It’s January…which for me means a few things ~ recovering from the holidays, getting the kiddos back into their school groove, getting organized and ready to tackle my taxes, and CLEANSING my body from the abuse that I put it through in late 2011! 
I don’t do liquid cleanses…I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t last long on a liquid cleanse…so, I do a whole food cleanse. There are no magic potions or powders…I keep it simple. Basically I take 7 days and flush my system with glorious green goodness…and LOTS of it! I drink 2 green juices per day…my standard green juice…one mid morning and one mid afternoon.
I consume tons of greens and veggies, only non-gluten whole grains (mainly quinoa), and a Vega drink (just the powder mixed with water or coconut water) for a snack either once or twice a day depending on how hungry I am.
The things that are NOT on the menu are: animal products of any kind, grains (other than non-gluten ones), nuts, sugar, soy, alcohol, caffeine (other than green tea), and processed/packaged foods of any kind…if I haven’t made it in my kitchen I don’t put it in my mouth.
And, as it turns out, it’s a great time of year for me to cleanse because our garden looks like this…
…it’s jam packed full of greens! We’ve got collards, kale, chard, bok choy, arugula, & mustard greens…which is perfect timing because while cleansing I eat a serving of greens at lunch and also at dinner each day. I also use a lot of kale for my green juice along with beets, carrots, parsley, spinach, and cilantro which we happen to have an abundance of in the garden right now. I simply walk out back, gather my veggies and greens for the day, and then wash/chop/juice/or cook them.
It doesn’t get any more organic or fresh than that!
Every morning for breakfast I have a bowl of quinoa sprinkled with cinnamon and served with fruit. It’s already one of my favorite breakfast treats and I love that I can make a big batch at the beginning of the week, keep it in the fridge, and then just warm it up for breakfast in the morning.
For lunch I either have a basic stir-fry of veggies and greens with a little brown rice seasoned with coconut aminos, or a serving of greens and more quinoa. This one is a YUMMY Swiss chard and mushroom recipe that I will post soon!
Then for dinner I have more greens (this time I chose kale) and more veggies…
It’s not a huge stretch from my regular diet…when it’s not the holidays and I’m taking care of myself! But, I normally don’t consume near this many greens each day. I typically juice 3 or 4 times per week…which is much less than 2 times a day! And, while I LOVE me some greens…I don’t normally have them twice a day either. If I’m being honest, by day 4 or 5, I do start to feel like I’m going to grow green sprouts out of my ears!
Right now I’m finishing up day 5…so I’ve only got two more days to go! Days 2, 3, 4, and sometimes even day 5 are my worst days. I usually have a headache most if not all of those days, I’ve got a lot of drainage and congestion, and I’m pretty darn tired…but, for some reason, once I hit day 6…I feel like a million bucks!! All of a sudden I have a ton of energy, the headache passes, my sinuses are clear as a bell and I’m sleeping so sound at night that I wake feeling like a rock star! I think it’s a fantastic way to purge all of the sugar and coffee and junk that I splurged on during the holidays and get back to my normal healthy eating routine…which is a great way to start 2012!
Check back with us early next week…I’ll be posting some of my favorite cleanse recipes which were so yummy that I plan to keep eating them…often…and I think you’ll love them too!
Health & Happiness! ~ Melissa
About Melissa
Looks so yummy can’t wait for more recipes
I just found your site and I think it’s great. There are lots of things I’m going to try that I’ve read on this site. Great job!
Hi Greta, we’re glad you found us…and thanks so much for taking the time to comment.