WEEK 6
Look to the future
After five weeks of healthy detoxing, now’s the time to move on and discover how to maintain your new-found inner health and outer radiance.
FEAST ON FERMENTED FOODS
Fermentation occurs in the absence of oxygen, allowing natural bacteria to proliferate.
The bacteria feed on the sugars in foods, thereby reducing the foods’ sugar content. Fermented food has also been shown to improve microbial diversity in the gut, which helps keep us slim by curbing sugar cravings. Fermented foods, such as sauerkraut (see recipe on preceding pages), Korean kimchi and kefir (a fermented milk made with cow’s or coconut milk) are definitely an acquired taste – often quite tangy, tart or sharp – so introduce them gradually.
Best of all... bread is most certainly on the menu: sourdough (recipe, right) is naturally fermented.
You may be thinking: ‘But bread makes me bloat.’
Well, one reason why most commercially produced loaves lead to tummy trouble is to do with the presence of a substance called phytic acid, which keeps nutrients in grains and seeds intact but can irritate the stomach lining. Sourdough is easier to digest because the wild yeast and bacteria contained within the leaven help to pre-digest the flour and release the nutrients, while neutralising the gutirritating phytic acid.
DON’T STOP NOW
Every month, try a juice-only day when you drink just pure vegetable juices sweetened with a little fruit to give your GI tract a rest.
Top up with plenty of pure filtered water.
Have a gut-healing day every three months: plan a quiet 24 or 48 hours at home with minimum outside disturbances and schedule some light eating, juicing, walking, and some general rest and relaxation.
And make sure you build gut-healthy ingredients into everyday meals by following my simple, mouth-watering recipes – just a few of which are on the following pages...
TURN OVER FOR MORE DELICIOUSLY SIMPLE RECIPES...