An ayurvedic detox for autumn

So, a few people have been in touch asking if I could post up an autumn detox.  When I’ve overdone it (last last week, for example) I usually just shrug it off and get back to my normal eating.  I know the things that don’t suit my body – sugar, wheat, alcohol, heavy rich fried foods – and so I just cut them out again and start to feel a whole bunch better. 

But a lot of people like to follow a plan.  So, here’s one of my favourite autumn cleanses, based on ayurveda.  I like it for this time of year because it's warming.  As we prepare for colder weather, it's best not to chill the body with lots of cold juices and frigid salads.  Think warming, comforting, soothing.  

Ayurveda has a whole science of detox – known as panchakarma.  It was designed as a potent revitalization and rejuvenation program and was taken by ancient Indian princes three or four times a year.  If you get the chance to do a full panchakarma, grab it with both hands.   It’s not just wishful thinking:  the ghee, sesame oil, massage and heat treatments of panchakarma loosen lipid peroxides (free radicals which cause cell damage), which are then eliminated in the weeks after detox. In addition, panchakarma has been found to "significantly" lower stress and anxiety, to improve cardiovascular health and to scavenge other kinds of free radicals which cause ageing and disease. 

This is a very modified version of panchakarma but it will still have a profound effect on body, mind and soul.  

If you possibly can, get hold of the ayurvedic preparations Trikatu and Triphala. Follow the instructions on the product you buy (I like Pukka herbs products). You should expect your bowels to become quite loose while undergoing this detox. However if this becomes extreme or uncomfortable, reduce your intake of Triphala. 

Although the major part of this detox does fall over the weekend, you will need to start preparing mid-week so it’s not too much of a shock to your system.

Wednesday

Start the day with about two fluid ounces of warmed, liquefied ghee. Swallow it quickly (it doesn’t taste unpleasant, just strange) then suck a piece of orange to take away the oiliness in your mouth. Taking ghee internally in this way prepares the body for your detox, loosening ama (toxins) from the body.

Thursday

Start the day with ghee as for Wednesday. You can follow it with a mug of hot water and freshly squeezed lemon which will help your bowels to move.

Eat your usual meals throughout the day but try to keep them light and avoid rich, heavy foods. Avoid alcohol and any sugar. Keep away from fried food or junk food.

Boil up four large glasses of fresh water and keep in a thermos–sip the hot water throughout the day. This will help to release ama.  In addition you can drink another four glasses of water that has been kept at room temperature (don’t drink very cold water–it stops the digestion). As you won’t be drinking tea or coffee (or alcohol) you may want to find something to take its place–try herbal teas or freshly squeezed vegetable juice.

Before you go to bed, have a warm (not hot) aromatherapy bath with your choice of oil (juniperberry, vetivert or eucalyptus). Take Triphala with lots of warm water.

Friday 

Again, start with liquefied ghee. Follow with a mug of hot water and freshly squeezed lemon.

Eat a light diet today. Cut out heavy proteins such as meat, cheese, eggs and milk. If you drink tea or coffee you can continue up until the end of your working day, but cut down your intake. 

As yesterday, drink eight large glasses of mineral water–at least four should be hot.

Avoid salt and sugar.

Breakfast could be fruit compote; stewed fruit; fruit salad; oatmeal porridge made with water and served with nuts and seeds (plus a little maple syrup if you like – yes, it’s sugar but it’s not too bad). 

For lunch choose something like steamed vegetables with a little lean chicken or fish or tofu.

After each meal take Trikatu.

Prepare yourself a light supper: a bowl of vegetable soup or dhal and basmati rice. Eat it as early as possible-around 6pm is ideal.

If you want a hot drink from now on, choose herbal tea (make sure it’s caffeine free), ginger tea or hot water. 

Take Triphala with lots of warm water before bed.

Saturday

On waking, have a mug of hot water and freshly squeezed lemon (tip: prepare a thermos just before you go to bed and keep it by the side of your bed).

For breakfast gently stew some seasonal fruits (eg apple, pear, raisins).  Add a mug of herbal or spiced tea. Finish with Trikatu.

Lunch is a small bowl of kichadi. Chew each mouthful mindfully. Take Trikatu.

