My juice cleanse

I am officially on day 4 of a 10 day juice cleanse. 10 days without all my culinary vices (stomach grumbling)...today was really hard. I had a catering to do and I mustered all my will not to eat the seared steak marinated in thyme caramelized onions. Or the quinoa salad with myriad veggies and pesto vinaigrette. Or the roasted chicken sandwiches with kale, cucumber, thyme aioli, and goat cheese on local sourdough. I didn't eat any of it! Instead I drank some amazing juices. Started my day with a cucumber, blueberry, kale, chlorella, basil smoothie. Threw back a few palmfulls of fresh bee pollen to boost my b vitamins. Later I dined on a half gallon of veggies geared to clean my blood and stimulate my liver and lungs into heavy cleanse. The list: dandelion greens, kale, celery, butternut squash, turnip, ginger, cucumber, cilantro, basil, garlic, cauliflower,...and I know I am missing somebody out. But, that is the general list. Some medicine in a jar for sure. I couldnt even finish it all as the mix was too warming on the digestion. Not enough cooling ingredients, but It has me detoxing my little liver! This evening I redeemed my lunch with a dinner smoothie made of cucumber, zucchini, cilantro, avocado, Hawaiian hand hewn salt, raw apple cider vinegar, and burdock root. This mix tastes like some of the best gazpacho I have ever had.

So you may ask, "Why?" Why the cleanse? Why Juice? Why put yourself through the misery of making that mouthwatering food and not eat any of it? I imagine you may have other questions and you can feel free to ask away. It simply comes down to how I nourish myself. I feel it is time to help my body through the changes that my mind and spirit are going through at this time. In order for me to arise to the next level and continue on my path, I have to clean this physical body out to match the mind and spirit.

In our day to day movements of eating and drinking, we have the foods that are good for the body and foods that are good for the mind and spirit. Sometimes they are not the same. I find sanity in a HUGE bowl of fresh hand made pasta with carbonara sauce. My body doesn't necessarily agree though. Here is where the cleanse comes in. As we eat foods that are hard or difficult for our body to digest, we tax our digestive system little bit each day. Some foods get broken down and some don't. Some come in with parasites pesticides on them. Some even stay inside and get stuck. As foods do their little dance in our belly's, toxins can build from a huge list of factors resulting in a compromised immune system. I am totally oversimplifying the equation here. We will no doubt cover more of this later. But, what I am reaching for here is an understanding that we can easily toxify our system without even knowing it.

Queue Juice. The juices I am making are nutrient dense, easily assimilable materials that give my digestive system a break from its amazingly diligent hard work and give the other organs a chance to release all the other stored ugly stuff they can. Since I have a very robust and healthy physical standing, I have chosen to go big and use vegetable ingredients with specific medicinal properties in very large quantities. These juices are not the juices you get at your local natural foods market or cafe. I am looking to heal. And that means diving deep.

I was willing to make the food for the catering today and not eat any because I know that the abstinence from this food is what is bringing this healing state right now. This is my time to break from the habits and vices I choose and have chosen in my past. There will always be one reason or another to not continue. And here we are again with a choice. I choose to heal and cleanse myself so that I can raise my bar and step up to the next level. I choose to prepare the food that I love and the food that my fellow students/catering clients love. I have a choice and I choose to heal. I choose to nourish.

Like the tides of the ocean, toxify then cleanse. Toxify then cleanse. After some time the cleansing will be a part of your daily nourishing traditions. You will be eating and drinking what your body needs when it is asking for it. Just keep listening. It really does know best! Now, go get yourself a green juice!