by Dr. Ariel Policano

So, you are loving the raw diet, right?

You’ve lost weight, you have more energy, and a positively juicy new outlook on life. Fantastic! A raw vegan diet is filled with nutrition, vital force, enzymes and is free of nasty preservatives and chemicals. It is truly amazing. Still, even on a raw or high raw diet, it is good to have a health “check-in” from time to time. The fact is there are actually a few deficiencies that could develop on a raw, vegan diet if you aren’t aware of them. They can develop if you are not meticulous about having diversity and perfect balance. And really, who is? Here are 3 markers I feel are crucial to keep your eye on. This way, you can be sure you are staying healthy in every way on your raw vegan diet.

1) Ferritin (your iron stores).

2) B12 Levels, measured as methylmalonic acid (MMA).

3) Cholesterol (wait to be surprised here!).

1) Ferritin.

It is important to keep your levels of iron healthy. Of course, iron allows the transport of oxygen to your cells via the blood. Low iron levels are commonly referred to as anemia. One of the most common signs of iron deficiency anemia is sensitivity to cold weather. You feel like you cannot get warm no matter what! Another sign you can look at are changes in your thumbnail. Yes, your thumbnail. Look at it from a side angle. Do you see a dip in your nail? This can happen from the deoxygenation of cells over a period of time. It is a “secret” sign of your body that you need to check your iron levels.

Now, back to those labs. The iron levels in your blood may show up as normal even if you are on the edge of becoming anemic. Ferritin, which are your stores of iron, provides a much more accurate check of whether you are running out of “gas”. It has been said that iron-rich blood gives you charisma. Now, who wants to be without that for very long?

Ferritin levels are very important to check to avoid iron deficiency anemia. The range for women is 12-300. I would address levels below 50. Depending on how low it is, supplementation may be in order. The company Floradix carries and “Iron and Herbs” mix that is tried and true for vegans. If you are very anemic, however, this is going to be a slow intervention. In this case, you may want to supplement with a chelated iron such as iron aspartate. For those worried about iron supplements causing constipation, no need to lose any sleep. Ferrous sulfate is a form of iron is prescribed by many MD’s in high doses (325mg) at one time. This type of iron is more likely to cause things to “slow down” or to be clear, cause constipation. Also, the dose we are talking about with the iron aspartate is about 30mg, more or less.

Keep in mind some foods that are high in iron so that you can avoid a deficiency. They include Jerusalem artichokes, cherries, blackberries, nettles, spinach, dates, Swiss chard, burdock root, sea vegetables like kelp, and (yum) figs. Iron needs to constantly be renewed, especially if you are physically active. So, round up some of these foods soon!

2) B12 – Methylmalonic Acid.

MMA is considered to be a more accurate check of Vitamin B12 levels. It will tell you if you are developing a deficiency before it will show up in the serum (blood) B12 levels. Having a B12 deficiency is serious business. It is probably the most risky deficiency that can develop out of a vegan or raw vegan diet. There are many things you can do to prevent it, you just need to be aware of them!

Just getting back to MMA for a moment. If you don’t have enough B12, MMA levels will increase. That is because B12 helps to convert MMA to a crazy substance called succinyl CoA. Succinyl CoA is a raw material that helps you to produce ATP, the raw fuel of your body. Which is why…one of the signs of low Vitamin B12 is fatigue.

The more serious sign of a vitamin B12 deficiency is parasthesia, or numbness in the extremities. The old pins and needles feeling, but for an extended time. The reason this is so dangerous is that it is irreversible. Yep. As in, permanent. You really don’t want to dance with the possibility of a B12 deficiency.

As a doc, I do recommend that this is the one place that you consider taking a B12 supplement on a regular basis. Why take any chances?

Here are some food-based ways to keep your B12 levels up. You can have nutritional yeast for vitamin B12. Caution, caution, caution! I recommend you look at Red Star Nutritional Yeast if you want to go with this option as they have one of the highest quality nutritonal yeast products. Get it fresh! Nutritional yeast that is out in the bulk bins, or has been sitting on the shelf for a long time is less likely to have sufficient levels of B12.

