Well, I did it. The colonic. As a first timer, I gotta say that I expected to feel ten million times lighter. And in a sense, I definitely felt better. But hell, I had a LOT of gas. I feel like I still do, though it's not as heavy nor painful. A lingering feeling if you will. Who knows, maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and evacuate the rest and feel like flying. The process was very far from comfortable. Don't know if I'll ever do it again. It was a little like someone taking a vacuum cleaner -- no, a room temperature steam cleaner -- on a low setting in reverse and using it to massage my insides. And then flicking the setting to high at times. Ugh. Crampy, bloated feeling followed by a bit of pressure release over and over again. I'm not convincing anyone here to get one, huh?

One of the many buddah statues at the Nectar House!

This past weekend I met up with some old friends in Kingston, NY (20 mins from Woodstock). We rented a house (The Nectar house) for the weekend for much needed catching up and rest. Keeping to the diet was not so bad, but MAN, the delicious baked goods from my pastry chef friend (she totally held back, even!) was so hard to resist. But resist I did, despite the glowing reactions from the swiss chard pie (drool). And the cocktails they made, whew! Lots of fresh juices. Those were actually easier to resist. One friend even made moonshine blueberry/cucumber/agave popsicles (for me without the booze and agave).
Here's some pics of what I made/refashioned for my food limitations:

Variation on the potato/spinach bowl --
this time I used quinoa's cousin, 
kañiwa ( pronounced kah-nyee-wah)     

Breakfast tostadas -- w/ handmade corn tortillas 

getting ready to grill some corn by the pool!
No oil or butter -- they were FANTASTIC

Pair that with some grilled talapia

And you have this bundle of goodness

It was really hard to come back to the city!

Whew, busy couple days of cooking, working -- and Sound/Music Institute class this weekend. A quick update on what the Dr said: my body is trying to balance out from milk - solid food, so what I'm experiencing is normal. BUT, if I continue with the constipation, she recommended a colonic. Never gotten one of those, so any suggestions there from anyone who has gotten one? I'm giving it a couple more days before I make an appointment with who she recommended.
So here's the run down of what I've made since last I posted.

Spinach, potato, leek parsnip sauteed in garlic ginger curry spice with rice. LOVED this one. Have to try to make it again.
Then it was parsnips, asparagus, potatoes and shrimp with garlic and leeks over quinoa during the Sound Music Institute weekend. Not too bad! And definitely more filling. I think I'm getting the hang of it.
In the fridge is acorn squash and kale over rice (had that today -- the crushed pepper, paprika, salt and pepper really make this one). I think it needs some kind of bean added to it though.
OK are you ready for this one? Steven's mom insisted she make chicken soup from scratch since I was worried about losing too much weight. After some cajoling, I told her I would try it IF she could find free range chicken without hormones or antibiotics. She went a step further and found some vegetarian chicken. Yeah, I know, what an oxymoron, but I'd rather know that what I'm about to eat didn't eat ground up bones of other chickens in their feed.
So I just ate some. Chicken soup with rice noodles and carrots, onions (cooked waaay down to nothing), celery and garlic. I was not brave enough to eat the chunks of chicken. Maybe I'll work up to that one.
YES, it was good! I got a spike of energy right after I ate it AND my bowels moved! Maybe I won't need the colonic after all :)

I'll also be doing another thing that I think helped today with moving the bowels: toning. It's something I've been studying in the sound/music institute. Making different sounds or tones with your voice activate different parts of the body. For those that know about yogic philosophy, those parts would be called chakras. There's one that corresponds to the lower abdomen, where the intestines are housed. That sound is LAM in some traditions and HUM in others. In Siliva Nakkach's Yoga of the Voice workshop, she expresses that these sounds are seed syllables, and are not always fixed on a certain part of the body; it depends on the intention and context. Today we also got to hear a classmate play the digeridoo. I really feel those low swirling bass vibrations helped move things along, too. I actually felt some gas move while listening to it! This guy can really make some amazing sounds come out of it. I highly recommend going to one of his workshops and/or performances to experience it for yourself (regardless if you need to move some gas).

It could get old fast, all this cooking and sticking to restricted foods.
So far, so good though -- no "cheating" and lots of experimenting to see what not only tastes good, but leaves me full and feeling good.
Monday I used the leftover quinoa to mix with lentils, shrimp and spinach, spiced with leeks, paprika, cumin and garlic. The shrimp tasted devine! (Sorry no beauty shot). But I put too much cumin in the lentils. I had the same amount as the butternut squash, but quickly learned at lunch today that butternut squash is more filling than the quinoa/shrimp and got hungry at work a couple hours after. So, just before book club tonight, I grabbed some raspberries and corn "thins" that looked like rice cakes at the health food store.

