Reboot With Joe

Joe’s Journal: Day 57 – The Complexity of an Ice Cream Cone

Joe Cross — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:38:55 +0000

I arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Diego in late afternoon, where in many ways, I had begun my Reboot journey all the way back at the time of my first urticaria outbreak. I checked in, and unpacked for the last time on my road trip. It was certainly good to see the Pacific again, the ocean of my Australian childhood. I indulged in all the requisite clichés: I made a juice and sipped it on the shores as the sun set. A dolphin leapt out of the seas as if on cue. I was turning every occurrence into something meaningful, so for me that dolphin’s gasp of air was an expression of unbound joie de vivre, which I felt by the bucket-load.

I could have spontaneously combusted from the vitality and excitement I felt flowing through my veins. I felt as if I could swim all the way back home to Australia, aiming to arrive at Manly, the beach where I’d spent most of my weekends as a kid immersed in the rough and tumble of the surf. The best part of my days at the beach had always been the ice cream cone I had afterwards, which confirmed that all was good in the world. Such association between memories and food are deeply ingrained in all of us. Unfortunately for some of us, after we grow up and are left to our own devices that simple ice cream cone can begin to represent something much more complicated. I had a strong feeling, however, that I would have a new perspective this time around. At the end of the Reboot, I felt I had a far greater understanding of myself. I knew that I would finally be able to moderate my radical consumption habits and find some peace and balance where food was concerned.

Have you been following my past journal entries? Make sure you catch up here. I’m sharing these thoughts with you as part of the 2nd Anniversary celebration of Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead so I hope you are either able to relate or be inspired by my journal entries. Don’t miss out on the other pieces to this celebration:
Win a Breville Juicer
Be Someone’s Joe and nominate your loved one to attend Camp Reboot.

In the Reboot Kitchen: Bright Light Green

Claire Georgiou, Reboot Naturopath, B.HSc ND — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:25:39 +0000

In the Reboot Kitchen: Bright Light Green

Rating: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 1

Serving Size: 16 oz. (500 mls)

New to juicing? Or looking for an easy, light juice that has the benefits of those stronger green juices? Well, you might love this. It’s a nice alternative to the stronger flavored green juices and it’s ideal for people that may find the darker green juices too strong to drink, especially when you are just starting out.

Not only do I love this juice because it’s low in calories and sugar, but I love the light taste and it is very kind to a sensitive stomach.

This juice is also cabbage family and goitrogen free so this can be an ideal green juice for people who maybe cutting down on their goitrogen intake due to hypothyroidism and are looking for a green alternative.

Ingredients:
1 green apple
1 cucumber
2 zucchini
Handful of flat green beans
3 celery sticks
4 leaves of cos (romaine) lettuce

Directions:

1.)    Wash all ingredients.

2.)    Chop the ingredients to fit through the juicer.

3.)    Juice and enjoy.

Substitutions:
Apple –pear, other apples
Cucumber – celery, kale, zucchini
Zucchini – celery, spinach
Flat green beans – any other variety of bean
Celery – cucumber, zucchini
Cos (romaine) Lettuce – any other variety of lettuce, spinach, kale

Joe’s Journal: Day 56 – Feeling Lighter in More Ways Than One

Joe Cross — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:05:53 +0000

Now that I touched on Phil’s journey a bit, I’d like to finish these next few days by sharing the last part of my journey.

We were back in the car, heading west across the vast deserts and highways of Nevada and nearing the border of California. The air was becoming noticeably warmer, and I was feeling quite a bit lighter in more ways than one. I’d now lost close to seventy pounds and had nearly weaned myself off the Prednisone – I was down to 3 mg. without a single new outbreak of urticaria. Moreover, my state of mind was nothing short of phenomenal. The sun radiated against a brilliant blue backdrop as I drove, the sort of optimistic sky that only exists in the farthest reaches of the American West. I welcomed the warmth and optimism as I prepared for the final day of my Reboot. I’d been doing it for so long that I didn’t quite know how to say goodbye.

My next destination was San Diego, where the plan was to play eighteen holes of golf on the same course that had been the scene of my health disaster nine years before. After that and another adventure I had up my sleeve, I’d rejoin the human race and start eating again.

4 Reasons to Keep Dad Healthy All Year

Stacy Kennedy, MPH, RD, CSO, LDN; Reboot Nutritionist — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:03:49 +0000

We spend all day on Father’s Day focusing on the important men in our life, but that shouldn’t end Monday morning! Make your husband, dad, brother and/or son always feel special by taking a moment to highlight how important and powerful consuming a plant-based diet can be for their health.

For my entire life, my dad has eaten a salad with dinner every single night. At 66 he is healthy, active and able to get down on the ground to play with his grandchildren. In the summer, the veggies for his nightly salad come straight out of our garden. My amazing husband, Russ enjoys a very active lifestyle and a plant-based diet, setting a good example for our 2 sons, Cooper & Dillon, who also love veggies and of course making smoothies & juice!

