Today all the bean eating, chai drinking and vegan Italian food
sampling caught up with me. I knew this was coming, and have the pills
to prove it, but it is always a shock to wake up in the middle of the
night with the runs and a fever and the distinct feeling you are going
to die a juicy death any minute now in a filthy bathroom away from your
friends and family (well, ok, family, don’t think my friends would want
part of this).
I did manage to go back to sleep, and woke up in time to tell the group that I would not be accompanying them on their grand tour of Haridwar’s best temples. I went back to bed, and slept all day, until 6 p.m. when they returned.
And then I had a dilemma: I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten all day, but at the same time was reluctant to consume food that was likely to provoke another explosive episode. Bita and Deborah convinced me to try an ayurvedic restaurant that had been recommended to them by a local doctor. They were preparing a special dish for us, kithary, that is said to be appropriate to balance the three doshas, and soothe fragile foreigner GI tracks.
Since I don’t have much to relate in terms of adventures today, let’s talk about Ayurveda. Bita is a licensed practitioner and has provided me with copious advice over the last two years in order to improve my vitality and fix a number of niggling health issues that seem to pop up increasingly often as you get older (I’m sure she provides young and fresh A.-R. with advice as well, it’s just that A.-R. isn’t probably as despera…, hum, compelled to follow it…)
Some of that advice is a bit strange (tongue scraping after teeth brushing, food kept only in glass or metal containers, avoiding hot baths when on your period); some of it makes sense (eating warm food on cold days and vice versa, avoid alcohol if you have a fiery i.e. pitta temper, and eat fresh organic food); and most of it seems designed to make my life miserable: prepare meals from scratch using only fresh ingredients, eat dinner before 6 p.m. and avoid sweet, sour and salty tastes if your kapha dosha is dominant (i.e. chunky like me).
(BTW, if you wonder what the appropriate tastes are for Kapha body types, they are spicy, bitter and dry… Radishes are a good example of a Kapha-friendly food. Yummy, right?)
My point is, being in the land of Ayurveda without having to worry about feeding a family or showing up for work, it’s been very easy to follow Bita’s advice, and my body is loving it. My skin has cleared up, the white of my eyes is very white, and even with that GI issue, I feel more vibrant than I have in years. I do miss cocktails and chicken (Rishikesh is a holy city where all meat and alcohol are forbidden), but at the same time, I’m kind of glad to have this opportunity to give them up for a while and see what happens. It’ll be interesting to see how I can incorporate that knowledge into my daily life when I get back (Mari Chéri just went “huh hoh!” ; )
Three things I am grateful for today:
1- Having the opportunity to be sick and sleep all day with out having to worry about the impact it would have on other people;
2- Dr. Sanga’s fantastic selection of prescription meds, which will ensure I am right as rain in no time;
3- Found an Indian Starbucks (not a Starbucks but similar marketing mix) with great coffee and vegan brownies. If you sit with your back to the door, and close your eyes, you can imagine you are at the corner of Peel and Ste-Catherine’s. Sometimes you need that.
I did manage to go back to sleep, and woke up in time to tell the group that I would not be accompanying them on their grand tour of Haridwar’s best temples. I went back to bed, and slept all day, until 6 p.m. when they returned.
And then I had a dilemma: I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten all day, but at the same time was reluctant to consume food that was likely to provoke another explosive episode. Bita and Deborah convinced me to try an ayurvedic restaurant that had been recommended to them by a local doctor. They were preparing a special dish for us, kithary, that is said to be appropriate to balance the three doshas, and soothe fragile foreigner GI tracks.
Since I don’t have much to relate in terms of adventures today, let’s talk about Ayurveda. Bita is a licensed practitioner and has provided me with copious advice over the last two years in order to improve my vitality and fix a number of niggling health issues that seem to pop up increasingly often as you get older (I’m sure she provides young and fresh A.-R. with advice as well, it’s just that A.-R. isn’t probably as despera…, hum, compelled to follow it…)
Some of that advice is a bit strange (tongue scraping after teeth brushing, food kept only in glass or metal containers, avoiding hot baths when on your period); some of it makes sense (eating warm food on cold days and vice versa, avoid alcohol if you have a fiery i.e. pitta temper, and eat fresh organic food); and most of it seems designed to make my life miserable: prepare meals from scratch using only fresh ingredients, eat dinner before 6 p.m. and avoid sweet, sour and salty tastes if your kapha dosha is dominant (i.e. chunky like me).
(BTW, if you wonder what the appropriate tastes are for Kapha body types, they are spicy, bitter and dry… Radishes are a good example of a Kapha-friendly food. Yummy, right?)
My point is, being in the land of Ayurveda without having to worry about feeding a family or showing up for work, it’s been very easy to follow Bita’s advice, and my body is loving it. My skin has cleared up, the white of my eyes is very white, and even with that GI issue, I feel more vibrant than I have in years. I do miss cocktails and chicken (Rishikesh is a holy city where all meat and alcohol are forbidden), but at the same time, I’m kind of glad to have this opportunity to give them up for a while and see what happens. It’ll be interesting to see how I can incorporate that knowledge into my daily life when I get back (Mari Chéri just went “huh hoh!” ; )
Three things I am grateful for today:
1- Having the opportunity to be sick and sleep all day with out having to worry about the impact it would have on other people;
2- Dr. Sanga’s fantastic selection of prescription meds, which will ensure I am right as rain in no time;
3- Found an Indian Starbucks (not a Starbucks but similar marketing mix) with great coffee and vegan brownies. If you sit with your back to the door, and close your eyes, you can imagine you are at the corner of Peel and Ste-Catherine’s. Sometimes you need that.
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