Make sure you drink at least eight glasses of water throughout the day (remember, don’t drink cold liquids with your meal). If you can drink it hot, so much the better. If not, make sure it is room temperature rather than straight from the fridge or tap.

Mid-afternoon you can have some fruit (either fresh or gently stewed). Or a handful of nuts and seeds.

Eat your supper at around 6pm. Once again, have a light meal of kichadi followed by Trikatu.

Don’t forget the Triphala before bed.

Sunday

Have your usual hot water and lemon on rising. 

For breakfast have stewed fruit and herbal/spiced tea followed by Trikatu.

For lunch have kichadi followed by Trikatu.

Remember to drink your warm water throughout the day. 

Have your evening meal at around 6pm. Once again have kichadi and Trikatu

Have an early night.  Triphala as before.

Monday

Have your usual hot water and lemon juice.

Breakfast as for Saturday and Sunday.

Today you can return to a more varied diet but don’t race into it. Stick to vegetable soup for lunch or maybe a light pasta with vegetable sauce. Follow meals with Trikatu.

Continue to drink warm water. Avoid coffee and tea, sodas and alcohol. Herbal teas should be your substitute.

Supper should be light–vegetable risotto or paella, root vegetable stew, soup, pasta. Try to avoid meat as it’s hard to digest. Steer clear of dairy for the same reason. Bread is also difficult to digest–if you must have it, toast it. Follow it with Triphala as before.

After Ayurvedic Detox

You may be able to take longer for your home detox. If so, that’s great and you can safely repeat the guidelines for Saturday and Sunday for as long as feels comfortable.

Whether you just do the weekend or continue for a longer detox make sure you ease yourself gently back into normal living. In other words, don’t suddenly start eating a full diet (packed with meat, dairy, stodge); drinking alcohol and coffee; staying up late etc. Your system won’t know what’s hit it. 

It’s all safe to continue on a regular basis–except the internal taking of ghee, the ayurvedic preparations (Triphala and Trikatu) and the very modified diet.

There are a whole bunch of things you can do to support yourself while on detox – I’ll post some more over the next few days (if I can remember!). 

I’ll also put up a Cheat’s Detox.  J

For longer detoxes see my book The Detox Plan which also gives lots of advice on supporting therapies and DIY tips for home detoxing

For more on ayurveda see my book Live Well - how to work out  your prakruti (mind-body type) and how to adjust your diet, exercise and lifestyle to suit your individual type.

This post is getting too long - I'll post recipes for ghee and kichadi on a separate post.  

Do you strain?

'Do you strain?' asked Dr Schaffler as I sat in his consulting room at Schloss Pichlarn in Austria.

I frowned a little.  We had already debated my bowels and their various movements in huge detail and at great length and had established everything was fine and dandy.  But hey, this was a German doctor practising Ayurveda (the ancient Indian school of medicine) in Austria - and so I just figured I was getting a triple dose of stool searching.
'No, I'm very rarely constipated,' I said.
He laughed.  'No. I mean...do you...are you...always straining in your life.'
'Am I stressed?'  I thought about it.
'Yes, of course, sometimes.  I'm a freelance writer so either I have too much work and I worry about getting it all done, or I have too little and I worry about that instead.'

He gave me one of those looks that says 'you've just dodged the question' but he let it lie.  In fact, he made me lie on the couch and prodded and pulled and poked my abdomen.

Dr Schaffler is not happy with my abdomen.  Which is fine, because neither am I.
'It's weird,' he said.
There you go - official confirmation.

He explains how it's going this way when it should be going that way, and is fat here and thin there (which isn't good) and he tells me I need more yoga (well, yes, if only my yoga teacher hadn't upped and offed to India) and more breathing (proper breathing) and...  he gives me two sets of herbal preparations and advises I steer clear of bread for the time being.

Then he looks at me again and says.  'Grief.  Your pulses talk about grief.'
'They do?'
'They do.  And strain.  Not stress.'

And so I smiled vaguely and muttered about language barriers.  But then, a little later, as I was leaning against the edge of the outdoor pool looking up at a bright clear sky above snow-capped mountains, I realised I was clenching my jaw so tightly that my teeth were creaking.

