Remember the last time your laptop or phone had too many applications open and you had to reboot as it was out of resources?
Remember the last time you rebooted your body-mind because it was coming close to a screeching halt? No, not the daily sleep but a conscious effort at taking actions to replenish is what I mean. There are infinite number of methodologies for this, here's a very good and simple 3 day cleanse/reboot for our bodies.
Remember the last time you rebooted your body-mind because it was coming close to a screeching halt? No, not the daily sleep but a conscious effort at taking actions to replenish is what I mean. There are infinite number of methodologies for this, here's a very good and simple 3 day cleanse/reboot for our bodies.
Attempt to get all ingredients Organic. Whether we like it or not, our bodies will convert what we eat into new cells, it's our choice what we want the new cells to be made of - pesticide laden, genetically modified seed/crops or the way the vegetation has continued to thrive for thousands or millions of years ... Try to stick to Organic as much as you can. During these 3 days, this is what you will need for ingredients across 5 key categories
A - For Cleansing drink
1. Raw, Un-filtered, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
2. Fresh squeezed lemon juice
3. Psyillium Husk (Isabgol)
B - For green smoothies
1. Mixed Greens (Kale, Spinach, dandelions etc.)
2. Lemon
3. Broccoli
4. Celery
5. Cucumber
6. Green Apple
7. Fresh turmeric root (Haldi)
8. Fresh ginger root (adrak)
C - For herbal anti-inflammatory tea
1. Raw licorice (Mulethi)
2. Cinnamon (dal-cheenee)
3. Cloves (laung)
4. Green cardamom (Elaichi)
5. Fennel seeds (saunf)
6. Coriander seeds (dhania seeds)
7. Cumin seeds (Jeera)
8. Raw black pepper
9. Fresh turmeric root (Haldi)
10. Fresh ginger root (adrak)
D - For meal
1. Mung Dal
2. Toor Dal (Arhar)
3. Mixed veg
E - For spices
1. Sea salt
Schedule
Day 1
Breakfast -
6 AM - Husk cleanser drink - Start your day with a glass of warm water with 1 tsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp of ACV. Add 1 tsp of psyillim husk to it and let it sit for 60 seconds before drinking. This will allow the husk to expand a little. You will need ingredients listed in Category A for this
8 AM - Make a green smoothie based on ingredients listed in Category B. There are many creative options to make the smoothie more palatable here
9 AM - 12 PM - feel free to sip tea made with ingredients listed in Category C. You will be using a high speed, high power blender like a Vitamix to make your tea concentrate that lasts you a day or two
12 - 1 PM - meal
If you can pull it off - repeat the AM smoothie for lunch
If you cannot pull it off without having a warm meal - Dal with salt and haldi, black pepper and some basic spices - Garam masala etc. No oil or sauteed' anything added.
2 PM - 1 serving of husk cleanser (same as you had at 6 AM)
3 - 6 PM - drip of herbal tea
6 - 7 PM - Green smoothie. same as you had at 8 AM
7:30 PM -
If you can pull it off - skip the meal all-together
if you cannot pull it off - Dal with mixed veg.
8 - 9 PM - 1 serving of husk cleanser and feel free to indulge in warm herbal tea
Day 2
repeat Day 1
Day 3
repeat Day 1
Why are we doing what we are doing here? It's a rather broad question, so let's break it down into a few easily absorb-able nuggets and questions that you will probably have to answer for yourself
1. When our bodies are fasting they get an opportunity to flush out the unwanted toxins. Ever had your toilet clogged? Do you use it when it is clogged followed by cleaning or clean it first? I know it's gross and you get the point. So fasting is good, it's our bodies natural mechanism to get rid of all it does not want.
2. There are many types of fasting, in this case we are skipping the junk and adding nourishing foods that help heal. So technically we are only taking a break from bad stuff and adding good stuff. But if you want to call it fasting you can. In this 3 day cleanse though you will be full all the time
3. Where's all the protein, carb, fat, vitamins? remember what happens when many windows and tabs are open on your laptop and what happens to it's performance --- this is a reboot. Major, minor food groups, macro, micro-nutrients, good fats, all of that comes later. Again, any nutrient can only be absorbed in our bodies if the body is ready to absorb it. A clean body, a clean gut can absorb and extract what it needs to. A clogged body cannot. After this cleanse, we will focus on building the body with the right nutrition plan. for now, focus on reboot.
What to expect?
If you are 'normal' successful individual, you probably
1. start your day with a healthy dose of Sugar, Dairy, Caffeine along with some form of processed carbs like breads, croissants and eggs and potentially some meat
2. get a healthy salad or a serving of a burger with some fries and a drink or a pasta based dish every now and then mixed with some indian, middle eastern food.
