Coconut Bliss review

Coconut Bliss. Oh, how I love thee - let me count the ways...

When I was doing my month long detox in January for my book on toxins I eliminated all sources of dairy. I also avoided sweets, but one thing I did indulge in was organic dark chocolate and a container or two of Coconut Bliss ice cream. Well, it's not ice "cream" so much as a frozen dessert because it's non-dairy and vegan.

It's base is made from coconut milk rather than milk, cream and eggs, like ice cream. While most flavors have a mild coconut flavor it's not overwhelming and some flavors don't have much of a coconut taste to it at all. If you have sensitivities to dairy, soy or gluten products or are lactose intolerant, this coconut ice cream is a great alternative. My favorite definitely has to be the Mint Galactica. My picky kids loved it and even preferred it over Häagen-Daz.

What's the story with Coconut Bliss? Well, the ingredients are certified organic, the company works directly with farmers in Thailand for their source of coconut milk and their chocolate, cocoa, vanilla and coffee ingredients are certified fair trade. The company itself is a hippie's dream come true, with a biker's incentive for staff members and they provide someone to come into the office three days a week to prepare vegan, organic lunches. Plus, they are located in awesome Eugene, OR.

Having tried various non-dairy frozen desserts in the past, I fully expected it to taste like crap or, at the very least, cardboard but I was overwhelmed at how comparable it is to "real" ice cream. So, in the future, in spite of the extra cost I will definitely be picking up Coconut Bliss instead of ice cream not just for the taste, but for the health benefits of coconut milk as well.

Please note: I am in no way being compensated for this review and have no connection whatsoever with Coconut Bliss. Although I'd be happy to advertise this awesome product in exchange for food.

Detox update #2

I am a few days into the fourth week of my detox and I'm not feeling the same sort of crap like I was before. I think increasing my calorie intake helped quite a bit as probably reducing a few other things (see below). As such, I'm holding steady at the same weight as last week, but looking leaner given all the exercise and good eatin'.

Food related stuff
I'm still working a ton of smoothies and juices into my day. I start off with about a half cup of some sort of grain - either oatmeal, brown rice cereal or 5 grain cereal. After my morning walk, I'll have a spinach smoothie. Lunch is generally some sort of sauteed greens with some sort of protein. I'll have a carrot and hummus snack and a wheat and dairy free dinner with a mix of grain, protein and vegetable. I did one day of juice fasting last week and might do another one tomorrow just to go out with a bang.

Other stuff
I've been getting a lot of exercise in, not just my planned aerobic exercise, but also from doing about three hours of gardening over the week. I've been skipping the sweat therapy because of scheduling issues and lots of other things going on.

My third deep tissue massage last week went incredibly well and I think my lumps are finally responding to it. I'm still doing the dry skin brushing and I'm done with my detox foot pads, although I received some more for review that are made with different ingredients. I'm still meditating daily for about 30 minutes and that helps too.

Today, I go in for my second set of body burden toxicity testing (all blood tests). This will be testing for heavy metals, solvents, chlorinated pesticides and a few other things. I'll also be doing two 24-hour urine collections - one for heavy metals testing and the other for phthalates and parabens. I can't wait to see what difference (if any?) I've been able to achieve over the last five months of lifestyle changes.

Anyone else doing some form of the detox? How is it going for you?

Detox: Fasting

I keep trying to get up the gumption to do some fasting as part of my detox. Fasting helps aid the body in ridding itself of stored toxins. This happens when the body switches over from burning carbohydrates to stored body fat for energy. Also known as ketosis, this switchover helps release stored toxins for elimination. Of course, it takes a couple days for your body to hit ketosis, but doing a short, one day fast is also effective at just giving your body a rest so it's not working on digesting food and can work on eliminating waste.

