Foods to revitalize your body in spring

Days are getting longer and brighter, which incites us to wake up. It can be hard at the beginning, since your body and feelings are used to winter’s energy.

You body is waking up

A lot of us gained some extra pounds, which is a normal reaction of the organism towards the cold darkness of winter… Besides the weight gain, perhaps you have noticed mucus excess (the way the body liberates toxins) that can be due to spring allergy or low energy. It is time to revitalize your body and heart through a deep cleaning.

The liver is the organ associated to spring. It is the organ that needs a bigger cleaning

Bet on green

Spring means green, and green symbolizes recovery and renovation. The lime-green colour shoots on the trees and the grass in the brown soil give a fresh and intense energy to the world.

A way to put more green in your life is increasing your vegetables’ consumption, especially local vegetables that include sprouts, green leaves of dandelions, mustard greens, kale, chicory, endive, rocket, watercress, artichokes… Many of these vegetables have a bitter flavour and for that reason they are the perfect antidotes for wet, fresh and heavy spring weather, inside and outside. Bitter foods are refreshing, drying and light by nature so they offer the support to the detox that your body, especially your liver, needs at this time of the year.

Foods to include in spring:

VEGETABLES: Slightly spicy and bitter vegetables are excellent purifiers: the green part of leek, spring onions, celery, artichokes, escaroles, radishes and its leaves, endives, chicory.

CEREALS: Long-grain rice, barley, quinoa (to boil with a small bite of kombu algae).

SOUPS: Spring soups are lighter than the soups we usually cook in winter, with less salty condiments, fewer pulses and cereals but more vegetables.

PROTEINS: To cleanse the organism, it is better to avoid eating meat and eat some fish.

You can also include a small amount of miso or shallot.

In general, spring cuisine is lighter, stressing on quick boiling, blanching, steaming and sautéing as best cooking methods.

Raw, boiled and pressed salads, light soups, marinades and vinaigrettes are more usual than in winter.

This kind of cooking will help you harmonize with spring energy!