Category: Cleansing

As founder and co-owner of Chef V, I’ve offered my Cleanses and organic Green Drink to thousands of clients over the last ten years. In this blog, you will find over 300 articles and recipes. In this section we cover cleansing.

As we delve into the world of cleansing, my articles look at the good and the bad –  from flushing out toxins to boosting energy levels and enhancing mental clarity to the changes you can expect.

Vital! – Chef V cleanses are backed by clinical research, with clinical research showing weight loss, reduced inflammation, reduced sugar levels, and improvements in mood and energy.

Avoiding the Side Effects of Cleansing

a green drink a day can support your mood

You’ve been eating like crap, drinking too much wine/champagne/Prosecco, not exercising enough and your pants are getting too tight. It’s time for an intervention. But if you’re considering doing a cleanse/detox, is the cure worse than the intervention? Before you splurge on a week’s worth of fancy juice or other detox product, take the time to learn about cleanse side effects. 

Chef V in kitchen with citrus logo

If you’ve come to this article because you’re researching “cleanse side effects,” allow me to introduce myself and help you steer clear of negative symptoms many people experience while trying to reboot their metabolism and give their detoxification system some TLC. 

My name is Veronica Wheat. 

I’m a certified nutritional therapist and founder of ChefV.com. I grew up in Palm Desert, CA and started my nutrition career in the San Diego area as a private chef. 

One thing I offered to my clients was a veggie juice with these 7 leafy green veggies: black kale, green kale, collard greens, green leaf lettuce, curly parsley, green chard, and dandelion, all sweetened with a tiny bit of organic green apple and apple juice. (You have to have a tiny bit of sweetness otherwise it tastes too much like grass clippings.)

Anyways, demand for this healthy juice steadily increased, not only with my clients but with their friends and their friends’ friends, and so on. Eventually (this was in 2012), there was enough demand for the juice that my husband, Brandon, convinced me to launch a business delivering this ORGANIC GREEN DRINK to people’s homes. Brandon quit his job to help me with my new business, ChefV.com.

Because of the soaring popularity of juice cleanses, I created my own cleanse and detox protocols. The reason I entered the highly competitive, overly-saturated juice cleanse market was because I saw a pressing need (pun definitely not intended, as my Green Drink is cold-blended not pressed to preserve the fiber). I realized that practically every fancy juice cleanse on the market was the same. The leading juice cleanses on the market all have the same flaws that cause side effects in many people. 

a green drink a day can support your mood

Why Juice Cleanses Lead to Side Effects

The problem with most juice cleanse or detox products: 

  • Lacking in Protein
  • Contain too much fructose 
  • Have no fiber
  • Made mostly with high-sugar tropical fruits, with very little veggies
  • High-heat pasteurized, which destroys the nutrients

Why are juice cleanses made this way? Because it’s cheaper to include sugary fruits than high-nutrient-dense green, leafy veggies. Also if someone isn’t trained in reading food labels and sees that the juice is green, they will automatically think it’s healthy. In other words, most juice companies place one green veggie in the bottle but the rest of the ingredients are tropical fruits. So the juice looks healthy but is actually loaded with blood-sugar-spiking fructose (fruit sugar). 

Many juice cleanse companies load their products with 30-50 grams of sugar per bottle! (Organic Green Drink contains just 3 grams of sugar per 8 oz serving.) How can they get away with this? Well, if their customers think it’s healthy because it’s green and get hooked on the taste because they’re already addicted to sugar, then let the buyer beware. 

woman sitting on bed holding stomach in pain

The Most Common Juice Cleanse Side Effects

So what do most people feel when they do a commercial juice cleanse? Without a doubt, they can lose weight pretty quickly. And isn’t that the point of doing a cleanse? If you’re invited to a wedding in Cabo in a few short weeks and you have to lose weight fast to fit in that new dress, isn’t the devil in the details? 

I’m here to tell you that there’s no point in losing weight quickly if it will make you feel miserable. There’s also no point in wasting your money if you’re quickly going to put the weight back on. The fact is that you can lose weight safely and steadily and keep it off without experiencing side effects. I’ll tell you how in just a moment. But first, here’s what consuming only (mostly) fruit juice for 3, 5, 7, 10 or more days will do to you:

  • Constipation
  • Blood sugar swings
  • Irritability/moodiness
  • Cravings
  • Energy crashes
  • Muscle wasting
  • Brittle nails
  • Thinning hair
  • Brain fog

And that’s just by day 3 usually. The longer you do one of those crazy juice cleanse or detox diets, the more likely it is you’ll experience more severe juice cleanse side effects such as heart arrhythmia (a rapid heart beat from a lack of electrolytes and trace minerals from solid, whole-food). 

woman with hair in towel, worried expression

How To Avoid Cleanse Side Effects

Whether doing a juice cleanse, a colon cleanse or taking detox supplements, here’s the best way to support your health and avoid side effects. 

Pre-Cleanse

Before starting any cleanse/detox protocol, it’s critical that you do a pre-cleanse. That means no immediate transition from eating mostly fast food and processed food to doing the cleanse. It also means no subsisting on caffeine and energy drinks and then quitting cold turkey. You need to gradually change your habits for a minimum of 3 days. Ideally, 7 days would be great but I realize many people want immediate results. However, I refuse to compromise about doing a minimum of a 3-day pre-cleanse to avoid any detoxification side effects. 

Now the question becomes what’s a pre-cleanse and how do you go about it? The answer is so simple yet I’ve never seen any other juice cleanse business educate customers about the pre-cleanse. That’s why I designed the ChefV.com 1-DAY, 3-DAY and 5-DAY cleanse with pre-cleanse (and post-cleanse) instructions. Basically, ChefV.com provides you with several practical resources such as an EAT THIS/NOT THAT guide, a HEALTHY PORTIONS guide and an e-cookbook I wrote with dozens of recipes, including healthy mocktails and smoothies. 

Avoid Juice Cleanse Side Effects By Having More than Juice

Most juice cleanses are just that, a menu that consists only of juice (to reiterate: mostly fruit juice with a tiny bit of green veg to trick ya into thinking it’s healthy). But to avoid the side effects I listed above, you have to consume more than just juice. Now I know what you may be thinking. How can I detox my liver and digestive system if I’m eating? 

Who said anything about eating? With the ChefV.com CLEANSE, I provide you with not only 4 Green Drinks per day but also 2 vegan Protein Shakes and 1 DETOX SOUP. 

The protein shakes provide ultra-absorbable pea protein to maintain your lean muscle mass and prevent brittle nails and hair. 

The Detox Soup accelerates the purging of toxins from the body and contains a tiny bit of healthy dietary fat to prevent cravings. 

Now ask yourself this: Have you ever seen a cleanse that offers protein shakes and detox soup? If you have, there’s a good chance they’re copying us, but hey, as they say, imitation is the best form of flattery.

Another thing to look for in a cleanse is to learn what to do immediately after the cleanse is over. That’s why I provide all my cleanse customers with instructions on how to keep the results going. 

Other Ways To Avoid Cleanse Side Effects

In addition to doing a ChefV.com cleanse, here are other things I recommend:

  • Stay super hydrated! – Yes, you’ll be peeing a lot. But drink lots of pure/RO water, herbal teas and other non-sugary drinks.

  • Eliminate toxins from your home – Stop using plug-in air fresheners, cosmetics with synthetic fragrances and soaps and hair-care products with petroleum-based products. Spend the extra money on organic household cleaners and personal care products. Your health is worth the extra money!

  • Get More Sleep – Obvious but worth mentioning. When your body releases trapped toxins, you’ll need the extra repair and restoration that comes with deep sleep.

  • Take prebiotics – You’ve heard of probiotics, but prebiotics? Prebiotics are like fertilizer for probiotics. The fiber you get from veggies, including the 7 leafy greens in Organic Green Drink contain indigestible plant fibers that your beneficial bacteria gobble up. And when the good bacteria eat this fiber in your gut, they release a healthy compound called short-chain fatty acids. Your body will be better able to detox as a result. 

Experience The Chef V Cleanse Difference

Thousands of satisfied ChefV.com customers can’t be wrong. If I staked my reputation entirely just on the number of pounds my customers lost, well, I’d be like McDonald’s (over 1 billion served). It’s not about the number on the scale. It’s about how the Chef V community feels. Awesome, rock-steady energy, no caffeine needed, healthy-looking skin, stable mood, high vibrations and yes, looser-fitting jeans. 

Got any questions about my cleanse and 21 Day Detox program? Feel free to email me at chefv@chefv.com

To your health and happiness, 

Veronica “V” Wheat
ChefV.com founder

a green drink a day can support your mood

Angelica’s 21 Day Detox Success

Angelica describes her Chef V 21 Day Detox Success

Angelica says: “For so long, I’ve felt bloated, clouded and discouraged by the feeling that I’m not reaching my health goals because of constant cravings. Doing Chef V’s 21 Day Cleanse has helped me realize that I am what I consume and all the sugary things advertised as “healthy” or “clean” isn’t as they seem. I cut out processed foods, dairy, and gluten and noticed the physical difference. My before and after pictures may not be as dramatic as others but I definitely feel clear minded, energized, not bloated, and overall better. With my hectic work schedule in the healthcare industry switching from night shift and day shift, it was a challenge to follow the plan to the T but I followed the guidelines and did my best to continue only consuming quality products. This was my first cleanse ever and I encourage all cleansers from any level to try it because the green drink is definitely surprisingly tasty and results there when you commit.”  – Angelica P.

Chef V’s Green Drink Plan


At Chef V, we love Green Drink, in case you couldn’t tell.

But, as crazy as it might sound, some people are scared of the delicious green stuff. They mainly associated it with long-term juice cleanses.

However, you don’t have to be a detox juice cleanse master to enjoy fresh juice, regardless of what’s in it. There are plenty of ways to work some of that green drink into your everyday routine. You might even want to give a Chef V detox a try!

Top Five Ways to Use Green Drink – Perfect Morning Detox

Top 5 Ways to Use Green Drink

Now that your Green Drink has arrived, what do you do with it? Here are the top five ways to use Green Drink.

Should you chug the whole thing in one sitting like you’re at a frat party? Or do you daintily sip it like Mary Poppins drinking a cuppa tea? Whether you chug or sip is totally up to you. More important is learning how to incorporate Green Drink into your everyday routine.

top 5 ways to use Green Drink #1

Top 5 ways to use Green Drink #1: Perfect Morning Detox

When you wake up in the morning, it’s the perfect opportunity to gently detox your liver. So here’s how to do it. After you wake up in the morning, drink at least 8 ounces of water. Optional: add a lemon wedge or some lemon juice. (Lemon juice helps assist the detox process.)

But don’t have your Green Drink just yet. Wait for about half an hour. Give your liver some time to do its purification thing. This is the one time of the day when your liver won’t have to process anything you’ve eaten.

OK, now it’s time to have some Green Drink. Drink at least 16-24 oz. in the morning. The 7 certified organic green veggies will quickly fuel your cells with the nutrients they need for energy and metabolism.

If you’re going to eat solid food in the morning, try to wait half an hour after consuming Green Drink. Again, this is the time of day when you want to give your liver the best chance to flush out trapped toxins.

Many people make the mistake of eating in the morning, before drinking water and Green Drink. When you eat food, your liver doesn’t get a chance to rest and detox. In fact, not eating breakfast is another way you can use Green Drink, which leads us to the next way to use it….

Top 5 ways to use Green Drink #2

Top 5 ways #2: Wait Until You’re Hungry

I actually wait until I FEEL hungry before having my first serving of daily Green Drink. It’s amazing … after two 8-ounce servings, my hunger instantly vanishes. And then, I’ll actually wait a little longer before I eat my first solid meal of the day.

If you want to accelerate your weight loss, do this before every meal. Wait until you’re hungry, then have some Green Drink. If you want to make your Green Drink last longer, you can do 8 oz. in the morning and then 4 oz. before both lunch and dinner.

top 5 ways to use Green Drink #3

Top 5 ways #3: Drink it All Day 

A Green Drink customer owns a yoga studio right down the street from where our East Coast Chef V Cafe is located. (If you’re ever in West Caldwell, NJ, stop by and say hi!). From time to time, random people will come into our cafe and say, “We saw this woman in great shape with your drink. She told us she gets a big jug of Green Drink in the morning and sips on it all day until dinner.”

Now, you don’t have to just eat one meal a day. But if you want to lose some weight quick, say, for a wedding, having Green Drink for breakfast and lunch (or breakfast and dinner) is an awesome way to shed the pounds, fast.

Intermittent Fasting

Top 5 ways #4: Intermittent Fasting

You’ve probably heard of intermittent fasting because it’s become very popular. My husband, Brandon, and I have actually been doing intermittent fasting long before it became a health trend. We feel great doing it. It’s not a diet, it’s more of a lifestyle!

In case you’re not familiar with it, here’s the skinny: When you go several hours between dinner and your first meal the following day without eating, your body burns its reserves of fat for energy, instead of sugar. Brandon and I usually fast for 16 hours.

Not only will fasting 16 hours help you get leaner, it offers other health benefits such as improved focus and concentration. Studies suggest it might even lengthen your life. But you don’t have to fast for 16 hours at first.

For the first week, try 12 hours. Push it to 14 hours the following week and then 16 if you’re feeling great. Sixteen hours has shown the most benefit. But even if you just fast for 12-14 hours, you’ll likely experience positive results. 

The most important thing is when you break your fast, break it with 16-24 oz of Green Drink. My body is so used to fasting that I’m never hungry in the morning. Come to think of it, that’s another way I use Green Drink….

For my complete Green Drink Intermittent Fasting Guide click here

smoothie

Top 5 ways #5: Make It Into A Smoothie

To make a smoothie: Add ½ cup ice and ½ cup unsweetened almond milk.

For Green Drink smoothie recipe ideas, I’ve included this handy download for you.

Go Veg: Thicker Hair, Healthy Gut, Smooth Skin, and Strong Nails

Veronica hair loss improvement

 

The study Chef V commissioned from an independent laboratory concluded that when study participants completed the Chef V detox and continued to use the Chef V Green Drink plan, they experienced a 39.8% improvement in hair loss.

The best veggies for a healthy gut, skin, hair, and nails are the same as the ones in Chef V’s mega-popular Green Drink. And it’s no coincidence that these same veggies are also the best for helping you cleanse and detox. Chef V covers how each of the veggies benefits your beauty.

I created the recipe for Organic Green Drink several years ago back when I was a private chef. Over time, demand grew for my Green Drink and that’s really the catalyst for launching Chef V.

I did a ton of research for the Green Drink recipe. I wanted to select the best veggies that would not only taste amazing cold-blended, but that would also be the best for a 3 day cleanse or 21-day detox. And as it turns out, the seven veggies in Green Drink not only happen to be the best for cleansing and detoxing, they also happen to be the best veggies for skin, hair, and nails.

Now I admit, it would be a pain in the behind to have to chop green kale, black kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, green chard, curly parsley, and green leaf lettuce every day. And then have to juice it. Then clean up.

The main reason why I transitioned from being a private chef to launching Chef V: making healthier easier for people just like you. And it doesn’t get any easier than having a bottle of our certified organic Green Drink delivered to your home.

Not only can you lose weight, gain energy and sleep more soundly by having Green Drink every day, but there’s also a very good chance your skin, hair, and nails will look better.

So let’s take a look at how the ingredients in Green Drink are the healthiest veggies for skin, hair, and nails.

meditate

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Kale

Sure, there’s some excessive kale craziness these days. But for good reason. Kale is rich in vitamin K. And it’s really hard for most people who eat the average American diet to get enough K. Vitamin K actually helps minimize dark circles in your eyes. That’s why it’s one of the best veggies for skin.

In fact, kale can even help tighten your skin. How? Well, one of the reasons why your skin isn’t as tight when you get older is that the aging process weakens your collagen. Collagen is the body’s main structural protein. In fact, over one-third of the thousands and thousands of proteins in the body are collagen proteins. Collagen provides strength to your tendons, ligaments, teeth, nails, hair, bones, gut lining, and much more….

The vitamin C in kale along with the antioxidant, lutein, promotes collagen regrowth and production. In addition, the vitamin A in kale helps prevent damage to the skin. It also repairs and damage to the epidermis.

There’s a good reason why kale has been added to several beauty products. Because it’s such an efficient detoxifying nutrient, kale can help clean your pores. It’s even beneficial for your hair pores. Moreover, kale contains fatty acids such as omega-3s. These fatty acids provide moisture to your hair and skin.

There’s even a nail polish with kale extract. Supposedly, it can help stimulate keratin production. Keratin is the other main protein that’s in your nails.

These facts about kale make it one of the best veggies for skin, hair and nails. So drink your Green Drink and schedule that kale facial!

kale

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Dandelion

Another incredible detoxifying green veggie in our Green Drink is dandelion. Dandelion widens your pores. That’s how it helps your body get rid of toxins. And according to this article, dandelion shrinks wrinkles. It may also help whiten dark spots and reduce fine lines.

Like kale, dandelion also contains lots of beta carotene and vitamin C. It’s also rich in the B vitamins and vitamin E, which is a standard ingredient in many skin care products. Moreover, the minerals and trace minerals in dandelion may actually help regrow hair.

dandelion

Lettuce

One of the main reasons why lettuce is good for your skin is it contains the following three minerals: silica, sulfur and phosphorous. You don’t need a large quantity of these minerals from the foods you eat. That’s why they are called trace minerals. But these three trace minerals are vital for maintaining healthy skin, hair and nails. Without doubt, you’re not going to get many benefits by eating iceberg lettuce, which is devoid of nutrition. But green leafy lettuce can also protect your skin against harmful UV rays.

So now do you see why I selected these six veggies (7 really; Green Drink includes two different types of kale)? Not only are they the best-tasting and most detoxifying, they’re also the best for your skin, hair and nails.

Veronica in kitchen with blenders

Lettuce

One of the main reasons why lettuce is good for your skin is it contains the following three minerals: silica, sulfur and phosphorous. You don’t need a large quantity of these minerals from the foods you eat. That’s why they are called trace minerals. But these three trace minerals are vital for maintaining healthy skin, hair and nails. Without doubt, you’re not going to get many benefits by eating iceberg lettuce, which is devoid of nutrition. But green leafy lettuce can also protect your skin against harmful UV rays. So now do you see why I selected these six veggies (7 really; Green Drink includes two different types of kale)? Not only are they the best-tasting and most detoxifying, they’re also the best for your skin, hair and nails.

Detoxing for Headaches and Migraines

Headaches, and even worse, migraines, show up unannounced and ruin the day. The throbbing pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and nausea can turn a perfectly good day into a nightmare. It’s like a perfect storm brewing in your brain, with blood vessels constricting and then suddenly dilating, causing that head-splitting pain.

But fear not, for there are ways to avoid them. In this article, we’ll explore the powerful combination of a diet rich in green leafy vegetables and unprocessed foods, plus using a 21 Day Detox or Cleanse to reset your system. Chef V’s Detox plus her healthy eating plan will help you steer clear of migraines and lead a happier, headache-free life.

Before diving into our migraine-fighting strategies, let's understand what causes these painful headaches. Migraines are usually triggered by a combination of factors. Common triggers include stress, hormones, and dehydration. Genetics and even certain foods or drinks can all play a role. Bright lights and loud noises can also contribute to the onset and intensity of migraines.

Now, let's get to the heart of the matter: how to avoid migraines through a diet rich in green leafy vegetables, healthy eating, and by using the Chef V 21 Day Detox Program and Chef V Green Drink.

All of the Chef V products are based on the fact that green leafy vegetables are nutritional powerhouses and can play a significant role in migraine prevention. 

Some of the main nutritional benefits include:

Magnesium: Leafy greens like spinach, kale, and Swiss chard are rich in magnesium, which has been shown to reduce the frequency and severity of migraines. Magnesium helps relax blood vessels and reduces inflammation, two key factors in migraine development.

Vitamin B2: Foods like spinach, collard greens, and broccoli are high in riboflavin, which may help prevent migraines by improving mitochondrial function and reducing oxidative stress.

Folate (Vitamin B9): Leafy greens are also abundant in folate, which supports healthy brain function and helps regulate neurotransmitters, potentially reducing the risk of migraines.

Detoxifying your body by cleansing with a Chef V 21 Day Detox can help prevent migraines.

Chef V’s 21 Day Detox helps you with menu plans and healthy substitutes for processed foods. Using an elimination diet can help you identify the food triggers and sensitivities that might be causing your migraines.

The Chef V Plan’s healthy eating days include recipes with detoxifying foods like beets, ginger, turmeric, and lemon to help your body remove toxins. For the biggest change to your system, stick to the mostly vegan & vegetarian recipes in Chef V’s cookbook “Making Cleansing Easier” and to her healthy eating guides while doing a detox.

A migraine-free life is within reach through a combination of  a healthy diet, a focus on dark green leafy greens, and a body reset with a Chef V 21 Day detox, followed by having a daily Green Drink every morning

By paying attention to your body's signals, avoiding trigger foods, and nourishing it with essential nutrients, you can significantly reduce the frequency and severity of migraines. Remember to consult with a healthcare professional before making significant dietary or lifestyle changes, especially if you have severe or chronic migraines. Here's to a headache-free future filled with vitality and well-being!

No B.S. If You have IBS: Try A Chef V Cleanse To Repair Your Gut

leaky gut

Having Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) means experiencing frequent bloating, cramping, diarrhea or constipation and other digestive disturbances. Thankfully, Chef V has one effective recommendation for improving your IBS, courtesy of a Facebook post testimonial. 

Unless you have IBS, it’s hard to empathize with someone who has it. It’s such a challenging condition not to mention a frustrating one. 

On one hand, it’s one of the most commonly-diagnosed gastrointestinal disorders, affecting up to 50 million people in the U.S. alone. At the very least, roughly 15% of adults in the U.S. have IBS, but only 5% of people have been officially diagnosed. 

Despite how pervasive IBS is, there is no single cure, root cause, or effective treatment. 

If you don’t have IBS, consider yourself lucky and imagine how harrowing it must be to be totally in the dark when IBS symptoms strike! What if you’re out in public and can’t get to a bathroom in time? 

IBS can severely impact your quality of life.

So let’s get to know this baffling condition…

irritable bowel

What Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome?

As mentioned, IBS is one of the most common albeit underdiagnosed gastrointestinal disorders. Unlike Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), which is caused by a functional and structural problem of the bowels, with IBS there’s nothing going on under the hood, so to speak, that explains the symptoms. 

If there’s no noticeable abnormality in the gut, then what explains the frequent or chronic bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, gas and belching?

What Causes IBS?

Here’s a list of things that may cause IBS symptoms:

  • Gut dysbiosis (This means not having enough friendly bacteria in the large intestine and too many unfriendly bacteria.)
  • Poor gut-brain communication (The gut and brain should always be communicating effectively, just like in a healthy relationship.)
  • Poor motility (This means having abnormal muscle contractions in the bowels.)
  • Stress (Research studies like this one suggest a strong link between psychological stress and IBS. Stress is definitely a trigger.)
  • Food intolerances (Dairy and gluten are major triggers of IBS symptoms.)
  • Unresolved gut infections. (Did you travel to a developing country in the tropics? Maybe you picked up a parasite?)

Out of the 6 factors above, I think stress is the most prevalent because it can cause or exacerbate the other triggers. 

For example, stress negatively impacts gut-brain communication (the Gut-Brain Axis); causes gut dysbiosis; can lead to poor motility and leaky gut; and can worsen inflammation-associated food sensitivity.

leaky gut

How To Manage IBS

In light of the fact that psychological stress is one of the biggest triggers of IBS symptoms, it helps to have a daily stress-management practice. 

  • Yoga.
  • Meditation. 
  • Visualization exercises. 
  • Journaling. 
  • Immersing yourself in nature. 

Do at least one of these practices every single day. 

For IBS sufferers, the condition is frustrating and challenging because there is no one-size-fits-all approach to treatment like there is for let’s say high cholesterol. (Not that I’m endorsing statin drugs for everybody!)

For a dietary intervention, a low FODMAP diet may help. I won’t go too deep here but FODMAPS are basically different types of sugars that are difficult for people with IBS to digest. 

I previously touched on FODMAPS here.

Basically, you’ll want to avoid foods that give most people gas. That means no:

  • Broccoli and other cruciferous veggies (especially raw!)
  • Beans and lentils
  • Asparagus
  • Apples
  • Garlic
  • Onions
  • Dairy
  • Cereal, bread, wheat products and other high-gluten foods

Drink Low FODMAP Leafy Greens 

A lot of veggies, even though they are considered healthy, can trigger IBS symptoms. Cauliflower and cabbage: I’m talking about you!

What’s even more frustrating is that there are at least 3 subtypes of IBS: IBS-C, IBS-D, IBS-M. IBS-C is constipation-dominant; D is diarrhea-dominant and M is mixed. 

What may trigger IBS symptoms in a person with IBS-D may not trigger symptoms in a person who is IBS-C dominant. 

So wanna know the best way to get your daily dose of antioxidants—without freaking out your digestive system?

Try drinking them. 

With Chef V Organic Green Drink, you’re getting the cleanest (no pesticides) low FODMAP leafy green veggies. 

In a way, they’re pre-digested for you through the processing method of cold-blending. 

As mentioned, IBS is caused in part by gut dysbiosis, meaning there’s not enough friendly bacteria in the gut. 

The Chef V Green Drink advantage over conventional juice brands is that it’s never high-heat pasteurized. 

That means that all the friendly bacteria is alive in the Green Drink. 

And when you drink Green Drink every morning, you will supply your gut with the friendly bacteria it needs to manage IBS symptoms.

Manage IBS Symptoms With A Chef V 5 DAY Cleanse

If you want to take your IBS management to the next level, check out Tina’s recommendation below. 

Tina has IBS and says that doing a 5 Day Cleanse (Chef V offers a 21 Day Detox which includes a cleanse period) has helped her get rid of gas and bloating. 

With the 5 Day Cleanse you get everything you need to reduce IBS symptoms—without feeling deprived:

  • 4 Green Drinks per day
  • 2 vegan, low FODMAP protein shakes per day
  • 1 DETOX SOUP for dinner per day
  • Health resources to keep the results going and unlimited email support.

Learn more about CHEF V CLEANSE options here

To your success in kicking IBS’ butt!

Love, 

Veronica “V” Kress

Founder, ChefV.com

Take the Chef V Challenge – A Proven Winner!


Order a 21 Day Detox Challenge – followup with a Green Drink subscription.

