to test sensitivities)

Level 2: 1 pint veggie and fruit juice (2 carrots, 1 apple, 2 stalks celery, 1 head romaine lettuce, kale, or chard)

Lunch

Days 1–3: • One-third of the batch of Hockey Pucks (page 110) OR 2 pieces unsalted rye bread (see Note on page 105), toasted, with coconut oil or unsalted butter • 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101) Days 4–7: • 1½ C Crunchy Avocado Salad (page 109) (add the avocado just before eating) OR 2 pieces unsalted rye bread, toasted with coconut oil or unsalted butter • 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101)

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 103 Phase 2, Days 1–7

Snack

Melon or grapes

Dinner

Day 1: • 1 sweet potato, baked, topped with 1–2 Tbsp. organic, cold-pressed coconut oil • 1½ C Purple Heaven (page 119) Day 2: • 1 C Black Bug Soup (page 109) • 1½ C Purple Heaven (page 119) Day 3: • 1 sweet potato, baked, topped with coconut oil • 1½ C Purple Heaven (page 119) Day 4: • 1 C Black Bug Soup (page 109) • 1½ C Purple Heaven (page 119) Day 5: • Green Smash (page 110) • 1 pint Classic Green Smoothie (page 101) Day 6: • 1 C Black Bug Soup (page 109) • 1 pint Classic Green Smoothie (page 101) Day 7: • Green Smash (page 110) • 1 pint Classic Green Smoothie (page 101) OR green juice (for Level 2)

104 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 2, Days 1–7

Note: If you can’t find salt-free rye bread, pumpernickel bread is closely related. If you are unable to find either bread (or any bread) salt-free, it's okay to buy something low in sodium (also organic and sprouted is even better). Something that has 10 mg or less of sodium is still 0% sodium in the serving, because the amount is so tiny. Salt is officially the hardest ingredient to avoid. As soon as you buy any prepared foods, avoiding salt becomes almost impossible unless you live in an area with big, excellent health food stores and you're willing to look.

You can also look for Trader Joe's Sodium-Free Whole-Wheat Bread. Many health food stores carry sprouted English muffins, Manna Bread (which is also sprouted), Artisan's Essene Bread, as well as Vermont Bread Company or Mestemacher bread varieties that have no salt.

In lieu of store-bought bread, some people choose to continue making and eating Hockey Pucks (page 110) to minimize salt on the detox, as they love the anti- inflammatory effects. If you do this, adjust your shopping list accordingly! And you can make Hockey Pucks with other grains besides oats—try triticale, amaranth, millet, or rye flakes! You can eat your Hockey Pucks warm, and buttered, if you like!

Just introduce no more than one new whole grain at a time, to identify food sensitivities, and it's entirely possible to avoid gluten grains if you have a goal to eliminate them from your diet.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 105 Phase 2, Days 1–7

Shopping List

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Produce oranges 3 6 9 12 blueberries pint 2 4 6 8 bananas 6 12 18 24 apples 7 142128 med. beets 1 2 3 4 Buy extra if drinking whole organic carrots Hot Pink Smoothies all week. 8 16 24 32 lrg. potatoes 2 3 4 5 med. sweet potatoes 2 4 6 8 cauliflower sm. head 1 2 3 4 for Green Smash; buy spinach more if you’ll also use 10 oz. bag 4 8 12 16 in green smoothie garlic clove 6 12 18 24 green onions bunch 1 2 3 4 sm. yellow onions 1 2 3 4 fresh dill or 2 Tbsp dried C 0.5 1 1.5 2 fresh parsley or 1 Tbsp dried C 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 lrg. ripe tomatoes 3 6 9 12 avocados 2 4 6 8 kale bunch 1 2 3 4 chard bunch 1 2 3 4 collards bunch 1 2 3 4 green cabbage sm. head 1 2 3 4 purple cabbage sm. head 1 2 3 4 lemons or use leftovers, for 1 Tbsp 1 2 3 4 celery stalk3579 cilantro bunch 1 2 3 4

106 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 2, Days 1–7

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Optional Snacks melons 1234 red or green grapes bag1234 Additional for Level 2 Option organic carrots lb. 10 20 30 40 organic celery bunch 2468 organic greens kale, collards, etc. bunch 3 6 9 12 apples C 5 10 15 20 Canned Goods coconut liquid/water/juice can 4 8 12 16 coconut milk can 1234 Frozen Items mixed berries lrg. bag1234 strawberries organic if possible 12 oz. bag 4 8 12 16 Bulk Items gluten-free rolled oatsif no leftovers C 2468 wild rice C 0.5 1 1.5 2 millet C 1.5 3 4.5 6 sesame seeds C 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 raw cashews C 0.5 1 1.5 2 raw sunflower seeds C 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 raw pumpkin seeds C 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 raw almonds C 1 1.5 2 2.5 chopped dates or 2/4/6/8 large pitted dates Tbsp.2468 Miscellaneous coconut oil OR unsalted butter Tbsp. 6 12 18 24 extra virgin olive oil Tbsp. 4 8 12 16 real maple syrup Tbsp. 4 8 12 16 red wine vinegar Tbsp.2468 cayenne optional

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 107 Phase 2, Days 1–7

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 salt-free or extremely low-sodium herb to taste seasoning nutritional or Brewer’s yeast jar1111 golden raisins C 0.5 1 1.5 2 unsalted or extremely no wheat flour—if rye loaf1122 low-salt 100% whole- bread isn’t available, grain rye bread (if not buy Kamut, spelt, or making more Hockey brown rice bread (also Pucks instead) see Note on page 105)

GSG Tri-Omega optional, for green Superfood or Sprouted smoothies Flax

GSG organic vegan optional, for green protein powder (any smoothies flavor)

Note: If you prefer to drink Hot Pink Smoothies all week for breakfast rather than include Millet Porridge in your menu, then adjust your shopping list accordingly, deleting the ingredients for the Millet Porridge (page 116) and increasing the ingredients for the Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie (page 116) as appropriate.

108 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 2, Days 1–7 Recipes

Note: All recipes make 1 serving unless otherwise indicated. If any yields are too much, you are welcome to cut the recipe in half—or freeze it for later use, as all detox recipes are fair game for eating later in the program.

Black Bug Soup Makes 5 (1 C) servings

4–5 C water ½ C wild rice, rinsed well 1 small organic onion, diced 2 large organic carrots, diced 1 Tbsp. dried dill 1 Tbsp. dried parsley Any salt-free or extremely low-sodium herb seasoning, onion powder, or garlic powder, to taste

Bring water to a boil. Add rice and reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer 15 min. Add onion and carrot and simmer for 30 more min. Remove from heat and add dill, parsley, and seasoning. Taste and adjust seasonings. Stir by hand. Serve immediately or refrigerate and reheat.

Crunchy Avocado Salad Makes 7 (1 C) servings

2 avocados (don’t dice until just before you eat the salad, to eat fresh) 3 large tomatoes OR 6 Roma tomatoes, chopped 1 C raw almonds, soaked overnight and drained, coarsely chopped 3 stalks celery, finely chopped 1 green onion, diced ½ C cilantro, chopped 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice Spike (salt-free variety) or other extremely low-sodium seasoning, to taste 3 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (or Brewer’s yeast) optional: large pinch cayenne

Toss all ingredients except the avocado, which you will cut and add half of it at the time you eat the salad. Save the half that still has the pit in it (this helps keep it fresh), rub lemon juice on the cut surface (also for freshness), and save it in the refrigerator for tomorrow’s lunch.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 109 Phase 2, Days 1–7

Green Smash Makes 5 (1 C) servings

2 baking potatoes, scrubbed (not peeled) and chopped 1 small head cauliflower, chopped 1 10 oz. bag spinach, chopped 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 4 cloves garlic, diced 4 green onions, diced

In a large saucepan, cover cauliflower and potatoes with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 min. or until vegetables are tender. In a large frying pan, sauté olive oil, garlic, and onions for 60 seconds on medium-high heat. Add spinach and stir until spinach is wilted. Put cauliflower/potato mixture in a bowl and use hand mixer to blend until very smooth or slightly chunky, according to taste. Add onion/spinach mixture and blend briefly. Serve hot.

Hockey Pucks Makes enough for 1 person for 3 days

1¼ C water 2 med. carrots 1 apple 2 C gluten-free regular (not instant) rolled oats* 1 dropperful liquid stevia OR monk fruit 1 tsp. cinnamon

* You may substitute another type of flour, but quinoa flour will make this recipe bitter.

Purée ingredients in the order listed.

Baking Options • Pucks: Fill batter ½"–1" deep in an oil-sprayed muffin tin and bake at 350° F for 45 min. • Flapjacks: Grease a griddle or a cast iron or nonstick ceramic pan with coconut oil. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the pan and slowly “fry” them until they are firm in the middle.

Important: Depending on the altitude and climate you live in, you may need to adjust accordingly by increasing the amount of oats or water to create the consistency of batter that works well for what type of “puck” you're making. You may also need to increase cooking time.

110 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Black Bug Soup

111 Crunchy Avocado Salad

112 Green Smash

113 Hockey Pucks

114 Hot-Pink Breakfast Smoothie

115 Phase 2, Days 1–7

Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie A favorite of detoxers!

1½ C coconut liquid/water/juice (from a young coconut or a can, found in almost any food store; not coconut milk) 2 Tbsp. chunk organic raw beet, peeled 1 large organic carrot, scrubbed ¼ C sprouted raw sunflower seeds, soaked overnight and drained* 2 Tbsp. chopped dates OR 2 large pitted dates 12 oz. frozen organic strawberries

* Use sunflower seeds for 2 days. Then on days 3–4, use sesame seeds. And on days 5–7, use cashews.

Purée all but the strawberries in a high-speed blender for 90 seconds. Add the strawberries and blend until smooth, about 90 seconds. Serve immediately.

Millet Porridge Makes enough for 1 person for 3 days

1½ C millet, washed well (soak a few minutes, stir well, drain with fine strainer) 4 C water ⅔ can coconut milk (not coconut water/liquid/juice) 2 Tbsp. real maple syrup 1 dropperful liquid stevia 1 C fresh orange juice (use a small electric juicer and fresh oranges)

Bring water and millet to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 min. Take off heat, remove lid, and cool 10 min. Blend coconut milk, maple syrup, and orange juice in a blender and pour one-third of the mixture over a 1½ C serving of millet. Serve hot with ⅔ pint of fresh blueberries (or frozen, if fresh are unavailable).

116 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Millet Porridge

117 Purple Heaven

118 Phase 2, Days 1–7

Purple Heaven A favorite of detoxers!

Makes 4 (1 C) servings

Salad: 2 C shredded green cabbage 2 C shredded red cabbage ½ C golden raisins ¼ C raw pumpkin seeds

Dressing: 2 Tbsp. real maple syrup 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 2 Tbsp. raw red wine vinegar 1 clove garlic

Toss salad ingredients in a large bowl. Blend dressing ingredients and add to cabbage mixture.

Tip: The dressing keeps well for at least a week in a glass jar in the fridge, if you prefer to add it serving-by-serving instead of all at once (allows your salad veggies to stay crisper longer).

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 119 Phase 3, Days 1–5 (Overview)

In this five-day phase, having done some colon cleansing detox, we now do some specialized work to detox the kidneys for two days, and the liver and gallbladder for three days.

This is the most intense phase of the cleanse. But your metabolism should be lower from decreased caloric intake up to this point, so it should not be terribly difficult like it would have been in the beginning, as your body adjusted.

The ingredients for each day are very specialized this phase, based on science involved in how to detoxify the specific organ we are working on. In the first two days, you eat nothing but watermelon.

Watermelon is high in vitamins A and C and also potassium. Consequently, it is a very effective diuretic. I was already slightly below the bottom of the “optimal” weight chart when I got to this day, and I lost 3.2 pounds in these two days. It’s nothing to be alarmed about. In just a few days, you are flushing body systems, not causing your muscles or organs to waste away!

Part of the reason watermelons are so helpful for kidney detoxing is that they are 95% or more water, and the best way to flush the kidneys is to eat no food and flush with lots of water. And watermelon allows you to eat something, which is more sustainable than a labor-intensive juice fast, since people naturally crave food they can chew.

Like the famous Master Cleanse that has you drinking lemon juice and maple syrup in water, your blood sugar can remain stable. And the natural sugars in this whole food are nutritionally superior to maple syrup (a concentrated sweetener) in that program.

But another virtue of this process is that potassium is also pushing sodium and inflammation out of your cells. Be patient with the fact that you will urinate many times during these two days, and you may even wake up during the night.

Some scoff at the need to “flush” what is essentially a flushing organ. But crystalline salt deposits form in the kidneys and can create very painful troubles known as kidney stones. A little preemptive cleansing now and then can save you some awful problems later.

For your gallbladder and liver flush, the last phase, on days 3–5, you will drink a quart of apple juice (or apples blended with water) daily to dissolve crystalline deposits in those parts of the body. You may also choose to include the Epsom salt option if you wish. You will want to keep the remainder of your diet simple and clean during those three days, as you end this cleansing phase strong!

120 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 3, Days 1–2 (Kidney Cleanse)

Introduction

You have been resting organs from heavy digestion, rejuvenating many systems with high nutrition, making your GI tract inhospitable for parasites and detoxifying the colon. Those first two phases are well under way, which are by far the hardest jobs and will continue. Now we move on to your two-day kidney cleanse. You will have some unusual ingredients in your meals the next two days. One is watermelon. If this is not available when you are doing this detox—or if you have Candida, diabetes, or other blood sugar issues—simply eat as much raw as you can (best to do all green smoothies, and change your shopping list accordingly) and drink the celery tea 2–3 times a day instead of once.

Note: Do you have Candida, diabetes, or other blood sugar issues? Or would you simply prefer to chew your greens rather than drink green smoothies? Or do you want to eat less “sweet” food? You are always totally welcome to eat sliced vegetables instead, which is an option we've given you here. You may also wish to make the Cucumber- Tomato Salad from earlier (page 92), or a big green salad with any greens, veggies, and a simple dressing made of garlic, onion, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and/or olive oil or flax oil. In Phases 3 and 4, legumes like chickpeas or kidney or black beans are legal to add. If you want to skip the green smoothies and eat vegetables in one of these ways instead, be sure to adjust your shopping list.

Celery seeds directly act on the kidneys and the joints, increasing elimination of toxins and water. You will grind some in a small, inexpensive coffee grinder ($15–$20 at any Wal-Mart or Target). Optionally, you can add dandelion root to your tea, also celebrated for its effect in increasing kidney elimination.

Many holistic doctors worldwide use these two methods to assist in breaking down deposits in the kidneys that can lead, for some people, to kidney stones. You don’t know you have them until they are trapped and causing a tremendous amount of pain, so let’s be preventive and preemptive!

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 121 Phase 3, Days 1–2 (Kidney Cleanse)

Meal Plan

Levels 1 and 2, unless otherwise specified.

Breakfast

Watermelon (unlimited)—eat it or blend and drink

(If watermelon is not available, drink green smoothies using a variety of fruits and veggies—or eat them raw, or as a salad, if you prefer.)

Lunch

Watermelon (unlimited)

Snack

Pour 1 C boiling water over 1 Tbsp. freshly ground organic celery seeds (found in health food stores or online). Optionally, use dandelion root (powder or tea bag) instead of celery seeds.

Dinner

Watermelon (unlimited)

122 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 3, Days 1–2 (Kidney Cleanse) Shopping List

Important: This list is for ALL of Phase 3!

