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Aztec Diet, Diet, Food, TBI

Aztec Diet Day 17: Brain Food

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Stats: Still holding steady at a 9 pound net loss.

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with 1 Cup blueberries, a mandarin cutie and a banana; Mid-morning: 20 oz water with 4 TBSP chia; Lunch: Hot Guac Salad, 16 oz water with 2 TBSP chia; Snack: 1 Cup cottage cheese, 40 calorie snack pack of seasoned nori; Dinner: Spinach/Papya/Mango Salad 12 oz water with 2 TBSP chia Snack: 1 oz air-popped popcorn

Yesterday the blade assembly on my blender fell apart. New blender is not due until tomorrow evening. All is not lost. I plan to eat the same things I’ve been eating, just not blended up. It will be a nice change.

I’ve mentioned before that I suffer from mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). For years the conventional wisdom has been that these injuries do not see improvement after two years. Due to the large number of head injuries resulting form the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, medical science is finally questioning this assumption.

People like me tend to fall through the cracks because, hey, we know what side of the toothbrush the paste goes on, and we can take a shower by ourselves. Those are the standards for being functional. Never mind how long it takes us to do these things, how stressful it is, or how exhausted we are afterwards. We may retain our level of intelligence, yet struggle to make decisions and complete simple tasks. We are often too fatigued to do more than get up in the morning and feed ourselves.

I’m very fortunate to have a group of fellow suffers to share experiences with. Aside from getting the validation and emotional support sadly lacking in the medical community, I have also learned much about managing my condition. We’ve had to learn to be our own doctors. I’ve had gains in both productivity and well-being, despite being years past the two year mark. The gains are very modest, but the impact they have on my life are enormous.

One area that needs more attention is the role of diet in treating TBI. It makes sense that the same foods which are beneficial for Alzheimer’s patients would also help TBI sufferers. Couple this with a diet that reduces carbohydrate induced brain-fog, and the possibilities are intriguing. This is the Aztec Diet in a nutshell. To further enhance these effects, I am researching specific foods that enhance brain function.

Some Goodies:

    Blueberries
    Walnuts especially touted as brain food. Other nuts are also helpful. It’s good to get a variety.
    Chlorella
    Wild Salmon tuna, mackerel and sardines are also good choices
    Avocado
    Dark Chocolate or Cacao
    Chia
    Coffee
    Green Tea
    Water
    Oysters
    Olive Oil
    Garlic
    Eggs
    Greens – Kale, Chard, Spinach, Romaine
    Flax Seed Also pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds
    Yogurt

Hot Guac Salad

    1 avocado
    1 TBSP lemon juice
    cumin, to taste
    1/4 Cup salsa (I used peach mango)
    1/4 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
    romaine lettuce

Mash up the avocado in a bowl. Mix in the lemon juice, then add the cumin, to taste. spoon salsa on top, then top that with the cheese. spoon this into romaine leaves. you can treat large leaves like taco shells. The small inner leaves make lovely little “boats” just big enough for one bite.

Spinach/Papaya/Mango Salad

    1 large handful baby spinach
    1 Cup diced mango
    1 Cup diced papaya
    1/8 Cup cashews

No need for dressing. The fruit moistens the spinach.

Aztec Diet, Diet, Food

Aztec Diet Day 16: Get Your Chia Here!

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Stats: Still holding at 9 pounds net loss. Thank goodness Anna only has one birthday a year.

Breakfast: Chocolate Covered Cherry; Lunch: overpriced kim-chee soup with brown rice; Snack: blueberry muffin. I know, I know, Bad, bad bad! Dinner: 1 cup non-fat cottage cheese, 5 celery ribs and 12 oz. water with 2 TBSP Chia Snack: Carol’s Penance Special (1 cup of air. No popping, and no popcorn.)

I got a late start this morning. Then my Black and Decker blender blew up. It was excreting copious amounts of my lovely smoothie all over the counter. While I was chewing on the half-blended remains, I sent my Amazon wish-list to Tom so he could order me the Oster I’ve been eyeing. I’m a cash and carry kinda gal. I was going to hold off for a few more weeks, but I haven’t seen such a nasty pile of ooze since The Blob was in theaters. Enough, as they say, is enough. Meanwhile, I’ve got to figure out how to do a smoothie diet for the next two days with no blender.

