Welcome to the magic of spring. Can you feel the change in the air? Can you feel the changesthat want to happen within your body? You can help those changes along by making conscious choices about food as you detoxify and transition between winter and spring. Prepare for some super tips on spring cleansing, for the benefit of your Liver… and just about everything else too.

This type of cleansing is more about allowing and encouraging your body to cleanse naturally. While I do advocate a true detox protocol, this is the way to look at and use food as cleansing in the spring.

How long should you cleanse? I think two weeks of eating quite cleanly, using the suggested foods below as a guideline, is a great idea. If you have autoimmunity or just don’t feel well, try going for 3 weeks. However, following are general guidelines for how to eat in the spring.

SEEDS and NUTS
Most people are deficient in quality unsaturated fats, especially omega 3s, typically found in fish. There are also three vegetable sources that are rich in omega 3s. They are seeds—flax seed, hemp seed, and chia seed. Eating these in the spring can benefit most people in the transition from winter yin to springtime yang. (Think about it—seeds are popping up into flower all around us!)

There is a however, however. If you have a “spleen qi deficiency” or certain digestive problems like IBS or Crohn’s (often considered “damp heat” conditions) there is a caution about nuts and seeds.

How do you know if you have a spleen qi deficiency or some dampness and or heat in your body? Your digestion is a little sluggish, you experience gas, bloating and/or fatigue after eating. Also, a lot of people with spleen qi deficiency and damp heat have a leaky gut (see blogpost on leaky gut). Another way to know whether your spleen qi is deficient is to look at your tongue. Is it fat or a little puffy? Do you have a thick white coating? This is indicative of an imbalance in your microbiome, like an overgrowth of yeast or fungi.

One way our microbiomes get out of whack is through birth control pills, certain prescription medicines (especially antibiotics), and historically eating too much sugar or gluten.

If you are in any of these categories mentioned above, I suggest you soak your nuts overnight and rinse them. This removes their outer indigestible coating.  (How do you like the photo of the bag my daughter gave me for Christmas?)

Almonds may be the exception. It is believed they do not contribute to dampness in the way other nuts do — but I’ve found clinically that certain individuals have difficulty digesting them. Try using raw, unsalted almonds, soaked overnight. This is the easiest way to digest them, as mentioned above.

GRAINS
For years, the food pyramid taught us to eat grains as the basis of our diet. However, due to the above mentioned microbiome destabilization, (and probably because of eating too many grains, especially GMO wheat), I suggest you eat sprouted grains.

Having more than 20% grain in your diet is especially difficult for those who have the above mentioned spleen qi deficiency or an excess of yeast and fungi (remember, demonstrated by the excessive white or yellow tongue coating or, through gas and bloating). If you know you have a leaky gut and feel bloated after eating grains, I’d hold off on grains this spring — until you’ve healed your gut a little more. (If you’d like help with that, send me an email or give me a call).

If grains (which carry a nicely varied nutritional profile) are compatible with your system, go for non-gluten grains like rice, millet, oats, quinoa, or buckwheat. Avoid eating a lot of corn as it is highly allergenic and high in sugar, plus non-GMO corn is hard to find. You should also be cautious with rye, if you have a gluten sensitivity. However, some people may have a wheat intolerance, not a gluten problem and the best way to find that out is through eating a piece of rye bread — with no other grains in it (usually available in health food stores). If you bloat after eating it, or feel uncomfortable in any way, then you can be pretty sure it’s gluten and not just wheat!

Grains are a bit dicey for some people. Ideally, I like people to vary their diets to get a multitude of nutrients. However, for most of my autoimmune patients, I suggest they go off all grains for at least 30 days, or until their gut is healed. If you don’t have a problem with any of the symptoms I mentioned above, then go ahead with the suggested grains in small amounts as they are good for you if you don’t have inflammation or disease.