Tonight, though I made some beans and rice -- it's taco time tomorrow! Corn tortillas and an avocado are goin' in the bag, along with this some fresh salsa. Here's the rice, with some cilantro on top while I'm waiting for the beans to cook:

I did hear back from the Dr. about the heartburn. She had me lessen one of the doses of herbs that has cayenne in it. Definitely helped. As for the gas/bloating, that also seems to have lessened as well, woo hoo!
I'm soaking some garbanzo beans tonight, so something with hummus is next? Haven't decided yet.

FOOD. Solid food! Not as hard as I thought today. But it's a weekend instead of a busy weekday, where I had time to really think about what I wanted to eat vs what I could eat. The run down of restrictions: NO: dairy products (including eggs), yeast, sugar, fermented foods, vinegar, nuts, seeds, or heated oil. So it's just grains, veggies, fruits (only berries, kiwi, and grapefruit, tho). Not so easy when I think about what my usual pre-milk cleanse foods were.
The last day, up at Lake Peekskill was quite challenging. The ladies brought an awesome spread. I kept drooling over the Foccacia.. And check out this beauty shot of the forbidden grapes and cheese! And let me tell you, it was hard to keep regular at a foreign place. I only shat once (not at all at the place), before I left the house to get on the Hudson Line.

BUT, now is past the time to keep talking shit. It's food and recipes from here on out. And more pills. And still some gas and bloating. A call is in to the doctor to see if I should still be experiencing this.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with STRAWBERRIES! I devoured it so I forgot to take a pic. I was also drowning in pills. Have I already said I hate pills? I'm now taking a total of 9 of them (4 different herbs) in the morning, 6 of them 30 mins before the meal, and only 1 plus two drops of two different tinctures after meals. The other 3 are the colon builder, to be taken at night, too. Even one of those pill boxes that are separated by day of the week won't help this case. Shiiiiiiiiit. 

Lunch: pills 30 mins before. They tend to give me a feeling like heartburn that goes away in about 15 mins. Also checking with Doc on this....

I waited too late to cook something before I started to get hungry again, so I went down the street to Samurai for --

SUSHI!!!

Tuna roll, salmon roll and avocado roll. I stared longingly at the wasabi, and my favorite, pickeled ginger, which I can't have. And no soy sauce either. I could really tell how fresh the fish was. The salmon was the best. Next time I may just go with 1veggie roll and sashimi. Will skip the tuna, though.

Dinner: plenty o time to go to Whole Foods then search the internets for some good recipes. I had a butternut squash in the fridge, so I took it from there and came up with --

BUTTERNUT SQUASH with QUINOA and HIJIKI

I steamed the squash with garlic, paprika, pepper, sea salt, and a sprig of fresh rosemary. This was my favorite meal of the day! Slightly sweet, salty and savory (also thanks to the quinoa cooked in vegetable broth).

I didn't find that recipe online, but I did find that I can make popcorn without oil, some good recipes for hummus without oil, too (although I can use cold-pressed virgin olive oil and flaxseed oil as long as I don't heat it) AND salad dressing without vinegar. Got a whole slew of beans soaking overnight for tomorrow. YAY. 

So how am I feeling? No more fuzzy tongue, so my mouth no longer feels like I swallowed moss. There is still some gas in the form of burping, but that might be from all the pills I'm forcing down my gullet. My energy level is still up and down (still getting tired after meals). BUT there is no pain, gas or bloating, or burping WHILE I'm eating so far, so that in itself is a nice change. 

Day 7 + Day 8 Goat's milk Found!
It's really day 8, LAST DAY of MILK, woo hoo! But I didn't post last night due to some gas and intestinal pain at the usual posting time. Went to bed early. I feel MUCH better now. Maybe cos the last of them are the tough ones, making me have a hard time gettin rid of 'em. Dunno.
I thought I was imagining things in the toilet. Because of course I'm looking at what comes out -- just to see if there were actually any worms evacuating, too (c'mon, wouldn't you?). And I really thought I saw some bits that didn't look like normal shit. Hard to tell though. I'm not getting out the microscope, or putting my face too close to the porcelain throne.
Went to the farmer's market today and found Goat's milk, YAY! So this last day will be a new taste sensation. Ha.
I'm off to a classmate (in the Sound/Music Institute)'s lake house! So the next post will more than make up with pics of the trip there.