Eating Well in Santa Fe  - September 2015 - Santa Fe

 

Vitality Foods: Gentle Ways to Detox

 

By Valeria Alarcón

 

Summer time is the perfect time to support your health and ignite your vitality through gentle detoxification and cleansing protocols. One of the most important organs to detoxify is the liver, without its optimum function people may experience hormone imbalance, diabetes, chronic fatigue, fatty liver, allergies (food/seasonal), or the inability to loose and maintain a healthy weight. The best time to conduct a liver detoxification protocol is the summer time as the liver plays a role in keeping core temperature, thus the winter months will make it for a counterproductive time to cleanse the liver. The liver benefits from vegetable juicing, milk thistle, roasted dandelion, burdock, watercress, curly endive, cilantro, parsley and chlorella.

 

One of the most gentle ways to detox the body is by starting your day with a cup of warm water and two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice or a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, or a teaspoon of baking soda and half of fresh squeezed lemon juice, you can alternate between these recipes. Starting your morning with a highly alkalizing water beverage will stimulate and support proper digestion, boost the immune system, hydrate the lymphatic system, support weight management, release of toxins, support urinary track health and facilitate fat flushing. Another easy way for gentle cleansing is consuming a variety of vegetables and dark leafy greens, this should make up 60% (fiber) of your meal, this is one of the most effective ways to cleanse the digestive system on a daily basis. Let’s learn about the difference between cleansing and detoxification.

 

Cleansing means the cleansing of the body through the digestive track, from mouth to anus. Cleansing protocols may include various types of nutritional and herbal protocols. There is a science in knowing how to properly combine vegetables, fruits, herbs, supplements, tinctures, and vegetable juices to stimulate the body for proper cleansing. A cleanse addresses the release of waste matter like intestinal plaque, Candida overgrowth, parasites and harmful bacteria.

 

Detoxifying is the body’s natural process for eliminating toxins from a cellular level, including organs, tissue, and blood stream. Detox protocols target chemicals, smoke, heavy metals, pollutants, calcified stones and even fat deposits that accumulate in the body and could eventually pose a health challenge. Detox protocols work with the kidneys, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, bloodstream and digestive track. Detoxification protocols may also include juicing vegetables and fruits, herbs, tinctures, hydrotherapy, hot baths, essential oils and homeopathics.

 

Benefits from detoxification and cleansing, improved digestion, liver detoxification, builds blood, boosts the immune system, improves mental clarity and focus, increases and maintains energy, improves metabolism, stabilized insulin levels and response, improves sleep, improves cellular mitochondria thus increasing oxygen levels this restores organ function. By cleansing and detoxifying your body you are ensuring a happy, healthy and vibrant life! 

 

Vitality Spring Rolls

1/2 cucumber (thinly sliced)

1/2 cup of shredder carrots and beets

1/2 avocado (sliced length wise)

1/2 cup of sprouts

1 cup of seared salmon (sliced length wise)

1 cup of cooked brown rice

4 seaweed sheets (choose Atlantic sourced seaweed)

Seasonings: Sea salt, Tamari gluent-free soy sauce (organic/non-gmo) and garlic aioli brown mustard)

 

Directions:

1. Take a seaweed sheet, place it on a wooden board, place a 1/2 teaspoon of garlic aioli brown mustard to the seaweed, spread it around.

2. Add a tablespoon of rice on one of the edges of the sheet. Press down and spread it lengthwise.

3. Add a few strings of carrots, beets, cucumber to the rice on the seaweed sheet, sprinkle some sea salt and a little of the Tamari sauce.

4. Add the salmon and avocado and with your fingers and hand, slide all the ingredients towards the edge of the sheet and begin to roll the content into a roll.

Feel free to dip the roll in a little Tamari soy sauce or your favorite peanut sauce or Serracha spicy sauce. You can add the spring rolls to a Summer Kale Salad, see recipe from June's issue. Bon Appetite!