3 types of "detox cleanses" to AVOID

Most types of "juice cleanses" and "colon cleanses" out there are NOT smart and can even be dangerous to your health in some cases.

One of my trusted advisors, Dr Walsh, explains 3 types of "detox cleanses" to AVOID here.

Now as you'll see in that quick video, Dr Walsh also shows you what type of cleanse that he thinks is a much SMARTER approach.  As you see, Dr Walsh's type of "cleanse" that he recommends includes a ton of healthy veggies and fruits, but this is NOT "juicing", and that's for a specific reason, as Dr Walsh explains.

I was curious to see if my girlfriend and I could handle doing this 3-day cleanse, so we decided to try it out this week.  It was fairly simple to do and just involved pureeing a boatload of veggies and fruits in our blender each day.  Each of the 3 days involved a different recipe, and we actually enjoyed the taste of each puree drink.

During these 3 days we didn't eat any grains (although we usually avoid grains anyway), and no meats, dairy, eggs, alcohol, or coffee.  We did do tea and lemon in between the pureed smoothie meals.

Surprisingly, despite the lack of whole food meals for 3 days, we found that we weren't that hungry and the cleanse was pretty manageable.  You're basically drinking a pureed smoothie anywhere from 4-8 times a day, so it keeps you reasonably full despite taking in much less calories than you're used to.

This cleanse also contains a lot of healthy fats included in the pureed recipes including nuts, coconut milk, and avocado, which greatly increased our satiety because of the healthy fats.  And the healthy fats serve an important purpose since it increases your absorption of the fat soluble vitamins from the fruits and veggies.  So the fats are vital to the success of this 3-day cleanse.

Although my girlfriend and I don't watch much TV, the only time it was a little hard was if you saw a commercial on TV showing pictures of burgers or something like that... so make sure to ignore or fast fwd through food commercials if you don't want to be tempted by other foods on this 3-day cleanse.  Aside from TV, it was really easy to stick to it since we purposely also avoided any stores or restaurants during these 3 days and mostly stayed around the house.

The theory is that this type of cleanse can really help your liver detoxify and also creates a 3-day window of allowing your digestive system to "rest" a little more compared to processing the usual large meals.

Also, since this plan is extremely low protein for 3 days, there's a theory that it can help your body to better utilize protein once you switch back to a higher protein plan again after the 3-day cleanse.

The only supplements I used during this 3-day cleanse were a few grams a day of fish oil, to make sure I was still getting adequate animal-based DHA and EPA, which I feel is very important.  And I also supplemented with about 2 grams of BCAA's about every 2-3 hours throughout the day (probably a total of 15 grams a day) to help prevent excessive muscle breakdown considering that this was an extremely low protein plan for 3 days straight.

All in all, I felt great during the 3-day cleanse, although I was seriously craving some REAL protein by this morning, our first day after the cleanse, so going back to an egg-based breakfast was awesome today!

I also had good energy levels at the gym during this 3-day cleanse, so nothing was negatively affected there in terms of energy.

And lastly, I dropped about 4 lbs in the 3 days, but that was expected, as even though I was filling myself with a boatload of pureed veggies and fruit for 3 days throughout each day and was full most of the time, I was definitely at a much lower calorie intake overall than I'm used to.

While a normal "juicing cleanse" might be detrimental to your hormones because of the lack of essential fat for 3 days (a definite problem), this cleanse on the other hand, was loaded with healthy fats, so may even help some people to improve their hormones.

Overall, I think 3 days was just right on this, as I was definitely ready to return to normal meals today... but this was certainly a fun experiment, and I'll probably repeat this every few months for the benefits that Dr Walsh talks about.

If you want to experiment with this 3-day cleanse yourself, and experience some of these benefits, including detoxifying your liver, dropping a few pounds, and increasing your antioxidant status of your body, you can sign up below and also get FULL support from Dr Walsh himself as you go through the 3-day cleanse.