As the day looked like it was on a downward trend, I decided to skip my support group, collect myself and prune my expectations for the day.

I had two very important items on my schedule today. The first was a tour of the Cincinnati Police Museum by retired Sheriff’s deputy Frank Vanderventer.

The first thing you see when you walk into the museum is a stuffed dog. This large terrier-type dog was a stray pressed into service by the department and long presumed to be Cincinnati’s first police dog. Frank tells me they have since discovered there was at least one earlier dog. Ironically named “Handsome,” this beloved mutt bears a strong resemblance to “Sandy” in “Little Orphan Annie.”

Another notable item was documentation that Harry Houdini escaped from the Cincinnati jail in 1899. I also met a former captain of District Five who was one of the first women to do actual investigative work. I can tell she’s full of stories. I am going to have to go back so I can properly ooh and aah over the guns, handcuffs and pipe-bombs. I see a romantic excursion to the museum in Peter and Lia’s future.

The second item on the agenda was a date with my mechanic to fix my brakes. If you live in Cincinnati and drive a Volvo (or any foreign car, really), Jim Stephens Automotive is the place to go. Dan is the best mechanic I’ve ever had. And, unlike the bozos across the street at city hall, he’s also an honest, sensible man who doesn’t waste your money and gets things done on time. I can’t say enough good things about him.

Due to the morning’s chaos, I did not bring my lunch with me. I had a chi-chi lunch that was good, but pricey. The place closed for the afternoon before it was time to pick up my car, so I wandered down to the library. I stopped in at the library cafe for a cup of coffee, when I was set upon by a blueberry muffin. I don’t regret the muffin. I do regret not coming to the library cafe for lunch. They had an overhaul since the last time I was there. They now have some lovely salads and sandwiches. And free wifi. All the trimmings of an urban coffee house at half the price.

I stopped off at Findlay Market on my way home. This is a farmer’s market surrounded by specialty food shops. Dean’s Mediterranean Market is one of the oldest shops there. They sell chia seeds for $5.99 a pound. This is the best price I’ve found. While I imagine there may be some marginal benefits to getting the pricy stuff, Dean’s chia works just fine. Here’s their website: http://www.mediterranean-imports.com/ I spoke with Dean today, and he assures me that while chia is not listed on the web-site, he would be happy to sell it mail order. Click on “Contact Us” and send them a message. Tell him I sent you.

Aztec Diet, Diet, Food

Aztec Diet Day 15: Depths of Depravity

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Stats: Holding steady at a 9 pound net loss

Breakfast: grapefruit; Lunch: blueberry, avocado, banana; Snack: cottage cheese; Second Snack: way too many Triscuits to count. Dinner: Spinach Kelp Noodle Soup; Snack: none.

Today I encountered my bete-noir.

I am reminded of an old friend who quit smoking and made it through the Christmas holidays with two smokers in the family. Then she sat down to write an article, a process she always began by lighting a cigarette. She couldn’t write. She was on deadline and couldn’t pull a word out of her hat to save her life. Finally, she lit up, got the article done. I’m happy to say that was many years ago and she has been smoke-free for a couple decades.

I have been in the habit of mindless munching while writing. Especially if I’m a bit stalled out. Got a hankering for a few Triscuits yesterday afternoon, after my cottage cheese. Then a few more, then a few more after that. And then the rest of the box was gone. Oops. Fortunately it was only about 1/3 of a box to begin with. At least I met my writing goal for the day, and my mystery witness is now in the clutches of the police.

The good news is there are no more Triscuits left to tempt me. I will not be adding them to my grocery list again. I’ve got to learn to re-direct my munching urges to celery. It’s got the sodium I crave. If I go on a binge and eat all my celery, it’s not going to do any damage.

Tomorrow is going to be a real challenge. I’m going to be gone all day, visiting the police museum with a retired cop who’s agreed to consult with me on technical matters. Going to my brain injury group. Getting my brakes done.