Over a 28-day period, the Chef V 21 Day Detox + Green Drink Program resulted in positive health improvements:

weight loss – an average of eight pounds.

‘bad’ cholesterol decreased – (LDL cholesterol) and the ratio of total cholesterol to LDL cholesterol improved. This is really promising for overall cardiovascular wellness.

inflammation – went down 33% (based on c-reactive protein levels).

A1C levels improved, crucial for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels and avoiding diabetes.

bloating decreased – relieving the traffic jam inside your stomach.

It’s truly rewarding to see these positive changes happening in just under a month, making a difference in people’s lives.

You can carry out your own Chef V program and experience the proven results! Order your 21 day detox today!


Is there a Safe Detox for Diabetics? Diabetes and Juice Cleanses

Diabetes management tools

Maintaining blood sugar levels is important for everyone, but especially pressing for those with diabetes. Blended juice cleanses can help you get your blood sugar levels back under control, and cut sugar cravings as well – this makes them an incredibly useful tool for both preventing diabetes, and alleviating its symptoms.

Individuals with diabetes do need to be very careful with changes in their blood sugar levels, and with what they eat in general. This means that diabetic cleanses need to be approached with a little bit more care and thought. We’ll cover some of these considerations right here.

Juicing to Prevent Diabetes

In an odd twist,  juice is both one of the main causes of diabetes, and one of the main ways to prevent it. How does that work, you might ask?

The risk of Type 2 Diabetes can be increased significantly by the consumption of sugar (overall diet, lifestyle and genetics also play a role). A lot of the juice products you can buy in the grocery store tend to be filled with sugar, often artificially added in order to create a sweeter flavor. Since we tend to think of juice as “healthy”, we might gulp down a lot of sugar without realizing it.

However, there are also a lot of healthier juice options out there. The green drink in our blended juice cleanses, for example, is filled with only the healthiest fruits and vegetables, and has low overall sugar content  – an 8oz serving has 26 calories and 6 g of sugar. 

Blended juice cleanses can be a great way to help regulate the dangerous sugar levels that might lead to the development of diabetes. They’re also a great way to help regular sugar cravings. This doesn’t only promote weight loss, but it helps you better stick to a healthy diet that can be used to manage diabetes risk factors. While reading the labels on blended juice cleanses, check for the amount of sugar – some have up to 100 g of sugar! 

Glucometer surrounded by candy

Juicing and Diabetes Concerns

So, a blended juice cleanse can be a great way to help prevent the high blood glucose levels that can be a risk factor for Type 2 Diabetes. But should people with Type 2 Diabetes be taking part in blended juice cleanses? Can it do anything for diabetes after it has developed?

If you are considering the possibility of a safe detox for diabetics, there are a few things to consider. Blood sugar levels for those with diabetes are much more difficult to control. This means that if you go all out on a hardcore diabetic cleanse to lose weight, you could possibly drop your blood sugar down to levels that are potentially unsafe.

If you have diabetes and aren’t sure about participating in a juice cleanse just yet, it doesn’t mean that you have to abandon the good stuff in a blended juice cleanse entirely – far from it. It does mean that you should try to set more limited and realistic blended juice cleanse goals for healthy living.

Cutting out sugary drinks is still important, as are managing sugar cravings. This is why incorporating green drinks into your regular diet can be a great way to help you achieve weight loss goals, and blood sugar level goals, even if you do have diabetes. By losing weight and cutting sugar cravings, you can help better manage your diabetes overall. With Chef V, you can get a green drink plan developed just for you, delivering the exact amount of the healthiest green drinks out there for your own health needs.

So while undergoing long cleanses may not be the best idea for those with diabetes, blended juice cleanse products can still play an important role in maintaining good health.

Recently Chef V had a clinical research study of its detox and green drink products completed. It shows that a 21 day Chef V detox plus a week of Chef V organic green drink lower A1C blood sugar levels. 

How To Save $4000 On Green Drink & Cleanses—And Feel Like A Million Bucks

Veronica “V” Kress, founder of ChefV.com, is paying it forward by reducing the yearly cost of a Green Drink plan and 2 Cleanses by $4000, to a select group of VIP customers. To be eligible for consideration, VIP customers must be fully committed to looking and feeling their best in 2023. 

How are those healthy New Year resolutions going so far? Hopefully you’re not one of the 25% of people who quit within the first week of setting their resolutions. 

The fact is that most people abandon their resolution before the end of January. And get this: less than 10% are successful in seeing their resolution through and achieving success.

Are you the rare person that not only wants to unleash your full potential in 2023, but will actually make it happen? Are you someone who wants to live life at the possible highest vibration this year

Do you want 2023 to be your healthiest year yet? Are you excited about the possibility of looking and feeling your best ever?

Then I have an invitation for you

But first I have to warn you about something…

Be A CHEF V VIP. Buy A New Wardrobe With Your Savings!

If you accept my invitation you’re going to get significantly leaner

You’ll finally achieve the body you’ve been dreaming about for years.

And that means there’s a good chance you might have to buy new clothes

But with all the money you’ll save, you’ll be able to buy a whole new wardrobe. 

Plus you’ll still have lots more money saved to go on a dream vacation

If this sounds too good to be true, there is a catch…

You need to be 100% fully committed to my plan. 

You see, recently, I told you that Chef V’s Green Drink Plan is the best $7 you’ll spend this year for your overall health and well-being. 

The same price as a coffee shop vanilla latte will help you lose weight, feel great and everything that comes along with that… 

Like better sleep, more youthful looking skin and a stronger immune system… 

The Chef V Green Drink Plan is a great place to start for looking and feeling your best in 2023. 

If you want to take it to the next level and save thousands of dollars, I invite you into my inner circle: the CHEF V VIP group. 

Here’s what you get when you join:

  • $4000 off the retail price for 12 months of Green Drink or Tropical Green Drink
  • Two (2) 3-DAY CLEANSES Included (accelerate your weight loss)
    • Private Health Consultation with Chef V, a certified nutritional therapist (30 minutes $250 value)
    • Hard copy of Chef V’s Cookbook, Making Cleansing Easier (a $47 value)
    • A Chef V Tumbler ($20 value)
  • Free samples of upcoming Chef V new products. 

Be A VIP For Less Than The Cost Of A Burrito 

My accountant is not very happy with me. You see, he thinks I’m not charging enough for my Green Drink Plan. And on top of that, I’m offering 2 free 3-DAY CLEANSES! 

I’m sure you’re all too aware of how much prices of everything have gone up. Why would I then offer a huge savings plus several freebies on top of that? 

Well, at the end of the day, CHEF V is a business, so I do have to turn a profit. But beyond being a business, CHEF V is a community. And I want to give back and help people achieve their health goals

This is why I created the VIP PLAN. By becoming a VIP, you are purchasing not only the freshest, most gut-friendly, lowest-sugar Green Drink, you’re also getting something you can’t put money on…

ACCOUNTABILITY.

By becoming a VIP, you are not only purchasing daily Green Drinks and 2 CLEANSES, you’re also investing in your future health and success. 

By prepaying for a VIP yearly plan, you are guaranteeing that you will stay motivated and committed to meeting your goals

In becoming a CHEF V VIP, you eliminate the chance of failure!  

You will be the rare person that sticks to their New Year health resolutions!

So what will all this cost? 

I believe in being fully transparent. No waiting until the checkout cart pops up to see what the total cost is…

Your upfront investment in your health and happiness for 2023 is $2199.

That comes out to $183 a month

That’s only $6.10 per day

Way less than the breakfast burrito I ate the other day. It was $15! 

Of course, I ate it at 1 p.m. because I do intermittent fasting and I break my fast with Green Drink every morning. Having Green Drink every day for your “break-fast” is the easiest way to lose weight and feel super-charged.

And with the VIP Plan, you’re guaranteed of securing the lowest possible price on Green Drink and sticking with it. No temptations to jump off the bandwagon and go back to your old ways of eating sausage, bacon, toast and bagels for breakfast. 

I can’t emphasize enough how Green Drink starts off your day in the healthiest way possible. 

—-> Read Chef V’s Health Benefits Of Green Drink For Breakfast

The point is, that gourmet burrito I had was delicious. But $15 on something that really isn’t supporting my health to the same degree as Green Drink? Delicious but ridiculous. 

Whereas $6 a day for Green Drink plus free 2 CLEANSES during the year to support your body’s detoxification organs

That’s far too much of a bargain, according to my accountant. 

Is Your Brain Health Worth $2K? 

The average person will think of a thousand excuses not to invest $2199 in their health. 

But you’re not average. You realize that flooding your cells every morning with the world’s most potent, health-supporting phytonutrients is priceless. 

And doing so affects your health in every possible way. 

For example, your brain health. 

But don’t just take my word for it. A study in the journal, Neurology, shows that just 1 serving a day of green leafy vegetables may help to slow age-associated cognitive decline. 

Plus there’s research that shows how daily green leafy veggies supports sleep quality, collagen production, blood sugar levels and so much more…

The VIP Green Drink plan is like buying the best premium fuel for your body at Costco prices. 

30 Day Challenge X 12 = Amazing Health Transformation

Every so often, we’ll do a 30 Day Green Drink Challenge on social media. Chef V customers who complete the challenge typically experience some amazing results. 10-20 pounds lost. More energy. Cravings for junk gone. Clearer skin. 

Unfortunately, some people lose their momentum and go back to their old ways. 

This is why becoming a VIP is the smartest thing you’ll do this year. 

Imagine the success of a 30-day challenge times 12!!!

On a VIP plan, the motivation will never fade! 

Make 2023 the year you finally see a health resolution through to the end of the year.

Upgrade to a VIP plan now.

To your health and success!

Love, Chef V

Chef V and kale

Is Cleansing While Pregnant Or Nursing Safe?

Chef V pregnant -1

Veronica (the “V” in Chef V) is now a mommy to one big beautiful baby. Kaden Samuel Kress was born weighing almost 10 pounds! Baby, momma and daddy (Brandon) are all doing great. Now that Baby Kaden is here, can V get back to her pre-pregnancy weight by doing a brief cleanse? V reveals whether it’s safe, and provides pregnant and breastfeeding moms with other practical nutrition facts. 

As I write this right after the July 4th holiday, I feel grateful to live in the USA. But after having just given birth, I’m dreaming of being a Scandinavian. You see, in Denmark, moms get 4 weeks of leave directly before the due date and then 14 weeks of leave after birth. 

But when you’re running a mini Organic Green Drink delivery empire, ain’t nobody got time for that much maternity leave. 

Speaking of Green Drinks, they are the cornerstone of ChefV.com cleanses (4 of them per day, available in 1-DAY, 3-DAY, and 5-DAY options), and now that my Baby Kaden is here, I thought I’d write about whether it’s safe for new moms to do a brief cleanse to get back to the weight they were before they had a watermelon in their belly. 

mother holding baby up in air

Cleansing For Expecting & New Moms

To answer whether it’s safe to cleanse while breastfeeding or pregnant, I’m not gonna leave you with a cliffhanger. I’ll cut right to the chase. I don’t recommend cleansing while breastfeeding or pregnant. That’s because when you’re doing a cleanse, it accelerates the liver’s detoxification pathways. 

Totally a good thing when you’ve been eating lots of bacon double cheeseburgers and don’t have a tiny human in your belly. But when the liver’s detoxification pathways are accelerated, trapped toxins get released into the bloodstream. Not good for a fetus or a nursing baby!

Are Green Drinks OK For New Moms? 

Does that mean that pregnant and nursing moms shouldn’t have Organic Green Drink? Actually, having a Green Drink every day as a supplement to your diet is safe. I had one every day during my pregnancy. But don’t take that as medical advice. You should consult with your doctor or OBGYN. 

So why is it safe to have a Green Drink while pregnant or nursing if it’s the cornerstone of the Chef V cleanse? Because the 7 green leafy veggies are nutrient dense. And you’re not doing a cleanse, you’re just having one daily green drink and eating a normal diet.

Another reason it’s not a good idea to do a cleanse, even a 1-DAY cleanse is because you’re consuming fewer calories. Although the Chef V cleanse is one of the only detox programs that supplies all the essential macronutrients (protein, fat and low-sugar carbs), it does not provide enough calories and nutrients for a developing baby.

Are Raw Juices Safe For Pregnancy?

Better For Mom & Baby’s Gut 

ChefV.com prides itself on being the only company that delivers low-sugar, unpasteurized (raw) cold-blended Green Drinks made fresh. The advantage of raw and cold-blended is it’s better for your gut microbiome

Less Harmful Bacteria Than Store Produce

Another advantage of drinking your greens from ChefV.com is that all our produce comes direct from farms. That means hardly any hands have touched the 7 certified organic green leafy veggies. In comparison, think about how many people handle or touch the produce sold at grocery stores: distributors, employees and customers. Supermarket-bought produce carries far more bacteria!

No Bugs, Literally!

Another reason Chef V Green Drinks are safe is that after we receive the produce directly from our farm suppliers, we wash it with a certified organic solution. The produce soaks in this solution and is then power-washed with cold water and inspected for bugs. This process reduces bacteria that could potentially harm your baby. 

Finally, just a quick word of caution about consuming raw drinks and foods: make sure it’s from a brand or local farm that you know and trust!

baby with fruits and vegetables

Does Eating Veggies Affect Your Baby’s Future Diet? 

Obviously, eating a diet high in fruits and veggies is not only great for mom’s health, but for developing baby’s as well. But a 2020 study in Public Health Nutrition posed an interesting question: Does a mom’s diet while breastfeeding affect what the baby will eat later in life? In other words, if mom eats lots of fresh fruits and veggies, will it “train” baby’s taste buds to like them too? 

According to the study authors, children breastfed during infancy consume more fruits and vegetables than formula-fed children. “This pattern is likely due, in part, to infants learning from flavors of the mother's diet transmitted through breast milk.” 

And out of nearly 1400 b mom-baby combinations, the study authors concluded that longer breastfeeding duration was associated with a higher rate of fruit and vegetable consumption when the child reached one year. 

Even better, the study conclusion was the same when the children reached 6 years of age. Exposure to vegetable flavors through breast milk promotes later child vegetable consumption, the authors concluded.

baby breast feeding

Take It Easy On The Garlic & Onions

Garlic and onions are great for stir-fry dishes but alliums, the family that garlic and onions are in, are not good for babies. In fact, alliums can make a colicky baby cry like a banshee even more. 

A randomized clinical trial (the gold standard of research) from 2018 (published here) was conducted because “therapeutic diets for infantile colic lack evidence.” 

So the study authors examined the effects of a low-FODMAP diet. FODMAPS stands for “Fermentable, Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, And Polyols,” which are types of sugars. Alliums like garlic and onions are fructans, which are oligosaccharides. 

The study examined breastfed infants at least 9 weeks old with colic. One group of moms went on a 10-day low-FODMAP diet while the other group ate a typical Western diet. The low-FODMAP diet was associated with a 32% reduction in “crying-fussing durations of infants with colic.” 

You know how garlic and onions can make you burp? Remember that those alliums travel through the breast milk and make babies cranky! 

garlic and onions

Do Breastfeeding Moms Need Nutritional Supplements? 

The University of California San Francisco recommends that breastfeeding mothers take a daily multivitamin that contains 100 percent of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). If taking a prenatal vitamin, you can continue to take it, but you’ll likely be consuming too much iron, which may cause constipation or indigestion.  

A research article from a Spanish pediatric journal suggests that moms should pay special attention to getting enough thiamine (vitamin B1) and vitamins A and D, because these 3 nutrients are the ones most likely to be the most deficient in breastmilk if mom isn’t getting enough of it through the diet. The researchers also say that moms should consume at least 1800 calories a day.

All this writing about postnatal nutrition is making me hungry. I’m off to go eat and feed baby Kaden. I hope this article is useful if you’re expecting or nursing. 

To your health — and baby’s too!

Love, 
Veronica 

Founder, ChefV.com

The Formula for Sustained Weight Loss with Chef V

four people holding green drink

Anybody can do a juice cleanse to lose weight. But for sustained weight loss and a major health transformation, use my Chef V Cleanse + Green Drink and follow my recipes and meals!

My Chef V’s 21-Day Challenge makes nutrition the first priority. It's the only clinically proven long-term program that includes organic Green Drink, plant-based protein shakes, filling detox soups, a varied choice of food, and a plan for sustaining your positive results. 

Michael weight loss

The Chef V Clinical Research Study

“Will I keep the weight off?” customers want to know.  Lots of companies make weigh loss claims, but I want to prove the results people get from my products. 

So rather than just relying on social media testimonials and hype, I decided to boldly go where few natural food companies have gone: get the (very expensive) backing of an independent clinical trial. 

The clinical trial had participants completing a 21 Day Challenge followed by a week of Green Drink. Before the 21 Day Challenge, the participants weighed, on average, 176 pounds. At the end of the trial, participants’ average body weight was 168 pounds. And some people lost significantly more than 8 pounds.

Most important to me, I designed the Challenge to keep the weight loss results going and help participants adopt lifelong healthy habits.

Above, you can see the incredible weight loss that Michael achieved and sustained with help from Chef V Green Drink. 

Chef V cooking

What's Your Secret? How Can You Help Me?

How can I get people to end their addiction to artificial ingredients, sodium, sugar, and unhealthy processed fats that are so pervasive in packaged foods? What can I do to help people conquer insulin resistance and high blood sugar that lead to so many chronic health problems? 

These were burning questions I asked myself when I decided to pass on going to graduate school after getting my degree in psychology. Instead, I decided to take a leap of faith and launch a career that combined two of my passions: cooking and educating people about health and wellness. 

Over a decade later with thousands of success stories under ChefV’s belt, people often ask me the secret to my Cleanse and Detox programs in helping people safely lose weight, feel great and keep their results going. I would say it’s these elements:

Completely Organic

Organic Foundation – Chef V is a certified organic brand with bicoastal kitchens that exceed the rigorous standards set forth by the National Organic Program. When trying to cleanse/detox your body, you can’t do it with pesticides and herbicides. The ingredients have to be organic! That’s not something I’ll ever compromise on just to save money.

Eat Healthy and Sustain!

Healthy Eating Resources – Before you start a cleanse, do you know how to avoid side effects? Do you know how to keep the weight off once the cleanse ends? Over the years, I’ve created pre-cleanse instructions, a handy Eat This/Not That and Healthy Portion printout, and other resources so you can experience a long-lasting health transformation. The recipes in my cookbook “Cleansing Made Easier” transform your favorite recipes to healthier alternatives. And my blog and weekly emails have hundreds of recipes and articles to keep you motivated.

Every month I send you new “What do I Eat Today” menus that make it easy to plan on a busy day. Michael, whose before and after photos are shown above, was a guest at my “Cooking with Chef V” moussaka video. Watch the video and click the image below for complete recipe instructions.

Cooking with V Video Series

Healthy Cooking Video SeriesHow does an organic turkey cream-free risotto sound? Or a vegan mousaka. Or a dairy-free, gluten-free chicken pot pie? Maybe you prefer quinoa enchiladas instead? All these delicious recipes and more are available on the Chef V Life channel on YouTube and offer a healthy alternative without sacrificing taste.

Support!

No Quick Fix Promises – Everybody deserves to live a healthy life. But there’s no quick-fix solution. It takes some time and effort. But when you have someone holding your hand to guide you on the transition from a diet full of processed food to eating a (mostly) plant-based whole-food diet, it’s an enjoyable journey. Our Facebook Community support each other as they cleanse and after. 

Emphasis on Nutrition while Cleansing

More than Juice – It’s easy to lose weight doing a juice cleanse. That’s because you’ll be consuming way fewer calories than normal. But if you’re just drinking juice containing high-sugar fruits, you’ll starve your body and have blood sugar fluctuations. In comparison, Chef V CLEANSES include 3 products that prevent cravings and maintain lean muscle tissue:

  • Protein-Packed Shakes: Unlike water or juice-only fasts, our shakes provide a significant amount of protein, essential for muscle maintenance and overall bodily function.
  • Fiber-Rich Organic Juice: Many cleansing juices on the market are nothing more than sugary traps. Our organic juice is blended, not pressed and is rich in fiber, aiding in digestion and contributing to a fuller feeling.
  • Vegetable-Enriched Soups: We don't ignore the importance of whole foods in our cleanse. It includes soups with essential nutrients making sure you're well-fed and satisfied.
  • And to keep weight off after your detox you eat delicious (and healthy) food.  

Research

Backed By Research –  I commissioned an independent lab to research Chef V products. Citrus Labs concluded that Chef V products, including the ORGANIC GREEN DRINK PLAN combined with the healthy recipes, resulted in improved health and weight loss for all participants in the study. You can check out the findings from the clinical research here.

Chef V: A Path To A Healthy, New Lifestyle

Before I launched ChefV.com Organic Green Drink delivery, I was a private chef. I’ve always loved cooking and eating flavorful healthy foods, even as a teenager. 

My mission is to help you transform your kitchen into a haven for health. All of the recipes in my cookbook, MAKING CLEANSING EASIER, include 100% cleanse-friendly ingredients. When a recipe calls for sweetness, stevia or a low-sugar natural alternative is used. As I said in the intro to my cookbook, these recipes are so yummy. Not only will you not feel deprived, you will think are indulging big time! 

Experiencing a health transformation as I said takes time but the formula is pretty easy: Eating right + Drinking lots of water + exercising. 

Just remember you don’t have to eat perfectly healthy 100% of the time. Even I indulge in my favorite vice occasionally: french fries. The key is to be consistent. Don’t just try to lose weight to fit into a wedding dress and then go back to eating fast food. 

Veronica with her cookbook

START YOUR HEALTH TRANSFORMATION TODAY!

If you want to look and feel your best, get on a Green Drink Plan. And if you want to accelerate your weight loss and other health goals, try a CLEANSE or 21-DAY DETOX. With all organic ingredients, healthy eating resources, dozens of recipes and cooking videos, and the backing of research, you’re well on the path to success!

Love,
Veronica Wheat
Founder, ChefV.com

How Does “V” Reboot Her Mind & Body? Cleansing Lessons From ChefV.com’s Founder

Through her email newsletters and blog posts, Chef V has helped thousands of customers by providing useful tips and tricks on how to prepare for a cleanse and what to do during before and after the cleanse to maximize success and long-term healthy habits. Now it’s time to turn the tables and find out how “V” (Veronica) cleanses…

You might assume that someone who literally wrote the book on Making Cleansing Easier frequently does a cleanse. But Veronica Kress, the “V” in Chef V, admits to only doing a full-blown cleanse about twice a year.

Why only twice a year?

Well, when you practice what you preach and do a mini cleanse every day, you don’t need to purify yourself that often. Having an Organic Green Drink every morning on an empty stomach is a daily religious rite of passage for V. “Each one of us naturally cleanses every night while we’re sleeping,” V explains, adding, “And when I have a Green Drink for breakfast after drinking some pure water, I’m prolonging the process.

But on the rare occasions, she feels she’s in a rut and experiencing cravings for junk, it’s time for V to get her cleanse on!

How Does V Know When To Do A Cleanse? 

“I know when I need to do a full cleanse if I’m at a party and have a couple Doritos and then suddenly I’m craving the whole bag and other junk food.”

V reveals an intimate detail about why she did a cleanse in the summer of 2021. The reason why she chose to do it? In the hopes of getting pregnant. “I’ve had several customers tell me that after they did a Chef V cleanse, they became pregnant so I thought I might as well try too,” V laughs. (She is now the proud Mom of baby Kaden!)

But there was another reason that V does a full cleanse that doesn’t have anything to do with procreation. “People may think I’m this perfect saint of nutrition but I’m not. Before that last cleanse, I had family in town and we did a lot of wine tasting,” V explains.

What is V’s Motivation For Doing A Cleanse?

Most people do a cleanse with the singular goal of losing weight. V says that even though weight loss isn’t her primary goal, she will lose 3-5 pounds after doing a 3 day cleanse. But the primary reason V does a cleanse—besides purging the urge to eat junk—is to sharpen her mental clarity.

“If you’re frequently craving unhealthy foods, brain fog usually accompanies the cravings,” V says.

In addition, V is motivated to do a cleanse because she realizes the plethora of benefits that accompany it, including improved sleep quality and clearer skin.

V emphasizes the amazing power that a brief cleanse has in resetting the taste buds. If you’re frequently craving starchy carbs and chemicals even a short cleanse has the potential to restore the appreciation for the natural sweetness of fruit. “When you stop eating foods with synthetic chemicals and added sugars, berries will taste amazing and then you won’t crave the bad stuff,” she says.

V’s Favorite Cleanse

In choosing between ChefV.com’s cleanse options, V says she’s partial to the 3 day cleanse because it’s the most doable.

But a 3 day cleanse isn’t really just a 3 day cleanse, V explains. That’s because the pre-cleanse phase is crucial. V says that the number of days she does a pre-cleanse depends on how her diet has been. If she’s done more wine tasting than usual or indulged in her favorite other vice—french fries—V will pre-cleanse for at least 3 days.

V’s pre-cleanse instructions are crystal clear with the 1-day, 3-day and 5-day options. Basically, V provides a list of foods to eat and to avoid before the cleanse, which is more calorie-restricted, begins.

How V Preps For A Cleanse

There’s no point in doing a cleanse if you’re not going to pre-cleanse in order to properly prepare your body, V says. “Why spend all this time and money if you’re not going to do it right?” she asks.

And while some of the “Don’t Eat This” foods on the pre-cleanse list may seem obvious, V avoids certain seemingly healthy foods leading up to the start of the official cleanse. For example, bananas are a no-no because of the high amount of sugar. Grapefruit contains an enzyme that actually slows phase 1 detoxification in the liver.

V also avoids strawberries, even organic ones, because they may contain a high amount of pesticides. Same deal goes for grapes and then there’s tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and peppers, all of which are in the nightshade family. V avoids nightshades leading up to the cleanse because they may promote inflammation, especially if there’s already excessive inflammation in the body.

But the most important foods V avoids in the days leading up to her cleanse—and the immediate days after the cleanse is over—are anything with gluten; dairy products, red meat, caffeine and alcohol.

V says she decided to make caffeine a no-no on the pre-cleanse list because it takes a lot of energy for the body to detoxify from caffeine. But the good news is that she has helped thousands of people overcome their caffeine addiction. “They feel amazing afterwards,” she says.

below, click image to download pdf of includes and excludes

Why V Created The Pre-Cleanse Phase

So how did V come up with the idea of a pre-cleanse phase in the first place? Was it the certified nutritional therapy course she took? Nope. She was inspired to create it when a few customers walked into her former commercial kitchen in San Diego and said, “We’re going to Burger King for our last meal before the cleanse!”

