Day 5- Repression or Realizing My Dreams?

As I'm focusing on finding the most healthy eating plan for my body, I'm surprised that it's settling deeper, reaching further than I expected already. For instance, I naturally started reducing my portions, knowing that healthy digestion can only happen with a bit of extra room in the belly. When we overstuff, toxins can accumulate, making us feel heavy, lethargic, weak, low in energy, and even depressed. According to Deepak Chopra in Perfect Weight, "This cellular debris is thought to interfere with the correct functioning of DNA and is thus implicated in the etiology of cancer and the aging process."

Even though I've known this for quite some time, the willpower to actually stop eating was always an issue for me, even when I felt full.

The more I seek this balance, the more I realize it is not the concept I originally set out to "solve." It's much larger. When I started this blog, I was thinking in terms of more of a work/life balance, holding my balance in a yoga pose, being present, balancing between "me time" and time with others. But it's settling much more deeply now.

I've been reading Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison. I love these daily thoughts that bring yoga into real life, but over the last few weeks I had missed my daily reading. Reminding me that everything happens for a reason, the reading I landed on early this week seemed to be speaking straight to my heart:

"Most of us associate moderation with repression...Despite the staggering amount of evidence that excess destroys our dreams, there appears to be a human blind spot when it comes to the possibility that our most passionate existence might actually be accessed through balance and moderation."

I'm thoroughly embarrassed to admit that this was completely a foreign concept to me. But perhaps it's in this book because there are others who have been in the dark like me? I started thinking about how I had been feeling stressed, tired, and unhappy before the cleanse.

Gates continues,

 "We see that the chaos of immoderation brings us pain and anguish-and that the calm, clear energy released by moderation actually affords us the opportunity to realize all our dreams."

I spent a couple of days tossing the idea around that moderation might not actually be out to steal all my fun.

Then yesterday, B.K.S. Iyengar was ready to drive it home as I read Light on Life,

"Sometimes happiness may bring stagnation, but if freedom comes from disciplined happiness, there is the possibility of true liberation."

Umm... "Disciplined happiness?" What could this be? Iyengar goes on to say,

"None can deny that there is more to life than mere physical pleasure and pain. If we abandon or indulge our bodies, sickness comes, and attachment to it increases. Your body no longer can serve as the vehicle for the inward journey and weighs like a millstone around your neck on the right royal road to the soul."

Eeek! A millstone

Oh goodness. How did he know? A millstone sounded heavy, like my body had been feeling, but I decided to look it up in the old Webster's: "A problem or responsibility that does not go away and that makes it difficult or impossible to do or achieve something." Ah HA. Yep, that makes sense.

So the reason I'm writing about moderation at a time of repression (the cleanse) is that every time I complete this cleanse, I show myself my power. I know that I can pass on dessert, can watch other people eat bread without caving, can even stare down the chocolate without shoving it into my mouth. Now that I know I can and I know that it will “afford the opportunity to realize all [my] dreams,” creating joy rather than crushing it, I may be ready to welcome Ms. Moderation into my life.

Last week, I blogged about how people can't even say the word "moderation" if I'm in the room. Then this week, both of these books find me at this exact space and time while I am practicing discipline through this cleanse. Years ago, I earnestly set out to seek balance. Through revelations like this one, I think it's also seeking me!

Below is a recipe from Vegetarian Times magazine. It's a raw breakfast recipe created by an Ayurvedic lifestyle counselor. That means that it balances all six tastes, which in Ayurveda is how you know you are getting everything your body needs.

Note: It was much tastier when I cooked it on the stove. If you like it raw or know you have a busy morning the next day and prefer to make it overnight, the cold recipe is decent. But when you warm it, it's really incredible. I could eat it every day!

Overnight Chai Steel-Cut Oats

1 cup steel-cut oats
1 cup almond milk (or soy, hemp, any non-dairy milk)
2 TB chia seeds
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground ginger or 1 TB crystallized ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch black pepper
1 TB maple syrup
1 TB shredded coconut, optional (but delicious!)
1 TB chopped pistachios, optional (delicious!)

1. Combine oats, almond milk, chia seeds, cardamom, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and maple syrup in a glass jar with lid.  Stir, close lid, and refrigerate overnight.

2. Open lid, stir, and sprinkle with coconut and pistachios, if using.

I made this a couple of days ago and it's very portable. I took my jar with me today. It stretched to 3 breakfasts for me.

A Refreshing Way to Welcome Fall

With the changing of the seasons, this is a great time to participate in a cleanse – a stepping out of your food habits and giving your body a break from working so hard on digestion.

The ancient Eastern wisdom of Ayurveda recommends simplifying both physical and emotional elements in your life.  For the physical, you can avoid canned and frozen foods for a week, opting for very simple foods, like soup, rice and beans, or just vegetables, focusing on one type of simple food for the whole week.  For instance, make one giant pot of soup and eat it all week.  If you can, omit cheese, milk, and coffee.  Drink only water and tea. 

On the emotional/mental side, this is a wonderful time to take extra special care of yourself.  Get a massage, make sure your house is clean to refresh yourself visually, use a sauna/steam room every other day, go outside in nature as often as possible and enjoy the quiet, listen to gentle music, release any negative emotions, turn off the TV, and find a yoga class or other gentle exercise to get your energy moving.  Ayurveda recommends cleansing for one week, though many other cleanses you can find go anywhere from 7 days to 28 days.  It’s all a matter of finding what works for you and your schedule, but still refreshes your system for the new season.

It is part of our American culture to rush ahead always, constantly pushing ourselves on from one thing to the next.  Our bodies are naturally in tune with the changing of the seasons and even the changing from day to night.  This is an important time to recharge- to let yourself get ready for the new season and take a little breath.

The most nurturing way you can kick off your cleanse is to make some homemade soup completely from scratch.  It is not difficult to make soup stock, it just takes some time to stick close to the kitchen mainly to stir and initially to chop.  Please enjoy this step by step recipe from last year, towards the middle of the post. It even has pictures.  The top is a little embarrassing, as it’s titled “Get Silly and Make Some Soup (from Scratch)!”  But enjoying yourself and having some fun is important, too! 

Also, the post is labeled as “Day 13” of a 21-day Cleanse from Kathy Freston’s book Quantum Wellness Cleanse.  If you are interested in participating in a 21-day cleanse, start here  and follow day-by-day.  You’ll find the cleanse posts in July and August 2012.  There are recipes each day to support the cleanse, as well.

However you decide to do it, this is the time to honor your body, your emotions, and the seasonal change from summer to fall.

*This article was originally published in the Geauga Family Farms CSA Newsletter in my weekly column, Creative Cooking for an Organic Life. 

This post is linked to Party Wave Wednesday at HolisticSquid.com!