Your body wants to cleanse in the spring. Even if you do nothing, it will try its very best to cleanse all on its own, just like the rest of the natural world is doing. You can help it along by actually doing a whole food cleanse, eating cleansing spring foods, and making adjustments to your sleep and exercise routines. On the other hand, many people unwittingly block their body’s cleansing efforts by failing to adjust their diet to spring cleansing foods and practices. Then they end up hanging on to winter weight, feeling sluggish, allergic, mucous-y, uninspired, and even depressed.
Ayurveda, the world’s oldest, continuously practiced health care system in the world, offers perhaps the best advice for aligning with spring cleansing. It’s focused on releasing toxins, lethargy, and excess weight that naturally accumulates in the winter, and cultivating a sense of lightness and energy through seasonal eating and self care practices.
In the spring, favor light, low sugar and low fat foods in the spring. That means reducing fatty/heavy foods like oils, diary, nuts & seeds, avocados, meats, and sweet fruits, while increasing leafy greens, sprouts, and low sugar fruits and vegetables. Following these recommendations will help you to shed excess weight, release toxins, and energize your mind and body!
Fruits
- Favor: Berries, apples, pears.
- Reduce/Avoid: Heavy or sweet fruits like pineapple, banana, mango, melon, and avocado. A small amount of dried fruits like dates are okay.
Vegetables
- All veggies are good! Emphasize leafy greens of all types, sprouts, root vegetables, radishes, green beans, onions, garlic, mushrooms.
Nuts & Seeds
- Eat sparingly.
- Favor: Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, hemp seeds, chia seeds.
- Reduce/Avoid: Nut butters, almonds, walnuts, cashews, Brazil nuts flax seeds.
Legumes
- Most legumes are good in the spring, but lentils are especially wonderful! Check out our recipe for kitchari – a nourishing, balancing, cleansing meal.
Oils
- Reduce oils in general. This would be the time to experiment with sautéing in water instead of oil! Roasted pumpkin seed oil is so flavorful, that you only need a tiny drizzle to make your salad or veggies totally delicious.
Dairy
- Avoid dairy, especially ice cream and cold milk. The more dairy you eat, the worse your spring allergies will be.
Grains
- Favor: Quinoa, millet, dry oats, rye. Long grain brown rice is okay.
- Reduce/Avoid: Wheat, rice.
Animal Protein
- Reduce animal protein in general, especially red meat. Seafood, poultry, and eggs are okay in moderation.
Spices
- All spices are great in the spring, but reduce salt as much as possible. Turmeric is wonderful all year, and especially in the spring.
Supplements
- Consume cleansing supplements like spirulina and chlorella.
Self care
- Go to bed early and wake up with the sun.
- Get moving in the morning with some gentle exercise like yoga or walking.
- Avoid napping during the day if possible.
- Exercise and sweat every day.
- Avoid snacking between meals.
Join us!
For a thorough cleanse for mind & body with expert support – cleanse with us beginning May 7th!
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