Cleanse Day 4

My husband woke up with a start at about 2:30 a.m. saying something (probably a spider) had bitten his heel. He tends to sleep with his feet sticking out of the covers, but still! After that kafuffle sleep eluded me and I finally got out of bed at 5:30 and trundled to the basement for my morning routine. After some pranayama (alternate nostril breathing for balance) I practiced lunar salutations, a shoulderstand and then meditated for 20 minutes. Then it was 7:00 - time to wake up the family and get everyone moving.

Breakfast was kamut puffs with blackberries and soy milk. The kamut puffs were a bit soggy so I "freshened" them by roasting them in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes until they were crispy.

On Thursday mornings, I teach yoga to my daughter's school class. Today's focus was anatomical joints, which I demonstrated with a couple pieces of zoob (building toy) representing a ball-and-socket joint, a hinged reading light representing a hinge joint and a cylindrical spice jar inserted into the hole in a bagel representing a pivot joint (my daughter then asked for the bagel for lunch!). The big hit of the class was playing "yoga benders": alone, and then in groups of 3, the kids had to make a body sculpture with my instructions of "2 feet, 3 hands and 1 head" meaning those were the only body parts that could connect with the floor. Great fun!

I also taught a flow class for grown-ups back at the studio, then had a studio meeting at Bridgehead (where I had a decaf esspresso and munched on almonds to keep myself going), raced home to get changed into business attire to attend a meeting and event with a consulting client. I had brought lunch with me and after the meeting (it was now 3:00) I ate the last of the Red Lentil Soup, the ubiquitous rice crackers and some home-made hommus.

In between the meeting and after-work event, which was at the Chateau Laurier, I managed to squeeze in some Christmas shopping at the Rideau Centre - I think I covered every kid on my list - whew! The work function was a bit of a challenge because, of course, I couldn't eat any of the tasty hors d'oeuvres offered or have the wine. I nibbled on raw veggies plus some almonds I had brought for myself and drank perrier.

Once home, I whipped up a quick dinner of Skillet Black-Eyed Peas and Spinach with Brown Rice. It was a bit bland but I was very hungry and ate it up! As it wasn't a great success, I'll offer a recipe for hummous tonight.

I'm feeling pretty tired this evening although I was relatively energetic most of the day. I'm not sure if it's because of the cleanse per se, or more my lack of sleep last night - or maybe my poor sleep last night is cleanse-related. Hmmm... My bowels are still occasionally topsy turvy but apart from that, I'm not experiencing side-effects from the cleanse. What a difference from my first two cleanses where by this point in the cleanse, I was indeed "cranky" with headache, exhaustion, riling intestines and serious acne. I guess the regular cleanses are working and I'm not as toxic as I used to be.

Oh: when I stepped on the scale this morning, it read "126.8" which is a full FOUR pounds less than the day before I started this cleanse. Woo Hoo!

Hommus

Ingredients:

1 can cooked chickpeas
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
1/4 c tahini
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt

Method:

Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
Enjoy with rice crackers or fresh veggies.