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Produce med. watermelons 3 6 9 12 organic apples 24 48 72 96 lemons 1234 green salad ingredients legumes, fruit, nuts For green smoothies: fruit of your choice 2468 fruit of your choice 2468 fruit of your choice 2468 greens of your choice bunch 1234 greens of your choice bunch 1234 greens of your choice bunch 1234

GSG Tri-Omega optional, for green Superfood or Sprouted smoothies Flax

GSG organic vegan optional, for green protein powder (any smoothies flavor) Frozen Items mixed berries if needed for green smoothies Miscellaneous celery seeds Tbsp.2468 dandelion root tea optional 4 8 12 16 extra virgin olive oil C ½ 1 1½ 2

Epsom salt: plain, with for optional step in no other additives (look gallbladder flush for it at a pharmacy) lb.1111

Additional for Level 2 Option organic ground coffee if not bought in Phase 1 can

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 123 Phase 3, Days 1–2 (Kidney Cleanse)

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Optional items, in place of green salad ingredients above organic carrots lb. 10 20 30 40 organic celery bunch 2 4 6 8 apples lb. 5 10 15 20 organic greens kale, collards, etc. bunch 3 6 9 12

124 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 3, Days 3–5 (Liver & Gallbladder Cleanse)

Introduction

The next step is to detoxify your liver and gallbladder. Your liver performs over 500 tasks for you, according to various experts, and filters your entire blood supply every 4 minutes. Did you know that 80% of your liver can be damaged without you noticing any symptoms? And it regenerates itself every six weeks! It is truly a remarkable organ that we should treat with great care.

Level 2 participants, your coffee enemas are more critical here than anywhere else in this program, since they keep the ducts into and out of your liver open and releasing bile.

Level 1 participants are welcome to add this feature to your detox now, if you’re ready for it! In our first large-scale roll-out of the detox, one of the most common comments received when we asked participants to give us suggestions for improvement was how glad people were when they conquered their squeamishness and uncertainty and just did the coffee enemas. This response from Brenda G. in San Jose is representative of many comments we got: “Encourage people to do the coffee enemas! They were a game changer for me! I wish I’d done them from Phase 1 forward!”

You may also wish to chew some bitter greens, such as turnip or mustard greens or arugula, before each meal. Or even milder greens like spinach, collards, or kale. This stimulates bile production.

Many gallbladder detoxes include an Epsom salt protocol, to dilate and relax the ducts for easier gallstone passage. I have included an optional step for the Epsom salt, if you'd like to try it—but I personally consider the first weeks of the detox to be plenty of prep for the gallbladder flush, without the Epsom salt.

If you choose to do this step, be sure to use plain Epsom salt with nothing else added (look for it in a health food store or pharmacy and check the label for additional ingredients). Be aware that because Epsom salt is a common constipation remedy, you can expect loose, even diarrhea-like stools. If you are underweight, pregnant or nursing, or have known severe gut issues, you should not choose to drink the Epsom salt. You don’t, however, need to worry that Epsom salt will raise your blood pressure or ruin your salt detox, since “Epsom salt” is a misnomer: it is magnesium sulfate, not sodium chloride, and is nothing like the table salt you should avoid ingesting.

Note: For anyone suffering from low blood sugar, low blood pressure, or fatigue/low energy, one permissible modification to the meal plans during any phase of this detox would

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 125 Phase 3, Days 3–5 (Liver & Gallbladder Cleanse)

be to use lots of cinnamon in a capsule with meals. Also, consider adding any flavor of GreenSmoothieGirl vegan protein powder to green smoothies or to water with any meal. Doing this will slow detoxification down a bit, but will not significantly sabotage our very low-sodium, plant-based goals. See also “What if I feel weak and light- headed—or if I’m diabetic?” on page 76.

Gallbladder Flush

Note: If you have no gallbladder, you needn’t do this gallbladder flush. However, you can still do everything else for this phase and follow the menu plan for Days 3–5. The things we do here are helpful, according to holistic doctors I have consulted with worldwide, in helping dissolve crystalline structures in other organs as well.

Because some people feel a bit nauseated the day after doing the gallbladder flush, especially people who have more toxicity, you may wish to reschedule this portion of the detox to do it on a night when you do not have to go to work the next day.

This important step forces contraction of the gallbladder’s duct, flushing crystalline structures with more fat than you can metabolize at once. But we are using olive oil, which is a type of fat that will not harm you.

On the day of the flush, eat lightly at breakfast and lunch, and do not eat anything after 2:00 pm. Fasting is important to let your digestive system rest in preparation for the flush. You may have as much water as you wish.

Prepare for bed so you'll be ready to immediately lie down for the night at 10:00 pm.

Level 2 participants: If by 9:30 p.m. you have not had a bowel movement during the previous 24 hours, you may wish to take a water enema (no coffee).

At 9:50 p.m., stir the juice of one lemon into 4 oz. (½ C) of organic, extra virgin olive oil. (If the task of drinking this is too mentally difficult for you, you may decrease the amount to 2 oz. [¼ C] of olive oil and/or add 1 C fresh organic apple juice to the olive oil/lemon.)

Drink it quickly and then lie down on your right side for at least half an hour. Some people feel a bit nauseated during the night and some the following day as well. Most people do not vomit (especially since they’ve eaten nothing since 2:00 p.m.) but it does occasionally happen, so have a trash can nearby just in case. Try to lie on your right side throughout the night.

If you have a hot-water bottle (found at most pharmacies), fill it with the hottest water from the tap and put it on your liver, on the right side of your belly, while you rest in bed. This will also help dilate, relax, and release!

You may feel gallstones moving through your bile ducts during the night. The next day you will likely find a few small green or black objects in your urine or stool, which are gallstones. Some people find many of them.

126 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 3, Days 3–5 (Liver & Gallbladder Cleanse)

If you have had trouble with gallstones in the past or if you have a history of crystalline deposits in the kidney—or if you drink soda, coffee, or other highly acidic foods—you may wish to repeat the gallbladder flush for another day or two. Another indicator that you may want to repeat it is if you experienced a large number of gall stones releasing. Or you can take a break until after the detox and come back to this step a few times over the next few months, as desired.

Note: Because some people feel nauseated after drinking the oil (usually several hours later or in the morning), if you work or have other plans during the week, you may want to move the flush (and the diet for that day) to a Friday or Saturday night. This way, if you feel unwell as stones leave your body and you go through a new level of detoxification, it's not on a day you have to be at work or doing something in particular! You can do this any night between now and the end of this program, but be sure to drink your apple juice on that day. You may also remove any ingredients from the Shopping List for the dinner you will skip on the day of the flush.

When you begin eating the morning after the flush, start with some more apple juice to keep the stones soft, since you'll likely continue to pass stones throughout the day. Eat lightly and phase foods you have already eaten thus far, such as oatmeal or a baked potato, to help any remaining nausea or abate hunger. If needed, you may postpone starting Phase 4 until the following day.

Optional Epsom Salt Protocol

Important: If you choose to incorporate this protocol into your gallbladder flush, note the precautions on page 125 and be sure you’re using plain Epsom salt with no other ingredients (check the label!). You’ll start the first step at 6:00 p.m., after you’ve been fasting since 2:00 p.m.

Directions:

1. At 6:00 p.m., mix 1 Tbsp. of Epsom salt into ¾ C of water and drink it. You can drink as much water as you need during the evening if the Epsom salt makes you thirsty. 2. At 8:00 p.m., repeat the Step 1 drink. 3. At 9:50 p.m., follow the directions for the lemon and olive oil mixture on the previous page as well as the directions for immediately lying down on your right side for at least half an hour, preferably staying in bed for the rest of the night. 4. At 6:00 a.m. the next day, repeat the Step 1 mixture to continue to keep your bile ducts dilated and relaxed for gallstone passage. If you are nauseated or have diarrhea (which is common, so don’t panic), you can skip this step. 5. When you feel ready to eat, start with some apple juice to keep the stones soft. Phase in foods you have already eaten so far, such as oatmeal or a baked potato when you get hungry. Rest as much as possible throughout the day.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 127 Phase 3, Days 3–5 (Liver & Gallbladder Cleanse)

Meal Plan

Levels 1 and 2, unless otherwise specified. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Eat at any time during the day—but do not eat after 2 p.m. on the day of the flush: • Very important: 1 quart organic fresh apple juice (Level 2) or blended apples (Level 1), consisting of 1½ C water and 4–5 apples (to yield a quart) puréed smooth in your high-speed blender. Drink this alone, with no other food, and on an empty stomach any time during the day. It’s fine to drink it all in one sitting or to split it, drinking half of it between breakfast and lunch and half of it between lunch and dinner, for instance. The apple juice is a gall stone, kidney stone, and crystalline solvent. Note: If you have Candida, diabetes, or other blood sugar issues, you may substitute 4 oz. of apple cider vinegar OR 1 tsp. of malic acid (found at health food stores) in a quart of water in place of the daily quart of apple juice during this phase. (Remember to adjust the shopping list accordingly.) • 2 quarts Classic Green Smoothie (page 101). • You’ll find the mandatory apple juice (or apple cider vinegar or malic acid) and 2 quarts of green smoothie quite filling (remember the smoothies may be substituted; see note on page 121). But if after this mandatory food you are still hungry, choose any two things you like from the following list. You can switch which two extra things you want to eat each day: • Green salad with one legume (like kidney beans, lentils, black beans, or chick peas), fruit, and a handful of nuts (add only one new food and keep track of any reactions in your food sensitivity chart). You can also blend a lovely detox- appropriate dressing of olive oil, fresh onions of any type, garlic, raw apple cider vinegar, and/or fresh lemon or lime juice. Tip: To avoid sodium in canned beans, and toxins from the can itself, soak 1 C of dry beans for several hours. Drain and rinse. Cover with 2 C of water, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer for a few hours until beans are tender. (Lentils take only 45 minutes to cook.) Drain and cool. • Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie (page 116) • Hockey Pucks (page 110), made with a different grain than you have used before (quinoa flour will make your recipe bitter, though) • Veggie juice (Level 2)

Note: Remember that all ingredients for this meal plan are included in the “Shopping List” on page 123, so you should remove any ingredients for a salad, Hockey Pucks, or Hot Pink smoothie that you don't want to make.

Recipes

See “Classic Green Smoothie” on page 101 and “Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie” on page 116.

128 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 4, Days 1–7

Introduction

By now you have had three strong phases of cleansing and detoxification. We will continue to rest the organs of elimination, while providing enough calories to go about a normal workday with no processed foods, stimulants, or animal proteins.

To test food sensitivities, we will add in grains during this phase. Since grains are a problem for many people, likely due to their heavy hybridization in the past 50 years, it’s very important to not only add them in one at a time, but also to document any changes you notice in your digestion, energy, inflammation, or pain levels.

If you experience these symptoms twice when eating a particular food, chances are high that you have an allergy or sensitivity to that food and you would be wise to eliminate it from your diet, for the time being, so it does not cause inflammatory responses. (Some people are eventually able to return to high-nutrition foods that cause them problems, once the gut has healed.)

We are not adding in gluten grains because we consider them to be necessary to the diet. On the contrary, they can be eliminated, and gluten-free grains substituted (such as brown or wild rice, buckwheat, or quinoa), even in a vegetarian or vegan diet. We add them back in because (a) they are a common part of the North American diet and difficult to eliminate, so most people are not likely to do so unless they have to and (b) it’s important to test your sensitivity to grains because they very well may be at the root of your health issues.

If you are gluten free, you may choose similar options that do not involve wheat. Our supporting docs suggest an IgG test, to determine if you have a gluten allergy. The difficult thing about this protein is that your reaction to it may not come until 24 to 72 hours after you eat the gluten!

However, if you must budget carefully, keep in mind, before spending scarce resources on the test, that virtually everyone has a gluten intolerance. The differences between us seem to be in how severe the intolerance is. I do not notice any reaction to bread or grain, but I do test positive for gluten intolerance. Others have severe digestive disturbances or other symptoms, making the allergy very clear to them.

If you do continue with gluten grains in your diet, and even if you do not discover any sensitivities to those grains, it is highly recommended that you eat only nonhybridized wheat grains, such as ancient Einkorn, spelt, or Kamut. These grains have not been altered to increase their gluten for bread making, which is the case for common durum wheat in

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 129 Phase 4, Days 1–7 the past century. Durum has also been genetically modified, many times over, for pest resistance and crop yield.

Each time we alter the DNA of our food source, a ripple effect takes place in the food chain and affects all of us. We cannot predict what those changes will be, but many negative, even frightening, changes have taken place in the ecosystem with other genetic modifications to plants that play a role in the food chain.

In Phase 4, people who have relied heavily on animal flesh in their diets often begin to feel better after an initial period of weakness. It is tempting to call that natural detoxification and adjustment to a very different diet a “need for protein” when it is, in fact, simply an adjustment to eating less protein.

Multiple studies have shown that protein is plentiful for human needs in legumes, grains, greens, most vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Since undigested proteins are at the root of autoimmune diseases and cancers, to name a few maladies, it’s wise to reduce protein consumption to the limits of what is naturally obtained eating close to the land, with simple whole foods.

As with the other weeks, your entrées and some salads, as marked, will make enough for 2–3 nights. This is to minimize the amount of time you spend cooking, as well as to keep food as simple as possible for a detoxing body. We are avoiding eating recipes with many ingredients or too much salt or any pepper (salt causes cell edema and pepper causes gastric irritation).

You may replace any main dish you don’t want to shop for or make with an extra green smoothie. Add 1–2 Tbsp. of GSG Sprouted Flax to a green smoothie once a day if you are eliminating other foods containing fats.

Note that all week you are drinking 2 quarts of green smoothie daily. You may find that you have lots of energy and improved digestion and should continue to lose weight if that was a goal for you!

130 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 4, Days 1–7 Suggestions for Success

Don’t forget to shop in advance of this week starting and do your food prep the night before Day 1.

This week the total prep time is about 2 hours. I suggest this schedule to share work with your Detox Buddy. Everything not in this list can be done quickly before meals—but these are tasks that take longer than 10 minutes: • If you’ve taken the optional Epsom salt for the gallbladder flush in Phase 3, you may need to adjust Day 1 of Phase 4 to have only mild foods such as oatmeal or baked potato. • The night before Day 1, make 2 quarts of Classic Green Smoothie (page 101) for each of you, and cut sweet potatoes for fries (if you have a food processor, it may have a French fry blade). • On Day 1, make 2 quarts of green smoothie for each of you and Black and Green Salad (page 135) for Day 2. • On Day 2, make 2 quarts of green smoothie for each of you and Lentil Soup (page 141) for Day 3. • Continue to make green smoothies the night before or first thing in the morning the remainder of the week, and make two days’ worth if you know you’ll have an especially busy day. (If you will be drinking an additional pint of green smoothie for dinner rather than sliced raw vegetables, make a larger batch to accommodate your menu—and amend your shopping list accordingly.)

Note: Do you have blood sugar issues or diabetes? Or would you simply prefer to chew your greens rather than drink green smoothies? Or do you want to eat less “sweet” food? You are always totally welcome to eat sliced vegetables instead, which is an option we've given you here. You may also wish to make the Cucumber-Tomato Salad from earlier (page 92), or a big green salad with any greens, veggies, and a simple dressing made of garlic, onion, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and/or olive oil or flax oil. In Phases 3 and 4, legumes like chickpeas or kidney or black beans are legal to add. If you want to skip the green smoothies and eat vegetables in one of these ways instead, be sure to adjust your shopping list.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 131 Phase 4, Days 1–7

Meal Plan

Levels 1 and 2, unless otherwise specified.

