Dark Days: Juice and Broth, on a Cleanse

This week, a friend and I decided to do a three-day cleanse together. We don't actually live in the same place, so we went with what was available to us more or less locally. And we went with the theme of nourishment.

In the past, I have done cleanses which involved deep juice-fasting and a month of raw foods. Three times, I have done the Blessed Herbs colon cleanse, with mixed results. While I feel that I benefitted deeply from their Internal Cleanse, I am skeptical of all that fiber. I decided that my colon has been good-and-cleansed in the last few years and what I wanted was a break from digestion and animal products, not from nourishment. I am no longer interested in sand-papering my insides. So, I stocked up on nourishing goodies: probiotics like homemade water-kefir (my grandma sent grains, so I've got it started! pictures soon), local Kombucha, homemade veggie broth from local, organic veggies, local organic multigrain Miso, and totally non-local but high-energy-organic Vitmineral Green Superfood. I also bought some Amazake because it is probiotic and makes me feel full and grounded.

Other tricks I tried included sprouting sunflower seeds and then putting them, along with some water and organic raisins, through the blender with some Vitmineral Green powder. I also drank a lot of organic Guayaki Yerba Mate and a little Fasting Tea from Yogi Tea. And I soaked flax and blended it with water and Vitmineral Green powder as well. This last trick, I do not recommend....drinking more than a tablespoon of blended flax is like downing a glass of mucous.

But, I digress....here is the part that was (almost) entirely local!

First, Juice. Carrot-Beet-Cabbage-Ginger juice. All organic, and local except for the ginger. Juiced through the Jack LaLane Power Juicer. Really hearty and satisfying. I meant to save the fiber and make flax crackers for later, but in my spacey, foodless state, I forgot to clean the juicer. I'm dreading going to look at it.

Then, Kombucha. This was a great find...a local, organic, kombucha company called Katalyst Kombucha! I imagine that the Schizandra Berry flavor, which I was buying, probably has a non-local Schizandra Berry component, but overall I felt pretty good about this product.

Finally, broth with South River Miso. Bits and pieces from my most recent "broth bag". Sweet potato, turnip, and carrot ends. Bits of celeriac. Onion skins and tips. Beet chunks. And a couple of whole potatoes and an extra carrot for good measure. All of it simmered for several hours until it was a rich brown and sweet, thick flavor. After the broth cooled a bit, I added heaping spoonfuls of South River Aduki Bean/Brown Rice Miso and it was so deliciously satisfying. I feel incredibly lucky that this miso company is local! Normally, I try to avoid soy, but as this is small bits of fermented soy mixed with many other goodies, I feel okay about it.


The three days are up now, and I feel amazing and have decided to stop eating on Tuesdays. Tuesday is now "cleanse day", just for the sake of allowing my system to rest and restart and reminding myself of how good I feel when I get this chance to stop and reflect.

Would love to hear other people's cleanse thoughts/stories!!!