NO Detoxing or Dieting for Me!!

My AGNI on Holiday?

I may have been resting over the festive season but my digestive fire has been working overtime! I've been eating and drinking things I haven't touched for about 8 years.  Don't get me wrong... it has been fun.  LOTS of fun... but my belly has had enough. It is feeling dull, heavy and over-heated. So... for the next week, I'm going to give my AGNI a little HOLIDAY...

I've been noticing A LOT of 'Detox' posts and articles around the place and was thinking about writing an Ayurvedic Detox blog. But you know what? The word just doesn't sit well with me.  It is too much like 'Diet'.  If I even come close to thinking about that word, let alone saying it out loud, my mind has a little freak out.  You see, in my mind, Detox and Diet walk hand-in-hand with Deprivation. And when the seed of Deprivation is awoken in my mind, it comes with a lot of friends.  My Buddhist Teacher would call it a 'seed cluster'... or a 'cluster f*ck' (he's not your average Buddhist Teacher)!

In my mind, Deprivation is good mates with the seeds of Self-punishment, Perfectionism, Self-loathing, Self-righteousness, Fear, Anger, Anxiety, Guilt and Shame, to name a few.  But Deprivation's best buddy is probably DESIRE. As soon as I even think about depriving myself of something, I desire it. The effect is instant. 

Even if I follow my Buddhist Psychology practice of inviting the helpful seed of Mindfulness into the equation, noticing the cluster, pulling it apart and recognising and accepting each of the individual seeds in order to calm them down and reduce their habit energies, Deprivation and Desire tend to party on.

So... I'm not Detoxing or Dieting or Depriving myself in anyway, shape or form after the gluttony of Christmas.  I'm simply giving my AGNI a Holiday because I know when I do that my belly and my brain will feel better. Simple.

So this is what my AGNI and I will be eating on holiday....

BREAKFAST

Raggi porridge or Poha porridge

with some raw cashews

LUNCH

Red rice kicharee or One Pot Kicharee

with a little Salad

AFTERNOON SNACK

Date & coconut balls or Bindi balls

with Chai

DINNER

Zucchini and spinach soup or Pumpkin soup or Moong daal soup

with a little basmati rice or chappattis

BEFORE BED

Warm milk with cardamom, cinnamon, saffron

I'm not avoiding anything...  I'm not depriving myself of anything.  I'm just aiming to eat these same medicinal meals, in moderate amounts, until my AGNI feels better.  That's it.

If you'd like to join me and have an AGNI Holiday, you can get recipes for most of these meals in our WARMTH Cookbook which we're giving away for FREE from the Mudita Institute website.

Or, if these all sound a bit strange, you can have your own AGNI Holiday with food that you're more familiar with.  You might have stewed fruit or a small bowl of muesli for breaky (with a little warm milk and no fresh fruit on the muesli!),  a vegetarian stir-fry for lunch and vegetarian soup with toast for dinner.  The idea is just to lighten things up a little for a few days to give you're AGNI time to recover from the excess food, the unusual food combinations, the excess meat, the excess alcohol and the overeating. 

What do you think? Does an "AGNI Holiday" sound better than a Detox or Diet??  You bet!!!

** Please note that a Therapeutic Detoxification Program prescribed by an Ayurvedic Practitioner is another story... I would definitely recommend this**