1 askdrnandi.com January 2018

Issue 11 - January 2018 edition

Dr. Nandi Ask Dr. Nandi Health Hero Magazine

GabRIELLE bERnstEIn

shEds a LIGht on how to bREak

thE cycLE ofJudGmEnt

JudGmEnt dEtoxDelicious

Detox Recipes

DARINGRESTTO

Women, sleep and their health

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While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in the Health Hero Magazine is accurate and complete at the time of printing, Ask Dr. Nandi

and its affiliates and subsidiaries shall not be liable for any damages of any kind resulting from use or reliance on this magazine or information contained herein. Copyright 2018 Ask Dr. Nandi

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Contents

3GABRIELLE BERNSTEINJUDGMENT DETOX

HEALTHHERODr. Nandi

17-19SKIN DETOX DETOX RECIPES13

HEALTH HERO HIGHLIGHTKAREN BRODY

page pages

page

page

Cover Photo By: Chloe Crespi

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digital detox

7page

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Gabrielle Bernstein is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Universe Has Your Back and has written four additional best sellers.

You have created a beautiful mega-brand supporting individu-als living their passion, purpose, spirituality and inspiration. You are also one of this generation’s most soulful thought-leaders. Your life’s journey is interesting and has had its fair share of chal-lenges. Can you share with us about your life’s path and how it unfolded? In my early twenties I ran a night-life PR firm in NYC. On the outside

everything looked great, but on the inside I was a mess. I was seeking happiness, security and self-worth outside of myself. I regularly stayed up till 5 or 6 a.m. partying, and thanks to cocaine I weighed about 98 pounds. My friends had tried an intervention, but it didn’t work. Then, one night, I finally let it go. I wrote in my journal, “I need help. God, Universe, whoever is out there … I need a miracle.” The next morning, October 2, 2005, I woke up to a loud inner voice that said, “Get

JudGmEnt dEtox

She was featured on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday as a “next-generation thought leader,” and The New York Times named her “a new role model.” Her flagship course, The Spirit Junkie Masterclass, empowers people to awaken their confidence and live their purpose. Forbes called her one of the 20 best-branded women and Self-Made magazine named Gabby one of the top 50 women in business.

clean and you’ll live a life beyond your wildest dreams.” I knew I had no other choice than to listen. I am happy it happened the way it did. I found God in my own way. I got clean. My conscious surren-der was when I asked for help in my journal. I received an answer right away, and I have been so-ber since that day. I was desper-ately looking for happiness, and I was seeking everything good—peace and happiness—outside of myself. My own personal journey is what set me on the path to become a teacher. For the past eight years I’ve been leading lectures, writing books and teaching others how to shift their perceptions and create miracles in their lives.

Photo By: Chloe Crespi

4 Clear Blocks 4 Spread More Love 4 Live A Miraculous Life

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Was there a pivotal event/decision you may recall that significantly affect the trajectory of your life and work?

The decision to get sober on October 2, 2005 was a huge turning point in my life. Not only was that a decision to live but it was also my decision to lead. Are there any big myths or miscon-ceptions you see as you share your work that you would like to dispel or speak to? Myth: The harder you push the more you receive. Truth: The more you allow the more you receive. Myth: I have to get what they have and there’s not enough to go around. Truth: When you see yourself as not having enough you invest in the illusion of poverty. It’s the energy of lack that creates more lack. When you’re jealous you tell the Universe that there’s not enough of the thing you want. Myth: The more you do the more you’re worth. Truth: Abraham Hicks say, “The better you feel the more you allow.” Research shows having purpose and passion will lead to a happier and healthier life. You have clearly found your passion and purpose so what advice might you give to others looking to find and pursue their purpose? I believe that you don’t find your purpose, your purpose finds you. When you focus your time and attention onto what brings you joy then you’ll be guided to live out your purpose. Our true purpose is to be joyful. Tribe is an important facet to success life and in individual health and wellness. What are the qualities you need in people around you in order to show up as your very best self?The qualities I look for in my tribe are people who make me feel safe. I value trust above anything else. I also look

for authenticity because that’s what creates true connection. I like when people keep it real. I feel elevated in the presence of someone’s authentic truth. You have a new book out called Judgment Detox. Can you share why you wrote this book? This six-step practice offers many promises. Petty resentments will disappear, compassion will replace attack, the energy of resistance will transform into freedom and you’ll feel more peace and happiness than you’ve ever known. I can testify to these results because I’ve lived them. I’ve never felt more freedom and joy than I have when writing and practic-ing these steps. My commitment to healing my rela-tionship with judgment has changed my life in profound ways. My aware-ness of my judgment has helped me become a more mindful and con-scious person. My willingness to heal these perceptions has set me free. I have been able to let go of resent-ments and jealousies. I can face pain with curiosity and love, and I forgive others and myself much more easily. Best of all, I have a healthy relation-ship to judgment so that I can witness when it shows up and I can use these steps to quickly return to love. The Judgment Detox is an interactive six-step process that calls on spiritual principles from the text A Course in Miracles, Kundalini yoga, the Emo-tional Freedom Technique (aka Tapping), meditation, prayer and metaphysical teachings. I’ve demysti-fied these principles to make them easy to commit to and apply in your daily life. Each lesson builds upon the next to support true healing. When you commit to following the process and become willing to let go, judgment, pain and suffering will begin to dissolve. The miracles will keep coming. Once you begin to feel better you start to release your resistance to love. When you’re in harmony with love you receive more of what you want. Your energy attracts its likeness. So when you shift your energy from defensive judgment to free-flowing love, your life gets awe-some. You’ll attract exactly what you need, your relationships will heal, your

