NutritiousMeg

Since we rang in the New Year I’ve been getting countless emails asking about the best way to do a cleanse…I guess people are trying to stick to those resolutions this year.  To be completey honest, cleansing in the dead of winter isn’t the best time to do it, the winter is a time when we need warming foods that will keep us cozy and insulated.  Ideally, cleansing should be done in the spring and fall.  There are so many cleanses for sale at the health food store that people are confused; herbal cleanses, homeopathic cleanses, juice cleanses, cleanses where you fast, etc…  Did you know that your body is in a constant state of cleansing?  It’s just that sometimes the things we eat, the daily stress we endure, and the environment we live in can make this process more difficult and laboured for the body.  My advice to people is to ease the burden on the body so that it can do it’s job; which it will do naturally if we allow it to.

Sometimes when there’s a specific health issue, i.e. candida, sluggish colon, regular headaches, or other chronic health conditions…a specific cleanse can be recommended by a health practitioner.  If you’re simply looking to enhance the body’s natural ability to detoxify there is no reason why you can’t cleanse by eliminating offending foods, reducing stress, and including a couple of daily practices to enhance the process.

Here are some simple cleansing tips that you can incorporate for a week or two or for as long as you’d like:

1. Start your day with warm water and lemon to get the liver and gall bladder going
2. Drink plenty of purified water.  A minimum of 2 litres/day for the average adult
3. Choose organic foods
4. Increase fibre intake by eating more vegetables and fruit and including ground flaxseeds into your diet
5. Eliminate coffee, sugar, wheat, dairy, fried foods, alcohol, and anything else in your life that you know isn’t bringing you health.
6. Exercise daily
7. Start juicing

Juicing is one habit I’ve been really on and off with over the past couple of years, but in 2010 I resolved to juice once a week; I think that’s a reasonable goal.

Juicing is great for many reasons:

• Easily absorbed vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytochemicals.  Sometimes with whole vegetables and fruit these nutrients are trapped in the fibre and are difficult for the body to liberate.  Juicing saves the body energy.
• Raw juice supplies the body with water to replenish all of our cells.
• Juicing cleanses the digestive tract and colon and also allows the metabolism to work more efficiently.
• Juicing improves the pH of the body bringing it into a more alkaline state which is vital for proper immune function.
• Fresh vegetable and fruit juice are high in antioxidants which counteract free radical damage.
• Fresh juices are delicious
• Juicing is an inexpensive way to improve your health

Today, being my first week of juicing in 2010 I made a beverage for breakfast that was delicious, maybe slightly too summery for this time of year, but it was seriously refreshing.  In today’s juice I used:

• Celery: anti-bacterial and organic source of sodium which is great to heal the lining of the stomach.
• Cucumber: natural diuretic, very high in water, and contains sterols which promote heart health.
• Spinach: anti-oxidant, anti-carcinogenic, rich in folic acid and vitamin E.
• Apple: liver stimulant, helps to cleanse the system, mini multi-vitamin, and sweetens up the drink.
• Parsley: diuretic which flushes the kidneys and aids in digestion.
• Lemon: contains lots of vitamin C which acts as an anti-oxidant keeping the juice fresher for longer, also has an anti-carcinogenic effect.

First I washed all of my veggies and fruit with vegetable wash, I literally wash them like a load of dishes to clean off any dirt or transport residue.

I find peeling and juicing lemons very difficult so I juice them seperately comme ca:

And here’s the finished product, a green beauty that matches my fluorescent green walls almost perfectly (soon to be painted so enjoy while it lasts).

This beverage was delicious, cleansing, and mentally it transpoted me to a spa on a beach!  In 2010 I encourage you to give juicing a try, for me, it seems like a great way to kick off a year that I’m really excited about.