Recipes for Recovery - Pomegranate superfood side salad

It's that time of year again I'm afraid. The wondrous feasts of the festive season have passed and everyone has their guilt hats on. People are loosely ping-ponging the word 'detox' about like it's the world cup, each team of dietitians inventing the next best tactic. Peers will smugly boast that they haven't touched a potato in over a week or about how they are munching solely on cashew nuts until Spring. The strangest thing is, that come February all this hard work will be wasted, metabolisms will have slowed to a snails pace and reverting to the old diet will put the weight back on tenfold.

But I have some fabulous news: You don't have to partake in this futile fad and cut out a food group to make yourself feel good. In fact, when you have M.E. detoxing is about the worst thing you can do. It weakens you by taking away the foods that are meant to keep you plodding on through the coldest months. And the bottom line is that we are humans, not squirrels and no one can survive only on nuts and leaves. In these months, what we need to do is tonify, build up our immune and digestive systems and give ourselves what we need rather than cutting out what we don't need. Sure, a beer binge, 6 cups of coffee and a large box of doughnuts aren't the best ideas but what I'm trying to say is don't feel too guilty if your loading up on meat or carbs like potatoes and rice.

Try to eat what's in season and local for your climate because these are designed by mother nature to bring you warmth and hardiness through winter. Take the magnificent cashew for instance, too much would have a cooling effect on the body as it is grown in a tropical climate and so this nut is better suited for eating in warmer weather. A crinkled goji berry that has travelled half the way across the world isn't half as good for you as a freshly picked kale leaf from your back garden. What I love about this dish is that every ingredient is a superfood but not one of them has to be flown in from the rainforest.

Rather than having to take stinky fish-burp cod-liver oil capsules just drizzle some flaxseed oil over this colourful salad for all the omega-3 you could wish for. The almonds are full of heart-lubricating fats that lower cholesterol and actually speed up your metabolism, the dark green spinach has a full spectrum of vitamins and everybody knows that a cup of OJ is the nicest medicinal drink for a cold. But pomegranate is the real star of the show here. As well as being rich in a whole load of vitamins and iron, it's teaming with cancer-fighting polyphenols and tannins that boost the immune system.

This doesn't taste or look like a sad salad, detoxed of it's joy. It is abundant in flavour and every crisp bite is full of nourishment. Remember this is just a side salad so if you are feeling like something a bit more carby, bulk it up with a cup of quinoa.

• A couple of handful of baby leaf spinach
• 1/2 a pomegranate or 100g pack of prepared pomegranate
• 1 orange
• 1 - 2 tbsp almonds
• Best olive oil or flaxseed oil

Soak the almonds overnight, this will neutralise any enzyme inhibitors, making the nuts easier to digest and the amount of vitamins you can absorb will increase.

On a board or plate that can catch juice, peel the orange and slice it into small chunks. Pour the liquid and chunks over your spinach leaves.

To soak up any remaining juice, chop up the almonds into small pieces on the same board. If you want to save time, you could buy ready sliced almonds.

Add the pomegranate, drizzle over the oil and toss until well mixed.