By Setareh Kiumarsi
Would you like to spend a few days being kind to your body, giving your digestive system a break and allowing it to catch its breath? How?
Instead of flooding it with greasy, heavy foods at every meal, why not give it some support—something that helps it burn and eliminate toxins that may have been sitting deep in your channels and tissues for a long time?
This is a gentle cleansing diet that’s considered safe for most people (excluding those with severe or chronic medical conditions). It can be especially helpful in balancing a wide range of issues; like excess weight, high cholesterol, thickened blood, diabetes, heaviness or achiness in the body, bloating, constipation, chronic fatigue, reflux, heartburn, poor appetite, post-nasal drip, seasonal and respiratory allergies, colds, sluggish thyroid, depression, mental fog, and forgetfulness.
So how do you do it?
The plan includes three days of a salad-based diet followed by one day of a soup-based diet.
Salad Diet:
Wake up around 6:00 AM. On an empty stomach, drink a glass of warm water with a few drops of fresh lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of honey. (If you have high blood pressure, use pink Himalayan salt.)
After 30–45 minutes, have a bowl of digestive salad for breakfast along with a glass of digestive lassi.
Starting two hours after breakfast, drink a glass of digestive herbal tea every hour.
For your morning snack, enjoy a bowl of cooked apple and two or three pieces of dried apricot.
Between 12:00 and 1:00 PM, have a lunch of digestive salad and another glass of digestive lassi.
Again, starting two hours after lunch, continue drinking a glass of digestive tea every hour.
For your afternoon snack, have another bowl of cooked apple and a few dried apricots.
Between 6:00 and 7:00 PM, eat dinner—another bowl of digestive salad and a glass of digestive lassi.
Before bed, drink one final glass of digestive lassi.
You can follow the salad diet for one to three days, depending on your energy level. Once you finish the salad diet, follow it with one full day of the soup diet.
The daily routine for the soup day is exactly the same as the salad days—except that for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you’ll eat a bowl of digestive soup instead of salad and yogurt.
Digestive Soup:
Sauté chopped onion in olive or sesame oil with saffron, turmeric, and coriander seeds. If you’re not vegetarian, add a piece of chicken breast. Add carrots, parsley, green onions, and fresh coriander. Then add a bit of quinoa to the pot. About 70% of the soup should be vegetables, and the remaining 30% should be chicken and quinoa. Season the soup with lemon juice to taste. Enjoy!
This type of gentle cleanse is very similar to fasting. So avoid intense physical activity during these days—be easy on yourself so you can stick with it. If you feel better after completing it, consider repeating this routine once every month or two.
Be full of health.
Please be sure to credit the author, Setareh Kiumarsi, if you share or republish this article, which was written with care and the hope of well-being for all.