Damnit, he's right.  I do strain.  I always strain.  Too darn hard.  At everything.  All the time.  I mean, for heaven's sake, I'm here in this gorgeous spa and I'm even straining to relax.  Ye gods.

And you?  Do you strain?  :-)

Breakfast Nirvana

I wake before the sun rises and slowly become aware of my body. I stretch and give thanks for the new day ahead of me.  I drink a glass of room temperature water, wash my face, scrape my tongue and have a good crap. Next up I oil my entire body and then shower, all the time mindful of how I feel, how I think, how I breathe, how the water feels on my skin.  

Time for exercise, so I run through several rounds of the Salute to the Sun, as the sun itself starts to cast its cool golden rays on my stretching limbs.  From here, it’s natural to spend some time in pranayama, conscious breathing, and around twenty minutes of meditation.

Aaah.  Breakfast.  Fresh juice (thank you Oscar) and warm quinoa porridge with nuts, seeds and yoghurt.  We eat mindfully but peacefully as a family, all together at the breakfast table, fresh flowers scenting the room.  Then we walk, calmly, mindfully, down through town to drop James at the bus, smiling and waving at our neighbours, before taking the SP for a beautiful walk in nature.

Are your jaws on the floor yet?  Are you chewing at my jugular?  Relax. This is the moment where, were this a film, there would be a screeching noise and someone would yell “CUT!”.  Is that my morning routine?  Is it heck!  That is how the ayurvedic sages say I should start my day – and, oh my, how I wish I could. 

But the ayurvedic sages don’t have to juggle family and work, do they?  Complacent bastards.  Shall we take a look at what really happened this morning?

6am and Adrian’s revolting phone ring-tone drags me out of sleep.  Yes, it’s still dark but, as I become aware of my body, I realise it is tired, verging on exhausted. Am I feeling grateful? Nope, I’m feeling close to murderous.

‘Sleep well?’

I resist the urge to fling a punch and grit my teeth. ‘Not really.’ 

He looks puzzled.  ‘Did I snore?’

No, dear, but you did a good impersonation of a large pugnacious brewery throughout the night – thrashing around, holding surreal conversations with nobody in particular and exuding enough fumes to set fire to a small conurbation. But there’s no time to go into that as we have to run around like the Keystone Kops cooking breakfast, making industrial strength coffee, trying to make space on the breakfast table to put a plate, trying to find the lost scrum-cap, the mislaid compass, the god knows what else.  Meanwhile James has his laptop out and is typing and swearing.

‘You’re not on Facebook? For pity’s sake, not now?’ I say, glaring unayurvedically.

‘No, actually. I’m doing my homework, alright?’ He says, in a very snippy pitta-ish fashion.

What?  ‘But you were up until 10pm doing it last night!’  Me, flying off the handle vata-fashion.

‘I forgot this bit.’

Aaaghh. 

Even putting aside the fecking ayurvedic sages, I have this dream of a calm family breakfast, the kind you see on the adverts, the kind (come to think of it) we have when we go to stay with my MIL in Wales. The table is set, with a tablecloth and bowls and plates and things. There’s a toast rack and marmalade and jam.  Radio 4 is playing in the background and a cooked breakfast is sizzling in the pan (even though I don't eat it). Proper breakfast.

We talked about this, when I went up to London earlier this week for a presentation by Kellogg’s – about how so few children actually have any kind of breakfast at all, let alone with toast racks and table cloths. 

* One in seven children don’t eat breakfast and, by the time they get to secondary school, one in five don’t eat it.

* One in four girls say they skip breakfast because they’re dieting.

* Children in the UK spend £650 million buying food on the way to school and that food tends to be crisps, chocolate and, bleeugh, burgers – yup, if they’re eating breakfast, they’re eating junk food breakfast.  Great eh?

* Of those who don’t eat breakfast, a third won’t eat or drink anything until lunchtime.

