After-Thanksgiving Detox

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The Best Holiday Ever!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you are all enjoy this wonderful holiday! Whatever you choose to list in your grace be honest and let it come from the heart. Feel the grace, don’t just say it.

Here is mine: I am grateful for my partner who supports me in anything I do, for my parents who understand me and love me no matter what, for the community of teachers and healers who share their wisdom and advice, for the students who inspire me to become a better person, a mindful listener, and an educated teacher, and for my readers who share their honest opinion and take time to read and comment. I am grateful for my creative and hard-working brain that always gives me new ideas to explore and for my strong intelligent body that carries me through daily life and provides wisdom through constant feedback.

What are you grateful for this year? Please share if you have a minute!

Restoring Post Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is customary celebrated around the table. Usually, it is a very rich and abundant one. No matter whether it is a traditional TG table, a vegetarian, a vegan, or a gluten free one, there is more food than we eat on a regular basis. With so many delicious dishes on the table it is difficult not to overeat and to stick to proper food combinations. A few too many second helpings, heavy desserts, and chatting at the table can upset even the strongest tummy. Top of it off with travel anxiety and you are heading for trouble unless you know how to balance your body out the next day.

After the Thanksgiving meal, most Americans feel overly stuffed, bloated, and hangover. Hangover not necessarily from alcohol but from too much salt, sugar, and heavy foods. Not a pleasant feeling but quite manageable with some simple techniques.

Recovering after Thanksgiving should start right after the main meal with a steaming cup of cumin and cardamon tea. In the evening before you head to bed take some triphala and the next day follow the menu below.

Before bed: Take 2 pills of triphala or 1 tsp of triphala powder mixed in a glass of hot water with a little bit of honey. You can buy Triphala at Whole Foods or any other health food store. Literally meaning “three fruits”, Triphala is a traditional Ayurvedic herbal formulation consisting of three fruits. Triphala is most commonly known for its use as a gentle bowel tonic, helpful in digestion and supporting regular bowel movements. My favorite one is from Banyan Botanicals.

In the morning: Start your day with a cup of hot water with lemon juice and sliced up ¼” of fresh ginger root with 1 tsp of honey

Also make a thermos of this cleansing tea to drink throughout the day.

Herbal Detox Tea
8 cups of water
4 teaspoons each of cumin and coriander powder
8 cardamom pods
4 teaspoons of crushed fennel seeds
2 pinches of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder (or 3 slices fresh ginger)
Mix all ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and keep covered for another 15-20 minutes. Strain through a sieve and drink it warm throughout the day.

Breakfast: Keep it very light and gentle with a bowl of baked apples or pears with nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom or this amazing pumpkin gingerbread smoothie.

Lunch: Pay attention to your hunger level. If not hungry, skip lunch or have a bowl of homemade miso soup. Another great option is a green detox soup. It is filing, warming, but very easy to digest. Here is my version of the green detox soup that tastes amazing.

Dinner: Light and gentle ayurvedic kichadi like this one. It is an amazing healing dish and it tastes surprisingly good. I was very unsure about it first since I am not a big fan of rice but it blew my mind taste buds. It became a regular dish that I make at least once a week.

Try not to snack too much and drink lots of herbal detox tea.

It is ok to break the rules from time to time, as long as you know how to keep consequences to the minimum.

Grace and Light to you!

Nadya

Ayurvedic Ideas for Your Thanksgiving Table Chipotle Sweet Potato Chips