Meet Anika! I am so excited to have her guest posting! We first met through MY health coach, Jennifer Moiles. It was Anika who taught me how to properly chop an onion and not my fingers. She taught me about nutritional yeast, about the power of dates, cashew cream and miso soup! Anika is filled with life. She's authentic and beautiful and a magic-maker in the kitchen! For her first guest post she's here to share her experience and recipes from a recent 3-day food based cleanse.

October is a perfect time for cleansing! I suggest a 1 - 3 day cleanse at the change of seasons or anytime you feel like your body, mind and spirit need a break. I tend to do juice cleanses in spring and summer and food based cleanses in fall and winter. Feel free to ask questions in the comments, Anika and I will be happy to answer back!

To your health! Lacy

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Your History Is Not Your Destiny...

These are the words I heard from an inspiring yoga teacher that lead me down the path to do this cleanse. Although short, cleansing is no small feat, and I bow my very lowest and deepest bow to anyone that may even attempt it. So I challenge you, to do a three day cleanse- cuz heck, why not?

Before we dive into it, bit of back story on me; A couple of years ago I went to an incredible alternative ingredients culinary school, Bauman College. Their philosophy is insistent upon a plant based diet. There I learned how to prepare foods surrounding plants, and also learned the importance/ beneﬁts of cleansing. Three years ago (around this time of year) I planned to do a raw food cleanse for a month. But it did not sit well with my body, and after 3 weeks, I decided to stop the cleanse and return to cooked foods. My body was incredibly grateful. Over the past few years, Iʼve been vegan, vegetarian, and now I eat pretty much anything, but stick to a regimen of mostly plants. When I eat meats I make sure they are grass fed, fresh, and in small quantity. After College, I started my own Private Chef business, and am now the proud owner of Garden Cuisine.

So, two nights ago, I got an incredible surge of energy pushing me to do a small cleanse; an intro cleanse if you will. And that night, I immediately went to the grocery store, ﬁlled my cart with strictly fruits and veggies and left with a huge smile on my face. I happily strolled out the door and into the adventure that life had ahead ------because isnʼt that what this life is all about? Keeping it fun, keeping it exciting, and whenever possible, exercising our capability to be spontaneous!

As I had outlined for myself, I was going to do 3 days, strictly fruits and veggies. Which means no: Meat Dairy Nuts Legumes Oils Flours COOKIES! (what?) Yup!

Day One Overview:

It took about 3 hours of the ﬁrst day to make a couple juices, and two soups. I picked all of my favorite things to eat, and kinda through them in a pot and ran with it. No oil of course giving me my ﬁrst challenge, because how does a chef caramelize onions without oil? Answer: She doesnʼt. She grits her teeth and settles with letting the onions clear over with a splash of veggie broth and moves on!

Needless to say, I made two soups; a pureed Tomato Soup and a pureed Butternut Squash Soup, and two juices; a fruit juice, and a veggie juice.

>>>>>Recipes and directions at the bottom<<<<<

I started my cleanse on my day off, and ate whatever I wanted, whenever I was hungry within the cleanse guidelines. I drank juice for breakfast, ate a bowl of soup mid morning, had a massive bowl of guacamole with veggie crudites for lunch (avocados never tasted so good!), more juice for an afternoon snack, and a different soup for dinner. I snacked on bites of fruit here and there, drank plenty of water, and ﬁnished the day off with a cup of naturally sweet apple cinnamon tea.

Overall I had tons of energy the ﬁrst day; I woke up and did all the cooking, cleaned my whole kitchen, went for a long drive into the mountains, came home, went to TWO heated hour long yoga classes, and slept like a baby.

Downfalls of the ﬁrst day were pretty limited, overall I felt yummy, except for this weird acid reﬂux that was happening, which I have never had issues with in the past. I deduced it to an over-consumption of acidic foods, and planned for a more alkalizing day to come and that was that. But then, later when I laid down to go to sleep, I got a little overwhelmed with anxiety, which I knew was a common side affect of cleansing. I reached for my most comforting item (aside from food) my heating pad. Turned it on, snuggled up, and with a few deep breaths reminded myself that I was okay, and that change is good. A yoga teacher recently said

“keep going, when it feels hard push through, and you might just ﬁnd out whatʼs on the other side of resistance.”

I pushed though and slept great. It was so worth it.