V emphasizes that lots of people still don’t realize the importance of the pre-cleanse phase. If you go from filling up your car’s gas tank with sugar and then all of a sudden fill it up with the proper fuel, your car will still run like crap.

So later that night after the Burger King fiasco, V researched everything she could find about gut healing and cleansing, including what foods to eat and not to eat. The pre-cleanse instructional materials that are provided to every ChefV.com cleanse customer was soon after completed!

In addition to properly preparing your body for the cleanse, the pre-cleanse phase, V says, helps her customers typically lose 5 pounds. “The pre-cleanse phase can be just as successful as the cleanse phase.”

What V Does If She Has Cravings During A Cleanse

V doesn’t like to use the word “cheating” when it comes to experiencing cravings during a cleanse. It’s too much of a negative connotation. V likes positive reinforcements instead. Which is why V employs the concept of “intuitive eating” when her brain tells her that she’s hungry during the cleanse phase.

Instead of giving in to cravings for unhealthy snacks, V says that she’ll have a tiny bit of healthy fats like a teaspoon of coconut oil and a slice of avocado added to her Detox soup.

“The tiny amount of avocado felt so indulgent. I admit that I did feel like I was cheating a little bit, but I was making a wise decision by listening to my body.”

V also says that during the cleanse phase, one way to satisfy a craving without ruining the benefits is to puree or blend an extra veggie juice. Eating lots of cooked food, even healthy foods like low-starch veggies takes a lot of energy for the body to digest. For this reason, V says to eat a liquid lunch or dinner—if your body is really telling you that it’s hungry. Having a handful of nuts, berries, and a few carrot sticks and hummus won’t sabotage your success either.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself during the cleanse phase,” V says.

Veronica and Brandon in Hawaii

Common Side Effects of Juice Cleanses: If You Should Worry and How To Deal With Them

Participating in a blended juice cleanse is a significant undertaking. You’re doing a hard reset on your body and naturally flushing toxins. Whether you’ve opted for a 3 day cleanse or a 21 day cleanse, you can expect to see and feel dramatic results.

I'm going to explain some common reactions people have to juice cleanses. I will cover which are normal and which are concerning, and why my Chef V cleanse is the safest and more achievable cleanse for you. 

Understanding Different Juice Cleanses

Before discussing the side effects of juice cleanses, you need to understand the different kinds of juice cleanses. So how exactly do you define a juice cleanse? At its most basic, a juice cleanse is a temporary diet that looks to replace, in part or whole, your regular food with juiced fruits and vegetables. The goal of a juice cleanse can be to lose weight, boost the immune system, detox the body, get more nutrients, remove sugar cravings, or just feel great.

Of course, every juice cleanse out there has a different set of ingredients to it. When browsing recipes you might look for maximum nutritional value, or for the taste you prefer. Some juice cleanses are very basic, such as those based around only celery juice. Other juice cleanses are more involved, with many different ingredients.

Many juice cleanses go beyond the juice. It’s not uncommon to see juice cleanses that add in detox smoothies and detox shakes. These allow a juice cleanse to offer you more protein and fiber, meaning that you can stay healthy for longer during your juice cleanse.

Lastly, juice cleanses can differ depending on how long they last. Generally, the shortest kinds of juice cleanse are the 3-day juice cleanses. The longest kind of juice cleanse would be the 21-day juice cleanses.

Common Juice Cleanse Side Effects

Ideally, a juice cleanse should leave you feeling amazing. Yet, many report side effects while taking on a juice cleanse. Here we’ll go over some of the most common, as well as explain what might cause them – and if you should do anything about them.

Headaches

Headaches aren’t uncommon during many juice cleanses. But this doesn’t mean that they are good either. One of the major causes of headaches is from getting a lack of all the nutrients you need. Many juice cleanses don’t provide you with everything you need to get through a juice cleanse. This is particularly true of the very “basic” ones like celery juice cleanses.

Celery juice side effects often include the infamous celery juice headaches. While eating celery is certainly healthy, you can’t just live off of celery stalks! You must research your juice cleanses beforehand and make sure that they have all the proper nutrients you need. In particular, try to make sure you are getting enough protein out of your juice cleanse.

Dizziness

Dizziness during juice cleanses isn’t uncommon either. Dizziness during a juice cleanse normally happens because of a drop in blood sugar levels.

A little bit of dizziness is to be expected then, as your blood sugar levels start to stabilize. If you are experiencing prolonged dizziness, your juice cleanse isn’t providing you with enough carbs and natural sugars. Like the celery juice headache, you may want to look for a more sustainable cleanse, or try a shorter one.

It should also be noted that sometimes dizziness can be caused by a lack of iron, or dehydration. Make sure you are doing a juice cleanse that includes plenty of dark greens for iron, and always drink plenty of water.

Fatigue

If you are experiencing prolonged fatigue during your juice cleanse, it might be that you aren’t getting enough iron or protein. Like with the previous side effects, it’s a good idea to make sure you are getting a nutritionally comprehensive juice cleanse. This is especially important if you are aiming for a long-term weight loss goal like the 21-day juice cleanse.

Fatigue can also be caused during a juice cleanse by getting too much or too little physical activity. Remaining active during a juice cleanse is important, but you will want to try and keep it to mainly light exercise.

Bowel Issues

Getting on a juice cleanse does represent a fairly significant change to your diet, it’s true. So some digestive issues to start aren’t uncommon. If you find yourself running to the toilet, you might want to look into a juice cleanse that contains more fiber. A lack of fiber in your cleanse is often the most common reason for bowel issues. (In particular, celery juice side effects often include bowel trouble). It’s a good idea to go for a blended juice cleanse that comes with detox soups. This way you don’t have to deal with the results of putting too much juice in an empty stomach without fiber.

Get A Sustainable Juice Cleanse

The best kind of blended juice cleanse is the kind that you can finish. Undergoing even a 3-day juice cleanse or 7-day juice cleanse is a big undertaking. If you want to go for a 21-day juice cleanse, you are going to want a cleanse that works with you, not against you.

Thankfully, our 21-day juice cleanse comes with the extra detox smoothies and detox shakes you need to be able to make it all the way through. Our green drink juice recipes are also jam-packed with all the most nutritious fruits and vegetables we can find.

Just as important as our recipes is our support. Chef V wants to help you succeed, and will be with you for every step of your juice cleanse. As long as you listen to your body and take note of side effects, you’ll be able to finish your blended juice cleanse like a champ.

A 21-day juice cleanse should leave you feeling great, not suffering from things like celery juice headaches.

3 Reasons Why Summer’s The Best Time To Do A Cleanse

summer cleanse

Thinking about doing a cleanse? There’s no better time than now. Here are 3 reasons why summer is the best time to do a cleanse.

Last week, I admitted that I indulged to the max while on my European vacation, and how when I got back home, I decided I needed to be a Chef V customer.

I’m happy to report that I just wrapped up a 7 Day Cleanse.

So far so good.

I don’t feel like I’m missing out at all.

In fact, I feel so good, I might do a 21 Day Detox.

And right now, in the heart of the summer, there’s no better time to do a cleanse or a longer detox.

Let me share with you my top 3 reasons why it’s easy to do a cleanse in summer.

Hack #1: take a walk

A simple way to have your blood sugar return to normal after a meal is by taking a walk. It doesn’t have to be a super vigorous hike, but getting enough exercise is important for managing diabetes and this is especially true if you’re sedentary for most of the day.

Even more important than the advice to exercise is learning when to exercise. And if you only have time (or the motivation) to move your body once per day, research strongly suggests you should do it after dinner.

Most people eat their heaviest meal at night. And the biggest spike in blood sugar occurs after eating a large meal, especially if it contains lots of carbohydrates that have the potential of converting into sugar. (Think: pasta, bread, rice and other starchy carbohydrates.) Walking after a heavy meal is a proven way to improve blood sugar levels.

Consider this study from New Zealand. Two groups of people, most of whom had type II diabetes for 10 years, were compared. One group walked for 30 minutes a day for two weeks. The other group went for a 10-minute walk after each main meal. The results: blood sugar levels were significantly lower when participants walked after meals compared with the group who only went for one walk a day.

Meanwhile a different study compares exercising before a meal and after. The group with the lower blood sugar levels exercised after their meal, not before. This supports the first study that it’s vital to move around after eating a meal.

chef v summer cleanse

Summer is Best Time To Do a Cleanse — Reason #1: You’re not as hungry

Ever watch a nature documentary that shows bears and other animals seemingly eating non-stop during the summer?

The reason bears and other creatures of the forest binge eat in summer is, of course, because they have to fatten up for the winter hibernation.

Sometimes in winter, I feel like hibernating.

But I also feel like eating a lot more in winter than I do in summer. The hot, sticky weather in summer kills the appetite, at least for hearty foods that we usually crave in the winter like stews, meat and starchy carbs such as pasta and bread.

Most people tend to crave fruit in the summer. And unlike meat and starchy carbs, fruit is a safe food to eat while doing a cleanse.

How I start off each morning while I’m doing a cleanse is drink two glasses of water. I like to add some electrolytes to the water to provide the energetic spark plug my cells need (pink sea salt does the trick).

About a half-hour later, I’ll have 16 oz of Organic Green Drink. Shortly after that, I’ll have a handful or so of berries.

This holds me over until it’s time for my vegan protein shake.

Even though I’ve done plenty of cleanses in winter with no problem, I have to admit that summer is my favorite season for detoxing. Simply for the fact that I’m usually not as hungry as I am in the winter.

But be careful to not exercise too much when you’re doing a cleanse in summer. You’re already limiting your calorie intake to begin with. Plus, with the heat, you’re at risk for heat stroke.

So just stick to walks early in the morning and/or evening.

Summer is Best Time To Do a Cleanse — Reason #2: Swimsuit Psychology

It might sound too good to be true. But we’ve had plenty of customer success stories with weight loss of 10 pounds or more within just 7 days.

Reading these success stories that make their way to my email inbox every day is a huge reason why I wake up excited to get to work.

I love hearing from women that a Chef V cleanse helped them look and feel sexier, especially in time for the summer swimsuit season.

Here’s what “Wenderful” says about her experience:

I lost 10lbs!… This was the perfect start to leaning out for summer….Thank you Chef V….What a great experience!!

Now, I know what you might be thinking….

Sure, it’s great she was able to lose 10 pounds. But what’s going to happen once the cleanse is over?

Well, if “Wenderful” follows my cleanse daily schedule and post-cleanse tips, she’ll have no trouble keeping off the excess weight.

In winter, my hubby Brandon likes to joke that my legs need to be shaved with a lawn mower. Because of body consciousness, summer time gives us extra motivation to get leaner and look our best.

Summer is the best time to do a Cleanse
Reason #3: Salads

If you’re doing a cleanse or longer detox, one of the hardest things is going to a restaurant with friends.

However, in summer, it’s easy to join your friends at dinner. Just order a salad. Make sure to order the dressing on the side.

Most restaurants have at least one veggie they can steam or lightly grill for you, such as broccoli or asparagus.

A large spinach salad (no croutons!) with a side of veggies will fill you up. And because of the hot weather, you’re not going to feel like sinking your teeth into a burger like your friends.

If you’re having a hard time losing those last stubborn 10 pounds, there is no better time to do a Chef V cleanse than right now.

Do it now because in the blink of an eye, you’re going to feel like hibernating. And when that happens, you won’t have the luxury of sleeping the winter off like a bear. You’ll be craving high-calorie foods to make it through those long dark nights.

Fastest Way to Get into Ketosis – Chef V Cleanse

Cleansing for ketosis

Following a ketogenic (“Keto”) diet puts your body in a state of ketosis. That means your body is burning its stored body fat instead of blood sugar for energy. But getting into ketosis can take up to several weeks if you’re not doing it right. One of the easiest ways to get into ketosis is by doing a Chef V Cleanse. It’s so easy, you won’t have to count carbs…

So you’ve flirted with keto for the last few years. You’re thinking about it but haven’t pulled the low-carb trigger. I get it. Ditching grains and even some of your favorite veggies and fruits is tough. For many people, it takes an extraordinary amount of willpower to eat an ultra low carb diet. 

How low should you go if you’re going Keto, you may ask? 

Well, everybody is unique. Some people may go into ketosis after consistently keeping net carbs to roughly grams per day. But for other people, it may require being even more stingy with the carbs to the tune of 25 net grams per day. 

(Net carbs equals total grams of carbs minus fiber and/or sugar alcohol. Example: one cup of cooked pasta contains 42 grams of carbs and 2 grams of fiber. So that’s 40 net grams of carbs — definitely way too much to get into or stay in ketosis!)

Maybe every year around the holidays or after a vacation, where you’ve put on a few pounds, you tell yourself this is going to be the year that you conquer Keto. 

But you don’t. 

Don’t blame yourself. Carbs not only taste great. They are literally addictive. In fact, according to Dr. William Davis, author of the best-selling book, “Wheat Belly” which was instrumental in launching gluten-free and Keto diets, “Wheat is addictive in the sense that, if you don’t have any for several hours, you start to get nervous, foggy, tremulous, and start desperately seeking out another ‘hit’ of crackers, bagels, or bread.”

So it’s not you, it’s the molecules.

keto

Easing Into Keto 

I’m not going to lie. Following the keto diet is really challenging at first. There’s the so-called dreaded “Keto flu.” 

That’s when your body basically has withdrawal symptoms and has to get used to burning fatty acids (ketone bodies) for its primary source of energy instead of all that circulating glucose. 

This phase can last a few days — just like a real flu virus.

It’s always a good idea to gradually phase into ketosis rather than quitting carbs cold turkey like smoking. Try to lower your net carb intake over a two-week period. This will help reduce Keto flu symptoms. 

Then, there's getting used to carb counting. But actually, with all the keto apps (not appetizers) these days, it’s easy to get used to. After a short while, you’ll learn the net carb counts of the foods you most often eat. 

Now, to be sure, even if you ditch gluten and everything else with tons of carbs, you can’t know if you’re in ketosis unless you test yourself. 

Many people use urine strips. But they’re not the most reliable. They are a good bellwether for people with diabetes. However, if you don’t have a blood sugar disorder, urine strips aren’t the best way to test. That’s because urine strips only measure excess ketones—not the level of fatty acids your body is using for fuel. 

Urine strips are cheap so it might not be a bad idea to start out with them. But the longer you stay in ketosis, the more your body will adapt. So you’ll need a more reliable way to test. Blood meters are the most accurate. They’re the most expensive way to test, but you get what you pay for. 

cleanse success

CHEF V’s CLEANSE: The Easy Way To Get Your Body Ready For Ketosis

A big reason why some people fail with Keto is they just don’t know how to get started. It’s too overwhelming. 

The easiest solution for taking all the guess work out is by doing one of my cleanses. The Chef V Cleanse home delivery program offers 1, 3 and 5 day options.  

On each day of the CLEANSE, you get:

  • 4 servings of Organic Green Drink
    7 Leafy Greens with only 5 net grams of carbs each
  • 2 Vegan Ultra Protein Shakes
    One Chocolate, One Vanilla; 2 grams net carbs each
  • Detox Soup
    1 high fiber soup for dinner; 2 flavors: Ginger Carrot (days 1, 3, 5) & Sweet Potato Curry (days 2 & 4)

Now, it would be misleading for me to say that the CHEF V CLEANSE is keto friendly. For some people, the net grams of carbs from the carrots or sweet potato in the DETOX SOUP, even though they are nutrient dense, would prevent ketosis. 

However, if you really want to try Keto, the CLEANSE is the best way to transition to a ketogenic diet. That’s because your net grams of carbs will still be under 100. Consider that the average American diet consists of over 300 grams of carbs per day. 

And you don’t have to be a certified nutritional therapist like myself to know that most Americans aren’t getting enough fiber. 

So let CHEF V do all the work for you. I’ll ship the cleanse right to your door and you won’t have to worry about counting carbs or figuring out what you should eat in order to transition into ketosis. 

LEARN MORE

a green drink a day can support your mood

Protein Powder: What you Need to Know before you Cleanse

two Chef V protein powders held by a girl

When you think of a juice cleanse or detox diet, does protein come to mind? If not, it should. But not just any protein. In fact, many protein powders can be toxic to your health. Learn why you need protein if you’re cleansing and what kind is best for your body. Here’s what you need to know.

new protein shake

Doing a Cleanse? Why Protein Powder is important

All animals must eat protein every day to survive. Us wild human animals included. Now I’m not saying you need to eat a 72-ounce T-bone steak every day for health. I’d feel very sorry for your colon if you did that.

You don’t even need a small bite of filet mignon every day. In fact, there’s no proof that you need animal protein for optimal health. Any natural vegan protein will do, including nuts and seeds.

Here’s a fun nutrition fact to chew on: the human body can’t live more than 70 days without eating any protein. Give or take a day. I haven’t personally tested this theory. And I don’t recommend you try either.

But if you’re reading this because you’re researching the best juice cleanse, there’s a very good chance you’re going to kill yourself just a little bit. And thanks to me, I’m going to save you from that. I’ll explain how in just a sec….

You see, if you go ultra low carb like the keto diet, no problem. Some of that dietary fat you’re feasting on will be converted into glucose (sugar) for your brain to feed on. Even protein can be converted into glucose. If you eat that 72-ounce steak, there’s a good possibility some of the cow meat will turn into sugar and get stored as fat.

But your body can’t store excess protein. It also can’t make protein from carbs or fats or anything else. That’s why you need to eat protein everyday for optimal health.

Your lean muscle tissue, hair, skin, and nails all need adequate protein to look healthy.

So if you’re checking out some different cleanse or detox diet options out there, here’s the big problem with them….

Most cleanse programs contain zero protein. Instead, all juice detoxes are is a slick marketing trick for selling you fruit juice with loads of sugar. That’s the opposite of cleansing! (Compare my cleanse program to popular juice cleanses here.)

Think how brittle your hair and nails will look after going several days without protein.

Some people think that it’s not good to have protein during a cleanse. Why? They assume it’s bad for the digestive system. Well, in a way, that’s true. But only if it’s processed meat or unhealthy protein powder.

I’m here to steer you in a healthy direction and recommend a protein powder to take while doing a cleanse.

protein burger

Vegan Protein Powder For Cleansing

Multi-colored, attractive bottles of juice may be effective for marketing. But they’re not good for health. You see, many commercial juice cleanse programs include about a half dozen different kinds of juice, each a different color of the rainbow. But each containing 20 grams or more of sugar and zero protein.

As far as I’m concerned (as a certified nutritional therapist), you need just one color of juice: green. Green-leafy vegetables are the most nutrient-dense foods and play a critical part in the body’s detoxification process. But even my cold-blended Organic Green Drinks don’t have any protein.

That’s why several years ago, I brainstormed on a protein powder that would be healthy for everybody, including people doing a cleanse. The result is my Organic Vegan Protein Shake. With 17 grams of high-absorbance pea protein per packet, brittle nails don’t stand a chance.

You’ll have to trust me (or the 5-star reviews on Yelp) that the shake tastes great. How does it taste good without adding gobs of sugar? My recipe uses organic vanilla powder, stevia, and monk fruit extract. Stevia and monk fruit are natural, calorie-free sweeteners.

Pea protein has become more popular. When I decided to use pea protein a few years ago, I never thought it would be just as effective for the weightlifting community. But check it out. This study shows that it produces the same increase in muscle thickness as whey protein.

There are a couple reasons I don’t use whey in my Protein Shake for my cleanse programs. First, many whey protein powders are contaminated with heavy metals. (Says this Harvard research report.) And also, whey protein is not good for people with lactose intolerance. True, I could have used whey protein isolate, which contains close to zero lactose, but I just don’t trust how whey is manufactured. And I don’t think it’s good for cleansing overall.

What About Soy Protein Powder For Cleansing?

Some people are concerned about soy protein’s effect on women. This is because soy is a phytoestrogen, and if the body has too much estrogen absorbed, it could produce a hormonal cancer such as breast cancer.

Thus far, there are no studies linking soy protein powder to breast cancer. However, I do believe that processed soy is not good for health. Also, I think there is something to the too much estrogen theory. After all, it’s not just the food supply from soybeans that causes estrogen dominance, it’s all the plastics and everyday cleaners that can mimic the effects of estrogen.

50% off Chef V Cleanse

Muscle Heads

You don’t need to buy one of those huge tubs of protein powders that huge weightlifters buy for bulging biceps.

If you’re not doing a cleanse, I really don’t think you need any protein powder at all. But if you are going to do a cleanse, you absolutely do need some protein if you don’t want your muscles to waste away and your immune system to get weak.

Dietary protein plays a major role in virtually every thing that happens in your cells. And not only that, protein helps you feel full. If you go even a few days without it, just having juice will make your blood sugars go up and down. You’ll get tired and cranky.

Look, even if you don’t choose one of my cleanses, I do highly encourage you to consume a little high-quality vegan-protein every day (hemp and brown rice are also good choices).

A little protein every day goes a long way for health.

Best wishes and to your health,

Chef V

Chef V and kale

The Power of Pea Protein: Why You Will Cleanse So Hap-pea-ly

peas for protein

Pea protein is one of the most popular vegan proteins with no signs of slowing down, and for good reason. It’s super easy to digest, contains all 9 essential amino acids and doesn’t cause nasty belly bloating. That’s why Chef V is excited to introduce Vanilla Ultra Shake with pea protein for cleanse customers. 

peas in pod

Puny plant-powered peas? Hardly! Here’s Why Pea Protein Rocks…

It wasn’t that long ago that if you would have told someone at the gym that you use pea protein, they would have likely responded, oooo, gross! 

After all, peas were something that only babies eat. And maybe grown-ups who ate the occasional split pea soup. But pea protein powder? That was something relatively unheard of a generation ago, much less 5-10 years ago. Peas have proven to shatter the myth of the puny vegan. 

No longer is it far left field for bodybuilders to heal the microscopic muscle-fiber tears after a lifting session with pea protein. In fact, some of the most accomplished bodybuilders are vegan and support their lean muscle tissue with plant-powered protein powders, especially pea.  

The total value of the worldwide pea protein market was worth about $380 million in 2017. By 2027, guess what the market is forecast to be worth…?

Over $1 billion. 

That’s a lot of “pass the peas, please!” 

Pea protein powder is not a fly-by-night fad. Thanks to the growing consciousness of the health benefits of eating a natural plant-based diet, plant-powered protein powders are becoming the norm, not the exception. (I say “natural plant-based” because you can be a vegan and still be unhealthy, eating lots of processed junk.)

But if you’re thinking about doing a juice cleanse, do you really need pea protein? 

Spoiler alert: YES!

And here’s why…

The #1 Mistake With Doing a Juice Cleanse: Not Enough Protein

After doing a juice cleanse for a couple days, you might feel elated. Especially if prior to doing the cleanse you were not eating a clean diet, consisting mostly of organic produce and unrefined grains. 

But with most juice cleanses, by day 3, if not before, many people start feeling like complete $h!*. 

That’s because most cleanses on the market do not contain enough protein. In fact, most of them contain only the trace amounts of protein that are naturally occurring in fruit and vegetables. 

Speaking of fruit, that’s another problem with doing a cleanse. If you’re just drinking juice that’s primarily fruit-based, the lack of fiber and protein may cause dramatic blood-sugar fluctuations. 

You’ll become moody, irritable and you’ll eventually be so hungry, you’ll be dreaming and salivating about eating a bacon cheeseburger. Oh, and the not-so-sweet cherry on top of most cleanses is that the lack of fiber and protein will make you miserably constipated. 

So keep in mind that even if you’re doing a juice cleanse, you need to consume an adequate amount of protein, much more than one or two grams you would get per day from fruits and vegetables. 

doing a cleanse

Why Is Pea Protein Necessary When Doing A Cleanse? 

When most people think of protein powder, workout recovery and meal replacement are probably the two top things that come to mind. 

But if you want to reboot your metabolism to unclog your congested liver, then “cleansing” should be front and center of your mind when it comes to protein powder. 

And hands-down, pea protein powder is the best for a cleanse. That’s because pea protein powder is:

  • Hypoallergenic (it won’t trigger food allergies; with rare exceptions)
  • Highly-absorbable 
  • Easy to digest (won’t cause gas or bloating)
  • A complete protein (contains all 9 essential amino acids; no food combining necessary)
  • Non-inflammatory
  • High in iron 
  • Good for the cardiovascular system
  • Supports healthy skin, hair and nails

I want to briefly talk about this last benefit. I’ve been in this business for a very long time, first as a certified nutritional therapist and personal chef and now as the curator of the nation’s best home delivery Green Drink plan and Cleanse/Detox program. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen first-hand the brittle nails, pale skin and dull hair caused by an unhealthy cleanse program. 

When you go 7, 14 or 21 days or longer doing a juice fast and don’t get enough protein, you are literally starving your lean muscle tissue. Isn’t the whole point of doing a cleanse to feel better and sexier—no matter what your body type is? 

Well, I can personally guarantee you that if you don’t get enough protein while you’re cleansing, you will not look and feel your best. 

Just Say No To Animal Protein While Cleansing?

If protein is so important while doing a cleanse, why not eat a tiny bit of grass-fed beef or supplement with egg white protein powder? 

The reason why is because if you need to cleanse because of a sluggish metabolism, animal protein is extremely difficult to process. 

That’s because your liver produces bile, the greenish, detergent-like liquid that metabolizes dietary fat. 

If your liver is underperforming, you need to temporarily minimize your intake of dietary fat; I recommend completely avoiding animal fat while you’re cleansing and in the immediate days after your cleanse is done. 

New To Chef V’s Cleanse: Vanilla Ultra Shake With Pea Protein

The number one concern most people have about doing a cleanse is, “Will I starve?” The good news is that with a Chef V Cleanse, not only will you not starve, your belly will be hap-pea-ly nourished thanks to 4 Green Juices per day, 2 Vanilla Ultra Protein Shakes with pea protein per day, and 1 delicious DETOX SOUP for dinner. 

You can choose between a 5 Day, 3 Day or 1 Day Cleanse. 

Learn more here

Here’s to feeling “hap-pea” on your cleanse!

Love,  Chef V

Chef V, Coco and kale

4 Tools for a Summer Health Boost & Slimdown

summer weight loss

The biggest factor that contributes to maintaining a trim weight and overall health is nutrition. In this article I give you four tools for enhancing your diet and boosting your well being. And no coincidence, these same tips will contribute to reducing your triglyceride levels. 

