DAY TWENTY ONE. That's TWO ONE.

Today I had an almighty cleanse of the room. Chucked away a load of stuff, even moved stuff around (only to find that this configuration didn't work and I preferred the old one) and I attribute this to the cleansing process of the detox. Also might have something to do with the Kinesiology sesh I had yesterday. Anyway, all is good, still feeling fabbo, I'm watching the end of these 30 days approaching and kind of wish it wouldn't! I like eating mung and veg and rice. But I mustn't be daft, I should def include other things in my diet. The odd lentil here and there, for instance. I'll need to wean myself off this detox carefully, too. I've had such a humongously healthy diet for nearly a month now. Woohoo! Ok, I'm off to bed soon. Sleep tight mung world.

landed at mung day 20

Still feeling on top of the world, although a little headachey. I love mung, I love this fast, I could do it for the rest of my days, I feel so good and wholesome and healthy! My body feels happier, and it's getting happier by the day. It's so easy too, as long as I don't go out raging which I'd rather not do anyway. So yes, generally all is very well in the land of mung. I'm going for a Kinesiology session later for work. I'm interested to see what it's all about. Wow, I really do feel happy. Compare this feeling to when I eat chocolate and cookies, that awful toxic, acidic feeling inside. But now I feel good and wholesome and light! It's so good. I want to eat a mung diet forever. If only it was a little more socially acceptable! I feel happy, balanced, nutrified and good :) Love and Sat Nam x

day nineteen on the mung trail

Today was yoga show day. Wow, remind me not to bother next year. It's overwhelming. Otherwise, I'm still good, I'm still plodding on through mungfest and enjoying it! I ate alot today, but that's ok. It's all good, healthy stuff and if I'm going to eat alot, I'd rather eat good healthy stuff than crap. I feel like what little weight I'm losing is being lost naturally, slowly, steadily and in a healthy way. It's like I'm shrinking ever so slightly every day. We all know that fad diets just don't work, so I'm quite happy to go along with it as this is my modus operandi going forward. I'm going to be good to my body. I'm going to fill it with health and happiness, keep it alkaline rather than shovel all this acid sugar and make it feel crap. It's alot easier. I think stuff is releasing too, although that was inevitable. It feels like sheets of plastic film are falling away and I am dissolving into clarity. Thank you and love.

mung day seventeen, innit

Yes, day seventeen of mung bonanza has been reached. Yes, I feel good. Yes, I'm still really enjoying it, oddly enough. Sometimes I see food and I really fancy it, but it's not chocolate! It's proper savoury food. Now that is a turn up for the books. I reckon if I had a chocolate now I'd hit the roof with a sugar rush. Not pleasant, and same goes for a sugar bun. So I'll perch nicely upon my mungbeans for now thanks. I'm over half way through and it's speeding along. I think I'm going to feel quite loath to go back to normal food. Maybe I just never will. I think I'll probably make mungfest a major addition to my usual daily diet anyway. It's so bloody good for you, isn't it? Might as well. Right, onwards and upwards into this beautiful phenomenon that is my life. LOVE.

Sweet Sixteen days of mung

I feel a bit out of sorts today and I'm not sure why. I am craving pita bread?!?!?! I think I'm craving the texture of it more than anything else. My teeth are not being put to good use at the moment. I am eating nuts though. Maybe that's what made me feel weird. When I did yoga this morning I had a really noisy head. NOISY! Maybe it was all the excitement from last night's wonderful yoga class. I really enjoyed teaching! It was pure joy. I haven't lost much weight at all at all. Probably because I'm eating so much fruit. But if I'm going to stick to this diet for a month, I'm certainly not going to restrict myself in any way. Last night I was agitated and hungry and I didn't know what to eat. It was frustrating. Perhaps I am learning to detect what exactly my body wants, what it needs to nourish it. We'll see. I love life. Love it beyond any rational thinking.

mung fifteen going on sixteen

I'm hungry. I want chocolate, not mung. What is it, then? Why am I like this today? Maybe it was talking to the bank and being interrogated on my money woes. Maybe it's because I'm nervous about teaching the yoga class tonight... of course I know it will be absolutely fine, but it's my first one and I am a little meepsome! Well, I'm craving sugar really really. I feel like a bottomless pit today. Sometimes nothing will do but a slice of chocolate caterpillar cake. Hmm. Ah well, onwards and upwards. I bet once I've got through the class tonight, I'll be fine.

Two weeks of mung!