I was first planning on doing a juice fast one day a week during my detox, but I was experiencing some stomach issues going into the first week and then the second week, well, it didn't happen. So, I thought I'd do it today. Just a 24 hour fast from dinner to dinner. What this means is that I don't eat breakfast and lunch today. Although I was planning on doing a juice fast, I'm ending up doing a smoothie fast instead. Well, I'm having one smoothie and lots of juice and water during the 24 hour period.

Maybe after today, I'll be more likely to do just the juice fast next week. Depends on how I feel by the end of the day today. We have a running joke in the house that, when my blood sugar gets low, I get "hangry", being a combination of hungry and angry, which is generally unpleasant for everyone involved. Which is why I've been tentative about this fasting business.

Have you ever done a fast? Was it a water fast, a juice fast or the Master Cleanse kind of fast? And for how long?

Detox update #1

Yesterday marked the first day of the third week of my detox and I wanted to fill you in on how things are going. I'm feeling pretty good so far. At times I feel absolutely fantastic and almost euphoric but, if I let my blood sugar get too low (which has been an issue for me), I get symptoms of hypoglycemia, which aren't too fun.

Food related stuff
With all the fruits and vegetables it's easy to get filled up and yet, at the same time, not really eat enough. So, the biggest thing I've struggled with is not getting in enough calories and feeling less than energetic at times. If I stay on top of things and make sure I have my food planned out and eat before I get hungry, then I feel fine. If I don't, I feel really tired. That's when I know I need a bolus of peanut butter.

I think my digestive system is finally adjusting to all the fiber. The first week I ate something that I'm sensitive too (frozen pineapple) and it caused me some serious stomach issues for a few days. Normally it wouldn't be a problem but I think that with all the other changes in my diet my stomach wasn't too pleased. It's fine now, although I'm still laying off on some of the spicy stuff.

Starting yesterday, I also added a little wheat back into my diet. I'm still mostly avoiding it, but just threw in some whole grain sprouted bread to help round out my grains. Otherwise, I'm sticking to oats, brown rice and quinoa, among other things. And, I'm still avoiding dairy. I did treat myself to some Coconut Bliss ice "cream" to help bump up the calories.

Over the two weeks I've lost about six pounds.

Other stuff
I'm still doing the Epsom baths and have done one clay bath. I'll be doing another one tomorrow. I'm hoping to make it in to Banya 5 in downtown Seattle this week. It's a Russian style sauna with a number of different dry and wet saunas, with cold pools and the like.

My second deep tissue massage last week kicked my ass and I'm still a little sore. I have major issues with muscles in my shoulders and upper back so I really need to have it done. I'm thinking of adding acupuncture for those problems (and my on-again off-again carpal tunnel issues) but that doesn't have much to do with this detox.

I love the dry skin brushing and look forward to doing it in the morning. Between the daily exercise, weight loss and dry brushing I've seen a noticeable difference in my upper legs with quite a reduction in cellulite. And I just look less puffy all over - my upper body looks a ton leaner than it did before I started.

I started week two of the detox foot pads although I doubt they are doing anything worthwhile. But, I've got 'em so I'm using them and telling myself they are doing something in the hope that I can employ some placebo action.

The down parts of the detox so far were really just diet related, trying to arrange my food needs around the rest of the family and their meal planning. The first week was fine, the second week I was getting bored of my limited food choices, but this week I've got a whole new game plan and am looking forward to trying out some new foods I wouldn't ordinarily try. The end result is that I'll be keeping some of these new food habits even after the detox is over.

Finally, this isn't exactly detox related, but I've been meditating daily for about 30 minutes. I find this helps with keeping focused and with my mood during this "program" and I have to credit being happier as a result of integrating this in as well.

If any of you are just starting out and want to comment about how things are going early on, feel free to leave one!

Body Burden Detox Challenge Begins!

As I start my third week of detox, many of you are joining me for two weeks of your own detox experience. I'll be posting a full update tomorrow on how I'm doing so far.

I've been alternately feeling euphoric and crappy oftentimes in the same day, but I'll go into more of that then!