Do you have any morning rituals you can share?Meditation, Prayer, Bath

What are you reading right now?The Vortex by Abraham Hicks

Do you have a favorite meditation?TM (transcendental meditation)

What is something new that you you are excited about?Gaia Golden Milk. I’m obsessed!!!!

GabbyGet to know

Photo By: Wendy Yalow

5January 2018

health will improve and you’ll feel safer and more secure. One loving thought at a time creates a miracle. Follow these steps to clear all blocks, spread more love and live a miraculous life. Why is judgment detox so important for your overall wellness? When you heal your judgmental patterns you release resistance in your energy field thereby clearing stress and restoring overall wellbeing. In the absence of resistance your body can heal naturally. Can you take us through the 6 steps of Judgment Detox and the impor-tance of each step? Step 1: Witness Your Judgment Without Judgment When I started to witness how my judg-mental nature made me feel, right away I could see why my life wasn’t flowing. Judgment made me feel weak, sad and disconnected. It even caused me physical pain. Once I was I was able to step away from the judgment and witness how it made me feel, I could truly understand how much it was blocking my happiness. In most cases we don’t even realize how judgmental we are. This is partly because we judge ourselves for our judgmental behavior. It sounds crazy, but we do it all the time. We can be tempted to criticize ourselves for our judgment, or to feel shame for our thoughts or behavior. Instead, when we take an honest inventory we must honor ourselves for having the willing-ness to look with love at whatever judgmental choices we’ve made. The way out of judgment begins when you witness the judgment without more judgment. When we look at our judgment with love we can begin the healing process. In Step 1 you’ll get intimate with your judgment, identify the triggers under-neath it and get honest about how it makes you feel. You’ll be guided to uncover the stories from your past that spark your judgmental behavior, and you’ll come to understand how all judgment is a disowned part of your own shadow. This authentic audit of your behavior is a necessary first step. Without it, you can’t move on to the next phase of healing. The spiritual

path to clearing judgment begins with your honest inventory. Step 2: Honor the Wound The next step in healing your relation-ship to judgment is to honor the shadows and bring them to the light. In Step 2 I teach a powerful technique called the Emotional Freedom Tech-nique, also known as EFT or Tapping. EFT is a psychological acupressure technique that supports your emotional health. I have found that EFT is one of the greatest ways to address the root cause of emotional issues that live below the surface of our judgment. The practice of EFT asks that you tap on specific energy meridians on your body. When these meridians are stimulated, they tell the amygdala (the part of our brain essential to feeling fear) to calm down. When the amyg-dala gets the message that it’s safe to relax, a major shift can occur in your emotional state. I have created specific scripts to address many of our most common trigger issues. As you tap on the specific meridians you’ll be guided to address certain emotions that come up around your stress. This practice will help you heal the triggers, wounds and traumas that live underneath your judgments. This process alone can have a huge healing effect on your life. I teach EFT in the second step of the Judgment Detox so you can feel significant relief from the get-go. Step 3: Put Love on the Altar Once you’ve witnessed your judgmen-tal thoughts and honored the wounds through EFT, the next step is to pray. This is a practice of offering up your judgment through prayer. An essential part of this work is establishing a relationship to a power greater than you (however you might define it). Through the spiritual practice of surrender you begin to dissolve judgment with love. Some judgments are harder than others to let go of. Some may feel especially difficult or even impossible. This is where the power of prayer comes in. You don’t have to rely entirely on yourself — instead, you can call on a power greater than yourself to guide and support you. Offering up your judgment through prayer lifts the burden from your shoulders while

Judgment detox is an interactive step-by-step process that offers a path to true healing, oneness, and a deeper connection to the

universe and those around us. in this book, Gabby breaks down the principles to make them easy to commit to and apply in our daily lives. This practice is not just about feeling happier

and attracting more, it’s about healing the world.

