Moksha Challenge: Day 2

A jug fills drop by drop.
~Buddha

Day 2 practice for me was the 5:30pm Moksha flow. I really enjoy the flow class because it is a little more challenging. The climate change is making me feel so different in the hot room. I've felt the heat SO much sometimes during class the last two days that I've had to go into a restorative pose just to calm my breathing down. Good old child's pose!

Spring Cleanse
I had mentioned that I would include some additional information on the cleanse portion of the challenge. I'm not too concerned with it because I generally eat clean, if not then at least healthy. All of this information is from Moksha Yoga Brampton's spring cleanse package. This was emailed to me when I signed up ( I cannot attach the link unfortunately). I will only include any of the recipes if I try them, but as far as I could see I wasn't really interested in too many of them.
I am going to give you the guideline of foods to eat and those to avoid as per their General Detox Diet.

What to Eat:

• Water-purified, reverse osmosis, herbal tea, hot water with lemon. *Stay away from Brita it harbours mold apparently!
• Sweeteners-use honey or maple syrup sparingly
• Fruit-fresh fruits. *Stay away from orange juice (causes constipation) and grapefruit juice (can interfere with liver function)
• Vegetables-any are ok raw, steamed, juiced, stir-fried, grilled, or in soup.
• Dairy & oils-use rice or almond beverage. *No soy (contributes to hormonal imbalances and can be difficult to digest). Use butter, ghee (what now? I googled this and apparently it is a clarified version of butter most often used in South Asia), coconut oil, and cold pressed olive oil. Goat or sheet cheese yogurt.
• Grains-whole grains such as amaranth, barley, brown rice, buckwheat, bulgar, kamut, millet, steel cut oats, quinoa, 100% rye, spelt.
• Cereal-oatmeal, quinoa, rice congee (rice porridge made in Asian countries), teff (grain that comes from an African grass).
• Bread-Manna bread 100% sprouted (Manna is actually the name of the bakery), Ezekiel sprouted/flourless, kamut, 100% rye, spelt, rice crackers, and rice cakes.
• Pasta-brown rice, kamut, quinoa, spelt.
• Legumes-navy, kidney, adzuki, lentils, black beans, split peas, lima, red beans, chick pea, bean flours. To make a complete protein combine 2/3 cup grains with 1/3 cup legumes. *Use soy sparingly.
• Protein-eggs, fish (cold water), seafood, tempeh (a form of tofu), goat cheese/yogurt. Free range is best. Nuts and seeds-raw/roasted/blanched almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pine, pecans, walnuts, Brazil nuts, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, and any nut butters made from these.
• Salad dressing-fresh squeezed lemon, balsamic/apple cider/rice vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, flax seed oil, garlic and herbs.

What to Avoid/Eliminate

• Sugar and foods containing: sucrose, maltose, lactose, glucose, mannitol, galactose, date sugar, torbinado sugar, corn syrup, white/brown sugar, artificial sweetener and aspartame.
• Fruit-dried, candied, canned, bottled or frozen juices.
• Coffee and regular teas
• Alcohol
• Carbonated beverages
• Yeast/High fat-raised baked goods such as bread, rolls, bagels, donuts, cakes, and pastries.
• Wheat-all white & whole wheat flours (the gluten in wheat is very difficult for many people to digest, can cause cramping and constipation, can damage intestinal microvilli).
• Nuts-peanuts & pistachios (these nuts contain mold!).
• Anything processed/packaged/deep fried. Corn and popcorn.
• Pickled, processed & smoked meats-high in carcinogens, nitrates, and nitrites.
• Condiments & white vinegar.
• Antibiotics-cause overgrowth of yeast.

So there you have it! It's a pretty big list both ways, and I already follow most of it.  I feel so lucky that I have been eating clean (for the most part) for the past 3 months because my body has already adjusted to not having processed foods and sugars and things that are supposed to be eliminated during the cleanse.