Happy Saturday, it's snowing! Mike has been summoned to help Petah shovel the driveway. I guess we got about a foot during the night. It's times like these that remind me I'm thankful I have little to no obligations in the outside world, though usually I can get quite bored hibernating in here.
So for almost a week now I've been rejecting my recently indulgent eating habits and choosing more balancing ones. The motivation behind this was at first biological but has now crossed over into the mind-spirit complex, which effectively keeps me going! When I make a commitment to heal myself, I am all about that commitment, and nothing stops me until, well, I do. Allow me to clue you in from the beginning. A couple of weeks ago I noticed something's notquiteright Down Under, which frustrated me as this was the second round of infection in the last few months, and any infection can travel to the uterus and cause preterm labor. I've actually been so freaked out about this that it has continually been popping up in my everyday life through literature, websites, any pregnancy book I flip a random page in, and the recently frequent uterine contractions I've been experiencing. But I know that what I vibrate comes back to me, so this is not surprising to me, just scary. "They" say bacterial infection is especially common in pregnant women, due to hormone fluctuations and a weaker immune system, and the cure is antibiotics. I believe in the case of pregnancy, it is spurred on by an overactive appetite coupled with the mental expectation that a pregnant woman will eat anything and everything, and antibiotics are an extremely superficial treatment for an underlying problem which continues to manifest (and fester) if ignored.
I found it was quite easy for me to eat an overabundance of highly processed carbohydrates and accompanying creamy sauces (flaky biscuits and white gravy, pizza, Chinese food), dairy and sugar mixes (birthday cakes, cheesecake, Christmas cookies), and meat. Basically, your typical American holiday diet. I can't even remember the last meat craving I legitimately had, but I'd been eating it out of habit as the beef and chicken tend to reign in this household. Mike and I decidedly were over meat a couple weeks ago after a couple creepy chicken incidents, so that is little to no problem for us to say goodbye to.
All in all this diet-of-habit causes me to feel slow, heavy, and clogged, amongst other things. I literally become what I eat! I knew the infection was directly related to this overload in my system. My pee had been cloudy, which is a sign of infection, but I immediately recognized it as a Kapha imbalance (I've been studying the Ayurveda book I got for Christmas, which is fascinating in its familiarity. You know when you learn something you've probably never actually heard or read or learned before, but it makes so much sense that it's as if you're simply being reminded of it? That's what the last two weeks have been like for me: constant soul reminders supplementing my studies.). In short, Ayurveda is the ancient Indian science of self-healing with the foundation that our bodies and the food we put in them are all combinations of the five elements: Ether, Air, Water, Fire, Earth. Kapha is one of the tridosha, or three constitutions of the elements: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Balance is the desired state, though most everyone is a combination of two or three, with a tendency toward one. I am certainly no expert and have a lot of questions, but I am basing my current experience on what I currently feel.
I tend toward Pitta with some Kapha, but Kapha foods aggravate me very easily. Kapha foods are the heavy ones: dairy, sugar, fatty oils, the moist ones you say "ooh that's gonna weigh me down" but also "ooh that was damn good." The nature of these foods combined with my own sluggish digestive fire/system (agni) creates rancidity in my body, which I believe feeds on the moist, sugary environment I tend to provoke. Whenever I aim to stimulate my agni, it feels natural to cut out those foods which are counteractive and ingest enzymes like lemon and cayenne pepper. So, no butter, no refined or fruit sugar (only vegetable), no milky, creamy, flaky goodness--all that is associated with Home!
So what do I eat? I've always been a salad lover, so raw or steamed veggies are no problem for me, and my own olive oil-lemon-garlic dressing is perfect for stimulating my digestion and eating up the toxins. Garlic is particularly effective as an antibacterial. For a grain, since the processed wheat is largely out, I've turned to quinoa. Quinoa, considered the "gold of the Incas," is an extremely health-riddled food. It is a complete protein, meaning it contains all nine essential amino acids, and is also an excellent source of manganese, magnesium (great for migraine sufferers), and vitamin B2. That goes out to all those perplexed as to how vegetarians could possibly get protein without meat! A serving of quinoa keeps me satisfied from lunch til dinner. Unheard of for me! I just need to work on flavoring it. Hey, I'm from Minnesota, the only spice we know is salt!
I eat a couple scoops of peanut butter with a tiny dollop of raw honey for a sweet treat at night (never cooked or processed honey [so long, squeezy bear!]--honey is a perfect food in its raw form, a literal nectar, and processing unnecessarily eliminates all its healing properties and turns it into a sticky, toxic mess). For snacks I'll munch on carrots and garlic dressing or nuts. Not too many nuts or salt, they aggravate Kapha. Before I go to bed I have a cup of Yogi Mother-To-Be tea, which is satisfyingly sweet in itself after ignoring the cheesecake for a week.
And thaaat's pretty much been it. Okay, I admit, a couple nights I've eaten a package of ramen noodles for something solid to stave off the midnight munchies (I am still a pregnant human!), but fuck da packet, I flavor it myself. Even with those little speed bumps I feel great, lighter, and the infection is gone! I combine the food routine (I hate the word diet) with a nightly apple cider vinegar bath, which is the perfect balancing nightcap. But I do not want to fall back into the icky food trap because the same old shit (literally) will happen all over again. At the same time I know I must aim for balance and not reject all Kapha foods. Unless that is what balances me? I'm still not sure on a lot of the details. I wish I had my own personal Indian guy in my kitchen.
I've noticed this week that my body and baby begins to crave whatever it is I've grown accustomed to eating. I don't have wild needs for the things I ate two weeks ago that must be met; I can sensibly discern what I eat. Whereas the first two months of pregnancy I had to eat everything just to keep the nausea at bay, now is a calm, lovely time for introspection; I'm not tyrannized by my hormones. Though who knows what's to come between now and April?
I'm understanding that not everyone may tune into this like I do, and they can eat whatever the hell they've always eaten with little to no surface problems, but I am thankful my body grows more and more sensitive to what I put in it. I am so glad I have these built-in bio-spirit spark plugs! Even if I stray a certain distance, I can always come back. I'd rather change my routine when needed than allow it to eventually manifest as serious disease. Indeed I believe everyone has these internal catalysts for change, you just have to have a desire to feel them. Like Jesus.
Much love, light, and health in the New Year!
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