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.
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 [email protected]. 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.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.