Cleansing Spring Salad

Spring is a beautiful time to feel renewed, refreshed, and to release the body of winter density. Cleansing our body is great in the spring as the energy brings in more lightness, ease, and clarity. Spring also brings in more seasonal fresh herbs and plants that help our bodies detoxification pathways. It’s important to support our bodies organs through detoxification for many reasons including supporting the immune system, releasing accumulated toxins from food and our environment, keeping our hormones balanced, helping our brain function, and keeping our skin glowing!

You do not necessarily have to do a juice cleanse to help with detoxification, you can also focus on what to add and what to reduce in your diet order to support your body feeling renewed and refreshed everyday. I recommend focusing on whole foods first always for optimal health and limiting the amount of additives you consume in your diet from packaged foods. It’s also important to limit processed vegetable/seed oils, refined sugar, gluten, and conventional cows milk dairy for your best glow and detoxification support!

Cleansing Spring Salad Recipe:

• 2 cups Organic Arugula, Mixed Greens, or Spinach
• 1 cup cubed Organic Beets (steamed)
• 1 Shallot
• 2 tbsp. crumbled Goat Milk Feta Cheese or VioLife Vegan Feta Cheese
• Protein Topping ideas: Organic Chicken Breast or Chickpeas
• Dressing: 1 tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar. Dash of celtic sea salt and pepper to taste. 
• Chopped basil for garnish

Directions
Cut your beets in cubes and steam them until cooked through. Chop your shallot into small pieces. In a large bowl add your greens, cooked beets, chopped shallot, feta, and protein of choice. Add the dressing and mix well throughout.

Why I love this Cleansing Spring Salad:

1. Eating leafy greens is a beautiful way to support the liver. Many greens have bitter properties which helps stimulate hydrochloric acid and enzymes to promote regular digestion and help breakdown and absorb nutrients from your food. Optimal digestion is crucial for supporting our liver and every system in our body to function at its best. They also contain a variety of vitamins and minerals important for your health and glow. Just make sure to chose organic, because conventional varieties are highly sprayed with pesticides which is what we’re trying to avoid when cleansing! Arugula, mixed greens, spinach, dandelion greens, and kale are all great. Other bitter vegetables to include in your diet that I love are broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes.
2. Beets are one of my favourites to include to support detoxification! They help to activate liver enzymes and increase bile production, which helps the liver’s detox function. They also increase oxygen by cleansing the blood and contain beneficial fiber for regular digestion and feeling satiated. Beets are also great for energy and rejuvenating a weak immune system.
3. A little ACV can go a long way! Apple Cider Vinegar also contains bitter properties, which again support digestion and detoxification. Additionally, I love apple cider vinegar as it supports blood sugar balance which can help reduce cravings.
4. Olive oil contains antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation is important to reduce as it can be increased due to unhealthy food, environmental toxin exposure, and stress. It is one of my favourite fats for glowing skin and for a balanced weight because the right types of fats help keep us satiated and balance blood sugar.
5. I do advise against conventional cow’s milk dairy when trying to cleanse out your system however goat/sheep dairy tends to be anti-inflammatory for many people. Goat cheese is a great source of vitamin A which is amazing for liver function and skin health. For a completely dairy free option I love the Violife brand of vegan feta which is coconut based! My favourite vegan alternatives are usually coconut based because coconut is saturated meaning it’s fat is very stable and doesn’t go rancid easily like other types of fats. It’s important to be careful with vegan substitutes if they contain unhealthy oils (like sunflower, soy, canola oil, etc. ) as these oils can create inflammation, skin problems, and hormone imbalances.
6. Where some people may go wrong when thinking of detoxification is only thinking they need vegetables and fruit and limiting protein. However, our bodies actually don’t properly cleanse without the right amount of amino acids which are the building blocks of protein needed to make enzymes and other molecules to support our detox pathways. Additionally, limiting protein while trying to cleanse can have a poor effect since it balances blood sugar and can help reduce cravings for processed or sugary foods. We just need to be careful with the type and quality of protein, which is why I think it’s so important to support organic and local farmers and truly know where your sources come from. Secondly, fiber is another important component that’s essential for liver health and daily detoxification because fiber is what helps regular digestion and elimination. This is why juice only cleanses aren’t always best for everyone because they are stripped from the fiber. Fiber is present in whole plants and these greens and beets are some of my favourite sources to include to meet your fiber needs.