3. break your 2-4 PM hunger pangs with some glazed nuts, protein bar etc.
4. get a good serving of meat, veggies with some processed form of bread
5. and every now and then get a healthy dose of alcohol in there as well . a beer here and there, a glass of wine here and there ...
These 5 steps are considered normal by every known medical professional in developed, developing countries. The only issue is that with this definition of normal, we have > 50% of people obese in US today, ~ 1/3 of males over 50 at a risk of coronary heart disease and so on and so forth. Needless to say then, when you step away from the current 'normal, as early as the end of Day 1, you are very likely to have withdrawal symptoms. here's what to expect, why and how you can combat it effectively
1. Low energy
Why?
your body is used to high levels of insulin in blood because of the high sugar doses throughout the day. read the labels for the foods and you'll see what i mean. Even a piece of bread has ~ 5 grams of sugar. When you stop consuming sugar suddenly, Pancreas takes a while to adjust the levels of insulin it secretes and you will feel low energy
How to combat?
Trick your system by giving it a drip of sugar look a-likes which actually have no sugar in them. A great one is the herbal tea referred to above. Cinnamon, Licorice and fennel give it the sweetness and you remain satiated throughout the day. If you are really way too low on it, keep dried figs, raisins and dates handy. have 1 or 2 and you will be back in no time
2. Light headed-ness
Why?
Body is used to hyper-stimulation all the time. We have taken the stimulants away and the food sources of serotonin and dopamine secretion. The receptor sites in brain are still craving though. In addition to low sugar this is where the light headed-ness comes from.
3. Muscle weakness
Get over it. Your muscles are still very strong. It's really the perceived lack of calories and sugar which is causing this mis-perception. Your are still as much if not more stronger than they were 24 hours ago
4. Irritability
Expect it. Take a candy away from your 5 year old and see what happens. When an adults candy gets taken away, we have the same ... actually much worse reaction to it. Again, get over it
5. Constant inclination to intellectually find a way out of this nonsense fasting thing
We are intellectual beings but intellect used at the wrong time for the wrong reasons yields very bad results. your intellect will give a million reasons to bail in the first 24 hours, find a way to use it to your advantage vs. subjugating yourself to the tricks your own mind will play on you - 'moderation is key, my parents never did this, i believe in eating whatever and being happy.... bla, bla....'
Reboot is just a beginning. There are next steps as well, we will cover that in a subsequent post later. All the best with your own uniquely mindful journey towards perfect health. God Bless .. there's more fun and health after you are done with this ... It's like Art - always a work in progress, never complete but always good enough to be enjoyed and improved upon ...
A - For Cleansing drink
1. Raw, Un-filtered, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
2. Fresh squeezed lemon juice
3. Psyillium Husk (Isabgol)
B - For green smoothies
1. Mixed Greens (Kale, Spinach, dandelions etc.)
2. Lemon
3. Broccoli
4. Celery
5. Cucumber
6. Green Apple
7. Fresh turmeric root (Haldi)
8. Fresh ginger root (adrak)
C - For herbal anti-inflammatory tea
1. Raw licorice (Mulethi)
2. Cinnamon (dal-cheenee)
3. Cloves (laung)
4. Green cardamom (Elaichi)
5. Fennel seeds (saunf)
6. Coriander seeds (dhania seeds)
7. Cumin seeds (Jeera)
8. Raw black pepper
9. Fresh turmeric root (Haldi)
10. Fresh ginger root (adrak)
D - For meal
1. Mung Dal
2. Toor Dal (Arhar)
3. Mixed veg
E - For spices
1. Sea salt
Schedule
Day 1
Breakfast -
6 AM - Husk cleanser drink - Start your day with a glass of warm water with 1 tsp of lemon juice, 1 tsp of ACV. Add 1 tsp of psyillim husk to it and let it sit for 60 seconds before drinking. This will allow the husk to expand a little. You will need ingredients listed in Category A for this
8 AM - Make a green smoothie based on ingredients listed in Category B. There are many creative options to make the smoothie more palatable here
9 AM - 12 PM - feel free to sip tea made with ingredients listed in Category C. You will be using a high speed, high power blender like a Vitamix to make your tea concentrate that lasts you a day or two
12 - 1 PM - meal
If you can pull it off - repeat the AM smoothie for lunch
If you cannot pull it off without having a warm meal - Dal with salt and haldi, black pepper and some basic spices - Garam masala etc. No oil or sauteed' anything added.