The good news is you don’t have to do high-intensity, American Ninja Warrior-type exercise to have a hot summer bod. All you need is a reboot of your digestive system. Here are my 4 top tips for improving digestion and triglyceride levels and getting lean for summer….

#1: Apple Cider Vinegar

Can your “mother” help you achieve a summer slim down?

And by “mother” I mean the cloudy film that rests on top of a bottle of raw, unfiltered, organic apple cider vinegar (ACV)….

Raw ACV bottles such as those sold by the brand, Bragg (the same company that sells liquid amino acids, a soy sauce alternative) prominently advertise “with the mother” on the product label. As well they should. That’s because the mother is tiny bits and pieces of proteins, enzymes and friendly bacteria.

ACV helps increase stomach acid production. And because of the friendly bacteria it contains, it also acts like a probiotic.

Honestly, I tried to find some research on humans that shows ACV can help with weight loss. I hit a brick wall, but I did find some research on animals (rats and mice) that support using it for the following: reducing fat storage; lowering blood sugar; improves metabolism and suppressing appetite.

The only downside to ACV is it tastes really harsh. But you can add it to a Green Drink to mask the taste.

ACV is also good for skin. In fact, many people use ACV to treat skin conditions. Drinking a little bit every day can help clear your skin from the inside-out. And because of its beneficial bacteria and enzymes, it can help cleanse your body.

apple cider vinegar

#2: Bone Broth/Collagen Powder

Pretty soon, it’ll be too hot to sip bone broth.

But collagen protein powders have become very popular. And you can easily add a scoop of it in your blender with almond milk and my Organic Protein Shake if you’re doing a Chef V Cleanse.

If you don’t know the difference between the two: Bone broth is animal bones with herbs and spices cooked in water for 24 hours in a slow cooker. The long-simmering process of bone broth releases collagen protein from the bones.

I admit that there’s a lot of hype surrounding bone broth and collagen protein. There are claims that it can cure just about everything.

There is research, however, that shows supplementing with collagen protein can help repair your gut. Gut health is crucial for burning fat. It’s not easy to get ready for a summer slimdown if you don’t have a healthy gut.

In fact, some people have a condition that’s known in the alternative medicine field as “leaky gut.” Leaky gut is when the tiny junctions of your gut lining tear, allowing undigested food particles to enter the bloodstream. When this happens, your detoxification system  slows down. Not only that, leaky gut can also cause an autoimmune disease.

Sipping on some fresh bone broth every day can help repair your gut and improve your body’s detox system. I do not believe in store bought bone broth, it is like trying to get your vitamins from Hi-C. Store bought bone broth is not real bone broth and does not have the same benefits. The only way to get the full benefits of bone broth is fresh made or fresh bought. It should expire in a week.  An alternative to bone broth is to take a collagen protein powder supplement.

probiotic flora

#3: Probiotics

I’ve mentioned probiotics at least a couple times recently, including the best one to bring with you if you’re travelling.

I’ll just quickly rehash here why probiotics are so important for getting or staying lean. The healthier your gut microbiome (the trillions of bacteria, etc.), that is the more friendly bacteria you have in your gut, the easier it will be to digest your food. And the easier it is to digest your food, the less likely it will be that you’ll have difficulty getting rid of unwanted body fat.

There are a few problems with probiotics….

First is that many people forget to take them everyday. Set yourself a daily reminder on your smartphone to take them in the morning or before bed.

Second, some people don’t buy a strong enough probiotic. Look for a supplement that has several different strains of bacteria and has a minimum count of 10 billion colony forming units (CFU) per capsule. The reason you need a high count is that a lot of the bacteria won’t survive the harsh trip through the digestive system.

And third, not all brands of probiotics are of good quality. Do your research before you buy. My favorite is Bio-K – they have a dairy or non-dairy version and it is fresh.

#4:  A Chef V Detox with my Green Drink, Detox Soups, and Protein Shakes

So this last tip for a summer slimdown isn’t exactly a supplement. But it’s a great way to to make sure you’re looking and feeling great when you’re ready to take your first dip in the ocean or pool….

If you do my 21 Day Detox, you’ll be amazed by the transformation your body will undergo, (not to mention your skin, mood and energy levels).

Here’s how it works: you alternate between following my Healthy Routine and doing a 3 day cleanse. During the 3 day cleanse, you get 4 servings of my Green Drink plus 2- 16 oz. Protein Shakes and 1 detox soup for dinner. And during the Healthy Routine phase, you’ll get a 16-ounce Green Drink and 1- 16 oz. Protein Shake for breakfast. Then for lunch and dinner, you’ll use my healthy eating and meal planner guides, which contains delicious recipes for soups, salads, appetizers, and entrees.

The best part is I deliver the Green Drinks, Protein Shakes and Detox Soups to your front door (Well not personally, but my company does.)

Doing a 21-Day Detox is the easiest, most affordable, and safest way to lose 30 pounds or more.

You can also try a 3, 5 or 7-day Cleanse if you just want to dip your pinky toe in the shallow end.

Good luck with your summer slimdown. Even if you don’t want to spend any money on supplements, rebooting your digestive system by doing a Chef V Cleanse or Detox will get you bikini ready!

Love,

Veronica (Chef V)

Need A Liver Detox? Here’s The Safest Way

Did you just have a junk food binge-a-thon? Or did you recently celebrate a birthday with bottomless flutes of champagne? Then maybe you need a liver detox. But before you start one, Veronica Wheat, aka Chef V, explains what you need to know…

What Is A Liver Detox?

Did drinking too much red wine make you feel not so fine? Then maybe it’s time for a liver detox. But before I tell you the safest way to do a liver detox, let’s get to know your liver. 

Your liver performs hundreds of functions. If you’ve indulged lately, you can thank your liver for filtering your blood. That means that the liver removes toxins from drugs, alcohol and coffee and synthetic chemicals (like glyphosate) into harmless waste products. These waste products are eliminated when you pee and poo. 

But if your liver is chronically overworked because of what you’re putting in your body—or because of what your body is exposed to—its ability to filter the toxins in your blood becomes compromised. 

Time to reach for the liver detox pills? Well, let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. First let’s find out if you really need to do a liver detox. 

Free Liver Detox Resources

I’m  temporarily making available these incredible free resources:

  • Eat This/Not That chart that prepares you for the pre-cleanse and post-cleanse phase. No more guesswork about what to eat ever again!
  • Healthy Portions Guide – know exactly how much of the good stuff to load on your plate.
  • Breakfast Smoothie Guide – In a rush? No sweat, you don’t have to sacrifice your health thanks to these delicious and luxurious liquid breakfasts.
  • Lunch And Dinner Guide – Knowing what to make is frustrating. Chef V holds your hand with oodles of healthy meal creation ideas. 

You can find these invaluable resources here

Top 7 Signs You Could Use A Liver Detox

Here’s how you can tell if you should consider doing a liver detox

  • Frequently tired—even after getting plenty of sleep
  • Experiencing headaches
  • Constantly constipated 
  • Easily putting on weight—despite exercising
  • Cravings for sugar and starchy carbs
  • Trouble digesting protein or fat
  • Post-meal nausea or bloating

To put it simply, if you just generally feel like crap, it could be because your liver’s detoxification pathways are clogged up like an L.A. freeway at rush hour. 

This is why thousands of people have transformed their health doing a safe and effective Chef V 21 Day Detox. It’s like a metabolic reboot for your liver. 

How Does A Liver Detox Work? 

Liver detoxes work in two phases. The first phase is reducing the toxic burden on the liver. This simply means that you remove all sources of toxic overload: junk food, alcohol (sadly this includes mimosas), tobacco, conventional brands of laundry detergent and dryer sheets (don’t underestimate how much chemicals in your everyday household goods can clog your liver), etc. 

By eliminating these toxic sources, your liver can take a breather. Then, iln the second phase of liver detoxification, you introduce foods that nourish the liver and accelerate its filtering optimization. 

In the Chef V 21 Day Detox, I teach people exactly what to eat and what to avoid in the days leading up to the detox. This is the first phase. 

And in the second phase, I provide you with liver-boosting recipes, Organic Green Drinks, Vegan Protein Shakes and Detox Soups. 

Beyond doing a 21 Day Detox, there’s other things can help you improve liver detoxification like:

  • Doing high intensity interval training (like strenuous hot yoga)
  • Using household cleaners and body/haircare products that are free of synthetic chemicals. (Sorry ladies: no perfume or anything with fragrance.)
  • Getting enough sleep
  • Sweating in an infrared sauna 
  • Eating a low inflammatory diet
  • Taking supplements to support liver function

woman holding painful stomach

What Are The Best Supplements For A Liver Detox? 

Want to improve your liver function? Then you may also want to think about taking some of the following supplements that are backed by research.

But before you start popping supplements to detoxify your liver, let me give you a warning. First of all, not all supplements are created equal. Unless you really understand the nutritional supplement marketplace, you could end up buying a supplement that clogs your liver even more. That’s because many conventional supplement manufacturers add fillers to the products. Soybean oil? That’s nasty! (Read my take on soy here.)

The second problem with relying on supplements is that many people feel like they can continue eating like crap. 

It’s true that there are some people who have low-functioning livers because of environmental contamination. But by and large, it’s a food problem. Most people aren’t flooding their trillions of cells with phytonutrients to support liver health. 

And that’s why I created Organic Green Drink in the first place. It’s a staple of my 21 Day Detox program. (4 servings a day!)

What Are The Risks Of Doing A Liver Detox? 

Not all liver detox programs are safe and effective. In my “industry” juice cleanses are synonymous with liver detoxes. But I’ll tell you a dirty little secret about the juice industry. 

The majority of juice cleanse and detox programs are just glorified fruit juice. I call it “diabetes in a bottle.” How can consuming 25-50 grams or more of sugar a few times a day contribute to liver health? 

But the insane thing is that these big brand juice companies are getting away with it. They’re marketing their juices as healthy for the liver when in fact it’s the opposite. Juice detoxes do not include enough protein. That’s why on the cleanse days within my 21 Day Detox program, you get 2 Vegan Protein Shakes. They are super easy on the liver unlike animal protein. 

In addition, you need a tiny amount of healthy dietary fat while you’re cleansing the liver. That’s why on the Cleanse days within the 21 Day Detox, you get a delicious DETOX SOUP. It contains just a gram of dietary fat. Believe it or not, that’s enough to keep you satisfied and prevent cravings. 

And don’t get me started with detox pills. Any pill that promises to eliminate toxins also has the potential to strip your digestive system of good bacteria and vital nutrients. 

If there’s one thing I want you to take away from this article, don’t take liver detox pills. 

woman woth green chef v protein powder packs

Does Doing A Liver Detox Work? 

A safely designed liver detox program can definitely help you get back on track with your health goals. In fact, in a study published in Alternative Therapies in Health & Medicine a 7-day detox program was found to enhance health and prevent the development of disease.

But don’t just let the research do the talking. Let’s give the spotlight to real people who have had huge success after doing a Chef V cleanse/detox. Like Maddi, who says, “When I need to get back on track, I love the Chef V cleanse – the 5 day cleanse for me has been an effective detox and metabolic reset. I love the soups, shakes, and juice and always end up feeling better after I complete one of the cleanses.”

What Is The Safest Way To Do A Detox? 

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on supplements, fad diets and pills that could end up causing scary side effects. 

If you want the cheapest detox? Then start each day by drinking fresh lemon juice water. But if you need more support, including all the education you’ll ever need for successfully doing a liver detox, check out:

CHEF V 21 DAY DETOX

Want a sneak peek into what a 21 Day Detox is like? Check out Chef V’s 21 Day Detox Directions. This resource is usually kept private until you sign up for the detox. 

To your liver health!

Love, 

Chef V

Chef V eating mac and cheese

Top 5 Myths About Doing a Detox

new year same you but better

You know it’s time for a new you!

Perhaps you haven’t been eating healthy but you are ready to make a positive change. Is your belly is chronically bloated? Does it take you a couple cups of coffee in the morning to wake up from the dead? And when the caffeine eventually wears off, your mental clarity and energy are foggy and sluggish, respectively. Your skin is bumpy and dull, and your sleep patterns are erratic. Let's make the new year's you the same you but better!

But some people are intimidated by detox diets. While the thought of coming out the other side of a metabolic reboot sounds appealing, you don’t want to be miserable doing it. “Detoxes” can mean different things to different people. Herbal supplements, colon cleanses, infrared saunas, digestive enzymes, and of course, juice cleanses. 

If you’re thinking about doing a detox, here are the Top Five Myths About Doing a Detox.

Chef V in a field of kale

Detox Myth #1: It’s Too Hard – Not True!

To some people, the phrase “detox” is synonymous with starvation. But a detox shouldn’t be deficient in nutrients, and it certainly shouldn’t be a lengthy, strict fast. While following an intermittent fasting schedule is great for your health (I do it, and so does Brandon, my husband.), not eating anything for over 24 hours could do you more harm than good. 

With my 21 Day Detox, you choose between one, two or three intervals of a 3 day cleanse. During the 3, 6 or 9 days, you’re on a calorie restricted diet. But you’re getting all the nutrients you need to detoxify vital organs and lose weight—without feeling deprived. 

On these cleanse days, you drink 4 servings of my Organic Green Drink (16 oz. per serving), a smooth-as-silk cold-blend of 7 certified organic green leafy veggies. You also get 2 packets of my vegan-friendly protein shake (about 20 grams of muscle-building protein per shake) and one Detox Soup for dinner. 

Essentially, these cleanse days are a liquid diet. But there’s enough protein and fiber to help your energy levels remain steady and prevent cravings.

Chef V eating her detox carrot soup

Myth #2: You Can Only Have Juice Or Raw Kale – No, you can have delicious soups and protein shakes as well

Many people associate cleanse or detox diets with juice programs. If you ever come across a program that offers only juices, whether it’s a 3 day program or a longer one, then run. 

Here’s why: most juice programs, even if the drinks are low in sugar (unfortunately, most juice detoxes are very high in sugar), they are woefully deficient in protein and fiber. Pressed juices don’t contain the fiber from the fruit or veggie. And when you have no fiber, your blood sugar levels fluctuate. The result is nasty mood swings. You really need protein, fiber and even some healthy fat to keep you full and maintain your blood sugar at a steady level during your detox. 

(By the way, my Organic Green Drink contains only 6 grams of sugar per 16 oz serving, keeping your energy level rock-steady.) 

As for the non-cleanse days — either 18 days, 15 days or 12 days depending on how many 3 day cleanses you choose during the 21 Day Detox, you get to enjoy entrees like nachos, wild salmon, mac and cheese, and pesto lasagna, just to name a few. 

How can you mack on mac n’ cheese when you’re trying to detoxify your body? When you order my 21 Day Detox, you get access to my recipe book, “Making Healthier Easier,” a PDF download that teaches you how to make your favorite entrees healthy (I use nutritional yeast as a cheese substitute. 

I also provide you with an Eat This/Not That chart, and a Healthy Portions guide. When you’re eating dozens of delicious meals that you can take right from my book, and learn exactly what you should eat during a 21 Day Detox, 3 weeks goes by real quick.

refreshing smoothie

Myth #3: You Can Only Drink Water And Detox Drinks – No! How about a Watermelon Slush?

While I do recommend eliminating caffeine during a 21 Day Detox (for all 21 days), that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy other drinks. 

On your non-cleanse days (again, it’s either 18, 15 or 12 days, depending on how many 3-day cleanse periods you want to do), you can use my recipe book to easily create craft “mocktails.” How does Watermelon Slush sound? It’s perfect for hot days when you need something sweet and refreshing. Or how about Creamy Green Smoothie, a delicious, filling blend of avocado, spinach, kale, dates, lemon, chia seeds and cinnamon … doesn’t exactly sound like torture, does it? 

cheesecake with raspberry garnish

Myth #4: You Can’t Have Any Sugar Or Dessert

Ideally, starting from right now and everyday for the rest of your life, you will eat a low-sugar diet. But there’s a misconception that when you’re doing a detox, you can’t have any sugar. Technically, that’s not true. All veggies, even green leafy ones, contain a tiny bit of natural sugar. 

Sure, you shouldn’t eat anything with added sugars while you’re doing a 21 Day Detox. But even on the non-cleanse days, you still get to feast on sweet-tasting things like berries and even a date or two. 

And the best part of my 21 Day Detox is that on non-cleanse days, you can have your cake and eat it, too. That’s right. In my cookbook, you’ll find recipes for Triple Layer Cheesecake, Acai, Chia Seed Pudding, Chocolate Avocado Mousse, and Vanilla ‘Milk’ Shake. 

Again, it doesn’t sound exactly like torture, does it? The reason you get to eat like a King while eliminating toxins is that you’ll be swapping out high-inflammatory ingredients such as dairy, for ingredients that aid in the body’s detoxification process, and cause no inflammatory reaction.

Omega 3 rich foods

Myth #5: It’s Expensive – No.

It’s true that some Detox programs cost thousands of dollars. But with my 21 Day Detox, you can easily lose 30 pounds or more, starting at only $249. That’s less than $12 a day. Not bad for the following:

  • 4 Organic Green Drinks, 2 Protein Shakes and 1 Detox Soup every day during your 3 Day Cleanse interval
  • My Recipe E-Book, Making Healthier Easier, which includes a healthy food pyramid (not the ridiculous one the federal government uses); a list of cleanse approved foods; detox drinks and smoothies; healthy breakfasts; tasty snacks and apps; super soups; sensational salads; easy entrees and sides; sweets and treats
  • Healthy Portions Chart and other handy printouts
  • Unlimited email and phone support

If you’ve been thinking about going on a detox diet but you’re confused, scared, and don’t know how to get started, you’ve come to the right place. 

I’ll hold your hand every step of the way. I promise you will transform your body and mind (maybe even your spirit) when the 21 days are over. I also promise you won’t feel like you’re starving or miserable. It will take some dedication on your part. You must be willing to do some healthy meal prep and cooking on your own. But my recipes are real easy to follow and don’t take long to make. 

And if you’ve never done a 3-day calorie-restricted liquid diet cleanse, it might seem a little challenging to go that long without any solid food. But with the protein shakes and detox soup dinner, you’ll do just fine and you’ll be buzzing with natural energy after the 3 day interval.

Get Started. Experience the Chef V Transformation

Think how quickly the last 3 weeks or even the last 3 years of your life has flown by. You can do this. It’s not nearly as hard as you think. After the 21 days, not only will your clothes feel much looser, you’ll smile at your new slimmer physique when you look in the mirror, your skin will feel smoother, your thinking will be sharper … and overall, you’re going to feel like you’re living your best life. 

What do you say? Ready to get started. 

Click here to buy 21 Day Detox.

Essential Detox: 21 Days to Better Health

Veronica working from home

Happy hello! Whether it’s hot or cold, every day calls for care for your health. Weather changes and cleansing go together with my Chef V cleanses & detoxes.

My cleanses include delicious Carrot Ginger and Sweet Potato Curry soups, soothing and filling.  Doing an essential detox cleanse right now may protect you from nasty viruses. Plus, doing a detox is like giving your organs a much-needed tune-up. 

 When you’re sharing oxygen in a confined space, that’s when your body is more susceptible to catching colds and flu viruses. At work with lots of people in close proximity, the state of your immune system is a major factor in determining if you’re going to have to call in sick for work.

You might feel totally healthy now. But if you eat unhealthy fast food now that you are back at work  along with alcohol, ice cream and other inflammatory foods, your immune system might be weakened right now without you knowing it.

And if you don’t detox your system now, your immune system’s energy will be spent trying to get rid of the toxic load in your organs, instead of devoting all of its resources to fighting viruses.

Hey, maybe you’re one of the lucky ones and can feast on foods with refined carbohydrates. Perhaps you’re a genetic freak who never gets sick despite a diet rich in foods with white flour, sugar, and saturated fats.

But if you’re not a member of the dietary one-percent I have some advice for you on boosting your immune system right now with an essential detox….

green line

“During my detox I lost 19 lbs! My BMI went from 24.0 to 16.9!
I am super excited for when I do my next detox because I will be
doing the expert challenge! LOVE LOVE LOVE Chef V.” – Mackenzie

Below, my Black Bean Soup, a recipe from my cookbook. A cleanse-friendly recipe created to accompany my cleanses and detoxes.

black bean soup

Ditch Sugar Addiction & Reset Your Metabolism In Just 21 Days

In addition to eating unhealthy food, you might be more vulnerable to getting sick because of stress.

Recently, I wrote about staying healthy for the back to school season. But even if you don’t have kids, many of us feel stressed out. And when stress strikes, lots of people cope by snacking on sugary treats and other unhealthy food.

If you can relate to having felt stressed out or eat lots of unhealthy food, I suggest trying my 21 Day Detox.

My 21 Day Detox is 100% organic. Although you’ll very likely lose weight after doing a 21 Day Detox, my program is far more than just a weight loss solution. More than that, my 21 Day Detox will teach you how to adopt healthier eating habits. Not just for the 21 days but for weeks, months and even years after the detox is over.

How Does The 21 Day Essential Detox Work?

During the 21 Day Detox, you’ll have days when you follow my Cleanse protocol, which provides you with four servings of 16 oz Green Drinks, 2 Protein Shakes and a Detox Soup. Then, on other days, you’ll also have Green Drinks and Protein Shakes, plus my Healthy Routine, which allows you to choose your own lunch, snack and dinner from my Meal Planner. The Meal Planner contains delicious recipes, an approved foods list, a portion-size guide, and more helpful tips that will make completing a 21 Day Essential Detox a breeze.

Plus, when you order the 21 Day Detox, I email you a downloadable copy of my recipe book, Making Cleansing Easier.

A lot of people have no idea what to eat. But I take all the guess work out of meal planning. My recipes are filled with lots of low-starch veggies, healing herbs and spices and healthy, whole grains that don’t promote inflammation. I also include some fruit as part of my Healthy Eating routine (but not too much), as well as legumes, lean protein and moderate amounts of healthy oils such as olive oil.

Squashing VIruses With … Squash, Soup And Other Awesome Autumn Veggies

Introducing winter squash, sweet potato, carrot, beets and other hearty antioxidant-rich veggies this time of year is a good strategy for boosting your immune system and aiding your body in the detox process.

And when you do my 21 Day Detox, you’ll get one of two delicious Detox soups for dinner: Carrot Ginger Zing and Sweet Potato Curry. The carrot ginger soup also contains yam, onion, garlic, turmeric, and sea salt with a base of filtered water.

As for the sweet potato curry, it’s loaded with leeks, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and a gentle curry spice, flavored to taste with sea salt in a filtered water base.

Although the Detox Soups are relatively low in calories, they are very nutrient dense, so you won’t still be hungry and be tempted by empty carbs after having it for dinner.

Here’s what one Chef V customer, Mel H. of San Diego, has to say about the soup on Yelp:

The detox soup is DELICIOUS- I want to try the recipe on my own one of these days. After 3 days of cleansing I feel 100% better. I will absolutely do this cleanse again. Thanks Chef V. !

Mel didn’t jump into the 21 Day Detox. She dipped her toe in the shallow end by doing my shortest detox program, the 3 Day Cleanse. If the sound of a 21 Day Detox intimidates you, doing a 3 Day Cleanse (or 5 day or 7 day) is a good alternative.

Whether you choose the shorter cleanse or the 21 Day Detox, I’ll tell you exactly what foods to eat in the days leading up to the program and for the days that follow it after you successfully finish it.

So give your organs a tune-up now and get them in tip-top shape for the cold/flu season that’s right around the corner.

To your health,

Chef V

Veronica and Coco

12 Reasons Why Juice Cleanse Delivery is Amazing

There’s something plain magical about fresh food and drinks. Too many people across the country never get to experience the health benefits of fresh food, let alone the fantastic taste. Buying juice at the grocery store is one thing, but getting it delivered fresh is a whole different story. We got our start with juice cleanse delivery in San Diego, so we figure we know a thing or two about why juice cleanse delivery is amazing. We’ve made a list of some of our top reasons just for you!

#1 Appetite control

If there are any of our readers who haven’t had to deal with junk food cravings, they should count themselves lucky. For the rest of us, we know just how hard it can be to deal with the desire for sweet and fatty foods. 

These cravings are often caused by issues with blood sugar levels. Generally, as blood sugar levels drop from a lack of food, we tend to crave carb-heavy food. However, if we’re eating too many sugary foods daily, our body can stop accurately determining blood sugar level, and we tend to get blood sugar spikes and cravings. 

Getting a low sugar juice cleanse delivered right to your home is a great way to get blood sugar under control. This lets you get a fresh, low-sugar “reset” on your blood sugars, helping break the deadly junk-food cycle. We might not have the willpower to get low sugar options at the grocery store, so green drink delivery makes sure we get what we need. 

#2 Detox

Juice cleanses can be great for your liver health as well. Lowering the amount of sugar, fats, and carbs in your diet benefits the liver overall. A healthy and happy liver is going to do better at its job, which is detoxifying your body and flushing out the bad stuff. A juice cleanse is a great way to give your liver a well-needed break.  

#3 Digestion 

One of the most common reasons we hear people expressing interest in a blended juice cleanse is to help with gut health and digestion. If you have issues with bloating and an upset stomach,  a juice cleanse is just what the doctor ordered—or rather, just what you ordered, to your door. Not only will the juice cleanse plan help fight bloating and gas, but it can help the growth of healthy gut bacteria. 

#4 Energy

Feeling low on energy? So low on energy you can’t even get to the store? Well, if you are starting a 21 day liquid detox diet, you don’t need to go to the store. The fresh juice will come right to you! By getting your blood sugar under control, and developing healthy eating habits, this liquid diet can give you better alertness and consistent energy.

#5 Heart health

A good green juice recipe (such as Chef V’s very own) will be full of antioxidants and other anti-inflammatories. These are great for helping promote better heart health throughout your life, and you can get this long-term health investment in a super convenient method. 

#6 Hydration

We all know we’re supposed to drink plenty of liquids throughout the day. But how many of us actually hold ourselves to that ideal? If you’re getting a regular delivery of green drink filled with delicious fruits and vegetables, you’re more likely to at least get some of your daily hydration. 

