It is winter time, and just like I clean up  my home during a long winter, focusing on internal matters instead of outside, I clean out my body.  Actually, I usually cleanse two to four times a year and have, in the past, cleansed up to one day a week, every week! That was at the beginning of my cleansing process and I needed to get a jump on the situation after 40+ years of eating and living crap. If you don’t have time or the energy for a week long cleanse, consider doing one day a week. It is easier for some. Or, you can do a three day weekend once a month. The important thing is to take a break from eating junk. Breaks allow your body to heal so that it can better absorb the nutrients in the food that you eat. 

Here’s the very basic scoop on a cleanse that I started on Monday. You are welcome to join me at any time. I do email support for these cleanses for free. I  started on Monday, January 4th.  I don’t usually start a cleanse on a Monday, but this was just the right time for me.  The 3^rd day can be tough for me, so I like to start on Friday, so that the 3^rd day is a Sunday…a day for me that is usually restful and quiet. It allows me to concentrate on doing things for myself in a gentle fashion instead of trying to work. My work is very physical, so I need all of my strength and I don’t like to feel grumpy when working with clients! I won’t share some of my past unpleasant experiences with you (you may have none of them!) but just know that work was not on my list of things that I wanted to do when I have cleansed in the past. I was into resting! Today is Wednesday, the third day of my cleanse and I feel great!  I have the day off and am focusing on writing and doing some cleaning/organizing in my home. 

Things to eat:

Fresh veggies (lightly cooked or raw)

Fresh fruits

Raw nuts

Make these organic as much as possible, but know that a non-organic choice is better than a processed food.

Rejuvelac (Recipe to follow. It takes a few days to make)

Usual supplements that you always take.

Small amounts of free range meats such as chicken and fish (if you normally eat meat).  Avoid beef and pork as they are harder to digest and one of the goals for a cleanse is to rest the colon.

Protein shakes if you are not eating meat

Do your best to eat verything in its most natural state as supplied by Mother Nature. (You can put raw eggs into a fruit shake for additional protein. Use water or juice as the base for your smoothies. All of the “milks” have sugar added.)

Green tea

Stevia if you really HAVE to sweeten anything. (Just eat some fruit if your sweet tooth acts up!)

Things NOT to eat:

Cheese, milk, ice cream, any dairy products. (I don’t drink coffee without cream, so I don’t drink it during a cleanse. If I want to drink something hot, I drink green tea.) If you are addicted to caffeine (or if you drink it daily and want to quit, you can wean off of it without getting any yucky symptoms, such as a blinding headache! Email me (pam@phoenixmasssageofasheviille.com) and I’ll tell you my secret recipe for detoxing from caffeine gently.

Bread, cereal, crackers, of any kind

The best is to use no rice at all, but if you have to, use brown rice only!

Sugar, other than that naturally occurring in food

Anything processed, which means no food from bags, boxes or jars.

No soy is allowed at any time during this cleanse. Soy is known to suppress the thyroid, and we all need our metabolism to work at its best!)

Beef and pork.

No honey, sucrolose, NutraSweet, Splenda or any other artificial sweeteners. Stevia is all natural and is allowed if you have to.

Alcohol of all kinds.

Rejuvelac Recipe:

Rejuvelac: This has wonderfully healthy drink that is chock full of beneficial bacteria and enzymes to help balance your colon and process/digest food. If you don’t want to make this yourself, let me know (if you are local!) and I’ll make plenty and share.I got a late start and have mine brewing right now.  It’s just as easy to make 2-3 batches as it is to make one!

1 cup hard red winter wheat berries (or spelt berries)

Soak berries overnight, or about 8 hours, in about 3-4 cups of good water in a glass jar (I use a 2 quart mason jar). Cover top with cheesecloth or a similar fabric and you can leave it in place throughout this process.

Pour water off berries and turn jar on its side and slightly upside down for 24 hours. I put mine in the sink drain rack. The berries will sprout.

After 24 hours you will see little tails on the berries. Fill up the 2 quart glass jar with good water and allow it to ferment for 8-12 hours. It should have a slighty yellow color and be just a little cloudy. It may have a small amount of foam on the top. If you ferment too long, you can still drink it, but it will taste like old socks instead of having a pleasant lemony flavor! Pour off the liquid and refrigerate. It’s good to drink as is, but I prefer it chilled.

Again fill up the 2 quart glass jar with good water and allow it to ferment for another 8-12 hours. As before, pour off the liquid and chill.

You can repeat this process up to 4 times, but I usually stop at 3. It just gets too cloudy and strong for my taste on the 4^th try.

Master Cleanse Drink:

Rejuvelac tastes good by itself, but it is absolutely fabulous as a base (instead of water) for the master cleanse drink. I make myself a 12-14 ounce glass of rejuvulac and add 1 tbsp of grade B maple syrup, 1 Tbsp of lemon juice and a dash of cayenne pepper. I’ve learned from experience that if I am making this in order to drink later in the day, do NOT to add the cayenne pepper until ready to drink it or it gets really, really hot!

Sample menu plan:

I start my day with a rejuvulac either straight up or as a master cleanse. Then, after I get dressed, I fix myself a protein shake. I eat salad with oil and vinegar dressing for lunch, and will usually make myself some soup or steamed veggies for dinner. I snack on fruit in between. I also keep a baggie of raw veggies around all of the time. Planning is everything! If you get hungry and you have nothing wonderful to eat, you will hit the snack machine! If I think I may have a 3pm slump, I take another protein shake to drink around 2pm. They tend to thicken with time and I don’t like that, so I take a shaker with me and fix it up fresh. (Gives me some exercise, too!) I just put the protein powder in a snack baggie and add it to cold water or juice and shake.

So let’s say that you forgot your veggies and fruit. It’s 3pm and you are starving! So you go to the snack machine in lieu of death (or so it seems!). You eat peanut butter and crackers, figuring that was the best choice in there…you skipped over the candy and the honey buns and the chips. Well, OK then. It was not on the cleanse, but neither was it the worst thing you could have done, nor is it the end of the world. So now you just get right back on that horse, eat a good dinner and remember your snacks tomorrow! A better choice would have been to bub a bag of nuts. They offer protein and fat for satiety and have no empty calories in the form of white flour or sugar. The salt is not on the cleanse, but…oh well!

Other good things to do are: drinking veggie juice drinks (like that Goddess drink from GreenLife), wheat grass juice and eating raw veggies. Since I want to stay away from milk products I don’t eat ranch dressing with the veggies, but often want something very tasty. In that case, I make some raw hummus to dip the veggies in and life is good!

Raw Hummus Recipe:

Soak garbanzo beans in good water overnight, or about 8 hours. Cover with cheese cloth.

Drain off water and rinse beans. Slant jar upside down (I put it in the drain rack) and allow the beans to sprout for 2 days. Rinse beans twice a day while sprouting. You will see a tail emerge from each bean. When they are about ¼ inch long, the beans are ready to make hummus.

Place beans in blender or food processor with spices of your choice. I use olive oil, sesame tahini, lots of garlic, and a dash of salt. Other ingredients are things like roasted red peppers, olives, small amounts of hot peppers, etc.

You can use canned garbanzo beans, but the raw ones are so incredibly better that I rarely make it that way any more.

That should be a good start. Please let me know if you have any questions!  If your question is something that would benefit everyone, please comment here.  Or, if you wish, you can email me at pam@phoenixmassageofasheville.com and I’ll respond to your question personally and confidentially.