January 17, 2013
For ages, I have shunned this glorious egg of slime. Its
edges to spiny, its innards too goopy. Its effects to deadly to highly allergic
friends.
All I can say is: thank you for sticking around until I
needed you.
This morning - day six – I was sent a plea bargain from my
body. While being able to sleep in more easily has been pleasant, there is a
line between a well-rested and well-weakened body. I will say, having a cat
that has recently developed an unbreakable pattern of nuzzling as physically
close to me (and on me) as possible for the entirety
of the night does not help in the morning routine factor. However, even
after I evaded the cat obsticle and finally arose from bed, I had to lie down
for a few minutes again. Everything felt sluggish. My breath a bit shallow. My
body a bit shaky. Just the thought of drinking another detox drink had my
stomach on a merry-go-round.
By the time I made up the drink and mixed it into a
smoothie, I was feeling a bit more stable. But the magic didn’t begin until
I dug a spoon into my first
avocado. Its meaty, buttery flesh was like pudding. I could almost physically
feel the nutrients going down my throat.
In this phase, there is little I can do about dense
nutrients. I’d probably have to spend a weeks worth amount of grocery money on
vegetables for the day to get enough. The avocado is about the only thing on
the list besides my oils that has some legit macho credentials. One avocado
contains:
-300 calories
-more protein than any other fruit or veggie
-has one of the most diverse spectrums of Carotenoids,
organic pigments in produce that work to protect against free-radicals, rev
your immune system, and provide Vitamin A, among other things.
-Uber-source of Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated fats
-great as an anti-inflammatory for joints and the like
-contains a rare makeup of 7-carbon sugars which results in
an acute regulation of blood sugar and a unique and beneficial way of
metabolizing nutrients
The list goes on. I just know it woke me up.
That being said, I think I am discontinuing phase 1 of my
cleanse beginning Saturday or Sunday instead of Tuesday. I was fortunate enough
to come across an article yesterday about quiting. The whole article was about
how quitting should not be looked at as weak but, when done with mindfulness
and authenticity, is a sign of decisively holding to your values and
understanding what is or is not working for your journey. I think it’s a great
exercise for coming into your own and the perfect reminder that nothing is a
blanket solution for every person. In
my case, given my physical history, make up and the fact that as far as I know,
I didn’t have any major Candida issue to begin with, expediting the process to
include more nutrient dense foods would be beneficial to my body.
Until then though, I’ve got a new buddy.
I leave you with some more, quirkier facts about the avocado
(or “Alligator Pear” as commonly called in its Native Central American lands)
-Aztec word for avocado is ahuacatl and means “testicle tree” (okay some disadvantage points
there)
-Spanish explorers called it aguacate because they couldn’t pronounce it. Thus, Guacamole came
to be.
-On average, 53.5 million pounds of avocado are eaten on
super bowl Sunday. That’s enough to cover a football field over 20 feet thick.
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