Detox those Blues Away
For most of us Mondays by default become a day to detox after all the weekend indulgence. Picture this, from the dawn of ‘Happy Hours’ on Friday evenings onto the wee hours of Sunday, #partynonstop is the mantra most of the urban population swears by. And suddenly, when one has to return to work (expected in full form), that’s where Monday blues crawl in! Hence, indulgent weekends can make for bilious weekdays unless we do something to reverse it. Our Nutritionist Vijayalakshmi Iyengar helps decode the detox-art.
What Goes Wrong?
All that free flow of alcohol and spicy oily/fatty holiday food not only contributes to extra calories, carbs, fat, salt and sugar, but takes its toll on your most important organ — liver, leaving you feeling tired and dehydrated. Repeated onslaughts can eventually lead to many health problems.
The liver apart from being vital for metabolism, is itself a master detoxifier, cleansing the body of metabolic wastes and environmental toxins. Since our health is directly dependant on optimal functioning of the liver, we not only need to rest it from heavy activity on one hand but also provide healing foods such as herbs, fresh fruits and vegetables to aid its recovery. This helps in rehydration and detoxing the liver.
Fix it — Rehydrate!
Now that we know they key to pump good energy back into life, the question is how? Well, there are many unique and interesting ways. You can start by including fresh and fruity salads in your diet (or just replace heavy meals with it). Another way is to drink plenty of fluids. You could make a variety of your own fresh infused waters and herb teas and re-establish equilibrium. Various fresh herbs, fresh fruits and seasonal vegetables, with their unique array of phytochemicals are excellent antioxidants too. They act as scavengers of the free radicals of the weekend before, flushing out the toxins, reducing or reversing the damage.
Since the main focus is to bring back a sense of equilibrium to the body, one should aim to drink 2 -3 liters of fluids.
DIY Drinks
To make healthy, interesting and appealing detoxifying drinks at home, you can add sliced citrus fruits like lemon, sweet lime, orange, cucumber slices, apples pieces or herbs like mint or basil leaves to a jar of water. If refrigerated, it will stay fresh for 24 hrs. (The fruit and vegetable slices can also be consumed later).
Herb, flower or fruit teas can be made fresh by infusing them in hot water or readymade sachets from the supermarket can be used instead. Avoid sugar or sweetened drinks such as fruit juices or lemonade as they simply add to the sugar load.
Limit Solids
In addition, the solid food for the day should be very light and nutrient dense — low in calories but high in vitamins and minerals. Start your day with lime and ½ tsp honey in a glass of warm water. Through the day you can choose to keep sipping on hot or cold fluids or a combination of both depending on what appeals to you most. As mentioned earlier the focus should be on consuming as much fluid as possible, through the day, to bring back the zing to your system.
Breakfast can be either just a fruit or small portion of say oats/cereal or 1–2 idlis. The luncheon meal should be mainly salads, to provide the right amount of nutrition and at the same time provide rest the much-abused digestive system.
During the day, evening snack can be just a couple of high fiber biscuits with hot green or ordinary tea or coffee. Dinner can be a nice big bowl of vegetable soup or vegetable and noodle soup for those who need a little filler for the meal. Finish off the meal with a nice big glass of thin spiced buttermilk and viola you will be looking forward to a healthier week ahead.
And you know what is a blessing in disguise? FreshMenu has an array of detox items today that are light, appetizing and refreshing to the palate. Don’t forget to try the Hawaiian Salad (for vegetarians) and for those who need a slightly heavier meal, go for the Forbidden Rice Chicken Salad. These salads are full of phytochemicals, high in fiber and lean protein.
