Simply Enough

I just realized that I haven’t written a single blog post about my cleanse since my cleanse started. And you may be totally OK with that, but I think it’s time for a cleanse update.

The first three days were rough. Only fruits and vegetables. Made me nauseous! (Maybe because I didn’t prepare my body as well as I should have in the weeks leading up to the cleanse).

But I learned that you can make root vegetables taste delicious if you put a little time into it!

(On a funny note, all this time, I thought I was roasting parsnips when I really was roasting turnips. I figured this out when I started looking for a parsnip image for this post and realized that they looked nothing like what I had in my fridge. Now you know how vegetable-savvy I am!)

Tea Love

I’m loving all the tea drinking. At least three cups a day with 30 drops of dandelion root tincture. On Tuesday, I had a consulting session with a group of entrepreneurs in the morning and tried to gulp my tea down before I left home (I was cutting it close, as usual). There is no way to drink tea quickly! Fortunately, when I arrived at the meeting, there was a pot of wonderful Chinese herbal tea waiting for me.

Grains, Nuts & Seeds!

Yesterday, I added whole, gluten-free grains, almonds, walnuts, and seeds. Joy! I also cheated a little. I bought almond milk, poured it over puffed rice (you’re not supposed to mix grains and nuts), and topped the puffed rice with banana slices (you’re not supposed to mix fruit with anything). I guess I’m just addicted to combining different kinds of foods.

(Please don’t tell…)

Today I felt great. At 6:45 AM, I biked to the college gym (husband professor == free gym) to lift weights. I really enjoy when I can combine transportation with exercise. It makes no sense to drive to the gym and get on the elliptical when you can take care of the cardio piece on the way there and back. And biking always makes me feel 20 years younger.

Next: Mindful Eating

There is one thing I’d like to focus on the last four days of my cleanse: mindful eating.

I know mindful eating is good. Yet, I often allow myself to do other things while I eat – especially when I’m eating alone. It’s a way to make the most of ones time. Which is admirable – but not when you’re eating.

Here is what Halé Sofia Schatz has to say in If the Buddha Came to Dinner:

Creating ritual at a meal deeply enhances the nourishment that you receive from your food. Any practice that brings your awareness and gratitude to a meal transforms the experience of eating into the experience of being fed.

She goes on to suggest:

When you feed yourself, make eating your only activity – avoid eating at your desk, in the car, or on the sofa in front of the TV.

This is my challenge to myself during the remainder of the cleanse. To eat – and only eat – when I’m eating. (When you put it that way, it really seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it?)

I truly believe that eating is the single most important thing we do each day. It’s about time I act like it!

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This morning did not start well… Our very sweet dog, Sophie, slept in our bed and kept having nightmares that caused her to yelp – waking us up throughout the night. I woke up groggy and grumpy.

I had planned to go to the gym to lift weights, but it was raining, so I didn’t feel like it.

Instead, I opened up my laptop to make sure there wasn’t anything pressing waiting in any of my inboxes.

Good thing I checked! I had a note from Mary Jaksch of Write to Done saying that my guest post was live, and could I please field comments.

Excitement!

Trolls and Singing

I clicked the link and eagerly scrolled down to the comments. My face started burning when I read the first one. It was not very positive. In fact, it was rather trollish. Thankfully, another commenter had already stood up to the first commenter and that eased the blow a bit.

I scrolled through several positive comments and wrote some responses. Then another troll… Oh dear, I had misspelled “Hemingway.” The commenter indicated that “a ’professional’ writer so careless about spelling (or proofreading) an author’s name inspires no confidence.” Ouch! I left a polite response and moved on to more positive comments.

But I couldn’t get that last trollish comment out of my head! I decided to go down to the basement for a run. By the time I was stretching, I had finally convinced myself that I was focusing on the wrong feedback. (Why do we do this?!)

However, not until I sat down at the piano and sang one of my most favorite songs in the world did my joy return. And that is the point of this post. The joy of singing can outweigh even the ugliest trolls and other bad things in our lives.

The Joy of Singing Together

Indeed, group singing has been shown to have all sorts of wellness benefits. I found a research paper from VicHealth that describes the benefits of group singing. Here is an excerpt from the executive summary:

Wow! I knew I always felt better after choir practice, but I didn’t quite know why.

Tonight, I had two group singing experiences and they left me so joyful. Once you enter that space where it’s all about the music and singing together in harmony, all other concerns disappear. It’s quite magical.

Over to You!

• Have you experienced this “joy of singing” phenomenon?
• Do you think singing is underrated as a form of therapy for depression or anxiety?
• What other types of art do you engage in to improve your well-being?