Now, I’m not the best of example of sensible eating but I do know that children need fuelling if they are going to learn.  Kellogg’s had some research on this too (and yeah, yeah, I know they sell breakfast cereals for a living but the statistics behind this seem as firm as statistics ever can be)…

Children who skip breakfast are:

-          * More likely to be obese

-         *  Less likely to enjoy school

-         *  Less likely to perform well in work or play

-          * More likely to snack during the day

At the presentation we talked about breakfast clubs, something (I’ll be honest) I hadn’t really given much thought.  Because Adrian and I work from home, we’ve never needed to use one.  But it seems they do have benefits.  According to the Kellogg's research they:

•         Improve  attendance and punctuality

•         Improve concentration in class

•          Improve behaviour in class

•          Improve relationships between teachers and pupils

•          Improve educational attainment

•          Provide breakfast for those children that don’t get it at home

•          Provide essential and affordable childcare for working parents.

Since the cuts, many schools have been struggling to keep clubs going and Kellogg’s are fronting a campaign called Help Give a Child a Breakfast in which, for every box of Cornflakes you buy, they donate to a Breakfast Club Trust.  Schools can apply for grants (it’s a one-page application) - check out this page. 

Now I’ve always been a bit sniffy about Cornflakes and commercial breakfast cereals in general but it seems I may need to eat my words, or at least chew them a little.  But, hey, I’m not in the mood for eating humble pie right now so let’s talk about that another time, alright?

For now, let’s just say our breakfasts aren’t exactly calm and peaceful; they certainly aren’t remotely ayurvedic but at least James has a breakfast.  Do you make sure your children have a decent breakfast?  Do you know a school that could benefit from having a breakfast club? If so, maybe nudge them in the direction of the website – and urge them to set up a club.

Mugged by cookbook - fudge v lassi

I’ve just been mugged by a book.  You ever had that happen to you?  You’re minding your own business, looking for something or other and then a book just shoves itself at you in a bossy manner.  In this case it was The Art of Ayurvedic Cooking and it was in the wrong place – tucked away amongst the I Ching tomes, rather than in the kitchen with the recipe books.  No wonder it was upset.  All those trigrams and the wrong culture too. 

Anyhow.  It was timely. The book had a point. My diet has gone to crap lately.  I’ve been living on muesli, grapefruit, beetroot, fudge and fruit pastilles.  Hardly a balanced regime.

And, you know, you are what you eat.  It’s an old adage but a true one and nowhere is it given more importance than in ayurveda, India’s ancient system of medicine.  In ayurveda food has been used as medicine for the last 5,000 years or so.  An ancient text puts it clearly:  ‘Nutrition is the vital element of all living forms.  Each person’s longevity, ingenuity, happiness, fulfilment, strength and intellect are dependent upon it.’

Eating the right food for your own particular mind-body type is seen as vital if you want to maintain good health and vitality.  If you do fall out of balance, diet is again the first port of call – with specific foods designed to coax your body back into wellbeing. 

I’ve studied ayurveda for donkey’s years – even wrote a book about it – Live Well – the ayurvedic way to health and inner bliss.  I think it’s out of print now but one of these days I’ll get round to putting it out on Kindle as it has some interesting stuff in it – I tried to simplify the whole complexity of ayurveda down into bite-size chunks.  Actually, there’s a few excerpts over at my ancient website – just click on Live Well on the sidebar and you’ll find some stuff, including how to determine your prakruti (your ayurvedic mind-body type).

Anyhow, talking of bite-size chunks, this cookbook…  It was given to me at The Parkschlösschen – one of my all-time favourite spas.  It’s a medical spa hotel in Germany, set on the banks of the Moselle, and their head chef Eckhard Fischer is a food magician.  Seriously, if you can go (it is quite pricey, but it’s worth it) then do.  I had a little *sigh* moment as I opened the book as one of my old day plans was tucked in there.  Advanced yoga; breath meditation; breakfast; pizzichilli (heavenly oil treatment); yoga…and that was just the morning...

Sadly, I can’t go right now but I’m going to start taking a bit more care over what I eat.  Soothe that vata dosha which is a bit flaky. 

Ayurvedic cuisine is quite different from other types of eating.  Pudding is always eaten first – firstly because fruits need more digestion and secondly because giving the body something sweet and unctuous gives a feeling of satiety so you aren’t tempted to overeat. 

