A Guide to Feeling Healthy After the Holidays
(beetroot pizza recipe included)
December brings on many indulgences (eggnog, cheese, pie, the list goes on). It can often make the start of the new year feel like you’re trudging through sludge while your digestive system is trying desperately to get back on track. As we finish up the holiday season, January is an ideal time to detox, but the fact is it’s still a busy time of year, it’s cold outside, and the long dark days can make the idea of cleansing somewhat unappealing and in most cases untenable. This is why it’s essential that we follow an Ayurvedic approach to cleansing as we move through the winter months.
While most of us don’t live in the appropriate environment to do a super strict cleanse, this specific detox is all about focusing on lots of cooked vegetables, whole grains, legumes, some fruit, and digestive herbal teas while limiting high amounts of animal products, high quantities of oil, salt, processed foods, and sugar. The main objective is to get your digestive system working properly and optimally.
This wintertime cleanse does have some elimination restrictions. Try to limit or eliminate the following:
coffee, alcohol, gluten, added sugar, processed foods and processed oils.
Really try to challenge yourself to completely take these foods out of your diet for the month. However, we also recognize that completely eliminating certain foods or favorites doesn’t always work for some people (and can be triggering), so if that’s you try to at least minimize these certain foods. It may be helpful to instead focus on the foods you can enjoy instead of focusing on the foods you can’t have.
Here is a sample menu of what your food intake my look like during this type of cleanse:
Morning Beverage:
If you are feeling like you really need a reboot, try having a cup of hot water with a little ginger and lemon or if you aren’t giving up caffeine completely, enjoy one cup of green tea with oat or nut milk.
Breakfast:
Warm porridge- cooked (pre-soaked for easier digestion) with warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. If you want to add fruit or a few nuts make sure to cook them with the oats for easier absorption.
Lunch:
Cooked Quinoa with turmeric, steamed carrots & spinach, topped with Avocado
Mid-day Ginger Tea
Dinner:
Sprouted brown rice with a small amount of ghee and mung bean stew
Post Dinner Beverage:
Dandelion tea, ginger tea, or Magnesium Calm for additional digestive/stress support.
It can be fun to eat in a new way. Just avoiding using excess oils or animal products can lead you to finding new ways to be more creative in the kitchen. As you can see this cleanse isn’t super restrictive. It just focuses on eating plants and revving up your digestive system. Check out this extremely healthy plant based pizza recipe! You may find that eating clean is easier than you think.
Beet Root Pizza
Ingredients:
1 head raw cauliflower
2 medium beets (raw & peeled)
¾ cup almond flour
¼ cup coconut flour
4 eggs
1/2 tsp sea salt and black pepper
1 tsp oregano
*You'll also need parchment paper
Directions:
Place cauliflower and beets in a food processor and blend until it turns into a fine rice texture. (You may have to pre-chop the beets a little bit). Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the flour and spices.
Mix well with your hands and then add in the eggs.
Whisk until everything is nice and combined. It may be a little wet, but you should be able to form it into a ball.
Next place on a lined (with parchment paper) baking pan and spread out evenly with your hands.
Bake in the oven at 400°F for 15-20 minutes or until slightly golden and firm.
Remove from the oven and add your desired plant based toppings
Place back into the oven for another 10 minutes and then it'll be ready to enjoy
Need more support?
Download our digital cleanse guide for step by step instructions on how to do an Ayurvedic cleanse. Use the promocode WinterCleanse at checkout for 30% off!