Stay tuned.

Aztec Diet, Diet, Food

Aztec Diet Day 14: After the Fall

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Stats: Holding steady with a 9 pound net loss

Breakfast: nothing; Lunch: Carol’s Kale Blueberry Variation; Snack: multi-grain crackers and celery ribs Dinner: Kale Apple Carrot; Snack: popcorn

I wasn’t at all hungry this morning. I’m not surprised. 8 ounces of beef is more than even my pre-diet intake. I have not experienced any symptoms of a carb bomb. I did, however spend a few moments yearning for hot chocolate when I stopped by Circle K this morning. since I had a sweet-tooth going, I opted for Carol’s Kale Blueberry Variation for lunch. This is based on Dr. Bob’s recipe, using the meat and water from a young coconut instead of Greek yogurt and water. I also add cacao, ginger and green powder.

I guess I’m a hedge-your-bets kinda gal. I went to the grocery store today. Along with enough produce to keep me in smoothies for the next two weeks, I also bought several cans of tuna and some frozen salmon filets. I already have black beans, quinoa and sprouted bread (frozen) at home. If I feel like I must move on to some solid meals, I’m covered. I also picked up a one quart bottle for transporting smoothies.

I’ve borrowed a little trick from my days as an addictions counselor. When an alcoholic or drug addict gets a craving, they are often advised to “play the tape to the end.” This means to get past your image of the high, and remember everything that came afterwards, all the consequences. During my trip to the grocery story, I found myself responding to the smell of the doughnut case and other forbidden so-called foods. So I jumped past thinking about the taste and went directly to the part where I am feeling bloated and groggy from all the carbs, and thought about how I looked and felt 6 months ago before I started losing weight.

If you find yourself responding to foods you used to eat, it doesn’t mean you aren’t committed to your diet, or that you are secretly sabotaging yourself. It simply means that you’ve formed neural pathways from your previous habits, and your brain naturally urges you to do what’s familiar. A car follows the ruts in the road. Recognize the response for what it is: an artifact of conditioning, not your secret, innermost desire. Bring your frontal lobe into play and play that tape out. And keep moving. If you aren’t standing in front of the doughnut case, chances are, your sugar jones will go away.

Aztec Diet, Diet, Food, Lia Anderson Dog Park Mysteries, On Being a Writer

Aztec Diet Day 13: Do I or Don’t I?

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Stats: -2 pounds; Net Loss: 9 pounds; Waist: – 4″

Breakfast and Lunch: All Day Blueberry Smoothie; Snack: none; Dinner: Peanuts, ceviche, 1/2 pound Angus burger, 1/2 side of fries, skin on, water with lemon; Snack: none

We already know I’m going to cheat this evening, so the big question isn’t that. That’s a done deal. The only question about that is how much I cheat. I’ll address that experience after I get back this evening.

Nope, today’s quandary is this: I need to go shopping. Sunday is my 14th day, the end of the Chia Challenge. So do I stock up on Phase II lunches, or do I keep going on?

I’ve lost 9 pounds in 14 days. There’s a good chance I’ll make it to 10 pounds by my Monday morning weigh-in, even with the cheat. I’m thrilled, but I have more to go. Continuing with Phase I makes sense. Yet, I’m a little tired of every meal having the same texture. I’d like to chew something. The kelp noodles have helped a bit. I figure, since they are 100% raw seaweed, they’re okay.

My options are: 1. Stay on Phase I; 2. Go onto Phase II; 3. Stick with Phase I, but allow myself one or two solid meals a week while keeping close to Aztec Diet guidelines.

What would you do?

Later: Terry’s was packed, with people, with servers, with retro neon signs. Brightly lit with high tables and peanut shells all over the floor. Even at 5 p.m., there was a thirty minute wait. There’s no room to wait inside, so Terry’s constructed an ante-chamber with plastic sheeting, old stadium seats and hanging outdoor heaters.