www.gabbybernstein.Com

twitter

@gabbybernstein

instagram @gabbybernstein

FaCebook @gabriellebernstein

Photo By: Wendy Yalow

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signaling to the Universe that you are willing to see a person or situation differently, even if you’re not sure how to do it. Prayer offers you a shift in percep-tion, which in turn will help you see your judgments through the lens of love and compassion. If you have a hard time finding things you like about a person or a situation, you can call on compassion. When you cultivate a feeling of compassion, judgment cannot coexist. Compas-sion is the antidote to judgment — instead of perceiving someone’s behavior or a situation as a threat, you can witness it as a call for love. Finally, in Step 3 you also take time to be compassionate toward your-self. Judgment wouldn’t be present if in some way you weren’t calling out for love. This step prepares you for what’s next. Step 4: See for the First Time Once you’ve prayed and cultivated compassion, you’ll be ready to shift how you see the people you’ve judged. We often judge others (and ourselves) by projecting old experi-ences onto our current circumstanc-es. But when you practice seeing someone for the first time, you release them from the false projec-tions you’ve put on them and the false beliefs that separate you. Instead of seeing another person through the lens of the past, you’ll see them as someone calling out for love. We begin to heal our judgment toward others when we accept that people are our teachers in the classroom that is our life. Making that commitment lets us look at our situation differently. You’ll witness how you drag the past into the present, and then you’ll be able to choose again. You’ll learn how you can choose to look at a person (or a situation) as if you’re seeing them for the first time. Imagine how free you would be if you didn’t lug your past into your present with every encounter! Remember that we are all caught in the same cycle of fear and are all desperately seeking a way out. The way out is through love. Step 5: Meditate for Oneness

Learning how to see others for the first time sets you up for the power-ful practice of meditation in Step 5. Some of my greatest healing has occurred on my meditation pillow — because in stillness all separation melts away and oneness is restored. This step contains visualization meditations, Kundalini meditations and mantra-based meditations to help you heal your relationship to judgment. There are six meditations in this step that are designed to be done daily in consecutive order. Each meditation builds upon the next, helping you relinquish attack thoughts and reconnect to your inner guidance system. Following each meditation you’ll be asked to free-write in your journal. This free-writing process will allow your inner wisdom to come to the fore-front and reveal whatever you need to know for deeper healing and growth. You’ll be amazed by what comes through! After practicing the six meditations, I suggest you choose a favorite and make it a daily practice. These meditations will help you experience great relief and they’ll help you stay consistent with your Judgment Detox. Step 6: Forgive The final step of the Judgment Detox is to let yourself off the hook for the judgments you have made. This is possible to do when you understand that when you judge you’re really just looking for love. It’s the true intent behind the attack. Deep down all you want is to protect yourself from not feeling loved. It’s also the intent of the person you believe has attacked you. We’re all simply looking for love. In fact, attack, fear, judgment and any form of separation are all just calls for help. When you’re in physical pain, you know that your pain calls for relief. The same goes for judgment. It’s a form of emotional pain that you want to relieve. Whether you realize it or not, you do not want to remain sick, sad or fearful. You want to be free. When you witness your judgment without judgment, accept that you have chosen fear and remain open to receiving the help you’re calling for, you can liberate yourself from this pattern.

All of this brings us to forgiveness. In any given moment that you witness yourself in judgment you can set yourself free by simply forgiving the thought. Forgive yourself for having the thought and even forgive the thought itself. The Judgment Detox dissolves all boundaries with love. It brings us back to the truth: that we’re all in it together. We all suffer. We all feel unworthy and abandoned. But identifying sameness in one another allows us to shift our focus from separation back to love. The same way we share the thought system of fear we share the loving mind. We share the same capacity to choose love over fear. As my dear teacher Kenneth Wapnick said, “We see that we all have the same interest of awakening from the dream of unkind-ness and returning to the kindness who created us kind.” What are the top ways to stop the judgment cycle? Step one is the most important: Witness your judgment without judgment. This practice helps you disconnect from the cycle the mo-ment you recognize that you’re back in it. We can’t change a pattern unless we know we’re stuck in it. You talk about judgment as an addiction, how can we begin to heal in this New Year? Getting on the path to healing this New Year requires us to feel the discomfort — but we’re way too scared even to go there, so instead, we gossip or we judge ourselves. We perceive ourselves as the victim of the world we see. Judging ourselves as the victim feels safer than facing our wounds. This is how self-judgment becomes an addiction. Our willing-ness to heal this perception is all that is required. With the slightest willing-ness you can pick up the book and begin the healing journey.

Photo By: Wendy Yalow

askdrnandi.com 7January 2018

H O W T O T A K E A

DIGITAL DETOX

prescriptionsPArTHA’s

Behavioral addictions like technology are widespread and happen in countries around the world. It's an issue if you've disconnected with life around you or if it interferes with daily life. It may be time to talk to your doctor if you have a constant urge to check your emails and posts, or are preoccupied with the internet and spend increasing amounts of time to achieve satisfaction.

Anyone can do a digital detox by simply turning off your device. But this may be impracticable or hard to do, so here are my prescriptions:

If you think you’re too attached to your smartphone, there are simple things you can do to reduce your exposure. With our phones, laptops and tablets always near our side, it’s too easy to access the internet anytime, anywhere. We’ve become overly connected, too attached and easily distracted. One thing easily leads to another. You start off checking in with your social media pals and next thing you know you’re posting com-ments, reading stories, pinning recipes and watching videos. You end up disengaged from your own life and miss out on living in the now. This can affect your work pro-ductivity and personal life.

