Detox Retox - I heart (my) liver.

It's spring, which for many people can mean climbing out of the cozy, insular, nest - shedding some layers and doing a little spring cleaning.

I cleaned and organized my room yesterday. It likely had more to do with avoiding homework than spring cleaning but it also felt really good to rest my eye on clean, clear surfaces instead of piles of laundry (one for clean, one for dirty), papers, cups, mugs, cups and... more cups - like I mentioned, I drink a lot of tea.

Spring is also when thoughts of cleansing and detox start to bubble up. On an impulse, I found myself picking up a book from the library this morning. In fact two books: very indicative of my quest for balance. The first was "Juicing, Fasting and Detoxing for Life" and the second "The Herbal Kitchen: Cooking with Fragrance and Flavor" from Jerry Traunfeld, former chef of the Herb Farm restaurant in Woodinville, WA which features pretty fabulous wine and food from the Pacific Northwest. I had this cookbook out for weeks and weeks, renewed it until I reached the limit, and returned it, only to take it out again now, a month later. It is packed with sensuously delicious recipes that incorporate fresh herbs plus tips on growing and using your own. I made the Cinnamon Basil Chicken, a jammy, thick tomato based curry spiked with star anise and handfuls of a variety of fresh basil laced with warm cinnamon overtones... sigh -- but before I get too off track here... back to the other book... right... balance...

I was likely drawn to the Detox book because I believe there are definite benefits to cleansing diets: giving the digestive system a break and providing the vitamins, minerals and compounds needed by the liver throughout the phases of detoxification. My brother often asks me about detoxing. I'm sure many people wonder about it. Like many words it encompasses a pretty enormous topic and gets tossed around without much care or concern to meaning. I wanted to be better informed on how detox diets work and what the benefits are, as well as when to use them. Every therapeutic diet is highly specific to the individual and the individual's needs at that specific time.

Detox. Your body is doing this just about all the time. The liver sorts out the compounds the body doesn't need from the ones it does, making them water soluble if they aren't already so they can be sent out of the body via the urine and other routes. I have enormous respect for the liver now that I've learned some of its amazing abilities and tasks. Take care of your liver. It's pretty much running the show.

Do we need to detox? We do live in a time when our bodies need to process a greater number of toxins than we likely did in the past. Environmental pollutants, chemicals off-gassing from household cleaners and building materials, and of course pesticides and additives in our food supply etc. It can be a little overwhelming. I think worrying about it does more harm than good. I do not want to live from a place of fear. My approach is to eliminate the things I can and then try to nourish myself as much as possible in every aspect of my life (physically, mentally, emotionally, socially) so I can be an adaptable and resilient creature. Seems like as for pretty much everything in life - health too is about balance.

For most people, the shift to a detox diet or juice cleanse could be pretty intense. They might want to first consider the amazing and gentle detoxifying effects of just drinking more water and slowly incorporating more whole foods, like intact, whole grains that aren't refined (brown rice, wheat berries (bulgar), quinoa, buckwheat (kasha) or millet), beans, nuts, seeds and of course plenty of fruits and vegetables to their diet. Small Acts Add Up.

The fiber alone will be enough to help carry toxins out of the colon so they have less chance of being absorbed or causing harm. Plant foods are jam packed with compounds like glutathione, choline, and vitamins C and E that are used in chemical reactions by the liver to bind and excrete toxins from the blood to the urine.

The body is detoxing all the time, so may as well try to support it regularly so those toxins can be processed and excreted and don't build up. It's like hanging up your clothes every day instead of spending an hour once a week to tackle a gigantic pile... note to self.

I also believe that there is something amazing about crafting delicious whole foods that nourish by pleasure, and also provide these amazing nutrients and compounds on a regular basis. Hence the Herb Farm cookbook... it is full of recipes that please both your mouth and your liver.

To me this is a very sustainable approach.

Compost Competition

Eat every part.

They were selling cauliflower greens at the market last week. Yes, the leaves normally trimmed and tossed from around the cauliflower head were piled high into baskets and sold for the slightly posh price of a fancy spring mix. My first reaction was to think this was some kind of money grab or that they were desperate for something to sell in the shoulder season between stodgy winter roots and lush spring greens. But then it occurred to me how perfect this was. Really why wouldn't you eat every part? I tasted one. It was surprisingly sweet and mild. I decided to try a handful, but more importantly I decided to stop composting so many edible vegetable parts!

Just like our singular fixation on the chicken breast despite the many, many other delicious bits and pieces (each with their own variety of nutrients too), we tend to forget that if we can eat part of a plant, it's pretty safe to assume the rest of it is edible too. So instead of paying extra for cauliflower leaves as if they were some kind of extravagant delicacy, buy a whole leafy head and save the trimmings for your salad or stir fry.

Other examples are beet greens. I almost always buy a bunch instead of bulk beets when they are available. It's like getting a free bunch of Swiss chard or kale and they are delicious. Fennel bulb has frondy tops that can be used as an herb - it has a licorice-y sweet flavor that is so nice with lemon or orange. Even the green tops from radishes and turnips are tasty. Each has its own unique flavor. I was looking at a pretty limited veggie drawer one day and my chickpea curry wasn't calling for turnips. I snipped off one of the turnip leaves and tasted it. It was mildly peppery and sweet. I chopped it up and threw it. Why not?

