nourishment

Finished the last of my cleanse this morning and decided to eat two meals before work tonight. The first was this soup- a beautiful combination of veggies and spices sprinkled with nutritional yeast and served over quinoi. Later it'll be a great gluten-free muesli with added nuts, raisins, dried peaches and peanut butter. I'll take another vitamin and nutrient packed juice with me to work- spinach, apples, carrots, ginger, tumeric, and whatever else I can find hanging around my fridge! So excited to be back into juicing again. Such a marvelous way to get so much good food into your system at once and, at home, it's so affordable.

That's one of the many changes I'm happy to make in my life after this detox. Before, my roommate described me as being in the C diet- coffee, cereal, cheese and chocolate. And whereas all of those things are incredibly delicious, they were severely lacking as staple foods. Now I feel more confident with greens, as well as more enthusiastic about cooking.

But most of all, I am reconnected with the idea of nourishment.

Really thinking about my stomach and intestines and how that system is so vital for the rest of my body, down to the ways all my little cells build and destroy, clear out and create anew. It all comes from the food I put into my mouth. There is a difference between appetite and hunger and they rule you differently. Appetite is impulse and habit, connected to what you are used to. Eat fat and sugar and you will crave just that. Eat salads, veggies, whole grains and occasional healthy meats, and your body will search those out. Hunger is a healthy measure of when to eat, and controlling your appetite will ensure that what you reach for is actual nourishment for the whole system. It was good to recognize this again and readjust my appetite.

So before this soup, I took some time to meditate on all its beauty and worth and gifts to my body and to give thanks for its taste. Another corkscrew in life's spiral- touching the same place again, but one small level up.

PS So... went to the store to buy "healthy" Smores materials, since it's below freezing here and we have a fireplace in the apartment. Ended up purchasing 3 types of chocolate and eating two of them in the car on the drive back, some paired with the gluten free graham crackers I had bought. Kept thinking, "This is a bad idea for your stomach and you're going to get a headache before you go into work! You should easy back in with all whole foods and lots of greens and homemade soups..." I felt the tummy gurgles right away and my mind started to wander already, untethered from its peaceful, grounded state; totally did it to myself.

Ha! Ah, I love being human.