Are you a clean freak? You might be a good candidate for a B12 supplement. Washing your fruit and vegetables really thoroughly is excellent for clearing the germs, but you may also be washing off the soil-based organisms that build your B12 levels.

Foods that contain B12, but are questionable for reliable supplementation include spirulina, blue-green algae and sea veggies like dulse. I love these superfoods for many reasons, but I would not rely on them for sufficient quantities of B12. In Healing with Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford lets us know that this type of B12 may be an analogue of the B12 that our body utilizes. Enjoy the other high nutrition of minerals and amino acids in these foods.

Are you in love with raw sauerkraut? How about kombucha? Like to take mega-doses of probiotics as a hobby? Well, if your intestines are rich in healthy bacteria, you may be producing sufficient quantities of B12 internally. Of course, with people taking so many antibiotics and not having a healthy share of probiotics they are more at risk of having a B12 deficiency.

3) Cholesterol

OK, hold on to your hats and your shares in your pharmaceutical companies! Your cholesterol may be TOO LOW. If you have total cholesterol below 160, you may want to consider getting those levels UP, yes up.

Is cholesterol just some pesky toxin that we are trying to ban from our bodies with every opportunity? The drug companies make it seem that way, don’t they? Cholesterol is a crucial raw material for healthy hormones including reproductive hormones and adrenal hormones. It is also an important component in cell membranes. You want to love up your cell membranes! They surround your cells, allowing only certain things in (like good nutrition) and making sure that all the waste products get out. A healthy cell membrane is crucial to disease prevention including cancer.

Low cholesterol levels have been correlated with depression, anxiety, risk of hemorrhagic stroke and premature births. Pretty crazy! You might notice that you are craving saturated fats, or that you are feeling a little fatigued or just “not right”. Have your labs done and then check out the parameters below.

If I were looking at your labs, I would want to see total cholesterol above 160, LDL above 90 (even up to 110), and HDL above 50. If your total cholesterol or LDL is low, I want to recommend that you really make an effort to get some saturated fats into your diet. Of course, coconut oil satisfies this need, and so does cocoa butter (the fat portion of raw chocolate). Red palm oil is also another oil to consider. It is really beautiful to look at because it is also rich in beta-carotene, which is pretty cool. This is the palm oil that is NOT partially hydrogenated. Check out organic virgin Palm Oil from Tropical Traditions.

I suggest that once per year you give yourself a gift and check in with a health practitioner who is knowledgeable about raw vegan nutrition. Here are the labs that I suggest you have done each year:

• CBC – Complete blood count
• Chemistry Panel – numerous checks including fasting blood sugar, liver and kidney markers
• TSH – Thyroid marker
• Lipid panel – fats including good and bad cholesterol
• Vitamin D-25-Hydroxy – Best marker of your Vitamin D levels
• Ferritin – Iron Stores

It only takes a small investment of your time and attention to truly inform yourself about what you need to thrive and avoid deficiencies. You’re worth the effort.

To you health,

Dr. Ariel Policano

Dr. Ariel Policano has been studying live food nutrition for over 15 years. She is a licensed naturopathic physician and a graduate of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Ariel helps people to optimize their health with a balanced diet of living foods, superfoods and other cutting-edge nutritional interventions. She is the creator of the Body Bliss Cleanse, which is an effective 14-day supplement program. Dr. Ariel is available for phone consultations and works with clients around the world.

It’s hard to believe that there are only a few days left of our live Believe in Green event, the process has been an inspiring one. I’d been promising myself to do little blog posts on each of the presenters of the event and even though it’s late, late is better than never, so I’m going to start with the person whose interview kicked off our BiG event: Victoria Boutenko.

