Branching Out

What a week and a half its been since I updated this blog. Lots of new things to report.

The Set Back

Well it had to happen sooner or later, right? That ego inside of me had to finally say “enough already with this Ayurveda, let’s eat!” That happened about a week ago. I had worked late the previous evening, and then my coworkers were late the next morning, by two HOURS, which put me off on the wrong foot for the rest of the day.

Let me back up and say that before this happened, I had a minor set back with the herbs my Ayurvedic specialist had prescribed for me. I was feeling nauseated whenever I would sit down to eat. At first I thought that it was just WHAT I was eating, but when it happened over a bowl of chicken soup, I finally connected it to the herbs. After writing my concern to Mary-Alice, she let me know that the herbs were doing their job! The toxins in my body from years of horrible eating were being melted away by the hot water I’ve been drinking, and were coming up on my tongue—and the herbs were aggravating it. (Sorry if that was too much information folks, but we’re all friends, right?)

Anyway, Mary-Alice suggested drinking ginger tea while eating and it totally helped. But I used the nauseous feeling as an excuse to go off the herbs for more than a week. I hadn’t even realized that they were suppressing my appetite until I stopped and it came roaring back! For two days the snack and juice cravings were back in full force, and I’m sorry to say I obeyed them whole heartedly!

SO back to my miserable day that put me off on the wrong foot. I got to work at my 2nd job and had to stay later because I’d been so late in the first place. Then I had to go home to an empty house and I was not looking forward to cooking in my exhausted state. I rebelled my friends—BIG TIME. I bought Doritos and cinnamon rolls and went crazy.

I thought for sure that my stomach would rebel against ME and that I’d be sick that evening. I wasn’t. I slept like a baby! All was right with my world again. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and it just didn’t. I thought I’d gotten away unscathed from that eating binge. So day two rolled around and an opportunity to have “Dinner with Friends” presented itself. So the alcohol was flowing (we made these sugary delicious lemon margaritas that were like manna from heaven!) and we ordered Thai food with is the least of the evils of fast food, and had lots of wine.

Even though I had a hangover, I did not fall into a food coma or experience any of the nastiness that usually comes with overeating. BUT I felt like I had failed after spending so much time investing in getting it right. But the next day was my scheduled follow-up consultation with Mary-Alice and I can’t tell you how much the regularly scheduled support meetings are.

It’s not as though after 2 or 3 meetings you know all you need to know and just need to be disciplined enough to follow the rules. If that were the case then my entire journey (and this blog!) would’ve been over 2 weeks ago!

I thought pretty seriously about lying to Mary-Alice about just how much progress I hadn’t made. After all, a week off the herbs I was supposed to be taking three times a day, binge eating—what would she think of me? I was convinced she would think I’d waster her time as well as my own, and that she would think I was completely incapable of change.

But when I got there and sat down across from her and she asked me “How are you doing, dear?” I just let the truth spill forth—it took too much energy to think of a lie and try to remember it 2 hours later when we’d still be talking. Surprisingly, Mary-Alice was kind and understanding and revealed her own personal struggles with beginning Ayurveda and sticking to it. She reminded me that one of the major causes of stress I’d told her about weeks earlier was putting so much pressure on myself to be perfect and to never fail. It was a relief to know she still had faith in me, and that I should expect to fail again and again and always.

I told her how I was feeling otherwise, and then she gave me some new practices to add to what I’m already doing. So including drinking hot water with meals, my herbs before eating, eating in a quiet environment in a positive I now had two new practices—using a tongue scraper and drinking a new herb called Organic Triphala. I’ll let you guys google it yourselves for the million and one benefits that one gets from drinking this herb. I take ½ a tsp in hot water 30 minutes before I go to bed at night. And this, the single most prescribed herb in all of Ayurveda, I will be drinking every night before bed, pretty much forever.

I used to think that taking a pill or doing something “for the rest of my life” was such a chore. But won’t we all be making our beds and working out and getting up early and brushing our teeth in the morning for the rest of our lives? What’s one more thing? So far I feel pretty good on this additional herb.

Now the tongue scraper—I won’t go into the gory details, but I’ll share the fascinating part—Ayurveda uses the tongue as a map for all the other systems of the body. When there are discolorations or abnormalities on the tongue, it’s a reflection of imbalance in the body. Using the tongue scraper each morning helps to rid my body of the toxins that came up over night, as well as several other benefits.

Well that’s all for now folks—I went off track for a while, but I came back, and that is what I’m learning is the most important thing. Plus the people around me that I interact with most often are starting to rethink their lives, eating habits and associations with food and by doing so they are encouraging me and supporting me in my new practices. Thanks to all of those that are still reading with me and supporting me on this journey, and welcome to any newbies out there. Questions and comments are welcome!