I'd suggest starting this 3-day cleanse on a monday, and to start it this coming monday might be perfect as it leads up to the Thanksgiving feast that you'll have on Thursday, your first day after the cleanse!  So make sure to start getting prepared for the cleanse in terms of reading how it works and also getting your groceries this weekend, and then start on monday morning...

Get started on the 3-day cleanse here (and enjoy full support from Dr Walsh himself online)

I really think you'll enjoy this experience like I did, and see the health benefits!  And what better time to cleanse your body than right before the holidays.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

3 delicious foods that FIGHT inflammation (and protect your body)

I could list a boatload of foods that protect your body from the ravages of inflammation, but we'll just quickly talk about a few today that you might not realize how powerful they really are... and they're tasty too!

1.  Artichokes -- I never used to eat these all my life, but just in the last couple years, I've grown to really love steamed artichokes!  Many people have only used the artichoke hearts that come in a jar, and those are okay, but I think the REAL taste and health benefits come from getting whole artichokes and steaming them yourself.  You can boil artichokes as well, but I prefer steaming them, and they take about 45-60 minutes in a steamer for a large artichoke.

Once we steam the artichoke, we like to make a dipping mix made of melted grass-fed butter, mixed with olive oil, and a little garlic and salt. Then we eat the "flesh" from the base of each leaf, and finally get to the anticipated grand finale... the artichoke heart, which is pretty scrumptious! 

A whole artichoke is a reasonably hearty meal for one person, or shared between 2 or 3 people can be a nice appetizer or snack.

Artichokes are loaded with unique antioxidants (more than almost all other vegetables tested) that have powerful health benefits and helps to fight inflammation in your body.  Some of the powerful antioxidants in artichokes are anthocyanins, cynarin, quercertin, rutin, luteolin, and silymarin.

This amazing vegetable is also purported to support healthy liver function, has powerful benefits for your digestive system, and also can improve your cholesterol ratios!  Consider adding a couple artichokes a week to your meals and your body (plus your taste buds) will thank you.


2. Pistachios -- these delicious little nuts are loaded with antioxidants, fiber, and minerals that all help protect your body and support good health.  Don't be fooled into thinking they are "fattening" as many people falsely think... remember those are good fats that help control your appetite and balance hormones.  I won't go into any more details on the health benefits of pistachios in this article, as we've already talked in full detail about health-protecting pistachios in this article.


3. Cherries (and tart cherry juice) -- The anthocyanins, queritrin, and quercetin as well as other antioxidants in cherries are powerful natural inflammation fighters.  Plus, the phytochemicals in cherries are known to help relieve arthritis and gout, and also help protect your joints from degeneration.

I like to get whole cherries as a daily snack when they're in season.  At other times of the year, what I do is get small containers of cherry juice or cherry juice concentrate, and I add some of this to my unsweetened iced teas daily.  My thought process is that this will help to protect my joints from damage over the years so that I'm still enjoying my skiing, hiking, and biking for decades to come.

Remember that most teas, onions, garlic, berries, and all herbs and spices all contain powerful phytonutrients that fight inflammation and protect your body from degenerative diseases, so don't be shy with these!

Speaking of inflammation...

While there are plenty of foods that can protect your body and help fight inflammation, there are also plenty of foods that CAUSE inflammation in your body... This video shows you the #1 WORST oil for your heart, brain, and skin (as well as certain fish to avoid!)

And while we're talking about superfoods...

Check these out:

> 5 Surprising power-foods that FIGHT high blood pressure (blood pressure reducing nutrients)


Here's some more powerful foods that fight inflammation throughout your body:

Ginger:  the powerful root that fights inflammation as well as turmeric

Onions:  for your gut health, cancer fighter, and anti-aging

Rosemary:  for brain health, inflammation, cancer-fighting, and more

To your health,

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

Meals from Thailand that boost your metabolism

We've been having an amazing trip here in beautiful Thailand with some of our friends. I just love the culture here, and this country has some of the friendliest people we've ever come across in all of our travels.

