Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Springtime is Detox Time

Every spring and fall I participate in a 21-day cleanse to boost my body’s natural seasonal detox rhythm. In the spring, our bodies start to waken from their winter sleep, and gear up for the summer growth season. Ever notice that as soon as the days get longer and a little warmer you suddenly feel the need to get outside? Commonly known as spring fever? Whether you’ve noticed this feeling or not, Boston is suddenly abuzz with runners everywhere despite a random snow flurry here or there. As Lori says, “there’s the first day of spring, and then there’s the first day of spring.”

Because I’ve been spring cleansing (like spring cleaning, but for your body) for many years, I’ve picked up a lot of information about the staples of detoxing. A recent online post titled 3 Ways to Support Your Body’s Natural Springtime Detox highlights what I would consider to be 3 key elements to any successful detox program. IMG_0312

Squeeze Half a Lemon in Hot Water Upon Waking.   I do this every day without fail, whether I’m cleansing/detoxing or not. This helps flush toxins from the whole body, the liver especially, and promotes a healthy morning elimination. It feels great to start the day off doing something good for yourself!

Drink Fresh Green Juices. Nothing kicks the body’s natural detoxing ability into high gear like a tall glass of fresh antioxidants, enzymes and absorbable vitamins and minerals. And green juices are a great replacement for coffee to get you energized in the morning or early afternoon. Two combinations we like: 1) cucumber, kale, apple, lemon, ginger, celery; and 2) apple, carrot, beet, ginger, lemon and celery. We’ll be serving up both green juices at Each Peach Café!

Add Dandelion Root and Greens to Your Routine. Dandelion is an amazing springtime herb that helps to safely enhance digestive and elimination function, revving-up detoxification and movement of stagnation in the body. Dig up fresh roots and greens from your yard, or buy organic roots and greens at a health food store and make a tea each morning to drink throughout the day. Add greens to your salads, smoothies and green juices. Or sauté the fresh roots and greens with a little garlic and olive oil for a tasty treat! Not into dandelion? Nettles are another fabulous springtime addition. If you’re looking to take things to the next level and learn about foraging for wild foods, I highly recommend checking out Daniel Vitalis’ Ancestral Plants 3-day workshop this May in Maine.

Lori and I have been perfecting a quick and easy 4-7 day detox that anyone can follow, and testing it out on ourselves, friends and family. One girlfriend of mine decided to try it out to get over her morning coffee addiction so that she could enjoy a morning coffee but not NEED it. She not only kicked the addiction, but lost 5 pounds in 3 days and is now regularly having a green juice instead of coffee. Her skin also improved, and she’s experiencing the “glow” often attributed to a healthy regimen. IMG_0306

Once we hammer out the right plan and all the details, we’ll offer the recipes to everyone for free. For those who need/want to have everything prepared for them ahead of time, as well as a detox kit and daily support, we will be offering that service once we open in early April. We will keep you all posted! Perfect way to jump-start getting ready for bikini season…

We are getting close to our grand opening. The plumbing is done, internet will be installed tomorrow (Mar 24), the signs are being installed Friday, and our sanitarian is stopping by for the walk-through on Saturday (my birthday!). We should be able to announce our grand opening date by Monday… Fingers crossed. We did put up our first wall hangings today!

Augusta

Monday, March 21, 2011

Each Peach Menu

IMG-20110321-00185

Smoothies – simply blended fruits
Signature – peaches, yogurt, honey
House Blend – orange, banana, strawberry, blueberry, yogurt, honey
Blue Breeze – blueberry, lemon, yogurt, vanilla, honey
Monkey Mocha - banana, almond butter, cacao, coffee, yogurt
Very Berry – blueberry, raspberry, cherry, mint
Athlete’s Recovery – house-made nut milks (almond, coconut), vanilla protein powder, cacao, maca

*All are available dairy-free by substituting yogurt with our house-made milks (almond/coconut)

Other Menu Items
Organic fair trade coffee and tea
Wheatgrass shots
Organic steel cut oats with toppings
Parfaits made to order with seasonal fruit, yogurt, granola cups
Organic snacks such as “cheesy” kale chips, eggplant “bacon” and seasoned nuts
Richardson’s ice cream
Assorted gluten- and dairy- free desserts

*As we grow, we will incorporate a soup and salad of-the-day

M-F 6am-2pm
Sat 8am-2pm
Sun Closed

Each Peach cafe is a Wi-Fi enabled hot spot

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Renovations, Radiation(?), and Recovery

It’s been a month since either Lori or I blogged, our apologies, but we’ve been up to our eyeballs in renovations, purchases, permits, etc., getting Each Peach Café ready to open. We are close! We won’t hit our original target date of this Saturday, March 19th, but I’m certain our grand opening will not be too far beyond that.IMG_0274

We’ve made a lot of progress with the look and feel of “The Peach” (as we affectionately call it) over this past week, and she’s definitely started to take on a personality. We weren’t certain about how some things would turn out, like the floors, but everything seems to have fallen into place and just works. See the rest of the transformation on our Each Peach Café Facebook Page. We purchased the tables off the woman who bought Grezzo in Newburyport, the chairs off a nice young couple in Reading (thank you Craig’s List, once again), the shelves from IKEA, and the two comfy chairs from Home Goods. Our experience in Home Goods was seriously like the commercial where two woman start fighting over an article of clothing… Once we moved those chairs from the furniture section to the front of the store, EVERYONE started eyeing them! Lucky a brawl didn’t break out.

I would like to take a moment to recognize that more important things than picking out café decor have been going on in the world, like the devastation in Japan. Truly horrifying. And in light of the meltdown of Fukushima, David Wolfe describes how to protect yourself and your thyroid against radiation: kelp, ginseng, ashwaganda (recently found to regrow nerves), chlorella, zeolites, fulvic acid, nascent iodine, reishi mushroom, sea salt (also salty miso), botanical (plant-derived) or lipo- vitamin C, magnesium (chlorophyll), selenium (brazil nuts), coconut butter, Megahydrate, Crystal Energy. A wonderful resource for some hard-to-find items is Jing Herbs. Lori and I will also be trying to get Each Peach No-Nuke Packs together, featuring these super-foods, as soon as we can.

Lots of work, and potentially hazardous exposure, required some additional recovery. I am starting a 10-day Bikram Yoga journey at Bikram Yoga Danvers this week, located next door to us at The Peach, 110 Newbury Street, Danvers, MA. The studio offers a special to new students, 10 days unlimited yoga for $20. Can’t be beat! And a wonderful way to detox.

Lori and I have also been working on a mini-cleanse program you can do all on your own with food from your local grocer. I’ve tried it and one of my girlfriends tried it last week, and this week Lori, one of her girlfriends and my mom are trying it. So far the consensus is two thumbs up! More to come as we hammer out the details and get it just right.

Finally, some tasty treats to keep you healthy and satisfied as we roll into spring. A new one Lori and I are testing out today is Spiced Chickpeas (dehydrated) for a yummy little afternoon snack, road snack, any-time-of-day snack.

Spiced ChickpeasChickpeas
One 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground hot paprika
1/2 tsp salt (sea, Celtic)

Toss chickpeas with spices until coated. Spread evenly on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate 12+ hours or until crunchy.

Remember, we are testing these! We may have to coat the chickpeas in oil first to get he spices to stick well. Or we may not. If any modifications are made, I’ll post them here. We’re also making up some tried and true treats today, like the kale chips and the eggplant “bacon” chips. All will be featured at THE PEACH once we open! Stay tuned…

Augusta