#7 Immune-boosting

Green drink delivery means you’re  getting a daily dose of a powerful immune booster. A blended juice cleanse is an easy way to get the fruits and veggies that will help keep your immune system operating in tip-top shape. Chef V’s green drink even includes apples, and you know what they say about apples and doctors… 

#8 Organic 

Organic food is great. But it can often be hard to track down the best organic drinks, especially if you don’t live in a major city. With juice cleanse delivery, you don’t need to worry about hunting down the organics; they’ll come right to you! 

#9 Savings

Sometimes organic juices can be expensive. If you get it delivered, you can often get the juice cleanse plan in bulk. And buying in bulk is always a great way to get some deals and cut down on overall costs.  

#10 Support local businesses 

Buying locally has a ton of benefits all on its own. Just like with the goal of buying organic, however, this is often easier said than done. A delivered juice cleanse means you’re getting your product from relatively nearby, but without the hassle of having to hunt it down yourself. 

#11 Taste

Fresh is better. That’s just the way  it goes, especially when it comes to things like leafy greens. With juice cleanse delivery, you can make sure you’re getting only the freshest, best-tasting juices, right at your doorstep. The fresh difference needs to be tasted to be really understood. 

#12 Weight loss

Using juice cleanse delivery to get your appetite under control will certainly help with weight loss all on its own. But it’s also important to remember that a tasty green drink is a great low-carb snack. By helping you regulate both diet and sleep schedule, and giving you the energy to exercise, a little green drink can go a long way for your weight-loss goals. 

Get juice cleanse delivery with Chef V

From juice cleanse delivery in Orange County, to juice cleanse delivery in New Jersey, Chef V is getting Americans the best in green drink, coast to coast. By signing up with Chef V, you get an amazing green drink, detox soup, and detox smoothies delivered right to your door, hassle free. Just check out what Chef V has done for all these Americans across the country

Nightshades: A No/No for Cleansing

deadly nightshades

Nightshades: Why These Everyday Veggies Are Toxic For Your Body

The nightshade veggies—tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant—are a no-no on my cleanse and detox list. Why are these on my blacklist if you want to reboot your digestive system? Read on to find out… 

I know next to nothing about football. But if there’s one thing about the sport I know, it’s something that my hubby, Brandon, jealously thinks I know far too much about: Tom Brady. 

Actually, I could care less about all those Super Bowl rings he’s won. (Those rings are so gaudy anyway.) But there are three things that really intrigue me about him. 

Obviously, number one on the list is his handsome looks. Second is his marriage to Giselle (she’s so fab, she doesn’t even need her last name mentioned). And like everyday else, I’m also amazed at the fact that the dude is in his mid-40s, getting chased by 350-pound monsters half his age and slingin’ that pigskin like, well, somebody half his age. 

TB is still playing at an amazingly high level (or so Brandon tells me). One reason for his amazing longevity is his diet. Tom Terrific eats a very low inflammatory diet. And one group of food Tom avoids is nightshades. 

tobacco

What Are Nightshades? 

If you smoke cigarettes, you’re not avoiding nightshades. Tobacco is a member of the nightshade family. Do I really need to say that smoking tobacco isn’t good for your health? The nightshades that get all the attention are tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplants. 

Nightshades—these plants grow in the shade and they tend to bloom at night—contain seeds and relatively thick skin. 

So what’s so bad about nightshades that TB avoids them like a blitzing linebacker (Brandon: aren’t you impressed with that analogy?) And what’s the big deal about seeds and skin? Why not just be thick-skinned about eating nightshades? 

It’s because nightshades contain substances that interfere with nutrient absorption in the body. Among these substances are lectins. Lectins are proteins that bind to carbohydrates. Every single plant contains lectins. But nightshades along with raw legumes contain the highest amount of lectins. 

arthritis

Why Are Lectins Bad?

Like most things in life, lectins aren’t all black and white. There’s the good, bad and ugly when it comes to lectins. These proteins serve an important function in nature. They protect plants from being consumed by fungi or voracious insects. So what does that have to do with why Tom Brady avoids nightshades? 

Lectins are a natural bio-weapon for protecting plants from getting digested. The theory goes that those same characteristics prevent nutrients from getting absorbed in the gut. 

Some people blame nightshades for arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and general joint problems and inflammation. 

But Tom Brady doesn’t have arthritis. If he did, he would have retired years ago. Well, Tom (we’re on a first name basis now) doesn’t want to take any chances. 

And if you’re looking to CLEANSE your digestive system, I don’t want you to take any chances either. 

If you do have a digestive system that seems backed up, sluggish or stressed out, experiment with a nightshade-free diet for a week or two. See if it makes a difference. 

Some health authorities don’t think eating nightshades is that big of a deal. In fact, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health suggests that the catalyst for the lectin-free diet is for people to write best-selling books and that the human body has digestive enzymes that can break down lectins with no problem. 

But in this instance, I’m going to trust the 7-time Super Bowl winner. (I had to Google that.) 

sore stomach

How To Make Nightshades Healthier

If you’re doing a Chef V Cleanse or 21 Day Detox, I still want you to try to go nightshade-free. But can you imagine if all of Italy suddenly decided to go nightshade-free? No tomato sauce? The country would go crazy. However, the traditional way of making pasta sauce involves removing the skin and seeds from the tomatoes. 

Another way to lower the lectin count in nightshades is to simply use a pressure cooker. The heat seems to lower the anti-nutrient proteins. 

But that being said, I’d like to offer some final advice on nightshades. Do you struggle with leaky gut symptoms like joint problems, acne, eczema, brain fog and bloating? If so, I think it’s a good idea to eliminate all potential foods that can trigger symptoms. 

So say nighty-night to nightshades. If a nightshade-free-diet can help Tom, it may help you stay in the ballgame of life, too.

Making Lasting Changes: Chef V’s Tips to Build a Healthy Lifestyle in 2023

Everyone, at least once in their life, has dreamed about making lasting health changes in the new year. But there’s no magic formula to reaching a healthy lifestyle. Instead, it’s all about developing healthy habits that will serve you throughout the rest of your life. This blog covers some ways to get started. 

Exercise

Most of us understand the importance of exercise in our daily lives. It helps us get our weight under control, build muscle mass, improve digestion, and just feel all around better about ourselves.

And yet exercise is also often considered one of the hardest healthy habits to get into. This is because it requires an active investment of time, something many of us feel like we have precious little of. 

Healthy eating habits involve swapping out one food choice for another. Exercise involves finding new time in your schedule. It’s essential that you meet at least your minimal exercise goals. A good rule of thumb is that you should be getting at least either 150 minutes of moderate exercise in a week or seventy-five minutes of more intense exercise

To build healthy exercising habits, it’s vital to start with smaller goals. Using lunch breaks for walks is an excellent way to get started, and to enjoy the fresh air if the weather permits. We’re also big fans of yoga at Chef V, as a low-impact way to get more exercise and flexibility. 

Stress management

Making any permanent change in your habits will be difficult unless you manage to get your stress levels under control. Too often, physical health is emphasized so much that our mental health is forgotten. However, chronic stress levels can cause appetite issues, sleeping difficulties, and mood swings. These can further degenerate into diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. 

Getting started with stress reduction can be intimidating. Stressing about stress is counterproductive, not to mention just a little bit silly. Don’t be afraid to reach out to a therapist for assistance. Healthier choices in diet and exercise can also go a long way toward reducing stress levels, thus creating a positive feedback loop, as your positive mood encourages you to make better choices.

If you really don’t know where to get started, we can certainly recommend simple breathing exercises throughout the day. These are good ways to calm yourself quickly and cut down on the worst effects of stress. 

Sleep

Sleep is incredibly easy. Most of us can do it without even thinking about it. All you have to do is lay in bed, that’s it! So it’s strange that for so many people getting enough sleep is an incredibly difficult proposition. 

The hectic modern lives we live, plus the proliferation of screen-based technology, has significantly impacted our ability to get a good night’s sleep. Remember, the average person needs from seven to nine hours of sleep. 

Getting enough sleep depends on maintaining a strict routine for sleep. Your body will get used to regular sleep times—you just need to start enforcing them on yourself. An excellent way to get started is to shut off your phones and other screens an hour before bed, letting your mind relax and your eyes recover. 

Increase water intake

Hydration seems like such a minor detail, but water is incredibly important to us humans. Water flushes the toxins from the body, lubricates joints, improves mood, boosts digestion, and improves organ health. Thankfully, getting more water in your life is easy. Just make sure to have more glasses of H2O during the day. You can also try to mix in more green drinks with your daily habits to get all the important hydration. 

Intermittent fasting

If you’re still worried about weight loss, even after improving your health, sleep, and exercise habits, the new year might be the time to give intermittent fasting a try. Intermittent fasting is the idea that when you eat can be as important as what you eat. The longer you give your body to digest food properly, the better you can manage your weight. 

It might sound like a lot, but it’s easy to get into. For example, all you need to do is try having your dinner an hour earlier, and breakfast an hour later. Maybe you can even replace your morning routine with a healthy green drink! 

Try some juice cleanses

If you have severe issues around bloating, weight gain, digestive system problems, blood sugar levels, and cravings for processed foods, then the new year might be the time to start a juice cleanse. 

The best juice cleanses for weight loss will include things like detox soups and detox smoothies as well. If you’re new to juice cleanses, we recommend starting with a 3 day juice cleanse. Even a short 3 day cleanse can help you fight back against cravings for sugary foods.

Get more green juices in your diet

Still uncertain about where the best place is to start with your new year’s goals for building a healthy lifestyle? One of the easier healthy habits to get into is adding more green juice into your everyday routines. 

Chef V’s green drink is great whether as part of a 3 day juice cleanse, a snack in the morning, or as a refreshing treat throughout the day. Our own green juice recipe mixes plenty of healthy leafy greens with delicious apple juice for some natural sweetness. Best of all, we can deliver all the incredible health benefits of green drink right to your doorstep! 

Top 5 Ways to Detox Inside and Out

Detoxing goes beyond green juice recipes and your gut health. Detoxing involves removing all toxic junk from your body, mind, and life. If you’re looking for more ways to detox, inside and out, then we’ll provide a guide to get you started here, including through the use of detox juice.  

What counts as detoxification? 

If there’s a hot term out there in the nutritional community, it’s undoubtedly “detoxification.” The idea is that you’re removing harmful substances from your body, mind, and life. This could include the additives in processed foods, or simply other negative influences in our life. There’s a reason organic detox juice is becoming so popular. 

One of the biggest misconceptions about detoxification, especially for the body, is that it’s not something you can do naturally. Human beings are a lot more resilient than we give ourselves credit for. Even processed foods (which, maybe appropriately, take a long time for our body to process) can eventually be broken down. 

What detoxification should aim to do is instead help the body through these natural processes. The same goes for detoxifying your mind and habits. Trust in your own adaptability and resilience. Sometimes, it takes a few minor tweaks to your daily habits to start making permanent detox changes. 

Top ways to boost detoxification

#1 Massages 

When we think about physically improving the health of our bodies through movement, we often first think of stretching and exercise. However, it’s essential not to forget about all the great things that massages can do for you.

Part of the confusion here probably stems from the fact that there’s no single type of physical therapy that is a “massage.” Instead, this refers to a whole range of different styles, each with its unique health benefits. 

For example, the classic “Swedish massage” is mainly to help promote relaxation, while deeper massages help work out muscle tension and injuries. This means that no matter how active you are in your daily life, you can get something out of a visit to a massage therapist. 

Regardless of the type of massage, they all come with benefits beyond getting the kinks out of your muscles. Massages reduce stress as well as pain, and help promote circulation, manage blood pressure, and boost immune function. The improved circulation means the bad stuff in your body gets flushed out quicker, and the boosted immune system also helps your body regulate itself better.

That’s not to say there are no mental benefits to massages, of course. If you’re mired in stress and tensing up, few things are better at helping you unwind than a massage. If your body is tense, you’re going to feel tense, and the same goes in reverse. Massage is a comprehensive package, which is why it makes this list.

#2 Screen time limitation

You might have heard the term “digital detox” being bounced around, so it’s worth delving into what this means. Today, we take our constant connectivity to the digital space for granted. Always keeping tabs on what is happening in our personal and online lives allows for little bursts of pleasure throughout the day. 

However, people have been getting little bursts of pleasure from things like junk food and cigarettes long before smartphones. The behavior of constant online engagement is an addictive one. Even if you’re dubious about whether you have a screen addiction, you can’t deny the science regarding screen use and sleep. 

Cutting down on your screen time, especially in the evening before bed, is going to help net you some extra shuteye, which is going to help both your mind and body rest and recuperate. Of course, saying that you should “limit screen time” is easier said than done. 

Setting up your phone to reduce the temptation to constantly check it is one way to help get less screen time. Disabling notifications, or even switching the phone to black-and-white mode can all help make it much less enticing. You should also work on setting personal rules for yourself. For example, do a hard cut off of no screen time an hour before bed, or simply make the bedroom a tech-free space altogether.

#3 Spa days

It would be remiss to put massages on this list and not mention the option of going for the full spa day. Sometimes, all you have time for is one of those massages. But if you can carve a day out of your schedule, doing a spa day, or just some solo travel, is a great way to detox the mind and body. 

Not only do you get the benefits of massage and a break from your hectic schedule, most spas also include a variety of skin treatments, helping you look great. Beyond the glow of confidence in your looks, spa days help release positive-feeling chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, and can help you deal with headaches, pain, and sleep loss. 

Just like with massages, they can also help promote blood flow for all the aforementioned benefits. Basically, think of a spa day as a super-charged massage session. 

#4 Eliminating processed foods

In the modern age, plenty of food you’ll find in the grocery store is designed for long-distance travel, not necessarily for health. This is why organic detox juice is an increasingly popular option for those interested in getting their fruits and vegetables in liquid form. The additives used to make food good for travel can cause various health problems, especially for certain people with sensitivities

Beyond the sensitivities, there’s the plain fact that a lot of processed sugar in your food isn’t good for you. In particular, these sugars are linked to health conditions, such as diabetes and weight gain. They can take a long time for your body to process, and throw your blood sugar levels out of whack. 

They can also play hell with your digestive system, leading to bloating and diarrhea. Cutting these foods out of your diet and embracing more organic options is an excellent way to detox from sugar and additive overload. 

#5 Get that green juice

Can’t decide which part of your life needs an emergency detox first? Then our first recommendation is to get yourself an excellent detox juice recipe. Drinks full of leafy greens are great as an anti-inflammatory, are full of vitamins and minerals, and just make you feel great drinking it.

And if you’re looking for the best detox juice around, then look no further. With natural sweetness, but tons of those leafy greens as well, Chef V’s green drink is a significant part of a healthy lifestyle. Best of all, you can get a green drink delivered right to your door! 

Cleansing With Food Chef V Interview

Cleansing with Food
an interview with Chef V, Veronica Wheat

Chef V Interview - Cleansing your Body

Rico Caveglia: Hello, I am Rico Caveglia, and this is your Ageless Body Self-Care Guide, operations manual for your body and for your mind.

The title of today’s interview is about cleansing. This is such an important topic these days. I’m sure you probably know that we live in quite a toxic environment these days. We’re getting toxins from the air, the water, the food, beauty products, building material products. We’re getting bombarded with toxins all the time, so it’s so important to learn about what cleansing is and what it can do for you and how to do it.

We’re very fortunate today to have one of the top experts. Her name is Veronica Wheat, and she is known as Chef V. She is a private chef, a nutritional therapist, and owner of Chef V. It’s a green drink and cleansing program company that actually home delivers. She’s offering quite a great service. Chef V, Veronica Wheat, thanks so much for being here.

Veronica Wheat (Chef V): Thank you for having me, Rico.

Rico: Thanks for coming to share your knowledge and wisdom with us. I really appreciate that. Let’s get right into it. Always the first question is, how do you define what a cleanse is? What is the definition of cleansing the body?

Chef V: Basically, our bodies are designed to naturally cleanse and detoxify themselves. Every night when you go to sleep, your cells start going to work detoxing all the impurities, breaking down foods, getting the nutrients from the food, and really getting rid of the rest of everything. We come in contact with so many toxins.

Our bodies do naturally cleanse; however, in today’s world, like you’re saying, we are loaded with toxins. All the preservatives in the food, all the additives, the colors, the dyes. In beauty products alone, there’s 2,000 chemicals that some companies are banning, and they’re not regulated here in the United States. Air pollution has lots of toxins. While our bodies they do naturally detoxify, there’s a lot of things out there that our body – it’s bombarded. It’s too much. So we really do need to give it a break.

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high versus low glycemic index

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If you’re really a very healthy person and you avoid perfumes, dyes, bad products, lotions, even toothpaste, shampoos – there’s so many chemicals in all these things we’re using. If you eat really clean and avoid toxins in all these areas, you’re a lot better off. But 95% of the population is unaware of all these things. They’re thinking that things are safe from them and putting them in their body or on their body or breathing them in or ingesting them, and it’s just too much. Your body starts breaking down. Autoimmune diseases, diabetes, all these different ailments that people are starting to see.

It’s important to add cleansing things into your diet. Lemon water detoxifies the liver first thing in the morning, if you’re doing that. You’ll notice in the morning when you wake up, your pee might be a little darker. You’ll have bowel movements. That’s really your body cleansing and detoxifying. Your body naturally does cleanse, but there’s also ways to add more cleansing and detoxifying systems into your body.

Rico: I want to add to exactly what you said. Unless you live on top of a mountain somewhere in purified air and have your own organic garden, no matter what we do, even if we eat organic, we’re still getting lots of toxins all the time. So it’s so important.

Talk to us a little bit about – it’s all about our immune system, especially these days with the virus going around and all that. I think an important thing for people to realize is that these toxins are cumulative. You might say “Just because I eat this apple and maybe it’s got preservatives on it, so what?” But the thing is all these things are cumulative, all the different ways we get it. How does that work? When we get too much overload, our immune system breaks down? Is that what happens?

Chef V: Yeah. Everyone’s really different in how they hold on to toxins, especially if you exercise a lot. That really helps detoxify the body. So if you’re exercising and eating well, you are naturally cleansing your body in certain ways.

But a lot of people are not exercising and they’re eating really horribly and they’re using all these lotions and perfumes, dyes, air fresheners. There’s so many chemicals. People think “Oh yeah, I’m going to spray Febreze around my house to make it smell good!” You’re inhaling chemical toxins into your body. There’s just so much out there. I think a lot of people think that things are regulated and things are safe for them just because they’re on a store shelf when that’s completely far from the truth.

We’re not infinite beings. Your body has limits, and when you’re putting so many toxins – cigarette smoke, lots of alcohol. It can only handle so much, and then you might get lung cancer or liver cancer or something like that. By helping to cleanse and take breaks from certain things – not saying you can never have a drink in your life. It’s just if you’re going to drink, make sure the next morning you’re having lemon water, cleansing, something healthy, a smoothie, a nice salad. If you want to eat pizza for dinner, then make sure you’re having something healthy for lunch that’s cleansing and detoxifying.

It’s all about balance. It’s really hard to avoid everything, and it’s not going to be fun if you’re not enjoying your life. But you do have to balance everything out for the wellbeing of your immune system. Otherwise your body will start shutting down.

Rico: Very well said. What are some of the main benefits you’ve seen from doing cleanses?

Chef V: I have developed different sorts of cleanses. I have a whole 3, 5, 7 day cleanse where you’re not having any solid foods. You’re just having green drinks, protein shakes, and soups. I can go more into that later. But also, what I really practice and preach is having a green drink every day first thing in the morning for breakfast. That way it’s the first thing you’re putting in your body. It’s the first thing processing through your liver, through your colon, and helping you cleanse and detox.

Sorry, what was the question again? I got off-track.

Rico: No, that’s a really good point of doing that first thing in the morning so you cleanse your liver so your liver is ready for whatever else it might have to deal with during the day.

Chef V: Oh, what have I seen from the cleansing.

Rico: Yeah, some of the benefits.

Chef V: I’ve had people that have done a 3-day cleanse rid themselves from autoimmune medication in just 3 days. Someone who was on autoimmune medication for 5-10 years. I had a guy that had gout on his leg – huge gout on his leg for 10 years. He did a 3-day cleanse; it completely melted away.

And it’s miraculous because it’s like, wow, if you’re just giving your body this little break – your body is amazing. It does miraculous things. The body can live on Top Ramen, cigarettes, and Coca-Cola. It can survive. It’s not going to be thriving, but that’s how miraculous the body is.

So when people just give it this little reset, this little break – and I’m not saying don’t eat. Don’t do lemon water and cayenne for 3 days. If you give your body nutrients and just take a break from all of the crap, the toxins, the alcohol, the gluten, the dairy, the processed meats, all of these things, your body really can function at its best. So that’s the things I’ve seen just from people doing a 3-day cleanse.

But I’ve had people that do the green drink every day – not just a full cleanse. They have food, they live their normal life, but just by having the green drink every day, I’ve seen people rid themselves of adult acne, rosacea, eczema. I’ve had one person lose 245 pounds, my biggest testimonial. He’s lost 245 pounds in 14 months, and his whole life has been changed.

I had another lady who did the green drink for a year. She had Type 2 diabetes, she had Graves’ disease, and she rid it completely just by implementing a green drink daily, which is just basically cleansing and detoxifying your body and giving your body this influx of nutrients. The most important is empty stomach. That way your body can absorb everything and your cells can get the most benefit from it.

I’ve seen a lot of amazing things. I could go on for hours, and I have tons of testimonials on my website and Facebook and Yelp.

before and after cleansing

Rico: It works. Talk a little bit about some of the plant-based foods or different plants and herbs and things that are cleansing to the body.

Chef V: In my drink, I use seven certified organic greens. I’ve chosen these specific greens because each one has a different function. These are not the only healthy foods that you can use. There’s tons more, and I can go a little bit into that.

But specifically for my drink, I use green and black kale because they are the highest phytonutrient greens on earth. The phytonutrients help fight free radicals in the body, which combats cancer. We also have green chard, which helps control your cholesterol. The collard greens help regulate your blood sugar. Dandelion greens specifically cleanse the liver. Parsley has folic acid and the green leaf lettuce is great for your hair, skin, nails, even your teeth. And then I have a little healthy dose of the apple, which also is healthy to have a little apple in your diet.

Rico: I’m actually a testimony for you as well because as you know, you’re a friend of mine, and you’ve actually contributed some of your green drinks to some of the workshops and things I’ve put on here in San Diego. I’ve had your green drinks quite often, and I have to say they’re the best tasting.

Whenever I try to make my own green drink and I put it in a blender and put all the stuff in, it always comes out like – oh man, I can hardly get it down. But you got the formula down. It actually tastes good and it’s smooth and easy to drink.

Chef V: Thank you. There’s also tons of other foods that are really healthy, cleansing, detoxifying. Anything green is going to be great in your diet. Ginger is great, garlic, onions. Berries are great. They have lots of antioxidants. There’s tons of other foods that are out there.

During COVID, I’ve done an immune boosting workshop that I’ve gone live with and talked about different foods and how to get more of them into your diet and why you should get them in your diet and easy ways to include them. There’s tons of foods that are detoxifying. You can even just google “cleansing foods, detoxifying foods,” and try and get more of those into your diet. Not saying that’s the only thing that you can eat or should eat, but you just eat more of them.

Rico: What would your recommend for someone who’s never done a cleanse at all and says “Maybe I should try something”? What would you recommend? How would they get started?

Chef V: Typically when people come into my store or call or reach out to me through the website or whatever and they want to do a cleanse, they say, “I want to do a 7-day cleanse because I want to get the most benefits.” I say, “Why don’t you start with a 3-day cleanse?” I put you on a 2-day pre-cleanse of elimination diet. No caffeine, alcohol, no red meat, no gluten, no dairy. Not saying you can never have that; again, just giving your body a little break from that. 

Most people lose 5 pounds on the pre-cleanse alone, and they just feel great. Their stomach is flatter, they have more energy, more vitality. Then I have them do a 3-day cleanse. I say anyone can do anything for 3 days. It’s pretty simple. By Day 2 you’re more than halfway through. I do give you everything that you need for the cleanse. You get four 16-ounce green drinks a day, two protein shakes a day, and then a yummy detox soup at night. By the time you get to that soup, it tastes like a steak because you’re so ready for it. [laughs]

I always tell people, it’s your cleanse. Listen to your body. If you need to add something into the day, like if you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I’m not going to make it,” most of the time it’s in your head. We’re so conditioned to have breakfast by this time and lunch by this time and dinner by this time because of society. So I tell people, be easy on yourself. If you need some raw nuts or some fresh vegetables or even just a clean piece of protein at the end of the day, make it your own.

But the purpose of cleansing basically is you don’t want to have as many solid foods because your body is usually always busy breaking down foods and digesting foods and assimilating where the proteins go, the carbohydrates, all these things, and then getting rid of the waste. That takes a lot of work and energy for your body. So at night, your body gets this break, and that’s when the most miraculous things happen in your body – at night, when you’re sleeping. If you’re young, you’re growing in your sleep. Your body is detoxing and doing all these things.

So basically when you’re doing my 3-day cleanse, you’re just extending that process. Everything that we serve is blended, not juiced. You’re getting all of the fiber, but it is blended so that your body doesn’t have to break it down and work so hard to digest it. And when your body is not working so hard to digest things, it can go and use all that energy to do other amazing, miraculous things, like rid that guy of gout that he had for 10 years, or help the immunity build itself back up.

That’s what the purpose of cleansing is, so I tell people if you can, try not to eat anything other than what we’ve provided you. But again, don’t make it miserable. Don’t feel like a failure and then give up because “I had to have a piece of chicken or some nuts” or something. Just keep going. You’re still doing way better than you would if you hadn’t done anything at all.

Rico: I’ve found too that sometimes when you think you’re hungry, you really maybe are thirsty. Just drink some water sometimes or go for a walk or something. Brush your teeth. Then you don’t feel like eating anything. It’s all little things that you can do. But yeah, again, I like what you said: you don’t have to be so strict and think that you lost it all. Anything you do is better than nothing.

Don’t you find, too, that if you want to do a little bit longer one, once you get through about 3 days, it gets a lot easier, doesn’t it? 

Chef V: Yeah. I have so many people that tell me, “Oh my gosh, by Day 3, I could go two more days!” I always tell people, “Cool. If you live around here, if on Day 3 you’re feeling like a million bucks, come back and we’ll give you two more days and you can keep going on the 5-day cleanse.” But a lot of it is mental. If you think “I have to do 5 days,” by Day 3 you’re like, “Oh God, I’m barely halfway done.” It’s mental, and that’s where a lot of people can choke up.