Good luck everyone!

Detox: Foot pads

I didn't initially plan on using this product as part of my detox but, since they appear to be extremely popular, I thought I'd throw them into the mix. I've seen them advertised in catalogs like Gaiam and other places and, since they claimed to detox your body while you sleep, I figured I'd give them a whirl.

Basically, they are little pouches of herbs (the brand I got contains powderized double-distilled wood vinegar, tourmaline and germanium) that you attach to your feet at night with adhesive pads and voila! in the morning instead of being a bright white pouch, they are black. This blackness (I have read) is indicative that they are removing toxins. My take on it is that your feet sweat at night and soak into the pouch, exposing the black colored herbal concoction inside. Think of it like you are attaching tea bags to your feet.

The packaging has some information on how they are effective due to some foot reflexology action, which I find hard to believe is helpful since the pads are so small they don't cover enough of your foot to "stimulate" anything, meridian or otherwise. Granted, these things are designed for petite Asian customers and not my ginormous feet. That picture above must be a picture of a toddler wearing them. Or someone with a size 2 shoe. I suppose I need to super size them or, at least, wear two at a time per foot.

There's also some claim about them generating far infrared energy that helps with detoxing and healing, by stimulating blood and lymph circulation. This is attributed to the tourmaline in the pads.

There is much touting regarding the wood vinegar and its healing powers, yet I couldn't find any actual information or evidence suggesting its efficacy. I chalked it up to the possibility that, like acupuncture, it has some utility even if I didn't understand the eastern medicine explanation for it.

In any case, I bought enough for two weeks worth. They are supposed to lighten up the longer you use them and, since I took photographic evidence after the first night, I'll be able to compare the last one I use to see if my detoxing was "successful". Aside from being a little herbal smelling and feeling like I have tingling teabags strapped to my feet at night, they are otherwise harmless enough. Whether or not they are doing anything is debatable. I'd like to see some more of the purported "science" behind this one.

I still have another week to go with the foot pads. I'd like to think there is some merit to this product, but as of yet, I'm unconvinced. Can't one of these manufacturers run a research study on these to show some actual results rather than mere anecdotal claims? Or does the absence of simple lab tests done on used pads mean they are worthless?

Detox: Sweat therapy, Epsom baths and Bentonite clay

Part of my original detox plan included hanging out at the sauna for 4 hours a day for 4 weeks. The reasoning behind this torture was that, by sweating profusely for such time periods, you substantially reduce the amount of toxins that are stored in your body. For those who scoff at this idea, there have been a number of studies done on the efficacy of this.

Generally known as the "Hubbard Protocol", named after nut job L. Ron Hubbard, and initially developed for drug detoxification, it was soon after investigated as a therapy for reducing other toxins in the body. To make a long story short, studies have been done on Chernobyl victims as well as 9/11 clean-up crew following the protocol and the end result was a considerable drop in body toxins. In some cases by around 20% and up to 40% during a follow-up.

Well, I'm not following the Hubbard Protocol for a variety of reasons, the most pressing is that it's time consuming, uncomfortable and I wanted what I was doing for my detox to be approachable to those reading my book. Sitting in a sauna for that length of time over that many weeks isn't approachable to anyone. Plus, I frankly just didn't want to do it. There are other reasons why I'm not doing it, which I explain in the book, but suffice it to say that I'm comfortable replacing the Hubbard Protocol sweat therapy with a modified sweat.

What am I doing then? Well, instead of the long sweats I'm doing some short sweats. Five days a week for 30 minutes I'm either sweating in the bathtub, a hot tub and soon enough I'll be going to a sauna.

Several times a week I'm doing an Epsom salt bath. What this means is that I get the bathwater temperature up to about 102 degrees and put in 1.5 - 2 cups of Epsom salts. Epsom salts are thought to flush toxins and heavy metals from the cells, ease muscle pain and help the body eliminate harmful substances. This supposedly works by reverse osmosis, pulling the toxins back out of the skin when soaking in the bath.

