balance days

Sometimes, after a heavy weekend or maybe just in the middle of the week, you feel the need for balance days to get yourself back on track. Below we offer you three suggestions for a daily planning which will help you to get back into a healthy rhythm. The foundation of a balance day is that you eat sugar free, gluten free and unprocessed foods and also, all vegetable based. In short: mainly vegetables and fruit with in addition, nuts, healthy oil and rice cakes.

Tips during balance days

• Drink plenty of water and herbal tea.
• Choose a day when you can take it slow. Because you are eating less, you may feel a bit washed out. Make sure you have some nuts in your bag so that you can always eat a few in an emergency.
• A balance day has the best effect if you also avoid coffee and alcohol. Avoiding coffee may result in headaches (detox effect). Keep this in mind or you can start with a mild preparation day, where you eat as much as you want but leave out alcohol, coffee, meat, dairy and sugar.
• Make smoothies! Grab the blender, or a juicer is even better if you have it, cut up all the ingredients into small pieces and add (coconut) water. Choose how thick you want your smoothie. You can also choose to buy a freshly made smoothie from a juice bar.

Daily planning balance days

Option 1

• 7 am: a glass of tepid (boiled) water with freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• 8 am: a green smoothie made from 1 avocado, 2 celery sticks, 1 apple and (coconut) water.
• 10 am: 1 rice cake (or corn, quinoa, buckwheat, millet) with hummus and raw vegetables
• 12:30 pm: large salad with plenty of green leaves (e.g. spinach or purslane), lentils, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, sesame seeds, coriander or basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.
• 4 pm: 2 rice cakes  (or corn, quinoa, buckwheat, millet)  with hummus or another spread (tapenade) and raw vegetables.
• 6 pm: large bowl of home made soup (see suggestions below).

Option 2

• 7 am: a glass of tepid (boiled) water with freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• 8 am: smoothie made from 1 avocado, 2 celery sticks, 1 apple and (coconut) water.
• 10 am: a handful of unroasted and unsalted nuts.
• 12:30 pm: 3 rice cakes (or corn, quinoa, buckwheat, millet) with hummus, tapenade or guacamole (home made!) and raw vegetables: carrot, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, sprouts and garden cress.
• 4 pm: juice made from half a cucumber, 2 sticks of bok choy, 1 lemon, small piece of ginger and (coconut) water.
• 6 pm: large bowl of home made soup (see suggestions below).

Option 3

• 7 am: a glass of tepid (boiled) water with freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• 8 am: smoothie made from 1 lemon, 1 orange, 1 banana, 2 large handfuls of spinach and a handful of walnuts.
• 10 am: juice made from 2 beetroots, 6 carrots, 1 apple, with (coconut) water added (for this you need a juicer.)
• 1 pm: smoothie made from 1 avocado, 2 celery sticks, 1 pear and (coconut) water.
• 4 pm: juice made from half a cucumber, 2 sticks of bok choy, leaves from 5 mint twigs, 1 apple, small piece of ginger and (coconut) water.
• 6 pm: large bowl of home made soup (see suggestions below).

Soups for a balance day

Soup 1 Red – tomato soup with roasted capsicums

• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 vegetable stock cube (organic)
• 1 table-spoon of olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 kilo tomatoes
• 4 (sweet) capsicums
• 1 large bunch of fresh basil

Preparation
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees. Wash and dry the capsicums and tomatoes, remove the tops and seeds and lay the roughly chopped pieces in an oven dish. Peel and slice the onion and garlic and lay these pieces in between the red vegetables. Sprinkle with olive oil and mix well until all the vegetables are covered with oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in the oven for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a pan of water (1 liter) to a boil and add the stock cube. Remove the oven dish from the oven once the skins have loosened from the capsicums and tomatoes. Take the skins and add all the vegetables to the stock. Remove the pan from the heat and blend well with a blender. Return the pan to the heat and mix well. Decorate, before serving, with plenty of fresh basil leaves.

Soup 2 Orange – carrot-cumin soup

• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 vegetable stock cube (organic)
• 1 table-spoon of olive oil
• 1 sweet potato (peeled and chopped)
• 1 kilo carrots (washed and chopped)
• 1 large teaspoon of cumin powder
• 1 large bunch of coriander

Preparation
Make 1 litre of stock in a saucepan. Heat, in another pan, the oil and add the onion. Allow to fry and add a small amount of stock. Add the carrots and sweet potato and some more stock (decide yourself how thick you want the soup). Place the lid on the saucepan and allow to cook for 10 minutes. Blend the soup with a blender, return the soup to the pan, add the cumin and mix well. Decorate, before serving, with plenty of fresh coriander.

Soup 3 Green – smashing pea soup

• 1 table-spoon of olive oil
• 1 small onion (peeled)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 packet of frozen peas
• 1 vegetable stock cube (organic)
• 1⁄2 small pepper (if desired)
• leaves of 5 twigs of fresh mint
• salt and pepper

Preparation
Peel the onion and garlic. Dice the onion and slice the garlic thinly. Fry the onion in oil over a low heat, add the garlic and fry for about 1⁄2 a minute. Add the frozen peas and enough water so that the peas are well covered. Add the stock cube, mint leaves and the 1⁄2 pepper (leave the pepper whole so that you can remove it later so that the soup doesn’t become too hot). Allow to simmer for 10 minutes (not longer otherwise it will become brown). Remove the pepper. Add sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and allow to cool. Blend the soup with a blender.

For more delicious and healthy recipes during your balance days, please see our website/webapp.