3 Turn off notifications on your phone. Not hearing beeps, pings or chirping will be less distracting and not tempt you away from what you're doing.

3 Schedule regular times to check social media like your lunch hour. Set a specific amount of time and stick to it.

3 Create tech-free zones, like at the dinner table. Intentionally connect with loved ones and give them your undivided attention.

3 Reward yourself when you're tech-free by engaging in other activities like reading books, taking walks, enjoying hobbies and spending quality time with loved ones.

HigHligHt

KAREN BRODYI

was walking through my local supermarket 16 years ago when I came to the light bulb aisle. I had been there before, often with my two young children, under the age

of two, tugging at some part of me. But today I was alone, not a kid in sight, and should have been kicking my heels up and skipping down the aisle. Instead, I was sweating from every part of my body, hands shaking, holding onto the paper towels, positive I was having a heart attack. “This is what it feels like to die,” I thought to myself. The supermarket was fairly empty, but now it seemed on mute. I called my best friend, and she picked me up and took me to the emergency room. In the emergency room, I flopped my body down like a rag doll. One of the nurses put smelling salts under my nose, waking me up enough to call the woman watching my children and ask for extended hours of daycare. My husband was out of town. I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in nearly two years. “Do they know what’s wrong with me?” I asked the nurse. “Not yet,” she said. “Everything checks out okay, so far.” I looked at my best friend. “That’s not possible.” Two hours later, a doctor repeated the nurse’s words that I was medically fine, and added, “We think this was a panic attack.” This “diagnosis” sounded ridiculous. How could my heart palpitations be panic? I was in the supermarket without my kids. This is a mother of young children’s definition of a vacation.

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Photo By: Judith Rae

“We suggest you go on anti-anxiety medication,” the doctor continued. What? Was he out of his mind? Did he know he was talking to a vegan health warrior who eats daily greens and won’t even pop over-the-counter pain medications? “Why don’t you just fill the prescription,” my best friend gingerly suggested. That night, at home, in the dark silence of my bedroom, my husband out of town for work and the kids finally asleep, I held the anti-anxiety pill bottle in my hand, tears flowing from my tired eyes. “This doesn’t mean anything,” I told myself, as I swallowed a pill. “I’ll be off of these pills in six months.” Two and a half years later, I had forgotten my pledge, and the pills were now a regular part of my nighttime routine. “I am fine,” I told everyone, not realizing yet how fine, for many women, is our secret code word that life isn’t so fine. “I think I’ll take a yoga class,” I told myself every time I passed by my sons’ preschool that was across the street from the most groovy yoga studio in town. Finally, I walked in ready to sign up for a bendy-stretchy class to reposition my postpartum baby weight. This made sense. But, when I walked into the yoga studio, I heard the sound of a guided meditation. When I turned to look into where it was coming from I saw 25 women or so lying down, blankets over them, eye pillows on, bolsters underneath their knees, looking like they were taking the best nap of their lives. “I want what they got,” I told the receptionist. “It’s yoga nidra,” she explained. “A sleep-based meditation technique.” Meditation wasn’t new to me, but finding yoga nidra felt like I’d hit the meditation jackpot. I could lie down, and it took me into deep sleep brainwaves, and beyond to a place of no stress. It seemed too good to be true. Every Friday, I took my yoga nidra nap at my local yoga studio. The first thing I noticed was how my deep fatigue lifted. I used to feel like a drunk driver

on the road, often going over curbs and through stop signs. All of that stopped. Then, a few months later, unexpectedly, I began hearing what I now call “soul whispers.” These are messages from your soul that appear as words, images or phrases and give you direction in your life. Mine came both while laying down at the end of yoga nidra, and also in my minivan as I drove my children to the park. I’d grab anything I could write on, often napkins, to record these soul whispers. Soon, I realized these messages all connected to a project I was working on that I thought was a book. I had interviewed 118 women about their birth experiences, and for months, I had been trying to write about birth from the mother’s perspective. The idea felt right, but each time I started writing, I’d feel no traction. Then one day, I decided to look at all the soul whispers I had scribbled down on napkins, and suddenly, it was clear to me: I was supposed to write a play. Yoga nidra gave me the courage and stamina to write that play, and today, BIRTH has been seen in over 75 cities around the world and translated into three languages. Yoga nidra calmed my nervous system down so deeply that, one year after I started practicing yoga nidra, I went off the anti-anxiety medication. My family had a long legacy of anxiety and panic attacks. I thought I was destined to keep that storyline going—that panic must be in my DNA. Yoga nidra showed me that when you meet your messenger—in this case anxiety—often, the power it has over you diffuses; you are able to reside in a much more peaceful place, and let go of a story of suffering. I thought my yoga nidra nap was going to give me the rest I needed, and it did, but what I also found is that when we give ourselves permission to rest, we’re invited into a universal pause, an invitation to trust the mystery of life, to no longer be afraid of the dark. In the pause, ego falls away, and we learn that we’re not in charge. In a busy life, we hate this out-of-control feeling, but through yoga nidra, we enter the inner world and are reminded what we already know: that everything will be okay. Every time I lie down with yoga nidra, I wake rested and am reminded of this magic in the mystery, again and again.

