Yoga & Food, part II
In my last post I mentioned that by following a few simple principles of ayurveda, I lost 5 pounds without trying or feeling deprived. Intrigued, I kept reading more about ayurveda. Vasant Lad's book recommended a home detox program at the change of seasons, and I was pondering whether or not to try this when my friend Susan invited me to share a detox weekend at her beach house.
She was inspired by recipes in Yoga Journal, http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/2841, and I wanted a more ayurvedic-style detox, so we combined the two styles for a detox plan that included a variety of foods that were nutritious and easy to digest -- this meant making a more traditional kitcheri recipe and leaving out recipes with heavy spices and raw veggies. Since I have problems with low blood sugar, I've never been interested in juice fasts or other near-starvation plans, so I thought this would be a workable compromise.
In accordance with my book (see the link below), I began preparing for the detox a few days in advance by giving myself a sesame oil massage every morning and drinking ghee. The purpose of drinking ghee was to lubricate my insides so toxins could easily be released from my tissues. I was supposed to drink 4 tablespoons, but this proved difficult because I am not used to eating butter. I decided that 2 tablespoons per day was enough. I also starting drinking triphala tea at night, made by putting 1/2 teaspoon of triphala powder into a cup of hot water and letting it steep for about 10 minutes. This is an essential detox aid with a very mild laxative effect.
We started our detox weekend with a "cocktail" of beet/watermelon juice served in wine glasses. Yum! This is one of my favorite juices. It has a beautiful color and beets are excellent for cleansing the blood. For dinner we ate small portions of kitcheri and steamed collard greens with miso-tahini dressing and drank herbal tea. We ate slowly and with awareness. After a few hours of girl-talk, we did some restorative yoga and drank our triphala tea. This was the hardest part of the entire detox plan. Triphala tea does not taste good and there doesn't seem to be anything you can do to change that. Adding lemon or ginger or honey only seems to make it worse. I've found that using only 1/4 of a teaspoon is more tolerable, but I suppose less effective.
Because I eat a healthy diet of mostly fruits and vegetables and a little fish, I wasn't expecting to feel any changes from the detox diet, but when I woke up in the morning I was tingling all over. I had an enormous amount of energy and bounced right out of bed, ready to take on the day. (This was highly unusual for me -- I am not a morning person.) I could feel Prana vibrating in every cell -- it was similar to how I feel after doing the deeper yoga practices. I found Susan in the living room, and she was feeling the same way. Is kitcheri really that magical? Or was it the combination of what we didn't eat combined with eating high-energy food, relaxation, and yoga? I'm sure that going on retreat had a lot to do with it. We removed ourselves from our busy lives, so there was no stress and nothing to do except take care of ourselves.
We spent the rest of the weekend doing yoga, eating quinoa with flax seeds and dried fruit, Ocean-veggie stir-fry, carrot-ginger soup, and drinking almond milk, herbal teas, veggie juice, and the dreaded triphala tea. We read, meditated, and had a lot of good conversation. On the afternoon that we had soup for lunch our energy started to wane from the lack of solid food, but after a nap and a snack we felt better. We both noticed that we were more flexible than usual in our yoga practice and were able to go into deep meditation more quickly. We realized that the food we eat -- and the food we don't eat -- makes a huge difference in how we feel. What we put into our bodies effects us on a cellular level. If we could experience these changes in just a weekend, imagine how paying attention to your food would effect the rest of your life...
Namaste!
Sandy Pradas