Lunch is the largest meal of the day and often consists of several dishes – a dessert, soup, a salad, a main meal and finally lassi.  Evening meals are far smaller (and never eaten late as digestion becomes sluggish in the evening).  Usually a soup and salad would be sufficient. 

At Parkschlösschen you would first see an ayurvedic physician to determine your prakruti.  Meals would then be adjusted for your individual constitution (certain foods are believed to aggravate certain types of people).  However the recipes in the cookbook are designed to work for all doshas (some will suggest slight alterations depending on your dosha).  A few follow, with grateful thanks to Eckhard Fischer.  They are a bit fiddly (those darn superchefs) but worth it...

Cream of Passion fruit (serve before the main meal)

880g yoghurt (3.5% fat)
4-6 passion fruits
5 tbs icing sugar
Four ripe blackberries (to garnish)

Place the yoghurt in a clean muslin and allow it to drip overnight into a bowl) at room temperature.  Discard the liquid.

Halve the passion fruits and scrape out the flesh.  Strain the flesh through a sieve. 

Mix together with the yoghurt and sugar until a smooth cream.  Chill for an hour in the fridge then pipe into glasses and garnish with a blackberry.

Essence of red beetroot

(aha! beetroot!)
4 medium sized beetroots
2 shallots
1 large apple
1 star anise
½ cinnamon stick
1 tsp cloves
3 juniper berries
4 allspice berries
1tsp black peppercorns
1 tbs yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp green cardamom pods (whole)
½ tsp caraway seed
1 tsp fennel seed
1 bay leaf
100ml red wine vinegar
2tbs raw cane sugar or honey
Good pinch rock salt, ground
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 litres water
1 tbs tapioca starch
Coriander leaves (to garnish)

Peel the beetroots and grate coarsely.  Peel the shallots and chop coarsely.  Cut the apples into quarters.

Put all the ingredients, except for the balsamic vinegar and tapioca, into a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Allow the soup to simmer gently for at least three hours (uncovered) or until it is reduced by one third.  Strain and add balsamic vinegar to taste.  Mix the tapioca starch with a little water and add to thicken slightly.

Stuffed Hokkaido Squash with lamb’s lettuce salad

4 Hokkaido squashes (about ten cm diameter) (or other squash)
Sea salt, black pepper
2 oranges
8 slices bread
240g Gruyere cheese
4 sprigs fresh basil
2 red chilli peppers
100ml orange juice

For the salad

100g lamb’s lettuce (corn salad)
Sunflower seeds
1 red pepper (bell pepper)
2 tsp walnut oil
Rock salt and black pepper
1 shallot
1 tsp mustard
1 tbs aged balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
 
Wash the squashes and cut a lid off each.  Remove the seeds, salt the squashes lightly on the inside and then place them upside down.

Grate the orange peel and put to one side.  Squeeze the juice and retain.

Dice the bread into small pieces and brown well in a flying pan (without any fat).

Dice the cheese.  Cut the chilli into fine strips and chop the basil. 

Combine all these and fill the squashes evenly with the mixture.

Put the lids back on the squashes, wrap them in foil and bake for an hour in the oven at 220C (435 F).

Meanwhile wash the salad and drain. 
Peel the pepper, finely dice and sauté the pepper and sunflower seeds in a little walnut oil, adding a little salt.
Dice the shallot finely, mix with the remaining walnut oil, balsamic vinegar, sugar and mustard.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add the contents of the frying pan and mix thoroughly.
Remove the foil from the squashes and bake without their lids for a further ten minutes at around 250C (475F).
Arrange each squash on a large plate.  Arrange salad leaves to the side and drizzle the dressing over the top. 

Lassi

Lassi is a classic ayurvedic drink, generally drunk at the end of the meal.  It is also used as a refreshing drink between meals. 
Basic lassi is made by blending 1/3 litre plain yoghurt with 2/3 litre water for about 2-3 minutes. 
You can then add your choice of extra ingredients.

Fruit works well but should always be fully ripened, washed and briefly brought to the boil in a little water to obtain the best flavour.  Mango, strawberries, bananas, apricots, pears, peaches, cherries all work well (ideally choose fruit in season). 

You can also make lassi with herbs.  Basil, mint and chervil all work well.  Use a large bunch of fresh herbs and add a pinch each of salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Increase the mixing time to five minutes to ensure the herbs are mixed well.