I’ve interviewed Victoria a few times, but this was by far my favorite. I was so surprised by some of her answers and her outburst of love and appreciation at the end of the interview is probably something I should record and listen to when I get up every morning. You can listen to the Believe in Green interviews at any time, and while you can sign up and listen to the calls for FREE, we encourage you to drop a wee bit of cash knowing that your $10 donation will go to support the Lower East Side Girls’ Club and their health and nutrition programs.

Here are a few reasons to sign up and listen to Victoria’s call

• She explains how to avoid the gross green smoothie experience of having your food taste like lawnmower pulp.
• Her personal routine is super inspiring.
• She’s got great advice for new comers!
• She gives a few secrets to foraging for wild edible greens that I had never heard before and added dozens of new plants to my wild repertoire.
• She’s got one of the best attitudes a human can possibly have.
• She’s the queen of green smoothies doing great things to make a better world, and listening to her will make YOU want to get up and do great things, too!

You can access Victoria’s interview when you sign up for the Believe in Green event here.

Thanks again for supporting this program!

Ooooh eeee!

Yesterday was officially International Green Smoothie Day and I am delighted to report that our Believe in Green program has lifted off.

We’re starting the event with a fabulous interview with the “creator” of green smoothies, Victoria Boutenko. I love Victoria (who doesn’t?!) and it’s been a pleasure to watch her skyrocket to success over the last few years with the popularity of “green smoothies.” We felt it important to pay special tribute to her work and so she was the key speaker for our preparatory day.

In that interview with me she shared some of her unusual personal habits, which I absolutely love, and if I could adopt them myself I would. Unfortunately skinny dipping isn’t looked favorably upon in downtown Montreal. I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with Victoria on many occasions and this was really a special treat!

You can still access this interview at any time by signing up for Believe in Green.

We set a target of $10,000 in donations, and we’ve nearly reached the $6000 mark by now. It’s exciting, encouraging and inspiring to watch the numbers rise! Thank you so much for all those who are helping to spread the word and make this happen.

Last night at around 6pm Eastern, Robyn Openshaw, also known as: Green Smoothie Girl, came to the stage to share her helpful information on how to get the kids on board healthy eating, and how to get the whole family started on a healthier path to whole foods no matter where you’re starting from.

Robyn is a single mom of 4 kids (3 of them are teenagers, so I TOTALLY take my hat off to this woman!) and she’s self-employed. In the moments when I think I’m crazy to be doing the things I do, I think of her and remember there are crazier.

All kidding aside, I LOVE Robyn’s work and think her get-real approach to raw food is the perfect message for so many people who struggle with a 100% ideal.

I need to give BIG thanks to Blendtec who is sponsoring this event with a fancy, shmancy, brand new Blendter to the winner of our Ripple Maker award. Every year for International Green Smoothie Day we award one (sometimes two) lucky participants with a new blender. All they have to do is host a green smoothie event or do something to get the word out about green smoothies. The person who touches the most lives with their event will win the blender!

It’s not the easiest task in the world, but for a prize like this, we want to honor it with a worthy endeavor to make a difference out there. It’s a thrill to know that seniors’ centers, and elementary schools in Mexico have become the stompin’ grounds for green smoothies because of this event.

If you’ve not yet signed up, you can still access ALL the interviews when you come onboard. We set a target of $10,000 in donations and until we reach our goal, we’re going to keep the gates open! We busted the $6000 mark, so all we need is 400 more people to join us for this green smoothie event and we’ll be home free.

Thanks so much for your support of this event!

Love and leafy greens,

Tera

p.s.

Oh my! I didn’t even mention that 100% of the money we generate for this event goes to the Lower East Side Girls’ Club!

by Tiffany Sporicelli

Hello all you green Divas out there! I’m a huge fan of all of you and what this site has to offer, so I thought I’d try to share something myself, instead of just greedily taking in all the valuable information you share!

All my life I have been interested in plants and the mystical, magical properties they contain. However, I had many interests growing up and there are only so many hours in a day, so, I didn’t end up following my interest in gardening and herbalism until after the completion of my undergraduate degree. I was 25 and after two short years of living and working in Manhattan, I moved (read: ran) away to return the sprawling countryside of northern New York. It was in this transition to the country that I rediscovered my innate desire to begin working the land.

