It is vital to make sure that the food we put into our body is well digested.  If it is not, we will simply create more toxins. For this reason, we suggest the following to help you re-establish a strong healthy digestive tract and we suggest you have one with every meal and take these habits into everyday life. In general, you can take before, with or after meals, particularly if tired or heavy after eating.

What we recommend to kick start your digestion: 

Ginger Zinger is raw apple cider vinegar and juiced or grated ginger, great for stimulating the digestive fire. (50/50 take 2 tablespoons in a little water)

Sauerkraut, Kimchi and Fermented Vegetables are loaded with probiotics to help you firmly re-establish a super healthy digestive tract.

We understand that each person is different, so listen to what feels right for you, and if you are digesting well and eliminating well you may move on through these daily recommendations quicker.

In general, your first meal or two should be simple pure vegetables. By the second day, most of your body systems will be better adjusted so you can either stay with the above guidelines at least 75-80% non-starchy vegetables with no more than 20-25% of nutrition from seeds, cold-pressed oils or starchy vegetables for solidity. Try a good salad with olive oil or sautéed mixed vegetables with a few cashew nuts. On the third day, if you feel particularly hungry, and you are digesting and eliminating well, you may add vegetable soup or a veggie curry with just a little rice, or porridge, but avoid dairy, gluten, processed carbohydrates, fried foods (sautéed is fine), desserts, sweet fruits, eggs, or fish/ meat for another day or two.

After the first 3 days we urge you to continue with a whole foods basic diet, keeping to 70% vegetables whilst adding more quality cold-pressed oils, small amounts of proteins such as eggs or dairy or fish & whole grains into your meals, whilst observing food combining rules.  After a week of all wholesome meals, you may notice when you eat something which doesn’t work so well for you. Make a note of what foods they are and do your best to avoid them, as they will only bring your energy levels down. This is a great opportunity to set yourself on a longer-term lifestyle of healthy choices.

How we eat our food is just as important as what we eat, and how we digest is even more important! So allow yourself time to observe these few simple guidelines in your post-fast phase to appreciate their value and hopefully begin to integrate them in your everyday life.

Remember to chew very well and eat slowly. Chewing is the first stage of digestion, our stomach is designed to work with liquids not solid particles of food. We all love eating so why rush?

Eat smaller portions. For your first meal, you may feel full after even just a few bites. We can provide you with take away containers, so you are not tempted to overeat on your first few days. Eat only until you feel satisfied and then stop, take a break and only resume eating if you actually feel hungry again. Do not take a second serving until you have waited 20 minutes after completing the meal.

Eat in a relaxed manner. Engage consciously with your food and avoid distractions such as checking the phone or pondering stressful situations in life.

Don’t ‘drown out your fire’. We need a certain concentration of digestive juices to break down the food in our stomachs, and we do not want to dilute this with drinking too much water or any liquids before a meal. Only have small sips of liquid, 45 minutes either side of eating, even if this is a ginger tea, as this is also 99.9% water! The stomach wants to have 1/3 solids 1/3 liquid & 1/3 air, and very much like a blender, if the proportions aren’t correct, it doesn’t work well. If your meal is dry crackers and cheese (not ideal!) then some liquid with this would make sense. Otherwise, most meals will contain enough natural moisture and any more will dilute the digestive ability.

Discern between real hunger and cravings. Many of us eat for comfort, so recognizing this and working towards finding other ways we find comfort is huge in establishing healthy eating habits. Also consider the body may actually be asking for water not food, so drink more water instead of snacking, as over eating is one of the main ways we congest our digestive system.

Eat early in the evening. Ideally, we wish for our digestive system to be at rest by 10 pm, so the later the meal, the lighter. Try to eat no later than 6 or 7 pm. If you have to eat later, consider a light vegetable soup with plenty of herbs or spices.

Practice intermittent fasting. Eating only within a 10- 12 hour period of the day and fasting for 12-14 hours is a great way to lose weight, burn toxins and stay healthy. This isn’t as hard as it sounds as having breakfast at 8 am and dinner at 6 pm gives a full 14 hours of fasting.

Observing food combining rules. In brief;

*Eat fruit alone; don’t combine sweet fruit with sour fruit or with sub-acidic fruit, and always eat melons alone.

*Do not eat heavy protein (meats, fish, cheeses, tofu, eggs) with carbohydrates: starchy vegetables (potatoes, carrots, squash) or grains including rice, pasta and bread

*Leafy greens and non-starchy vegetables as well as oils go with everything so can eat with every meal.

*note that bananas are grain and dates are an exception to the fruit rule

Other tips for healthy living: avoid all processed foods and oils, drink clean water, and practice intermittent fasting and to mop up your toxins with Bamboo Charcoal (available in Health/Natural Stores)