Winter Wonderland Cleanse Days 2 & 3

Yesterday Day 2 The Master Cleanser:
8:00 AM Salt Water Flush (1 Quart warmed water with 2 teaspoons sea salt)
8:30 AM - Elimination
No exercise to allow my body to flush
9:30 AM 1st Quart Master Cleanser (1 quart warmed water with 6 tablespoons lemon juice and pulp, 4 tablespoons Grade B maple syrup and 1/10 - 1/8 teaspoon cayenne (I always go heavy on the cayenne)
2:15 PM - 1/2 of 2nd Quart Master Cleanser
7:00 PM - 3rd Quart Master Cleanser
8:00 PM 4th Quart Master Cleanser
Lots of extra sleep
Today day 3:
Lots of extra sleep
10:00 AM Rebounder - a bit dehydrated and weak
10:20 AM- 11:45 AM 1st Quart Master Cleanser
1:30 PM - 2nd Quart Master Cleanser 
6:00 PM - 3rd Quart Master Cleanser
7:20 PM- 4th Quart Master Cleanser

 February 2nd yesterday:
I Just got back from NYC. I was wondering how I would navigate my energy through the day of activities and family. Normally, I clear my schedule of any major plans during a cleanse, especially ones that involve lots of other people and outside venues, till I'm in it and decide what my body actually wants. I did my salt water flush this morning, drinking the quart of liquid at 8 and reading a good book while laying on my right side. At 8:30 I eliminated and waited awhile so see if I was complete. Then I took a warm, soothing bath with lavender sea salts, giving myself more time before drinking my first quart of Master Cleanser, which I drank around 9:30. I only got to drink half of my next quart in the car at 2:15 (given the day's plans) and finished it up back home at 7:00. So, I was not spacing my Master Cleanser as I optimally would. I actually did really well on both energy and blood sugar the whole time. No hunger, though when I got home and saw the Organic Black Truffles made with coconut oil that I bought to send my niece/nephews for Valentine's Day, I did have a pang of food lust! I'm drinking my two evening quarts now. Typically, I like to finish up a little earlier, but I had to go with the flow of the day. I'll probably get extra sleep tonight as well. I would love to hear about other people's cleanses, or if you've let go of a food or added one in...please write it.

February 3rd today:
Today was a day of honoring my body, spirit and goals. Last night, I got lots of extra sleep and still needed more this morning. It's interesting for someone who typically wakes up without an alarm at 6:30  (in the Summer it's often 5:00 or 5:30) to be sleeping so much this Winter! My body does eat, sleep and exercise with the seasons, and Wintertime I often honor whatever it needs with sleep. This Winter my body and spirit are wanting a lot more sleep, and adding on the cleanse is certainly continuing this trend! Early Winter was sleep time for processing and integration and now it's more sleep from the cleanse. Remember my post about "Meeting Ourselves Where We're At??" This a really good exercise for me in that teaching. It involves letting go of the noisy thoughts that tell me it's not OK to stay in bed; that it means something is wrong and it's not making good use of the day, and it's a telltale sign of my emotions. So what if it is??? For me, telling that voice loving words and giving that little girl a big hug are the answer. These days, I need to do it most every morning.
After waking up and making my first 2 Quarts of Master Cleanser, I did my 20 minutes jumping on the rebounder/mini trampoline (also known as the lymphosizer, as it's the only exercise that detoxes the lymph and organ system) and noticed both dehydration and weakness. I am typically never noticeably dehydrated, so I know it is connected to cleansing. I love all these new sensations we only get to experience during this time. I bounced at a speed that honored my body's muscle weakness and fatigue, giving it some strong spurts during moments of energy. When we start to detoxify, the first place that energy is pulled from is from our "wei chi," the outermost part of our bodies, so we often will feel incredibly fatigued in our muscles and tissues. Don't worry...this means the body is taking its energy and directing it toward the organs for core healing. When I did the 31-day Juice Feast, there were many days early on that I didn't exercise, and 3 weeks into the cleanse, I ran miles! 
I did a chakra balance tape to let go of any emotional blocks inside my body and align my spirit. I have used this one for thirteen years and absolutely adore it:
 Chakra Balance CD 
 Aleta St. James is a true healer in her ability to help us open up blocked power sources.
I focused on a project that was my goal today, from notebook to computer. I was watching the snow fall the entire day, and when I finally went outside in late afternoon to clean off my car, I was wonder-struck by what appeared to be a foot of snow (but was around 7 inches). The forecast was for only 1-3inches, so this gift was a pure miracle. What came up next for me was the desire to have a playmate with whom to have a snowball fight and build a snowman. This truly was my little girl, my adolescent and my teenager all wrapped into one. I wanted a playmate so badly! Though I missed not having one, I loved that part of me that was ready to play, and I loved that she came out so strong during the cleanse. I remember sledding with my best friend hundreds of times as children, and the rush of going downhill, not knowing exactly how it would turn out, a little scared but excited to go. I remember having warm soup and hot chocolate after coming in from the cold. For a moment, I really missed that, questioning my decision to Winter cleanse - no playmate and no food?
Happily, I let the emotions just Be, and had a juicy conversation with a girlfriend, who promised she would play with me over the next few days, as we are expecting more snow. I just drank my last 2 Quarts of Master Cleanser at 6:00 and at 7:20 and feel completely content.
The most fabulous and sometimes difficult part of a cleanse are the ups and downs as we detox and feel it all. There are moments of exhiliration and moments of sadness, and it's an opportunity to naviagate the largeness of life through the lense of a cleanse.

