All the Good Veggies Detox Salad with Lemon-Parsley Dressing is a clean and nutritious salad recipe that is vegan, paleo, whole30 and requires less than 30 minutes to prepare.

If you’re anything like me, you go off the rails every once in a while with food and subsequently feel the need to clean house. I find after consuming too much sugar, fat, or just food in general, my body naturally craves a variety of vegetables.

Sometimes cleaning out your digestive system via fibrous whole foods is just what you need to revamp your metabolism, regain your energy and lift any brain fog.

More often than not, I eat my vegetables cooked because I find they are easier to digest, but when the hankering for a big ass salad hits, I listen.

The best salads, in my humble opinion, are those that contain a variety of vegetables (and fruit!) with a citrusy herby dressing and some type of nut or seed for a little crunch. I also love adding goat feta to salads for that creamy tang, and/or animal protein depending on what I feel my body needs.

Let’s dive into this big bowl of delicious detox.

Table of Contents

What Does it Mean to Detox?

The word, “detox” is thrown around quite a bit and there’s much debate in the health community as to whether food actually has many detoxification properties.

The process of detoxification is your body’s system of cleaning your blood, removing toxins. Toxins are filtered through your liver, so consuming herbs and foods that are high in antioxidants while abstaining from alcohol and processed foods help ensure your liver stays clean, strong and does its job properly.

While eating clean helps keep your organs functioning efficiently, there are many other ways we can help our bodies detoxify. Circulating blood through exercise and sweating in a sauna are both powerful ways to detox. In addition, fasting, dry brushing, drinking plenty of water, and deep breathing are great for detoxification.

Raw Vegetables and Gut Health:

If you’re prone to gut issues, you may want to skip the raw veggies. Don’t worry – you can still make a detox salad without going all raw! To do so, opt for spring greens as your only source of raw vegetables and add roasted vegetables for the remainder. I love roasted broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and radishes for salads! I also add white or brown rice for resistant starch, which I find helps tremendously with digestion.

Listen to what your body needs and never force a tremendous amount of vegetables on it when you’re going through a period of difficult digestion, as vegetables are very difficult to digest.

How to Make a Detox Salad:

First, select the vegetables you enjoy eating that are high in antioxidants. Cabbage, kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, beets, radishes, carrots, bell peppers, etc. are rich in nutrients. Also select your favorite herbs, like parsley, basil, and/or mint, as they contain powerful detoxification properties as well.

To make the whole thing go down nicely, be sure to add your favorite nuts, seeds, avocado, animal protein (if desired) and/or organic raw cheese (if desired).

Making salad dressing at home is a surefire way of taking in healthy fats (many store-bought dressings use low-quality inflammatory oils like canola oil) while achieving your desired flavor. I love making lemon-parsley dressing not only because it tastes amazing but also because both lemon juice and parsley are amazing for detoxification.

Chop up your veggies and toss everything in a big bowl with your swanky homemade dressing. BOOM delicious detoxifying nutrients.

Recipe Adaptations:

Replace the raw almonds with raw walnuts, and/or add pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, etc.
Use any of your favorite seasonal vegetables
Any type of kale or power green can be used.
Get creative with herbs in the dressing! Use basil, thyme, and/or sage or any combination thereof.
Make Salad Low-FODMAP by omitting the red cabbage and decrease green onion to 1 stalk.
Make recipe Whole30 by omitting the pure maple syrup from the salad dressing.