Happy Autumn! It's that time of year - the changing seasons, holidays and seasonal flu are in the air! Does it have to be stressful? No! Check out our tips on how to look and feel your best for the holidays, how to make healthy Halloween treats and a new Thanksgiving recipe. We've released our 1 Week Detox Diet Plan and we have a fantastic story about it from our contest winner...

Healthy Blessings, Cindy and Jo

In this Edition

1. Prepare for the Holidays! Why is Seasonal Detox Important?
2. Recipes and Rituals to Make Halloween Healthy!
3. Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash
4. It's Here! The 1 Week Whole Body Detox Diet Plan
5. Our Contest Winner! Holly's Story

Prepare for the Holidays with Seasonal Detox

Would you like for it to be different this year? Wouldn’t it be nice if you felt so much energy, vitality and confidence that the abundance of rich food and bustle of activity didn’t pull you down? We remember when our sugar cravings were out of control and at their height during the holidays. It seemed we could never fill up enough on the sweet, rich foods. Warm winter clothes were a welcome cover up for the bulging belly and ailing body!

But it doesn’t have to be that way. We’ve learned to give our bodies a tune up with a seasonal cleanse and gain a new lease on the holidays. We take back control, re-set our metabolism and clear our bodies of the parasitic overgrowths and other toxins that keep us addicted to overeating unhealthy foods. It’s important to do this BEFORE the holiday season hits!

Season change is the best time for detoxing. After the summer of sweet fruits and cooling foods, our bodies need to clean out and re-set for the winter. You tune up your car, why not your body? Our bodies use fuel differently in the cold season. Changing weather alerts our bodies to store more calories while also burning more energy to stay warm. Warming winter foods with more fats are necessary to keep up and stay healthy. Yet all this fuel and storage also causes more toxins to be stored in fat reserves. If we pile up on the sugar and junk food, our bodies overload, our immune systems weaken and we become the perfect host for seasonal colds and flus.

We’ll be sharing a lot of tips and tools for staying healthy this winter. The first two are in this newsletter – our guided 7-Day Step by Step Whole Body Detox to tune up and prepare your body, and Healthy Halloween Treats to kick off the holiday season with healthy, fun and delicious tricks and treats.

Read below for more on the Halloween treats. We promise you and your family won’t want the processed candy when you’re armed with this bag of tricks! Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, the creator of these spooky treats, will show you exactly how to switch even your kids to healthier treats and why it will fight off the flu and other seasonal maladies.

So come aboard our holiday health train and get the tools you need to make this your healthiest winter season ever!

Special Detox Tip: Recipes and Rituals to Make Halloween Healthy

“To me, the scariest part of Halloween is not the ghosts, goblins, witches or even the skeletons. The really scary part is the huge quantity of sugar, fat and artificial color-laden candy that most kids carry home with them…and eat… on Halloween night.” ~ Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo

She knows that sugar suppresses the immune system and provides the right terrain for viruses to attack. In her book, Healthy Halloween Treats: Quick, Nourishing and Delicious Recipes and Rituals for Kids of All Ages, Dr. Loscalzo provides tips and tricks to make Halloween health supporting instead of health depleting. We were so delighted to find this treasure trove of ideas and recipes!

While we’ve developed some healthy alternatives in our households, Dr. Loscalzo has it down to a brilliant science. And it is so simple, fun and delighting that your kids may feel sorry for other kids because “they just get candy!”

Her book provides a detailed plan to make Halloween fun AND healthy without leaving kids out of trick or treating, specific information on alternative sweeteners, and 30 recipes for fantastic candies, cookies, cakes, and drinks that will spook and delight kids of all ages. How about banana ghosts, caramel apples, chocolate spiders, pumpkin seed brittle or blood punch? She also provides a fascinating background on Halloween traditions and history.

This bag of tricks has 100% Whole Body Detox Diet approval. You can enjoy any one of her wildly fun and spooky treats – even during your 7 Day Detox Diet Plan! This 92-page book is a must have for your healthy holidays collection!

Featured Recipe: Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash

So while you are preparing for the season with your 7 Day Detox and your healthy Halloween treats, here’s an extra nourishing and festive recipe all planned out ahead for your holiday feast. Except it’s so delicious and healthy you can also use it during your detox!

Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash makes a great vegan entrée or a wholesome side dish. For a vegetarian Thanksgiving it makes a beautiful central dish. But even if you make a nice free range, organic turkey, the squash goes along nicely. Watch for next month’s recipes to round out your feast with raw cranberry sauce and other festive, wholesome side dishes. We’ll also make sure to get you our sugar free and vegan pecan pie and pumpkin pie recipes!

Click here for the Wild Rice Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe. Use it now for a warming Autumn meal or save it for a perfect addition to your holiday feast. Or like us, do both!

It’s Here! The Whole Body 7 Day Detox Diet!

This complete guide includes all the information and resources you need to experience a week of healthful detoxing. Follow this guide through delicious meals, excellent self care, and a deeper sense of well-being.

We’ve made it easy for you by providing step by step instructions. The guide will show you how to set yourself up for success, what to avoid, what to include, and how to create a daily routine for your detox. It also includes detailed instructions on food preparation to help you maximize your ingredients and your time. You’ll get to use all of our little tricks for efficiency in the kitchen. You’ll have a one week menu plan, shopping list, snack guide, and all the recipes you need.

Click here to get started! Get out your calendar and begin to plan your 1 Week Whole Body Detox today! We’ll be right here by your side with daily support, encouragement and tips.

Click here for details on guided detox programs with Jo!

"Prevent trouble before it arises. Put things in order before they exist. The giant pine tree grows from a tiny sprout. The journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath your feet."

~Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Congratulations to our Story Contest Winner!

“What I enjoyed most about working with this detox diet plan is that I was able to make this very elemental shift in how I approach the notion of a "detox." My prior experience with detoxing was that nearly all of the detoxes I tried (many!) created a violent reaction in my body and mind. I know that these reactions are the release of toxins, and after this release I did feel better... but working with Jo and the Whole Body Detox Diet helped me realize it doesn't have to be violent. It really can be gentle!

The effect this has had in my life is that when I begin to feel sluggish or intuit that my digestion has slowed down, I can refer to the detox ladder and eliminate foods for a few days as I choose. If I am still not feeling as vibrant as I'd like, I have the skills and knowledge to tweak my diet intuitively. The connections I made while on the guided detox were invaluable: I gleaned that I really can clean my body with love! I don't need to detox my body violently! The choice is mine.”

~ Holly Sutter, Fort Wayne, IN