The Simple Steps to Eliminate Cravings

Friday's Fabulous Food!:
Breakfast:
Fruit Elixir with water, frozen wild blueberries and banana
Laughing Giraffe Organics Raw & Vegan Cranberry Orange Cacao Granola

Lunch: at The Stand, Norwalk, CT:
1 1/2 fresh green juices with kale, collards, cuke, celery and apple
1/2 hummus avocado wrap in collard with raw almond hummus, tomato avo and sprouts
1/2 curried collard wrap with curry almond pate, red peppers, avo and sprouts

Dinner: at One Lucky Duck Takeaway, NYC!: Shared with my friend Lori
Taco salad: Romaine, spicy taco crumble, pico de gallo, guac and cashew sour cream; cilantro-lime dressing......aaooaoaoowwwwowowowo
rawsagna: Zucchini and Tomato Lasagna: Sun-dried tomato sauce, pistachio basil pesto, pignoli ricotta
Desserts:
Moonpie
Malamar - just think of these childhood desserts a la raw; deep, dark chocolate, cream and bliss
1/2 pint of raw oreo ice cream
complete contentment!

Today's Food:
Breakfast/Lunch:
Amazing fresh raw goat cheese from Amish land gifted to me (thank you, Josef!). This cheese rocks!
Nuts Online Pink Salt & Cracked Pepper Mixed Nuts & Seeds
Fruit Elixir with frozen wild blueberries and banana

Snacks:
Laughing Giraffe Organics Raw & Vegan Cranberry Orange Cacao Granola
Nuts Online Rosemary Garlic Pistachios & Almonds

32 ounces water

Dinner:
Salad with mixed lettuces, spinach and arugula, yam, beet, carrot and parsnip (from Genesis Farm); with sprouts, dulse, nutritional yeast and sea salt

Dessert:
1/2 pint Vanilla Almond Buttercup raw ice cream from One Lucky Duck Takeaway

Are you getting enough sleep? Are you drinking enough water? Are you speaking your truth?
Most often, when we have food cravings, it is from an imbalance in our body system. Our body system is our whole physical body, including our blood sugar, which frequently becomes imbalanced by the foods we consume; it is our emotion/psyche body, which tilts off balance when matters of the heart create deep, intense feeling in us; it is the energy body, when old cellular memory floods the chakra system and elicits conditioned responses from long ago and far away; and it is the spirit body, when our connection to our Divine Source becomes unraveled.
On the physical end, we always need to look first at the primary components of daily health; food, water and rest. Our food should be primarily plant-based, laying low on sugars, flours, dairy, alchohol and caffeine. Our water should try to come close to half of our body weight in ounces. Our sleep should equal the amount you know you need to give you energy, focus and an uplifted mood. When we start compromising these simple components, our body system tries to compensate in other, more depleting ways, resulting in low energy and an increase in sugar, fat and simple carb cravings.
In matters of the heart, when we stop speaking what we are truly feeling; when we stuff it all in; when we stop asking for the love we need and the touch we desire, we look to those imbalanced foods to fill the unfulfilled spaces.
As my dear friend Jessica said to me this morning, "It's always so much more profoundly healthy to say how we really feel than let the "elephant" sit in the living room unidentified." When we actually share the "unspeakable," a huge weight is lifted off of us, and the freedom we feel in our bodies takes the place of the food we were craving.

