It’s FINALLY starting to feel like Spring!
I don’t know about you, but Spring is when I truly feel like my year is beginning. Maybe that’s because my birthday is seven days after Spring starts and I literally become one year older when Spring comes around… but that’s beside the point. Spring is the time for resolutions!
For me, Winter is a perfect time to catch up on sleep, relax, spend time with family, cook rich, comforting foods and practice self-care. It doesn’t feel right to start off a new year with loads of resolutions in the bleak mid-winter. Most everyone, especially those who live in temperate climates, experience a lack of motivation during the Winter. We’re kind of programmed to do so. We’ve evolved (humans) but we don’t forget where we came from! And where we came from, we had to hibernate and bulk up during the winter to SURVIVE, so, let’s be easy on ourselves when the new year comes around, shall we? Is it just me? I get that it’s a new “calendar year” or whatever, but geez, can we all just accept that it’ll be freezing cold for the next couple of months and that it’s totally acceptable to want to hibernate?
Anyway, Spring:
Spring is a time for hope and renewal. Flowers and leaves bloom, the grass gets greener and birds chirp. There’s a distinctly crisp smell in the air that’s filled with infinite possibility. Cultures and religions across the globe celebrate Spring with Easter, Equinox, Passover, Holi (the Festival of Colors) and May Day, just to name a few. What they all have in common is the cleansing of the past for hopeful, new beginnings.
To promote renewal in your diet, add cleansing and alkaline greens such as dandelion greens, arugula, asparagus, fennel, watercress and artichokes. Increase your raw or lightly cooked food consumption, juices, smoothies and be mindful about chewing your food throughly for complete digestion and assimilation. All of these small dietary changes can help your body shed any extra winter weight and restore your energy.
Spring is the perfect time to focus on renewal, detoxification and refocusing your purpose. The mind and body are incredibly influential on the another, so what will affect one, will affect the other. So when you’re looking to make new resolutions, think about not only your diet, but your life, your choices, your relationships, your spirituality, your soul. Breathe fresh air and rediscover your love for your life and for yourself. Don’t feel like you have to do it all, one change, no matter how small, is better than no change at all.
What am I focusing on? Eating seasonal, cleansing greens and herbs such as fennel, asparagus, peas, arugula and watercress. I’m increasing my juice and smoothie intake because my body is craving a cooler, hydrating and energizing form of nutrients. I’m running, and taking leisurely walks, outside. I’m refocusing my business plan and what I truly want to accomplish in the next year. I’m rediscovering my spirituality and working on my relationship with myself and some trust issues and mental road blocks.
I hope I’ve given you some inspiration to figure out what you want reborn and revitalized within yourself this Spring.
There’s never a more perfect time to bloom than during the Spring.
Take care and be well!
I leave you with a spring-y, cleansing and detoxifying Green Juice to give a try!
Detoxifying Springtime Green Juice
Ingredients:
- 1 Apple
- 5 Celery Stalks
- 1 large Cucumber, or 3-4 small Persian Cucumbers
- 3 Fennel Stalks
- 2 Limes
- 1 Knob of Ginger
- 2 Handfuls of Kale
Juice it up in a juicer, baby!
Health in Bloom 