But if you’re listening to your body and really paying attention to what it’s telling you – because your body will tell you what it needs and what it wants. Your body tells you when you’re hungry. Your body tells you when you need to go to the bathroom. A lot of times people don’t listen to their body. And just like you said with the water – I’m a nutritional therapist, and I counsel a lot of my clients in their health journeys, and you’d be surprised. 90% of people do not drink enough water. Not even close.

I had a client that said, “Oh, I definitely drink enough water.” I have this scale that I would bring around if I’m counseling in person – most of the time it’s via Zoom or telephone – and it tells you what your body water percentage is. This woman who thought she was getting enough was way under the percentage. It was supposed to be around 50-60% and she was about 42%. She was really shocked. She said, “That’s so strange.”

Then we got to the bottom of it and she was counting the green drink and her collagen tea that she was drinking as water. I said, “No, as soon as you mix more than one ingredient with water, it’s no longer water. You need to just be drinking water.” It’s an example of why people are so confused. There’s not really this book that you’re handed as a child or even an adult that tells you, “This is how you need to eat. This is what you need to do. You can have this much water.”

There’s so much noise out there about nutrition and what to eat or not to eat, don’t eat gluten, you’ve got to be vegan, you can’t eat after 7:00. There’s just so much noise out there. It’s really not that hard, but the food industry has made it extremely hard and the diet world has made it extremely hard for people to be healthy and be successful in their food journeys.

pregnant lady drinking Green Drink

Rico: Absolutely. That’s what this project is all about. I’m getting experts and people who I know that really have concern for their patients and their customers, and it’s all information you can trust. That’s what this project that you have is all about: giving you the right information so you can get past all the misinformation and the overwhelm and you’ll know exactly the best ways to care for your physical body.

One more question. How often do you recommend people do a cleanse?

Chef V: Again, this is a question that I get all the time, especially when people have great success on the cleanse. For me, I don’t really do a 3-day cleanse that often. Probably the last time I did one was 2 or 3 years ago. You might think, “What? Chef V doesn’t do a 3-day cleanse?”

But that’s because I’m doing something for myself every day, and that’s the most important thing. The reason why I created the cleanse is because, yes, it works and people are successful. But really, the success and lifelong changes come with what you’re doing every day.

I make sure that I have a green drink or something very healthy first thing that I put in my body. If I’m traveling, I either try and find some place to make a smoothie, or if the hotel will make something, or if not, I go into the grocery store and get a piece of fruit or I eat a salad for breakfast. No one’s ever taught us to eat vegetables for breakfast. Have you ever seen a salad on a breakfast menu? No. You have cereal, pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast. Lots of carbohydrates. What that does is puts your body more at a halt. It’s not really helping your metabolism speed up and turn on.

But when you’re giving your body living nutrients, vegetables, salad – the other day I had a Thai salad leftover in my refrigerator. I’m in a hotel right now in New Jersey, and I didn’t have my green drink, even though my store is not far. I had to do some work in the morning and I was hungry, so I took the Thai salad out and started eating the cucumbers and the carrots and the lettuce out of there. That was my breakfast.

Then I can wait till lunch and I can be a little bit more lax and have a sandwich or a piece of pizza or something. It’s not like you have to eat that way for every single meal. Just try and get more of those nutrients in your body.

And the most important, like I said, is first thing. What are you putting in your body first? That’s the first thing after your body has worked so hard all night to cleanse and detoxify, and then you’re going to shove it down with bacon and sugary orange juice? That’s not really beneficial. It’s really going to make your body have to work harder in order to cleanse and detoxify itself. But if you’re putting something that is healthy and cleansing or detoxifying first thing, again, you’re prolonging that cleansing process that your body is naturally doing, and you’re helping aid that cleanse and detoxification process.

Rico: Such good information. Thank you. I just want to add, I think the point you were making earlier was if you do a clenase and then you go back to eating junk food and don’t change your lifestyle habits, then you’re going to get real toxic again real quick, and you’re going to need to do it again a lot sooner.

But even if you’re trying to have some green drinks every day and be as healthy as you possibly can, a lot of people recommend doing a cleanse with a change of the seasons, maybe four times a year is a good thing to do. But I agree with you; I try and do a daily detox. I exercise and sweat and drink lemon water, drink green things. If you incorporate that into your lifestyle, you don’t have to do a regular full-on cleanse quite so often.

Chef V: Yeah. To further answer your question – sorry, I got a little sidetracked and excited – when people ask me, “How often can I cleanse?”, I say everyone’s different. If I’ve learned anything in the 10 years I’ve been doing this, I know that everybody’s different. Everyone’s different in the way they cleanse, in the way they detox, in the toxins they’ve held on to, in the amount of toxins, the different toxins that they’ve ingested or taken throughout their life.

Some people are way more toxic than others, and they probably do need a nutritional reset more often, and they’re probably not taking care of their bodies in between these 3-day cleanses or whatever. So when people ask me, “Can I do a cleanse every week?”, that’s probably not a healthy option. Your body does need calories. It does need nutrients to survive. The cleanse is low calorie, but it’s very high nutrient.

So I tell people maybe every 3 months, twice a year. At least maybe once a year doing something to nutritional reset. Some people will just take January and do no alcohol for January. That’s a perfect example of a nice little cleanse or reset. There’s different ways. It’s not just one magic potion that works.

But mine has had great success, and I highly recommend people try it if they are feeling toxic. Or maybe they’ve been on medication, in the hospital or something like that. There’s so many things. Everyone has a different journey, and I’m happy to answer anyone’s questions if they do have questions about their specific needs. You can always email chefv@chefv.com. We’re happy to assist you and tailor something that works for you.

Rico: So well said. Really good information, Chef V. Thank you so much. On that same note, I want to remind you that this video training comes with a PDF. You have a transcription, so you can read it, and we definitely always recommend that you go to all of our experts’ websites. They have lots of information there. Often they have free gifts for you, they have special offers. I know Chef V does. And they’re there also to give you some coaching, to give you some training or give you some help. We really recommend that you stay in touch and keep on learning from our experts.

Being healthy and creating wellness is an ongoing process. It’s a lifetime process. Stay connected to all this great information. We’re all learning as we go as well, so as you stay connected with our experts, you’ll be updated with all the latest scientific information and things that can really help you achieve optimal health and wellness. That’s what this whole project is all about.

Chef V, that was so good. Thank you for that great information. I really appreciate it.

Chef V: You’re welcome. Thank you for having me. Again, if anyone needs anything, you can email, reach out. I also have our website, www.blog.blog.chefv.com. We do 50% off your first order on cleanses.

Also our green drink subscription, which is a monthly subscription to our juice, and it comes every week like the modern day milkman. It’s a 100% money back guarantee on our green drink delivery, so you can taste it, try it out. Or if you’re next to one of our stores – we have a store in West Caldwell, New Jersey as well as San Marcos, California. You can come in, taste the drinks, ask questions, and we’re happy to help always.

Rico: You can find all this information in the PDF. Once again, thank you, Chef V. And thank you for being here.

Chef V: Thank you.

Go Veg: Healthy Gut, Smooth Skin, Glossy Hair And Strong Nails

Veronica in kitchen with blenders

The best veggies for a healthy gut, skin, hair and nails are the same ones in Chef V’s mega-popular Green Drink. And it’s no coincidence that these same veggies are also the best for helping you cleanse and detox. Chef V covers how each of the veggies benefits your beauty.

I created the recipe for Organic Green Drink several years ago back when I was a private chef. Over time, demand grew for my Green Drink and that’s really the catalyst for launching Chef V.

I did a ton of research for the Green Drink recipe. I wanted to select the best veggies that would not only taste amazing cold-blended, but that would also be the best for a 3 day cleanse or 21-day detox. And as it turns out, the seven veggies in Green Drink not only happen to be the best for cleansing and detoxing, they also happen to be the best veggies for skin, hair and nails.

Now I admit, it would be a pain in the behind to have to chop green kale, black kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, green chard, curly parsley and green leaf lettuce every day. And then have to juice it. Then clean up.

The main reason why I transitioned from being a private chef to launching Chef V: making healthier easier for people just like you. And it doesn’t get any easier than having a bottle of our certified organic Green Drink delivered to your home.

Not only can you lose weight, gain energy and sleep more soundly by having Green Drink every day, there’s a very good chance your skin, hair and nails will look better.

So let’s take a look at how the ingredients in Green Drink are the healthiest veggies for skin, hair and nails.

varieties of kale

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Kale

Sure, there’s some excessive kale craziness these days. But for good reason. Kale is rich in vitamin K. And it’s really hard for most people who eat the average American diet to get enough K. Vitamin K actually helps minimize dark circles in your eyes. That’s why it’s one of the best veggies for skin.

In fact, kale can even help tighten your skin. How? Well, one of the reasons why your skin isn’t as tight when you get older is that the aging process weakens your collagen. Collagen is the body’s main structural protein. In fact, over one-third of the thousands and thousands of proteins in the body are collagen proteins. Collagen provides strength to your tendons, ligaments, teeth, nails, hair, bones, gut lining, and much more….

The vitamin C in kale along with the antioxidant, lutein, promotes collagen regrowth and production. In addition, the vitamin A in kale helps prevent damage to the skin. It also repairs and damage to the epidermis.

There’s a good reason why kale has been added to several beauty products. Because it’s such an efficient detoxifying nutrient, kale can help clean your pores. It’s even beneficial for your hair pores. Moreover, kale contains fatty acids such as omega-3s. These fatty acids provide moisture to your hair and skin.

There’s even a nail polish with kale extract. Supposedly, it can help stimulate keratin production. Keratin is the other main protein that’s in your nails.

These facts about kale make it one of the best veggies for skin, hair and nails. So drink your Green Drink and schedule that kale facial!

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Dandelion

Another incredible detoxifying green veggie in our Green Drink is dandelion. Dandelion widens your pores. That’s how it helps your body get rid of toxins. And according to this article, dandelion shrinks wrinkles. It may also help whiten dark spots and reduce fine lines.

Like kale, dandelion also contains lots of beta carotene and vitamin C. It’s also rich in the B vitamins and vitamin E, which is a standard ingredient in many skin care products. Moreover, the minerals and trace minerals in dandelion may actually help regrow hair.

collard greens

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Collard Greens

The reason why collard greens is one of the best veggies for skin, hair and nails is the same reason as kale and dandelion: it’s loaded with beta carotene (a precursor to vitamin A). One benefit of Vitamin A for your skin is the production of sebum. You can think of sebum as a waterproof lubricant for your skin. Without sebum, your skin would feel like it’s been scorched in a sauna for hours. And sebum is also in your hair. Without enough of it, your hair feels like straw.

Collard greens also contain iron. And one major factor for thinning hair is low iron intake.

chard

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Chard

Here’s why I think chard is one of the best veggies for skin, hair and nails….

Just one serving of it contains over 700 percent of your vitamin K suggested intake. It’s also got about 200 percent of your beta carotene needs and about half of your daily vitamin C needs. And chard is also very high in minerals such as magnesium. Getting enough magnesium in your diet is very important for healthy skin. It can help balance the amount of oils you have. Obviously, you need some oil but not too much. If your skin tends to run on the oily side, magnesium can reduce the amount of oils.

Chard is also high in biotin. Biotin is vitamin B7. There’s a good reason why many hair care products contain biotin. That’s because biotin stimulates hair follicles. Consume enough chard and your hair may benefit by appearing shinier and fuller in texture. And like all the other of the best veggies for your skin, chard is rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants repair and help regenerate new skin cells.

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Parsley

Poor parsley. Most people just eat a tiny bit of it as a post-meal garnish to freshen the breath. But here’s why you should consume more of it. (And what easier way to get your daily dose of parsley than having one or two Green Drinks per day?)

Parsley is a wrinkle destroyer. As I say above, vitamin C-rich foods help encourage production of collagen in your body. And parsley is particularly rich in vitamin C. And the more collagen production your body undergoes, the more wrinkles and fine lines will fade.

Moreover, parsley is a natural antibiotic. Thus, it can help kill bacteria-causing acne. There are several other benefits of parsley for your skin as well. But this post is already long and we’ve got one more of the best veggies for skin, hair and nails to cover:

Chef V and kale

Lettuce

One of the main reasons why lettuce is good for your skin is it contains the following three minerals: silica, sulfur and phosphorous. You don’t need a large quantity of these minerals from the foods you eat. That’s why they are called trace minerals. But these three trace minerals are vital for maintaining healthy skin, hair and nails. Without doubt, you’re not going to get many benefits by eating iceberg lettuce, which is devoid of nutrition. But green leafy lettuce can also protect your skin against harmful UV rays.

So now do you see why I selected these six veggies (7 really; Green Drink includes two different types of kale)? Not only are they the best-tasting and most detoxifying, they’re also the best for your skin, hair and nails.

Chef V, Coco and kale

How to Beat the Bloat : Chef V Clinical Research

Chef V's Clinical Research Study conducted earlier this year shows that a 21 Day Detox followed by a week of Green drink led to a 42.6% decrease in bloating! 

What causes bloating and how can I fix it?

It’s always been said that you should know your enemy. Before we can go about how to fight back against bloating, it’s essential to understand what foods cause bloating, as well as other factors. 

That tight, full, and painful feeling of bloating is unmistakable. There can potentially be medical conditions that cause a bloated stomach. However, for most of us, a bloated stomach is caused by nutritional or digestive problems. The bloating feeling is often caused by excessive intestinal gas. 

This gas buildup can be because you ate too fast, or you’ve overeaten. It could be because of the type of food you ate. You might even have a specific food intolerance you’re unaware of. Women also may get bloated before their periods due to menstrual changes. 

Overeating can also be a cause of bloating. This is especially true if  you’ve been going through a phase where you’re binging on foods that are high in fats and carbohydrates. 

So what now? 

Hindsight is always 20/20. Rather than bemoan the digestive issues caused by some poor nutrition decisions, it’s time to fight back with some options for reducing bloating and there are a few tactics you can deploy in the fight against bloating. 

Water

Yep, just getting some water can help. This one might seem counterintuitive at first glance. Bloating makes you feel like you’re about to pop, so why fill up on water as well? It can’t be understated how important hydration is for your body and all its functions. When you drink plenty of water, your digestive system can work more effectively at processing what’s in your stomach and returning things to normal. 

Eating foods high in water, like fruits and vegetables, is also a great idea. Apples, melons, and berries are all ideal fruits to get started with. 

Intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting is an increasingly popular way to help manage your body’s weight and metabolism. Essentially, intermittent fasting is about understanding that when you eat can be just as important as what you eat. In practice, intermittent fasting often involves eating most of your food during the day in a smaller window. 

This gives your body more time to operate in “high-metabolism” mode, and start digestion faster. This, naturally, also helps out if you’re suffering from bloating, as it will make your digestive tract work faster, and better process the food causing gas. 

Food to fight bloating

We touched on what foods cause bloating, the fatty and carb-heavy sort. But you can pull a reversal on bloating by eating foods great for fighting bloating. An excellent place to start are fruits high in potassium, such as bananas and avocados. High-water fruits like apples are also a great choice.

Potassium in foods like bananas, cantaloupe and apricots helps you manage sodium levels, which helps you manage hydration levels, which, as we learned, helps you manage bloating.

Certain spices are also really good at fighting bloating, turmeric and ginger being some of the best. 

Foods that have a lot of healthy bacteria are also excellent choices. Fermented foods like yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, miso, and tempeh and are becoming increasingly popular for their gut-healing properties.

chef v power salad

Get moving

We get it, if you’re all bloated, you’re probably not super interested in the health benefits of exercise. But getting up and moving about can help stubborn gas be moved through your system. And any kind of exercise that works out your stomach muscles will also improve your digestive process. 

This doesn’t need to be intensive exercise either. Just getting some stretching in can help you fight bloating, while also reducing the stress it causes you. Our recommendation is to give yoga a try. 

Trying out a blended liquid cleanse

As we mentioned before, getting any kind of hydration is great for dealing with bloating. And so is intermittent fasting, and healthy eating. But what if you could combine all of these strategies into one? 

Here’s where a detox juice cleanse comes in. The idea is that you restrict your diet down to low-carb foods filled with nutritious ingredients for a few days. Most notably, this includes a lot of green drink. This way, you can lose weight, while still keeping healthy. The best juice cleanses can last for quite a few days through the intake of detox soups and smoothies. (Make sure to check out our 21 day juice cleanse recipes for examples of what goes into one of these!) 

Beat the bloat with Chef V green juice

Of course, you don’t need a 21 day juice cleanse to beat the bloat. A small 3 day juice cleanse can do wonders for helping you reduce all that bloat, at any time. It can also help you manage your blood sugar and appetite, both great for weight loss! Chef V’s signature green drink is blended to ensure it loses none of that important nutrition. We also provide detox shakes and detox smoothies so you can cleanse in a safe and achievable way. Check out all our great cleanse products today, and fight back against the bloat. 

Headaches and Other Negative Side Effects of Celery Juice

Chef V is often lauded by supporters as one of the best juice-cleansing products you can buy. Over the past few years, it’s exploded in popularity online as a potential “cure-all” for a variety of ailments. But is celery juice good for migraines and gut health like they say? Is a celery juice diet really going to make you lose weight and feel great? Since we take juice diets seriously, we consider it our duty to get you the celery information you never knew you needed.

What are the benefits of celery juice?

To understand what has people so excited about celery juice, it’s probably best to get right down to the basics. The nutritional basics, that is. According to the US Department of Agriculture,
1 cup of chopped celery includes the following: 

  • 40 mg calcium 
  • 14 calories
  • 2 grams fiber
  • 263 mg potassium 
  • 1 gram protein
  • 80 mg sodium
  • 453 IU of vitamin A
  • 3 mg of vitamin C  
  • 30 mcg of vitamin K 

For most of you, that’s just a bunch of numbers. So let's highlight a few standouts. Most notably, celery has a ton of vitamin K, an essential vitamin for helping us repair our body from injuries. Celery also has decent showing in calcium, potassium, and vitamin C. 

But, overall, celery’s nutritional profile could be best described as “inoffensive.” It’s not packed with any particular vitamin or mineral, but its calorie count is also pretty low. This isn’t to say it isn’t healthy. Celery is undoubtedly a super healthy vegetable, and with its low-calorie count, it’s great for a snack. 

If you were to turn celery into juice, it would be an equally inoffensive juice. In an age with so many sugar-laden drinks, we can respect that. Getting more veggies in your life is never a bad thing, whether it comes from celery stalks or drinking juice. Lots of fruit and vegetable juices, celery included, feature antioxidants that have anti-inflammatory properties. 

Problems with celery juice

What's the main negative side effect of celery juice? Well, it’s got one obvious and dangerous side effect. Hype. Celery juice isn’t magically going to make all of your serious ailments suddenly vanish, no matter what your favorite celebrity tells you. It’s just a juice made from a single vegetable and a fairly innocuous vegetable at that.  

Of course, plenty of people want to focus on that tantalizingly low-calorie count and assume celery drinks are great for juice diets and fasting. Trying to go for a juice fast based on celery juice isn’t a great idea. Firstly, the juicing process tends to strip most of the fiber out of celery juice. This can give you tons of digestive issues if you’re relying on celery juice alone for nutrition. 

There’s also the fact that the low nutritional profile of celery juice means it’s just not sustainable for something as long as a 7 day cleanse, let alone a longer 21 day cleanse. The lack of serious nutritional value can lead to the infamous “celery juice headaches” as your body goes without what it needs. 

Beyond the digestive concerns and celery juice headaches, there are also some adverse side effects of celery juice that are concerning for specific people. If you have a celery allergy, you should obviously stay away from large amounts of the stuff. However, people on blood thinner medication may also want to avoid too much celery due to the abundance of clot-promoting vitamin K.

The verdict

In the end, celery juice is just juice. That’s about it. In reasonable doses, you’re fine drinking it. The negative side effects of celery juice only start to kick in when you try to lean on it for a juice cleanse. If you want a juice cleanse that works, make sure to cleanse with Chef V. Our green drinks, detox soups, and detox smoothies have all the essentials to get you through even the legendary 21 day detox, no problem. 

Why Apple Juice is a Key Part of the Chef V Cleanse

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. This old saying has a lot of truth to it. When we were looking for an ingredient to help add that little bit of sweetness to the Chef V cleanse, we settled on putting a little bit of apple juice in our green drink. But the addition of apples wasn’t just to make our fresh juice taste even better. There are actually a ton of health benefits that come from apples. Here’s a few for you to chew over! 

Blood sugar control

Apples have a reputation of being a fruit that can help stave off diabetes. While this might be an overgeneralization, apples are definitely a great food for helping get blood sugar levels under control. The soluble fiber (more on that in a bit) in apples helps regulate the absorption of sugars into your bloodstream. This helps prevent issues with energy and cravings that come with spiking blood sugar levels. 

There may still be something to the idea that apples can prevent diabetes, however. Studies have linked high levels of soluble fiber with a reduction in the chance that your body starts to build up insulin immunity. So some green drink with apples certainly couldn’t hurt! 

Digestion

Apple is noted for containing a decent amount of fiber, both the soluble and insoluble types. The soluble kind of fiber will regulate the speed of your digestion and help you feel full, while the insoluble fiber helps your intestines keep that food moving along at a regular pace. 

You have to be careful with apples and fiber, though. A lot of store-bought, processed apple juice will just throw away all the good stuff. With an organic blended juice cleanse, you’re getting all the benefits to your digestive system. 

Heart health

Apples are full of antioxidants. There’s a reason you’ve probably heard of these; the health benefits of antioxidants are big news. While there’s some potential connection between antioxidants and cancer prevention, their anti-inflammatory properties can help your heart. Anti-inflammatories can help lower cholesterol and regulate blood pressure, both of which help lower the chance of serious heart complications. 

Immune booster

Not only do apples have plenty of antioxidants, but they contain a lot of vitamin C as well. Vitamin C does a lot in your body, but it most notably serves as an immune booster. Even a 7 day juice cleanse with some apples involved can go a long way toward fighting back against the sniffles and colds that come around this time of year. 

Weight loss

One of the major reasons people look for a juice detox diet is for helping prevent weight gain. The Chef V cleanse is no different, and apples are a key part of helping provide its weight loss benefits. The fiber and sweetness of apples help keep you feeling full, while the low calories of apples mean that you’re not gaining much weight. When it comes to appetite control, apples are some of the best choices out there. 

Get into drinking juice with Chef V

Whether apples or other fruits and veggies, we don’t often get enough of these kinds of foods in our diet. With Chef V, getting the good stuff like apples into your diet is easy. Our green drink comes packed with not just apple juice, but a nutrient-dense blend of leafy greens. It’s nutritious, delicious, and can be delivered right to your doorstep! 

What Is Leaky Gut & Do You Have It?

leaky gut

Leaky anything never sounds good: Pipes. Faucet. Radiator. Can you think of a situation where leaking is a good thing? I can’t think of one. The worst leak of all, one that affects millions of people’s health and happiness is leaky gut. 

How Do You Fix Leaky Gut?

Fixing a leaky gut isn’t easy and it takes time. Unlike calling a plumber, you can’t call a GI handyman to fix it fast. This is especially true if you’ve been experiencing the above symptoms for many years. 

The first step in conquering leaky gut is to stop it from leaking more. And to do that, you need to stop eating and drinking things that will continue to weaken it. For this, I recommend two options. The more accurate but more expensive way is to get a food sensitivity blood test. That takes the guesswork out. If you want to go the cheaper but longer route, follow an elimination diet. That’s where you avoid all potential allergenic foods like gluten for at least 4 weeks and then reintroduce them one by one to see if you have any allergy symptoms. 

There are certain foods like bone broth and collagen protein that may actually help repair the gut lining. But you can’t just sip a cup of bone broth and continue eating allergenic foods expecting miracles. 

As a certified nutrition therapist, I wish I could work one on one with you to help repair your gut. But one recommendation I have for you—besides replacing the typical American breakfast every day with my Organic Green Drink—is working with a functional medicine doctor or naturopathic doctor. Through diagnostic testing and supplement recommendations, these natural health experts can help you overcome leaky gut and get you living your best life. It’ll cost a pretty penny but isn’t looking and feeling your best worth it?

Gut: Not The Same As Belly

You’ve probably heard of leaky gut but aren’t quite sure what it means. In order to understand what leaky gut is, it’s important to first understand what the gut refers to. 

Many people think the gut is the stomach or abdomen. But your belly is just a small part of your gut. Your gut, or gastrointestinal (GI) tract actually begins in your mouth. Digestion begins even before you take the first bite of food. When you so much as look at or even smell what you’re about to eat or drink, saliva starts forming, ready to soften food for transit down the digestive tract. Eventually, what you eat is eliminated through your backside, which is where the gut ends. 

So now that you have a clear definition of what the gut is, let’s focus on a specific area of the gut that heavily influences your immune system, mood and overall health… 

Your intestines are home to trillions of bacteria. It’s also here that 80% of your immune cells reside. Some people believe that in order to have strong digestion, you need a strong stomach. But actually, the part of your body that has the most influence on your health is called the intestinal mucosal barrier. 

stomach mucosa - leaky gut

The Mucosal Barrier & Gut Health

Years ago, when I first heard the term mucosal barrier, I was kind of grossed out. When you hear the word mucus what do you think of? Disgusting runny noses, right? But it turns out that mucus is one of your best friends. Your intestines are lined with a mucosal barrier. This barrier protects you from potentially-disease-causing pathogens like harmful bacteria, viruses, fungus, etc. In addition, the barrier interacts with immune cells, absorb nutrients and is also responsible for directing waste out of the body. 

Your mucosal barrier is lined by epithelial cells. A healthy mucosal barrier has tight junctions between the cells. 

Leaky Gut Explained

So here’s where we get to leaky gut. Because of several reasons I’ll mention in just a sec, the tight junction can weaken over time. And when this thin intestinal mucosal wall leaks now you have a leaky gut. What exactly is leaked? Undigested food particles, toxins and microorganisms (bacteria, etc.). 

leaky gut

What Happens When You Have Leaky Gut?

Bad things. Autoimmune disorders can arise. A weak gut lining can cause rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and other imbalances in which the body attacks itself. 

Why does the body attack itself? It’s because when these undigested food particles, toxins and bacteria flow unimpeded through the bloodstream, the immune system mounts a defense and tries to destroy them. This creates a high inflammation response in the body, leading to painful joints, skin and digestion problems and more…

Why Hasn’t My Doctor Told Me About Leaky Gut?