Breakfast

• 1 quart Classic Green Smoothie (page 101) • 1–2 Hockey Pucks (page 110), made with a different grain than you have used before (quinoa flour will make your recipe bitter, though)

Lunch

• 1 quart green smoothie (if you can’t finish it, save it for a snack) • For any four of the seven days, choose Homestyle Sweet Potato Fries (page 138). For the other three days, choose Corn Tortilla Chips (page 138) with Guacamole (page 138)

Snack

Optional: Remainder of green smoothie from lunch

Dinner

• 1 C Black and Green Salad (page 135) OR 1 C Lentil Soup (page 141) • 1 pint green smoothie OR your favorite sliced raw vegetables (If you will be drinking an additional pint of green smoothie for dinner rather than eating sliced raw vegetables, when you are prepping, make a larger batch to accommodate your menu— and amend your shopping list accordingly.)

132 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 4, Days 1–7 Shopping List

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Produce spinach 10 oz. bag 4 8 12 16 greens, variety collards, kale, chard bunch 3 6 9 12 bananas 5 10 15 20 sm. avocados 3 6 9 12 med. tomatoes 2468 lrg. yellow onions 3 6 9 12 lemons for 2 tsp. juice 1234 sm. sweet potatoes 4 8 12 16 green onions 4 8 12 16 cilantro bunch 1122 limes 3 6 9 12 celery stalk 4 8 12 16 for Hockey Pucks & carrots Lentil Soup 5 10 15 20 garlic clove2468 fruits for smoothies, variety pineapple, papaya, 10 20 30 40 kiwi, peaches, nectarines, oranges, apples, etc.

vegetables, variety jicama, bell pepper, 36912 cucumber, broccoli, etc. Additional for Level 2 Option (eliminate some of the main dishes if you juice) organic carrots lb. 10 20 30 40 organic celery bunch 2468 organic beets 5 10 15 20 organic apples lb. 5 10 15 20 organic greens bunch 3 6 9 12 Frozen Items mixed berries 7-lb. bag1234

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 133 Phase 4, Days 1–7

Food Item Notes & Tips Unit # of People on Detox

1234 Canned Goods black beans can 1 2 3 4 tomato sauce sm. can 1 2 3 4

vegetable broth no or low-sodium quart can or box 1 2 3 4 Bulk Items quinoa C 1 2 3 4 green or red lentils lb. 0.5 1 1.5 2 gluten-free rolled oats (not instant) for Hockey Pucks C 2 4 6 8 Miscellaneous extra virgin olive oil C 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 non-GMO, very low- sm. corn tortillas sodium (10 mg or less), organic 12 24 36 48 coconut oil Tbsp. 8 16 24 32 real maple syrup tsp. 2 4 6 8 wild rice C 0.5 1 1.5 2 dried thyme tsp. 1 2 3 4 cumin tsp.1234 pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, or allspice red wine vinegar tsp 2 4 6 8 kelp to taste, if needed for optional Corn Tortilla Chips or Guacamole seasoning GSG Tri-Omega optional, for green Superfood or Sprouted smoothies Flax GSG organic vegan optional, for green protein powder (any smoothies flavor)

134 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Phase 4, Days 1–7 Recipes

Note: All recipes make 1 serving unless otherwise indicated. If any yields are too much, you are welcome to cut the recipe in half—or freeze it for later use, as all detox recipes are fair game for eating later in the program.

Black and Green Salad A favorite of detoxers!

Makes 5 (1 C) servings

Salad: 1 C quinoa, rinsed well (soak for a few minutes, then drain in a fine strainer) 2 C water 1 can black beans, rinsed well (or ⅔ C dry beans rinsed well and then simmered in 2 C water for 2 hours) 2 medium tomatoes, diced 4 green onions, chopped (including most of the green part) ½ C chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing: 1 heaping Tbsp. grated lime zest ¼ C fresh lime juice ¼ C extra virgin olive oil 2 tsp. real maple syrup optional: 1–2 tsp. salt-free or extremely low-sodium seasoning

Whisk together lime zest and juice, olive oil, maple syrup, and optional seasoning in a serving bowl. Simmer the quinoa in water uncovered for about 10 min. Turn off the heat, cover, and let stand 10 min. Strain any excess water, then add the quinoa to the dressing and toss well. Stir in the remaining ingredients (beans, tomatoes, scallions, cilantro). Serve warm or chill in fridge.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 135 Black and Green Salad

136 Guacamole & Corn Tortilla Chips

137 Phase 4, Days 1–7

Corn Tortilla Chips Makes 3 servings

12 small non-GMO, salt-free or extremely low-sodium, organic corn tortillas* optional: olive oil cooking spray optional: kelp OR salt-free or extremely low-sodium herbal seasoning such as Spike

Cut tortillas into sixths with a pizza cutter. Spray with olive oil cooking spray, if desired. Broil in oven for 2 min. until lightly browned. Flip and broil the other side another minute or so, until crispy. Sprinkle with seasoning if desired.

Tip: Leave the bag open if you want to use these chips a second day. Or, rebroil them the next day.

* Try Mi Rancho, BlueNatural, Sonoma, Aztec, or Food for Life brands. (Food for Life has 10 mg of sodium, but that’s still 0% sodium per serving because the amount is so tiny.) You can also make corn tortillas very easily: Blend 1¾ C store-bought masa harina (lime- treated corn, dried and ground) with 1⅛ C water. Knead until smooth; add more grain if too sticky or more water if too dry. Cover with plastic wrap for 30 mins. Divide dough into 15 small balls and, using a tortilla press (cost about $10) or a rolling pin, roll them out. Fry for 30 seconds on each side on a preheated skillet, then transfer to a plate and cover until ready to eat.

Guacamole 1 avocado per desired serving fresh lemon juice kelp salt-free or extremely low-sodium herbal seasoning optional: organic salsa

Mash avocado with a fork. Sprinkle a little lemon juice in and mix. Season with kelp and herbal seasoning. Add an equal amount of organic salsa to the mix, if desired. The salsa will add the needed seasoning and it will make your dip go further.

Homestyle Sweet Potato Fries Makes 1 serving

1 sm. sweet potato, chopped into sticks 1 Tbsp. coconut oil salt-free or extremely low-sodium seasonings OR pinch of pumpkin pie spice and drizzle of maple syrup

Heat oil on medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add sweet potato strips. Sauté several minutes, stirring frequently with a spatula until tender. Sprinkle with seasoning and serve.

138 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Homestyle Sweet Potato Fries

139 Lentil Soup

140 Phase 4, Days 1–7

Lentil Soup This makes a very large batch, which you can share with your family or friends—or you can freeze for later use after the detox. You can add sea salt to your family’s portion, but we are still very low sodium on the detox.

Makes 10 (1 C) servings

½ lb. green or red lentils ½ C wild rice, rinsed well 3 large onions, diced 4 stalks celery, diced 3 carrots, diced 2 cloves garlic 2 Tbsp. coconut oil 1 tsp. salt-free or extremely low-sodium herbal seasoning, or more to taste 1 tsp. dried thyme 1 tsp. cumin 1 quart vegetable broth (no salt added, if you buy canned) 1 small can tomato sauce 2 tsp. red wine vinegar

Cover lentils and rice with boiling water and let sit for 15 min., then drain. In a large stock pot, sauté the onions and garlic with the coconut oil and seasonings until the vegetables are tender. Add the carrots and celery and sauté another 5–10 min. Add the vegetable broth, tomato sauce, and lentils. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour. Add vinegar and serve.

Tip: This soup is better the second and third days. I suggest you freeze several 1.5 C servings for use as needed during the detox.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 141 Phase 4, Days 1–7

142 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox After the Detox

143 144 Transition Back to Real Life

With a newly clean colon, kidney, liver, and gallbladder, you may wish to focus on cleansing the blood. You can get a broad pH form of protease in a plant-based form for this.

Protease is the enzyme that breaks down proteins. Taken on an empty stomach, this supplement will purge the undigested proteins that have broken through the intestinal barrier and are in your blood. This treatment has been used successfully by cancer patients as well as others with impurities in the blood.

The major problem in the blood is many undigested proteins from (a) far too much protein consumption in the American diet plus (b) gut issues related to a toxic diet, so that we are no longer able to digest food well.

The undigested proteins give rise to many mycotoxins—or by-products such as fungus, mold, bacteria, and other garbage items in the blood—which can swamp the white blood cells and cause platelets to become sticky and sluggish.

Make sure you take the enzyme supplement on an empty stomach. (This is different than digestive enzymes you may have taken before meals, in the past.) Take the supplements as directed until they are gone, even after you have completed the cleanse.

You are now on your own to choose what you eat. You will feel much better leaving the cleanse if you take advantage of your new tastes for good food. If you run to the nearest drive-thru, you throw away some of the good you've done and you will be right back where you were that much faster.

Do some reflecting and writing on paper what your goals are for your post-detox lifestyle. You may wish to make a commitment to eating a 60%–80% raw, 95% or more plant-based diet. Any meat at all reintroduces parasites into your body. Avoid sugar, white flour, sodas, and chemical-added, nutrition-stripped processed foods.

The best way to transition to 60% raw, 95% plant-based is to keep recipes you like, and their ingredients, close at hand.

Key for me is to make the Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie or granola (with a big spoonful of sprouts added) for my breakfasts. (These recipes, along with hundreds of others, are in my 12 Steps to Whole Foods course.)

Especially always have ingredients for a green smoothie on hand, and make yours for the day as soon as you wake up, before the day gets away from you. And commit to having a

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 145 Transition Back to Real Life big salad for dinner every night, whether you’re home or in a restaurant. Whatever else you eat then should be smaller than the salad.

Congratulations! Whether you realize it or not, you've been eating a high-raw, whole- foods, plant-based diet! How do you feel? You can feel this light and energized always, if you commit to some basic principles of eating: • Ensure every snack or meal is 60%–80% raw • Drink a quart of green smoothie daily • Get 95% of your calories from plants (any animal proteins should be organic, grass fed, free range, or wild caught) • Avoid processed foods (those come in boxes and cans and drive-thrus and have salt and sugar and chemicals added) To go back to your normal routine, I hope you are now energized and motivated to maintain your newfound health. My life's work is contained in the 392-page, full-color, fully indexed 12 Steps to Whole Foods manual. I recommend it as the guide to go back to “real life” with sustainable habits that will support and build your health rather than degrade it.

In addition to the manual, the 12 Steps to Whole Foods Premium Course consists of audios, 53 video demos, a journal, all of my recipe books (over 1,000 recipes), both of my children’s books, meditations toward changing habits and attitudes toward food, vouchers to obtain several of the products I recommend for healing the gut, and much more.

I developed the course to help those trapped in Standard American Diet Hell to escape! It has delicious, easy recipes for everything you love, but using plant-based whole foods.

If price is a consideration, you can participate most inexpensively by getting the digital download of just the 12 Steps manual. Because most people like to have recipes with them in the kitchen, though, I recommend at least owning the manual in the printed, bound, full- color photo format.

Now you may eat any meals you like—as long as they are 60%–80% raw, 95%–100% plant based. Avoid processed foods and any nonorganic animal product.

Continue to skin brush before every shower. Brush briskly and assertively, in short strokes, towards the heart, to keep all your pores unclogged and performing their function efficiently.

Eat probiotic-rich foods abundantly, every single day after the detox as permanent habits, but especially for 30 days to rebuild the gastrointestinal tract's healthy flora, some of which is flushed out in colon irrigation. You can learn how to make Rejuvelac, kefir, yogurt, kombucha, raw sauerkraut or kvass or other cultured vegetables in Ch. 8 of 12 Steps to Whole Foods. These living, cultured foods are far superior in maintaining a healthy digestive system than taking dried probiotic pills are.

Kudos to you! You’ve completed the program!

146 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Transition Back to Real Life

You've eaten a high-raw, vegan diet for 26 days! Make sure you take note of how you feel, relative to before you started this regimen. Do you want to feel like this more? If so, take some of the habits, and recipes, and make them part of your repertoire.

No one is exempt from the need to “clean house” regularly. Even if you are vigilant about taking good care of your body, mind, and spirit, we are all exposed to toxins every day that we cannot completely control or eliminate. Consider joining us for a lifetime detox membership, as we intend to build a detoxing community and undergo a cleanse twice a year.

The impact on your health of doing a “spring cleaning” biannually can hardly be overestimated. Your organs, tissues, skin, and alimentary canal thank you! If you need a break at times from the stresses of daily life, it stands to reason that so do your individual parts.

I hope you enjoy rejuvenation in ways that are spiritual, mental, and emotional as well as physical. I hope you find that life is elevated and you resonate at higher frequencies, as a natural consequence of “letting go” of so much residual baggage the past few weeks.

What an accomplishment!

Congratulations and “hats off” from everyone at GSG!

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 147 Transition Back to Real Life

148 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendixes

149 150 Appendix A: Food Sensitivity Chart

Note: Gluten reactions often don’t occur until 24 to 72 hours later!

New Food Any Reactions (Sensitivities or Allergies)

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 151 Appendix A: Food Sensitivity Chart

New Food Any Reactions (Sensitivities or Allergies)

152 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendix B: Foods to Never, Sparingly, or Freely Eat

Foods to Never Eat during the Detox

• Alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, stimulants • Coffee or tea with caffeine • Dairy products including milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. (organic unsalted butter is allowed) • Eggs • Sugars and sweeteners (including sugar, fructose, Sucanat, coconut sugar, sucralose, xylitol, cane juice, rice syrup, agave, corn syrup, honey, molasses, date sugar, maple sugar) • White flour, white rice, white pasta • Yeast • Animal flesh: pork, beef, bison, elk, venison, lamb, veal, turkey, chicken, goose, duck, fish, shellfish, crustaceans, mollusks (All processed meats are the worst, such as hot dogs, sausage, bacon, luncheon meats, corned beef, pastrami, salami, ham.) • Monosodium glutamate (MSG), NutraSweet (aspartame), and all food additives and chemicals • Mushrooms • Pepper (from peppercorns, a gastrointestinal irritant; bell peppers are fine!)

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 153 Appendix B: Foods to Never, Sparingly, or Freely Eat

Foods to Eat Sparingly during the Detox

• Starchy vegetables (potatoes, non-GMO corn, brown rice) • Stevia • Fruits, only as introduced in the menu plan—and after that, one at a time (apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, berries, cantaloupe, cherries, dates, figs, grapefruit, grapes, guava, honeydew, kiwi, lemons, limes, mango, melons, mulberries, nectarines, oranges, papaya, peaches, pears, persimmons, pineapples, plums, pomegranates, strawberries, tangerines, tomatoes, watermelons) • Whole grains, only as introduced in the menu plan—and after that, one at a time (oats, brown rice, wild rice, buckwheat, spelt, Kamut, millet, amaranth, rye, triticale, quinoa, non-GMO corn and soy in limited amounts only, and wheat only if nonhybridized and organic) • Nuts and seeds, only as introduced in the menu plan and unsalted only (almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, macadamias, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds) • Coconut oil • Olive oil (extra virgin) • Flaxseed oil • Avocado oil—after avocados are introduced in Phase 2 • Butter (organic, unsalted) • Herbal (salt-free or extremely low-sodium) seasonings • Salt in any form (see “Why do we eat extremely low amounts of salt in this program?” on page 72)

Tip: Use your detoxifying pure essential oils freely and often—especially peppermint, frankincense, and lemon.