Once a week I'm doing a bentonite clay bath. This is a little more complicated and messy and not my favorite thing by far. It makes the water slippery and murky and, if you get the wrong kind of clay, you can mess up your pipes. You have to prepare the clay in the water and avoid breathing it in. Once you've got the whole thing set up, bentonite clay is supposed to help draw impurities out of your skin. Toxins like metals and other contaminants are supposedly pulled out from the negative charge of the clay.

While there are a lot of statements made about the benefits of clay baths and they have been traditionally used for thousands of years (bentonite being used by North American Native Americans), I haven't seen any studies showing whether or not they actually do much of anything. You can read the alleged health benefits of the baths here. You can also find a lot of reference articles mentioning research done and the results showing detoxification, but no citations, etc.

All in all, I think the sweating helps, and the Epsom and clay certainly don't hurt and are, at the very least, good for the skin. But, as you can probably tell, my science-based evidence radar is going off.

Detox: Dry skin brushing

Of all the things I'm doing for my month long detox (and what you should be doing for the Detox Challenge), I have to say that I like doing the dry skin brushing a lot and will continue doing it daily even after the month ends. What the heck is dry skin brushing? Well, you basically take a skin brush, like the kind you use for scrubbing in the shower, and brush your dry skin with it.

There are several benefits of doing this. The first and most obvious is that it removes dead skin cells and makes your skin softer. The second benefit, and the reason why I'm doing it for my detox, is that dry skin brushing helps detox your body by stimulating the lymphatic system in your body. Which is why it is also called lymphatic skin brushing.

Basically, your lymph vessels collect waste materials all through your skin. Your skin is your largest organ and is a runner up for clearing out waste in your body which is why it is sometimes called your third kidney. The lymph vessels are essentially little one way valves distributed throughout your skin. By brushing your skin, always in the direction towards your heart, you help circulate those toxins being collected for faster disposal. Since your lymphatic system relies on a pump with limited feedback, brushing gives it a helping hand.

There are a number of different methods for how to brush your skin. I received a three page handout for my detox from my doctor, but you can follow whatever method you like. If you are visually oriented there are YouTube videos or you can search The Google for detailed written instructions, like this one.

The easy explanation is, before you take a shower, take a natural bristled brush and lightly brush, starting at your feet and working your way upwards, in long strokes along your body always in the direction towards your heart to speed the movement of lymph.

I started out with a softer brush that we've had for years to do the brushing, like the one pictured above. I was finding that it's too soft, so I switched to a stiffer brush (pictured at left). You shouldn't brush so hard that it's painful, but hard enough that it leaves your skin somewhat pink and stimulated. It should be a pleasurable sensation, although it can be uncomfortable at first until your skin gets used to it. It's almost like getting a whole body scratch.

So, in addition to being one of the easiest and cheapest methods to helping detox your body, it's also very invigorating!

Detox diet examples

A couple people were interested in finding out what I've been eating during this body burden detox so, for those participating in the Detox Challenge, they get an idea of what to eat. There's some meal repetition, a lot from just having leftovers or more of the same ingredients on hand. I'm not including the water I drank. I generally included 2 servings of Detox Tea each day as well.

Just to recap the food portion of the detox, it goes a little sumptin' like this:

Food and Drink

• No alcohol
  
• No coffee or tea (regular or decaf)
  
• No processed foods
  
• No fried foods
  
• No refined grains or sugars
  
• 60 - 70% total food intake is fruits and vegetables
  
• Focus on cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower)
  
• 15% protein sources (lean meats, beans, nuts, seeds)
  
• 15% grains (brown rice, oats, quinoa, buckwheat)
  
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil (or flaxseed oil) per day
  
• All food is 100% organic
  
• No dairy (or, if you must, choose non-fat)
  
