Spring Detox: Why + How?

An Interview with Holistic Health Coach and Living Foods Vegan Chef, Magdalena
​By Michelle Chua

Why consider “spring cleaning” your body?  
What are some practical ways to start? 
With busy lives, still stressed over this pandemic, what simple nutrition tips can help you lead a healthy lifestyle?
 
These are some highlights of my interview with Magdalena, Certified Holistic Health Coach and Living Foods Chef, streaming live on Instagram from Switzerland on Wednesday, March 24, 2021.  
 
I met Magdalena in Costa Rica in 2017. We were solo travellers from opposite ends of the globe, who crossed paths on a bus ride to Pachamama in Guanacaste.  I had booked a stay in the forest commune retreat center to attend a workshop on movement meditation.  Magdalena convinced me to stay longer and join her in their body cleanse, 5 days of juice fasting.  I met her as she was pivoting careers to holistic health.  
 
I’m delighted to have reconnected with her on this interview, in which she shared her discoveries in wellness and healing through nature.  Here's our Q+A from the interview. Enjoy some treasures for your own journey in optimal health.

1. What is your background and area of specialty in nutrition and wellness?  What inspired you to focus on this?  How have you trained in it? 
I am a Certified Holistic Health Coach (Institute of Integrative Nutrition) and Certified Living Foods Chef. I trained as a Chef with Ben Richards at Seeds of Life in Bali.
 
Since I was a child I have always been very much connected to nature. However later as an adult I felt that my lifestyle and choices were not contributing to my wellbeing, I felt overwhelmed, very confused, lost and quite stressed. I traveled to Costa Rica where I lived in a small cabin in the forest and completely immersed myself in nature. I participated in a detox program, cleansed my body doing a powerful detox, mediated, drank fresh juices made of fruits, vegetables and herbs. The effects of this cure were outstanding, I have never experienced before such expansive feeling of wellness, clarity and vitality. 
 
This experience inspired me to enroll in the Institute of Integrative Nutrition where I was certified as Holistic Health Coach. 
 
As I am passionate about the healing power of nature and living foods I wanted to deepened my knowledge about plants and healing so I did a training as the Living Foods Chef at Seeds of Life in Bali. There I learned how to prepare beautiful and nutrition meals made of raw foods only. I stayed in Bali for 2 months and it was also a powerful healing journey. Most of the time I was eating raw foods, tons of fruit and I was immersed in nature. 
 
I have also traveled a few times to Thailand where I was mentored about the process of detoxification. I did many detoxes myself and followed different protocols. I studied more about detox and living foods reading books of.Jensen, Andreas Moritz, David Wolfe, Arnold Ehret. 
 
         
2. How important is nutrition and the digestive system in overall health, especially during a global pandemic or a stressful busy life? 
 
Nutrition is at a core of health. I believe that WE ARE WHAT WE EAT – we become the food we eat..- the food we take in stays within our body way longer than the few moments we were aware of its taste. It becomes out blood, enters each and every cell of our body, it becomes our thoughts, mood and feelings, our life energy. 
 
An Ayurvedic doctor has made this interesting analogy: Imagine that your digestive system is a river of life. This river needs to flow and move easily trough your body to bring the life force to your body. Once that river is congested, full of rubbish and toxins and it cannot move, no life force is being provided to your body & to your cells. 
 
80% of immune cells are located in our digestive tract, if we our digestive track is compromised so our health and this will manifest in various diseases and discomforts. 
 
Natural, whole, living foods, mostly plants are healing, detoxifying and boosting our immunity. And this is really crucial to remember during this pandemic – our bodies are incredibly powerful and can heal at any moment, but we need provide our bodies with foods and environments in which they thrive. The more contact we have with nature and natural foods the better our immunity. 
 
