(not necessarily in that order)
I find it very interesting that the day after I decided to pause the nourishing cleanse, the following happened:
I meditated much longer than usual.
I did dry skin brushing before my shower.
I ended my shower with hydrotherapy (alternating hot and cold several times at the end).
It seems that — having stopped putting pressure on myself — a part of me now feels free to go ahead and do these nurturing activities.
Go figure!
I came to an important realization today: this wasn’t really the right time to attempt the full nourishing cleanse. I had the bandwidth to make the dietary changes, but trying to add in the other self-care elements has proved challenging and even frustrating.
So, I’m hitting the pause button with the intention of rescheduling it for sometime after Christmas and/or early in the new year. At that point we’ll have been back longer, plus the intense “getting ready for the holidays” energy will be behind us.
The good news is that I feel good about this decision. I plan to continue most of what I’ve been doing, but with a more relaxed attitude as I gradually add back in a bit more food variety.
Bottom line is that I’m grateful for the “course correction” this past week of super healthy eating has given me. I’m grateful for the microbiome mash and for the motivation to learn how to use my Instant Pot. And I’m grateful that the process will be that much easier the next time around.
But most importantly, I’m grateful for being flexible and gentle with myself.
Now that it’s mid-November, I’m feeling the reality of short days and chilly weather.
Which is why there’s something incredibly delicious about finding a semi-sheltered spot on a sunny day and really soaking up some rays.
I indulged in this treat two times today, feeling pretty much like a cat enjoying its patch of sun.
A couple of friends wrote comments in response to yesterday’s post that got me thinking about what self-care is and is not.
True self-care means being gentle with oneself. And it shouldn’t be arduous.
I tend to get caught up in the “doing” part of it all (the food restrictions and physical routines) and forget the “being” part.
Nothing new or surprising about that, but I’m always grateful for the reminders.
A rather different day than yesterday.
I had a very early meeting, which threw off the new routine I just established, and left my energies feeling rather scattered.
Sitting in the sun and gazing at the autumn leaves ended up being the high point of the day.
My cleanse is off to a good start. Of course, figuring out new routines takes a while, so I ran out of time for some of the self-care elements. But that’s okay; I’ll be more efficient tomorrow.
The big news is that I have to give a shout-out to yet another appliance: my Instant Pot Duo Nova!
I’ve always found appliances rather intimidating, but had heard great things about the Instant Pot. So I bought one on sale for a great price, only to have it sit in the unopened box for months. I finally unboxed it, only for it to sit on a shelf for another six months or so.
But today I took it off the shelf and used it to make a very healthy dinner of quinoa, leeks, Brussel sprouts, and fish.
It sort of feels like I climbed Mount Everest!
I’ve never been much of an appliance person, but this little Ninja Food Chopper has made a believer out of me. There is no way I could have made my microbiome mash without it.
It was still a lot of work. I chopped up radishes, carrots (white, yellow, purple, and orange), green onion, asparagus, zucchini, yellow squash, fennel, leek, red kale, turnip, beets, red cabbage, and shitake mushrooms.
I would have included Brussel sprouts and broccoli, but there was no more room in my largest mixing bowl!
My freezer now contains twelve containers of microbiome mash, ready for Monday — the first day of my nourishing cleanse.
Mission accomplished, indeed!
