Spring Detoxification

Why is Spring detoxification so important? It helps our body get rid of toxin build up which is inevitable during colder period of year when our body kind of stagnates, no matter how “clean” you eat. You may notice the signs of this in form of fatigue, break outs on the skin, build up on your tongue… The elimination of toxins will help our body function better, especially the liver and digestive tract (stomach and bowels). It will help reduce bloating and kind of constipation problems, increase the absorption of nutrients in our bowels, clear skin and help us feel generally better and lighter in our body. Also lose some weight if needed.

Spring is ideal time to do it especially because our body most needs it then and that’s when nature gives us all the beautiful green plants whose consumption helps our body detoxify. Plants like stingy nettle, dandelion, fresh herbs, all kinds of lettuce, arugula, watercress, and loads of leafy green vegetables. Regarding the nutrition part, what I do is cut down on grains, and limit them to very small amounts of wholegrain rice, quinoa, oats, buckwheat and millet. I try not to eat any flour based foods (pasta, bread, cakes) or sweet treats. I increase the amount of vegetables, especially leafy greens and fresh herbs, fruits, legumes (plant protein: lentils, tofu, chickpeas, edamame, fava beans, fresh peas) and omega 3 fatty acid rich seeds (flax, hemp and chia seeds). I drink a lot of water and tea (green and herbal infusions) and try not to drink coffee, or at least cut down to the minimum.

My day meal plan

Breakfast

A herbal tea – you can use some kind of teatox or nettle, dandelion or burdock root infusion, or green tea)
A green smoothie – by this I don’t mean loads of fruits and a little bit of greens. I mean loads of greens and just a little fruits for the taste and smoothness, always a piece of fresh ginger or some cinnamon to balance out the cooling effect on our digestive system. 1-2 pieces of fruits, a whole bunch of greens (like spinach, swiss chard, kale, watercress, romain lettuce, dandelion leaves, arugula…), a small bunch of herbs (like parsley, celery, basil, mint), some superfood powders, 1-2 teaspoons, especially the ones rich in chlorophyll (wheatgrass powder, young barley powder, chlorella, spirulina), a small amount of omega 3 fatty acid rich seeds (1-2 tsp flax or hemp seeds, 1 tbsp chia seeds). Water or plant milk, but preferably water.

Lunch and Dinner

A salad consisting of lots of greens and vegetables with addition of quality proteins in form of quinoa, legumes or tofu and tempeh, seeds and nuts, fresh herbs and quality oils (olive, hemp, flax, walnut, sesame).
Or a soup with addition of grains or legumes.
Or some kind of grain based meal like risotto or quinotto with a big side salad consisting of various greens.
As a very light meal you can have a chia pudding with fruits and plant yoghurt or a buckwheat smoothie.

In my next posts I will give you more green smoothie and light meals recipes for the detoxification plan and also will tell you about my morning routine that doesn’t include just food but also skin care and excercise routines.

And the recipe for the Pear Apple Green Smoothie

[recipe-foody]
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yields: 1 portion

Ingredients

1 cup water (or plant milk)
1 pear
1/2 apple
1/2 banana
2 tsp ground flax seeds
a small piece of fresh ginger
a small bunch of parsley
2 handfuls of spinach or swiss chard (only leaves, without stems)
1 tsp wheatgrass powder

Method

1. Place liquid, fruits, seeds and wheatgrass powder in the blender first and then add the greens on top. if your blender isn’t very strong, chop the greens in small bits before blending.
2. Blend everything on high speed, pressing the greens down if needed, until very smooth.
3. Drink in small sips
[/recipe-foody]