Guests always bring wonderful joy to our home, especially when they come from the other side of the ocean.  The reason for my two week hiatus from my computer (& my kitchen) is, therefore, a happy one.  My brother came to visit us from the busy & sleepless New York City – more accurately, from the quaint city of New Rochelle in the beautiful Westchester County up north, for all those who know the area.  It was his first time in Europe, so the experience was huge for him, and I made sure he got the best taste of Germany he could!  That, of course, involved lots of eating.  And although the everyday German menu is slightly leaner than its fast food American counterpart, cramming all sorts of German tastes & flavors into a two-week period is a challenge for most…especially with all the beer involved!

On his last day here, we could barely keep up with the breakfast, lunch, & dinner routine.  And by the time he left, he barely glanced at the candy racks at the airport; nonetheless he enjoyed his last German coffee from the ever-present LUKAS along with his last Quarktasche, a subtle German cheese pastry with flaky dough in true crescent-roll form – his third one on the trip.  I, on the other hand, ran back home to prepare my week’s menu in true detox form: I need a cleanse!

For the past four years, I have felt the annual need to detox.  Mind you, this is not the crash diet every skinny girl raves about, neither is it an attempt to lose any excess weight I really don’t have.  The very first time I decided to detox, it was a mere effort to boost my immune system & reduce the fatigue & emotional drain that comes from an unhealthy body.  I used a friendly 10-day plan as my guide; it gave me horrible headaches on days 2 & 3, but later worked out perfectly to make me realize just how full of toxins my body was.  After the 10-day period, I went back to my regular diet and again got terrible headaches, which only proved to me that our ‘regular’ diet was not the healthiest.  It was from that day on that I had a greater appreciation for the healthier, more balanced food choices in our day-to-day and began to understand just how some foods are really good for the body and should be part of the weekly diet, while others should be considered treats or reserved for special occasions & pigging out.

So, aside from the year I was pregnant, I have always been delighted with my annual detox and this year is no different.  The perfect timing of my brother’s departure mixed with the overwhelming feeling of knowing the amount of sugars & fats invading my body from these past two weeks has encouraged me to jump into the longer & subtler 30-day detox plan: my all-time favorite, the safe doctor-approved Clean Detox Program by Dr. Oz.  There are a lot of bad detox plans out there, and many are marketed as cheap weight-loss strategies, giving the word detox a really bad reputation out there!  But this version is a filling, satisfying & energy-powered plan that not only regulates your diet & educates you on how, when, & what to eat; it also uses great everyday food options that won’t be hard for you to prepare at all!

So for the next 30 days I will be (mainly) posting detox recipes from Dr. Oz’s Clean Detox menu to offer you a different selection of healthy and body-cleansing food ideas.  No, it’s not diet food, it’s simply – & strictly – clean eating!