Then again, you can make lassi with spices.  Try adding ½ teaspoon of ground green cardamom and one tablespoon of honey.  Or ¼ teaspoon of ginger powder, one pinch of cinnamon and one tablespoon of honey. 

Recipes © Neuer Umschauverlag/LutzJäkel

From The Art of Ayurvedic cooking – The Parkschlösschen Cuisine by Eckard Fischer (Neuer Umschau Buchverlag).  I can't find it on Amazon but, if you wanted to buy it, you could try contacting the spa to see if they still have any copies.

I'm leaving - on a jet-plane

I tell you, this Israel trip could not have come at a better time.  I need to be outside my head for a while, I really do.  I need a change of scene.  I’m like some old cranky computer that needs a major reboot.  I suppose it’s running away really.  But then again, I’m going to one of the spiritual homes of Kabbalah, how exciting is that? 

My brother introduced me to Kabbalah when I was in my early twenties.  I spent a year in the US, part of it writing a novel (but let’s not dwell on that, eh? I literally wince at the memory of it – yeah, that bad).  But the house was on Cape Ann, on top of a cliff overlooking the sea.  I can still feel the warmth of the sun, still see the diamond-glinting on waves as dawn broke. 

My body clock was still on UK time so I woke early every day and sat with a mug of coffee on my balcony just drinking in the sound of the gulls and the sight of the occasional small boat, pulling up lobster pots.  It was heaven – a supremely happy time of extreme simplicity.  I had just what I could fit into my small case.  When I wasn’t writing, I prowled through my brother’s books and his record collection.  I developed a love of Bach and early church music and started studying Kabbalah. 

Here, at last, it seemed, was a map, a glyph of life, the universe, everything.  You could take every religion, mythology, every item of faith, every aspect of creation, science and spirituality, magic and mathematics, and find a place for them on the Tree of Life.  It was like a multi-dimensional labyrinth, a glass bead game – both an intellectual challenge and a song to the heart.  I fell hook, line and sinker – and it remains the basis of my spirituality to this day. 

Anyhow, this wasn’t supposed to be a rant or a sermon.  I must also say that I don’t belong to any groups and I don’t tie bits of string round my wrist or drink overpriced water endorsed by Madonna – and I’m truly saddened that people are profiting from what should be a totally free resource.  But hey…ain’t it ever thus?

So.  Anyhow. Israel. I’m flying out on Monday – and I just can’t wait.  My brazen attempt at getting new clothes via blogging failed dismally.  However, I took advantage of the sales and have cobbled together a sort of wardrobe (mainly in tones of black, it has to be said).  I am packing my bruised and battered soul and heading for the sun.  It will be good for me to be with people; to have some light-heartedness and hopefully some inspiration.  I know how lucky I am to have such an opportunity.  Many people just have to battle on in the stranglehold of everyday life.  So it’s a huge grateful thank-you to Kinetis for inviting me. 

I’d love to be able to tell you our itinerary but they’re being all mysterious about it… Apparently my plea for desert and camels is being taken into consideration…But really, who cares?  We’re staying in a hotel a few minutes from the beach in Tel Aviv – and, by heck, what a beach!

Above all I’m really looking forward to meeting my fellow travellers – the UK bloggers Rosie and Sally – and Spanish bloggers Monica and Eva.  I took Spanish A level (and got a flipping A grade too) but, alas, the years have sucked it out of me.  Never mind – when the spirit is willing, the communication will follow. 

We're also meeting up with the lovely Susie...I love her blog and suspect she's a bit of a kindred spirit...

Stop press:  Oh my.  You remember how I put out a pitiful plea to Figleaves?  Which – after some initial flirtation on Twitter - they stoically ignored, of course.  Well… my bestest baddest friend (she of the flat in London and the Saudi sheiks and the ayurvedic rib-bruising massages) only went and sent me a care package from the place… and I now possess a swimsuit that shows off WAY too much cleavage and a seriously posh bra and knickers set… So, if I get caught in cross-fire or am mown down by a runaway Segway at least I’ll be showing a flash of purple lace as they cart me into an ambulance…