Cleansing still...

So we're still on our community cleanse at Jai. I am not totally in the loop but I did caffeine this week, next week is alcohol though I will be doing gluten + sugars. I am deciding to significantly cut down on my sugar and gluten intakes in general anyways. Because I've learned that my skin gets much nicer when I cut both down and I am all around just more alert and energetic. It seems more and more as I analyze my diet that I need more red meat. And soon I will do a juice cleanse...my body is really dying for the greens, I can feel it!

Day 2 at Ananda Ashram

This past week at Jai we gave up sugar for our Spring Cleanse. I thought it would be easy to do while at Ananda...but they put vegan cookies out almost everyday! ACK! I still resisted. All our meals were vegetarian, home cooked and clean. Natural or organic ingredients and no junk food. Eating like that really felt good. Coming home and being surrounded by junk again..not so great. This eating clean + the Spring Cleanse has really made my skin nice and clear!

Also there is a cat that lives at Ananda named Pebbles who is quite possible they nicest cat ever. See below the picture of her meditating.

April Foos + Still Cleansing...now its Gluten!

3 people posted that it was their birthday on FB today as an April Fools joke. I figured that out about 2 people...not knowing it was April 1st, but because I am just good at remembering bdays. HA! Yes, I did start this blog post with my side note.

I am super glad I am giving up gluten this week as I follow the community cleanse at Jai Yoga Arts. Gluten it is. Its exactly what I need this week. Eating cheese again has made me go buck wild with bread. So the way I am going about this diet is just simply gluten and not things with "traces of gluten" since I don't have celiac. Though I will probably learn that I digest better without the gluten.

Meat-free

I'm coming to an end of my meat-free week. Things I've learned being meat-free and post-dairy free.

1. I need to learn how to eat healthy without meat.
2. I eat meat far too often!
3. Meat is important but not necessary as much as I eat it
4. I eat shrimp far too often!
5. When I eat cheese I eat unhealthy carbs -white bread, bread in general
6. I need to adopt a fish 2x a week, other seafood once in a while, meat 1x a week and red meat 1x a month routine. That might be too weird of a routine to keep to!
7. I need to do a juice cleanse
8. I really need to eat more straight up vegetables
9. I also really need to cook my own food. :)
10. Duck is something you eat only on special occasions.

In conclusion...going meat free sucks but I seriously need to cut down on all these unnecessary calories!

Day 1 of being meatless

Today starts the first day of going meatless on our community wide cleanse at Jai Yoga Arts. I am not giving up eggs but I will give up seafood! But again...having cheese again. Still trying not to have so much cheese since now that I started eating it again I am tempted to want it in every meal. So byebye suckling pig. Its only a week. I shall see you again soon! :)

In other news, I got my level 1 Reiki Certification yesterday. We will be running another one soon at Jai. Check the website for updates!

I know this is not very Yoga-like of me but hey...

Spring Cleansing! Part 2 update

OK so I was supposed to blog all about it right? We ended up giving up dairy for 2 weeks! I started eating cheese again last night. I gave up eggs for only 3 days...couldn't keep that going since its almost 1/3 of my diet! Yes I eat a lot of hard boiled eggs...they're so convenient and portable!

Anyways...I read labels and for the most part stayed dairy free unless the label said "may contain traces". Pretty good, yeah? I even drank black iced coffee cause one of the places I use as a study spot doesn't have soy milk. I don't necessarily feel that different. Forgoing chocolate was probably the hardest part mentally. What I did notice was how much cheese I eat normally! Because I had to rethink each meal making sure there was no dairy involved...I noticed how much I would have normally had cheese -every day at lunch! What?! I also did notice when I had cheese again last night...not just how AMAZING it is but how salty it is. Cutting cheese out really cut down my salt intake too...which was the added bonus part. Starting Sunday I'm going to be giving up Meat -I will not include eggs but I will include seafood. That should go fine as long as I don't encounter Luke's Lobster truck!

Spring Cleansing!

We are conducting a community cleanse at Jai Yoga Arts. Each week for 6 weeks we will give something up in our diet collectively. This is obviously optional! But the purpose is to gain awareness of ourselves. How we related to these foods, how our body reacts without them or with them. Its a great way to discover a healthy way of eating without having to fast or really deprive ourselves in an unhealthy way.

So starting next Monday 1 week of no dairy! Want to take the challenge with us?! I will be blogging about my progress for the 6 weeks. At the end of 6 weeks you can come up with your own healthy cleanse or just fixing your diet according to what you've learned. At Jai those who want to, will work with our Ayurvedic counselor to begin a cleanse or find healthier eating habits.