Foods to Eat Freely on the Detox

• Water (filtered, preferably alkaline) • Greens (Romaine, lettuces, spinach, collards, kale, chard, mustard greens, watercress, cabbage, etc.) • Vegetables (artichokes, asparagus, bell peppers, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, eggplants, edamame, garlic, green beans, jicama, leeks, olives, onions, parsnips, peas, peppers, radishes, squashes, turnips, zucchinis, etc.) • Vegetable juices • Legumes, only as introduced in the menu plan

Tip: Copy, print out, or take a photo of this list to keep handy when you’re shopping or hungry!

154 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendix C: Optional Substitutions

The foods in the 26-Day Detox are specifically selected, and the protocol should be followed as closely as possible. However, if you must make substitutions due to food sensitivities or other reasons, you can follow the suggestions here. Know that you can also substitute veggie juice for any recipe in the detox, as described for Level 2 participants.

Food/Ingredient Optional Substitution Notes Almonds Walnuts, pecans, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds

Apple cider vinegar Red wine vinegar For salad dressing. For Gallbladder Flush. If you cannot tolerate apple juice because of the high sugar content, you can take 4 oz. of Apple cider vinegar (ACV) or ACV OR 1 tsp. of malic acid (food Apple juice malic acid grade) in 1 L of pure water each day. Any variety of pears, grapes cherries, blackberries, Apples blueberries For Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie. You probably wouldn’t want the tomatoes Red cabbage, tomatoes, or radishes except as a replacement in Beets radishes a salad. Cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, kale, chard, green Broccoli cabbage Napa cabbage, arugula, chard, Cabbage, green kale, red/purple cabbage For Purple Heaven salad. Napa cabbage, arugula, chard, Cabbage, red/purple kale, red/purple cabbage Green cabbage, Napa cabbage, radishes, cauliflower, Carrots broccoli, radicchio Sweet potatoes/yams, winter Cauliflower squash, pumpkin, parsnips As a raw or steamed snack.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 155 Appendix C: Optional Substitutions

Food/Ingredient Optional Substitution Notes Celery root (celeriac) Celery, turnips, jicama Celery Cucumbers, zucchini, jicama Chives Scallions Cilantro Basil, parsley Coconut milk Almond milk For orange sauce over the millet. Cucumbers Jicama, celery, zucchini Garlic Shallots Ginger Lemon Lime for smoothies, salad dressings. Grapefruit for olive oil/lemon prep or Lemons Lime, grapefruit juice the Liver/Gallbladder Flush. Maple syrup Monk fruit For salad dressing and orange sauce Millet Buckwheat, quinoa, barley Millet, barley, buckwheat, Oatmeal quinoa For breakfast. Onion Leeks, chives, garlic, shallots For Hippo Soup. Grapefruit, Clementines, tangerines, kiwis, mango's, Oranges papayas Parsley Cilantro, kale, arugula Quinoa Millet, buckwheat, barley For breakfast cereals and salads. Raisins Fresh grapes, dried currants For Purple Heaven salad. Stevia Monk fruit Raspberries, blackberries, Strawberries cherries For Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie White potatoes, pumpkin, Sweet potatoes summer squash, carrots Zucchini, summer squash, underripe mangoes, radishes, Tomatoes red peppers C antelope, honeydew melon, red grapefruit, green Watermelon smoothies For Kidney Flush. White potatoes Sweet potatoes Brown rice For Black Bug Soup.

156 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendix D: Calendar Overview

The 26-Day Detox calendar overview starts on the next page, and the days of each detox phase go across two pages, left and then right.

While reviewing the calendar, keep the following guidelines in mind.

Daily Detox Habits

• Skin brush. • Drink 8 glasses of filtered water. • Massage your colon. • Level 2 participants: Do a coffee enema or wheat grass implant. • (Optional) If at all possible: Get in an infrared sauna for 30 min. • (Optional) If at all possible: Take a home colonic. • (Optional) Rebounding. • (Optional) Meditations.

Do Not Ever

• Eat more than 10 mg/serving of salt. • Eat any animal proteins or processed food at all (see “Foods to Never Eat during the Detox” on page 153). • Eat any food after 7 p.m. (this gives the body a 12-hour break from digestion, an important part of the detox).

Also Note

• If you have known allergies and/or are sensitive to certain foods, see Appendix C: Optional Substitutions, on page 155. • You may switch meals around for your scheduling needs. • Be sure to read “After the Detox” on page 162.

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 157 158 159 160 161 Appendix D: Calendar Overview

After the Detox

• Continue to take PreZyme Pro. It contains Protease, the enzyme that breaks down proteins. Taken on an empty stomach, this supplement purges the undigested proteins that have broken through the intestinal barrier and are in your blood. This treatment has been used successfully by cancer patients as well as others with impurities in the blood. • Ensure every snack or meal is 60%–80% raw • Drink a quart of green smoothie daily • Get 95% of your calories from plants (any animal proteins should be organic, grass fed, free range, or wild caught) • Avoid processed foods (those come in boxes and cans and drive-thrus and have salt and sugar and chemicals added) We also recommend that you move right into the 12 Steps to Whole Foods Program after the detox. This program is a lifestyle change in which Robyn teaches you how to move away from the Standard American Diet to a lifestyle of whole foods and how to do it easily and inexpensively. This program really helps take your nutrition to the next level in your everyday life.

These are the 12 Steps, and they include hundreds of delicious recipes:

1. Bye-Bye, Stimulants—Hello Green Smoothies (2x Your Fiber, 10x Your Nutrition in 10 Minutes Daily) 2. Making Salad the Star (How to Make a Salad a Main Dish You LOVE) 3. Dressing Up Your Salad (The Healthy Dressing “Makes” the Salad!) 4. Avoiding Bad Fats, Enjoying Good Fats (Because the Good Fats Burn the Bad Fats) 5. Reaping a Gardener’s Rewards (In Any Space, Even If You Don’t Have a Yard!) 6. Making Plant-Based Main Dishes (Filling and Inexpensive, for the Best Sleep You’ve Ever Had) 7. Sprouting and Dehydrating (Replace Your Salty/Crunchy Snacks!) 8. Preserving Raw Foods with Natural Probiotics (Rehab Your Gut Health—for Cheap!) 9. Replacing White Flour with Whole Grains (Lots of Grains Are Highly Nutritious) 10. Starting Your Morning Off Right (Whole-Foods Breakfasts and Even Fabulous Weekend Breakfasts!) 11. Creating Delicious Whole-Food Treats (One Every Day! Treats Don’t Have to Be Toxic to Be Delicious) 12. Achieving an Alkaline Inner Terrain (If You’re Ready to Take It to the Next Level!)

162 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendix E: Testimonials

Here are testimonials written by just some of our August 2013 Detox Roll-Out participants.

Best Thing I’ve Ever Done for My Health, Cholesterol Down, and 11.5 Pounds Lost!

The Green Smoothie Girl Detox has got to be the best thing I have ever done for my health. I lost 11.5 pounds and my cholesterol dropped 62 points from 230 to 168. I had my blood work done just before the detox started and again on Day 26. My doctor was thoroughly amazed at the changes in my numbers.

There were three things that made the detox much easier than expected, thanks to FULL SUPPORT. One, my buddy: I could not have done it without her! We constantly bantered with each other: “That salad would have been really good...if it had salt, HAHA!” Two, the daily content. The information in emails, videos, calls, and audios was invaluable. Three, the forum. If I ever had a question, I would post it on the forum and it was answered very quickly. It was also nice to read postings from other participants. Nice to know others were experiencing the same things I was going through!

Three things made the detox a very enjoyable and successful experience. One, the use of a sauna that Robyn tells us how to find. I had never used an infrared sauna before the detox. I did it daily during the detox and continue to do it every other day after the detox has ended. I truly love it! My skin is so soft. Almost like living in Hawaii! Two, the coffee enemas we are taught. Following that protocol was a huge part of my success. I felt so much better and cleaner. I have continued to do them once a week after the detox. Three, the juicing. I did Level II and started juicing before the detox, but didn't realize it could actually replace a meal and make me feel better than eating food. It gives me a burst of energy.

I absolutely recommend the detox to anyone that wants to change the way they think of food, remove food cravings, lose weight, have more energy and an overall sense of wellness.

It was a wonderful experience. I have many family members asking how they can be part of the next one. They are amazed at the changes I have made.

~ Brenda H. in Price, Utah

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 163 Appendix E: Testimonials

Life Altering and 11 lbs. Lost!

Finding Green Smoothie Girl was the best thing that has happened to me since I had my children. I did the Level 1 Detox with great excitement and have nothing but RAVE reviews about the process. My body did well through all phases except the liver flush (olive oil therapy). (I did not complete this task but I will next time!)

My daughter was my buddy and encouraged me every step of the way, ate the food with me and constantly reminded me of how healthy I looked—-my skin, weight loss, increased stamina, and positive attitude. My granddaughters (1 and 4) loved the green and hot pink smoothies, the lentil soup and quinoa salad. Even got my active duty Army Apache pilot son-in-law to begin the green smoothie lifestyle!

My goal doing Detox was for better health. I feel like doing Detox was the best thing I’ve ever done for my body. I lost 11 pounds which is nice and a good thing but more importantly I want my organs to be 100% healthy. Detox helped me understand what an amazing machine God gave me. I want to honor Him by taking care of His gift! Excellent, excellent program.

Just can’t thank you enough for the life-altering information and work you are sharing with us.

~ Terry C. in Kapalua, Hawaii

I’ve Lost 18 Pounds and Made a Friend for Life!

Given everything that comes with the FULL SUPPORT program, there was no other choice for me. I knew the GSG detox would be hard-core and would introduce me to foods, practices, and theories I had never even heard of. I wanted the opportunity to ask questions, share experiences, and learn from others. Checking my email every morning was always the first thing I did. That daily email from Robyn, the videos, the conference calls, the audio clips, ALL of it was so incredibly reassuring and educational and powerful.

And my buddy! I didn’t bring anyone with me, so GSG connecting me with someone local to go through the program with was absolutely a game-changer for me. My buddy and I are now linked forever! In fact, we are “staying the course” with many of the foods and principles we learned on the GSG detox, and sticking together for the long haul. We still text each other multiple times daily. This has been a life-changing experience for me, I lost 18 pounds, and I am so grateful I went all-in!

~ Randy in Stone Mountain, Georgia

164 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendix E: Testimonials

Healthier, More Energy—and 15 Pounds Lost!

I would like to thank Robyn so very much, (as well as all the support doctors, friends and helpers), for this wonderful detox program you offer. It is very well organized and you made it so easy to follow. I also would like to especially thank my good buddies who helped me to make it through with their love and encouragement. It was also a big help to read the forum of what all the other participants were going through and the response answers that were given.

I started the program at being 40 pounds overweight and I am happy to report that I lost 15 pounds! Because of the cleanse, I feel so much healthier and have much more energy! During the detox, I stopped taking all my vitamins, supplements and my prescription medications for acid reflux and cholesterol. I continued to take my Synthroid since I had my thyroid removed this past February. But I’m happy to report that I had my blood work levels checked in the middle of the detox (2nd week in) and my doctor said he could lower my level of Synthroid, and the cleanse and my weight loss were probably the contributing factors!

This is the jump start I needed to tackle my goal of losing the remaining 25 pounds I need to lose! I plan to continue to use many of your great recipes, your exercise tips, portion control and reading all labels when shopping to make healthy food choices!

Thanks so very much again!

~ Cindy D. in Voluntown, CT

Husband-and-Wife Team Down 32 lbs—Loving It!

I highly recommend this Detox! We are pretty clean eaters anyway, but we learned a LOT and are inspired and motivated to clean up even more. We were never hungry the entire 26 days, and only experienced a few cravings, which I’m proud to say we did not cave into!

Improved sleep and energy were apparent in just the first few days. The constant increase of energy was the best part! I lost 11 pounds and 16.25 inches overall. I’m right back to where I feel my best! My husband lost 21 pounds and 29 inches! We are loving it!

Reading the manual before we began was very important. It helped us be organized and aware of what each phase was intended to accomplish. Organization and preparation are essential! We set aside a specific time each evening to read/listen to the GSG daily emails. Every single one offered valuable information. The whole process was extremely educational and worthwhile.

Thanks, Robyn!

~ Lori H. in Centerville, Utah

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 165 Appendix E: Testimonials

We Thought We Knew a Lot about Nutrition and Health—But Wow! 10 lbs. Lost

Although my husband and I had been drinking green smoothies for over a year, had the GSG 12 Steps to Whole Foods program in the box unopened, and I had been eating GMO- free and organic for two months prior to starting the Full Support Detox Program...the detox has changed my life, my husband’s, and our buddy and her husband’s lives! We are all active, healthy people, but we learned so much! We each had our own personal food demons—mine being salt, my husband’s being coffee, and our buddies’ being meat and dairy.

We thought we already knew a lot going in, and found we actually had a lot to learn. Robyn provides a lot of the “whys” rather than just the “do this” for us to follow blindly. The four of us are the type of people who question everything, and Robyn gives you the reasons behind each step of the program.

The program materials were detailed enough, but also simple enough to use. We enjoyed the two live calls and the daily content that often had a video, so visual learners like us could get a better understanding of, say, skin brushing or colon massaging.

I’ve incorporated skin brushing into my daily routine, we bought a FIR Sauna as a result of this Detox, and towards the end we began reading the 12 Steps and listening to the accompanying CDs. A week after the detox, we are now on the 8-week menu planner that was written to accompany the 12-Step program. I am thankful for the 8-week guide, as I am no cook and I need to be told what to do and how to do it in order to learn. This fits the bill! The recipes have been very tasty, and the 8-week guide will help us be successful going forward.

Thanks for the program. Where else can you get all this information in one place? Nowhere!

~ Marlene K. in San Marcos, California

Skeptical Registered Nurse Learns about Nutrition and Loses 15 lbs!

The journey that I took in participating in the GreenSmoothieGirl Detox has been life changing. I don’t use that phrase lightly, as by nature I’m pretty skeptical, so please understand how big that is for me! I never thought I could live for 26 days without meat and chocolate every day! It is amazing to me how my taste buds have changed and how I no longer crave the foods that I once did. It was difficult at times, but having the online support and my detox buddy helped me through that. I am a Registered Nurse and always thought I understood nutrition, but now I realize how far off some of my thinking has been. I am so appreciative to Robyn and her team for creating such a great program and for opening my eyes to the way that I can now live. I lost 15 pounds! ~ Renae O. in Rigby, Idaho 166 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendix E: Testimonials

Setting Personal Records in Triathlons at Age 49, Down 9 Lbs, and Feeling Phenomenal!

I FEEL ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL!! Official stats during the 26-day GSG Detox period: 9 pound loss (8.5 lbs. fat loss, 1 lb. fluid loss, and gain of .5 lb. lean muscle)! I have been a Green Smoothie Girl since May 2012, and now my life has just become nutritionally stronger. Competing in triathlons for 7 years, I am now setting new personal records at those events at the age of 49.

My taste buds have been altered and I can now pass up that bag of chips (my downfall was salt)!

I’ve discovered the benefits of being healthy at the cellular level. Now with the Detox, the cells are that much more cleaned out. Full support and with a buddy is VERY HELPFUL for success! Thank you, Robyn!

~ Donna J. in Auburn, Washington

GSG Detox Is One of the Most Powerful Things I Have Ever Done for My Health!

