Cleansing After the Feast-Weekly Dinners

Boy was Thanksgiving good. My plate was full of turkey, mashed potatoes, (shredded) Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and a cornmeal muffin. I won't mention all of the desserts.

My son's birthday falls a few days after Turkey Day, which means more overeating (at least it did for me!).

Now, I am ready to cleanse.

"Cleansing" Daily Diner style does NOT mean starving. Even in the most bloated of moments, I still love food and will continue to eat. What it means is to lighten up the meals by having more calories from unrefined, complex carbs (veggies, fruits, beans, whole grains) than fat and protein combined. These unrefined carbs are naturally cleansing.

The key word is more (not only). When I cleanse, I don't give up the animal fats, oils or protein rich foods, just limit them.

Since both myself and Hubby currently feel glutinous, I have created our weekly meal plan around these lighter, cleansing foods.

The good news is that these cooler months are the best time for local leafy greens, root veggies, winter squash, and cruciferous vegetables, so lightening the load will still be delicious.

Weekly Meal Plan:

This week will deviate from the usual way we meal plan.

Instead of having specific meals for each night, we will be eating "buffet style" from the refrigerator. In the fridge, there are three soups: lentil with root veggies, cabbage with onions and potatoes, and black bean-mushroom chili. To accompany these soups, there is really large salad made of butter leaf, red leaf, arugula, and cilantro as the base.

Each night, I will roast some red onions and veggies such as, Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips and turnips with balsamic and a little salt. These are intended for the salad.

I know it's sometimes hard to eat a salad in the winter....seems to cold too eat cool-crisp lettuce. To "winterize" a salad, let your greens sit out and become room temperature. Then add the roasted veggies while they're still warm. You can even warm the dressing. A nice warm oil and vinegar combo goes great and is super easy.

There will be meat involved too. I don't believe in avoiding (real, whole, unprocessed) foods. We'll just be tailoring them a little more by keeping the higher protein/fat meals to breakfast (the most important meal of the day).

Our lunches and dinners will consist of the soups and salads.

Eat Well!