Yes, that's right, two weeks of mung. I feel healthy and happy. I'd like to stop eating so much fruit, though, but rather fruit than chocolate, right? I've embarked upon a bag of brown rice for a change, which is good because I prefer it to basmati. I'm not skinny malinki considering I've been doing this for 2 weeks, but that's ok. I'm more into feeling healthy and I am starting to taste things - very subtle but perhaps my reliance on salt is waning! I am teaching my first big yoga class tomorrow! Hurrah! Ok, now I'm off to bed. My I'm a healthy lass. Two weeks of no wheat, dairy or refined sugar. Respect.

lucky day thirteen

Wowee have I got a temper on me at the moment. It's not major, but sometimes I find myself spitting with rage. I never get that!! But it's all consuming and I want to scream and kick and throw things - insane!! So I figure that's stuff releasing from the detox, right? I'm eating ALOT at the moment - lots of rice, mung, veg at meal times and loads of fruit and almonds in between. That's ok. I'm just letting myself get on with it, but I know that I'm eating because I'm bored and out of habit while I'm writing. It's ok. So I've nearly finished 2 weeks. That's half way. I'm really proud of myself!! I'm determined and I'm enjoying it. It is a little tasteless but it's soothing and I do feel good.

day mung legs eleven

One thing I have noticed is that I have become a bit of an antisocial little hermit crab. I'm happier to curl up at home than go out and strum up conversation with people. Having said that, I'm quite happy to be with people with whom it's no effort to just be. So I guess that's telling me something - why spend time with people when it is an effort? Hmmm. Still I harbour some sense of loyalty which perhaps I shouldn't. I have eaten loads of fruit and almonds today as well as mung. I guess it's because I'm on, so food craving levels are rattling outta control. But hey, at least it's not chocolate that I'm reaching for. I'm not even craving chocolate. That caterpillar cake that J brought in hasn't even twitched at my nostrils! That's major. Today I have spent the entire day sitting on this chair writing my novel. I'm happy to have my writing juices back in the flow. I feel healthier, my body is somehow lither. I'm still practicing yoga every morning. Goodie goodie :)

cloud nine

Yes, here I am, hello, it's me waving at you from the pearly gates of the end of day nine :) I feel clearer by the day. I'm enjoying this detox - it doesn't feel like a big deal at all, in fact I think it's easy to just eat the same thing for brekkie lunch and dinner. I don't have to think about it at all. I eat a lot of fruit between meals and almonds too (almonds are apparently a must for women over 28. I also put some almond oil on my meals sometimes). So I'm never hungry and I really do feel good. The Ayurvedics are so right that mung is a great balancing food. I feel that my energy is clearer too. So far so good, and I am uber grateful to be on this journey. Long may it last :)

Day eight, I repeat, day eight

Still going strong. Feeling a little more energetic today. Also no sugar cravings - always a bonus. I love mung and rice, I think I'll continue to keep it a major part of my diet going forward. I read up on mungs, and they are the best ayurvedic pulse for all three doshas. I am a balance of Kapha, Pitta and Vata (or so the ayurvedic doctor in India told me) so I guess mung is the most balancing thing I can possibly eat. It is also a great source of iron and is a good meat substitute. Generally, it is an all round wonder food and I love it so much. My face seems to be getting a little slimmer too... that's good. A nice little side effect. Another day of drawing horses, eating mung and feeling chipper.

ONE WEEK MUNG MARATHON COMPLETED!

I have crawled over the finish line of mung day 7. I feel pretty tired and washed out, and I'm guessing that this is because the toxins are slowly making their little pilgrimage from my main organs, into my veins and out of my body. It's tiring business, this! Otherwise I feel good. What else... my sensitive phase seems to be over, which is a plus - feeling wobbly lipped and raw doesn't do me any favours. And I'm still doing my daily yoga which is lovely because I have started to sense where the prana is flowing in my body after I do certain asanas. I wonder if this is because I am becoming more sensitized to my body? Jim bought home a caterpillar chocolate cake today. How could he? But to be honest, I am so dedicated to seeing this 30 days through, I'm not even tempted! Hurrah!

mung 6

I'm shattered and it has been a BUSY day, but I'm still on it. Mung mung mung. It's good. Can't detect any weight loss but certainly I feel happy and sprightly (apart from current exhaustion - early start). SO I've been munging it for a week now! That's good news. I do think stuff is shifting about and things are happening around me - the dk opportunity (that probs won't come to anything, but it was a cool experience), more features to write, school is awesome and the project I'm doing is rocking my horsey world. Tonight I took mung feast to Nadias and we ate together. She quite liked it! It isn't half bad, but what I realized tonight is my utter addiction to salty tastes. I can't really taste anything if it doesn't have salt in it. This is something I want to achieve on this diet too. I want to not use salt anymore. I want to taste the authentic flavours of things without having it laced with iodine! Gratitude :) Sat Nam.