Because leaky gut isn’t an officially recognized medical disorder. The closest thing to it is “intestinal permeability.” But in order to get diagnosed with that, you need to undergo a biopsy, in which a slice of your intestinal tissue is removed. 

There is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario with leaky gut. Did the weakening of the mucosal barrier cause an autoimmune disease or is it the other way around? 

I’m convinced that because of various factors, leaky gut causes inflammatory conditions, not the other way around. 

probiotics

Symptoms of Leaky Gut

You don’t have to have an autoimmune disorder to have a leaky gut. Other signs that your intestinal wall has gotten weaker include:

  • Brain fog
  • Constipation
  • Insomnia
  • Fatigue
  • Feeling cold
  • Bloating
  • Gas
  • Acne, eczema and rashes
  • Anxiety and depression

Causes Of Leaky Gut

If you have any of the above symptoms do you relate to any of the following causes? 

  • Frequent antibiotic use
  • Gut dysbiosis (not having enough friendly bacteria, having too many harmful bacteria)
  • Chronic stress 
  • Exposure to harmful chemicals like glyphosate
  • Excess alcohol
  • Consuming too much sugar
  • Eating foods to which you are allergic or sensitive, e.g. gluten, dairy. (This is also a chicken or egg question: are you allergic because of leaky gut or did leaky gut cause the allergy? Hmmm.)

There are other causes of leaky gut but these are by far the most common. 

5 Reasons Dark Leafy Greens Are Awesome For Gut Health

How many times have you heard “FOLLOW THE SCIENCE” over the last two years? Well, there’s no debating that dark, leafy green veggies are some of the most health-promoting nutrient dense-foods on Earth. In this article, certified nutritional therapist, Veronica Wheat Kress, aka Chef V, lists 5 research-backed ways that dark leafy greens improve gut health. All disease starts in the gut. So make sure you’re taking care of your digestive system by consuming dark, leafy greens every day. Not getting enough greens? (DO THIS.)

I’m probably not rocking your world by telling you this news: dark, leafy green veggies are the best and most affordable superfoods on the planet. But what you probably didn’t know about my fave greens are how they specifically help improve gut health. So let’s dive right in. 

gut health

#1: Contains Sulfoquinovose

Last year, a team of researchers in Austria were the first ones to discover how bacteria in the gut process a sugar found in dark, leafy greens called sulfoquinovose. Nutritional hipsters like myself call it “SQ.” 

SQ contains sulfur. But it’s not the same as the rotten-egg sulfur smell you’re probably thinking of. And even though it’s a sugar, SQ doesn’t act in the gut the same way sugar does. Sugar—I’m talking about the kind in white table sugar packets—feeds a large number of different kinds of bacteria in the gut. But SQ only feeds certain bacterial species that are found in healthy people. 

And when these healthy bacteria digest SQ, an energy source for other friendly bacteria is formed. Evidently, your harmful bacteria don’t want to have anything to do with dark, leafy greens. 

So the more dark, leafy greens you consume, the more SQ your gut produces. This causes the good guys in your gut to multiply while kicking out the bad party guests. 

leafy greens

#2: Produces Short-Chain Fatty Acids

This kind of relates to SQ, but I’m about to get a little gross here. You see, when you consume dark, leafy greens, your body can’t digest some of the fiber. But your friendly bacteria can in your colon. And when the bacteria eats the fiber, it produces short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).

SCFAs are basically the poop of your gut bacteria. You thought probiotics were vital for great gut health? Well, they are. But it’s actually the SCFAs that provide us with so many health benefits.

For instance, SFCAs act like fertilizer for the cells that line the mucous lining of the small intestinal barrier. This prevents your food from leaking out into the bloodstream.  

It’s pretty creepy to think that the more bacterial poop you have in your gut, the better your health. But it’s true. SCFAs improve communication with your cells. And when your cells are more communicative, your immune function, mood and other systems improve.

sore stomach

#3: Decreases Methane

For people with digestive problems like gas and bloating, there is usually more methane-producing bacteria in the gut. So if good bacteria poops short-chain fatty acids, harmful bacteria has stinky methane gas. 

Most of us only associate methane gas with cows. (Climate change has brought that to our attention.) But eating unhealthy food also causes the release of methane albeit internally in your gut. 

#4: Lowers Inflammation

Dark leafy greens contain another sulfur compound called sulforaphane. Sulforaphane and other antioxidants like quercetin (which has received a lot of attention over the last couple years because of a certain worldwide virus) are inflammation fighters. 

People with gut dysbiosis—too many harmful bacteria, not enough friendly ones—often have chronic inflammation in the bowel or elsewhere in the digestive tract.

By eating more dark, leafy greens, your body may develop with a more normal inflammatory response—including in the gut. 

#5: Contains Cellulose 

Like the walls that keep your home warm and cozy, plants have cell walls. These walls are made of sugar called cellulose. Because your digestive system can’t fully digest cellulose, it’s considered a fiber. Cellulose helps fertilize your good bacteria. It does this by increasing the amount of starch that gets fermented in the colon. This increases the amount of short-chain fatty acids (bacterial poop) that your good bacteria produce. 

Dark, leafy greens aren’t just reservoirs of awesome nutrient density. Yes, they are chock full of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. But you could also say they are Mother Nature’s most awesome food for gut health. 

And if you’re not eating enough of them, here’s the perfect solution

Gut Health Survival Guide: Chef V’s 5 Tips For Success

veronica eating soup

Good gut health – maybe you feel powerless on vacation and special occasions. With people getting out again and traveling,  you may run the risk of overwhelming your digestive system. So follow these 5 tips for a healthy gut.

Gut Health Survival Guide Tip #1: Eat one big meal a day

If you love to pig out during special occasions, I have great news for you. Feasting like a Roman gladiator is totally doable, if you know how to do it right. And here’s how. 

Step #1: When you wake up in the morning, don’t eat anything. Instead, first drink a tall glass of water. If you have electrolyte drops, add them to your water or sprinkle a teaspoon of sea salt and stir. The minerals in the salt or drops will help give your cells a zero-calorie energy boost. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon to give your liver a little helping hand in the detoxification process. 

Step #2: Roughly 30 minutes after you chug some water, break your fast with a low-calorie, low-sugar Organic Green Drink. If you’re not getting enough green leafy veggies in your diet, this is the easiest way to get ‘er done. There’s no excuse not to consume enough veggies when you get them delivered to your front door in cold-blended juice form!

Step #3: Eat a light meal or have a plant-based protein drink about an hour or so after Green Drink. 

Step #4: Eat one huge late lunch. At around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, eat whatever you want and as much as you want. Just make sure to avoid high-sugar junk. For dessert, treat yourself to some berries and a piece of dark chocolate. 

Step #5: You can have a very light snack no later than 7 p.m. A small portion of nuts, a piece of fruit or yogurt. Then don’t eat anything or drink anything with calories until 11 a.m. or later the following day. The beauty of combining one main meal a day and intermittent fasting is that you can eat as much turkey and stuffing as you want. Your digestive system will have plenty of time to work. For even better results, exercise in the morning before breaking your fast. 

digestive bacteria

Tip #2: Don’t Take An Antacid

If you have acid reflux because you ate way too much, taking an antacid may offer immediate relief, but it comes at a price. If you’re going to take an antacid once or twice a year, most likely that’s fine. 

But frequent use of antacid creates chronically-low stomach acid. If you don’t have enough stomach acid, you’ll have indigestion all the time; the very problem that antacids are supposed to eliminate. (And don’t get me started about Zantac, the most popular antacid of all time. It was pulled off the market because it contained a cancer-causing chemical.)

Tip #3: Take Digestive Enzymes

Instead of taking an antacid to help eliminate symptoms of indigestion, solve the root cause of indigestion. And what’s the root cause? You can blame it on sluggish digestive enzymes. 

Your body contains several kinds of digestive enzymes, starting with amylase. Before your food even enters your stomach, your eyes and nose spring digestive enzymes into action. Your sense of smell and sight sparks your salivary glands into action. Spit (saliva sounds so much nicer) contains amylase, an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates. 

There’s also lipase to break down dietary fat and pepsin for protein and several others. But if your digestion is sluggish, your digestive enzymes need outside help. Enter digestive enzyme supplements. Now, I’m not in the supplement business so I’m not going to recommend one brand. But I encourage you to do your research (read product reviews) and start taking digestive enzymes with every meal—especially the massive holiday ones. 

Chef v walking

Tip #4: Walk It Out

Been there, done that. Before I became a certified nutritional therapist, I would celebrate by overindulging. But then I read research studies that said walking right after a meal was a great way to control blood sugar and lose weight

It’s so easy not to do anything after a big meal. The furthest people want to walk after a big meal is from the dining room to the living room where the couch and TV are. 

But if you can just force yourself to go for a walk immediately after a meal, it’s really the simplest thing to do to prevent excess blood sugar from getting stored in the liver and eventually as body fat. See if you can get someone to join you. If not, listen to some good tunes or a podcast to make the time go by quicker. Even just 10 minutes will do your body and your gut some good. 

probiotics

Tip #5: Make Perfect Poop With These Helpers

In this article I wrote about preventing food poisoning while travelling, I mentioned a probiotic yeast that’s the best for preventing diarrhea. It’s called Saccharomyces Boulardii. Buy it and take it before you eat a huge meal. It’s always good to have on hand. 

This probiotic is the only one that’s a fungus. (Yeast is a fungus.) That may sound gross to take a fungus. But remember that edible mushrooms are the fruiting body of fungus and they are one of the best things to consume for immune support. Anyway, S. Boulardii is the best probiotic if your poops could use an image makeover. 

Tip #6: Have A Great Healthy life!

That about says it all!

The Most Important $7 You’ll Spend In 2023

green drink skin benefits

Chef V is an industry leader in helping people restore their health after the holidays with cleanse and detox programs. But those metabolic reboots are short-term. To keep the health benefits going every day in 2023, Veronica Wheat, the “V” in Chef V, has a simple, perfect plan

Think about all the frivolous stuff that you spend money on every day or several times a week. How many of those expenses are actually contributing to your overall health and happiness? 

Is the half-caf, extra-foam soy vanilla latte really necessary? What about all those meals at restaurants, where most of the time, your food is cooked in rancid canola oil? Have you counted how much you spend monthly on dining out?  

Hey, I get it. Life is short. Spend your money on things that make you happy. Go travel. Book a monthly spa day. Retail therapy shop once in a while. Just don’t neglect to invest in daily things that will support your total wellness

kale

The Best Daily Investment In Your Health For 2023

What a cluster— the last couple of years has been. Thankfully, for the most part, we have emerged from the fear- and anxiety-fueled dystopian reality of the pandemic. However, it seems that there’s no shortage of flus, viruses and other crazy current events that can lower your vibration. 

But what if I told you that for just $7 a day — way lower than the cost of eating out, and about the same for that latte with a tip for the barista — you can easily eliminate the physical and mental toxins we’re bombarded with on a daily basis and support your health in every way imaginable, including:

    • Having great, buzzing energy in the morning — no caffeine needed!
    • Feeling leaner and sexier 
    • Thinking more positively with no mood swings
    • Sleeping more soundly
    • Focusing more sharply
    • Superb antioxidant protection for your immune system 
    • Supporting your friendly gut bacteria 
    • Assisting your body’s Detoxification
    • Enjoying having more beautiful skin, strong nails and lustrous hair

Buying Juice From A Store Is Like Paying Someone To Poison Your Body

You decide: 3 grams of sugar per serving or over 50 grams of sugar per serving? 

It’s shocking how much sugar there is in big juice brands. I’m usually not one to name names. But this time I’ll make an exception: Naked, Odwalla, Suja, Evolution. I could go on and on. 

These corporate brands — Naked and Odwalla are both owned by Pepsi! — don’t care about your health; they care about their bottom line. That’s why they pump tons of blood-sugar-spiking fructose in their juices, even ones named Green Machine. (Naked Juice’s Green Machine has 53 grams of sugar per 15 ounce serving!) 

Store-bought juices trick customers into thinking that their products are good for them because the slick marketers give their products healthy-sounding names. But at the end of the day, these glorified fruit juices are only contributing to the obesity and diabetes twindemic. 

In comparison, with Chef V’s ultra low-sugar Organic Green Drink plan, you’ll  flood your 37 trillion cells with supreme nutrition every day. Think of your body as a high-performance sports car. Green Drink is the fuel your body needs to perform at peak levels every day!

Just $7 a day. Cheaper than the competition. Waaay easier than making your own.

Think about how much money the average person spends on dietary supplements and personal care products to receive all those benefits. It’s a lot more than $7 a day, I can guarantee you that!

All you have to do to FEEL YOUR BEST in 2023 is:

GET ON THE Chef V Organic Green Drink Plan

—->Learn more about the top 5 research-backed benefits of Green Drink.

green drink and digestion

Top Reasons You Need To Go Green in 2023

Oftentimes in life, we neglect the best things for us. For instance, we take our spouse or partner for granted and don’t tell them how much we appreciate them. We don’t spend enough time nurturing our soul in nature. The same could be said about a humble bottle of 7 certified organic leafy green vegetables

If you previously had a Green Drink Plan maybe you forgot how this simple solution supported your health and happiness day in and day out. Life happens. You get sidetracked and revert to old habits. 

I’m happy to set you back on the easiest and most affordable daily wellness plan. But don’t just take it from me. Check out the radical health transformation that customers like Michael, Pashelle, Carey, Gabrielle, and K.I. experienced from being on a Green Drink plan. 

Look, I realize you might be skeptical. “All these incredible health benefits can come from just a daily serving of Green Drink? Can’t I just buy some other veggie juice from the store once in a while or make my own at home?” you might be wondering? 

Totally valid questions. But here’s how Chef V is different than 99.9% of the juices out there:

    • Certified Organic (no pesticides) 
    • Delivered to your home (effortless health)
    • Made fresh every week
    • Less expensive per serving than most brand-name juices
    • No messy clean up, no prep work
    • No preservatives
    • Sourced from local farmers that Chef V has a personal relationship with
    • Feeds and supports your healthy gut bacteria because it’s raw and cold-blended
    • Never high pressure pasturized – that chills the nutrients
    • All store brands are produced with high pressure pasturization
    • Super low in natural sugar with zero added sugars

—-> See how Chef V Organic Green Drink Crushes Top Juice Brands

Support Your Total Wellness in 2023 Right Now

There’s a thousand and one excuses to not take advantage of this incredible deal of just $7 a day. 

But if you’re somebody who wants to live their best life in 2023 then take charge of your health right now and get on the plan

It’s the easiest, most convenient and most affordable way to support your health and happiness in every way possible. 

As a small business owner who literally gets her hands dirty in the kitchen, managing the Green Drink operations, I’m so excited for you to get back to feeling your best.

$7 a day. That’s all it takes to receive so many health benefits week after week.Your health and happiness is worth it. 

START (OR RENEW) YOUR PLAN NOW.

Chef V and kale

Healthy Gut, Smooth Skin, Glossy Hair And Strong Nails

kale

The best veggies for a healthy gut, skin, hair and nails are the same ones in Chef V’s mega-popular Green Drink. And it’s no coincidence that these same veggies are also the best for helping you cleanse and detox. Chef V covers how each of the veggies benefits your beauty.

I created the recipe for Organic Green Drink several years ago back when I was a private chef. Over time, demand grew for my Green Drink and that’s really the catalyst for launching Chef V.

I did a ton of research for the Green Drink recipe. I wanted to select the best veggies that would not only taste amazing cold-blended, but that would also be the best for a 3 day cleanse or 21-day detox. And as it turns out, the seven veggies in Green Drink not only happen to be the best for cleansing and detoxing, they also happen to be the best veggies for skin, hair and nails.

Now I admit, it would be a pain in the behind to have to chop green kale, black kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, green chard, curly parsley and green leaf lettuce every day. And then have to juice it. Then clean up.

The main reason why I transitioned from being a private chef to launching Chef V: making healthier easier for people just like you. And it doesn’t get any easier than having a bottle of our certified organic Green Drink delivered to your home.

Not only can you lose weight, gain energy and sleep more soundly by having Green Drink every day, but there’s also a very good chance your skin, hair, and nails will look better.

So let’s take a look at how the ingredients in Green Drink are the healthiest veggies for skin, hair, and nails.

your microbiome - bacteria

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Kale

Sure, there’s some excessive kale craziness these days. But for good reason. Kale is rich in vitamin K. And it’s really hard for most people who eat the average American diet to get enough K. Vitamin K actually helps minimize dark circles in your eyes. That’s why it’s one of the best veggies for the skin.

In fact, kale can even help tighten your skin. How? Well, one of the reasons why your skin isn’t as tight when you get older is that the aging process weakens your collagen. Collagen is the body’s main structural protein. In fact, over one-third of the thousands and thousands of proteins in the body is collagen proteins. Collagen provides strength to your tendons, ligaments, teeth, nails, hair, bones, gut lining, and much more….

The vitamin C in kale along with the antioxidant, lutein, promotes collagen regrowth and production. In addition, vitamin A in kale helps prevent damage to the skin. It also repairs damages to the epidermis.

There’s a good reason why kale has been added to several beauty products. Because it’s such an efficient detoxifying nutrient, kale can help clean your pores. It’s even beneficial for your hair pores. Moreover, kale contains fatty acids such as omega-3s. These fatty acids provide moisture to your hair and skin.

There’s even a nail polish with kale extract. Supposedly, it can help stimulate keratin production. Keratin is the other main protein that’s in your nails.

These facts about kale make it one of the best veggies for skin, hair, and nails. So drink your Green Drink and schedule that kale facial!

weight and your microbiome

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Dandelion

Another incredible detoxifying green veggie in our Green Drink is dandelion. Dandelion widens your pores. That’s how it helps your body get rid of toxins. And according to this article, dandelion shrinks wrinkles. It may also help whiten dark spots and reduce fine lines.

Like kale, dandelion also contains lots of beta carotene and vitamin C. It’s also rich in B vitamins and vitamin E, which is a standard ingredient in many skincare products. Moreover, the minerals and trace minerals in dandelions may actually help regrow hair.

collard greens

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Collard Greens

The reason why collard greens are one of the best veggies for skin, hair, and nails is the same reason as kale and dandelion: it’s loaded with beta carotene (a precursor to vitamin A). One benefit of Vitamin A for your skin is the production of sebum. You can think of sebum as a waterproof lubricant for your skin. Without sebum, your skin would feel like it’s been scorched in a sauna for hours. And sebum is also in your hair. Without enough of it, your hair feels like straw.

Collard greens also contain iron. And one major factor for thinning hair is low iron intake.

probiotic

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Chard

Here’s why I think chard is one of the best veggies for skin, hair, and nails….

Just one serving of it contains over 700 percent of your vitamin K suggested intake. It’s also got about 200 percent of your beta carotene needs and about half of your daily vitamin C needs. And chard is also very high in minerals such as magnesium. Getting enough magnesium in your diet is very important for healthy skin. It can help balance the amount of oil you have. Obviously, you need some oil but not too much. If your skin tends to run on the oily side, magnesium can reduce the amount of oils.

Chard is also high in biotin. Biotin is vitamin B7. There’s a good reason why many hair care products contain biotin. That’s because biotin stimulates hair follicles. Consume enough chard and your hair may benefit by appearing shinier and fuller in texture. And like all the other of the best veggies for your skin, chard is rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants repair and help regenerate new skin cells.

Best Veggies for Skin, Hair & Nails: Parsley

Poor parsley. Most people just eat a tiny bit of it as a post-meal garnish to freshen the breath. But here’s why you should consume more of it. (And what easier way to get your daily dose of parsley than having one or two Green Drinks per day?)

Parsley is a wrinkle destroyer. As I say above, vitamin C-rich foods help encourage the production of collagen in your body. And parsley is particularly rich in vitamin C. And the more collagen production your body undergoes, the more wrinkles and fine lines will fade.

Moreover, parsley is a natural antibiotic. Thus, it can help kill bacteria-causing acne. There are several other benefits of parsley for your skin as well. But this post is already long and we’ve got one more of the best veggies for skin, hair, and nails to cover:

21 day detox from Chef V

Lettuce

One of the main reasons why lettuce is good for your skin is it contains the following three minerals: silica, sulfur, and phosphorous. You don’t need a large quantity of these minerals from the foods you eat. That’s why they are called trace minerals. But these three trace minerals are vital for maintaining healthy skin, hair, and nails. Without a doubt, you’re not going to get many benefits by eating iceberg lettuce, which is devoid of nutrition. But green leafy lettuce can also protect your skin against harmful UV rays.

So now do you see why I selected these six veggies (7 really; Green Drink includes two different types of kale)? Not only are they the best-tasting and most detoxifying, but they’re also the best for your skin, hair, and nails.

Chef V and Kale

Green Drink Skin Benefits: Way Beyond Skin Deep

green drink skin benefits

The benefits of Green Drink for skin can have much more of an impact than a cosmetic procedure like a facial. After all, facials and other beauty care methods are only, well, skin deep. But green drinks can benefit your skin from the inside out. Chef V explains….

Take a look at my picture. If you’ve never seen a picture of me, that’s me. Oh, if only I looked as stunning as Coconut, my beloved pooch.

But in truth I do get compliments on my skin from time to time. Now, I might be comfortable in my skin, so to speak. However, I consider myself a modest person and not vain in the slightest bit. Therefore, I’m not one to usually talk about my appearance. I’m going to make an exception here. You see, sure, genetics might have to do with how youthful your skin looks.

kale

Benefits of Green Drink for Skin: Collagen

Let’s talk about protein. Not the protein you get from food, but the protein that makes up who you are. Your body has hundreds of thousands of different proteins. And the most abundant human protein is collagen. Roughly one-third of your body’s protein is collagen. Collagen is the foundation of your connective tissue.

Collagen is a matrix-like structure formed by amino acids. It’s the most common protein in the skin along with keratin. The reason why we look older as we age is that our collagen denatures, weakens and shrinks. It gets weaker and weaker every year. In fact, after age 30 or so, you lose at least one percent of your collagen’s strength every year. That means by age 60, you’re collagen will be 30% weaker than when you are 30 years old.

But here’s one of the key benefits of green drink for skin: the vitamins and minerals help prevent or even re-generate your own body’s collagen. How cool is that? Do you see why I consider having a Green Drink every day the healthiest thing you can do for your health and beauty?

The dark green veggies in Organic Green Drink encourage collagen production. The older you get, the more important this is. That’s because collagen production slows down as you age. However, veggies rich in vitamin C inhibit the breakdown of collagen.

Benefits of Green Drink for Skin: Better Digestion

Here’s another reason why it’s great to have green juice for glowing skin. Because of poor diet, many people have insufficient stomach acid. Adult acne and other skin problems is a direct indication that not only does the gut not have enough good bacteria, the stomach doesn’t have enough gastric juice to break down the nutrients. This results in inflammation. And acne and other skin disorders are a symptom of inflammation.

And if you don’t have enough stomach acid, you can’t efficiently digest protein. Moreover, just like probiotics, gastric juices help fight bad bacteria. Consequently, if you can’t fully digest your food, microbial overgrowth occurs, leading to inflammation and potential skin problems.

But one of the main benefits of green drink for skin is that the veggies help stimulate the release of stomach acid. Moreover, the veggies in our Organic Green Drink alkalize the body and reduce inflammation.

green drink and digestion

Benefits of Green Drink for Skin: Enzymes

Now, not all green drinks are great for your skin. That’s because most green drinks are pasteurized. However, our Green Drinks are raw. And what this means is that when you chug some Green Drink, you get a ton of naturally-occurring enzymes. Enzymes are critical in absorption of nutrients. One major factor why many people have chronic disease is that they don’t eat enough enzyme-rich foods like raw green veggies. Cooked food destroys enzymes. That’s why one of the healthiest and easiest things you can do to ensure you’re getting some enzyme-rich raw veggies in your diet is to have a daily serving of Certified Organic Green Drink.

Chef V and kale

Add Length to Your Life with These Foods and Drinks

You know that eating certain foods are great for your health, like these 7 leafy green veggies you can conveniently drink and have delivered right to your home. But what you might not realize is the length of time that eating certain foods can prolong your life, in minutes. And on the flip side, if we knew that having a cheat meal would rob our lifespan by “X”  minutes, maybe we’d have an easier time thinking twice about eating fast food. 

But thanks to researchers at the University of Michigan, we can do just that. The researchers evaluated almost 6,000 different types of foods and ranked them by their potential to create disease in humans. The neat thing about their research, which was published in the journal, Nature, is that each food had a corresponding length of time that the food either added to or subtracted from a lifespan. 

For instance, if you’ve ever been to a baseball game and were bored out of your mind (guilty as charged) and tried to make the most of it by eating a hotdog, well that frankfurter just cost you 36 minutes of your life, according to the researchers. 

Instead of eating a hotdog, if you have sunflower seeds or peanuts, it will add nearly a half hour to your lifespan.

Foods That Make You—And The Earth—Live Longer

The cool thing about the research is that not only was the disease burden to humans measured, so was the environmental impact. One take away from the study was that substituting processed meat like chicken wings and deli slices for a mix of fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and certain seafood like wild salmon can extend your life by almost 50 minutes. Moreover, doing this would reduce your dietary carbon footprint by one-third.

As I alluded to, the problem with nutrition advice is there’s not enough real world, consequential associations with food choices. In other words, can you imagine if every food you purchased from a supermarket had a plus or minus along with a number that corresponded to how many minutes of life you would gain or lose? That would really put things in perspective. 

Katerina Stylianou, one of the researchers in the study said, “Generally, dietary recommendations lack specific and actionable direction to motivate people to change their behavior, and rarely do dietary recommendations address environmental impacts.” So true!

Another thing I liked about the work by these researchers from UM is that they split the foods according to the three colors of a traffic light. Go for green foods, yield to yellow and stop and think twice before eating foods in the red category. 

Green foods are not only healthy, they have the lowest carbon footprint. They are: 

  • Field-grown vegetables, like the organic leafy greens Chef V uses for Organic Green Drinks
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Fruits
  • Whole grains
  • Legumes (beans, soy beans, lentils, peanuts)
  • Sustainably-raised, wild-caught seafood

Red light foods should be avoided as much as possible because they don’t contribute to a longer lifespan and also carry a heavier ecological burden. Foods in this category are processed beef and pork products. 

fresh veg

Think In Minutes, Not Calories

If you want to geek out and read the study, check it out here. I wrote this article because I really dig the concept of thinking about food choices in the context of lengthening your lifespan. 