We sat outside and had an energetic discussion about my WIP, Maximum Security. Pat kept proposing different ways in which my victim could bite the dust. I had to keep reminding her that the cause of death was a done deal, since the body has already been found in Mount Airy Forest, and the question was who done it, and why. This caused the woman sitting next to me (who thought we were chortling about a real event) to make an inquiry. Whereupon Pat and Anna enthused about my books. So maybe I have another reader.

I ate a small handful of peanuts while we waited and skipped the beverages in lieu of water with lemon. The appetizers were tiny, artful creations. I had the ceviche, which was spicy, skipped the accompanying saltine crackers. I ordered my 1/2 pound burger medium rare, with Swiss cheese and the Burgundy sauce with wild mushrooms and truffle oil. I ordered it sans fries. When it came with, I went ahead and had some, with ketchup. I ate about half the bun.

I’m no saint. I’m not proposing myself as a model of dietary perfection. I had a good time. I don’t feel either deprived or guilty, and I’m happy to get back on the wagon. And, If I allow myself the occasional exceptional treat, it helps me pass by ordinary temptations. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

All Day Blueberry Smoothie
1 avocado
1 banana
1 Cup spinach, packed
1 – 2 Cups blueberries
2 TBSP cacao
4TBSP ground chia seeds
1/2 TSP ground ginger
1 TBSP green powder
Water to desired consistency

Makes 5 – 6 cups

Aztec Diet, Diet, Food

Aztec Diet Day 12: Chew your Juice, Drink your Food

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Stats: holding steady for a net loss of 7 pounds. Waist: 4″ lost

Breakfast and Lunch: All Day Papaya Raspberry Yum; Snack: 1 small handful of mixed nuts; Dinner: hot miso broth with garlic and kale over kelp noodles; Snack: none

A reader pointed out that the amounts in my smoothies exceeded Dr. Bob’s recommendations. After I got over being huffy, I decided she had a point. It occurred to me that my smoothies came close to 4 cups. With a tweaking, I could bring them to between 5 and 6 cups, making enough for two meals instead of one. This appeals to my lazy/busy side. So I am experimenting with all day smoothies. This only works if you have a 6 cup blender.

The revised recipe for my Papaya Raspberry Yum is below. I am not posting the recipe for the Miso Kale soup. It was a miserable failure. I ate it, but have no desire to subject you to it.

There is an old adage attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, but probably centuries older: “Chew your juice, drink your food”.

Blending foods aids in digestion by breaking it down into small pieces and increasing the overall surface area which is exposed to digestion in the stomach. We negate this advantage if we gulp our smoothies down. Digestions begins in the mouth, with saliva. Chewing is the mechanism which allows saliva to mix with food in the mouth, starting the digestive process. For best digestion, and therefore, assimilation, your food needs to spend some time in the mouth mixing with saliva. Dr. Bob says to sip your smoothie slowly. This is good advice. Even better, swish it around in your mouth a little before you swallow. “chew your juice.”

It’s almost time to move to Phase II. This advice holds for solid foods as well. “Drink your food” means to chew it so much that it slips down your throat of it’s own accord. Bolting your food leads to indigestion and poor assimilation.

All day Papaya Raspberry Yum

    1/4 of a football sized papaya, seeded, peeled
 and chopped
    1 Cup raspberries

    1/4 Cup cashews (raw, if you can get them)
    Enough baby spinach
 tofill the rest of your blender
    
4 TBSP ground chia seeds
    Water to desired consistency

Should make 5 – 6 cups
12 ounces water

Aztec Diet, Diet, Food

Aztec Diet Day 11: Cheating

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Stats: -0 according to new scale -1 according to old scale. Net Loss: 6 pounds? 7?

Breakfast & Lunch: All Day Chocolate Covered Cherry; Snack: 3 celery ribs; Dinner: Spinach Kelp Noodle Soup, 12 ounces water with 2 scoops of chia; Snack: 9 Triscuits

At some point this weekend, I’m going to cheat.

No, I’m not tired of the diet. I love the convenience of blender meals. I enjoy green smoothies. I like inventing new ways to put a meal in a glass. And I’m thrilled to be losing weight. Nope, the diet is not the problem. I suspect I will never fully move on to Phase III of the Aztec diet. I expect to eat at least one green smoothie a day for the foreseeable future, possibly the rest of my life.