Available at:

www.daringtorest.Com

instagram @karen_brody

FaCebook @KarenRachelBrody

askdrnandi.com 9January 2018

As modern women, we’re taught that we can do it all,

have it all, and be it all. While this freedom is beautiful,

it’s also exhausting. Being a “worn-out woman” is now so common that we think feeling

tired all the time is normal. According to Karen Brody,

feeling this exhausted is not normal—and it’s holding us

back. In Daring to Rest, Brody comes to the rescue with a 40-day program to help you

reclaim rest and access your most powerful, authentic self through yoga nidra, a meditative practice that

guides you into one of the deepest states of relaxation

imaginable.

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How is yoga nidra different than sleep, and how can it help people sleep?

Sleep is an unconscious state. Yoga nidra is a conscious state of sleep—sleep with a trace of awareness. In yoga nidra, you are guided into sleep brainwaves but invited to stay alert and awake. By adding awareness, you increase your potential for transformation, because the subconscious mind hears intentions and affirmations, and accepts them as truth. So when you wake up, you align with your highest truth. Sleep can be deeply restorative, just like yoga nidra,

but without awareness, it will not be life-changing. Also, with all the modern distractions today, many people find it hard to power down and fall asleep or stay asleep. Yoga nidra is like a light switch that helps you power your entire system down. You are guided to sleep, so instead of trying to make sleep happen, you can simply follow a guided voice and just let sleep happen.

How can yoga nidra meditation “liberate” people from their suf-fering?

There is this beautiful moment while you’re practicing yoga nidra

when you begin to dis-identify with your suffering. Yoga nidra plays with opposites a lot—rotating attention to different sides of the body, breathing down opposites sides of the body, feeling hot and then cold in the body—and this gives a person the visceral know-ing that they are not just one emo-tion or belief. The moment we stop living in the “either/or” (for ex-ample, either I’m full of fear or I’m not), and begin to live in the “and/both,” we find the precious space between, and it’s here we discover true liberation. We acknowledge our suffering, but no longer buy into the story.

What is

yOGANIDRA mEDITATION?

with KAREN BRODy, author of Daring to Rest

yOGA NIDRA IS A SlEEp-BASED mEDITATION TEchNIquE.

It takes you from your waking state, to dreaming, into deep sleep, and then beyond to a fourth state of consciousness where you feel no stress, and your body

and mind can completely reboot. you typically practice lying down, but you can also sit in a chair or lean back. In most meditation, you stay in a waking state and

follow your breath or a mantra, but in yoga nidra, you are taken into sleep brainwaves.

askdrnandi.com 11January 2018

‘‘ Rest CoNNeCts

Us wItH oUR Deep

KNowINg.’’

Why did you decide to focus solely on women with your book, Daring to Rest?

I have a personal interest in the empowerment of women. Of course, both men and women could use yoga nidra, and I’m the mother of two teenage boys and have introduced them to yoga nidra, but we live in a patriarchal culture where women are still treated as less than compared to most men. The current sexual harassment allegations really bring this to life. I’d like to see a world with more women leaders leading from a well-rested place. Women tend to play small because they’re either too exhausted and plagued by anxiety and depression or unable to access their confidence. We know that more women have sleep issues than men. Women experience 80% of autoimmune diseases. Yoga nidra can help women feel better and play big. What woman doesn’t want a super power nap?

How can yoga nidra support women in leadership today?

First, yoga nidra can give women the deep rest they need to become clear-thinking leaders, and stop the cycle of burnout. But, even more so, yoga nidra gives women the confidence to trust their intuition and to lead with integrity, empathy, and creativity. These are traits that come naturally to women but have been seen as weakness for centuries. We’ve been living in a culture for too long that praises masculine behavior in our leaders—overwork, logic, take action—and undervalues the feminine—intuition, emotional awareness, slowing down. Yoga nidra can help women re-define success and set the stage for a cultural shift that honors both masculine and feminine traits in our leaders.

What advice would you give to someone who says they are too busy?

To this, I say: If you don’t have time, then that’s exactly why you need to practice yoga nidra meditation. There will never be enough time, and there’s always an excuse to not rest. We need to make ourselves a priority. I often tell women who can’t find time for yoga nidra to call it “physical therapy,” and book it into their schedule. You wouldn’t miss a physical therapy appointment.

A lot of people like to start off the New Year with new goals and habits. What is one small shift that you would suggest?

Put your hand over your heart, take a deep breath, and ask yourself: What does my heart desire? See what word or phrase appears and make that your intention. Have your intention appear as an alarm on your phone several times per day, or repeat it morning and night in the mirror like a mantra. The best intentions come from our heart. We plant them like a seed again and again, until they grow.

