Spring Cleaning

Spring has sprung!  Of course, spring in Portland may mean sun in one moment and a combo of hail, rain, and rainbows in the next.
After a winter indoors and the, sometimes, inevitable comfort food intake, I like to reset myself with a simple and healthy cleanse.My body type cannot handle fasting.  I am not built for it and will become weak, slow, and cranky.  Instead, I scale back to the absolute basics.  It’s partly that rule about eating natural unprocessed foods: if your grandparents didn’t have it as kids, then stay away.  It is UNBELIEVABLE how processed our foods are these days.  The other parts include cutting out sugar, caffeine, and any and all animal products.I make sure I get my proteins from a variety of foods such as tofu or beans and rice.  I’m also a huge fan of quinoa.  An easy favorite of mine is lightly steamed veggies with Braggs salad dressing.  I like Braggs because it is simple with no filler oils; it is all organic extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and amino acids with a few other basic elements that depend on the flavor.  They taste amazing.

Making sure I eat simply for a while resets the taste buds and the body.  A simple snack such as a banana with almond butter becomes downright heavenly.  I feel light and energized.  My sometimes wildly fluctuating blood sugar stabilizes.

The first time I did this cleanse I did it for a week with my friend Aimee.  It helped to have someone keeping me accountable.  We visited a couple of times and there were always huge colorful salads involved.  The natural progression also led to lots of yoga and meditation, as well.
It’s amazing how quickly the ball starts rolling after you finally find the will to hit the reset button.  We all know that spring is a time of new beginnings.  If your New Years resolution has faded into the distance, remember there is ALWAYS a time to start again!

If you need a little kick start, Dragontree is pleased to now be offering our very own in house health coaching.  As a celebration of this new service, we will be offering free 30 minute consultations for the month of May.  For information go HERE.

– Meredith Deloca, Assistant Spa Director at PDX