When should we do cleanses? As with our “deep” house cleaning (before the holidays, in the springtime, as summer folds in on itself), the best time to cleanse our bodies is when the seasons change.

Cleanses do a world of good. First and foremost, they free up the detoxification systems of the body, helping them push out the toxins you’ve been exposed to. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), spring is the season of the Liver—that major detoxifying organ, so spring is especially perfect for detoxification and cleansing.

The season when life is blooming anew is a time of outward expression. Thus, it can be a time when your moods, like the daffodils, do a little “bursting” themselves. If you are prone to anger (the emotion of the Liver) or have difficulty making decisions (associated with the Gallbladder, which is connected to the Liver in TCM), you may experience those feelings more intensely in the spring.

TCM sees spring and summer as yang: increased light, warmth, growth, and the energies are upward and outward (think, daffodil). That feeling of expansiveness can be lovely as you mirror the expansive energies of nature.

As we enter spring, we are coming out of a very yin time (the inwardness and dark of winter) so as we gradually shift toward the yang, the foods we eat should shift with us and the earth. It is best to eat foods that are in alignment with the energies around us –typically the foods that are coming into season. Being in concert with the world is a more balanced way to be. Think, “as without so within” and vice versa.

The two flavors associated with spring are sweet (not sugary—there’s a difference) and bitter— which is the flavor associated specifically with the Liver.

I love to talk about how we can adjust this ancient wisdom to feed and heal our inflamed bodies and work with the changes in our microbiome. Remember, the human body is a complex ecosystem—home to more than 100 trillion microbes that make up the bulk of the immune system. We must keep these microbes in balance in order to stay healthy.

Let’s try to keep that fact in the back of our minds as we look at cleansing. Cleansing is not a juice fast (in my humble opinion) but a gentle removal of toxins from our bodies, followed by replacing the more cloying, yin foods with lighter, more expansive yang foods. We must also keep in mind that our microbiomes need to stay balanced — so when we cleanse, we have to consider what will affect that. Since that process is different for each person, there are ways you can cleanse healthfully and with consideration for your microbiome.

Next week I will give you the run-down on springtime eating and cleansing guidelines you can use to detox for health!

Uncategorized