The GSG Detox is one of the most powerful things I have ever done for my health. Yes, I wanted to lose weight, and I did. 15 lbs! I already knew my body was overwhelmed with toxicity. That was my real motivation for doing it. I have been struggling with debilitating headaches all my adult life. I contracted Epstein-Barr over 10 years ago and have never been the same. I’ve needed caffeine to just function each day. I eat well and exercise yet, until now, could never lose weight.

The program is so well thought out and research-based. There are difficult days. There’s an emotional component that I was not expecting. But it is very doable. You are never hungry. Your body is getting everything it needs to function optimally with nothing else to get in the way.

The full support program was so helpful in letting me know that what I was experiencing was normal, and a sign that it was working. My body was healing. The expert calls were a wealth of information. I did Level 1, with some aspects of level 2.

After the first week the detox reactions were minimal and very manageable. I have not had a headache since the start of week 2. I have had no caffeine since the start, and have plenty of energy for my day. Bloating in my gut is gone and I can even tolerate gluten a little better. I feel like I have turned back the clock to my early 30s!

As I resume “normal” eating again, I still don’t want to stray far from the program. I feel too good to go back!

~ Teresa V. in Galt, California

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 167 Appendix E: Testimonials

I lost 7 Pounds and Feel Amazing!

GSG Detox with FULL SUPPORT was a valuable undertaking. Having a buddy was PRICELESS! I lost 7 lbs. over the 26-day program. I went from a healthy 125.5 lbs. to an even healthier 118.5 lbs. Weight loss was not an initial reason for challenging myself; however, cleaning and repairing my body organs was. I have been a vegetarian for five- plus years and did eat a strong, plant-based diet. My goal with the detox was to establish an anti-inflammatory environment for my body. I feel like I achieved that with the full- support program by being guided and supported throughout the 26 days.

I did not sign up with a buddy, and GSG paired me up with an amazing detox participant. We committed to e-chatting daily, and that support became very important to both of us as the detox program progressed. I also took advantage of the Daily Content and Forum posts that enhanced my understanding of the body’s ability to repair itself.

I am an endurance athlete, and even though my stamina suffered during the detoxing, I know that as I slowly increase plant-centered, whole-food calories into my regular diet, that stamina will return and I will be a stronger runner as a result.

I LOVED this program. I lost 7 pounds and feel amazing! I never would have done this program without full support, as I know myself and wouldn't have kept up if I didn't have daily emails and encouragement. There were also helpful hints in the full-support manual that those who chose not to go that route missed. The discussion forum was also very helpful as well as the phone calls.

My knees no longer hurt constantly, and I can go up and down stairs without pain. I also no longer need a nap in the afternoon, which has been part of my routine since my teenagers were little. Robyn, I so appreciate all the time and work you put into this program. It truly has changed me. I purchased the 12 Steps to Whole Foods and plan to continue eating this way and getting healthier. I also sleep much better and wake rested.

Again, thanks for all your research and hard work. This was the best thing I have done for myself in a long time.

~ Laurie T. in Ashton, Illinois

Sleeping Better, More Energy, and Lost 17 lbs!

I LOVED this program and lost 17 pounds! I have been telling EVERYBODY about it. I’ve previously done a couple of 3-day juice fasts and a 7-day juice fast. A straight juice fast is not easy; this program was EASY in my opinion, AND I was able to complete the full 26 days. It has totally removed my cravings/addictions. I’ve had malignant melanoma a couple of times (stage l and then stage 3) and am determined to not be a statistic, which would mean that I only have 2 or 3 more years of life. I really feel that God has led me to GSG, and through her He is showing me how we were intended to eat—and how I personally can live a long life!

168 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendix E: Testimonials

During the first couple of days I had a low-grade headache and some bloating. For the rest of phase l and phase 2, I started feeling pretty good. Rarely did I ever feel hungry—had just a slight hunger at the end of the work day before I got home. By the time I was into phase III for a couple of days, my energy was beyond anything I have ever experienced! Certainly an incentive to continue eating healthfully. Two of my favorite menu items are the Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie and the Black & Green Salad. The “No Fuss Pit Paste” ROCKS! Ever since my last cancer treatment, I have not found an aluminum-free deodorant that would work; pit paste works better than any deodorant that I have ever used. Love it!

I am sleeping better, I don’t feel fatigued from my daily activities/job anymore, I don’t want to sit and watch TV in the evenings or Sat/Sun mornings like I used to, I’m spending more time walking my dogs, cleaning house, or getting little projects done that I have been putting on the back burner, and my body seems to handle hot summer days better too. Lastly, I’m wearing clothes that I haven’t been able to wear in 2-1/2 years! THANK YOU, Robyn Openshaw! I appreciate you and your great staff more than I can express!!!

~Christy S. in Eureka, California

Clearer, Softer Skin, More Energy, Lost 10 lbs—EVERYONE Should Do This!

I would totally recommend to others! I have clearer skin and softer skin, my hubby noticed that right away. Skin issues on my elbows are gone completely! I also am putting coconut oil every night on skin spots. No more expensive prescription creams and lotions. No nausea or upset stomach. No gurgling stomach or pains.

Food tastes better and more enjoyable. Never thought I would love a sweet potato/or even regular one with only flax oil and green onion/chives. Delish! It's fun to just eat food now to see what it REALLY tastes like without salt, butter, etc. Hair is growing super fast and my nails are hard for the first time in a long time. Joint pain almost gone except for one shoulder, but again, only a matter of time eating like this and it will be gone too. Passed gallstones and sludge during oil therapy. And menstrual cycle so much easier, less cramps and NO cravings (still don't have cravings for junk which is still shocking to me) and PMS was lighter and easier.

I did it for immune reasons for skin and Lyme toxins, but a perk was losing approx 10 pounds. Energy coming back to take longer walk/hikes with no pain or struggling to breathe! I also feel happier and have a better outlook on my health. I finally have hope and actually believe things are going to get better and better, something no doctor in 8 years could do for me, but green smoothies and detox foods did!!! EVERYONE should do this!

~ Jennifer P. in Brecksville, Ohio

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 169 Appendix E: Testimonials

Lost 15 lbs—GSG Detox One of the Most Rewarding Experiences!

The GSG Detox was the hardest but most rewarding experience I have ever had. I lost 15.5 lbs. My life has been changed for the better, and much more than I ever could have imagined. The first two weeks were hard but well worth the effort. In the beginning I had symptoms and reactions, but after those initial weeks I was able to settle into the program and was amazed as chronic pain and fatigue disappeared, sugar, salt and caffeine addictions dissipated, and the weight literally fell off—BONUS!

Having a buddy to participate in the program with was definitely a key factor. Having the full support of the GSG staff and other detox participants through the forum and the expert calls and videos was also key to understanding and participating to the fullest. I would definitely recommend this detox program to anyone looking to change their life and health for the better. Thanks Robyn and GSG staff for this amazing experience! I will definitely participate again in the future.

~ Brenda G. in South Jordan, Utah

So Glad I Went through This Experience!

This was my first detox, so I did Level One. It did exactly what I wanted it to do for the first go around. I did lose weight; however, the biggest change was losing cravings that were so strong before the detox. I look at food in a different way and plan to follow a more whole foods menu plan. I plan to continue doing the detox twice a year. At times it was very hard to stay with it. I am glad that I did and I feel much better having completed it.

I recommend this to anyone that wants to do a detox in a healthy way. This detox was well researched which is why I chose to do this particular one. Having the full support option was important to me. A lot of my questions were answered on the forum along with Robyn giving good information daily. I am so glad I went through this experience.

~ Alane C. in Overland Park, Kansas

A Flat Stomach in Mid-Life, 10 lbs. Lost!

I liked how well researched and clinical the detox was. It felt safe and empowering to challenge myself, and I ended up losing 10 pounds! I am maintaining that after the detox with the same types of foods and continuing to lose even the next week, too!

As much as I don’t really enjoy enemas, I am thrilled about how the water-then-coffee enemas make me feel, so I am also continuing to do these as my morning time permits. There is nothing better than to have a flat stomach in mid-life again!

~ Nancy L. in Grand Haven, Michigan

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Rash/Breakouts Cleared Up—and 15 lbs Lost!

I have checked out a few detoxes over this past year, many that had products like protein shakes and meal replacement bars, etc. Most of them are one-size-fits-all programs. Guess what, I lost a few pounds on a couple, but they weren't sustainable and were expensive to keep using the products. I am aware of an alkaline diet and have incorporated green smoothies/juicing into my lifestyle daily. When I saw the 26-day detox and the full support group, I knew I had to do it.

I embraced the full Level 1 program and made it all the way through! I lost 15 pounds and, most of all, cleared up a rash/breakouts that have been appearing on my face this past year. I emailed a before and after picture of my face to Coach Cathi and she asked that I share. I will definitely continue to educate myself and follow a whole-food diet from here out; I still have more weight I would like to release. I am working on easing my family into the same way of healthy eating. It's challenging, but I now have my 7 year old son eating salads, so leading by example does work!

~ Jennifer C. in Chagrin Falls, Ohio

I Felt Rejuvenated after Each Meal and Lost 10 lbs!

I really learned a lot during this cleanse! I appreciated the full support, because it helped me do more than just “eat different foods.” I enjoyed the program because of how thorough it is, and how it takes you through steps of getting organs cleaned out. Because of that, the food choices change, and that kept me interested in eating and looking forward to the next phase.

I loved how yummy the smoothies are! I feel like I can use many, if not all, of these recipes in my daily life. I also appreciated the tips on how to make the food prep doable on a daily basis, saving time. The shopping lists were wonderful, and I like how the Quick Start Guide and Manual charts broke shopping lists down depending on how many people were dong the program. Other tips for cleansing were great, too! The colon massage and oil pulling are a couple of my favorites.

One thing I really enjoyed was that after eating a meal during the cleanse, I actually felt better, more rejuvenated, and more energetic! Food as fuel! I love it! I lost 10 pounds and I was told by more than one person that it looked like even more than that!

~ Karen C. in Rigby, Idaho

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12 Steps to Whole Foods Graduate Lost 100 lbs—Then Loses 12 More on the Detox!

This is from a beautiful lady, from a little town with only one stoplight, who previously lost 100 pounds doing Robyn’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods course:

I have never done a detox before, so I didn’t know what to expect, but it was amazing. I loved it. I loved knowing I was helping my body to perform better, and I loved the empowering feeling I had throughout this whole experience. I was able to lose 12 lbs! I had been stuck at the same weight for a while not being able to get past it. I loved the full support, having a forum where you could get your questions answered. Being able to hear from others was great! I also loved the required buddy, which made all the difference, knowing I couldn’t let my buddy down. The live Q&A sessions with Robyn and the other coaches were also fabulous.

Thank you so much for all the time and effort you put into this detox program. It is amazing and I am becoming a lifetime member, looking forward to doing it again with you.

~ K’Lynne W. in Phoenix, Oregon

Cellulite Gone! 7 lbs Lost!

I am a 55-year-old female who began the detox at the weight of 126 lbs. I have been vegetarian for a few years and eat a pretty clean diet. I don’t drink alcohol, the only caffeine I drink is in green tea, and I don’t eat sugar.

However, over my lifetime I have been exposed to environmental toxins as well as pharmaceutical concoctions involving dentistry and Graves’ disease. I had been recommended by a shamanic healer about a year ago to cleanse every organ in my body. I did a series of colonics along with a parasite cleanse but I stopped there. Most cleanse programs on the market detox independent organs and most of them seem to be a kit.

They hardly recommend to even alter your diet. These detoxes never seemed right to me so I was at that crossroads of what to do. I stumbled across GSG and looked into the protocol. It seemed perfect for me.

The timing was right and then I got the brainstorm to enlist my 21-year-old college daughter to join me. I always worry about the genetics of her generation being weaker due to all the FDA-approved food, cleaning supplies and personal products they are exposed to. Plus, I felt it would be a great bonding experience for the two of us. She jumped on board with me immediately.

We spoke every day: she lives in New Orleans and I live in Jackson, MS, and we text messaged each other support when we felt weak. We listened to the group phone calls. We both would share what insight we gained either from the GSG daily emails, the forums or the online talks and chats. We shared with each other our experiences with the recipes.

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She came home for a visit prior to Phase Two and we both cooked the recipes for each of us and went to the grocery store together. She would email me the grocery list for each phase to make it easier for me. Prior to the GSG Detox, my daughter was always tired. The first day on the program she could not believe her energy level and how she would jump out of bed and get things done.

I felt a surge in not only energy, but also in inner joy. Don’t get me wrong: I struggled with the first day, just being hungry in the middle of the night, the second day of the watermelon cleanse, and then the after-effects of the olive oil and lemon juice liver detox day.

But it was all worth every second. I love how my clothes fit me; I feel more peaceful. Oh yeah, and this is huge: since I was 5 years old, I remember having cellulite on my thighs. I remember sitting on the front porch swing of our home and looking down at my legs wondering what those puckers were in my skin. About 10 days into the GSG program, I was blow drying my hair, with my head bent over and looked at my legs. Now, I practice yoga 6 days a week so I am in that position a lot and I know how my legs look. Well, that morning they looked different, in a good way—they weren’t as saggy. I pushed the skin together to see if the cellulite was still there. It wasn’t. I pushed my skin together over all the parts of my body that had cellulite previously, and it was gone! The cellulite never really bothered me that much but I sure do like it not being there. I can only attribute it to being the fact that the toxins that were stored in my fat cells were pushed out!

I have recommended the GSG Detox to anyone who will listen to me. I am actually sad that today is the last day. I am excited to incorporate the recipes that we used in the detox program into my everyday life and I ordered the GSG Menu Planner to keep me on the straight and narrow! All I can say is, thank you, Robyn, and your colleagues, for all your hard work in developing this program! It was easy to follow, well planned out, and your program incorporates cutting-edge knowledge in the healing field.

~ Tamar S. in Jackson, Mississippi

“I Wish All My Patients Were as Proactive as You!” 15 Lbs. Lost!

Good news! I completed the 26-day detox and I feel totally renewed!

I came to the detox program for health reasons. I was attempting to get myself out of bed and couldn’t because I was full of excruciating pain in my lower back and some joints. My blood report said I have parasites in the red blood cells, low vitamin C, possible thyroid problem, fungus, protein swimming in the blood, inflammation, and the list went on. I was in shock. How did this happen?

And yet I didn’t care about that stuff because my main focus was to get rid of the excruciating pain so I wouldn’t need assistance getting out of bed, help to the toilet, help putting my shoes on, or someone to fetch things for me.

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I went to the Internet for answers and found the GreenSmoothieGirl website. While reading the detox web page, words popped out to me like body’s oxygen supply, immune system, pH, acidic, and the gut. These were the same words my doctor used when talking to me about my health. I had my doubts so I prayed about it and my answer was, “Allow food to be your medicine.”

I bought the program two days before the detox started. The fourth day, I wanted to quit. In tears, I informed my husband of my decision because I didn’t like experiencing detox symptoms. He encouraged me to stick with it. Headaches, flu-like symptoms, coughing. On the fifth day, I was scared, so my husband took me to see the doctor. My doctor, knowing my health history, was excited to find out that I was putting forth effort to change my health. He said, “I wish all my patients were as proactive as you.” Even my doctor encouraged me to continue with the detox program!

Then on the sixth day, the pain that had wrecked my life for months was gone! Hallelujah! The pain was no longer in my body. It was GONE. As I continued through the detox, I felt my body experiencing peace, calm and happiness. I feel so blessed to have the pain gone.

My husband has noticed how soft my skin has become—and I lost 15 pounds! I feel highly motivated to share the good news of my victory over pain to others. This detox program made a believer out of me. The Full-Support Detox Membership I purchased was worth every penny, as it taught me of a world I didn’t even know existed, through daily emails, conference calls, and videos.

