Time to Detox!

  I've taken a bit of a hiatus from paddling and training in SUP and surf since November. Most of my time has been well-spent, however. I've been traveling around South India, helping teach SUP and surf, and also teaching school field trips about marine science.

   Unfortunately, my diet and healthy lifestyle may have also fallen to the wayside... along with my will to not drink alcohol. It's hard when you're on the road. Sometimes you just have to eat whatever you can, you can't be picky when your options are severely limited.

  Let's face it. I could feel it. I could see it. Honestly, I seemed to put on the most weight after the week I took the de-worming pills... I don't want to imagine what that insinuates. Although, if the little buggers were keeping me sexy, I'm sad I killed them off. Regardless, even though it is good to take a break in your training or have some sort of off-season in which your muscles take a break and recuperate, it is hard to get back into the groove. I kept active during my "off season" with light paddles, jogs, and lots of yoga! My flexibility has increased 10-fold, and I feel much stronger when performing even every day activities. The yoga was what kept me going, but I still felt more sluggish than I did back when I was more active. I decided that before I started back in on some intense exercise, I should do a detox! I should cleanse my colon, liver, and bodily cells.

   Let's go over the plan to get back on the paddle wagon! I guess I'll leave the paddle baskets for another day...

    First, I did a colon detox. Wow.

    Method: Warm water, sea salt, lemon wedge, and cayenne pepper (I used red peper flakes instead). Drink as tea in the morning. I had only about 2 cups.

    This supposedly cleans the path for all to follo

w. This worked better than the original one I tried from a yogic text which just included warm salt & lemon water. After drinking in the morning, you're supposed to do a few sun salutations (pause in Cobra and add some twists) with a few additional trunk twister poses at the end. It works. Path was clean within 2 hours.

    Second, after the coast was clear, I started on my liver detox.

    Method: I picked up this sweet kit from Alchemist for a 5 day detox (their website sucks, but I grabbed the kit from this cute little organic health shop), but I paired it with 2 days of juice fast (soups and protein shakes included) followed by introducing whole fruits and salads for the remaining 3 days.

    A little befor