Fall Cleansing is in the Air: Join our Cleanse on November 17th!
By Kyle McAvoy, NP
We have been truly blessed with a warm and sunny ‘Indian summer’ here in the Pacific NW this year! But more recently, the autumn switch turned on, dropping the temperatures down into the 50′s by day and 40′s by night. Any illusions of an endless summer were quickly abandoned, so back indoors we go for the majority of our waking hours.
I imagine many of you, like me, find yourself purging your house of excess things, rearranging cupboards and closets, raking up the fallen leaves and turning over the soil in the garden. There is something about the transition from living outdoors as much as possible to nestling inside that makes me want to simplify my surroundings before adorning the house with decorations for our fall and winter festivities.
One of my fall rituals is moving all of my spring and summer clothes from my bedroom closet to my spare one, in exchange for my fall and winter wardrobe. Doing this always makes the seasonal change so definite for me. I actually enjoy this ritual as it makes me reflect on the activities of the past few months while thinking ahead to the upcoming holidays.
Fall lights add to a warm and cozy atmosphere: I can’t resist!
Fall for me also means thinking of ways to be more conscious and mindful about the food and beverage choices we will be making in order to stay balanced despite the holiday festivities. This can be a huge challenge to many of us: avoiding unwanted weight gain, getting inadequate sleep, feeling stressed out about shopping (perhaps on a more limited budget than in years past), getting burned out by the extra demands placed upon us, all of this leading to cortisol overdrive and its many associated symptoms (irritability, insomnia, anxiety, depression, belly fat, salt and sugar cravings, to name a few).
So we will be hosting another “Consciousness Cleanse” starting on Sunday, November 17th and will run for 10 days, ending just in time for Thanksgiving. As in years past, there are 4 major food/beverage groups that we will avoid during the ‘cleanse’ .
These are: caffeine, alcohol, sugar and ‘the whites’(white flour, rice, potatoes, pasta and again white sugar). Some of you who want to do a deeper detox/cleanse of sorts may also want to eliminate gluten and/or dairy and/or soy, particularly if you suspect a sensitivity to a particular food type.
Some examples of the kinds of food you CAN eat and that will make you feel wonderful!
Some examples of the kinds of food you CAN eat and that will make you feel wonderful!
Last year we had approximately 60 people participating in our fall ‘cleanse’ and it was pretty remarkable to listen to the various comments people had about their personal experiences. We are excited to be doing this again and we hope that you will join us.
As always, please share your thoughts on our blog, on our Facebook page, or via email to me personally. I look forward to continuing this journey with you!