~ Suzanne F. in Meridian, Idaho

Eliminated Sugar Cravings, More In Tune—and 13 Lbs Lost!

First off, I will say that I have never participated in a detox of any kind before; my initial motivation was purely to address weight loss (I started ~35 lbs. above my ideal weight). My husband decided to jump on board in support of my efforts—though in his case he was hoping to discover some possible food sensitivities and reduce his cholesterol. We both lost about the same amount of weight, 13-15 lbs.

The biggest surprise for both of us was discovering that our desire for sugar was virtually eliminated from the start. Great news! When we were feeling tempted through the 26 days, there was not usually a fat-laden, high-sugar item involved. We were also fascinated to learn to tune in to the signals that our bodies send out regarding hunger and satiation...all things we previously ignored. It was empowering to learn that we could survive on so little food and (for the most part) feel fairly satisfied.

We were grateful to have participated in the full support option because we frequently turned to the forum to seek answers to our questions—from other participants, through Robyn's videos, while listening to the expert lectures, or catching the live phone calls. These are all fantastic tools to offer accountability and help built general knowledge about health and natural wellness.

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It was so great to learn new practices that are now part of my daily routine (dry brushing, oil pulling, jumping on the rebounder, etc.). I can’t neglect to mention the liberating feeling just knowing that we completed the 26 day detox in 26 days with NO CHEATS! Nice! Even today (Day 27), I have not struggled with giving into the temptation that some foods often present—that’s huge for me and helped me stay the course!

Unfortunately, we didn’t experience the boost of energy that many others did. In fact, we found ourselves to be more exhausted than usual. Perhaps that is because there was just so much going on inside our bodies—lots of toxins being released and systems being repaired: W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!!! Despite that sluggishness we battled all month long, we would recommend this program to others—and will likely schedule another detox when it is most convenient based on our family's schedule.

Above all, we are both grateful for Robyn and her staff. We so appreciate all of the hard work that went into putting this program together and then launching it successfully. Way to go!

~ Susan I. in San Antonio, Texas

No More Leggings with Long Shirts!

What the...?! I am shocked, for weight loss was not my goal. It’s my immune system that was my goal! So here’s what’s been happening:

I started doing green smoothies and raw/whole foods eating for 3 weeks before I started this detox. I was 139 pounds 3-1/2 weeks ago! Today I’m 127! WHAT?! That is crazy! And at least 4 of those pounds have come off since I last weighed myself, which was Tuesday. I am 4'11" and petite-boned.

So, 139 pounds three weeks ago was a bit chunky for me. Not one pair of my jeans fit. I started wearing leggings every day. I know women out there hear me—leggings with long shirts!

I also felt worse with each pound I gained—worse in my joints, and overall. But truthfully, I went into this not so much for weight loss (although it’s wonderful) but for my immune system (that is seriously in the crapper).

And that’s the next bit of GOOD NEWS. I had “granuloma annulare” on my elbows. As of this morning, I have VERY little, almost gone. And here’s the weird part: in the last 3 days, they were red and tingly. I thought something was wrong. Hubby said I needed to show my dermatologist. I said I think it’s healing itself. He said you are crazy, food doesn’t do that.

BUT it did! I can’t imagine what they will look like in a week!! Probably gone. Wait till my dermatologist sees it. She did a biopsy and said she could take it all out surgically, but there would be a scar. She was talking about steroid shots and pills etc.—no way! And the

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 175 Appendix E: Testimonials rashy/red spots on my back/shoulder/neck top of arms are LESS red. Looks WAY better, less inflamed and reddish looking. I am so excited to see what next week brings.

Detox magic is what I’m calling it now! Hang in there guys!! I am still having detox symptoms, but I know FOR SURE that my body is healing right now, and that makes me so incredibly happy. I know the side effects will go away soon. I ate her plan for 3 weeks before this detox and I was full and happy. It’s just a NEW way to eat, a little more work in kitchen, but preplanning is key. And I WANT MY HEALTH BACK!!! For a little inconvenience of learning to cook new raw/whole foods things, it’s worth it to me!!

~ Jennifer P. (posted on the Detox forum)

No More Pain and Numbness, Lighter, and Clearer Thinking—and More Energy!

This was my first 26-day detox and I would recommend people try this. I loved the full- support buddy system that helped as we both experienced being spacey the first two weeks. I was experiencing neck, shoulder and arm numbness before starting this program and within 7-10 days, the pains quit and numbness stopped shortly after 10 days.

I feel lighter, have no bulge in the middle and am much clearer in my thinking process. I have more energy with more clarity to details. Was a great success for me. Thank you, Robyn.

~ Jacquelyn S. in Allen, Texas

Not Going Back to How I Used to Eat Before!

I was a little apprehensive when I received the manual and read through all the foods and the limited food. I told myself it is ONLY 26 days and you have been eating poorly without thought for years. I used to be a vegetarian before I met my husband 12 years ago. Many date nights of letting him pick and following his meat-eating diet, I was miserable. I started following Green Smoothie Girl about a year ago. I have been slowly changing my diet and I wanted a JUMP START.

At the end of the detox I have lost 22 lbs. I will continue on this journey and have bought the 12 Steps book to inform me on more changes. I grew up eating the way Robyn promotes and never had any joint pain or issues sleeping. When I started down the junk- eating route I noticed my sleep was restless and my joints always hurt. I AM NOT GOING BACK! I feel so much lighter, even with just 22 lbs. gone. I have no desire to eat meat or sugar, my main addictions.

To anyone out there thinking they cannot do this, YOU CAN! Thank you again, Robyn, for giving me the KICK IN THE BUTT that I needed.

~ Eva F. in Longwood, Florida

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Eliminated Live Parasites and Lost 6 lbs!

I was really happy to have the Full Support program. I checked in every day with the Full Support program even though I didn’t have a buddy, and it really helped me. First, I did not feel isolated. Second, I enjoyed all that I learned along the way. My friends are now really interested in the next detox. I am gearing up for January 5th!

There were three times during the detox that I wanted to quit. I just pushed through and I am so glad I did! I learned that I can push through! The next day was always so much better.

The first thing I noticed was that my skin felt so much smoother. Other things that I noticed were my teeth and tongue were cleaner. I had less mucus in my nose, throat and eyes. My whole body felt lighter and cleaner. When I finally embraced doing coffee enemas, my first one cleansed out a lot of LIVE PARASITES. Awesome!

I lost 6 pounds, which was just about right for me.

~ Kathleen W. in Cedar City, Utah

Not Turning Back—This Will Be My Way of Life Now!

The past 26 days of detoxing has been an amazing journey for me. I was hesitant at first because 26 days is a long time.

To my surprise, I enjoyed it very much. The program is very well organized and easy to follow. I almost felt that there was more food than I needed. I never felt hungry or deprived. I absolutely loved the satisfaction of the green smoothies as well as the provided recipes.

I have lost 8.5 pounds, although my goal was just to get healthy. I was already at a normal weight. Giving up coffee was a bit of a struggle, but my quality of sleep is just amazing. I finally sleep the whole night through.

I am so glad that I did the full support program. The detox manual was very concise and I had it with me all of the time. I listened to the calls in the evening—and what a pleasure it was to be able to ask Robyn a question live. She is right there doing the same detox with us, and very down to earth and approachable. I also kept in contact with my buddy who was assigned to me.

I learned so much and I feel so great and I am drinking a green smoothie as I write this. I am not turning back. This will be my way of life now. So grateful for the last 26 days. It was fun “crossing the finish line!”

~ Jill K. in Rockford, Illinois

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More Energy, Knees Don’t Hurt as Much, Lost 23 lbs—Will Definitely Do It Again!

I have never tried a detox of this magnitude before. I paid for my buddy, as I knew I would not do it without accountability. I was surprised to lose 23 pounds! I was surprised at how easy it was.

There were days I could not even eat all the food in the daily program—and I still lost so much weight! I never felt hungry or deprived, which was amazing. I think part of the answer was doing some spiritual housecleaning before starting.

I heard Robyn speak in person last January in Houston. I bought the whole GSG 12 Step program that night but never opened the box till after finishing the detox. I had never done dry skin brushing. I found a Far infrared sauna about 30 minutes from me; I LOVE the sauna. People keep commenting on how good my skin looks so I think, all things considered, I have come out way ahead of expectations in that area. I do have more energy and my knees don’t hurt as much.

I loved the emails and videos we received every day. I looked forward to them! Robyn has such an easy, non-condescending approach to all this, and I thoroughly wanted to complete it. My husband is a pastor, so we had about 5 meals out with other couples during this time. I did great, as I was not drawn to the food, as I was full and satisfied with the detox food. I will definitely do it again next time.

~ Lee Ann P. in Magnolia, Texas

Enough Energy for an 8-Mile Race—and 9 lb. Weight Loss!

I chose the detox program because I felt like I needed to “reset” my body. I’ve been at a set weight for years, felt sluggish, and knew my body wasn’t running at its highest potential. Because I have not done a cleanse before, and 26 days seemed like a long time to me, I chose the Full Support option. I’m so glad I did! The first three days of the detox were a little rough as I went through caffeine and sugar withdrawals. Having the ability to chat with other detox participants on the forum was priceless. Participants, as well as coaches, offered inspiration and tips that kept me going! I jumped onto the forum several times a day to compare notes with other participants. The live calls and expert calls were also very motivating. It was reassuring to have my questions answered by doctors who have experience with detoxing. Listening to the expert calls kept me motivated, as I was reminded that my hard work was all for a very good reason. At the end of the detox, I’d lost 9 pounds. I feel lighter, cleaner, and more alive. Real, whole foods taste amazing. During the detox, I was also training for an 8-mile race. Each day I felt that I had enough energy to go through my day and train for my race. Going through the detox process taught me that my body runs more efficiently without meat, dairy, sugar, caffeine, and salt. I feel alive!

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Cholesterol Dropped 50 Points! Discovered a Food Sensitivity and Dropped 12 lbs!

During the Detox I lost 12 pounds and my “tummy!” I stopped having gas and feeling bloated and discovered a major food sensitivity causing it! My cholesterol dropped from 204 to 154 and is now in the normal range! My doctor is amazed!

I discovered I have sensitivity to gluten—with that knowledge, my sinus headaches and phlegm in the back of my throat in the morning are gone! I have more energy, my color and skin look healthy, and I feel great.

I am not going to tell you the program was easy because it wasn’t. You have to be determined, but following the suggestions in the book really helped, especially BEING PREPARED. Shopping and preparing in advance and having several days of food prepared made ALL THE DIFFERENCE. I took my food with me when I could.

If I was in a situation where we were eating out, I just told the waiter I needed their help as I was on a “special eating program” and what individual items from their menu I could eat and they were always more than cooperative in making me a “meal.”

I learned a lot about how to prepare and plan a healthy eating program and I will continue to feed my body a healthy diet to achieve these marvelous benefits for the rest of my life. THANK YOU Green Smoothie Girl!!!

~ Cheryl F., in Corona del Mar, California

The Best Detox I Have Done! Sleeping Better, Thinking Better, and Feeling Better!

The GreenSmoothieGirl Detox was just what I was looking for. I lost 5 lbs, which I consider awesome! I have a chronic thyroid illness that causes many different reactions in my body. This detox was perfect! It was gentle and I feel amazing.

First, I finally gave up diet soda. That is a battle of its own. As a result, I started sleeping better. My constantly foggy brain finally cleared up and I feel able to function to full capacity. It has been years since I have been able to think so clearly! I have had chronic swelling for the past year, and after two weeks on the detox, I could finally see my feet again. I went through an emotional detox, which my husband did not appreciate, but after two days, I felt free and amazing.

I have a large amount of weight to lose, so 5 lbs. does not seem significant; however, my clothes fit well and I received many compliments on how I look. Lastly, my skin feels so soft and smooth. After two days, my skin was soft and had a “glow” to it.

I loved the detox because it was food that I typically eat. I was very fortunate because much of the food I needed was ready to pick from our garden. The support of the program was so good because it provided information and reminders. I never felt deprived or never felt as though I was missing something. It was the best detox I have done!

~ Lexi H. in San Tan Valley, Arizona

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I Feel Great! 8 lbs Lost!

When I joined the program I wasn’t sure if I would make it past the first 4 days much less the entire 26! But with the daily emails and detox buddy that I was paired with, plus the access to the forums and calls, I was able to complete the detox. I have changed my habits from drinking Diet Coke each afternoon and coffee in the mornings. I feel great! I have dropped 8 pounds overall and was thrilled to see and feel the difference! I have committed to doing this twice a year and hope to get my husband to join in the next cleanse with me.

~ Debora G. in Culver City, California

Amazing Energy and Down 10 lbs!

Donald says he is thinking clearer this morning (less foggy), no headache, down 7 pounds total.

I am down 6 pounds, no edema, my senses are more keen—kind of strange—it seems like everything is brighter, like I can see better or something. I’m more aware of sounds and smells. I woke up this morning feeling well rested and energized. My face is breaking out in red burning patches—sooo exciting! I KNOW I’m cleansing. This may sound totally crazy, but my breath was not deadly this morning.

(Update several days later:)

Donald’s down 9; I’m down 10. Amazing Energy! Feeling Light! Keener Senses! Mental Clarity! Normal Elimination! Clear Complexion! No Joint Pain! All In Four Days!

~ Don and Rena P. (from the Detox forum in the first week of the program)

I Want Everyone I Know and Love to Look and Feel Just as Incredible and Healthy as I Do Right Now!

This was an absolutely wonderful experience for me. I feel lighter, more energized, and I can tell my body is running much more efficiently and with less effort. I am already a healthy eater, but this detox has taken me to the next level. I expected most of the way my body changed and reacted to eating so much raw and whole food, but the one thing that surprised me was that the very rough, dry skin on my heels softened up considerably. Amazing! I lost a total of 10 pounds over the last 26 days, and multiple people have commented on how good I look, many of whom did not know that I was participating in a detox. (They know now!)

I really appreciated the daily content provided with the Full Support option. I learned quite a few new healthy practices that I am now incorporating into my daily routine. I am excited to see how my body continues to change as I continue these new practices in my life.

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I have long since converted several of my friends and family members into drinking green smoothies, but now I am talking with them about joining me the next time I do this detox. I want everyone I know and love to look and feel just as incredible and healthy as I do right now! Many thanks to Robyn and the Green Smoothie Girl team for an amazing program.

~ Angie B. in Robinson, Illinois

Life-Enhancing, 10 lbs Lost, and New Way of Thinking about and Interacting with Food!

I absolutely loved the GSG 26-Day detox program! It was well thought out, comprehensive, informative, and practical. I would highly recommend participating in the full-support option because the additional videos, prerecorded talks with experts, and the live Q&A calls were invaluable to my success. I also gained a great deal from the online forum with other GSG Detox participants as questions were answered, inspiration was offered, and practical tips were suggested.

Not only did I lose the 10 lbs that I have talked about wanting to lose for many years, but I have a new-found appreciation for how hard my body works to keep me healthy and have learned a new way of thinking about, and interacting with, food.

This program has been life enhancing for me and I am grateful that I participated. I now feel capable of integrating what I learned into my daily life and the life of my family. Thank you!

~ Holly V. in Gig Harbor, Washington

You Won’t Believe Your Energy Level!

