A 'Green' Purple Cleanse

It's funny how one thing leads to another. . .
A Facebook friend is having a colonoscopy this morning. This got me thinking how great I've felt after each of mine. Great! Due to the cleansing action of that nasty 'prep' process. 

Then one of my favorite Facebook pages, Food Matters, posted a healthy green cleanse to do at the first signs of a virus. These two things, coupled with the fact that on our semi-annual trip to the cities this past Saturday, my daughter steered me down the Asian candy aisle telling me all about her favorites. I protested, "I don't need to get started on THIS stuff. . ." Too late, I already saw some interesting-pretty-shiny packaging that sucked me in. . .

So, obviously, with my personality -leaning toward addictive- I have WAY over-indulged since then. And, since I believe it's never too late for a do-over. . .that can lead to better choices -VOILA- here we are!

Unlike others, I don't make these things in a juicer. I had one once and hated the idea of all that great, fibrous pulp going to waste. You can compost it, or like me, use it in muffins, but one can only eat so many muffins, ya know!?! So, if you have a juicer, go for it. If not, use your blender!

I loosely followed the ingredients for the juice the mom and her son made on the Food Matters video, omitting one or two and adding several of my own.

1-1/2c frozen blueberries
1 big clove raw garlic
1 big fresh cucumber
3 stalks celery
a couple Swiss chard leaves (no stems)
fresh ginger or some lightly 'candied' ginger
1 lime: zest + fruit with the white pithy part removed
12-16oz. cold, fresh water

Juice -or- blend everything well. This was really good! If you're going more for nutrition than cleansing, you could add a little organic local honey and a banana, but I loved it just the way it is. No added sweetness needed. 

This makes 24-30oz. Enough for 2 big servings.
If you plan to down all of this yourself though -disclaimer- I'd stay home alone for a while afterwards. No long car rides, church, business meetings. Just you, alone, close to the bathroom. Because, as someone recently, so delicately phrased it, "it's never just gas" 😉 It can be surprisingly effective. . .quickly. . .Lin