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The Professional
Jill Pettijohn made her name raw-fooding Donna Karan through a 35-pound weight loss. For $400, she’ll hold your hand throughout a program she calls “the nutritional cleanse”; for five days, you’ll get six nutrient-rich drinks delivered to your doorstep. These—two soups, a green juice, a lemonade, a lemon-based astringent, and a nut milk, plus herbal tea and spring water like Fiji or Trinity—are your daily food. Each drink targets different organs; those containing citrus particularly stimulate the liver and kidneys, which head up the body’s detoxifying functions. Often by the third day, she hears from clients who are “a little bit irritated, grumpy.” She prescribes light cardio and showers that alternate hot and cold rinsing. It may not always be pleasant, but by the end, she says, you’ll have clearer skin and brighter eyes, and you’ll be sleeping better (and less).
Do-It-Yourself
If you’re not opposed to lots of time over the stove, Angelica Kitchen’s co-chef Amy Chaplin has a seven-day detox—but at least you get to chew.
First stop, the organic section of Whole Foods, or your local health-food store, with your list (see below; Chaplin likes Commodities Natural Market in the East Village).
Next, prepare a batch of alkaline broth: four pounds of vegetables (celery, carrots, potatoes, and spinach, for example, plus as much garlic as you want) simmered in two and a half quarts of distilled water for 45 minutes, then strained. This will be a mainstay for the rest of the week. Cook a pot of grain, like brown rice, barley, or quinoa.
For the first three days, breakfast is a steamed apple with flaxseeds; mid-morning snack is a glass of the broth; lunch and dinner are steamed vegetables with tofu and whole grain. (Steam your lunch at home; office microwaves and the detox philosophy don’t mix.)
On the fourth day, you move into a mostly liquid phase: still more alkaline broth and a few glasses of a “green drink,” made with powdered mixes like Green Magma barley grass or Klamath Lake blue-green algae, with small servings of steamed vegetables at lunch and dinner. On the final day, you get the regime’s big treat: a breakfast smoothie made from a fresh pear, flaxseeds, green drink, and raw almonds (soak them overnight to soften them). It will taste all the more delicious to your freshly cleaned taste buds.
Shopping List
1 package Nasoya organic tofu … … . . $1.49
2 cans Eden Organic beans … … … … $3.38
2 packages Emerald Cove nori sheets
(ten per package) … … … … … … … $8.78
1 5.3-oz. package Green Magma mix . . $23.99
1 lb. pumpkin seeds … … . . … … … . $3.99
1 lb. raw natural almonds … … … … . $8.99
1 17-oz. bottle Flora flax oil … … … $16.09
1 lb. flaxseeds … … … … … … … $1.69
2 gal. Poland Spring… … … … … … … $1.98
Commodities Natural Market (165 First Ave., nr. 10th St.)
QUICK TIP
Fennel, licorice, or ginger tea (Yogi Teas and Alvita are good brands) will help assuage sugar cravings.