With two small children and her modest organic garden, Rebecca embodies all the grace and wisdom of our earth mother. A year ago she took me in and began giving me herbal lessons in exchange for some work on the farm. There ware really no downside to the situation for me- I had found my heaven on earth. Since I was renting my home at the time, I appreciated the opportunity to get down and dirty in the soil while learning more about herbalism from a certified herbalist!

Now, herbalism and gardening remain interests and just that. I certainly do not claim to be an herbalist myself. But I thought it would be interesting to share this novice’s experience and what valuable herbal basics I’ve learned so far during this herbal exploration.

One of the most popular ways herbs are used today is in cooking. We use them to add flavor to dishes and to create authentic recipes from each corner of the globe. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme along with cilantro, oregano, and a few others have become kitchen staples. Not only do they taste great, but they offer many health benefits from toning to detoxification.

Another popular way that people ‘take’ their herbs is though herbal teas. You don’t need to observe four o’clock teatime daily to know that a good cup of tea, properly steeped, can soothe the nerves and bring about wonderful healing results. Chamomile might be one of my favorite nighttime teas for the flavor, but it has also been used for centuries in treating children’s colic, nervous stress, infections, and more. No wonder it’s one of the leading ingredients in Celestial Seasonings’ popular Sleepytime tea!

If tea isn’t, well, your “cup of tea,” today, just about everything comes in capsule form. Vitamins, sleep aids, caffeine, and, you guessed it- herbs. In fact many of the leading medicines on the market today are heavily concentrated doses of herbs that our ancestors discovered centuries ago to be potent healers.

Herbs also come in tinctures for a controlled dose. Tinctures are concentrated herbal extracts in a liquid solution. They are administered by dropping 20-30 drops into water (or tea) depending on the desired outcome. Tinctures need to be taken regularly and herbal medicines usually take several days to months before the desired outcome is achieved.

There are several other ways to reap the benefits of medicinal herbs. Oils, lotions and bath soaks have become popular in homes and spas around the world.

We can incorporate the use of herbs into our modern lives in many different ways however to embark on this path of herbal healing and wellness, it must be understood that good health and the path to vitality can’t be found in a plant or pill. Good health is the result of balanced living and nurturing ourselves on a daily basis. It’s a way of life, not a passing diet plan. And no herbal regimen should take the place of personalized medical care from a licensed professional.

Stay tuned, Divas, for our upcoming project: Herbal Talks for Women with herbalist Jonathan Raymond!!

Hey gorgeous health heroines!

We have a little something special to support and inspire you along your path to perfect health. As many of you know, our Green Smoothie Detox kicked off TODAY! We’re starting with a week or preparation and then next week we rev our blenders and get into green mode.

One of our most recent participants on the 22-Day Green Smoothie Detox is a writer and decided that she would love to share her experience on the blog as a way of inspiring other people to change. She’s coming from a bit of a rut in the road after she lost her husband to cancer a year ago. She certainly helps keep it all real. I invite you to follow along and enjoy the ride as another wild woman of courage picks up her straw and starts slurping her way to vibrant health and high-energy living.

Not everyone has the guts to put their “before” picture out there before the changes and improvements have happened. We’re so confident about what the program will do for her, that we’re perfectly comfortable having her flaunt her fabulous improvements. Anyway, here’s Marie:

I choked writing a bio.   Because I don’t know who I am anymore.   I come to the Raw Divas – raw and scraped to the bone with emotional and physical pain.   A year of bad eating or barely eating.   A year of crying.   And I’m ready to crawl out of the hole and live again and be remarkably healthy.   I’m going to surf ride a green wave of wonderful to health.

