Ask The Herbalist

Hi, and thanks for the question.


It is best to avoid oil for the cleanse and future dieting. Oil slows down digestion, reduces blood flow up to 30 percent for 3 hours after digestion, and is essentially a ton of calories with little to no nutrient value. When you sauté vegetables in olive or other oil you are turning a low calories highly nutritious food into a high calorie and low nutrient dense food.


Steaming is an ok option if done lightly. When you steam vegetables you do reduce nutrient value and destroy some enzymes. If you do you will lessen the impact of the cleanse to a degree but I would rather you eat the vegetable than not at all. The benefit of eating the vegetable lightly steamed is better than avoiding the vegetable.


Hope this helps,Gary Gibson HHC CPT BMI VLCEwww.theveganeffect.com