Get ready for the Diwali detox

The biggest binge-eating period of the year has just ended. Here’s how to sort out your system, writes Shikha Sharma.

For most of us, the festival of lights is also the festival of food. In the run up to Diwali, we tend to over-eat and over-drink, creating an acidic imbalance in our digestive systems. Here is a three-day post-Diwali detox plan based on ayurvedic principles.

Day 1
Morning: Lukewarm water with half a tsp honey and lemon juice. Follow with a decoction of ginger with tulsi leaves and cinnamon.
Breakfast: Eat fruit, not dairy and cereals.
Mid-morning: Green/herbal tea.
Lunch: Two bowls of spinach soup with a little turmeric.
Dinner: Potato and pea soup.
Bedtime: A tsp of triphala and wheat bran with water.
Plus: An ayurvedic body massage with medicated oils (Abhyanga), followed by steam.

Dr-Shikha-Sharma

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Day 2
The same schedule as Day 1. Plus, two glasses of coconut water and one glass each of wheat grass and aloe vera juice.
Bedtime: One tsp of triphala mixed with water and half a tsp of wheat bran.
Plus: Abhyanga and steam.

Benefits:
*Triphala: Makes the intestine alkaline and flushes toxins.
* Ginger: Helps the liver cleanse itself.
* Tulsi: A powerful detoxifier.
* Cinnamon: Balances insulin and cleanses the intestine.
* Turmeric: Helps detoxify and heal the liver and intestine.
* Spinach soup: Helps release gas from the intestine.
* Aloe vera and wheat grass: Aloe cleans the liver and intestine; wheat grass cleans blood.
* Coconut water: Balances excess pitta in the liver.
* Fruit: Provides B vitamins.
* Rice khichri: Calms tummies.
* Ghee: Cleanses fat-soluble toxins from the intestine.

From HT Brunch, October 26
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