Friday, December 30, 2011

Will You Join Us?

Life is a recipe.
A long list of ingredients
put together in a certain way,
to later be chewed and eventually
-expelled.
Take 4 cups of heartache and
combine with 2 tablespoons of hope 
until heartache is absorbed completely.
  Slowly incorporate hope with
2 cups of hard work
and a dash of good fortune.
Bake.
Serve immediately, chew fully.

Top of the world in Utah

  Sometimes the recipe that is life needs a change.  Spice needs to be added.  A pinch of salt.  A dash here and there of savory sweetness.  The palate tires of being overloaded with the richness of the holiday season's offerings and it's almost a mandate to slow down and pay closer attention to indulgence vs. overdone.
  I'm not big on New Year's resolutions partially because I never stick with them, and also because I think any time of the year is a good time to make changes.  But, for whatever reason, January 2012 feels like a big, creamy piece of paper in a brand new journal and I want to etch it with the freshest and best ideas.  It goes to reason that a calm, peaceable mind must have a healthy body to inhabit.
  I know that I feel better when I eat fresh, whole foods.  I have more energy, sleep better and have less cravings for sugary sweets and carbohydrate-rich foods.  Knowing this, I proceeded to gorge myself on bottled Cokes, cheese dips, lots of bread and pasta, chocolate, and plenty of cookies during the holidays.  Now I'm experiencing the equivalent of a food hangover: Headache, bloating, dehydration.  Just as after an unexpected night of heavy drinking I have to ask myself: WHY???  Why do we do these things to ourselves?  
  Now, that's a big question with an even bigger answer.  Which is why I'm more interested in HOW I'm going to right my nutritional wrongs and heal myself, than in why I seem to have a genetic weakness for lasagna Napoletana and creamy French cheeses.
  Thank goodness that my favorite Martha Stewart publication has a solution!  Whole Living Magazine has a 2012 action plan that involves a 28-day cleanse.  It is the ultimate purge for the body, with changing weekly menus chock-full of vegetables, fruits and whole grains.  
  Things you have to live without during the cleanse:
  • Processed foods and/or beverages
  • Added sugar
  • Dairy
  • Gluten
  • Caffeine
  • Alcohol (Yes, gasp, I know!)

  We have decided to commit to an entire month of the action plan, and all I wanna know is:
Who's comin' with me?
  You can find out all of the details, as well as get the shopping lists and recipes by clicking here.
   Here's some inspiration:
Carrots+Apples+Ginger
= CarrotAppleGinger Juice!



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