 
3. Why is spring a good time for inner body cleanse?  (or is it?) 
Traditionally, Chinese medicine and Ayurveda view spring as a time for renewal. In winter, here in Europe we experience less sunlight, days are shorter and it is cold, we eat lots of cooked foods and also eat more foods for comfort. In Spring the body is coming out of that winter hibernation mode and ready to cleanse. Its like we clean our house and do the Spring cleaning, the same refers to our bodies. In nature there is a renewed and fresh energy and intuitively we want to match that and have that sense of renewal and a reset. 
Cleansing is a tune-up for the body, we clean our amazing organs which are the filters:  our liver, kidneys, colon, lymph system (which become congested with metabolic waste).  
I usually recommend a 10 days cleanse. But before we start the cleanse first we prepare for it for at least one week when we eliminates sugar, processed foods, meat, grains, dairy, and caffeine. During the cleanse for first few days we eat plant-based diet with some cooked foods, next few days we eat raw foods, smoothies, salads raw soups, juices. And then finish the cleanse with a few days of juices only. The detox can be supported by herbs supplements.  
Because our bodies are naturally in sync with the seasons, foods that support detox and the liver are plentiful at this time: spinach, lettuce, snap peas, asparagus, celery, and berries; cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower; kale. To enhance the detox its great support it with lemon water, spirulina (very detoxifying) garlic, and green tea.
 
 
4. Please share your 3 favorite/most effective ways (maybe include a simple recipe) to spring cleanyour body using whole foods.  Can you provide any health facts, research or personal stories to vouch for their effectiveness? 
I start my day with lemon water – simply juice one lemon and mix the juice with a glass of clean filtered water (room temperature). Lemon water really boost the digestion and it is alkalizing for the body – which means thriving environment.
 
I eat a lot of fruit in the morning, one or two fruits at a time is best so the body can really digest and absorb all the goodness from fruit. 
 
I make fresh juices, using different combinations of celery, apples, carrots, fresh ginger, beets, oranges, lemons, cucumbers. 
 
Also raw soups are great, they taste great and are very satisfying: 
EXAMPLE: This easy to make gazpacho is a yummy dinner meal 

• mango and/or papaya
• lime juice
• tomatoes
• spring onions 
• fresh jalapeño, chile or cayenne pepper

Optional green goodness: Add some fresh herbs like coriander, basil etc or some neutral greens like spinach. This will turn it green. 
Method: Combine all in a blender until smooth. You can top with fresh herbs, spring onion, sprouts, chopped tomato etc
 
5. Moving forward, what basic healthy eating/healthy lifestyle principle might you share to help guide a continued conscious joyful nutritional practice?   
My simple and basic advice for a healthy lifestyle is to tune more into nature, pause from technology, be outside, feel the sunlight on your skin, nature will invite you to slow down. There is so much magnificence and harmony in nature, when we are immerse in nature we invite more peace, expansion, more harmony and joy into our lives. I call it “rewilding”, we come from nature and we need to return to it to heal. 
 
For nutrition: slowly add in & introduce more natural foods to your diet. FEEL what it does for you, and let the good “feeling” foods slowly crowd out foods that don’t feel good to your body. 
  
Some good choices of food to introduce to your diet on a regular basis are:

• Fruits and vegetables, with specific emphasis on sweet vegetables and dark greens, 
• Eat MORE fruit – fruit is the most amazing gift from nature, it contains so much of LIFE FORCE; of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. And what more – it contains a lot of water, water from fruit is the most hydrating, it hydrates us at the cellural level and makes our skin really alive and beautiful. 
• Eat more raw, living foods – raw food is a live & fresh food that has not be heated or processed or modified in any sense. It’s a pure life force. Enzymes help digestion, living foods profoundly nourish the body and are essential for balancing the body metabolism and producing energy. 

 
 
6. What kinds of services do you offer?  How can anyone get in touch with you to learn more or to work with you?   
I am just in the process of building my website which I plan to launch in May. 
Currently I offer an online 1:1 guiding for a 10 days detox. I am currently guiding two beautiful women in this process and I am so thrilled about how well they experience this journey. 
 
I will be also organizing onsite detox retreats for bigger groups and I am looking at venues in Spain and in Switzerland. 

Now, spring cleaning is not only about your physical body or home.  Inner spring cleaning involves addressing the mental habits or emotional baggage that need to be released too.  Check out my free guide to get you started with your inner spring cleaning!

Learn about Inner Spring Cleaning!