GUIDELINES FOR CLEANSING

What follows is intended to be a helpful guide as you embark upon this journey of cleansing, rest, and detox.

Be good to yourself and honor the feelings that may arise from ridding the body of toxins and removing addictive stimulants from your daily routine. Your body will thank you and you will feel revived after this pushing the reset on your body.

You will “fast” by eating cooked vegan foods designed to nourish the body and rest the digestive system, while forcing the body to seek out toxins and detox your system. You must abstain from alcohol, sugar and caffeine to fully benefit from this program.

Cleansing Pointers:

• DO NOT consume iced drinks or carbonated drinks (even sparkling water) as it
  thwarts digestion.
• ALL THE FOOD YOU ARE CONSUMING NEEDS TO BE SERVED WARM/ OR LIGHTLY COOKED.
• If you have to choose between cold food or microwaved food, choose the microwave. Warm food is ESSENTIAL for digestion during your detox.
• The foods in your bag are “READY to FINISH” because it is believed that food has vitality and a life force and should be made fresh daily when cleansing. You need to cook your soups, kitchari, tamales, and salads because they all require the last step of heating all the ingredients. Heating foods stove top and placing them in a thermal container can keep them warm for several hours.
• The kitchari and tamales you are eating comply with what is known as a”mono-diet.”
• A mono diet is intended to detox by “resting” your digestive system.
• Plants that are on your menu are fresh and local, and naturally aid liver functions. Beets, collards, bitter leafy greens, and generally all root vegetables are very liver friendly.
• Lemon juice is alkalizing and saffron, turmeric, and ginger are anti-inflammatory. We use these
  spices generously when seasoning your food.
• Drink hot tea or hot lemon water as much as possible during your cleanse.

Rest & Side Effects:

•   Honor your bodies and take it easier than normal over the next three days.
•   Light exercise is essential, but nothing too strenuous.
•   Go to bed early and remember to take your supplements each day.
• Headaches are common side effects of caffeine or sugar withdrawal. Please drink plenty of water and use essential oils to help with headaches (lemon and lavender both work well).
• As you begin to detox the body and release toxins you may feel: tired, experience loss of energy, or feel foggy. You may experience headaches due to caffeine or sugar addiction.

Caffeine:

• If you rely on caffeine every day to function you are borrowing from the bank of “energy” and never paying it back. It will catch with you! Caffeine is very dehydrating and relying on artificial stores of energy is not sustainable. Rest is the answer.
• Coffee, in particular, is very acidic and numbs the lining in the digestive tract so that the cilia can never fully perform their duties. Many people use coffee to eliminate regularly in the morning. Taking Triphala in the evenings before bed will take care of that for you. No need for coffee to go to the bathroom in the morning if you are fully hydrated and taking Triphala each evening.

Quick Notes on Sugar:

• We are all addicted to sugar whether we admit it or not. For some it takes it’s form in a chocolate bar and for others it is wine or alcohol. At the end of the day it is all the same thing, sugar.
• Sugar is by far the most addicting substance on the planet, more so than caffeine, more than cocaine. In fact, when rats in lab tests were fed cocaine and sugar they went back to the sugar EVERY time. That is a powerful statement. That is why Dr. Robert Lustig’s work, “Sugar is Toxic” makes for a compelling argument to regulate sugar as a controlled substance. See also the documentary “FED UP.”
• Giving up sugar for 3 days is hard to do, so please be compassionate with yourself. Know that your organs and liver will thank you.