For some people, hearing that a certain food has this many calories or that many grams of carbs or this many grams of sugar or this much fat rings hollow; it doesn’t sink in. I know it’s wishful thinking, but maybe this study will spark a movement for a lifespan ranking to be added to food labels. 

Look, I realize that it’s not shocking to say that organically-grown, fresh fruits and veggies along with other plant-based foods add the most amount of time to our lifespan. And the cherry on top is that they are the most environmentally-friendly. But maybe for those who struggle with food choices, placing more emphasis on whether eating a certain food will add to or shorten lifespan will have more of an effect than merely saying, ‘eat this because it’s healthy and don’t eat that because it’s bad.’ 

Add Minutes To Your Lifespan With Organic Green Drink

The same goes for my Green Drink. When you swap a typical American breakfast for Green Drink, just think that you’re adding at least half an hour to your lifespan with every bottle!

These 6 Spice Ingredients Prevent Belly Bloating & Improve Digestion

spices for health at the holidays

If variety is the spice of life, I say a variety of spice ingredients is the key to a long, healthy life. Herbs and spices improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and may even prevent cancer, along with other benefits. I’ll share with you my favorite 6 herbs and spices for optimal digestive health.

Feeling a little bloaty and gassy? Having a hard time buttoning your jeans? The 6 ingredients – herbs and spices – I’m about to share with you can dramatically improve your digestion. These spices are so good for you I recommend using them every day.

Dandelion

Did a rich dessert back your system up? Then sip on some dandelion tea. The reason why is dandelion root is really good for relieving constipation. Not only that, it reduces the amount of time food sits in your belly. In fact, one study suggests it’s better than a drug at speeding up digestion.

And if you’re a little down in the dumps because you put on a couple pounds, here’s how else ingredients like dandelion help….

When we overindulge, it’s really easy for water and metabolic waste to accumulate in our digestive system. But dandelion comes to the rescue by acting as a diuretic, removing excess water from your gut.

dandelion

Turmeric

Is it me or is turmeric becoming more popular than ketchup? Turmeric has been blowing up the Internet because of its inflammation-fighting and blood-sugar lowering actions. But did you know it’s also great for digestion? Here’s why I love adding ingredients like turmeric spice to my smoothie, tea and meals….

Sometimes when we’re invited to a dinner party and eat something we don’t normally have, toots happen. It’s a part of life. Nonetheless, flatulence is embarrassing. But turmeric is a potent fart-fighter! The very uncomfortable post-meal combo of gas and bloating can be greatly reduced just by adding a teaspoon or two of turmeric.

Turmeric may prevent embarrassing gas and uncomfy bloating because it helps digest fats. It also helps your belly keep its supply of stomach acid. Many digestive problems are caused by not having enough digestive juices to break down food.

I realize it might not be practical for you to carry a bottle of turmeric spice in your purse to a dinner party. But you can easily drink some tea or a smoothie before you head out for the night. You can also take a turmeric supplement before the dinner party.

Keep in mind turmeric is fat-soluble. That means you need to consume a little fat in order for your body to absorb turmeric. That’s not a problem if you’re adding it to a meal. But if you’re having a smoothie, make sure you add a tablespoon of olive oil or other healthy fat.

My next favorite spice for digestion also helps your body absorb turmeric….

turmeric

Black Pepper

Without black pepper, your body doesn’t absorb turmeric very well. But adding just a pinch or two of this ingredient, fresh ground black pepper, can increase your body’s absorption of turmeric by 2,000%!

Not only that, there’s something in black pepper called piperine, which is great for digestion. It helps you break down all the tryptophan and other amino acids in holiday turkey. It also helps you get rid of excess water and it stimulates your belly’s release of hydrochloric acid, the main digestive juice in your gut.

But to get your belly feeling better with black pepper, don’t cook with it. Just sprinkle some fresh ground pepper corns in your tea or on your food.

black pepper

Ginger

ingredients: Ginger is Mother Nature’s weapon against indigestion, stomach pain and nausea. When I go for sushi, I always ask for extra ginger. Not only does it cleanse the palette in between bites of a rainbow roll, it’s also great for digestion. It helps move food through the digestive tract so all that rice and fish in the sushi doesn’t just sit in your gut for hours, leaving you bloated and gassy.

Here’s an easy digestion hack you can try with ginger that’s been used for thousands of years in India’s ancient traditional system of medicine (Ayurveda): try eating some fresh ginger slices about a half hour before your meal. This will activate your digestive fire. Or better yet, have a cup of ginger tea.

(If you take a blood-thinning drug, don’t use too much ginger as it can negatively interact with the medication.)

ginger root

Cardamom

I do love me a cup of low-sugar chai tea. Each sip delightfully awakens my taste buds. But more than that the ingredients in chai tea like cardamom are great for digestion. Cardamom is like ginger’s cousin. Like ginger, it can help prevent gas and bloating. There’s also some research that shows it can help if you have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Not only that it can help if you have belly cramps, diarrhea or constipation.

If your bottle of cardamom spice is gathering dust in your pantry, move it to front and center of your spice rack. And if your local coffee shop can do a low-sugar chai spice tea, go for it. Besides cardamom and cloves, traditional chai spices also include ginger  black pepper, and cinnamon.

Speaking of which, here’s the final of my favorite spices for digestion….

cardamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is an ingredient miracle. Not only can it make bland oatmeal taste great, it’s also good for digestion. It can help with indigestion, gas, heartburn, nausea and stomach cramps. Now, obviously, sprinkling cinnamon on stuffing, turkey or mashed potatoes is … let’s just say, weird.

But what you can easily do, if you know you’re going to be indulging, before you head out for the big holiday meal, is make a cup of tea and sprinkle some cinnamon in it. Or, you can make yourself a cup of Golden Milk.

Golden Milk (click here for my recipe) is a dairy-free drink that I make with almond milk and features several of the spices above. My recipe for Golden Milk includes turmeric, ginger and cinnamon, and of course, a pinch of fresh ground black pepper.

If you’re going to indulge a little, no worries, you’ll get back on track. Just make sure to start using these spices every day to help you digest those heavy meals.

Love,

Veronica (Chef V)

P.S. Having a daily 16 oz. serving of my Green Drink will also do wonders for your digestion. That’s how I start my day, even on the holidays.

Brandon, veronica and Coco

Juice Diets and Other Simple Tips for Better Mood Control

With the winter cold comes the winter blues. To a degree, changing moods are simply a matter of being human. They’re part of the cost that comes with being a thinking creature with emotions. On the other hand, mood is also heavily influenced by body chemistry. If chemical imbalances are off, you can be put into a funk. 

But if you manage to get something that boosts your levels of anandamide or other chemicals, you can beat those blues. We’ll cover some of the best and simplest methods for mood regulation out there. 

Accept your mood

This seems like a weird first tip. If you’re feeling bad, shouldn’t you do something about it? Well, sure. But, sometimes, feeling bad is natural. If you’re having personal struggles, no 7 day juice cleanse or yoga pose will make that go away. Sometimes, repressing emotions is just as bad for you as experiencing them. If you have difficulty managing emotions in this way, looking for therapy may be an excellent first step. 

Get more sleep

Everyone sleeps, hopefully. And yet this simple bodily function could be one of the best ways to help manage mood. Missing out on sleep has been linked to increases in feelings of anger, anxiety, depression, and moodiness. Getting to bed on time is a good first step for boosting mood. 

Move your body

Having trouble sleeping? Being active during the day can help you get more shut-eye. But that’s not all that exercise can do for you. Even taking fifteen minutes out of your day to exercise can do amazing things for your mood. Humans weren’t meant to sit around all day!

We’re particularly fans of using yoga to reduce stress. Even the most basic cow/cat poses can start to put you in a calmer frame of mind, and let you stabilize your mood. Plus, exercise is a great way to lose weight, which in itself can boost mood and confidence. 

Get out!

Sometimes, it’s going to be cold, or maybe even rainy. But even in the worst weather, we recommend trying to get some time outside. Mental health and cognition both seem to be connected to being outside. To a degree, this is likely a case of the benefits of fresh air and sunlight. But it also seems that nature itself has a role to play in better mood regulation. 

Socialize

Loneliness is one of the least discussed causes of mood and health disorders. But it can have a severe effect on your health, particularly as you age. Try to cherish and nurture the connections you have. And don’t be afraid to get out there and make new connections either! 

Juice cleanses

At times, the best way to boost your mood is simply to get more of the good stuff in your diet. A Chef V juice cleanse can help give you everything your body needs to function well, such as antioxidants, magnesium, and a whole host of vitamins. 

Our green drink can help you manage your blood sugar levels and get them back to a stable level. Even just a 7 day juice cleanse can go a long way toward stabilizing your mood. Remember that you have the power to affect your mood, and Chef V is always right behind you with healthy juice cleanse options to back you up. 

Why Eating “Clean Foods” Has Never Been More Important

Why Eating “Clean Foods” Has Never Been More Important

 There’s a clean food and drink movement brewing. More and more people are becoming conscious of how their food is made. There’s never been a better time to pay attention to every single thing that you chew and sip. That’s because consuming foods with toxic ingredients suppresses the immune system. 

But before you go assuming that certain foods are safe, do your research. Food labels, unfortunately, don’t always tell the whole story…

Drink Clean Green Drink! 

That’s what I’m all about when it comes to the 7 leafy greens in Chef V Organic Green Drink. I know exactly where these high nutrient-density, health-supporting veggies come from: local organic farms. 

So next time you’re in a supermarket, think about what you’re putting in your shopping cart. Are you 100% sure that there are no contaminants like heavy metals in the plastic-wrapped produce or veggie juice? 

Unfortunately, lots of people are still deceived by store-bought veggie juices. Most of them trick consumers into thinking they are healthy when in reality they are barely healthier than soda!

Here’s why most brand name juices aren’t healthy:

  • They are high-heat pasteurized. High heat pasteurization kills the compounds in the veggies that don’t appear on nutrition labels, most notably prebiotic fiber, which is like food for the bacteria in your gut. CHEF V GREEN DRINK is raw, meaning all the friendly bacteria remain intact, which is good for your gut, which in turn is good for your immune system!
  • They aren’t organic. Even if a veggie juice is low in sugar (most aren’t), if it contains non-organic produce, it will contain pesticides. With Covid-19, you want to minimize as much environmental pollutants as possible.
  • They are preserved. Ever wonder why a bottle of juice can stay good in your fridge for a long time. Yes, the refrigeration has something to do with it. But it’s also because of preservatives. CHEF V Organic Green Drink is always fresh, made-to-order and contains zero preservatives.

If you have any questions about how Green Drink is made, contact me at veronica@chefv.com. I promise full transparency.

I’m happy that more people these days are willing to pay more for healthier food and drinks. That’s why you’ll always find me shopping at local farmer’s markets. And with Chef V Organic Green Drink, I’m passing the health (and savings) directly on to you.

Clean Foods: No Glyphosate!

Consider hummus, one of the most popular dips and spreads that most people would consider healthy. Made from chickpeas, hummus should be a nutritious plant-protein-filled snack. But according to a report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), several brands of hummus contain unhealthy levels of glyphosate. If you’re not familiar with glyphosate, it’s the world’s best-selling pesticide and herbicide. It was invented by the notorious Monsanto Corporation. Glyphosate has been linked to certain rare cancers such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 

The report revealed that nine out of 27 varieties of non-organic hummus far exceeded the EWG’s recommended threshold of 160 parts-per-billion. And sadly, these days, government agencies that are supposed to regulate industries for our safety are run by former executives of toxic industries. I’m not going to veer on a political rant; that’s not my thing. But when it comes to clean food, I have to speak up from time to time. So allow me to vent real quick on this issue: How insane is it that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now headed by someone who was a coal industry lobbyist?

Is it any coincidence that EPA says glyphosate is safe, and instead of 160 parts-per-billion, the agency’s safe threshold is 30 times greater than EWG’s: 5,000 ppb. 

And if you think a brand like Whole Foods sells safer hummus, think again. It actually tested highest among all the brands EWG analyzed. Even Whole Foods’ organic hummus contained 2,000 ppm. (In general, organic hummus contains far less glyphosate than non-organic.) 

Is the lesson here to never eat hummus or chickpeas again. No. But you might want to think again about how much of it you eat per day. 

The same is true about oatmeal and anything else with oats including granola bars. Popular breakfast cereals like Cheerios also contain the controversial weed killer. (You shouldn’t eat cereal for breakfast anyway. Instead, sip 16 oz of Green Drink. Then have a plant-based protein shake.)

Drink Clean Wine and Clean Veggies

Thanks in large part to actress Cameron Diaz, clean wine is a growing consumer trend. Her wine label, Avaline,  uses organic grapes produced in biodynamic soil. No synthetic chemicals or fertilizers are used. (In the winemaking industry, glyphosate isn’t spread directly on grapes or the vines but is applied on vineyard weeds.) 

Diaz’s goal in making clean wine is to provide full transparency to the wine making process. 

Chef V Cleanse: Ambika is feeling Healthy!

Chef V Cleanse - Ambika Leigh is feeling healthy

Thank you Ambika for this generous review – and congratulations on your healthy success!

Ambika says:

Do you ever want to just hit a pause button and stop questioning everything you put in your mouth and feeling crappy all the time because you've fallen in to unhealthy patterns and aren't sure how to turn them around with just your will power alone?? Well then I have just the thing for you!! ????

Check out the @ChefVlife Cleanse!!

No, this isn't some weird paid ad (I'm not cool enough for that, though I will get a $25 credit for anyone who purchases with this link, so thanks in advance). I'm just excited to finally share about it, since a few days ago I finished their 5-day cleanse for the 10th time (!!) and yet again I'm feeling FANTASTIC!!

The first one I did in early 2017 rocked my world so I committed to doing it 3x a year (January, May, September), and I haven't missed one yet. And I wouldn't at this point since I crave it so gotdamn much… I crave having the well thought-out, well-balanced and easy-to-follow support structure to help me hit that pause button amidst a busy and distracted life and reset my body chemistry back to its optimal state.

Chef V Cleanse ingredients

And they make it so easy (no juicing or cooking or other mess necessary) that as long as you have a little jingle to put towards yourself and jump-starting healthier habits, this is truly a no-brainer.

When you include the pre and post cleanse diet (ya gotta ease in and out, very important), it's about 10-12 days (or more if you can keep it going) of no alcohol, sugar, dairy, fried foods, caffeine, wheat, soy, etc (basically like the Whole 30 diet).

So it's an excellent time to get rid of cravings and reboot your metabolism and yes of course evaporate some extra fat molecules you may or may not feel burden your beautiful body. All while not missing a day of work (I even worked on set for 2 days during this last one). It's such a well-designed program and you drink so much liquid all day that you never have a chance to feel hungry!! I can barely finish the soup at night because I'm so full. Which is INSANE!!!

Each of the 10 times I've done it now, without fail, I have felt incredibly light and clear and ENERGETIC. Not like I could go run a marathon or deadlift a horse (I mean why) but like buzzing with focus and productivity. Kinda like mainlining caffeine, but way less dysfunctional.

Point is – if you've been thinking about giving your body a break/boost, I highly recommend this particular cleanse to help you do that. I'm officially a self-proclaimed veteran now so feel free to reach out to me with any questions!! And don't forget to use my referral link please. Mama gotta support her ready-made cleansing addiction ????: https://blogchefv.wpenginepowered.com/?raf=ref9152459

Chef V: Cleansing from the Expert, Veronica Wheat

Chef V, Veronica Wheat, Interview

Doing a cleanse should be fun, easy and affordable. But many cleanses feel like torture. Sure, you might lose weight doing any cleanse on the market. But what happens shortly after the cleanse is over most of the time? That's right … the weight you lost goes right back on. But doing a Chef V cleanse is different. And here to talk about how it's different is none other than Veronica Wheat, Chef V herself.

Question: Veronica, how is a Chef V Cleanse Different Than Others on The Market?

Veronica: My Chef V cleanse is different from other cleanses in four ways:

#1: It's certified organic.
#2: It's very low in sugar and contains mostly all green veggies
#3: It contains adequate protein
#4: It teaches you both how to prepare for a cleanse and how to stay healthy long after the cleanse is over

As for the first point, we are one of the only cleanse programs that is a certified organic brand. This is something I am very proud of. Not only do my kitchen and production processes exceed the rigorous National Organic Program, everything we produce is made using locally grown organic produce and organic ingredients.

It is hard to cleanse your body if the produce you're consuming contains pesticides. That's why it is super important to me that the 7 green leafy veggies in our Green Drinks be certified organic. It is just better for your health. Also, as a nutritional therapist, I am always looking for ways to educate people about healthy living and the role that organics should play in our lives. To illustrate the importance of organics as the basis of a healthy diet, I developed my own organic food pyramid, detailing from top to bottom which organic foods we should eat and how much of each we should consume each day.

I strongly believe that we need to put the best organic foods into our bodies in order to get the best out of ourselves. And the fact that we're a National Organic Program means our entire operation is protecting natural resources, maintaining biodiversity, and using the safest approved, non-genetically modified (non-GMO) ingredients.

Here's what's in my cleanse – watch the video:

Question: What do you mean by “low sugar”?

Veronica: Most cleanses on the market are simply juice cleanses. And many juice cleanses contain mostly fruit. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing on fruit here. As a nutritional therapist, I absolutely recommend consuming fruit every day. But 99% of the time, the only fruit you should be consuming is one serving of a whole fruit. Say a medium size apple. Or a handful or two of blueberries. That's it. The problem with most juice cleanses is they contain far too much fruit sugar. Take the difference between a whole apple and apple juice, for example. A whole apple will contain less sugar and more fiber than apple juice.

But with a 3, 5, or 7-day Chef V Cleanse you get four 16-oz. servings a day of Green Drink, containing 7 Certified Organic green leafy veggies and just a tiny bit of apple for sweetness.

Consumer Reports recently published a report on green juices and my Green Drink exceeds the Consumer Reports expectations.

Question: Why are the veggies in the Organic Green Drink so important for cleansing?

Veronica: Dark leafy green vegetables — including collards, dandelion greens, parsley, chard, green leaf lettuce, and kale — are nutritional powerhouses for many reasons. They contain an abundance of phytonutrients and carotenoids. These are antioxidants that protect cells and play a key role in fighting and preventing diseases, including cancer and heart disease.

They also have high levels of iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and other important vitamins and minerals. Dark leafy greens are great for achieving and maintaining a healthy body weight thanks to being high in fiber, which keeps you feeling full and helps keep your blood sugar levels from spiking, leading to a more controlled appetite.

Doing a Chef V cleanse is a super easy way for my people to get more greens in their diets every day.

And I should also mention that the juices in most cleanses are pasteurized using high pressure and heat. This processing kills some of the nutritional properties of the veggies. But the 4 daily Green Drinks our Cleanse customers drink are raw and made in small batches from the freshest locally sourced organic greens. Plus, the Green Drinks are cold-blended. Cold-blending preserves the fiber and other nutrients in the green leafy veggies.

Question: So is cleansing as easy as drinking Green Drinks?

Veronica: Just as important as adding fresh greens to your life is ridding your body of all the bad stuff you’ve been pumping into it —particularly those highly processed foods, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and pollutants. Manufacturers have added so many artificial substances, and so much sodium, fat, and sugar to their pre-packaged and canned foods to try to make them palatable, but in the end, these things just harm our bodies. Many doctors believe, as do I, that there is a cancer-sugar connection, and it really is in your body’s best interest to really restrict the amount of added sugars in your diet.

And let me point back to third way that my cleanse is different … the fact that it has more than enough protein. You see, doing a cleanse becomes a challenge when the only nutrient is carbohydrates. Remember the fact that most cleanses are just juice, juice, and more juice? Well, juice, even if it's 99% organic veggie juice is mostly all carbohydrate. If you go a few days or more denying your body protein, you may notice that your skin, hair and nails will become more brittle. You'll also likely have energy fluctuations and as a result, you'll become cranky. But my Cleanse also includes vegan-friendly Protein Shakes and Detox Soups, which provide more than enough protein to support your metabolism and muscles.

Chef V Cleanse

Question: What's the best way to start a cleanse? Should you dive in the deep end?

Veronica: Not everyone should dive head first into one. I’ve had clients who’ve said: “I’m going to the drive-thru tonight, and then I’m starting my cleanse tomorrow.” But that’s a recipe for failure. People who start this way often wind up feeling sick during the cleanse and may even give up on it. Their bodies are full of toxins, so of course they feel bad.

What I’ve learned is that you should pre-cleanse first so that you can ease your body into the detoxification process and begin to open up your channels of elimination, especially the liver and colon. This is achieved through a period of healthful eating, and to make it easier for you, I have compiled a chart of cleanse-approved foods. You should stick to these foods for at least two days before you begin my organic cleanse. If you’re used to having a lot of sugar, coffee, or alcohol, you may need to take three to five days. For continued success, stick to these cleanse-approved foods for two days or more after your cleanse.

Check out Heather's experience with a 21 day cleanse challenge in the video below:

Question: Do you practice what you preach?

Veronica: Absolutely. I start off each morning with 16 oz of Green Drink. And because I travel a lot, I don't eat healthy 100% of the time.  So a couple times a year at least I myself will do a cleanse.

But on any given average day, I probably drink close to a half gallon of Green Drink a day. Whenever my body is craving something, I give it my organic green drink first, then listen to my body and see what it really wants. Sometimes when I think I’m hungry, I have a little green drink and voilà! I wasn’t really hungry, I just needed some greens.

Question: Anything else you'd like to add about your cleanse?

Veronica: I know consumers have a ton of choices and sifting through all the information can be a challenge. If you're serious about doing a cleanse, and not only that, but having it be a health transformation, I encourage you to do as much research as you can. But I strongly believe that reading other people's experiences about cleansing helps cut through the clutter and the bull…. So I invite anybody who is curious about doing my cleanse to read some of the reviews on Yelp. And also, if you have any questions whatsoever, do not hesitate to contact my super knowledgeable staff.

Variety – Recipes for Green Drink, Ultra Shake, & Detox Soups

I created the recipes (links to PDFs below) for people that might be on a seven day cleanse or might have been on the green drink for a long time and just need a little variety to mix it up. Here are easy do it yourself variations for my Green Drink, Ultra Shake, and Detox Soup.

Better than Celery Juice for Headaches

headaches and celery juice

A More Affordable And Less Messy Alternative to Celery Juice For Headaches

Some health trends come and go. And some stick around. A couple years after writing about the celery juice bandwagon here and here, it seems like going to the store and stocking up on stalks of fresh celery and making an absolute mess in your kitchen juicing it, shows no signs of slowing down. 

The reason why the celery juice trend is evergreen (no pun intended) is thanks to Anthony William, aka “The Medical Medium,” who I detailed in my article, “Celery Juice Part 1 – Miracle, Hype, or Both?”

The more I’ve read in The Medical Medium’s books, the more I am convinced that he is some sort of natural health savant. And the reason why I wanted to revisit the topic of celery juice is that many people are using it as of late to prevent or cure headaches. And keeping your electrolytes in balance is a better way to keep headaches away.

celery juice and headaches

What Causes Headaches?

You’re not normal if you don’t ever get headaches or migraines. But there’s the thing about these nuisances, which can actually be so intense, they become debilitating conditions…

Headaches and migraines might be common, but they are not normal. If your body is functioning in a state of homeostasis (perfect balance), it’s impossible to get a headache.

The Medical Medium says that there are many causes of headaches. 

That analysis doesn’t exactly make him a genius; almost everybody knows that. 

But there are a few root causes that William offers that your doctor won’t tell you about. Even a functional medicine doctor or naturopathic/alternative/holistic health practitioner may not be familiar with William’s explanations. 

One of the root causes of headaches, according to William, is neurotoxins caused by the shingles virus. Or more accurately, viruses. William claims there are more than 30 types of shingles (who knew?), which itself is caused by inflammation of three nerves in the body: phrenic, vagus, and trigeminal. 

Another reason headaches are a frequent occurrence these days isn’t just because stress has gotten worse. 

William says the reason headaches are common stems from toxic heavy metals in brain cells. Mercury and aluminum impede the brain’s circuitry flow. This inefficient electrical impulse firing causes the brain to heat up, which requires you to use more energy to process information: “How do I use this damn TIVO? Frickin’ A … my head is killing me.” 

Yet another cause of headaches William alludes to is no shocking revelation: dehydration. A lack of oxygen from “dirty blood” causes the liver to become sluggish, William says. Despite the popularity of keto diets, William says that high-fat diets, coupled with a sluggish liver lowers oxygen levels in vital organs such as the brain. 

Can Celery Juice Cure Headaches?

The Medical Medium doesn’t outright say that celery juice is a cure for headaches. If he did say that on his website, he would likely get a warning letter from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). But William—or his attorneys—is expert at dancing around health claims. The Medical Medium website has a disclaimer that’s over 300 words long, or six times longer than the preamble of the U.S. Constitution. 

“Drinking celery juice daily in the way I recommend … is so important for these health problems and so many other chronic illnesses and symptoms for these undiscovered reasons and many more,” William says. Notice he doesn’t say that celery juice can cure headaches or chronic diseases. If he could, he would, but he can’t so he smartly tiptoes around the health claim. 

But you have to be careful drinking celery juice. People tend to go overboard with things, even when it’s something healthy. Drinking a lot of celery juice, some people report, actually may cause headaches. How much is too much celery juice? It’s hard to say, but let’s just say several stalks a day may not keep the doctor away. 

Blending For Headaches

If you’re not stoked about how expensive celery juice has gotten (thanks in big part to The Medical Medium) and how messy it is, there’s a far easier solution. 

The Chef V Organic Green Drink Plan delivers directly to your front door a weekly supply of cold-blended juice, consisting of 7 leafy greens.

Imagine getting your daily dose of antioxidants and not having to go to the supermarket every other day and worrying about using all your produce before it goes bad. And just picture all the time and energy you’ll save by not having to wash your veggies, chop them up, blend them and clean them. 

And don’t get me started about cleaning your juicer after juicing celery! That itself will cause a headache!

Many juice cleanses are just high-sugar fruit juices in disguise. All that fructose spikes your blood sugar. And when your blood sugar levels are all over the place, guess what happens? 

That’s right, you get a headache!

But my Green Drink contains only 3 grams of naturally-occurring sugar per 8 oz. serving. 

So save yourself the headache of juicing celery everyday. Instead of supporting your health with just one veggie, get 7 nutrient-dense greens per serving. 

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Chef V and kale

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