2 PM - 1 serving of husk cleanser (same as you had at 6 AM)
3 - 6 PM - drip of herbal tea
6 - 7 PM - Green smoothie. same as you had at 8 AM
7:30 PM -
If you can pull it off - skip the meal all-together
if you cannot pull it off - Dal with mixed veg.
8 - 9 PM - 1 serving of husk cleanser and feel free to indulge in warm herbal tea
Day 2
repeat Day 1
Day 3
repeat Day 1
Why are we doing what we are doing here? It's a rather broad question, so let's break it down into a few easily absorb-able nuggets and questions that you will probably have to answer for yourself
1. When our bodies are fasting they get an opportunity to flush out the unwanted toxins. Ever had your toilet clogged? Do you use it when it is clogged followed by cleaning or clean it first? I know it's gross and you get the point. So fasting is good, it's our bodies natural mechanism to get rid of all it does not want.
2. There are many types of fasting, in this case we are skipping the junk and adding nourishing foods that help heal. So technically we are only taking a break from bad stuff and adding good stuff. But if you want to call it fasting you can. In this 3 day cleanse though you will be full all the time
3. Where's all the protein, carb, fat, vitamins? remember what happens when many windows and tabs are open on your laptop and what happens to it's performance --- this is a reboot. Major, minor food groups, macro, micro-nutrients, good fats, all of that comes later. Again, any nutrient can only be absorbed in our bodies if the body is ready to absorb it. A clean body, a clean gut can absorb and extract what it needs to. A clogged body cannot. After this cleanse, we will focus on building the body with the right nutrition plan. for now, focus on reboot.
What to expect?
If you are 'normal' successful individual, you probably
1. start your day with a healthy dose of Sugar, Dairy, Caffeine along with some form of processed carbs like breads, croissants and eggs and potentially some meat
2. get a healthy salad or a serving of a burger with some fries and a drink or a pasta based dish every now and then mixed with some indian, middle eastern food.
3. break your 2-4 PM hunger pangs with some glazed nuts, protein bar etc.
4. get a good serving of meat, veggies with some processed form of bread
5. and every now and then get a healthy dose of alcohol in there as well . a beer here and there, a glass of wine here and there ...
These 5 steps are considered normal by every known medical professional in developed, developing countries. The only issue is that with this definition of normal, we have > 50% of people obese in US today, ~ 1/3 of males over 50 at a risk of coronary heart disease and so on and so forth. Needless to say then, when you step away from the current 'normal, as early as the end of Day 1, you are very likely to have withdrawal symptoms. here's what to expect, why and how you can combat it effectively
1. Low energy
Why?
your body is used to high levels of insulin in blood because of the high sugar doses throughout the day. read the labels for the foods and you'll see what i mean. Even a piece of bread has ~ 5 grams of sugar. When you stop consuming sugar suddenly, Pancreas takes a while to adjust the levels of insulin it secretes and you will feel low energy
How to combat?
Trick your system by giving it a drip of sugar look a-likes which actually have no sugar in them. A great one is the herbal tea referred to above. Cinnamon, Licorice and fennel give it the sweetness and you remain satiated throughout the day. If you are really way too low on it, keep dried figs, raisins and dates handy. have 1 or 2 and you will be back in no time
2. Light headed-ness
Why?
Body is used to hyper-stimulation all the time. We have taken the stimulants away and the food sources of serotonin and dopamine secretion. The receptor sites in brain are still craving though. In addition to low sugar this is where the light headed-ness comes from.
3. Muscle weakness
Get over it. Your muscles are still very strong. It's really the perceived lack of calories and sugar which is causing this mis-perception. Your are still as much if not more stronger than they were 24 hours ago
4. Irritability
Expect it. Take a candy away from your 5 year old and see what happens. When an adults candy gets taken away, we have the same ... actually much worse reaction to it. Again, get over it
5. Constant inclination to intellectually find a way out of this nonsense fasting thing
We are intellectual beings but intellect used at the wrong time for the wrong reasons yields very bad results. your intellect will give a million reasons to bail in the first 24 hours, find a way to use it to your advantage vs. subjugating yourself to the tricks your own mind will play on you - 'moderation is key, my parents never did this, i believe in eating whatever and being happy.... bla, bla....'
Reboot is just a beginning. There are next steps as well, we will cover that in a subsequent post later. All the best with your own uniquely mindful journey towards perfect health. God Bless .. there's more fun and health after you are done with this ... It's like Art - always a work in progress, never complete but always good enough to be enjoyed and improved upon ...