Daring to Rest

12 askdrnandi.com January 2018

January 2018

You’ve decided to take the plunge. After reading frightening articles and hearing first hand accounts of toxic chemicals in skin care, you’ve decided to purge your cabinet of all things synthetic. Congratulations! Your face is about to be one happy place!

It’s scary, the unknown. Aloe? Okay, that’s cool. Herbs? Sure. Oils? On my face? We know, it can sound like a prank.

But why put organic, whole foods on your plate and then neglect your skin? Your pores eagerly absorb everything you slather on, so you’ve got to really think about what’s on the menu!

When you switch your skin care products, your complexion can get a little wonky. This is especially true for those with acne prone or sensitive skin. Yes, reactions can happen in general when you use new products, but side effects can be even greater if your skin has be-come addicted to harsh ingredients in conventional products.

WHY MAKE THE SWITCH?There are countless toxic chemicals in conventional skin care that aren’t doing your health or your skin any favors. Some show you quick results, but degrade your skin over time. Others are simply fillers or fragrance that are used because they are cheap or convenient. They provide no real benefits to your complexion, and can take an insidious toll on your health.

Another reason we advocate switch-ing to organic skin care products is because they make your skin beauti-ful. The longer you use them, the more you will glow and love your complexion. Some people have a block to using natural products. They think they are less effective or not effective at all. Some ditch their cleanser and toner first, but cling to anti-aging serums or creams that they consider their (lab made) fountain of youth. Not all natural skin care is created equal, however. Simply ommiting chemicals does not make an effective natural skin care line. Synergistically blending herbs and incorporating them into oils and aloe without excessive heat or processing allows the ingredients to really shine. Packaging in miron glass ensures that quality is main-tained without having to use harsh

tips for

skin Detoxn If you’ve been using benzoyl peroxide, retinol, or another harsh skin care ingredient, it’s a good idea to wean yourself off slowly. Over a two week period, decrease the amount of frequency with which you use products contain-ing that ingredient. That will help your skin’s acid mantle adjust gradually.

n Don’t swap all of your prod-ucts at once. If you’re switching to organic skin care, start with your cleanser, toner, and perhaps moisturizer. You can even go one by one if your skin is very sensi-tive. That way, you don’t shock your skin too much at one time.

n Help your body cleanse. En-gage in vigorous exercise if you can, or visit a sauna to sweat it out. Make sure to shower after-wards and use a natural body wash to rinse everything off.

n Drink a lot of water, which is oh-so-necessary to help your body flush things out. You can add some lemon for extra detox power.

n It might not seem like an attractive option, but consider going makeup free while your skin adjusts to the new skin care routine.

n Use a mud mask to encour-age impurities to leave your skin.

n Consider oil pulling, using activated charcoal tablets, or supplementing with neem to aid the detoxifying process.

The feeling of getting clean with your skin care is peaceful, hope-ful, exciting... and maybe a little bit scary. Tune in and spend some time with your skin, observing the changes as you go along. In the end, you’ll find that natural ingre-dients really feed your skin and give it youthful radiance.

skin By Annmarie Gianni

askdrnandi.com 13

D e tox & R e b o ot

You’ll also receive our Skin Detox eBook for free

($24 . 95 VALUE )

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14 askdrnandi.com January 2018

preservatives. Choosing an organic skin care line with the right ingredients and method is vital, or else lack of re-sults will send you right back to where you came from.

Now let’s talk about how to ditch the less-than-natural stuff you’ve got in your cabinet.

SKIN ADDICTIONSWhen your skin gets used to using chemical ingredients, it can be hard to wean yourself off of them. Benzoyl peroxide is a great example. Usu-ally prescribed for acne, benzoyl peroxide clears up skin by killing bacteria and reducing oil produc-tion. In the long term, it is extremely drying to most all skin types (our skin produces oil for a reason...). It is essentially a bleach. Many people find that when they use the ingredi-ent regularly, their towels and gar-ments actually change color! This drying ingredient is damaging your skin’s acid mantle, which acts as a protective barrier. The pH of your skin should be between 4.5-5.5, but

those who use benzoyl peroxide will develop a more alkaline mantle. Then you stop using the ingredient and your skin, in it’s own way, has a panic attack as it tries to get back to its natural pH.

Benzoyl peroxide is not the only ingredient that can throw off your acid mantle. Most conventional skin care products are not pH balanced. Your skin can become dependent on other ingredients too, such as retinol, or even sali-cylic acid. If your skin is hooked on a healthy ingredient, nothing wrong there. But weaning yourself off of toxic ingredients is a neces-sary step in overall health, and can sometimes be a little tricky.

