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Just how delicious Detoxing can be!

Hello Everyone,

As some of you know, I do a 14 day detox diet every spring and fall. What is a detox diet?
For a determined period:
-Cut toxins out of one’s diet
-Eat foods that help flush the ones that are in the system (laxative, diuretic and that make you sweat)
-Eat foods that re-inforce organs that clean or that you are having problems with.

For the last few detoxes, I have organized it as a food exchange so that we can support each other and share the work of preparing the food. Each person cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner once or twice for everyone in the group, depending on how many people participate. We will exchange the food and everyone will bring a ton of tupperware and leave with their food for a week.

This detox is from March 5th to March 19th. This is how it works:

March 2nd at 10pm: Deadline to tell me if you are participating
March 3rd: Division of tasks and meeting point: How many people to cook for and where to meet to exchange food
Monday March 4th at 8:30pm: Meet to exchange food for week I (mornings or afternoons are okay for me too on Mondays)
Tuesday March 5th, start detox

Monday March 11th 8:30pm Meet to exchange food for Week II (mornings or afternoons are okay for me too)
March 19th possible wrap-up (tarot card reading, party, de-briefing, pot-luck- whatever)

For those who are in, I will send a detailed document that outlines foods that help during a detox, some recipes and the underlying principles. So as not to be vague, here are the rules

1. No red meat or pork
2. No chemical additives or processed food
3. Organic when possible
4. No dairy
5. No gluten
6. No refined sugar
7. no vinegar
8. No booze
9. No drugs
10. No cigarettes
11. No caffeine, includes chocolate that has been fromented!
12. Eat Things that help eliminate (laxative)
13. Eat Expectorants (things that make you sweat)
14. Eat Diuretics (things that make you pee)
15. Eat Things that support your immune-system and cleansing organs
16. Get exercise
17. Get sleep and rest
18. Get down time- meditation
19. Drink infusions, stuff that calms in the evening
20. Lots of liquids!
21. No more than 1 cup of tea a day
22. No toxic people, media, etc.
23. Keep clean
24. Do not eat 2 hours before bed time.
25. See what comes up! Even keeping a journal of how you feel and revelations you have in your life

Do not hesitate if you have questions. Looking forward to it!

Thanks,
Melissa Simard
4 Corners of the Table

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Detoxing can be delicious!

Detoxing will change your life. It changed mine. I had actually had never heard of it or made the connection with the health benefits of fasting or purging. In most traditions there is a time when you shed the excess and cleanse, but that was completely alien to my education. What is a detox diet? A detox regime is a period where you reduce toxins to a minimum (gluten, dairy, sugar drugs, alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, etc), you eat foods that help you evacuate the toxins (laxative, diuretic, expectorant, tears, etc) and you give your body the necessary elements to re-build your organs that do the dirty work (liver, kidneys, immune system, colon, lungs, bladder, etc.).

When I tell most people what a basic detox requires they can not fathom not smoking, drinking, drinking coffee or eating wheat, dairy or sugar for a week or two. Some people it’s the sugar, others the dairy and others the red meat. Some people do not see the point, while others see it as a death sentence- like taking their reasons to live away. In fact, I would say it is the opposite. It is taking away the crutches, pacifiers and avoidance mechanisms so you can remember what life is really about. Is joy really smoking a cigarette, eating cake or drinking beer? Is that really what life’s about? Are self-destructive rewards really rewards? Isn’t emancipation from the things we are dependent on real happiness? I think it is, but it is much harder to come by than the quick-fix.

When I started giving cooking workshops with the Réseau d’entraide de Verdun in the fall of 2009, I got topic suggestions from my volunteers and one was “Detox Diet”. I decided to take it on. I was very sceptical. The more I researched, however, the more it made sense. Why would I be so sceptical about taking the best care possible of the body for a couple weeks, shipping out accumulated toxins and re-setting habits and re-balancing one’s lifestyle? I thought it was like any other miracle cure or diet, but as I researched on it was simply about giving the system a leg-up.

I gave the workshop in January 2010 right after the excess of the holidays and my decision to quit drinking, smoking and using recreational drugs. My habits that were supposed to be fun had already run their course. Drinking, smoking and drugs had ceased to make me feel better- they made me feel worse.

Baked plantains and hominy- Detoxing can be comforting too!

