I did a three day cleanse last week.  I had smoothies for breakfast, liver cleansing salads for lunch, and gentle soups for dinner.  All for the sake of giving my digestive system and organs a rest and getting my hormones back on track.  The hardest part was not snacking, staying away from chocolate, and not eating 3 hours before bed.  After falling asleep with chocolate in my mouth last week, I knew I would benefit from pressing the reset button.

Liver Cleansing Salad

I realized a few things.  I really do need snacks.  Every body is different, and some work better with just three meals vs. five smaller ones.  I realized I really do need something at 4:00.  The thing is I often have something at 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, all the way up until dinner, and then after until bedtime.

Lightbulb!  When you can’t engage in your normal patterns, you are then able to actually realize what they are and why they exist.  It’s nice to take a break so you can take a look.  

Then this happened.  On the fourth day, I found myself at the table scarfing a tray of middle eastern delicacies.  Dipping countless pita chips into the various dips like there was no tomorrow.  Red wine sandwiched my bites, and then cheesecake and chocolate espresso cake completed the feast.

Nice easy way to exit the cleanse right?  Alcohol, sugar, dairy, bread, the works.  Those certainly weren’t the perfect foods to ease my body back into normalcy, but this issue wasn’t about what I was eating.  It was how I was eating – out of control, like there was no tomorrow, like this was my least meal.

While I was so in control for those previous three days I swung the pendulum far over to one side, that it had no other choice but to swing as far over on the other side to balance it out.  Exhausting and informative.  The cleanse, and the post cleanse is not the place for me to be regularly – on one side or the other.

But rather the ability to find the middle, the ease the exists there.  This place is enjoyable and you could stay there for a while rather than dancing on these extreme edges.  Finding the choices that keep you as close to the center as possible.  This is why dieting doesn’t work long term.  Instead of quick fixes, it is about finding a lifestyle that is supportive to meet your health and wellness needs.

So be gentle, get curious, and tune into what your body needs to stay in the middle.  The point requiring the least amount of energy to be and function in.

If you’d like to add a little liver cleanse into your daily routine – without swinging from one side to the other try out above picture: Kale + Fennel + Red Onion + Lemon juice and salt + topped with olive oil before you serve.  Nicely paired with quinoa + salmon.

Could be my middle name most of the time.

I realized a pattern that was hiding very sneakily, it was so engrained I barely even noticed I was functioning from this mindset in many areas of my life.  The habit of discrediting & devaluing everything I have done and am currently doing.  This showed up particularly powerfully whenever I had to share my story.  I never thought my journey was good or interesting enough.  So I always shared what I thought wanted to be heard.  This made writing bios extremely difficult!

I didn’t see my past as valuable events that  have actually lead me to where I am today – instead I saw a bunch of lacking happenings – all haphazardly bringing me now.

When I got clear that actually my college experience was extremely valuable (even if I didn’t go to a prestigious, well known school) and I have actually been teaching yoga for 5 years, even if I didn’t have my certification for the first 3 years.  I could go on, but this awareness grants me the ability to switch these limiting beliefs when they come creeping in (which they will most certainly do.)

you get to create your reality

Thanks to a wonderful reminder at my yoga training this weekend I realized the lens at which I look through my life greatly informs my current reality.

If you are intrigued about shifting patterns and habits you no longer love when it comes to your food & your thoughts, which ultimately lead to your actions.  I’d like to invite you to a juicy tele course I am offering that will uncover the best ways in which we can choose to GROW so we can GLOW.

Nourish You – Tuesday, May 21st.

I love tasty and satisfying salads.  This weekend I made a delightfully delicious bundle of greens with beets + goat cheese + toasted walnuts topped over some simply dressed baby greens.  Pretty quick and easy – the only time consuming thing was the beets – so plan ahead.

Ingredients:

handfuls of baby kale & baby swiss chard

3 golden beets (boiled, with skins removed and chopped – let cool)

handfuls of toasted walnuts (toast in frying pan with a bit of olive oil)

crumbles of goat cheese

for the dressing:                                                                                                                                                                                     this is my go to dressing – mix in a mason jar to save extra  for the next salad  concoction

1 cup olive oil

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon of mustard

1 clove of minced garlic

salt & pepper

Throw the greens in the bowl and massage the dressing over it, then add the beets, cheese, and walnuts and enjoy.

I haven’t owned a scale until recently.  I loved having no idea what I weighed.   It was liberating.  But for whatever reason I decided to buy one.

All of a sudden I found myself stepping onto the scale every morning before I got into the shower. I didn’t realize how toxic this ritual was as I began to let the numbers on the scale dictate the way I felt about my body and ultimately my value.  If it was a low number I felt like a million bucks, but if it was higher than I wanted to be I felt awful about myself.

I took a break.  I was tired of letting a number hold so much weight in my heart.  Instead of tuning into a number I started to check in with how I was feeling in my body.  And lately I have been feeling fantastic.  I have been running more regularly, doing yoga, eating lots of fresh veggies, drinking green juice almost daily, and have found myself craving less chocolate.

 So today as I got into the shower – the scale seduced me to step on it again.  I did.  And I did not like the number I saw.  I immediately began to listen to the mean self talk that started stirring in my mind – trying to figure out what I needed to cut out or deprive myself of.  What I was doing wrong.  Why I was failing.  That dialogue lasted for a few minutes.  Until I realized – I feel great, I am taking good care of my body.  Where did this obsession come from of having my beauty and worth be tied to a slender number.  Isn’t the most important thing to feel vibrant and alive?

So the scale didn’t win today.  I’m learning.

Which has lead to a lot of experimenting and lots of juice drinking.  Some combinations have been more successful than others.  I made the mistake of juicing two bundles of watercress not realizing how incredibly bitter they are and any combination of apple, cucumber, celery, and lemon would not change a thing! But also had some successful runs:

Bottled up and ready to go!  

I love the way I feel when I drink green juice regularly.  Vibrant, alert, energized, and clear.  I am flooding my system with delightful greens that I wouldn’t get as much of if I didn’t liquify.  When you juice the fiber is removed, which makes it super easy for your body to process this goodness, giving your digestive system a rest (which can always be welcome).  I guzzle a mason jar of green juice as a morning snack – but you could drink it for breakfast, enjoy as at the 4:00 mark, or any time you desire.  Do you have a favorite recipe or combination?  Love to hear about it!