My budget wouldn’t allow for the full detox program as I am saving for the 12 Steps to Whole Foods program after the detox. But I would like to share how I am doing. I started the program early and decided to keep doing the first 4 days again so I would be with you guys for the rest. I have about 20 lbs. that I haven’t been able to get off forever, no matter what I have done.

And I am here to testify that after day 4, I have dropped 5 lbs. I feel great. What was amazing was I was so satisfied and without cravings for those days. Repeating them wasn’t a hard decision.

If I had to do it over again I would have done the complete program with support, as I feel kind of like a lone wolf out here. But going by the way I feel (which is wonderful—so much energy!), I will carry on. LOL! Thank you so much for this program. Also for those who like me were wondering if the manual is worth it—it’s packed full of information and so worth the money. We wouldn’t think twice about paying that for a bottle of diet pills

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 181 Appendix E: Testimonials which, in the long run, do nothing. This is healthy and you won’t believe your energy level.

~Joann B. (on Facebook)

Eliminated Allergies, Feel Very Clean and Light, and Lost 5 lbs!

I would recommend this detox to anyone!

Overall, I feel very clean and light. On a daily basis before the detox, I felt bloated, somewhat tired, and battled a number of food allergies. My digestion is also much more efficient.

I only lost 5 pounds, but I have noticed a definite change in appearance. I worked out 5-6 days a week during the detox and usually have a hard time toning up. I made significant strides the past few weeks that would have taken me much longer on my old SAD diet.

I have had an extreme watermelon allergy since I was in my pre-teen years. I couldn’t even eat anything that touched melon or had been cut on the same cutting board without erupting in fever-blister-like hives instantaneously. I decided to stay on the first phase of the diet an extra few days in the hopes it would clear up some food allergies. I am ecstatic to report all melon allergies are gone! I quite enjoyed the liver cleanse gorging myself on my newfound fruit.

Thank you Robyn, for sharing all of your knowledge and advice throughout the detox. I look forward to doing it again!

~ Lela M. in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Lost 10 lbs and Found the Simplest Foods Are Delicious—I Feel Like a Totally Different Person!

I am 32-year-old mother of three and have always been very active in sports and enjoy working out: college basketball, Zumba, and more. I was still within my BMI index for my height, but at the high end.

I have a bachelor’s degree in health and fitness and like learning about different aspects of health-related topics. I knew that in order to get better results in losing weight (I wanted to lose about 10 lbs.), I needed to eat better. Just working out alone was obviously not the solution.

I purchased 12 Steps to Whole Foods from GSG about 2.5 years ago (after I had my 3rd baby) and it helped me to lose my baby weight. Then I got out of the habit and couldn’t seem to cut out sugar and chips!

So when I saw Robyn’s video on the detox, I got really excited. Everything she said made so much sense. I wanted to try for it—I wasn’t sure if it would work. I thought I have to at

182 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox Appendix E: Testimonials least try, and do what she tells me to do, so I know for myself if this is the reason I’m not able to get rid of this extra fat around my midsection.

Well the first 4 days were very hard. But after that, I knew I wanted to keep doing it because I felt such a feeling of accomplishment (seriously, it had been years since I could say no to sugar for more than one day!). And each day did get better. And, crazy thing: I started seeing results in days of just eating right, rather than weeks of working out!! I LOST ALL 10 LBS!

Plus I appreciated the simplest foods I never thought could be so delicious. The first few days were the hardest. I told my husband, “If I didn’t have a buddy, and if I hadn’t paid my money for this, I would quit!”

Getting over the sugar addiction was what made me a crazy woman for a couple days. But after that, addiction was out of my body! I felt like a totally different person! It was a wonderful feeling and I wanted to continue to have it.

The Quick Start Guide and the Manual are amazing! It lays everything out for me—what I need to do, while educating me so much at the same time. Some days when I’d lose sight of my goal and want to cheat, I’d read the email or listen to the video for that day again. Or, I’d get on the forum and see what others had to say about the recipes.

It was SO helpful to have several different resources to turn to and help keep me on track. I loved it so much I am upgrading to lifetime membership!!! Thank you!!

~ Nikisha A. in Orem, Utah

Wedding Ring Now Falls Off—Lost 12 lbs!

I felt well on the Detox and I plan to do it again. I lost 12 lbs. and feel less bloated—my wedding ring falls off! One week post detox, I am still down 10 lbs.

I would recommend the detox to others, and have done so! Recipes can be an acquired taste, as they are bland, so invest in some salt-free (or extremely low-sodium), sugar-free natural seasonings before starting. I understand it is a cleanse and you are trying to rest your body. I would also encourage the Phase 2 option. After the first few days I started juicing some of my meals and doing the enemas, which was key to my decrease in chronic headaches I had prior to doing the detox.

I did feel that encouraging a buddy, and vice versa, was the ticket for my success! A couple of the other detoxers were great at answering questions.

~ Dedrianne O. in Blaine, Minnesota

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So Grateful for Detox and an Amazing Support System on the Forum! 14 lbs Lost!

I am so grateful I decided to embark on this detox journey. This has been a really educational path in so many ways. I learned to listen to my body better, my strength and will power to persevere, and what an amazing support system I have in the real world through the Full-Support Detox portal!

I signed up for the full-support detox and I am so appreciative I did. I honestly do not think I would have made it all 26 days without it. I found the everyday email, video and phone call to be an extremely helpful tool of explaining what my body was actually processing and eliminating.

I lost 14 pounds on this detox. I lost 10 pounds for the first week and the remaining four steadily in the following weeks. Having lost my weight this way, I have more confidence in keeping it off and continuing to eat as whole and clean a diet as I can on a regular basis. I do have a lot more weight to lose. I also noticed the color of my eyes became a clearer blue!

The detox was work and planning! I have so many friends who have taken an interest and are thinking about starting their own detox journey. I upgraded at the end to the Lifetime Membership so that in 6 months when I detox again, I have the full support like I did this time around.

~ Elizabeth C. in Glen Ellyn, Illinois

Now at Ideal Weight, Fewer Headaches, and Less Medication for Husband & Wife!

I was not trying to lose weight as my primary goal. I was 127 pounds when I started, lost 7 pounds, and have gained 3 pounds back, which puts me at my ideal weight. My main goal was to eliminate migraine headaches that I have experienced for most of my adult life.

I changed to a whole-foods diet a year ago, which is definitely helping. I and have not had a full-blown migraine for probably 10 months; however, I have had milder headaches less frequently. I have also been on daily long-term medication for years and I am in the process of weaning off the medication slowly. I am looking for total resolution of headaches without medication. I should also mention that I went from 145 pounds at the start of my dietary change using Robyn’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods, to 125 pounds before the detox. My husband, who also converted to whole foods, did this with me and has gone from a medicated diabetic, hyper-cholesteremic, hypertensive patient to nonmedicated with normal blood plasma levels for all three diseases! He has also lost 50 pounds! His goal on the detox was to lose additional weight and to get his cholesterol under 150. He isn’t scheduled for blood testing until October, but he lost 10 pounds on the detox program and 3 pounds since then!

~ Kathy F. in Mount Laurel, New Jersey

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Life-Changing, Marriage-Blessing Experience and 11 lbs Lost!

I am more grateful than I could ever express with words for this detox program that Robyn has put together!

I was in a place in my life where I felt trapped in my body and in my food addictions that I had—especially refined sugar and white flour. I needed help! I needed a drastic change and guidance and some way to change my life besides JUST relying on will power (I had tried that again and again, which didn’t work).

My experience with the full-support detox really has been life changing. My husband was my detox partner and we really felt that doing something so hard together, and accomplishing it, was such a blessing to our relationship! We still work together every day, even now that the detox is over, to make sure that we have our green smoothies ready for the next day!

I really enjoyed the detox information email that I received every day, as well as using the member forum. It was great to hear from everyone else, both about their struggles and triumphs! I have no cravings for those refined, processed foods anymore.

I can now clearly hear my body’s signals, and it is so much easier to figure out which foods work for me and which don’t. I love my relationship with food now, and participating in this detox did that for me! I still have about 50 lbs to lose, but I lost 11, and I feel that I can accomplish the rest with the things I have learned, and feel amazing while doing it (instead of hungry, grumpy, and resentful like I usually do while “dieting”).

Thank you Robyn and the GSG team for helping me to change my life! I can’t wait to do it again with you in January!

~ Lianne A. in Apopka, Florida

Feeling So Much Better—Thank You for a Great Experience!

I am feeling so much better than when I started the detox. I tried very diligently to do what was instructed. I think the best part for me was being off of sugar and especially salt. Preparing food that was different than I usually prepare made preparation slower.

I want to thank you for a great experience. I especially liked all of the classes we were able to listen to and watch. I learned so very much. I would recommend this detox to anyone. It was great. Thank you for all the support. Keep up the good work, Robyn—it is well worth it.

~ Bonnie M. in South Jordan, Utah

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By Far the Best Detox Cleanse I’ve Tried—Haven’t Felt This Good in Years!

This program keeps you full, healthy, and happy! I have tried many other detox cleanses before and this one is by far the best. Although it took a lot of time to prepare the food, I made large quantities of Green Smoothies and learned to love them.

Overall, I haven’t felt this good in years! My energy increased every day I was on the program and I actually started running again. I’m happy to report that by keeping my energy high using Robyn’s recommendations, I easily kicked my caffeine & chocolate addiction. My husband lost 12 lbs. on the program and I lost 9. (We are both in our mid- 50s.) Both of us LOVE the healthy education we have had over the past month and the support from our family and friends on this journey. We will continue this journey together and live to be 100 years old.

~ Kris K. in Payson, Utah

We Have So Much More Energy Now! Instead of Craving Sugar, I Crave Green Smoothies!

I had a great experience doing the GSG Detox. I was scared to sign up because I knew how bad my eating habits had been and that I had a major sugar addiction to kick. A friend of mine decided to sign up with me and then my spouse ended up doing the detox with me, so that buddy system really took away that fear and made the experience fun! It’s great that there is a buddy assigned to those who don’t have one. I have done different types of cleanses and detoxes in the past, but the GSG Detox is far superior in every aspect. The organization makes it so easy to follow from beginning to end. The Detox Manual has everything you need, but the full-support online Detox portal is, hands down, the way to go! The Daily Content was a great way to follow each day and either listen to the scheduled speaker, watch the daily video, or participate in the “live chat.” I feel like I just took a top-notch, online course in Health & Nutrition—for FREE! (The Detox Manual alone is worth the price you pay for this Detox!)

The Forum was the other priceless gem. I can’t tell you how valuable it was to read what other people were experiencing, have the option to ask ANY question, and have constant feedback from Robyn, the GSG staff, and any member who wants to comment! You become a community, which I already miss very much! This is the reason why I just signed up for the lifetime membership. The support is there; you are never alone!

Doing the GSG Detox was a challenge, that’s for sure, but the benefits are so worth the work! I lost a total of 13 lbs., my spouse lost 11 lbs., and my buddy lost 15 lbs. doing the detox and we are all still losing weight, which is great! We all agree that we have so much more energy now! I am happy to say that instead of craving sugar, I actually crave a green smoothies now!

Thank you for all your hard work, Robyn and GSG staff—YOU’RE THE BEST!!!

~ Margaret C. in Uncasville, Connecticut

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So Impressed with the Detox Program from Content to Calls to the Forum to the Diet

I am down a total of 12 pounds as of today, weighing in at 115. I am a 5'4", 41-year-old mom of two. After several years of high-stress jobs, I had gone up to 137 pounds and was buying size 10 clothes because I could no longer fit in any size 6s or 8s that I owned. I have spent the past several years trying to lose the fat through off-and-on exercise and off- and-on attempts to find healthy nutrition. I had managed to get down to 127, but had plateaued.

I am so impressed with the detox program, from the content in the manual, to the calls, to the support of the forum, to the diet. I can’t wait to learn more about leading a healthy life after the detox and I am excited to share this with others. This program has really resonated with me for where I am at in my life. I am looking forward to learning so much more from you!

I would like to reiterate the appreciation others have already posted and say a big thank you for leading the way to a healthy lifestyle revolution.

Yours gratefully,

~ Kym

In Control of My Lifestyle Now—and Down 13 lbs!

I would definitely suggest participating in Full Support, because when you're detoxing, a lot of questions come up that can be answered via the forum. It’s also nice to know that you’re not alone with feelings and experiences. I also really enjoyed many of the audios on specific health topics. They were very informative and they gave me more in-depth knowledge on how to improve my health.

I lost a total of 13 lbs! I started out feeling out of control of my weight, but now I am feeling calm and reassured that I can continue a more healthy way of eating. My main goal was to change from my poor food choices, lack of exercise, and stressed-out lifestyle to one that I am in control of, by choosing healthy lifestyle options instead. I feel that I can do that now.

I also bought Robyn’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods course prior to the detox, and it was another goal to get it out of the closet and incorporated into my life. After this detox, I feel that I have the tools to do it now. Today I’m already planning on what I’m going to make for my week ending after the detox. I’ve come to realize that I have to take the time to prepare my meals.

Thank you for offering this program that really can help to put people back on the right track to real health as long as we continue to make healthy lifestyle choices. It was definitely worth it and I am so glad I had the opportunity to participate. I am planning to repeat when the next detox comes around.

~Brenda F. in Murietta, CA

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From Meat for Every Meal...to the GSG Detox! 14 lbs. Lost!

When I signed up for this program, I thought, “I’m never going to be able to do this,” because I was a carnivore, eating meat with every meal—and snacks of jerky and cheese! The first couple of days, I had a slight headache because I was not getting my two cups of coffee each morning! I was also spending more time actually preparing my food than before, but that was good because I was really aware of what I was actually eating.

I liked the daily email I got from Robyn and staying connected on the forum. My husband and young daughter were also very supportive of my participation.

I have more self-esteem and self-confidence from doing this detox. I learned that I can accomplish anything I really want to do—like losing 14 lbs. in 26 days!

~ Tammy L. in Corrales, New Mexico

Eliminated Psoriasis, Improved Sinuses, Increased Peace, and a Doctor’s Stamp of Approval!

I have been astonished and so happy with my GSG detox experience! I‘ve lost 15 lbs. and my husband has lost 24—but that’s only one reason to rejoice.

I have seen my elbows, hands, and feet psoriasis nearly disappear—and I have been to umpteen dermatologists with as many different medications. My frequent nosebleeds have been zero since starting the detox, and sinuses clearer.

My semi-annual health checkup showed my cholesterol and blood pressure down, and my doctor said, “keep up what you’re doing.”

My husband’s rash has improved and he described an emotional feeling of well-being. He used the word “peace.”

How great is that? You can find “peace” by changing one’s diet.

I already have Robyn’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods book and will be following it as we go off detox. We have set our goal to drink a quart of GS a day, a huge salad for lunch, and a starch, vegetable, protein, & fruit dessert for supper. It will be a challenge to continue as close to whole, raw foods as we’ve been these 26 days, but we are motivated to continue this lighter, feel-good lifestyle.

I appreciated having a buddy to be accountable to—great meeting and supporting, Sheila! The program and coaches I’ve emailed have been absolutely great!

Thank you so much, Robyn, for impacting our lives so dramatically with better health. I feel I was blessed to be led to your site, coming across your book The Green Smoothies Diet when I was at BAM looking for juicing books. Of course, your green smoothies diet book led me to your site and the rest is history. I am blessed. Thank you.

~ Cheryl A. in Florida

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I Feel Cleaner, Lighter, with More Energy, Less Pain—and I Lost 9 lbs!