Take a moment for a self-check-in: Are you eating mindfully, drinking fully, sleeping deeply and speaking wholly?

Are You Eating Late at Night?

Today's Yummy Food:

No Breakfast

Lunch:
Bowl of Seaweed Chowder (see previous T.H.E. blogs for recipe)
A new creation: 1 mushed banana with 1 heaping tablespoon of raw, crunchy almond butter, shredded coconut and sprinkled with cinnamon; all mushed together (confession: I had two of these, just because it was so outrageous, but I recommend having one for proper calories and fat)

Snack:
RawRevolution chocolate hazelnut bar

24 ounces water

Dinner:
Salad with romaine, cabbage, daikon, carrot, cuke, sprouts with nutritional yeast, dulse, olive oil and sea salt
a few herbed olives

12 ounces of water

No more late nighttime desserts for me! Did you know that we are supposed to finish eating at least 3 hours before we go to bed? Why? Because nighttime and sleep time are the hours where our bodies complete the digestion process and move into the detoxification process. If we keep eating, we are going to bed with undigested food that simply stagnates and ferments in our bodies, not ending up where it is supposed to. Not only that, we don't allow our body to rest and detoxify; we are forcing them to work extra hard, like keeping our car running overnight even when we are not driving it. This stresses the body.
I would add to the 3 hour rule not to eat after 7:30, unless you are out for a special evening with friends. Of late, through the Winter months of hibernating, I would often get a surge of energy to complete things at around 9:00 PM; then I would be at my computer for a couple of hours, and I would eat my raw desserts during this time. The results? Fatigue, weight gain and gas.
So, I am back to my original lifestyle; no late-night grazing; no eating after 7:30 unless out with friends. If you don't get home from work until then, eat your larger meal during the day and some snacks that are easy to access (a raw bar or a handful of raw nuts) in the late afternoon. If you must must eat when you get home, just have a green smoothie or a fresh Thai coconut with coconut water and meat.
Come join me on cleaning out our bodies and giving them some rest...
and in the morning, please start your day with a large glass of lemon water to detoxify your liver.

The Healing Properties of Sleep

Breakfast:
Thin slices of semi-frozen Manna Carrot Raisin bread (in honor of one of my readers, who wrote in about trying it this way; thanks, Deborah, for this wonderful tip :) ...I think you'll like the defrosted version even more!) with just a little bit of olive oil
a couple of sips of blueberry elixir with frozen banana and blueberry, coconut water and water, psyllium seed powder, flax seeds, raw crunchy almond butter, agave, cacao nibs

32 ounces lemon water

Snack:
raw cashews and dates

Dinner:
1 avocado mashed with dulse, Herbamare seasoning and cayenne
with carrot sticks and one celery stick

8 ounces water

Guess what I'm doing right after I finish T.H.E. Blog!???? I am going to sleep. That's right; no late night emails or Facebook; no late night phone calls to my male BFF in NYC or my close girlfriend in Sedona. Tonight I tuck into my white flannel sheets and let it all down. I breathe deeply and allow every muscle in my body to breathe with me. It's important for you to know that, especially when making food changes and introducing more raw foods into your daily menu, that our bodies will need extra sleep to allow for these transformations. It is also a huge component of detox; the need to honor the body's desire to sleep more. That being said, you might feel huge surges of energy as well, as the appropriate nutrients are now feeding your organs and blood with food. In both cases, your body is speaking to you. The more you honor it, the more it will respond with triple surges of energy. And, letting go of even the raw conversation, please just allow for sleep when you need it or want it! Do not deny it. A friend and colleague of mine was once giving a talk that I attended, and she said, "How many times do you have to go to the bathroom and actually deny that primary need and hold it in while you complete five other tasks????" She asked us to notice when we do not honor our body's voice. I could see everyone in the room got it. From that day forward, I smiled when I saw myself start to do this; now when I need to go to the bathrom, I do.
Eating, Sleeping and Eliminating are our primary needs (though I would say touch is as well). Please listen when they speak to you through the voice of your body.
Goodnight and Sleep Well :)