Aside from the fun adventures we've been on here in Thailand, we've all been loving the food! We even took a full day cooking class here to learn how to cook Thai dishes. It was very educational and also delicious!

The use of herbs and spices (in large quantities) is incredible, not only for the taste, but for the tremendous health benefits of spices. Based on what I've seen here, I'd estimate that the average Thai person consumes about 5-10x the amount of herbs and spices that average Americans, Canadians, Brits, or Aussies do. And all those spices lend some truly powerful protective effects on your body. When you make any curry dish from scratch, you see how much spices are involved in the curry paste, and it's impressive.

If you don't know all the powerful health benefits of spices, you can read my article here with the top 10 healthiest spices that protect your health and boost your metabolism.

Some people shy away from Thai food because they do not like spicy foods, but we learned in our Thai cooking classes how to dice or mash the hot peppers in different ways to create a mild, medium, or spicy dish. I love spicy foods, so that's been another great thing about Thai meals, but if you don't like it spicy, just order mild and you can still reap the benefits of all of the herbs, spices, and curry dishes.

In addition to a dizzying array of spices used in Thai cooking, they use coconut products at pretty much every meal... this includes coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut water, coconut meat, shredded coconut, etc in all sorts of different ways from breakfast to dinner and from drinks to desserts.

Common western nutrition advice is that coconut foods contains loads of so-called "dangerous" saturated fat and well meaning, but nutritionally clueless media outlets tell you to avoid tropical oils because of the unfounded saturated fat phobia that they have. But anyone with a little common sense knows that a perfectly natural food like a coconut is NOT unhealthy. If it were unhealthy, surely large masses of the entire Thai population would be dropping dead since they eat large amounts of coconut fats at almost every meal of every single day.

Of course, that's not the case, and the Thai display MUCH better health than the average westerner.

And if you've read my newsletter for a long time, you know I've written about the health benefits of coconut foods many times. I have a great article to finish this newsletter off today from my friend, and nutritionist, Josh Bezoni, who has also been on this trip with us enjoying the delicious Thai food.

I'll let Josh finish the discussion about why coconut fat can even be useful in losing fat in addition to it's health benefits.


A Tasty Saturated Fat that Flattens Your Stomach?
by Nutritionist Josh Bezoni

You probably think you know all there is to know about saturated fats… those so-called “bad” fats that everybody blames for high cholesterol and heart disease, and certainly shouldn’t be included in your diet if you want to lose flab, or even maintain your shape.

But what if what you’ve been told is not accurate… and saturated fats could actually have a healthy place in your diet?

And just imagine for a second if those same fats that have been demonized by dieticians and public health agencies alike could actually help to boost your metabolism and promote fat loss, along with other healthy effects…

Well, you can stop imagining now because this isn’t a dream; it’s reality, and you can get all of these benefits and more just by adding coconut oil to your eating plan.

Coconut Oil is a Healthy Saturated Fat

Many types of oils, such as vegetable oils and lard are rich in long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs), but coconut oil is unique because it’s rich in medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs).

So, you ask, “Why does this matter?”

Because MCFAs are little nutritional powerhouses that are not only easily digested and utilized by your cells, they produce benefits that are almost unheard of… like stimulating your metabolism and helping you lose the pounds. That’s right: research has proven that MCFAs:

“… aid in the prevention of obesity or potentially stimulate weight loss." i

For Real… Coconut Oil Can Help You Burn More Fat

Let’s say you’re following a healthy diet and exercising but are looking for an extra fat-loss boost. This was the scenario in one study, in which 40 obese women started eating right and walking, then were given either soybean oil or coconut oil (about 2 tablespoons a day) for 12 weeks.ii

That one varying factor made a huge difference, with the coconut oil group benefiting from a reduction in abdominal obesity and waist size that the soybean oil group did not get.

The coconut oil group had other benefits as well, like higher levels of HDL (good) cholesterol (which actually decreased in the soybean oil group).

