We celebrated Thanksgiving, my stepson’s birthday and my daughter’s birthday all within one week and I found myself on the slippery slope of having heavy meals, pie, cookies or cake four days in a row. As a result, my skin broke out, I felt and looked swollen and bloated, my digestion was all over the place and I wasn’t sleeping very well.
My nutrition always takes a major hit between Thanksgiving and New Year’s – does yours?
I felt like I needed to get back on track so I didn’t lose the entire month of December to self-loathing and misery so I did a 3-day kitchari cleanse. I will forever be grateful to my amazing friend and Ayurvedic counselor Meri Consor for introducing me to this delicious and nutritious dish!
What is kitchari exactly?
Kitchari is a blend of basmati rice, split mung beans, ghee (clarified butter) and delicious spices that help support digestion and healing - it’s considered the “chicken soup” of Ayurvedic cuisine. It is a mono-fast, meaning you eat the same thing every day for every meal, which allows the digestive system to rest and reset.
It’s the easiest cleanse I’ve ever done - 3 days of rice and beans is a treat! The mono-fast practice reduces digestive stress and inflammation and boosts immunity by allowing the body to heal on a cellular level and thus function more efficiently. One of the more subtle benefits is that it takes the stress and emotional angst out of what to eat every day. I make my kitchari in a pot every morning and my meals are set for the entire day – it doesn’t get much easier than that! You can add variations of spices, herbs and vegetables to the basic kitchari recipe if three days of the same meal is too monotonous. I will admit that I’m a bit over it by Day 3, but it’s so delicious and effective that the benefits far outweigh the monotony in my opinion.
Benefits include:
Basic kitchari recipe courtesy of my Aryuvedic Counselor Meri Consor of Sunveda Wellness: (The recipe can be customized and tweaked with veggies and spices based on your preferences, the season and your dosha type.)
*makes meals for one day
I like to stir the rice & bean mixture until every grain is lightly coated
I use chopped yellow squash, zucchini, carrots and usually green beans and onions as well
I like my kitchari to have a denser consistency like a rice and beans dish rather than a soup so I let it simmer a bit longer to allow for more water absorption. I've also noticed that cooking times vary depending on what stove and what pot I’m using. One of my pots only takes 12 minutes to cook fully while another takes 20. Check yours often the first go round to avoid burning.
I season with onion powder, pepper and top with Everything But the Bagel!
For a kitchari cleanse, ideally I've given up meat, dairy, caffeine, alcohol, wheat and sugar for 3 days prior to beginning the active cleanse. After the 3-day active cleanse is over, it's also recommended to ease back into eating "normally" and be mindful not to shock or over-activate the system by reintroducing inflammatory and toxic foods back at 100% right away.
Meri also recommends doing a one-day kitchari cleanse every week to help support strong digestion and metabolism.
Have you done a kitchari cleanse before? If so, what's your go-go recipe?
Happy Summer Solstice! The longest & brightest day of the year has been observed across all societies and cultures from Egyptian to English to Aztec as a a celebration of light, joy and illumination.
With so much darkness and heaviness in the world lately, now seems like a perfect time to Lighten Up!
Working with the moon phases is an accessible way to deepen our connection both to nature and to ourselves. I find that honoring these rhythms of nature can make it easier to identify, recognize and honor our own natural ebbs and flows.
During the new moon cycle, the sun and moon align with each other, merging yang energy - the heating, masculine, assertive energy of the sun, with yin energy - the cooling, feminine, receptive energy of the moon. The balancing of these two polar opposite energies in the dark sky creates a powerful invitation to both let go and start new - it's the perfect canvas for a fresh start.
Andrea Pacini
Author