Ask Elissa

Hi! You’re the second Bay area local to reach out, maybe it’s a sign that I need to head north 😉 At this time my program is available in the Los Angeles market only.

My book has a full seven day cleanse program, it is not the S.O.U.P. Cleanse but does have some components of it (my signature Detox Tonic). If you purchase my book, I highly recommend trying the included seven day program out – I’ve seen incredible results in my clients who have tried this DIY version.

Yay! It’s amazing to hear your friends have been raving about my delivered cleanse program. I would love to make it available nationwide, but since that won’t be happening in the near future. I could send you the recipes to make it yourself or at least try some of the signature items out on your own (I will send to your email).

I can tell you all my healthy recommendations for Los Angeles, but unfortunately I am not aware of similar options available in San Francisco at this time.

Hi Laura,

I’m a big fan of the Pure Encapsulations Brands for Selenium, Vitamin D, and Magnesium.  You can easily order all three of these via Amazon.

In regards to plant based proteins, I tend to lean towards products that are 100%  Certified Organic. Swanson’s Pea Protein is a good one.

Thank you for writing to me!

I know how frustrating skin issues can be and I am so sorry you feel embarrassed by your acne. I’m sure you’re in pain too, and this is never comfortable.

The first thing you should do is to address the gut-skin connection, because when you have beneficial bacteria lining your gut it’ll create a healthy sealed barrier that prevents inflammation. A great way to boost beneficial gut bacteria is through diet and a probiotic supplement. I have many probiotics that I recommend, but the one that comes to mind for you is Renew Life Women’s Complete Probiotic 90 Billion. The probiotic-rich foods you can add to your diet are coconut yogurt kefir, coconut water kefir, organic tempeh and cultured vegetables (sauerkraut, kimchi, etc.)

The second thing is that people with cystic acne tend to be low in is zinc. I love the supplement Eidon Ionic Zinc. Also, I would consume high-quality grass-fed beef (if you eat animal protein) chickpeas, pumpkin seeds and cashews to prevent a zinc deficiency. Zinc also supports a healthy digestive tract.

Then add the following foods into your diet:

• Kale, spinach, sweet potatoes and carrots, because they have vitamin A that helps fight infection and speeds healing.
• Veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds (flax, chia, hemp) and high quality gluten free grains, because the fiber will encourages colon cleansing as well as the growth of good bacteria in the gut.
• Eat more cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower as well as leafy greens, pears and apples to help the liver process any extra hormones out of the body.

It’s really important to be sleeping 8 hrs a night to help restore and replenish your body and have some form of stress relief (yoga, meditation, reflexology foot massage, Epsom salt bath).

I’m glad you asked about the benefit of celery for your digestive health, because you are already tuned in to an incredible healing food!

Celery juice is rich in organic sodium content and fresh celery juice is one of the most powerful and healing juices one can drink because it contains unique sodium compositions, and these mineral salts are bonded with many bioactive trace minerals and nutrients.

Celery juice in the morning will strengthen your digestion of everything you eat and in time, the minerals and mineral salts will help to restore your stomach’s HCL.  However, I cannot recommend replacing this with the equivalent amount of whole celery. That would have you eating over an entire bunch of celery daily to get the same impact and the concentration of these minerals and minerals salts are not the same when you snack on it throughout the day as they are in a tall glass of concentrated celery juice!

Celery still makes a great snack, but for gut and digestive beneefit, stick with juicing the whole bunch (leaves and all)!

I am so happy to hear that you are planning ahead and wanting to travel smart by packing a probiotic! This will  help you maintain a healthy digestive balance while you’re most likely not following your normal routine and eating habits.

I like Renew Life Extra Care “Go Pack” 50 Billion and Dr. Ohhira’s Professional Strength because both travel well and don’t need to be refrigerated (take your probiotic before bed).