Guys, this applies to you, too, as separate research has shown that when 20 obese men added coconut oil to their eating programs (this time for only four weeks), their waists shrunk by nearly 3 cm on average (not to shabby for doing nothing other than eating a delicious tropical oil… ).iii

Animal studies have even shown that overfeeding rats a diet that contained 45% of the fat as MCFAs (the kind in coconut oil) gained less weight and had smaller fat deposits than rats fed LCFAs (the kind in vegetable oils).iv So this is one oil you do not need to feel guilty about adding to your meals.

Polynesian Islanders Have Very Low Rates of Heart Disease…

They also eat a lot of coconuts, and there is reason to believe that the coconut milk, meat and oil, which makes up anywhere from 34% to 63% of their total caloric intake, is providing a protective effect for their hearts (v) -- or at the very least was certainly not harming them the way saturated fats “should” (if you listen to conventional nutritional dogma).

Despite being a “saturated fat,” coconut oil has been found to lower total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids and LDL (bad) cholesterol – all of which could be beneficial for your heart health. vi

One other tidbit you can use to impress your friends: coconut oil contains lauric acid, which your body converts into monolaurin; it’s a fantastic virus-, fungal- and bacteria-fighting substance. The only other natural source is in breast milk, which helps babies fight off infections. If you eat coconut oil, you get these awesome infection-fighting benefits, too.

Extra Virgin, Unrefined… What to Look for in a Coconut Oil

You need to watch out for the cheap refined coconut oils sold at many supermarkets, as many of these use a chemical distillation process, may contain unsavory coconut additives (like bleached, dried coconut flakes) or may even contain hydrogenated oils!

In other words, they’re a total waste of your time…

The best coconut oil will be in its raw, unrefined form, and will state “virgin coconut oil” on the label. These oils are generally made from the first pressing of fresh coconut, without any chemicals for extraction or other additives.

Only unrefined, virgin/extra virgin coconut oils will have the fresh coconut taste (refined oils get the flavor taken out) and should be made from fresh (not dried) coconuts. Ideally, look for an organic oil as well that will have been grown free of chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides.

Coconut oil is an excellent oil for cooking, being exceptionally heat-stable and not prone to damage from even high-heat cooking (unlike olive oil or vegetable oil). But if you’re looking to consume enough coconut oil to get the maximum benefits, the consensus is anywhere from 2 to 3.5 tablespoons, daily. If you’ve never had coconut oil before, start with a small amount and work your way up to this gradually.

Coconut oil goes great for stir fries, added to oatmeal or other hot foods, or for any other cooking uses.

Click here for 10 reasons to use DAILY coconut oil (3 of these will shock you)

In closing, if you want to learn about another odd healthy fat that actually helps you fight belly fat even more than coconut oil, check out this information below right away…

 Other surprising foods that help REMOVE your belly fat

Enjoy this delicious flat-belly oil!

Coach Josh

Scientific References:
i “Medium-Chain Triglycerides Increase Energy Expenditure and Decrease Adiposity in Overweight Men” Obesity Research (2003) 11, 395–402
ii “Effects of dietary coconut oil on the biochemical and anthropometric profiles of women presenting abdominal obesity.” Lipids July 2009;44(7):593-601
iii An open-label pilot study to assess the efficacy and safety of virgin coconut oil in reducing visceral adiposity. ISRN Pharmacology 2011: 949686.
iv “Overfeeding with medium-chain triglyceride diet results in diminished deposition of fat.” Am J Clin Nutr. 1983 Jan;37(1):1-4.
v Cholesterol, coconuts, and diet on Polynesian atolls: a natural experiment: the Pukapuka and Tokelau island studies. Am J Clin Nutr. 1981 Aug;34(8):1552-61.
vi “Beneficial effects of virgin coconut oil on lipid parameters and in vitro LDL oxidation.” Clinical Biochemistry 37,2004;830-835).
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Thanks Josh... I couldn't agree more! I use virgin coconut oil daily for most of my cooking, as well as using coconut cream and milk several times a week too.

Hopefully I'll have time to report more from Thailand while we're still here. Talk to you soon,

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer