Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from everyone here at The Virgin Olive Oiler!! Welcome back to another Friday blog!  Most of us tend to over-indulge during Thanksgiving and end up with a not-so-great-feeling gut and cravings for sugar, carbs and desserts. This can perpetuate through the end of the year, leaving us with extra pounds to lose and resolutions for the New Year. What if you are able to prevent that extra weight from accumulating - allowing you to focus your energy on other areas of your life? Here are some suggestions and tips to help you get back on track and reset after the massive assault on our digestive system!

1. Rehydrate. This doesn’t just mean “drink water.” You want the same osmolality outside the cell as inside. Drink your body weight in ounces of water - add some natural electrolytes (no sugar) - fresh lemon, ACV (apple cider vinegar), Celtic sea salt contains 3 forms of magnesium and is in the perfect mineral ratio - same as intracellular ratio, Himalayan sea salt…The ACV and the lemon really help with digestion and moving things along when you feel bloated or sluggish.
2. Take a HP-EVOO  (high polyphenol extra virgin olive oil) shot - 2-4T with fresh lemon. Full of oleic acid and polyphenols to heal the gut lining and supply polyphenols for your microbiome. This helps you produce ketones and curbs hunger and sugar cravings. It provides optimal fuel for your brain and is a good source of vitamins E and K.
3. Skip the sugar, carbs and leftover desserts - remove all the “anti-health” or disease-promoting foods.
4. Have organic coffee - Coffee has a lot of phytonutrients and antioxidants as well. Put some grass-fed Ghee, butter, MCT oil or whipping cream in your coffee.
5. Have a Green Tea. This is high in ECGC - powerful antioxidant. Be mindful of caffeine - it has a half-life of about 7 hours - so you need to have it early in the day.
6. Take your omega 3s - DHA is super important for the brain and healing endothelial linings. Also, the typical Thanksgiving meal is high in omega 6s. You want to increase Omega 3s to improve the ratio and keep blood vessels pliable.
7. Supplement vitamin D3, K2, magnesium, zinc and B vitamins (nutritional yeast). If you are constipated or slow with elimination, increase x 4 magnesium. This pulls water into the intestines to promote peristalsis. B vitamins help your liver recover from high carbs and alcohol. Minerals that get depleted from high carbs and alcohol need to be replenished, including potassium (in green leafy vegetables). The higher your sodium levels, the more potassium you need.
8. Eat a big salad  - full of leafy greens - add watercress, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds - add some nutritional yeast for the B vitamins - this replenishes your potassium levels and provides plenty of fiber and roughage for your microbiome.
9. Intermittent fasting - Skip or delay breakfast till around 11 to give your body 14-16 hours to get into autophagy. 
10. Feed your microbiome. They likely didn’t get all the fiber they needed yesterday. Eat 1 C organic sauerkraut with the juice. This provides prebiotic fiber, natural live probiotics and the highly valuable postbiotics they produce - SCFA (short-chain fatty acids), NO (nitric oxide). It also provides a high dose of vitamin C! This also helps to cut the sugar cravings we get after consuming those lovely Thanksgiving desserts and/or alcohol.
11. Milk Thistle - wonderful for your liver - reverse damage to your liver if you drank too much alcohol or ate too many carbs.
12. Berberine - As effective as metformin in lowering glucose without the side effects. 
13. Make a detoxifying green smoothie - Greek yogurt or goat’s milk kefir, spirulina, chlorella, EVOO, blueberries and strawberries.
14. Selenium - eat 2-5 Brazil nuts for daily requirement - helps thyroid function and helps reverse selenium deficiency induced by mercury. Selenium seems to be important in preventing mercury toxicity by a variety of mechanisms. Selenoproteins are both able to bind mercury and reduce ROS (reactive oxygen species) induced by mercury by anti-inflammatory properties.