Men in our culture often get a bad rap for not being health conscious. There’s a billboard from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services promoting regular check-ups right next to Fenway Park (where the Boston Red Sox play baseball) saying that “Every Year Thousands of Men Will Die from Stubbornness.” In fact there are ads everywhere proclaiming that to be masculine means you must eat huge steaks or burgers and fries all the time! And that salads are somehow only for girls and being vegetarian.

Well, good news is that times are changing and many ads and more importantly men are shifting gears. We get to see in Joe’s film “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead” how helpful adopting a plant based diet including juice was for two of our favorite guys, Joe and Phil.

Here’s a quick look at research that supports just how great fruits, veggies and juice can be for men.

1.) Eating a vegetarian diet may help men live longer with a 12% lower risk of dying compared to those are mainly meat eaters. The 70,000+ men in this study were less likely to die from all causes and heart disease specifically. Other studies have shown a link in men between vegetarian diets and lower rates of other common chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure.

2.) Men who drank 5 oz (150 mL) of kale juice for 3 months had a significant reduction in their LDL (bad) cholesterol, increase in HDL (good) cholesterol and higher antioxidant levels in their blood. These men made no other changes to their diet besides drinking kale juice and their weight remained stable. The juice alone was enough to provide important benefits in a short amount of time, highlighting that small changes can make a big difference.

3.) Following a healthy lifestyle, including eating vegetables, during midlife was found to significantly lower the risk of dementia later in life in Japanese-American men.

4.) For men who smoke, eating 3 fresh kiwifruits a day for 8 weeks significantly lowered their blood pressure and made their blood less sticky and clogged (reduced platelet aggregation).

Men make up 30% of the Reboot with Joe Facebook community, while on average 90% of large commercial weight loss customers are female – wow! Way to go guys!

Rebooting dads across the globe are getting healthy for their kids. Dads like Joe V, , Izzy O, and Jerry are finding that juicing and eating healthier is giving them the energy they need to get active and participate fully in their children’s lives.

Celebrate the important men in your life all year long!

Meatless Monday: Avocado Caprese Salad

Jamie Schneider — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:11:00 +0000

Meatless Monday: Avocado Caprese Salad

Rating: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 - 4

When the weather warms up, there’s nothing more satisfying than biting into fresh heirloom tomatoes from the farmer’s market. They’re rich in vitamins C & K, potassium, folate, and when organically grown, they tend to be higher in lycopene. I love to get creative and come up with ways to eat more heirloom tomatoes, and one of my go-to’s is an Avocado Caprese Salad. Once you see how simple it is, you’ll know that it didn’t take too much creativity for this but it is one of my favorite meals to make, especially when I don’t have much time on my hands.

Ingredients:
2 large heirloom tomatoes (or any variety if heirloom aren’t available)
1/2 avocado
8 – 16 basil leaves
Olive oil to taste
Balsamic vinegar to taste
Dash of Himalayan Salt and ground pepper to taste

Directions:
1.) Wash the heirloom tomatoes well and cut off the ends.

2.) Slice each one into four thick slices.

3.) Slice avocado into slices. Then assemble tomato on plate and top with avocado slices (I normally add two slices per tomato).

4.) Add 1 to 2 basil leaves to each tomato.

5.) Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and dash of Himalayan salt and ground pepper.

6.) Serve as an appetizer (serves 4) or a light meal (serves 2) and enjoy!

Joe’s Journal: Day 55 – Phil Did It

Joe Cross — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:00:07 +0000

After sixty days on the Reboot, Phil weighed in 96 pounds/44 kilos lighter than when he’d begun. He decided to give up truck driving and got a job at the local YMCA. He continued his healthy lifestyle, exercising and eating micronutrient -rich food to get down to around 200 pounds.

I was glad that Phil joined me in my experiment, confirming what can be achieved by eating only micronutrient-rich food. The Reboot turned Phil’s life on its head. While there will always be bumps in the road for him, as there are for me, he now knows that he has all the tools he needs to be healthy, for himself and for his kids.

During my time with Phil I had the pleasure of meeting his brother, Bear, who admired what Phil was doing but wasn’t ready to try something so radical. He told me, “People on the east and west coasts have more of an awareness about healthy eating, and they also have more opportunities to eat healthy. Here in the Midwest, we can show you 4,300 ways to cook beef. All the fattening food is right here. We literally have to go to another town to find healthy food to eat, which why I think it’s so easy to get heavy out here in the Midwest.” It’s not that Bear was trying to relieve himself of the responsibility for his condition. He told me “It was my mindset I had to challenge”. And that is what I believe is the first challenge anyone looking to regain their health needs to conquer.

Have you been following my past journal entries? Make sure you catch up here. I’m sharing these thoughts with you as part of the 2nd Anniversary celebration of Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead so I hope you are either able to relate or be inspired by my journal entries. Don’t miss out on the other pieces to this celebration:
Win a Breville Juicer
Be Someone’s Joe and nominate your loved one to attend Camp Reboot.