As I researched, I decided I had accumulated alot of toxicity over the years and if anyone needed a cleaning-out, it was me. After the workshop, I decided to start. I was moody, weak and disconnected the first few days, but something clicked in place after that; I felt a lightness and freedom I had never felt. I had so much energy and people kept telling me how radiant I was. I was working in a kitchen at the time and could see the bondage of cigarettes, coffee, alcohol, soft-drinks and starch on my colleagues. They flayed like puppets in cycles of dependence. Those things kept them in their jobs. They kept them in the adrenaline roller-coaster of the highs and lows of kitchen life. Caffeine and sugar fed their performance and booze cradled their descent. I wanted out. There was a whole world out there and I was waking-up to it. For the first time in a long-time, my brain wasn’t clouded. I can tell you that that’s a great feeling, but it is not the norm, and the change of perspective is jarring. It is at once a feeling of being connected to the universe but estranged from society.

Detoxing almost always borrows inspiration from healthy flavourful dishes from around the world!

Detoxing is aimed at the body, but it clears the mind and one’s life. Once you know how good you can feel- it’s hard to get back on the crazy train. Things become more simple, and all of the substances and elaborate fixations we use to distract ourselves from the things we really don’t like about our lives, our entourage, our jobs, our lovers and home become very apparent. We become attuned to the accumulated excess and neglect of the fundamental things. Detoxing is a reboot that helps put things back in their place.

My first detox got rid of the bloating of years of heavy drinking. I lost 13 lbs in 14 days. My skin cleared-up and I had so much energy, but good energy meant to move and shake in the day and not to burn the candle at night in some insatiable quest for the ultimate sensation, melodrama or ego trip. The good feelings of the detox helped me to break with the other high’s that I had become used to chasing. I had to rebuild my foundations. They had to be built on wellness and healing and not self-destructive rewards.

Less is more- chuck-out the excess and simplify and your body will follow suit!

I felt good about my new discoveries, but they meant a break with everything I knew: my boyfriend of 8 years, the apartment I had been living in, re-working my social circle and leaving the restaurant business. These things all happened. Some of them happened in fluxes of going away and coming back, but I can definitely say that my life has changed. In fact, each spring and fall I detox and each detox marks a new period in my life.

Feeling good, feeling bad, feeling what comes up! It's nice to be awake!

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Below is the e-mail I sent out to recruit for the last detox diet food exchange

Hello everyone,

I am detoxing again this automn. In the spring we had a detox clan and we exchanged our meals and it worked-out really well. Besides each person’s unique tasty eats, we ended up exchanging our experiences, enthusiasm, culinary know-how, and solidarity as well during the 14 days.  We are detoxing from Sept. 10th to the 23rd. The way it worked last time, is we each cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for 1 day each week for the amount of people that participated (4 people). We met twice to exchange food (once a week). We came with our tupperwear containers and stocked-up. If we have more people, that means everyone cooks less. These are the rules:

1. No red meat
2. No chemical additives or processed food
3. Organic when possible
4. No dairy
5. No gluten
6. No refined sugar
7. no vinegar
8. No booze
9. No drugs
10. No cigarettes
11.  No caffine!
12. Things that help eliminate (laxative)
13. Expectorants (things that make you sweat)
14. Diuretics (things that make you pee)
15. Things that support your immune-system and clensing organs
16. Get exercise
17. Get sleep and rest
18. Get down time- meditation
19. Drink infusions, stuff that calms in the evening
20. Lots of liquids!
21. No more than 1 cup of tea a day
22. No toxic people, media, etc.
23. Keep clean
24. See what comes up!


Some people have suggested doing a day or 2 of just fresh juice or just raw fruit and vegetables. I think that should be a personal choice. Let me know what you think. If you are interested, let me know. If you are not, you do not need to write to explain why- it’s ok! If you are unsure, please do not embark, I only want the energy of people that are able to commit in ernest. If you really want to do it, but feel that you are incapable of cooking 3 meals for everyone for 1 day, let me know and you can enter into a financial arrangement with me and I can take you under my cooking wing. Looking forward to it! I attached a document about detoxing- vitamins, things that are good for different parts of the body just to give the basic principles.

Majiza- forward it on to the familia. Joanne- I think you expressed interest as well.

Sincerely,

Mélissa xox

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