Vital Living

Spring Cleaning
For those who made health resolutions at New Year, your goal is more difficult if it included weight loss and leading a healthier life, as the middle of winter requires denser, heavier foods that your body needs for warmth. If your health goals were derailed, now is the perfect time to begin anew.
When spring arrives, there is a natural inclination to clean and lighten, our homes and our bodies. At the farmer’s market and grocery store, fresh greens with chlorophyll are widely available to purify our body. Spring foods are naturally lighter, so if you shop seasonally, you’ll be on your way to a cleaner, lighter life.
After you clean out your pantry and refrigerator, part of your spring-cleaning could include a cleanse program. Juice cleansing is nature’s surgical table, a safe and easy way to detoxify the body. This ancient practice has a long history, and has been a part of virtually all cultures and religions. Juicing is simply resting from solid food, while receiving nutrients in liquid form. Since your body is not spending the enormous energy breaking down the food, the energy is redirected towards detoxification and healing. That is why juicing will affect you on every level: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
A cleanse program shouldn’t make you nervous as it can be tailored to your needs. If you are not able, for medical reasons, to simply juice for a period of time, you can lighten up your meals by consuming more spring foods and juicing for perhaps one meal per day. After you do this for a week or so, you’ll start to feel cleaner and lighter and you’ll be excited to continue. You can slowly move into a juice cleanse, if desired. Before you do, if you have medical conditions, you should consult your doctor or health practitioner before you begin.
There are various types of juicers you can use. On a true juice cleanse, you juice the veggies and fruits, and discard the pulp. Personally, I usually use my Vitamix, which is a really powerful blender, so I consume pulp and all, which is my favorite. This, however, gives you smoothies and not juice. That’s fine with me, as I like the dietary fiber from the pulp. I also have a Champion Juicer, which spits out the pulp therefore creates juice, and an Omega Juicer, which does the same. On my cleanse, I juice one meal a day with my Omega, and use the Vitamix for the other meals. This is what works for me. Remember, there are as many cleanses as there are people.
To the left are a few juice recipes for you to try. If you are using your Vitamix, then place three cups of water in the blender and add the ingredients and puree. If you are juicing, simply put ingredients (doubling the recipe if you like) through the machine. Remember to purchase organic ingredients if you can.
If you decide to juice, you must come out of it slowly into your new healthier way of eating so as not to shock your system. Also, remember that the purpose of doing a cleanse is to purify and detoxify your body. It should not be used as simply a weight-loss goal.
At our Zest program, we do a month-long cleanse in April, the perfect month for cleaning our bodies, minds and lives. Join us and be supported all month. Register at: www.pattyjames.com.
Patty James M.S., C.N.C.
Nutritionist/Chef/Writer
Co-author of More Vegetables, Please!
www.pattyjames.com
707-888-1103
DirectionFive Health
Founder and Director
www.directionfive.org
707-575-9621
Morning Mix
3 kale leaves
2 stalks celery
2 carrots
1 apple
1 orange, skin removed
Juice of one lemon or a 1” piece of ginger  
Gorgeous in a Glass
1 grapefruit, peeled
I orange, peeled
1 apple
2 stalks celery
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
Yellow Wonder
½ pineapple
1 carrot
1 yellow pepper
1 whole lemon
1” piece of ginger