How An Ancient Ayurvedic Cleanse Helped Me Reconnect With My Mind & Body
Ayurveda is a system of medicine that comes from India, in sanskrit it means the knowledge of life & longevity. The staple dish is Kitchari, a cleansing meal that clears the build-up of toxins in the body, (especially the colon) while providing all the essential nutritional value. It strengthens the digestive fire known as ‘agni’ and improves the entire digestive system. It is said to balance out the three doshas (this is a great quiz to learn about your constitution). Experts recommend it as a mono-diet that resets the bodies overall vitality. It’s also known as khichdi, kitcheree, or khichri and there are numerous variations of the recipe; families in India may have their own slightly unique version that they’ve cultivated over the years.
I’ve struggled with digestion issues for years and have dabbled in what feels like every way of eating to find which foods make my body feel best. I’ve always been curious about the mind/body connection and how foods affect my emotional and physical states. Becoming vegetarian at seven years old was just the beginning.
My family was shocked when I told them, I was known as the kid who ate chicken right to the bone.
Later into my teenage years I learned about Veganism and eating raw vegan - meaning no cooked foods at all. Some of my friends were getting into it so I started experimenting with the diet and soon enough I fully believed that cooked foods were not healthy. When I heard about the Ayurvedic diet, it was absolutely out of the question. I immediately discounted it with its encouragement of animal products and cooked meals.
Fast forward eight years and many food experiments later, I realized that I had to try an Ayurvedic cleanse to be sure it wouldn’t work for me. I was finally convinced by the easy-to-digest foods that provided a balanced nourishment of protein, fats, carbs, fiber, raw oil, vitamins & minerals.
I set out to do the Ayurvedic Kitchari
cleanse for three days
If all went well I would continue onto seven days, but the pact I made with myself was to listen to my body and do whatever it needed, regardless of what my mind was telling me.
The first day was peaceful. I was fresh off of a trip to New York and had eaten too much of the food my grandma cooked (aka food that I don’t digest well). I was suffering from daily stomach aches and indigestion. Mono-eating kitchari all day gave my stomach a much needed break and eased the pain.
The basic Ingredients:
Basmati rice / Mung beans or Dal (split lentils)
Green peas / Tomato
Yellow onions / Carrots
Coriander seeds / Cumin
Mustard / Ghee
Cinnamon /Sea salt
Sprinkle on top: fresh ginger, cilantro, turmeric powder, lemon and asafoetida You can find a great recipe here.
By the end of the second day my stomach was grumbling and confused. My energy was low and a friend asked if I was feeling okay. The third day was better and my head was clear all day without the 4:00 pm slump. All allergy symptoms in my stomach had subsided, my skin was clearer and I woke up in the morning easily. I decided to go onto seven days to see what would happen.
I finally had a break from a never-ending chore. Instead of feeling sleepy after every meal I was content and energized. Overall, I felt more relaxed and started wondering why I had such a roller coaster connection with food. By day seven I started to lose my appetite, which was a side effect I had heard about.
I continued eating my three meals a day, but wasn’t as hungry or thinking about food in the usual persistent way.
I started craving eggs and eventually gave in by adding a fried egg on top of my dinner and making Ayurvedic spiced milk before bed, along with giving myself an abhyanga massage which consisted of gently rubbing coconut oil all over my body. I was paying more attention to my body than I had in a long time, I noticed new marks and muscles that were holding tension. I realized the amount of energy digestion uses up and the energy that goes into meal planning and cooking.
I ended up using quinoa instead of rice and added green peppers and orange lentils to mix things up a bit. I’m not used to eating rice regularly and the rice three times a day became too much for me. Quinoa is a lighter grain and was a perfect substitute. I also added small pieces of sweet potato because I absolutely love it.
My body was happier, my stomach finally relaxed as though it was exhausted from dealing with all of the unwanted foods over the years.
The pain felt like a distant memory… I tried to remember what it was like, how it gave me an edge of annoyance and exhaustion all of the time. It’s strange that when I change I have a hard time remembering what I was like before (just a mere week ago)! I decided to continue the cleanse for ten full days, I was in a state of peace with my body and didn’t want to disturb it. When was the last time that I felt calm and relaxed about my digestion issues? I couldn’t remember. The anxiety had built up and had been lodged inside of me for too long.
Finally, I was letting go.
When I came out of the cleanse, I incorporated a variety of cooked vegetables and eggs in different styles. I lightly fried some foods and whipped up some hearty sweet potato soup. I didn’t follow the cleanse or the phasing out perfectly. I realized that I needed to listen to my body’s needs. That was the most important thing to get out of the cleanse - even if it meant deviating from the rules.
This was the lesson that echoed throughout my whole life.
I always committed to something, whether a diet, a workout routine, or a social obligation and stuck to it like my whole identity depended on it. But my internal dialogue was saying something else, it was trying to tell me when I’d reached the limit and needed to slow down, or in this case, just add a fried egg on top.
The anxiety around my constant questions of ‘Will this food give me a stomach ache? Will I regret this later?’ began to evaporate. I was more gentle with myself, a little bit kinder and compassionate. I played around with the phrase ‘Treat others how you want to be treated’ and switched it to ‘Treat yourself how you want to treat others.’ It came down to tuning in and listening to my body and its natural cravings, trusting that it is intelligent and knows what it needs. In doing this I identified the difference between the voice in my mind and the voice in my body. Each one felt slightly different - my mind tended to be more demanding, strict and louder, and my body was softer, like a gentle whisper.
The kitchari cleanse was a journey into my mind & body that I didn’t know I was embarking on.
I let go of the voices in my head commanding me to eat this and not that and was able to hear the cravings and nutritional needs. I have a newfound compassion towards my mind and body, an ability to say, ‘this food is exactly what I really need right now’.