As a health care professional all my life, I was entrenched in the SAD, was prediabetic, had precardiac issues, had borderline thyroid issues, with full-blown joint issues, and a weight that often ballooned to morbidly obese. I even tried stomach stapling in the past, but ended up having it reversed because of the awful side effects.

I have been on a mission the last 7 years to bring my body back to a state of true health. I have tried juice fasting with colonics and regular massage (all of which I still do). I tried a physical trainer, conventional “dieting” with working out, HCG programs for rapid weight loss when the joint issues interfered with my job, etc., etc. I had food sensitivities, cravings for many unhealthy foods—and after easily losing 100# or more, would yo-yo back close to where I was, before starting the next “new thing.”

Robyn Openshaw came into my life four years ago, and her 12 Steps to Whole Foods was a breath of fresh air. Imagine a program that emphasizes “adding in” healthy things instead of what you “can't have.” It has been a two-steps-forward, one-step-back process to undo a lifetime of abusing my body, but it is finally paying off. This cleanse is the crowning glory! I feel cleaner, lighter, with more energy, MUCH less joint pain; I’m able to move better, do my job better and, most of all, my body isn’t pushing me to eat things that aren’t healthy. I feel more relaxed about what I’m going to eat on a daily basis.

These recipes rock! The Pink Breakfast Smoothie is my new favorite. I lost 9 lbs. on this detox, even eating larger portions of some of the soups and salads. I am now going to do the two cleanses for the parasites and pathogens. I am converting to the lifetime membership because I want to do this cleanse twice a year for sure! Next time I am budgeting for the supplements also! I have 6 months to tuck away the money. I have done other “cleanses,” but this is by far the best. Thank you, Robyn, for putting in the time, effort, and love to research the “best of the best” programs and put together a useful, DOABLE detox/cleanse for us “average” people, and continually being a source of inspiration, education and, above all, support! Gathering all the experts to educate us at the same time we are cleansing is inspiring and uplifting, and helps keep us going during the cleanse. I love all the calls, the videos, and the emails lifting us up every day!

~ Karen H. in Las Vegas (who did Level II)

Energized without Coffee, Feeling Great, and Lost 12 lbs!

I feel great. I have lost not only 12.5 pounds—but fat, too. My love handles/muffin top are gone. I feel like this program has benefited all aspects of my life. I was tired the first two weeks of the detox due to purging caffeine from my everyday coffee habit. Now I am energized WITHOUT the coffee! I don’t even enjoy drinking it like I did before.

Foods taste really salty now, and I crave fruits and vegetables more than breads, pastas, etc., like I did before. I feel like the 26 days put me in a great habit of spending more time

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 189 Appendix E: Testimonials on food preparation and making more conscientious decisions. I do not want to go back to eating how I was previously and undo all the good that I have done.

Another great result of the detox is that I can actually breathe again. I used to have to take an allergy pill every day, sometimes two a day, to get through the day. I would be congested despite the allergy pills. I have not had one allergy pill over 30 days since I decided to stop taking them and see what happened with the detox. I have not had allergy symptoms of being stuffy and congested, even though it is hay-cutting season here in Idaho, which is historically one of the worst times for me with allergies.

This program was well worth it, and I upgraded to Lifetime Membership because I feel it will benefit me in the years to come!

~ Chantel H. in Idaho Falls, Idaho

Shed 13 Pounds, Love the Great Support System at GSG, and Feel Great!

The GSG Detox has totally changed the way I look at food. It has helped me realize what a fine-running machine my body is and the importance of proper nutrition to keep it fine- tuned. I love the “in control” feeling I have. My cravings have diminished and I am very satisfied with the healthy meals included in the detox. I shed 13 lbs., my step is a little lighter, and my body feels wonderful. I loved the full support of the GSG team. I was blessed with three buddies whom I have never met. We have been able to discuss all kinds of body functions and given full support to one another. I now have three great new friends to share healthy recipes and clean eating ideas with. Thank you for the opportunity to participate.

~ Robyn M. in Honeyville, Utah

Better Sleep, Clearer Skin, Fewer Sweets Cravings—Plus Lost 9 lbs!

I learned so many new ways to take care of myself and my family through this full- support detox! I’m so grateful I got guidance on essential oils, skin brushing, and coffee enemas. I now feel confident implementing these new tools for health into my everyday life. The best parts of this detox was sleeping better at night, clearer skin, and losing my cravings for sweets! I lost 9.5 pounds (and always had options of healthy things to eat when hungry!) while on the detox. This was well worth my time and effort, as it is such a well researched program, and access to the forum and my buddy gave me the support and encouragement needed to get through each phase of the detox journey. I would definitely recommend this to others and do it again on a yearly basis!

~ Kara T. in Oak Harbor, Washington

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Definitely Doing the Detox Again! 12 lbs Lost

I really enjoyed the detox program and I will definitely do it again in January! My main reason for doing it was to jump start some weight loss.

I had been eating terribly and needed accountability to make myself make some healthy changes. The money I spent made me not quit! I have the Green Smoothies book and already knew about Robyn’s philosophy of eating plant-based and raw food, so I had an idea of what I was in for.

My family thought I was nuts and so did my friends. Because I stopped my lifelong Diet Coke habit, days 2-5 were miserable for me: headache, achy, tired, and nauseated, as caffeine and chemicals left my body. After that, I felt much better. I did feel hungry during the 26 days, but that is a good thing—I rarely let myself get hungry before the program!

I lost 12 pounds overall and I lost inches in good places—lower belly mostly. My face looks better!

I appreciated the forum and all of the questions and answers on there. It was nice that there were so many of us going through the detox at the same time and hearing everyone’s ups and downs. I appreciated the videos every day and there are a few I’d like to go back and watch or listen to again. I’m skin brushing every day and oil pulling. I never ever thought I’d do a coffee enema, but you convinced me and I did—I even like those and might do level 2 next time!

Thanks again for everything, and I’ll be back in January. My next purchase will hopefully be your 12 Step course. I’m saving for that now!

~ Kristen E. in Cumming, Georgia

The GSG Detox Was the Best Choice I Could Have Made!

Doing the GSG Detox was an experience that has changed the way I feel about and look at food. Before this program I ate kind of healthy but only about 50-60 percent of the time. I had a sweet tooth and would buy myself treats and used food as a crutch to make me feel better.

I had Robyn’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods course for over a year and would look at the pictures and think, “I want to make that” or “I need to start doing that,” but never did.

When the Detox was offered, I knew I was ready. I had been feeling so miserable as my bad food choices were giving me joint pain, back aches, and feeling bloated, fat, tired, and depressed. I knew I needed the full-support program. It was the best choice I could have made!

The forum made a great support system, and so did the daily emails and calls from doctors who taught me so much. I loved the foods and never felt deprived or hungry. After two days, my energy started to come back and I began feeling like I used to feel five years ago.

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The very first day the detox started, on August 1, my husband was admitted to the hospital with some critical kidney issues. Even going through the stress of his surgery, and then dialysis, I was determined to stay on track with the detox. I honestly feel it gave me the extra energy and clear thinking to get through this difficult time in my life.

I now look at food not as a reward but as a gift of energy and health I give my body. At each meal, I have the choice to eat food that will make me feel good or bring me down and make me feel tired and depressed.

My skin and eyes are clear and my clothes are getting baggy. Eating the way Robyn has taught me in this program has motivated me to finally read that 12 Step manual—it’s full of wonderful information and recipes! As I get close to my 71st birthday, I am so thankful for my good health and have decided that this is my new life. This is the way I will now care for and treat myself.

Thank you, Robyn, for sharing your knowledge of health and helping me change!

~ Barbara J. in Jacksonville, Florida

Energized and 16 lbs Lost!

I started this diet as a team effort with my sister-in-law. I was excited about trying something new. I really didn’t feel that losing weight was my priority, but in doing so I really look better and feel better and lost 16 pounds! I have been a runner for years. I have run marathons and half marathons. Plantar fasciitis and a knee-overuse injury have stopped me from running more than once a week for the past year. I have noticed that my knees and feet really don’t bother like they used to. I am energized that my body can heal from this. I was looking for something that I could do.

~ Amy M. in Vidor, Texas

Lowered Glucose, Overall Cholesterol, and Lost 20 lbs!

My wife and I participated in the full-support Level II version of the detox; we are healthier, lighter, and happier as a couple for the experience. Not only did I lose 20 pounds, but I did blood work before and after, and the program lowered my glucose 20 mg/dL and my overall cholesterol 140 mg/dL. I won’t kid you: there were times when I didn’t feel very good. I needed more sleep and I had to pull back on my work and exercise. I did not, during the detox, have a resurgence of energy. But I am feeling very good now that it is over and the results speak for themselves.

~ Robert M. in Tucson, AZ

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Kicked My Sugar Cravings! Down 14 lbs!

Total weight loss of 14 lbs. Highlights of the detox: • Feeling lighter! • Fitting into my fave dress (hadn’t been able to in 3 yrs.) and my fave jeans (not since 2006!) • Last, but not least, kicking my sugar cravings—that’s huge! Going forward I’m committed to the following. After 20+ days, these seem attainable now: • Staying away from refined sugar—goodbye cookies, cakes, candies. I joked to my fiancée that the next time I’ll have sweets is when we cut our wedding cake in May. • Maintaining a low-sodium diet. Seriously, salty stuff doesn’t even taste good anymore. Now I prefer the more “complex” and zesty taste of lemon! • Eating more veggies. I was a total carnivore, but somehow meat no longer holds its previous appeal. ~ Tracy S. in Salt Lake City

Doing the GSG Detox Next Time Around! Feel Great, Look Great, and Lost 7 lbs!

I am thrilled with my experience during the GSG detox. In the beginning I was worried I couldn’t give up coffee, sugar, my Lean Cuisine for lunch, bread, etc., etc. I told myself, just get through the first week and then decide if you want to continue. After the first week I felt like it was totally doable and I didn’t want to quit. I definitely felt like the full support was key to my success. I would have questions or be confused here and there, and having that forum made all the difference. I was able to post questions and get responses from both the GSG staff and also others who were going through the detox with me.

I have told all my friends about the detox—I am planning to do it again next time around! I feel great, I look great, I lost 7 pounds, and am so proud of myself and my buddy for seeing it through. I am also looking forward to transitioning from a Standard American Diet to a more plant-based whole foods (even maybe vegetarian) diet. Thank you, Robyn!

~ Jeannine L. in Sandy, Utah

It Reminded Me What It Feels Like to Feel Good All the Time!

I needed this detox to reset my eating habits. This detox was the perfect thing for me to get me back on track and to try new foods and recipes. It reminded me what it feels like to feel good all the time. I ended the detox 5.6 lbs lighter.

My favorite recipe was the lentil soup. I will be adding the soup, the quinoa salad, the millet, the guacamole and chips, and the Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie to my post-detox diet. Thanks so much for putting this together and making it easy to follow. The shopping

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 193 Appendix E: Testimonials lists, the forum, and the “Suggestions for Success” made it so much easier. I also wouldn’t have been able to do it without my “buddies.” I did it with my mom, my sister, and 2 friends.

The best thing about the detox, besides the weight falling off, was that I did not feel guilty about what I was eating. I knew that I was giving my body exactly what it needed. Thank you, Robyn and the GSG team!

~ Venessa M. in West Haven, Utah

10 lbs Off and Feeling Great!

I joined the detox program two days before it began. A friend who was doing it wanted a buddy and encouraged me to check out the website and see if I’d be willing to take the plunge with her. Our hobby is diet. We fall off the wagon fairly regularly but both want to be healthy and fit in our clothes.

I have done the Master Cleanse a few times, so am not unfamiliar w/cleanses, but I was impressed with the depth of research and available information for this detox. I am not too finicky about food choices, so was able to eat or drink most items with no problem. The blandness of food took some getting used to and there are certain dishes I will not try again. But there are certainly dishes I will continue to incorporate into my diet.

I did not experience many of the symptoms my buddy had. I had energy, I could exercise, I would wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and not feel tired during the day. I did notice an increased sleepiness as the detox wore on, however.

My weight was slow to come off. I only lost 4-5 pounds the first two phases. I would gain back a pound or two on some days, which was a bit discouraging. However, after the EVOO drink and the major purge that took place with it, weight began to come off and stay off. I lost a total of 10 pounds on the program.

Today, day 26! Yay! I feel great. I have energy, I don’t crave sugar, I don’t want to eat many of the foods that were a staple before. I have a fairly clean diet, but am finding I feel a lot better without all the sugar I was consuming before.

Would I do it again? Yes. Would I encourage other friends? Yes. I believe I’ve already converted one health-conscious friend to give it a try. The forum was very helpful. Especially when many people were experiencing the same things I was. Overall, it was a great experience. I am definitely interested in pursuing this lifestyle. Raw foods 60-80% of the time is definitely a way of life I can sustain. I still like my chicken and fish, so we’ll see. But I am going to check into GSG’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods.

Thanks, Robyn and staff for a job well done.

~ Anne-Marie F. in Norcross, Georgia

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Lost 15 lbs and More Energy! An Amazing Life Change!

Yes, I would recommend it. I lost 15 lbs. without much exercise! I did cleanse my body almost every day with a water enema and occasionally with a coffee enema. I did do level 2 with no real problems. I felt a little moody just occasionally.

I had more energy overall. I used to nap every day almost for an hour, but don’t even want to now! My moods are better and my overall complexion is great. My sister said I look 5 years younger!

My family was very supportive. The support on the forum was nice and quick, as others had the same questions I did. In January, I will be getting my sister in on this, even if I have to do all the prep! I am now doing hydrotherapy for at least 6 sessions and more if needed. I want and will have a clean colon, and for the rest of my life, thanks to Green Smoothie Girl!

I was an avid meat-and-potatoes type of person and, oh yeah, don’t forget about the desserts. I am happily eating and enjoying the new way of eating and am continually educating myself on nutrition as we speak. It is an amazing life change. As with most things worth their salt, it will be a lifelong learning experience.

I should also state I was slightly overweight but without illnesses. I just wanted to feel young again and feel like me! Thank you!

~ Beau W. in Omaha, Nebraska

Blood Pressure Down 10 Points and Weight Down 10 lbs!

I have lost 10 pounds and my blood pressure is down around 10 points! I have been praying about living healthier and I knew I had to lose some weight in order for my blood pressure to go down. I was determined NOT to take high blood pressure meds because they only treat the symptoms not the cause. I am 67 years young and I am not taking any medications! I plan to keep it that way and Green Smoothie Girl has provided a way for me to do just that!

I feel lighter, not just in weight, but in the sense of well-being. It has given me a new beginning of how I will take care of this body in the years to come with the direction of achieving better health.

Doing it with a buddy is the best approach to success! Thank you for helping me get my bearings toward achieving better health!

~ Nancy P. in Vista, California

GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox 195 More Energy, Sleeping Better, 7 Lbs Lighter—and Just Overall Happier!

The full-support detox was very helpful because if you had a question or problem it was likely that someone else had that same question or problem. It was helpful to have a buddy to just check in. I lost 7 lbs. I was hoping for 10-15, but I feel empowered to make better food and exercise choices going forward so that I can eventually get where I’d like to be and stay there. I have Robyn’s 8-week Meal Planner and will start with that next. I also started a few new health habits that I think I will continue with for life. They include skin brushing (love that!), oil pulling, and coffee enemas. I have so much more energy than I have had in a really long time, I’m sleeping better, and just feel overall happier. Overall the program was a real success for me on many levels. I recommend it to anyone needing a jump start into better eating and health habits.

~ Tina C. in Lakewood, Colorado

196 GreenSmoothieGirl 26-Day Detox