Intention
“I love thinking about food as a spiritual practice. And it is.”
Food as a spiritual practice
I start each day with morning sadhana - lemon water, cold shower and to the yoga mat. Each day starts with intention - sending love to those in need, giving thanks for my gifts, for mother earth and all its creatures and asking for guidance, nudges, synchronicities and dreams - as I align with spirit. Today, on my porch, I listened to the rain, nourishing my garden and the birds trilling.
I am on day two of the seven days of Alberto Villoldo’s Grow a New Body Program - and “intention” is the word that came to me for this blog post - intention. While kundalini yoga is the foundation of my health and I do not miss a day - it feels fantastic to give my physical body full attention and intention with what food I eat. So how is it so far?
Day One - and Day Two Sunday, Jul 9, 2023 and Monday, Jul 10, 2023
I woke up hungry because in my “normal” diet - I don’t usually eat after 2:00 pm or so and I’m ready for my oatmeal after yoga. So breakfast time hit and oatmeal was not on the menu. The pre dawn lemon water was taken with the S. Boulardii, flushing out candida from the GI tract. 8:00 is my first meal - the Green Goddess fresh juice - leafy greens, apple, lemon, ginger, parsley and cucumber. Just delightful - but noisy! I host Air BNB so I decided to prepare the the next day’s green goddess juice so that early noise is avoided.
An hour later is vegetable broth. For day one - I literally prepared the broth when I was supposed to be having it - so warning to those getting started - prepare some of the recipes the day before you start! I was quite hungry at this 10:00 broth time - with no broth yet. 11:00 is smoothie time - which is much of what is in the green goddess juice but other things like coconut oil and avocado. It is scrumptious. We start taking our supplements at this point and I spread them out a little - pacing their access to my system. The supplements during the seven days are different than the ones used in preparation. We cease the preparatory supplements and switch to a different batch. The themes are detoxification, mitochondrial function, candida release, anti inflammation and tissue regeneration. Dr. Villoldo explains the science in his book, Grow a New Body.
Lunch is salad and there are a variety of choices - leafy greens, cucumber, artichoke hearts, broccoli, scallions, cooked mushrooms, avocado, seeds, nuts and there are recipes for a delicious walnut tapenade (with or without olives) and hummus. I also made the recommended salad dressing. The serving size of proteins is rigid. The entire week is low protein. We are not to exceed 28 grams per day.
For dinner, I made a batch of the soup that will last the week. Using coconut oil, I sauteed onions and garlic and then added squash, carrots, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, kale and herbs. Alison, my partner on this adventure from the shamanic energy medicine training, added beans to her soup, staying within the protein limit. I roasted asparagus and put a tablespoon of the walnut tapenade on it - really yummy.
Now on Day two, I am pretty much repeating day one but having broccoli instead of asparagus. I made my green goddess drink for tomorrow. I want to measure the protein today to make sure I’m getting the right amount. My mixed nuts reported 5 grams of protein - for my salad - along with ¼ cup of pumpkin seeds which is 8 grams. The tapenade has 12 grams of protein in the entire recipe - I don’t know about a tablespoon of the tapenade but I’m going to guess around 3 grams - just to be safe. So that is 16 grams. Lunch is my big meal so this feels fine. The tapenade was put on my broccoli at dinner - broccoli having about 5 grams of protein - tops. So that is 21 total and there is protein in salad greens and other things which would likely keep me under 28.
Intention
But let’s get back to intention. Besides volunteering, teaching yoga, hosting Air BNB and promoting my healing memoir, I don’t have a job that requires me to go to an office, unlike my partner in Grow a New Body Crime - Allison. I can cook during my day and review the book with questions. I prepared a lot of the food on day one. Allison had it all prepped and put into containers to be set up for success - much more challenging. While I love to bike and it’s how I get around town - I wouldn’t want to go on a big bike challenge this week - and I got pretty tired mowing the lawn and weeding the vegetable garden yesterday.
But when you give up certain foods and have a healthy smoothie or goddess juice? It’s amazing how good it tastes - how nourishing it feels - and how much my soul is taking it all in - and feeling gratitude that I am treating my body as the sacred temple that it is. Yeah, I fall into the food hole sometimes - I struggle with treating my body well with food. This experience is a reboot - to cook with intention, learn some lessons and “embody” the connection between what I eat, my mood, energy level, spiritual practice, my sacred self, the health of my brain, gifts from earth, the intentional act of food preparation. While I still wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, no longer am I clutching my stomach. My stomach is so much happier - I thought my stomach aches were nerves or digesting my trauma or any number of emotional factors - I didn’t think it was about the overall health of my gut. My tummy is appreciative.
Interestingly, (and if you know me - not my usual urge), I cleaned my kitchen rigorously today. I took down the filters from the fan and scrubbed the grime and grease. Perhaps this urge is connected to my internal cleanse - detoxing the kidneys of my house. Perhaps it will parallel my active efforts in other purification activities - purifying my brain from worrisome thoughts, house clutter and certain relationships. I enjoyed cleaning today. I cleaned with intention. I didn’t rush.
I further entertained and educated myself by listening to the “We can do hard things” podcast as they talked about sex and how to spot a narcissist and even got to hear Abby Wambach's (Glennon’s wife and soccer star with record breaking goals scored!) graduation commencement speech from Loyola Marymount University.
So that’s where we are - yes - a bit hungry - but feeling grateful, feeling good, onboard, looking forward and thankful for Allison - because we are in this together and text each other questions and thoughts. I love thinking about food as a spiritual practice. And it is. I’ll report back in a couple of days. Sat nam, (truth is my identity) Janet
