While spring is here, many of us are paradoxically tired, weighed down by a fatigue that even a good night’s sleep cannot erase. A naturopath reveals her favorite food to restart the machine.
“Hepatic drainage is the key to breaking out of winter torpor.” supports Anne-Laure Jaffrelo, naturopath. In Chinese medicine, in the theory of the Five Elements, the spring season corresponds to Wood. It symbolizes a life force that grows upwards (like a germ piercing the earth) to move from the inertia of Yin to the activity of Yang. However, if this energy transition is slowed down by a liver that is clogged or saturated by winter toxins, the whole body becomes lazy and this causes this famous feeling of permanent fatigue.
We feel tired, drowsy after lunch and a lack of energy upon waking up. To support this vital deployment in April and relieve this fatigue, you must cleanse your liver. “By supporting the liver, we release vital energy often blocked by the accumulation of toxins“, describes the naturopath in her book “Naturopathy: 70 sheets to guide me on a daily basis”. For this, she advises moving towards sulfur-based foods that are easy to digest and drain: “they stimulate the functions of the liver and gallbladder” she sums up.
Among the key plants for the month of April to cleanse the liver and regain vitality, Anne-Laure Jaffrelo cites black radish. Its taste does not please everyone and can be off-putting with its pronounced bitterness and wild spiciness. However, it is precisely this strength of character that makes it such a powerful remedy for “shaking off” fatigue. According to her, the ideal is to consume it in juice with other vegetables or fruits. She gives her recipe for instant “cleanser” juice: 1 handful of flat-leaf parsley + 2 cm of washed black radish + 2 apples.
This revitalizing juice is particularly aimed at people prone to spring sleepiness, slow digestion (especially after Easter chocolates) or a dull complexion, three signs which betray a need to restart the metabolic machine. Be careful, however: due to its draining power, the black radish cure is strictly not recommended in cases of gallstones, obstruction of the bile ducts or gastric ulcer, and should be avoided by pregnant or breastfeeding women.
For the record, black radish is one of the oldest remedies in the world. Long before becoming the star of modern detox cures, it was already cultivated in ancient Egypt. It is said that the workers who built the pyramids of Khufu received it daily in their food rations. For what ? The Egyptians had already noticed its toning and protective properties: it was their natural “fuel” to maintain energy and resist illness during colossal construction projects under the blazing sun.
Spring is also an opportunity to add more raw vegetables and fresh vegetables to your menus. “No more stews and stews. Place it raw, with acidic and bitter tastes (endive, escarole, asparagus, artichoke, lemon, rhubarb, early strawberries such as Gariguettes). Fresh young nettle shoots are also excellent for cleansing the liver“, recommends the naturopath.
