Spring Cleaning from the Inside Out
by Torrey Douglass
There’s the greeting card version of spring—green meadows, golden sunshine, a multitude of daffodils stretching up towards the sun. But there’s another side of spring which is just as prevalent, if not as picturesque. That is the muddy, mucky, sludgy side of spring, when the warmer weather and wet conditions combine into a soggy mess necessitating that you either possess some reliable rainboots or watch where you step.
“The body mimics nature,” says Justine Lemos, PhD, of At One Yoga in Fort Bragg. In the winter, nature hunkers down against the cold, conserving energy and staying put. Likewise, we tend to slow down and eat heavier foods to fortify ourselves through the chilly months. Just as spring’s warmth causes the thaw and flow of moisture, accumulated metabolic waste built up in the body from our winter’s diet begins to “melt” during the spring as well. Justine’s area of expertise is Ayurveda, an ancient holistic healing system from India that refers to this metabolic waste as ama.
Justine describes ama as “the gunk factor.” Ama is distributed throughout the body as it melts, resulting in those annoying spring colds and coughs and just feeling run down. “Our bodies need different things at the junctures of the seasons to move through the transition with ease,” she shares. A person might experience a buildup of ama as physical and/or emotional stagnation, so supporting the body in its elimination can reduce this sluggishness, improve vitality, and help give us that fresh start we crave in the spring.
Justine has a simple three-day cleanse that can encourage the body to let go of this waste buildup. The word “cleanse” can conjure visions of cayenne and lemon juice, minds foggy and bodies weak from fasting. Fortunately, Ayurveda uses a different approach. “Ayurveda doesn’t want us to be hungry,” Justine says. “We want to keep the stomach strong while we give it a break.” Her cleanse gives the digestive system a rest from winter habits, simplifying and lightening the diet so loosened ama can enter the body’s waste stream and be expelled.
Spring weather is notoriously temperamental, with its fair share of cold days as winter attempts to renegotiate its lease. Fortunately, Ayurveda favors warm, cooked food, so you don’t need to worry about shivering over a salad when it’s chilly. Instead you’ll be eating a lot of Kitchari, a warming rice and lentil dish with digestive spices and vegetables that is both nourishing and easy to make.
Before delving into the details of the cleanse, here are some tips to help make the most of it.
Check your schedule. Don’t start the cleanse the same week your big report is due, or when you’re organizing a friend’s surprise party. You don’t need to remove yourself entirely from life, but do select a time period where you can reduce commitments and rest more than usual.
Drink that water. Over the course of the cleanse (as well as for a few days before and after), drink at least one liter of warm water per day. Justine recommends infusing the water with 1/2 tsp fennel seed, 1/4 tsp coriander seed, and 1/4 tsp cumin seed to strengthen digestion.
Simplify. For two or three days both before and after the cleanse, remove stimulants and other problematic foods from your diet, particularly sugar, caffeine, alcohol, yeasted breads, and refined flour.
Take time for some self-care. A dry sauna can counterbalance spring’s warm and wet aspects. Follow with a warm oil massage to nourish your skin. Yoga, either on your own or with a class, is another great restorative while you’re cleansing. But leave the sweaty workout for another time, instead opting for a few quiet walks, which can encourage circulation while also providing an opportunity for meditative reflection.
Spring is a time of renewal, upheaval, sunshine, and mud. With Justine’s Simple Three-Day Cleanse, you can participate in nature’s annual reboot, get rid of winter’s waste, and be ready to jump into all the possibilities of spring.
Simple Three-Day Cleanse
by Justine Lemos, PhD
Breakfast: Stewed Apples (see recipe below)
Mid Morning: Green juice (made from kale, greens, chard, etc.) with ginger in it (can also use carrot, beet, celery, cilantro, or radish). Just take one 8 oz. juice/day
Lunch and dinner: Keep it simple.
Eat a simple grain or legume—rice, quinoa, lentils and some cooked vegetables. You can eat Kitchari (see recipe below) but it need not be every day.
If you feel hungry, you can also eat some rice crackers, rice tortilla, or flat-bread (no yeasted bread). You can eat a small amount of fresh yogurt with your lunch and dinner. Make sure both lunch and dinner are warm.
Remember to drink 1 liter of water per day.
Stewed Apples
Recipe for one person:
1 whole, fresh, sweet apple, cored and peeled
2 whole cloves (per apple)
¼ cup of purified water
Directions:
Core, peel, and dice apple into small pieces. Add cloves, apples, and water in a covered pot. Stew apples until they have a soft consistency (usually takes about 5 to 10 minutes). Remove and discard cloves before serving. Let stand away from heat for 5 minutes, to cool a little.
Kitchari “the food of the Gods”
½ c split mung beans or other lentil
½ c basmati rice (or other grain such as brown rice or quinoa)
Ghee or oil
1-inch piece fresh ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 cups of water
¼ tsp each turmeric, ginger powder, coriander powder
Seasonal vegetables
1 tsp hemp oil or ghee
Sea salt
Handful of cilantro
Fresh chutney (optional)
Wash the mung beans and rice. Heat the ghee or oil in a heavy bottom pan and fry the fresh ginger, cumin, and mustard seeds. Add the mung beans and rice, along with the water. Then add the turmeric, ginger, and cilantro. Finally add the seasonal vegetables. Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and cook for 10-20 minutes. Do not stir until the liquid is nearly absorbed or it will go mushy. After cooking, add a teaspoon of hemp-seed oil or ghee and salt to taste. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro and roasted seeds and serve. Eat with some fresh chutney.
Justine Lemos, PhD, is an author, teacher, dancer, mother, speaker, and founder of #notacult (a long-term conceptual art piece), The Bliss Academy (an online wisdom archive), and At One Yoga in Fort Bragg. More at At1Yoga.com and JustineLemos.com.
Photo by Daiga Ellaby courtesy of Unsplash.