A year ago, I had a great life.   I live in Mystic CT, a beautiful seaside community, near casinos with great live shows and fantastic art museums scattered around the area, and a train hop to New York or Boston.   A year ago, I had a husband who loved me, who had a great job and I was working on my writing.   We were happy, healthy, and financially solid.   Then cancer hit like a bullet train in May. Long drives to the hospital had me chugging coffee and eating apples and peanut butter at best, and drive through or nothing at the worst.  Of throwing up in fear and pain, and panic that my husband was so ill.  Last August my husband died, and I hit rock bottom emotionally and financially.   Suddenly, I had to start rebuilding my life and I had no idea what to do.

I sit here today.  I’m a new widow, jobless, and stressed.

Worst (best) I have an agent for my books I met her the day I put my husband in Intensive Care, but I have to finish writing the books, and I cry, am depressed, and spend about 10 hours a day during the day in a flannel jammy watching Star Trek. Jean Luc Picard doesn’t boldly go anywhere he hasn’t gone at least 12 times before.   When I lost my husband, I lost the last of my family, we had moved for his job, so I’m isolated.   The economy here is so dismal I can’t find work.  And my best friends moved to whole different continents!!!   And I had to fight to get my husband’s ashes after 10 months.  It’s been grueling.

Do the words “life sucks” mean anything???   I’m tired and miserable and need to change.

I have eye circles  so dark that the racoon is asking if he can get makeup tips and I need something.   I was mumbling something to the cat or God, or something and this invite to Raw Divas popped in my inbox and I jumped.   Leapt.

I have my own garden, plenty of parsley and greens!!  I grow blueberries and raspberries and strawberries and a lot of other veggies.   I‘m ready for a new and fabulous life and I’m going to chronicle the journey to health, wealth, well being and a new life. Check it out!  I’ll be blogging every day about my experiences.

Greeting fabulous fitness fanatics!

Okay, so maybe we’re not fanatics, but we made some noble efforts over the course of 10 days. Certainly more than we would have done without it. And while I think I only did about 6/10 days, I’m grinning eat to ear at the realisations that were made along the way and the good things that came out of it.

And that’s how it should be. We need to just look at the positive. What worked? What good things did you do? learn? discover about yourself?

Thanks to this fitness challenge I had one of the best self-pampering sessions I’ve ever had in my life. It was magical, marvelous and completely self-indulgent. I loved it.

Thanks to this fitness challenge my kids and my boyfriend tried the 90-second fitness routine!

Thanks to this fitness challenged I realized the importance of gradual steps, or small steps, or realistic targets when implementing new habits. (And even that was tough to fit in!)

The great news is that if you commented on the blog, then know that you will be getting a copy of Pete’s vook, because not a single person, not even me , ended up doing all 10 days of the Commit to Fit challenge.

But we’re troopers for having tried it and firm, fit and fabulous for being here in the first place.

Love and admiration,

Tera

In true Pete Cerqua form, this video happens at light speed. You might need to watch it a few times to get it all in, but I do believe, dear Sisters, that we have ourselves some new exercises to try out.

We’re only one more day away from Day 10! Who’s going to be getting a Vook?

Keep me posted and get up against that wall!

Love and firm thighs,

Tera

So, I had THE most inspiring teleseminar with Pete Cerqua earlier this week “(Slim Down in Seconds with Pete Cerqua”) and if you missed it you can listen in here.

I loved the call and was so pleased with myself because during the call I actually DID the exercise workout he recommends for getting started. Silly ol’ me, though, I skipped them on Tuesday and this morning when I tried to find the motivation to do them again, I could only bear it for half the time I did on Monday.

It just proves what I’ve always known and try so much to incorporate in everything we do around here: Life is not meant to be lived alone.
The support of another person who believes in you and who pushes, inspires, reminds you to breathe when you’re in a tight situation—these are the secrets to success. It doesn’t matter how many cool exercise videos you have when they’re collecting dust on your shelf.

It doesn’t matter how much you spend on a gym membership if you never go.

It matters how much time you actually put in making what you want to happen, happen in the world.

So, no fancy announcements. No pretty pictures or fanfare. Here’s the bottom line.

