It’s no secret that I am a fruit pusher. You name it—whole fruit, chopped, in a smoothie or juiced. I love it and love what it does for your body…namely your lymphatic system. You can’t be in my office too long without me bringing up the topic of fruit.

In a perfect world, I would have a fridge stocked to the brim with freshly chopped fruit that I could grab when I am on the run out the door, BUT that isn’t always quite the case. So, often when I am out and about, I frequent one of Austin’s local juice shops. They are growing in number and now are located in most neighborhoods throughout the city.

We were rewarded last spring with one right here in Travis Heights, and I give it my seal of approval. Directly on South Congress, just across from Amy’s Ice Cream is Juice Austin. It couldn’t be easier, AND now it’s even cheaper! Knowing our commitment here at RS to juicing, owners Chip & Myles have extended all Radically Simple clients a permanent 15% off on all juices and smoothies. Seriously, now you really are going to have to give it a try.

Claim your personal discount card at my office Wed-Fri 9-12 from Aaron or at your next appointment.

Check out their menu for further encouragement to make a stop. My favorites of the moment just happen to be K.I.S.S. and Sweatpea.

The concept of changing the input to improve the output is not rocket science and can be applied across the board to multiple scenarios. Today we will apply it to our bodies. I recently shared an updated 4 step process that I follow with my clients to restore the body’s natural ability to clean and heal itself. The first and most critical step in this process is optimizing of the elimination system.

Here’s what must be done for that to occur:

1. Change the input
2. Engage the help of your lymphatic system
3. Drain what’s blocking the output

Let’s deal with the first on the list, changing the input, which is something everyone who reads this is capable of starting tomorrow morning.

With the plethora of conflicting information regarding what to eat and how to eat, I want to make it simple. The goal is to eat in a manner that encourages 2-3 healthy bowel movements spread out through your day and one that does not produce any of the secondary symptoms I discussed in this article.

My personal and professional experience has led me to support a diet high in alkaline foods that primarily consists of fruits and vegetables. I eat and feed my family in this manner as well as promote this in my office. I have seen that this diet will engage and encourage lymphatic drainage and leads to healthy elimination through the bowels and kidneys with most people.

So what does this look like?

You can see the full graphic here.

In practicality, meals break down to this:

• Breakfast: Fruit, fruit and more fruit
• Mid Morning Snack: Green Smoothie or Green Juice
• Midday Meal: Raw Veggie Salads, Raw Veggies and Hummus or Guacamole, Green Smoothies or Juices, Cooked Vegetarian Meal (little to no protein)
• Snack: More of any of the above
• Evening Meal: Raw Salad to start, Cooked Meal with Veggies and Protein or Protein and Grains

What’s not on this list: Dairy, Grains with Gluten, or Processed Foods.

If your diet looks nothing like this, don’t despair! Shifting your intake to more raw and whole foods can be done in small steps and still produce noticeable results. Commit to just one week of eating nothing but delicious, fresh cut fruit or smoothies for breakfast. This change alone should have you feeling noticeably better on many fronts—just like it did for our family. Repeat the process the following week, again the week after and you’ll be well on your way to adopting a healthy new habit almost without realizing it.

If your diet already looks a lot like this, but you’re still experiencing secondary issues like these, this is where the homeopathy and gemmotherapy protocols can really help to heal stressed organs and get your systems back into alignment.

You’ll know it’s 7:15 AM at the Hubele household by the roar of the VitaMix. It’s been packed to the brim this morning with some of the best tastes of late summer. You’ll see quartered juicy hill country peaches, chunks of fresh, tangy pineapple, cubed sweet mango, and when it’s all blended into a shot of fresh lime juice.

Prep time: 10 mins.
Cleanup Time: 5 mins.
Satisfied Family Members: 3

We began this morning fruit ritual a year ago and have never looked back. Even in the dark, cold mornings of winter we enjoyed amazing Texas pink grapefruits and blood oranges, along with fresh pineapple. Half the fun of this has been getting creative with our combinations. And yes, it’s always fruit and only fruit, but it’s always just a little bit different depending on what is on hand, in season, and sounds just right that particular morning and we still look forward to it every morning.

We got started on our fruit in the morning plan last summer after a week on the Black Sea at the home of my mentor Dr. Sorina Soescu. Sorina had been following a high fruit and raw veg diet for two years and as we spent our days together, I learned the hows and whys to this high alkaline eating philosophy. When we got started, I was the chopper and blender—but my task was taken over quickly by my husband, Joachim. He found my chopping skills not quite as efficient as the German precision he could offer. I certainly did not complain. Who would when you get served up such beautiful glasses of pure deliciousness?

We down one glass of our smoothies and out the door we head for a swoop around Stacy Park with Lucy our 90lb lap dog and most often our 12 year old Sebastian just ahead of us on his bike or scooter. On a good day by 8 am we are exercised, fed and ready to take on our day.

It’s just how it rolls here in the morning and it sure feels good.

Lately, I’ve been having a few thoughts about your healing process. Every day I am asked at least once, “so, how long will this take?” And of course, the answer for each person is different. And the length of time will also be completely dependent on what lifestyle changes you are able and willing to make to support your own healing.

What I can tell you, however, is that I see five clear stages of anyone’s healing process and my experience has proven that skipping steps—just doesn’t give you the same results.

My hope is that by keeping sight of where you are in this process, you may be more willing and able to go the distance. So what’s the goal? The end result will be a body able to clean and heal itself as it was designed to do, as well as now maintain the harmony between physical, mental and emotional bodies up against all that life presents.

Here are the five steps achieved using individualized homeopathic and gemmotherapeutic protocols:

1. Open Routes of Elimination (Bowels, Kidney/Urinary, and for woman organs associated with menstruation) Last post, I gave you a checklist of symptoms that indicate these routes are compromised. If you missed it or need some reminding, [intlink id=”1167″ type=”post”]here it is[/intlink].
2. Support the Cleaning of Tissues and Cells—Only a body that can clean itself can heal itself.
3. Restore Normal Organ Function—when all organs are functioning we don’t get secondary symptoms like high blood pressure or migraine headaches; both perfect examples of other organs not doing their part.
4. Fortify Organs—Gemmotherapy is unique among herbal therapies in its ability to deliver nutrition to organ tissue while cleaning. This stage happens simultaneously with stage 3 & 4.
5. Maintain Harmony—where we want to be! This doesn’t mean we don’t “get sick” but it does mean we have a strong, effective immune response and recovery.

So now what?

Now is the time to become not only your own health advocate, but to be your own health ombudsman. That may be a funny term to use, but it’s really what I would want for you. Your body is producing symptoms, which are actually complaints. Your job as the ombudsman is to listen to and investigate those complaints.

I became my own ombudsman after my cancer diagnosis by investigating the complaints of my body and searching for practitioners who could support my body to heal itself. Eventually, those practitioners became my teachers, so I could in turn help each of you.

So start listening! Together we can investigate and move you through the five stages to restore your body’s ability to clean and heal itself. For many people the most important first step is to start changing the input.