SYMpTOMSThe rebalancing of your skin’s acid mantle can manifest itself as break-outs, especially if you are breakout prone to begin with. As your skin works towards a pH that it likes, you might also see skin that is dry or red-der than normal. If you are going off

of an acne-suppressing ingredient, it makes sense that those symptoms would resurface. This is because the ingredient was simply suppressing, not healing your skin. If you normally experience breakouts, pay attention to the size and location on your face. Maybe you normally get zits hor-monally (which generally show up on your chin) or notice acne most often on your forehead (indicative of intestinal stress), but now it’s show-ing up in different areas of your face, or all over. That’s a sign that the breakouts are detox related. They might be a different size than you normally experience, also, so watch out for that. The detox process should last a couple weeks, but if you continue breaking out beyond then, you should look into address-ing the internal causes of acne. Not everyone breaks out while their skin detoxes. Some people will see red-ness or dryness when switching to a new skin care line. Most natural ingre-dients are less harsh than chemical ones, but that doesn’t mean your skin doesn’t need to adjust to them first.

I see many fad diets and cleanses that promise big results after little time and minimal effort. They seem too good to be true, which is a big red flag. A safe and truly effective detox is a gradual pro-cess that requires patience and a commit-ment to healthy habits. If your goal is to reap the benefits of detoxing your body without risking your well-being, slow and steady is the way to do it.

wHy detox?From the air we breathe to the food and beverages we consume, our bodies are exposed to toxins (both natural and man-made) every day. There might be toxic chemicals in our personal hygiene and home care products, pesticides in our produce and other harmful toxins that we don’t

even realize we come into contact with during our daily routines.

Detoxing and reducing exposure to environmental pollutants cleanses the body of harmful, disease-causing toxins.

When done safely, a good detox can increase your energy, strengthen your

slow and steady:

Detoxing your Body The Right Way

Detoxing is all the rage. Health conscious people are always on the lookout for new ways to rid their bodies of harmful toxins.

By Dr. Partha Nandi

askdrnandi.com 15January 2018

January 2018

DETOx GRADuAlly fOR lONG-TERm BENEfITS.

3 Detox gradually to maintain balance and avoid uncomfort-able side effects.

3 I recommend eliminating toxins over a period of at least 7-10 days. Fourteen days might be needed to break

longer-term habits or remove heavier toxin loads. the

number of days isn't set in stone, but this gives you an idea of what constitutes a safe ad-justment period.

3 start with small, easy-to-make changes and build up over time. You can make significant improvements in as

little as a few weeks.

prescriptionsPArTHA’s 3 If you drink a can of soda every

day, start by reducing to half a can every day. Keep reducing until you eliminate soda altogether.

3If your goal is to reduce your carbohydrate intake, decrease your serving size of carbs by half, then by a bit more each time until you've reached your intake goal.

3 to help fill in the voids, con-sume a daily serving of fruit or veggies in place of the items you're eliminating.

3 Remember to hydrate, get ad-equate sleep, manage your stress and move with purpose through-out the detoxing process.

3 within 7-14 days, you'll notice a significant change.

TRANSfORm yOuR mIND TO TRANSfORm yOuR BODy.

3 when people think "detox," they tend to think only about the body. but your mind likely needs a good detox as well.

3 practice yoga or meditation to clear your mind and eliminate any toxic thoughts that might derail your progress. this simple act of cultivating your mind can improve your focus and create a strong and positive mindset that will lead your body to better results.

3 the stronger your self-belief, the sooner your body will respond accordingly.

cOmmIT TO hEAlThy hABITS.

3 Avoid trendy diets and detoxes that do more harm than good. Commit to a gradual, safe and ef-fective detox process that creates healthy habits you'll be excited to sustain long-term.

3 Real change lasts a lifetime. so why not reap the benefits without the risks and undesirable conse-quences? You'll maintain a healthy body cleansed of harmful toxins and take pleasure in living a more focused, energized and joyful life.

immune system (helping to prevent illness and disease), reduce stress, improve your skin, sharpen your mind, rid your body of excess waste and promote long-term healthy lifestyle habits.

is detoxing risky?

Any dietary change or elimination process must be gradual in order to avoid unnecessary risk. The body’s goal is to maintain homeostasis, a state of equilibrium and stability. There are internal mechanisms in place that attempt to fight abrupt

changes that threaten its balanced state. Because our organs are in constant communication with each other, “talking” by exchanging so-phisticated signals, they immediately catch on when something is up.

Eliminating toxins too abruptly sabo-tages the balance and leaves little to no time for your body to properly ad-just. When this happens, your physi-cal and mental health can suffer.

While the consequences aren’t life-threatening unless you’re abruptly stopping the intake of exorbitant amounts of toxic substances

(drugs or alcohol, for example), you do risk experiencing some undesirable side effects.

Detoxing too quickly can cause body aches and pains, a weakened immune system, deteriorating gut health, brain fog, fatigue, tremors and many other side effects that can throw off your entire body rhythm.

A gradual detox allows your body ad-equate time to adjust to your new nor-mal. Because your body will remain in homeostasis, it won’t “fight back” and result in unwanted side effects that prevent you from enjoying your life.

16 askdrnandi.com

askdrnandi.com 17January 2018

Fresh ProduceJust what theDr. ordered.

