"Spring has sprung! It"s the perfect time of year for a spring-cleaning inside and out. This is a time of year we think of cleanses for our bodies as well. Many friends and clients tell me about cleanses they"re trying or have tried in the past, usually with different amounts of success. Ayurveda believes in a spring cleanse as well, but it"s probably much easier than anything you"ve attempted in the past.
Last month the kapha diet was discussed, which is essentially eating lighter to ensure we have a strong digestion with the heavy moisture of springtime. There is plenty of water in the air, which can give us an imbalance of kapha (earth and water) in the body. This usually appears as congestion in the sinuses and sluggish digestion. Recommendations are to eat lighter, skip a meal, and focus on the tastes of bitter, astringent, and pungent.
There are several types of cleanses that can be done throughout the year, but as an ayurvedic practitioner, I recommend 4 throughout the year to keep a body healthy: lymphatic, digestive, liver, and kidney.
In our modern environment we put an incredible strain on these systems by eating a modern diet and living a fast-paced lifestyle. Several MD"s are now supporting legislature that would ban certain kinds of GMO foods and acknowledge that certain foods, like wheat, have been modified to a point that they may induce an inflammatory response in the body.
Obviously food intake is very important during a cleanse. I recommend eating a mono-diet of kanjee or kitchari during a cleanse. Kanjee is 1 cup of brown basmati rice, well rinsed with 8 cups of water. Add a pinch of salt, turmeric, and ginger powder. Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour."
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