Friday is Anna’s birthday. We’ve been friends for 20 years and we always go out for her birthday. This year she wants to go to Terry’s Turf Club, reputed to have the best burgers in Cincinnati, and not a salad in sight. I do love a good burger. Check the menu here: http://www.urbanspoon.com/cities/32-cincinnati/restaurants/363284-terry-s-turf-club/menu

What’s a friend to do? I’m going to enjoy myself.

I am reviewing the menu ahead of time for some pre-emptive damage control. They’ve got ceviche on the appetizer menu. I became a fan of ceviche on my trip to Peru several years ago. This is sea food which is “cooked” by marinating it in lime juice with herbs and vegetables. Great stuff, low fat. I’ll skip the french fries and the chips. I’m still mulling over whether or not to get a burger. No, it’s not on the Aztec Diet. But it’s reputed to be seriously good. I read in a review that the buns are not so hot, so maybe I’ll skip the bread, too. Thankfully, they do not have deserts.

All Day Chocolate Covered Cherry

    1 Banana

    1 avocado
    1 Cup frozen sweet cherries
    
romaine – fill up the rest of the blender with torn leaves (don’t pack)
    
2 TBSP ground cacao nibs or raw cacao powder
    
4 TBSP ground chia
    1/4 – 1/3 TSP ginger (optional)
    
water to desired consistency

This makes about 5 cups, enough for breakfast and lunch.

I wanted something savory for dinner, with a different texture. Kelp noodles are a raw product and come ready to eat. They are great for fast meals. They’re low in carbs and calories (6 calories a serving!). They come in a tangle. You cut off what you want. Rinse them off and they’re ready to eat.

Spinach Kelp Noodle Soup

    1 Cup kelp noodles, rinsed. Set aside
    1 TBSP Miso
    2 TBSP Peanut butter
    1 clove garlic (optional)
    1 large handful of spinach
    1-1/2 cups Hot water (I run mine through the coffee maker and the temperature is perfect)

Put your rinsed kelp noodles into a large bowl or 24 ounce cup. Blend the other ingredients. pour over the noodles.

I made this and had my chia on the side.

Aztec Diet, Diet, Food

Aztec Diet: Coffee, Tea or ?

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Stats: -1 pound. Net Loss: 6 pounds

Breakfast: Papaya Yum; Lunch: Dr. Bob’s Kale Blueberry Smoothie with ginger and cacao; Snack: freeze dried veggie chips; Dinner: Spinach Portobella Smoothie with 1 clove garlic, made with hot water; Snack: nothing

Now that I’m refreshing my memory about PH, it occurred to me to look at my morning cup of coffee. When I first decided to tackle my weight problem last fall, I was drinking a morning cup of hot chocolate from the convenience store on my way to the dog park. The first dietary change I made was swapping this for a cup of coffee with almond milk. I knew eliminating the chemicals and sugars in the hot chocolate mix would be beneficial. It did not occur to me to ask myself how the PH factored in. I wondered if I would do better with green tea, instead.

Your typical cup of coffee has a PH between 5 – 6. Darker roasted blends are at the top of the scale. You can also reduce the acidity of coffee by steeping coffee grounds in cold water for more than 12 hours. Use this concentrate to make your coffee. Caffeinated teas also run between 5 – 6, with green tea at the high end of the spectrum. So tea and coffee are comparable, and are not a problem if limited to a morning cuppa.

In contrast, soda pop varies between a PH of 2 – 3, except root bear, which is 4. These drinks are loaded with chemicals and calories along with the acid. My personal choice is to never drink them.

For the rest of the day, I drink water. Even better is water with lemon. This is a widely accepted practice for alkalizing your body. I have a friend who is doing a great job of outliving her life expectancy while fighting stage 4 cancer. One of her habits is to start her day by squeezing a lemon into her morning glass of water. Today I pulled out my grandmother’s old pitcher. I added the juice from one lemon to a quart of water. I plan to add this to my daily routine from here on out.