Whip up this delicious soup after any big holiday meal. you can also swap out the turkey with leftover chicken. What makes this soup so great is the added heat from the peppers help to speed up your metabolic rate and aid in detoxing.

Serves 6Use organic ingredients whenever possible.

INGREDIENTS4-5 lbs. turkey breast, roasted, skin removed2 1/2 cups roasted vegetables (parsnips, carrots,

potatoes) cut into 1/3-inch cubes2 cups kale, remove ribs, cut into 1/4-thick strips3/4 cup yellow onion, diced5 garlic cloves, finely minced 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil2 tsp sage, finely chopped1 tsp rosemary, finely chopped1 tsp thyme, finely chopped1 tsp fennel seeds, chopped2 tsp chipotles in adobo1/3 tsp cayenne1/2 tsp chili flake1/3 cup green onion, finely sliced64 oz. low sodium chicken brothKosher salt and freshly ground black

pepper to taste

pREpARATION

Shred or chop leftover turkey into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

In a large pot over medium heat, add extra virgin olive oil, onions, rosemary, sage, garlic, thyme, fennel seeds and chili flakes.

Cook until the onions are soft and translucent, stir occasionally. (about 8-10 minutes)

Add chipotles in adobo, cook for 1-2 minutes and stir. The mixture will become fragrant.

Add kale and cook for 1-2 minutes until tender.

Add chopped turkey, chicken broth, salt and pepper.

Simmer for no less than 20-30 minutes. The longer the soup simmers the more flavorful it will become.

Parsnip, carrots and potatoes should be added right before you are ready to serve. This will allow just enough time for the vegetables to warm in broth.

Top with green onions and serve.

Leftovers

Detox soup

18 askdrnandi.com January 2018

BLack GarLic anD tomato sauceServes 4Use organic ingredients whenever possible. INGREDIENTS3-4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil1 carrot, very finely chopped1 medium onion, finely chopped1 celery stick, finely chopped1 roasted red pepper, chopped15 oz. chopped tomatoes4 cloves peeled black garlic1 Tbsp tomato puree1 1/2 tsp caster sugar (if you cannot find

caster sugar, substitute superfine sugar)

1 tsp dried oregano1/3 cup fresh basil, choppedSalt and freshly ground black pepper pREpARATION

In a large saucepan, add extra virgin olive oil and heat until hot.

Add carrots, onion and celery and cook until they soften but do not turn color.

Peel and then crush black garlic and add to vegetables.

Pour in chopped tomatoes and add tomato puree, roasted red pepper and oregano.

Season with salt and pepper.

Simmer on a very low heat for 35 minutes.

If sauce is too thick, add low sodium vegetable stock.

Add sugar.

Simmer for 5-10 more minutes and serve with a small portion of pasta or even better with zucchini noodles!

Black garlic

is rich in amino acids and has almost twice

the amount of antioxidants of

white garlic.Black garlic is not as

pungent and may be a bit more gentle on the

stomach.

onions are rich in sulfur

containing compounds that help the body release toxins, especially the liver. It helps rid the body of lead, arsenic and

cadmium. It is also rich in quercitin which is a powerful antioxidant

flavonoid that thins blood,lowers cholesterol, wards off blood clots and may even

inhibit some types of cancer.

askdrnandi.com 19January 2018

caBBage is an excellent

detoxifying food that can help with weight loss. It contains two

things: sulforaphane, a chemical that eliminates toxins; and glutathione,

an antioxidant that promotes liver detox.

Leek anD mushroom caBBaGe roLLsServes 10Use organic ingredients whenever possible. INGREDIENTS1 small Savoy cabbage 9 oz. of leeks, washed, trimmed and finely chopped 9 oz. button or Shitake mushrooms, cleaned and finely chopped 2 Tbsp butter 3-4 large garlic cloves, finely minced 1/2 cup slivered almonds 1 Tbsp lemon juice 2 1/2 tsp sweet paprika 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth Salt and pepper for taste, as needed pREpARATIONPreheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bring 7 quarts water to a boil in large pot.

Take 10 large outer leaves of the cabbage and blanch leaves in boiling water. About 2 minutes.

Remove from boiling water and place in cold water to keep color.

Drain and remove tough lower spine.

Chop 2 cups of remaining cabbage finely.

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat and add cabbage, leeks, garlic and mushrooms. Sauté for about 10-12 minutes.

Stir frequently.

Add almonds, lemon juice and paprika to mixture and continue to cook for about 5-6 minutes.

Remove pan and allow time to cool.

Add egg and salt and pepper to mixture.

Mix extremely well.

Divide stuffing equally between blanched cabbage leaves.

Roll leaves tightly.

Place seam side down and tightly packed in an ovenproof pan. Make sure it is a single layer.

Pour vegetable broth around the rolls.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Serve hot.

lemons essentially single-

handedly flush out all the bad stuff. Chock-

full of vitamin C, lemon will brighten your skin,

improve immunity, and help ward off disease-

forming free-radicals

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