Loaded with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. This is the perfect “cleansing” salad!
Spring is finally here! With the trees and flowers inspiring a fresh, new change of environment, you may be considering giving your body a fresh, new change as well. Cleansing your body is one of the great natural “makeovers” you can do to feel good both inside and out. Approaching a cleanse in a healthy way can help you reestablish a baseline and allow your cells and organs to function at their optimum potential. Cleansing also allows you introduce “healthy”, organic and fresh foods in your diet – giving your digestive system a break and purifying your blood.
Contrary to mainstream belief, cleansing isn’t about depriving your body of food. Instead, it’s a chance to re-train your tongue to acquire the delicious taste for whole foods in their natural state. It’s safe to do a one or two-day juice fast (if you feel up to it) but it’s not necessary. Focus more on eating fresh whole foods as the basis of all your meals. Eating more salads, drinking more smoothies and drinking lots of fresh water throughout the day will leave you feeling pure and energized. At the very least start your day with a glass of warm water with lemon juice to get the process going – this is the easiest and best thing you can do to start your cleanse.
Why Should You Cleanse?
- To help the body as it neutralizes and eliminates toxins though the major organs such as our colon, liver, kidney, lungs, lymph and skin – our bodies do it everyday! But if our self-cleansing system is overloaded by our unhealthy lifestyles and exposure to environmental toxins, it becomes difficult to do it’s own.
- There are many factors that contribute to toxicity in the body – (processed, packaged foods, the environment/pollution/ chemicals in the home –shampoo, makeup, kitchen and bathroom cleaners, detergent etc…). If you give your body a little break from these “toxins”, I can attest to the feeling of feeling much better than not cleansing.
- We have limited control over the environment that we are exposed to – however, we have total control over the food we eat and the products we use on our body and in our homes. So make new, fresh, and healthy choices with what you’re eating!
- We are over chemicalized, through our diet (animal protein, saturated fat, caffeine, alcohol and sugar) and through the environment. Even if your diet is good, a cleanse can restore your immune system and protect against environmental toxins that pave the way for disease bearing bacteria, viruses and parasites.
What you can do (for maximum results):
- Eliminate: bleached and refined flours
Choose: whole grains or gluten free grains - Eliminate: Refined sugars (high fructose corn syrup)
Choose: natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup - Eliminate: Table salt
Choose sea salt instead - Eliminate: Trans fats and refined oils (processed corn, canola, sunflower)
Choose: olive oil, flax oil, hemp oil and coconut oil - Eliminate or Reduce: Meats treated with hormones or antibiotics, farmed fish
Choose: organic and wild varieties and keep to a minimum - Eliminate: Foods sprayed with pesticides and herbicides
Choose: local and organic varieties - Eliminate: Conventional Dairy products
Choose: organic varieties, goats and sheep’s milk or eliminate and use alternatives like hemp, rice and almond milk
- Avoid: Genetically modified foods and oils (make sure it is labeled, such as “non- GMO”)
- Avoid: Additives and preservatives (nitrates, sulfites, flavorings and colourings) Read your food labels!
- Avoid: Fast foods, fried foods
- Avoid: Sodas, juices with added sugar
- Avoid: Coffee, cigarettes and alcohol
The bottom line is to eat whole foods, fresh foods, lots of green leafy vegetables, salads, smoothies, whole and sprouted grains, nuts seeds and other healthy oils. These foods should make up the bulk of your diet. Fill in the gaps with herbal tea, fresh lemon water and you’re on your way to superior health!
Kale Slaw Salad
What’s in it:
1 bunch if kale (any variety), chopped into bite size piece with rib removed
1 fennel
1 head red cabbage, shredded2 carrots, shredded
1 beet shredded
2 tbsp hemp seeds
½ cup olive oil or hemp oil
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
2-4 tablespoons raw unpasteurized honey
1 tsp sea salt
How It’s Made
1. Shred the cabbage, carrots, beets and fennel in a food processor with shredding blade or
use a mandolin or hand slice into thin strips.
2. In a mixing bowl, toss in all the raw vegetable ingredients (except the hemp seeds).
3. In a separate bowl mix together the vinaigrette.
4. Combine vinaigrette with raw veggies and toss together until the cabbage and kale are
well coated.
5. Allow salad to marinate in fridge for a few minutes – or up to an hour, mixing in the hemp
seeds just before serving.
Marni’s Delicious Knowledge:
Full of colour, texture and flavour – this is a highly nutritious salad, especially when it is topped with
mung bean sprouts! PS… the longer it marinates the better it tastes!
You can get more delicious knowledge by checking out Marni’s Cleansing with Superfoods e-book, available here: https://marniwasserman.com/ebooks/