• 2 - 3 liters of water (dependent on sweating) a day
  
• Yogi Detox Tea
  
• Juicing

Here's what I ate the previous Sunday (all organic):

• 1 banana and 1 apple, chopped with lime, honey and cinnamon
  
• 1/2 cup oatmeal with raisins, pecans, ginger, coconut
  
• 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
  
• 3 carrots, 1/4 cup hummus
  
• 1 cup bok choy sauteed with eggs (3) in olive oil
  
• Green olives with almonds and peppers
  
• Salmon, 1/2 cup brown rice, Brussels sprouts, beets (all cooked in olive oil)

Here's what I ate last Thursday (all organic):

• 1/2 cup oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, ginger, cinnamon
  
• Green smoothie made with 1 banana, 1 cup fresh apple/carrot juice, 1 cup chopped rainbow chard, 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed, 3/4 cup frozen blueberries, 5 large frozen strawberries, cinnamon
  
• 2 cups Brussels sprouts, beets, olive oil
  
• 1 cup bok choy sauteed with eggs (3) in olive oil
  
• 3 carrots, 1/4 cup hummus
  
• 1/2 cup brown rice, chicken breast, tomato sauce
  
• Roasted cauliflower and garlic in olive oil

The last couple of days I've been eating Bob's Red Mill 5 grain hot cereal (mostly like a polenta with buckwheat and gluten free stuff in it) for breakfast, a green smoothie after my sweat session, eggs with bok choy or swiss chard or leftovers for lunch, carrots and hummus for snack and dinner varies considerably.

It doesn't look like I'm eating much, but I can't say that I'm hungry much, mostly from all the fiber and water, I'm sure.

Body Burden Detox Challenge

I'm over a week into my month long detox to further reduce my toxic body burden for my book and many of you were interested in following along for the last two weeks of my detox. So far, things have been going well except for some uncomfortable symptoms that I can't tell whether or not they are due to the detox process or the change in diet, etc.

In any case, here's the breakdown of what I'm doing. I'll be writing posts all this week explaining most of the following sections (except for the obvious ones). If you have questions, just ask! When the challenge starts on the 15th, you can do as much of what I'm doing as you feel comfortable.*

Food and Drink

• No alcohol
  
• No coffee or tea (regular or decaf)
  
• No processed foods
  
• No fried foods
  
• No refined grains or sugars
  
• 60 - 70% total food intake is fruits and vegetables
  
• Focus on cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower)
  
• 15% protein sources (lean meats, beans, nuts, seeds)
  
• 15% grains (brown rice, oats, quinoa, buckwheat)
  
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil (or flaxseed oil) per day
  
• All food is 100% organic
  
• No dairy (or, if you must, choose non-fat)
  
• 2 - 3 liters of water (dependent on sweating) a day
  
• Yogi Detox Tea
  
• Juicing

Detox Actions

• Sauna or hot bath (Epsom or Bentonite clay) at least 3 times per week for at least 30 minutes
  
• 30+ minutes cardio exercise every day
  
• Daily dry skin brushing
  
• Detox foot pads
  
• Professional massage - at least 30 minutes once a week

Supplements
(Choose organic supplements, follow recommended dosages on bottle or less, depending on what you can tolerate)

• Ginger
  
• Turmeric
  
• Cinnamon
  
• Chlorella
  
• Vitamin C (1,000 mg per day)

Remember to use all non-toxic body care products, household cleaners, make-up, etc. during this time. You don't want to add in more toxins while you are trying to remove them. I'll go into more detail on this later this week. Also, make sure you get at least 7 - 8 hours of sleep a night.

If you want to officially participate, feel free to sign up in the comments of this posts. Otherwise, you can follow along and just check back this week for more posts detailing the how to's of this program.

*I am not a physician nor do I play one on the Internet. If you have health concerns, please consult a doctor before embarking on any kind of diet, exercise, supplements, or sauna routine.