Need a re-do meal after days of eating crap? This Cleansing Tri-Color Quina Salad should be your go-to!

Monday! A day of new beginnings. A day of refreshing newness. A day to put weekend mess-ups behind you.

Ok, so I’m actually against “starting new” on Monday. I’m a complete believer that you can start making healthy choices any time of the day or night, on any day of the week. It doesn’t have to be Monday. It doesn’t have to be the first of the month. It doesn’t have to be January 1st.

You can decide to choose healthy foods any time.

But I want to tell you a little story about this one time I went on a cleanse and how it totally messed me up and totally illustrates a point that you should never deprive yourself of the foods you love.

So I’ve talked about some of my health issues in the past. How I’ve been struggling with figuring out what’s wrong with me, and I even went on a detox in hopes that I’d be able to figure it all out. It was four days of eating the same things over and over again. There were hopes of balancing out my hormones and cleansing my liver. In the research I’ve done, it appears that my system is totally out of whack and has been for a long time.

So I was determined to make this detox work and see it through those 4 days.

The problem though? During those days, I wanted to eat all.the.things! I was great for day one. Day two was good too. But by day four, I started to go nuts. Soup, salad, and fruit over and over just wasn’t cutting it for me.

You see, I’m fine not eating sweets… that is, until I’m denied the sweets. This is the exact same reason why diets fail. Because you’re told in the diet that you can only eat certain foods. So of course, you can only think of those foods that you’re not supposed to eat until you eventually go crazy and eat that food in huge amounts that probably make you feel sick, completely guilty, and like a failure to your diet.

And this is exactly what happened to me. I know my detox was for my health. I know it could’ve been good for me. But my mind does not like restriction in any way. So on day four, I woke up wanting Cracker Barrel breakfast, and it’s the only thing I could think of!! I don’t even like Cracker Barrel! But I just had to have it. So finally I did. And it didn’t stop there. I ate so much that entire day to make up for the prior three days. So what did I learn? No more restriction!

But I did learn something else. This salad that I ate three days in a row was super delicious and full of cleansing nutrients that made my body happy. I want to eat it often… just along with other foods that I love. I’ve since made this salad about 6 times since the detox because I love it so much. It’s super filling. It’s super colorful. And it’s super good for you. Perfect for when you’re feeling the need for uber-good-for-you-stuff. (you know, after a day of eating junk)…

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Cleansing Tri-Color Quinoa Salad

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup tri-colored quinoa
• 1 cup water
• 1 head of red-leaf lettuce
• 1-2 handfuls fresh spinach
• 1 can chickpeas, , rinsed and drained
• 2 large carrots, , peeled and chopped
• 1 bunch radishes, , sliced
• 1 cucumber, , peeled and sliced
• 1 can artichoke hearts, , drained

Dressing:

• juice of 1 lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• apple cider vinegar

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