Joe’s Journal: Day 54 – The Rugby Shirt Challenge

Joe Cross — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 16:00:18 +0000

As soon as I got off the phone with Phil I booked my flight to Iowa. I had asked Phil if he would agree to let us film his progress and he’d saaid yes, so when I returned to the United States a few days later, I gathered up the crew and we set out for Sheldon, Iowa. I’d wanted to bring him something that would be meaningful and represent a challenge, so I’d purchased a rugby jersey in the colors of the Australian flag, size 2XL. I guess that Phil was probably closer to a 5 or 6 XL, which was where the challenge would come in: is first goal would be to fit into that shirt.

When I pulled up in front of Phil’s house I was feeling better than ever. I’d continued to lose weight and was maintaining a vigorous fitness routine. I’d made good on my commitment to adhere to a micronutrient diet until I was 100% Prednisone-free and hadn’t had any outbreaks since the Reboot. All of this made me feel confident that my experiment would work for Phil.

Phil stepped out of his front door to greet us and I immediately handed him the shirt. He’d gotten even bigger since the last time I’d seen him and was wearing the same kind of oversized, baggy t-shirt as before, which was clearly meant to disguise his bulk. It wasn’t working but I knew from experience what he was going for! He held the rugby shirt up to his chest. Next to him, it looked like a kid’s shirt.

Have you been following my past journal entries? Make sure you catch up here. I’m sharing these thoughts with you as part of the 2nd Anniversary celebration of Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead so I hope you are either able to relate or be inspired by my journal entries. Don’t miss out on the other pieces to this celebration:
Win a Breville Juicer
Be Someone’s Joe and nominate your loved one to attend Camp Reboot.

Joe’s Journal: Day 53 – Making Good on My Promise

Joe Cross — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:00:04 +0000

Since I’m on the topic of Phil, I’d like to flash forward a few months and give you more details on how him being in the movie came about.

Little did I know, one day, nearly six months after my Reboot, I checked the voicemail on my American cell and was startled to hear the voice of Phil Staples, the truck driver from Iowa I’d met in Winslow. He didn’t say much in the message, but I could tell from his tone that something was wrong; frankly he sounded desperate. What he did say was that he’d decided to turn to me for help because he was running out of options.

When we finally spoke he told me that he felt he was at a crisis point in his life. He told me that his weight was skyrocketing and the urticaria outbreaks were worsening. His state of mind, he confided was darker than it ever had been. Now, I didn’t know this guy at all, except for our brief encounter months ago in a truck stop parking lot. But I could identify with him in a lot of ways, especially because he and I shared the same rare autoimmune condition. I had told him way back in Arizona that he could count on me, and I had no intention of letting him down. I congratulated him on reaching out for help and told him I would make good on my promise.

Have you been following my past journal entries? Make sure you catch up here. I’m sharing these thoughts with you as part of the 2nd Anniversary celebration of Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead so I hope you are either able to relate or be inspired by my journal entries. Don’t miss out on the other pieces to this celebration:
Win a Breville Juicer
Be Someone’s Joe and nominate your loved one to attend Camp Reboot.

Mixed Berry Maca Protein Shake

Michael DeSanti — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:00:10 +0000

Mixed Berry Maca Protein Shake

Rating: Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 1

Serving Size: 16 oz. (500 mls)

With Father’s Day on Sunday, why don’t you serve him something that will keep him healthy, strong and happy on his big day? The plant based protein in this smoothie is easily absorbed by the body while the berries provide high quality antioxidants. The coconut oil is great for cardiovascular health and adds a quality fat to an early morning smoothie. Chia seeds are a great source of fiber and omega 3 fats while the maca powder helps balance hormones and is great for prostate health.

Ingredients:
Large handful of mixed frozen or fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries)
1/2 banana
1 cup/250 ml hemp milk or almond milk
1 scoop vanilla plant based protein powder (Sunwarrior is a great brand!)*
1 teaspoon maca powder
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 teaspoon chia seeds

*Note: If you don’t have protein powder, you can use two heaping Tbsp. of hemp seeds and add a dash of vanilla.

Directions:
Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender and blend for 45 – 60 seconds.

Joe’s Journal: Day 52 – Phil Drinks Juice for the First Time

Joe Cross — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:00:29 +0000

Meeting Phil warranted a celebration. I invited Phil to join me for a juice. I wanted to show him how I was healing myself because this was also very relevant to him. I fired up the juicer that was rigged up in the back of my car and made us a Mean Green, comprised of kale, ginger, lemon, carrot, apple and celery. I could tell Phil liked it, even though it was a long way from his usual fare.

I felt very bad for Phil. I could see how uncomfortable he was in his own skin, just as I’d bee until recently. I asked him about his diet. He confessed that he mainly at pizza, chips, fried foods, cheeseburgers, candy and other junk food. Rarely, if ever, did he eat fresh fruits and vegetables. He half joked: “I’m a hamburger away from a heart attack.”

He finished off his juice and I offered him my contact information and a copy of one of Dr. Fuhrman’s books, which I though he might find useful. I told him that if he needed support or advice on how to Reboot his system he could count me in. I mean it. I felt I already had proved that what I was doing had worked for me, and believed it could also help him to tackle his disease and bring his weight under control. But frankly I never expected to see or hear from him again.