Experiment, use your senses and get creative. Don't let your preconceived notions about what WE eat limit you. It's another great way to stretch your dollar, expand your palate and your plate.

The Olympics of Eating

Lately I've hardly notice what I've been eating. And believe me, I have been eating. Stress does that to me. The more desk work I have to do, the more I crave something to chew on, crunch on, sip or savour. I drink more tea than the Royal Family. It has little to do with thirst or hunger and everything to do with distraction. What I'm craving when I'm sitting at my desk reading dense journal articles or cramming lists and acronyms into my brain, is some kind of physical stimulation. I would love to get up and go for a walk or run, hang out with some friends, laughing and interacting, or put my hands to work and make something, anything tangible - but this is not the time for that.

So instead, I try to cope with the sitting, by snacking. It's an easy solution - because unlike most things, eating does not take away from the mental work. I can do it while I sit. I can do it with just a sliver of my brain.

After finishing yet another dinner with my mind wandering to the next exam and where would I live this summer, my face in a Cuisine magazine, scanning recipes to slot into my mental collection, my hand on autopilot, rhythmically supplying my mouth with the next delivery to be processed, the thought - what's next? immediately jumped to my mind. I had barely even noticed that I'd just eaten dinner. I couldn't tell you if I was full, I had just eaten until the plate was empty. I was already thinking; What snacks could I eat later? What would I have for breakfast tomorrow? How much had I already eaten today? and various other food related questions.

I realized, I needed an intervention. Moving on to dessert or finding another study snack was not what I needed or even wanted. Doing so would only leave me feeling full and crappy on top of bored and annoyed with school. It's not very satisfying snacking while I study or reading while I eat and I'm eating more than I'm using up with all this sitting. In all honesty, I'd rather not have to buy new pants but more importantly, I'd much rather actually enjoy eating and feel nourished than do it halfheartedly.

What I needed was a Closing Ceremonies. I decided on a new approach this week - the Olympics of Eating. I'm sure that conjures up images of an eating competition - 20 fist sized matzo balls in 2.6 minutes... but that's not exactly the idea.

It means Eating as an Event. The Olympics has both an opening and closing ceremonies. The meal is the extravaganza in the middle. So for 2 out of 3 daily meals this week, I'm trying to eat with full attention - no magazines, no textbooks, no radio. Just me and my plate.

My opening ceremonies is basically just a moment of looking at, smelling and thinking about what I'm about to eat before I start. Switching from study mode to dinner mode. The sight, smell and thought of food actually serves an important purpose - called the "Cephalic Phase" this is when neural signals from sensory input get the juices (such as saliva, pepsin and hydrochloric acid from the stomach and bile from the liver) flowing so we can digest the meal.

Next comes the main event - the meal itself - the enjoyment of tasting and feeling every crunch and squish, salty or sour: really being focused. Stopping to take a breath and relax. Perhaps even putting my fork down.

The Closing Ceremonies is just a few thoughts on how good the meal was, and how it is now over. That I've had dinner, I'm satisfied and I'm done eating. Time to move onto something else. I don't jump right back to my desk. I take a few minutes to walk around the block or I sit down with a magazine (other than Cuisine!) and enjoy, really enjoy reading it, sometimes I call a friend for a chat, or I write an email.

This isn't the first time I've returned to mindfulness. I just get off track every once in a while, but the point is just to come back to it when I do. It really works for me and most of all, it's really enjoyable. It's also not just about eating less. It's about me acknowledging that I need much more than just food to keep me happy and finding ways to get those somethings rather than distracting myself from wanting them with snacks.

Babaganoodle...

Hanging out with my 4 year old godson Davis over spring break, I was quickly sucked into the vortex of silliness that is his life! His latest thing was making up new names for whatever food we ate each day --- for example – he invited me to have “twidges” for dinner (pasta and greens with chorizo) and “babaganoodle” (waffles with peanut butter) for breakfast with him. Babaganoodle sounds to me like a strange middle eastern/Chinese fusion dish of creamy eggplant topped noodles… however, I think I'm being too literal. The point is that he still approaches food with fun and finds fun in pretty much everything.

I'm trying to keep that in mind while I get through this next busy spell. A great work opportunity came up at a very inopportune time. Trudging in the door tonight after class, dinner was about the last thing I wanted to think about. Then I remembered that I had treated myself to some wild harvested fiddlehead ferns at the market yesterday. I imagined that eating a bowl of something called fiddleheads would have to lighten me up a bit.


Fiddlehead Saute

Olive oil
garlic cloves
1/2 lb of fiddlehead ferns, brown stems trimmed (leave them no longer than 2 inches)
white wine
lemon thyme
salt and pepper

I washed them well in a few changes of water, then blanched them by dunking them into a pot of boiling water for about 2 minutes, draining them and running them under the sink in cold water until they were cool. Next I heated the oil in a big cast iron frying pan over medium-high heat and added the garlic and fiddleheads together (garlic burns easily and I was not in the mood to be watching over garlic). I let them cook a while... I've only cooked them once before and haven't eaten them many more, so after a little internet perusing, I just kept tasting until there was no longer a bitter undertone and the texture was like a perfect green bean. Everything I've read about them says not to overcook them! At the end, I splashed in a little white wine and added salt and pepper, stirring while I let the wine cook off a bit. Then I lay some on a bowl of pasta with some leftover roasted yams and tucked in.

I am definitely feeling a little lighter about everything on the to-do list now... fiddle dee dee.