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After almost two days of eating only fruits and vegetables (oh – and rice cakes – you can eat rice cakes “if needed” – it’s been needed), I have re-realized that the most probable reason why more people (including myself) don’t eat a healthier diet is because it’s hard!

Meaning – it takes a lot of time. There’s a lot of washing and peeling and roasting involved. It’s so much easier to make a peanut butter, jelly, egg & cheese sandwich (which isn’t necessarily un-healthy, but it’s not vegetables). Or worse, grab a pre-packaged conglomeration of heavily processed and fabricated ingredients (half of which you can’t pronounce) from the pantry or the freezer.

I don’t think our culture is designed to accommodate real cooking. With all the work and soccer games and committee meetings and time spent on social media (and writing blog posts!), where do you fit it in?

Seriously?

On Sunday, I prepared a wonderful recipe I received from a local chef at the latest DCSD Wellness Committee family event. It involved turning on the oven to 400 degrees F, peeling and cutting a ginormous parsnip, a yam, a rutabaga, and a handful of little potatoes, coating the chopped-up vegetables with olive oil and salt, peppar, and fresh rosemary. Then in the oven for 20 minutes, turn heat down to 350 degrees F, stir, and wait another 20 minutes (stirring every now and then to make sure nothing’s burning).

I topped a generous serving of this roasted goodness with avocado slices and went straight to heaven. It was so delicious!

It was actually pretty easy to make root vegetables taste amazing! But it took time… Fortunately, that batch of roasted veggies lasted for three meals. Tomorrow, I’m going to have to do it again (because I’m in love with this recipe) – in the middle of a work day. That will be interesting.

Here’s my dream cooking class: Easy, healthy recipes that taste great and don’t seem scary to “non-adventurous” eaters. In fact, why aren’t we teaching this in the schools? And having the kids eat the results… (Some schools are… But very few.)

It would be so wonderful if the next generation didn’t find healthy cooking and eating hard. Imagine if it was in their DNA – something they couldn’t live without. Like french fries and soft drinks. I believe it’s possible. However…

Palates must be changed. Skills must be taught. And time must be made.

If you want to make a difference in this area, join your school’s wellness committee. Every school district is required to have one. It’s not just about food, but food is an important component of school wellness.

Be vocal. Make it happen! And may the force be with you…

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I didn’t start my cleanse today. First of all, I didn’t make it to the store yesterday to buy supplies (you know, real food). Second, I knew today would be crazy (and it was), so starting a meditative cleanse probably wouldn’t be the best course of action. Third, I just wasn’t ready. Pumped. You know?

Instead, I spent a lot of time today finishing a big project, so that felt good. In the afternoon, I was energized by 90 minutes of gospel choir practice. I always feel so great after singing. Maybe I should sing for a living!

And I finally made it to the local co-op and bought (almost) everything on my list:

• Pears (they have these red ones that are so good I wonder if this wasn’t the fruit that Eve tricked Adam into eating…)
• Oranges
• Mango
• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Apples (a big bag!)
• Avocado
• Potatoes
• Parsnip
• Rutabaga
• Yam
• Cucumber
• Kale
• Spinach (decided kale was enough…)
• Carrots (forgot these, sigh…)
• Vegetable soup
• Lemon (went with the pre-squeezed – I can only manage so much fanciness in the kitchen)
• Fresh rosemary (oh yeah!)
• Ginger (for my green smoothies)
• Juice (supposed to be fresh-squeezed, but you know… ended up with “Orange-Carrot,” so I got my carrots anyway!)
• Dried apricots
• Dates (yes, this is a cleanse…)
• Puffed rice (for my grain phase)
• Almond milk (to go with the puffed rice)
• Quinoa cereal (for when I get tired of puffed rice)
• Probiotic
• Colon Cleanser (I decided to skip this – sounds a little frightening)

I already had my dandelion root tincture from last time (and the alternative health lady said that the alcohol makes them have a really long shelf life – like 6 years). And I already had herbal tea.

I got home to realize that I am almost out of olive oil… Oh well, perhaps I can make it until Monday. I try to stay away from stores on my sabbath (which is tomorrow!!!). Otherwise, I’ll make (I mean, ask) my dear husband buy some. He already has a request from my daughter to go buy cookie supplies (she’s baking for a Gay-Straight Alliance bake sale – requires rainbow frosting…).

And with that, I’m going to start my digital sabbath before my computer gets zapped by this thunderstorm.

Wish me luck! See you on Day 2 (Monday).

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