Reboot your food plan for a fresh and healthy 2017

Conscious-eating expert Daniel Jardim tells us what to chew on to boost health and eliminate guilt

Conscious eating does not mean concentrating on what your food tastes like - it is about making wise choices in terms of what to feed your body. But that doesn't mean the food can't also taste good.

This is the belief of chef, author and lifestyle coach Daniel Jardim.

Using doctrines that combine Western cuisine with Eastern healing philosophies, Jardim, who studied holistic nutrition in the UK and is a former cook at a Buddhist retreat in KwaZulu-Natal, holds retreats in conscious cooking around South Africa.

Every January he runs Re-Boot, a 20-day Facebook-based support programme to help people realign their bodies after the festive season.

"The first thing about detoxing is that it creates a stress response in the body," says Jardim. "This is not acceptable. Food must give us feelings of comfort and enjoyment."

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Kale and carrot sticks do not feature on Re-Boot, which he says is a short-term programme with a long-term aim.

"It is designed to have an ongoing positive impact on your health and eating. We cannot live one way for 340 days, then try to detox with kale and spirulina and expect to 'look and feel younger'."

He debunks myths surrounding detoxification, quick fixes and expensive ingredients. The focus is on staying natural and safe.

He suggests seven days of preparing the body, seven days of cleansing, and six days of post-care "with a strong emphasis on how to get the most from the food choices you make each day".

There is nothing punishing about this regime.

"The idea is that gentle is the way forward," says Jardim. "There is no reason to believe that you should feel awful. Effective needn't mean radical; this is about how to cleanse the body in a sensible way."

It is also tailored to individual needs and tastes.

"It starts off as a gentle elimination diet for seven days. We assess each individual's biggest problem foods, which can be anything depending on who you are. Everyone creates a list of what they want to target. Then we work on what the ideal diet would look like. Seasonal, prepared at home - not finicky food - but basic recipes that work."

When we start eating superfoods out of season they lose quality and that is not the best nutrition.

The menu is vegan, gluten-free, wheat-free - but not taste-free.

"It is not raw either," says Jardim. His Portuguese heritage is evident in some of the flavours, but the recipes have diverse influences - Asian and Mediterranean. "We must be joyous about cooking nourishing food," he says.

"My role is to be supportive, as a leader. Each person is different, with different nutritional needs and we work with that. Some people are warm in the morning and can have a juice. Others are cold or grumpy until presented with a warm beverage, so they can have a Bircher porridge. It is holistic health."

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The long-term takeaways are good eating habits.

"If you think you want to eat less meat, that's fine. It is not meant to convert people to anything. There is more to life than getting on a soap box and making people feel bad about what they eat."

Conscious eating means paying attention not only to bodily health but to the Earth's needs. "More than just eating healthy food, it is about what is in season," says Jardim.

"The beauty of seasonal cooking is you stop associating 'superfoods' with healthy eating. When we start eating superfoods out of season they lose quality and that is not the best nutrition. Healthier cooking for the family is all about being sensible and seasonal," he added.

But he is not prescriptive or judgemental.

"What I often say is that anything is bad when you are serving up guilt with it. Even mindful eating can be pressurising. It is all about coming back to sensible eating."

• Re-Boot starts on January 17, R975 per person, on Seasonalcookery on Facebook. For tips and recipes, visit seasonalcookery.co.za