Starting TODAY for the next 10 days I’m going to post every day on the blog. Just a little something about what I can do to commit to fit. If you’d like to join me, take a moment to listen to Pete’s interview here. Do the 3-minute workout about 15-20 minutes into the call and then record your score here in the comment section below. If you record your score every day for the 10 days of this challenge, you’ll be entered to win a personal consultation with Pete and a copy of Pete’s Vook (Video-Book)!

So, up against the wall, Ladies! Set your timers and let me know how you made out!

OKay, so first thing I gotta say is I LOVE PETE CERQUA!

He doesn’t waste a moment of my time. He just says it like it is. Gets it out and gets to the point! I seriously can’t wait to win one of his Vooks, because it’s going to rawk my bottom tight.

Here’s Pete doing a quick demonstration of the wall sit and plank position we’ve been trying to do every day. There were some good additions to the instructions I hadn’t noticed before:

This afternoon, while the sun was still out, I went for a 2-hour bike ride with MAC (the man in my life). It was great to power up the hills, but I noticed I had a harder time getting up than usual. Felt like hard work. Maybe my thighs have just been getting a bit of an extra workout during my 90-second power sessions.

How are you doing on your challenge? It’s pretty quiet out there? If you want to win that book, I’ve got to hear from you! In the vook that Pete is sharing with us, we’ll get to see more of the advanced exercises, too! I can’t wait!

Love and long legs,

Tera

P.S.

The friendly folks at Vook sent us another video. One more. Now, you’re going to see Pete in action at double speed, but there’s SO much information in there AND an entire new set of exercises you’ve never tried yet! Get ready! Tomorrow is Day 9 and we’re going to try a few new things!!!

OKay, Ladies. Our friends from Vook managed to hook us up with some video entertainment for the final leg of our 10-Day Challenge. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been so inspired by your little comments. Just knowing you’re out there expecting me to be here, too, makes me get up against the wall.

Yesterday I didn’t manage to make it happen, but I totally agree with Isobel on the fact that getting them done first thing in the morning is key.

Rhythms. Rituals and predictable patterns. These are the kinds of things that really help anchor us to our commitments. So, I’m going to try doing it first thing in the morning after my new beauty routine.

For the fitness, I did manage to get a bit of a bike ride in yesterday, and since my boyfriend and I are feeling all warm and fuzzy again, well, I’ve been feeling fairly physically active in general. *blush* *wink* I would LOOOVE to talk more about the tools we’ve been using to improve our relationship and communication. It’s REALLY exciting. I’ve been working more and more with communication and relationships because I see what a difference it makes in people’s well-being. When our relationships and communication are out of what, everything is out of whack.

Anyway, we’ve been working with an amazing person here and last night just got me so excited and inspired. I’ve decided that I’ll be doing a communication “cleanse” in August. I was working on the different elements of this program last night and I can’t think of a time I’ve ever been THIS excited to do a project.

Oh sure, I love detox and weight loss programs and other things like the WISH Summit. But this communication “cleanse” is just dynamite. There’s no way to fail. There are no fancy ingredients or machines or supplies or shopping lists. You just need to muster up the courage to look at your relationships and communicate! Observe how you are in relationship to other people then do something about it. I am SO excited about it and promise to keep you posted as August draws near.

Since this is our fitness challenge, though, let’s check out this video from Pete and see what the king of fast fitness tips has to say:

Meet Pete:

WOW! Did you see those crazy new exercises that were NOT in our assignment? I want the vook! I want the vook!!!!

You are a total RAWKstar for being here. I love doing these with you and I’m TOTALLY excited after having watched this video about trying out the other exercises in Pete’s Vook! I think I should count for a free copy, too, don’t you?

We’re getting ready to re-release the Body Enlightenment System after a long time out at the spa, and I’m really feeling like Pete’s going to be the PERFECT fitness coach for that program! Love this stuff!

And love you, too, Sunshine! Keep going! Doesn’t watching this video just make you want to get up and try something else??

GO FOR IT!

xoxox

Tera

p.s.

Just got the link to Pete’s vook. You can purchase your copy here!