A NEW YEAR'S DETOX

Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional. Please consult your physician prior to beginning a detox/cleanse.

With the holidays officially behind us and a brand new year ahead, my husband Allen & I wanted to kick off 2014 with a renewing detox. We felt it would be a great way to give our immune systems a boost by ridding them of the impurities that undoubtedly built up over the very indulgent holiday season. This is our first time doing a weeklong detox, so we definitely wanted to avoid any extreme juice-only cleanses. Instead, we chose a food-based plan consisting of nutrient dense foods that are easy on the digestive system.

After researching several detox plans/rules, I pulled together a week's worth of recipes below drawing heavily from Whole Living's detox menu and Goop's winter detox, since they share the same medical expert. I tried to choose recipes that had a lot of overlapping ingredients to cut down on costs and chopping/prep. On Sunday, I pre-made the soups, dressings and snacks so it'd all be ready to just grab and go throughout the week. Since I've been a vegetarian most of my life, I definitely won't be missing the meat on this cleanse, but I sure will miss my morning coffee. Wish us luck!

THE PLAN

What's off limits: meat, dairy, gluten, caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar, processed foods

Breakfast options:

• Start each morning sipping warm water with lemon to stimulate liver/release digestive enzymes

• Green Machine Smoothie

• Mango Coconut Smoothie

• Blueberry-Kale Smoothie (Blend together 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup frozen pineapple, 1/2 cup kale, 1 tbsp almond butter, 3/4 cup unsweetened organic almond milk)

• Cardamom Quinoa Porridge

Lunch options:

• Roasted Carrot-Ginger Soup

• Creamy Broccoli Soup

• Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew

• Shredded Kale Salad

• Tangy Thai Coleslaw (Mix together 1/2 cup each of shredded cabbage and carrots, 1/4 cup sliced raw almonds, and 2 chopped scallions. Dress with emulsion of 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp tamari, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tsp grated ginger, sea salt, black pepper.)

Dinner options:

• French Lentil Salad

• Sweet Potato

• Quinoa Burgers with Zucchini Fries (Mix together 1 cup mashed sweet potato, 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, 3 chopped scallions, 1 tsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, sea salt, black pepper. Form patties and sauté in olive oil until browned. Serve with dressing from either the coleslaw or falafel recipes.)

• Roasted Buddha Bowl

• Baked Falafel with Lemon Tahini Dressing (Blend together 1 can organic garbanzo beans (drained), 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup fresh parsley, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp coriander, 2 tbsp olive oil, sea salt, black pepper. Form into small patties or balls. Bake for 30 minutes at 425˚. Serve with dressing in this recipe along with sliced cucumbers.)

Snacks:

• Salt & Vinegar Roasted Chickpeas

• Kale chips

• Fruit and nut energy balls

• Raw "carrot cake" bars

• Trailmix (raw nuts)

Beverages:

Herbal tea

Water flavored with lemon/cucumber

For an extensive list of detox-friendly foods, click here.