Flexibility and discovery

Post-cleanse
One of the fun parts of the cleanse was the near-constant feeling of discovery. Supplements, tips for cooking brown rice (which I no longer screw up every time.. turns out there is actually truth to just letting it be with the lid on), the fact that certain cravings have continued to dwindle. Now that I'm a week post-cleanse, my weekly routine somewhat mirrors the cleanse weeks, to be honest: largely vegetarian (I had fish once last weekend), juicing and my Braggs vinegar drink in the mornings, an apple on my way home, greens at lunch and dinner, veggies and grains and beans and tempeh. Very little gluten (I splurged on bread when Eric and I went out to dinner for an early V-Day). I've had cheese twice, but for the most part have not wanted much dairy as I'm afraid of reversing all the progress I made. This past week has brought on some fatigue and a slight cold; while it could be coincidence, these feelings are largely in contrast to how I'd felt by the end of the cleanse.. energetic and incredibly light. I don't want to go back to feeling sluggish and congested!

Even so, I've been navigating a mental tug of war over keeping new habits and remaining flexible. For example, I can't lug my juicer around when visiting friends or going to Eric's house. On those days, I'll supplement with wheat grass powder and not get worked up about it. If a friend makes me a meal with chicken, I'll eat the chicken and then likely not eat meat again that week. Instead of viewing certain foods or situations as road blocks, I'm learning to view them as the moments during the week when I exercise moderation. I have a tendency to approach new life developments at full steam: if it's best to juice every day, then I must juice every day! Except, life doesn't work this way and juicing 5-6 days a week is still better than the 0 days I was juicing before. :) So many veggies! So much kale.

Supplements

Love this!

I think I've finally settled on my supplement list! Finally. Here we go: multivitamin, D3 supplement, probiotic, supplement for omega 3s, digestive enzymes and wheatgrass as needed (for those days when I need to be flexible!)

• NOW Foods Organic Spirulina
• Garden of Life Raw One for Women
• Jarrow Formulas, Vitamin D3
• PB8 Probiotic 
• Source Naturals Digestive enzymes as needed
• Amazing Grass wheatgrass powder as needed

As I wanted to stop taking fish oil and I can't seem to remember to eat enough ground flaxseed, getting my omegas from Spirulina seemed like an intriguing choice. A known superfood, Spirulina is "a type of blue-green algae that is rich in protein, vitamins, minerals, and carotenoids, antioxidants that can help protect cells from damage. It contains nutrients, including B complex vitamins, beta-carotene, vitamin E, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, selenium, and gamma linolenic acid (an essential fatty acid)." Articles are careful to point out that a lot of theories are not proven yet, but I tend to rely on my own experience regardless of what studies say. The next time I visit my doctor, I plan on showing her this list and getting advice... in my effort to take care of myself, I don't want to overdo it.  Regardless, so far so good! Always, always read the reviews! They've helped me in deciding whether to trust the brand or not.

This week's experiment: continuing to test diluted tea tree oil and jojoba oil. I've also discovered a pretty good yoga mat cleaner:

http://ecoyogini.blogspot.com/2010/03/diy-how-to-eco-clean-your-yoga-mat.html

Tea tree oil, water, and vinegar! I'd like to find something for which vinegar has no use! It's so versatile. I tried the spray / bath method described in this blog and it seemed to work - my mat looked quite clean and then I felt guilty that I hadn't researched proper washing techniques much sooner. Oops.