Another healthful beverage option is 1TSP – 1 TBSP raw apple cider vinegar, with or without raw honey, in a glass of water. This tonic is reputed to have many health benefits. Bragg’s has been promoting it for decades. Now they have bottled the tonic and you can buy it at your natural food store for many times the cost of making it yourself at home.

It has occurred to me that eating popcorn is not the best option for a snack, even if it is on the approved list. I do love the smell of popping popcorn, and I really enjoy the crunch. If I need a snack tonight, I’m going to try celery instead.

Papaya Yum

    1 Cup papaya
    1/8 Cup cashews
    1/2 Cup Tropical Blend (pineapple, mango, strawberry)
    1 large handful baby spinach
    1 thumb ginger
    2 TBSP ground chia seed
    Water, to desired consistency

Carol’s Kale Blueberry Variation

    1 young coconut, meat and water
    1 Cup blueberries
    3 kale leaves, chopped or torn
    2 TBSP ground chia seed
    1 TBSP raw cacao
Aztec Diet, Diet, Food

Aztec Diet Day 9: Phantastic PH

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Stats: -1 pound; Net Loss: 5 pounds

Breakfast: Carol’s Blueberry Kale Variation; Lunch: Papaya Yum; Snack: 9 Triscuits; Dinner: miso broth with a red bell pepper and a glass of water with 1 TBSP Chia; Snack: air-popped popcorn

This morning it was raining steadily. I’d decided I was not going to go to the dog park. Then the phone rang. It was Tom, my dog-park buddy who has an Amazon Prime account. “Your scale is here. It must have come yesterday. It was between the screen door and the door when I went out this morning. Are you coming up?”

I got wet.

I’m so happy to have a new scale. The old one bobbled around and was unreliable. I would weigh myself a second time after my morning coffee and it would read a pound less. On this scale, it reads .8 pound more. It’s futuristic looking. A slab of tempered glass on top of 4 stubby legs and a huge digital read out. Doesn’t go with my grandmother’s furniture, but then, neither does my Kindle or my iMac.

Yesterday, I was talking about the cleansing properties of greens. This is largely due to the high PH of all green foods. PH is a number which represents how acid or alkaline something is. The scale goes from 1 – 14, with 7 being neutral. You’ll find controversy between experts regarding which foods are acid and which are alkaline because the net effect on the body is different than the PH of the food itself. Lemon is one example of a food that is acid but has a high alkalizing effect on the body. The lists vary a bit, but you’ll notice certain things remain constant.

Why is PH important?

Remember the Andromeda Strain? The killer space virus could only function in a certain range of PH. The human body’s optimal PH is 7.365, slightly alkaline. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is highly acidic.

What happens when the blood is too acid?

1. It starts robbing the body of needed minerals to operate properly. This promotes a variety of degenerative diseases.

2. The body naturally becomes acidic when you die. At which time the body becomes host to a variety of organisms that function well in an acidic environment (corpse) and whose purpose is to promote the decomposition of the body. When your diet is too acidic, you wind up emulating a corpse and inviting all manner of nasties to take up residence.

In 1931, Otto Heinrich Warburg won the Nobel prize for discovering that cancer cells do not use oxygen. This work, unfortunately was largely ignored by mainstream medicine. It did spawn alternative treatments for cancer, such as treatment with hydrogen peroxide. In his later years, he connected PH to this theory, noting that cancer cells maintain a lower PH, as low as 6.0. They go dormant at a PH of about 7.5, and they die after maintaining a PH of 8.5 for a specified period.

Remember those toxins I wrote about yesterday? The toxins that your body hides in fat stores it creates specifically for that purpose? The fat your body won’t let go of until it is able to process the toxins? These are largely acids. Raise your PH and you will be better able to process those acids. Then weight loss becomes easier.

Phase I of the Aztec Diet focuses heavily on high PH greens, which makes it ideal for creating a diet that balances your PH. Focus on maintaining a high PH. Test the PH of your urine in the morning, using PH test strips designed for this purpose (PH strips for other purposes do not have the correct range). Empty your bladder when you get up. Wait about 20 minutes, then urinate again. Test this urine, it does not contain all the acids you dumped overnight.