LEGUMES
Legumes like mung beans, fresh peas and string beans, fava beans, and lentils are generally a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals (especially magnesium—needed for so many bodily functions). If you have a microbiome issue, choose legumes that are easier to digest such as fresh peas, string beans, and sprouted beans (which still should be cooked to help your body break them down). I’ve found through my practice that out of all the legume options, mung beans are the easiest on the digestive system.
Again, if you have autoimmune disease and/or leaky gut, you might have problems digesting the outside of legumes (designed to turn into a tree/plant even after an animal eats it and poops it out! Isn’t nature brilliant? But, if you have digestive issues, you, too, will have trouble breaking down the outer coating.) If you have these problems, go off them for 30 days and see what happens.

ROOTS AND TUBERS
Looking underground for roots and tubers—for example carrots, potatoes, beets, sweet potatoes, and radishes—is a great idea when doing your spring cleanse. They are higher in fiber and a little lower in micronutrients, but they have great value nevertheless and pose less of a problem in digestion. If you are digestion-compromised, eat smaller (baby) tubers and roots as they are higher in nutrients and more tender. Potatoes are considered a nightshade and should be avoided if you have inflammation or any kind of pain syndrome. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, are not considered a nightshade and come with no warning label ☺. Plus, they’re delicious.

MEATS, PROTEINS AND DAIRY
Typically you will want to cut back on these yin foods in the springtime, as they are considered more “cloying.” Fermenting your dairy (and I recommend goat and sheep milk over cow’s milk) is helpful to your microbiome. So, for your springtime transition, lean toward yogurt, kefir and the like. Be sure they don’t have added sugar. Plain is always better! Still, I’d definitely limit the amount you eat in the yang springtime as you are cleansing.

Remember this: you eat what the animal eats. So, if your beef is grass-fed that is better than corn finished beef. Commercially raised meats are always less “clean” (and humane.). If you’re lucky enough to know where your food comes from, shop from local farmers whom you trust. Next best thing is to eat organic, grass-fed or uncaged animals. Eating this way allows your body to more easily digest what you consume.

Fish is a great source of omega 3s and protein. Obviously, during a cleanse, watch for low mercury fish, the best of which are wild Alaskan salmon (please don’t eat farmed salmon—ever) sardines, herring, and mackerel. (By the way, if you are supplementing with Omega 3s, make sure these are the fish from which the oil is made! Read the labels!)

VEGETABLES
The more the merrier! We can’t eat enough vegetables. Full of phytonutrients, chlorophyll (aka the “blood of plants”) and antioxidants, veggies will fight off the more cloying nature of the yin foods we have eaten. And the more veggies you eat in general, the less intense your cleansing will be! Remember the rainbow! That means, eat as many different colored veggies as possible in order to get the full range of nutrients. Steaming or lightly sautéing in coconut or olive oil is ideal, especially if you have any of the issues mentioned above. Raw is harder to digest when you are compromised.

TO AVOID DURING YOUR CLEANSE:

SUGARS AND FRUITS
Just simply quit the sugar. It is SO bad for you. Sugar feeds the bad bacteria in your gut, plain and simple. You will crave it for a while as you let it go, and that’s okay. You just have to set your mind to it because it will change your life! It’s partially physical as you’re starving those bad boys (aka the no-good bacteria), and then it’s mental. Sure, we like a little sweetness now and then, but once you’ve removed white, processed sugar and limited your amounts of all kinds of sugar in your diet, fruit will taste like the treat it is meant to be. If you are compromised at all, limit your fruit intake to once a day, with the exception of organic berries, which are healthy options. Tropical fruits contain the most sugar, so avoid those, especially when cleansing.

Also, be careful with smoothies. I love me some smoothies, but you must be careful with the amount of sugar they contain. If you’re buying bottled juices, read the sugar content. The body can handle about 8-9gm of sugar at one time. Any more than that, and your blood sugar spikes which is inherently unhealthy. If you must resort to something on the sweet side, eat a little fat and/or protein (like a couple of those soaked nuts!) at the same time to slow down the metabolism of sugar.

And remember, drinking alcohol is like eating sugar. It goes without saying that while you are eating to cleanse, please don’t drink.

SO, those are my guidelines for healthy eating in the springtime. If you’d like more information on how you can best cleanse for YOUR body and history, give me a shout and I can help you out.

Happy happy spring! This time of year makes everyone a little giddy doesn’t it? The more balanced you are, the more you can enjoy the excitement and bursting forth around you.