15. Make a natural herbal detox tea - You can use rosemary, oregano or marjoram - whatever is in your garden - steep leaves in hot spring water (no chlorine or fluoride). This is amazing for calming your gut. It is selectively anti-microbial against pathogens and a powerful detoxifier - aiding liver and kidney function.
16. Drink homemade turkey bone broth - high in tryptophan - that gets converted to serotonin - and other amino acids and phytonutrients. Place turkey bones in a large stock-pot and cover with filtered water Thanksgiving day and let it go for 24 hours. This is a great source of natural collagen, protein and beneficial phytonutrients. It promotes production of melatonin - check out blog # 76. Add some dried rosemary, oregano, marjoram or thyme for max detox. Snip some green onion, chives, slivers of mushroom on top. Have the bone broth 1-2 x/day for a day or two.
17. Make a soup - Use some of that lovely broth and leftover turkey to make a hearty (my favorite) spicy turkey soup. This will last all week and be a great go-to-meal for lunch or a cozy light dinner.
18. Exercise - sweat -bike ride - or just go for a long walk - do some yoga - just move. Our muscles are able to soak up glucose without requiring insulin! 
19. Do a good deed - rake the leaves from your neighbor’s yard - take someone a meal - help another person. The natural endorphins, antioxidants and other chemicals produced go a long way in promoting wellbeing and sense of community.
20. Use leftover turkey (high in tryptophan - the precursor to serotonin and melatonin) to make a lovely turkey lettuce wrap with fresh veggies - cube it and serve Asian-style with spicy sriracha greek yogurt drizzle or mayo with avocado, grated carrot and jicama, chili, green onion and avocado. Make a big salad and have your leftover turkey with it. Use kale, romaine or butter lettuce to make turkey wraps with cheese and cranberry-pear balsamic vinegar - serve warm. Use your imagination!!
21. Include cruciferous veggies, beets, herbs - these are amazing detoxifiers high in antioxidants and epigenetic factors to promote health.
22. Hormesis - Take a hot epsom-salt bath x 20 min (allows for absorption of magnesium and sulfate through the skin) - end with 1 min cold shower - this is tough - push through - After the first 15 sec, you know you’ve got this -  you’ll be glad you pushed through with how good you feel afterward. 
23. Get a good night’s sleep - (7-9 hrs) Get to bed by 10pm. Remove cell phones and light sources. Get bright sunlight first thing in the am and turn down lights after dark - light a fire, candle (non-toxic), use incandescent lighting.
24. Exposure to NIR (near-infrared) - sunlight or use a NIR bulb. This stimulates production of melatonin and sleep.
25. Mindful meditation - counter stress, calm your system, read a book.

So, until next time my friends…Drink, Drizzle, Digest HP-EVOO at least 4T raw daily, - use more for cooking and drizzling onto your food - eat the rainbow of organic or wild-sourced or organic veggies (7-9 C) and low-glycemic fruits (to get the rainbow of gut microbes!) - eat wild-caught, pasture-raised, grass-fed - get plenty of sunshine - supplement magnesium, zinc, vitamin D3 + K2 - get your trace minerals and electrolytes with good sea salt - Celtic is hand-harvested and Himalayan was formed before plastics - eat foods high in lutein - drink your body weight in oz of water - get a good pre/probiotic - consume digestible and indigestible fiber for your gut microbes - adaptogens (such as mushrooms) and methylation donors (kale, beets, spinach, cruciferous, lion’s mane…), marjoram, rosemary, oregano, parsley and other herbs to detox, enhance overall health and reverse aging and disease - exercise your body and mind - add a few minutes of mindful meditation to your day to combat stress - take a hot Epsom salt bath and follow with a cold shower/ice plunge - practice “earthing” as an anti-inflammatory - remove EMF (electromagnetic frequency) devices and blue light - use IR (infrared) from incandescent lighting, non-toxic candle or light a fire to enhance sleep and...turn off the light!!   #HP-EVOO