Day four of mung bonanza

So here I am again, washed up on the shores of yet another mung day. I actually really enjoy not having to think about what I'm going to eat. My problem comes when I want to eat snacks (preferably chocolate which I have now admitted to myself, I shall never have so I have almonds instead! Gah!). So I have found that I am more sensitive, irritable and easily agitated on this diet. I think it's because I used choco or anything to numb it before. The sickness that you experience when you eat chocolate or any sugary snack is going to drown out any other sensation! So this mung diet is asking me to confront this in an interesting way. I'm also easily stressed. I guess I have a lot going on too, but I think I am normally much calmer than this about life in general. Interesting times. On a happy note, I do feel cleaner inside. It is cleansing me, I can feel it.

day three of mung mung mung

Life is peachy. Ok, so I'm eating mung mung mung, but that's ok, I actually quite like it as I never have to think about what I'm going to eat. I eat the odd almond, banana and tangerine too, but that's allowed. I'm uber busy at the moment. Life is peachy and I'm doing fine :)

Day two of the mung fest

Well, I made it to the end of day two. It's not that hard actually, but my monkey mind is going a bit bananas, especially last night. I seem to be more sensitive than usual, and get upset quickly about trivial things. I don't have chocolate or any other comfort food to salve the wound so I just have to sit with it. There seems to be a lot of anger ricocheting around, and last night and this morning when I woke up, my mind was throwing all manner of tantrums. But I just nodded and said, 'Ah yes, monkey mind, your cage is rattled. That's ok. But I won't identify with you. And I won't listen to your pleas for chocolate or whatever other crap you want to put in this body! Feeling good now, chipper. An awesome project at art school, and things seem to be popping up - it's busy and interesting. Day Two = Tick.

Official Day One Mung Fest

Ok, day one successful. Mung beans and spices and rice and squash. Yum. It's delicious although I get restless when I think about chocolate - my dear old friend, we must go our own separate ways now. So here we go. Yoga this morning - kriya for elevation which was fantastic and I could sense the energy moving around each and every vertebrae and around my navel chakra. I have been doing yoga every morning for around 50 days now continuously. You know what, I think I'm only going to post a photo every week - it's a bit pointless to have a photo every day, isn't it? I don't know, I haven't quite decided yet. Hurrah for the little bundles of glee they call the mung beans :) Love love love and love.

Mung Bean Fast - Day One...

Oh wait!

I forgot I had plans for tonight, and I have a dinner party coming up this weekend that I arranged ages ago.

NOTE TO SELF : Make sure that the decks are clear BEFORE embarking upon a fast. And I mean really clear. I don't want to change plans with my friends at the last minute. Rather I will allocate a new, pre-ordained 30 days in my diary for my fast.

Plan B, then. I'm going to start my Mung Bean Fast next Monday, and until then, I'm going to eat Mung Beans and rice on every meal that I can (ie. work on denting that humongous mound that I made last night!). I had mung bean breakfast and mung bean lunch today, and I practiced Surya Kriya before a wonderful day of painting at art school. So it has been a good day, and I stopped by the supermarche on my way home to buy a bumper bag of basmati and about a million mung beans. That should keep me going for the time being.

I'm happy :)

So, Mung Bean Fast to start next Monday. I can chill for a little longer. Phew. But no chocolate.

The Mung Bean and Rice Fast

On the eve of my first ever yogic fast, I have ravaged my last bar of chocolate and have cooked up a gargantuan pot of mung beans, rice and veg. I am embarking upon a mung bean and rice yogic fast with a number of goals in mind:-

a) whittle away this layer of podge that has accumulated on my person.

b) look and feel better and healthier - if I want to be a yoga teacher, I have to look the part.

c) explore if it really does what it says on the tin. The tin, written by Yogi Bhajan of Kundalini Yoga ilk, proclaims the fast to be a 'good, cleansing diet that gives plenty of nourishment' (Tick. This is my first fast and I don't want to give myself a painful, uphill struggle) which is 'good for the kidneys, colon and digestive organs' (tick. No explanation needed!)

Ok, so my instructions are to eat only mung beans and rice for 30 days. Include lots of fresh vegetables cooked into it. May eat fruit in between meals as snack and Yogi Tea may also be taken.

I will take a photo of my face every evening to record how the fast is impacting physically. It will be interesting to see in retrospect if it actually does have any effect on my skin and weight. Well, watch this space. And fingers crossed... tomorrow morning's breakfast? Mung beans, rice and veg :)