Some highly nutritious foods are also acidic. Don’t dump them. Accommodate them by eating more alkaline foods. For a list of Acid/Alkaline foods, go here: http://alkaline-alkaline.com/ph_food_chart.html

Look for today’s recipes tomorrow.

Aztec Diet, Diet

Aztec Diet Day 8: Glorious Greens

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Stats: down 1 pound Net Loss: 4 pounds

Breakfast: 1 cup grapes; Lunch: Dr. Bob’s Kale Blueberry Smoothie; Snack: 1 ruby Red Grapefruit; Dinner: Kale Apple Carrot Smoothie w/ ginger instead of lemon; Snack: air-popped popcorn

Today I mostly cleaned house. Not an exciting topic for a blog, so instead we’ll talk about how your diet can help you clean house. Cleaning the toxins out of your bloodstream enables it to pull more toxins out of your stores of fat. This is critical. The body uses fat stores to protect the body from toxins it has ingested but is too overloaded to process. Clean your blood, and the body is able to start processing those toxins. Once the fat stores have let go of the toxins, they no longer serve their purpose of protecting the body and can be dissolved.

Most of the smoothie recipes in The Aztec Diet include some form of greens. This is a critically important part of the diet. Green means clean. Be sure you are including greens in your smoothies at least twice a day. The greener your green, the better. This is why kale is number 1 on Dr. Bob’s list. Further down the list is spinach, and below that is leaf lettuce. Romaine is comparable to leaf lettuce, but has more protein and beta-carotene and less fat than leaf lettuce. It may be that Dr. Bob prefers leaf lettuce because it blends more easily than romaine.

I like to add a tablespoon of green powder to my morning smoothie. Green powders come from any of a number of plants and algae that have a high concentration of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is very similar to hemoglobin in make up. The main difference is that it has magnesium instead of iron at its core. Chlorophyll is a wonderful blood builder and detoxifier.

Chlorophyll is alkaline and combats acidosis. It is also a deodorant, which is why restaurants used to garnish plates of food with parsley. You were supposed to chew on it to freshen your breath. Ironically, the sprig of parsley that has been so ignored is likely, gram for gram, the most nutritious thing on any given dinner plate. The greener something is, the more chlorophyll it has. Your green powder should turn whatever you put it in a deep dark green.

You can buy green powders in jars for about $20 and up for a one month supply. I make my own and pay much less. Many of the commercial green powders have lots of extras in them. However, you may not be getting therapeutic amounts of all the ingredients, especially the expensive ones.

I buy the following from the bulk herb section of my favorite health food store, Clifton Natural Foods here in Cincinnati: 4 oz. spirulina, 2 oz chlorella, 2 oz. wheat grass powder, 2 oz. barley grass powder. I toss them all in a big jar, screw the lid on tight and roll it around until it’s well mixed. Any one of these powders is a wonderful supplement in its own right. I like to use a blend. While each is a good detoxifier, they all have different properties.

Spirulina has many benefits. It has a highly concentrated complete protein. It works to balance blood sugar and increases brain function

Chlorella Japanese research found that chlorella could be beneficial in fighting obesity, diabetes and heart disease by reducing body fat percentages and blood glucose levels. Researchers also claim that chlorella is effective in boosting energy, improving digestion and fighting depression (The FDA does not support these findings). Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/243612-benefits-uses-for-chlorella-powder/#ixzz2LxakA1hv

Wheatgrass increases energy and stimulates the thyroid gland.

Barley grass promotes the growth of friendly bacteria in the intestines. It also is full of iron.

Spirulina and chlorella are algae. They naturally clump on top of water. Whenever you add these to a smoothie, wait until you have a nice whirlpool in the center of your blender, then open the lid and pour your green powder into the center of the whirlpool. This prevents your green powder from sticking to the side of your blender.

Other good blood cleansers are lemon and cayenne. Including these in your diet will accelerate your losses. I put cayenne into empty capsules and take them with meals. Go slow with the cayenne, it can cause stomach upset. Lemon can be added to smoothies or drinking water.