I thought I could really go for the full 25 days that I had to do the Ejuva cleanse. I went with the ups and downs, energy level vacillating, observing hunger and moving past it, feeling good about myself for breaking habits and attachments. But last night I realized I was done. I was starting to hallucinate about junk food, and I knew that was a bad sign. I figured I should end it before I do something crazy like devour a bag of tortilla chips.

Practically speaking, it was the right thing to do. We're hitting the road for our end-of-summer road trip in two days, and I want to ease back into eating in the comfort of my own kitchen. As I've mentioned in previous posts and in my Nutrition article about Congee, Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine both view well-cooked, whole grains as being the easiest food to digest. So I began my day with congee and it was such a pleasure to chew! Warm, gooey, yummy and substantial.  I plan to eat mostly kitchari today, which I'll post a video of shortly. Kitchari is a traditional Ayurvedic dish commonly used during the cleansing and rejuvenation process called Panchakarma. Kitchari, sometimes called kitchadi, is a mix of basmati rice and split yellow mung beans cooked in ghee and plenty of water with spices such as turmeric, cumin, and coriander. It is nourishing but very easy to digest. It is so easy to assimilate, that the digestive fire can continue to work on burning off old toxins rather than focus on breaking down the new food coming in. It's the total opposite of the raw diet I've been on, but it will allow for further cleansing and a smooth transition back to eating cooked foods.

I'm so curious to see what habits I go back to and how my tastes have changed.  Will I still want chai every morning? Can I drink it without the traditional milk and raw sugar like I was used to?  Can I stay with the simpler flavors I've come to enjoy?

What eating habits would you like to break?  What do you feel you just couldn't go without? What foods make you feel best?

I'll be on the road for the next few weeks, but I'll try to post some fun stuff along the way. Happy nearly-end-of-summer!