Spring is officially here which means it’s time to cleanse!
Although many of you are still covered in snow and below freezing temps, the energy in the earth has shifted!
You can see the energy shift from a dormant winter when the rising energy sprouts tulips out of the ground, trees start to bud, and maybe you even feel the need to clean out your closet!
Yes, all of that is aligned with energy of spring!
In our bodies, spring energy is rising too! It starts at the bottom of our feet in the kidney 1 acupressure point and it rises up through the liver. All toxins stuck in the liver will rise as heat causing everything from migraines, headaches, seasonal allergies, anger/irritability, rashes, and your typical spring cold/flu.
This rising liver heat is very dangerous and over time can damage the liver, heart, and even the brain.
The liver is our #1 detoxification organ. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), it’s the most important organ in the body and has the biggest job (filters blood, metabloizes hormones, detoxes waste, distributes energy, etc). It easily becomes congested from everything to air pollution, chemicals in skin care products, cell phone radiation, alcohol, prescription drugs, vitamins (yes!), processed foods, metabolic waste, and toxic negative thoughts (yes!).
Also, if the liver is not cleansed and remains sluggish, cancers are more likely to form.
Cancer is a mutation in cells that do not die off. All of us experience cancer many times throughout our lives, but with a healthy liver, these cells are able to be escorted out of the body. But if the liver is congested, the cancer cells will not move and thus, continue to grow. (There is SO much more to talk about here and I will write about it in a future post!).
As you can see, this is why doing a cleanse every spring is so vital!
We cleanse in the spring because according to TCM, it’s the season of the liver. Over thousands of years, it was observed that this rising energy activated and stimulated the liver. We want to support that movement with a cleanse.
Cleansing and fasting are some of the oldest health practices in the world. Ancient cultures observed that giving your body a break from the exhausting task of digesting certain food, sickness decreased and mental clarity increased!
You still see this practice in many religions and cultures around the world today (ie: Lent*, Ramadan, Navaratri, Yom Kippur, etc).
*Jesus fasted for 40 days in the dessert which helped him achieve higher mental clarity to speak to a higher power- a practice many high priests and religious leaders have done for thousands of years!
So what does a proper cleanse look like?
There are many ways to cleanse the body. The ultimate goal is to give the body a break from constantly digesting food, especially foods that are hard on the liver like meat, fat, protein, carbohydrates, sugar, and alcohol.
Your cleansing options are:
- Water Fast- 3-5 days Going without food and just drinking water. Many people find this very challenging but it’s the most ancient practice.
- Master Cleanse– 3-5 days Only drinking water with lemon, cayenne, and maple syrup.
- Juicing- 3-7 days This keeps the body very hydrated while using vegetables and fruits to cleanse the body.
- If you tried this in January and had difficulty- it was still winter aka the worst time to cleanse!!! I guarantee you will find it much easier in the spring.
- Smoothie”ing”- 3-14 days similar to juicing but with the addition of the fiber from the fruits and vegetables. Fiber is very helpful in clearing out debris BUT please DO NOT add any protein powders or collagen powders! Protein is building and we want to cleanse! That would be counter productive while protein and fats are also hard on the liver.
- Vegan- 30 days Going vegan, especially for those who are big meat eaters, is very cleansing! So much so, it can actually deplete the body if done for too long depending on your condition (this happened to me and I will write about it in a future post!). BUT, it’s a great way to cleanse the body especially if you want to “eat”. Also important to remove grains and flours to allow the liver to burn through excess glucose stores!
Now that you have a better idea of why and how to cleanse your body this spring, Here is a juice recipe that I made using dandelion greens.
Dandelion- yes is a spring weed 🙂 has an affinity for the liver! It’s bitter and stimulates the liver and bile secretion to help them clear.
Dandelion Juice
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Organic Dandelion leaves
- 1 Cucumber, peeled
- 12 Celery stalks
- 1 bunch Parsley
- 1 head Romaine lettuce
Directions
- Slowly add each ingredient to a cold-press juicer. I like to chop the ingredients to be more gentle on the juicer but do whatever works for you!
- Consume within 2 days. Keep refrigerated.
- If you don’t have a juicer, add ingredients to a high speed blender then strain it through a sieve. If you do it this way, it needs to be consumed immediately since it wasn’t cold pressed.
Cheers to cleansing our liver!
If you enjoyed this recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below and be sure to share with family and friends.
Megan Magill 
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