During the time for fasting according to old traditions we took on time to detox. Detox is just a milder form of fasting – at least for us. We did not consume alcohol or red meat for the entire period and gradually reduced the types of foods we ate and then built up again. It worked like that – the first 3 days we ate pretty much everything except red meat and alcohol. Then for the next 3 days we dropped chicken and meat and dairy from the menu. The following 3 days we dropped all grains as well and just ate fruits and veg for 3 days. These were the toughest in terms of planning – we had to purchase enough fruit and veg and also think about the meals we can make from them. This time we had beetroots and onions baked in oven over green salad with a bit of olive oil for one dinner for example. The next night we had ratatouille. Tomato soup tastes delicious without any cream or milk in it and so does lentil soup. After 3 days of fruit and veg, we added grains back again- having vegetable pizza was a real treat and vegetable pasta with coconut milk as well. For the days of adding chicken and fish, I continued out of habit still with breakfast of bread and hummus instead of having some kind of fish or chicken fillet. But pasta sauce made of ground chicken tastes very nice indeed and a lot less fatty.

All the ingredients were purchased from the local organic farms – there is a delivery service here called SPUD.ca that delivers organic food from nearby to your home every Monday. The produce is very fresh and tasty and they have a good variety as well.

Some of you ask me – why on earth do you do that? The farmers all used to do it in the old days – it was very often forced because the food was scarce, but many nations fasted before the Easter – no meat was eaten and food was consumed sparingly. We do it in order to sleep better, feel better, give our livers a bit of rest  from all the wine tasting that we normally do and hopefully it will help us keep our health for longer. Neither me or my husband can think of fasting any more seriously like giving up food altogether and drinking lemonade for 10 days that some people do. But fortunately there are different ways of cleansing and we have found the one for us.