Hey pals! How are you liking like the new digs around here? Not too shabby, eh? I thought the New Year called for a new look, so wonder-husband and I have been hard at work making My New Roots cleaner, smarter and easier to use. Take a few moments to browse the pages at the top and see how organized I am now! I hope you enjoy.
Well, we all knew this was coming, right? The 2013 Whole Living Action Plan is here and I know how many of you have been chomping at the bit to begin the great journey toward greater health!
I felt very lucky when Whole Living asked me back to create some recipes for their Action Plan again. The reason I love this program so much is because it’s a great place to begin even if you have never done a cleanse or a detox before. This is not about gimmicks, starving yourself, eating weird foods you can’t find at the grocery store. This program is based on easy-to-find, plant-based, whole foods and recipes that are delicious, seasonal, and totally health-supportive. True honest-to-goodness food for goodness sake!
The recipes I created for Week 1 include vegetables, fruits, lentils, nuts and seeds, quality oils, herbs and spices. Everything is vegan, and grain-free, with an emphasis on cruciferous veggies (think broccoli, kale, cauliflower etc.). The juices and smoothies include fruits, vegetables and nut butters so they are refreshing, and also filling. They are all so tasty in fact, that I’ll be whizzing them up far beyond the three-week program!
Sara Forte of Sprouted Kitchen genius was in charge of Week 2, and Louisa Shafia from Lucid Food wrote the recipes for Week 3, so don’t forget to check their wonderful menus too.
If you were a fan of last year’s menu, or you want to expand the options for this time around, feel free to use the recipes from the 2012 Action Plan too. There are so many wonderful options from that program as well, all of them delicious and perfectly appropriate for 2013.
If there is one thing I want to underscore here, it’s the lemon-water first thing in the morning. For those who cannot pick up a copy of the magazine, lemon-water is: water that has been boiled then cooled down to comfortable drinking temperature, with about 1/3 a lemon squeezed in – it should taste lemon-y. Do not add the lemon juice to the water when it is piping hot. This will destroy the delicate vitamin C and the precious enzymes that we most definitely want to consume.
The simple act of drinking lemon-water flushes the kidneys and alkalizes the blood. You can read more about that, here. This is an important step in any cleanse because it really aids the detoxification process, and is the best way to start your day. If you are looking for a simple trick to change your life, this is it! I have been drinking lemon-water every morning for about five years now and I don’t know how I ever lived without it. It just feels so good.
There are plenty of other things you can do while you’re participating in the Action Plan to support and enhance detoxification, such as dry skin brushing (I wrote an article about that here) drinking herbal detox tea (my personal recipe blend here) and going to the sauna. I don’t recommend high-intensity exercise, at least in the first week, but rather yoga, and walking. Remember, this really is a time of rest and renewal so it’s okay to give your body a break. Spending time in nature is always a good idea, as is deep breathing exercises, creative activities like drawing, knitting, and cooking – do things that make you feel happy and relaxed.
We all want to be our best selves and the New Year is always a great time to make positive changes in your life. If you are looking for a way to get back in touch with naturally healthy eating, I can recommend this plan for sure, and not just for one, two, or three weeks, but all year long. Sure, enjoy the things you love now and again that you know aren’t the most beneficial – life is about balance after all – but allow yourself to see just how great you can be when you give your body the fuel it needs to shine its brightest. Who knows how good you’ll feel, how much more energy you’ll have, or even how your mind may open to possibilities outside the kitchen. Only you can discover that one. I am just here to give you a boost. Because you can do this.
For more help with the cleanse, check out Whole Living’s Action Plan’s tips and advice from last year too.
**And don’t forget that I am running TWO cleansing and detox programs in February and March. See my EVENTS page for more info!