Day 2 Overview:

On day two I was back at work. Woke up early to pack my juices and soup (I had made enough on day one for day two) and ﬂew out the door. Energy all throughout my 8 hour work day was very high and I felt great! But at the end of my workday (3pm) I felt h u n g r y! Once home and treated myself to another large bowl of guacamole and veggies and a bowl of soup. At this point I realized two things;

1. I sat down for way too long and was O V E R W H E L M E D with exhaustion, and

2. I was so sick of the soups that I'd made the day before I couldnʼt bring myself to eat either one of them for dinner.

I literally dragged myself to the grocery store, eyes watering with severe exhaustion and red from rubbing them. I barely kept my eyes open between yawns. I picked up all the ingredients for my 3rd and favorite soup yet, Broccoli Potato! Turned on my heating pad (do you see a pattern starting?), snuggled up and fell into a deep deep sleep for two hours. I woke up around 7:30 pm, made soup, and ate two bowls! So incredible! Day two highlight: I ate a late night bite of an overly ripe banana (which I have NEVER appreciated in the past) and it was heaven! Things were getting better!

Day 3 Overview:

Day three was the easiest of them all! By then I had the meals down, was back to regular energy, and worked/worked out comfortably, however my guacamole snack was no longer satisfying (probably a good thing). With the days that followed I added in grains ﬁrst, then cheese, and then a few days later I began to eat meats and breads and whatnot. Overall it was an incredible experience and I would love to do another cleanse soon!

Recipes:

Tomato Soup

Ingredients: 1 onion, medium dice 2 large carrots, rough chop 3 large stalks celery, rough chop 1c cabbage, rough chop 1 large yukon gold potato, large dice (about 1/2 inch pieces) 1c veggie stock 25 ounces organic tomato juice (in a container) Salt and pepper Garnish: basil or cilantro

Directions: 1.Saute onions in small-medium pot with small splashes of veggie stock until translucent. (I would let the edges burn a bit and then deglaze the pan with little bits of veggie stock.) 2. Add everything else except the garnish and salt and pepper. 3. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook until everything is soft enough to cut through with a spoon. 4. Let cool, and blend to puree it or use an emersion blender. 5. Salt and pepper to taste Serve with fresh cracked pepper, cilantro or basil (parsley would be great too) and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast (optional).

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Fall Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients: 1 small butternut squash (about 1-1.5 lb) skin peeled, seeds removed, med dice 2 thin leeks, rough chop 4 large carrots, rough chop 1 large apple, corred, sliced thin 4 large celery stalks, rough chop 1 avocado Water 1/2 large box veggie stock Salt, pepper, dried ginger, and dried cinnamon Garnish: parsley or cilantro, fresh ground pepper, and a squeeze of blood orange (optional)

Directions: 1. In a medium pot, add squash, leeks, carrots, apple, celery, and enough water to barely cover veggies.

2. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook until everything is soft enough to cut with a fork (about 30 min). 3. Add avocado and puree entire soup, adding as much veggie stock to the blender/ soup as necessary to get the desired texture you would like. (the avocado adds creaminess, do it!) 4. Return to pot and salt and pepper to taste. Then cinnamon and ginger to taste. This gives a warm fall ﬂavor to the soup.

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Incredible Broccoli Potato Soup

Ingredients: 1 large yellow onion, diced 6 large cloves garlic, minced 1 large yukon gold potato 1 head broccoli, rough chop (stem too, skin removed) 1c cabbage, sliced into 1 inch thin strips 1 large box veggie stock 1 tsp coriander Salt and pepper and nutritional yeast

Directions: 1. Saute onions with veggie stock until translucent (as seen above) 2. Add garlic, and saute until fragrant 3. Add potatoes and veggie stock, anbring to a boil; then reduce to simmer and cook until soft, about 15 minutes 4. Add broccoli and cabbage and return to a simmer until soft, about 15 minutes. 5. Salt and pepper to taste and add a good amount of nutritional yeast a small handfull), and the coriander. Stir well. 6. Garnish with extra cracked pepper, and another tablespoon of nutritional yeast.

I can not stress how good this soup is. My housemate (who is not on the cleanse, nor enjoys eating healthy) came out of her room to ask what I was cooking, and then asked if she could taste some. She continued to eat half my bowl! =) itʼs a winner

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Green juice

1 head broccoli 2 large bunches of spinach 3 small honeycrisp apples 1/2 bunch parsley 1 bunch basil

Directions: Juice it all up!

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Fresh Fruit Juice

6 apples 10 ounces strawberries

1 blood orange