SAMANTHA TRUEHEART
JUNE 5, 2017
After dealing with years of digestive and menstrual issues, Yoga Journal’s web producer sought the help of an Ayurvedic doctor. Here, she shares what happened when she took his advice and overhauled her lifestyle for a full month.
Let me start out by saying that I consider myself a healthy, physically fit 24-year old woman and am grateful for the body and lifestyle I have been given. Since I was a teenager, though, I’ve suffered from IBS-C, painful menstrual cramps, and hormonal acne. After the implantation of my hormonal IUD last fall, I noticed an increase in my symptoms as well as some minor weight gain. I was feeling anxious, exhausted, and stressed constantly. I found myself in a yoga slump where the creative vinyasas I normally enjoyed seemed boring and my monkey mind never wanted to slow down. I didn’t feel like my normal creative, silly self anymore.
The Ayurvedic Doctor’s Prescription
Dr. Douillard prescribed me with herbs, yoga poses, and diet changes he believed would help balance my body and mitigate my symptoms. For the first week, I would complete his “Short 4-Day Home Cleanse” regimen. The rest of the month I would eat off of his “3-Season Diet” grocery list, take some supplements (specifically Cool Digest Capsules, Turmeric Plus Capsules, Neem Capsules, Liver Repair Capsules, Manjishtha Capsules), drink a Slippery Elm Prebiotic formula from Lifespa and a homemade beet, apple, and celery juice every morning. He also encouraged daily Sun Salutes, stomach pulling, and backbends to help open my abdomen.
Week 1: My First Ayurvedic Cleanse
In order to reset my clock and give my liver a break, Dr. Douillard prescribed a “Short 4-Day Home Cleanse.” I was nervous about doing a cleanse because I had heard they could be dangerous for the body if taken to the extreme—not to mention my reputation for getting “hangry.” But this safe cleanse allowed me to alter my diet with veggies, fruits and chicken if needed. For four days, I cooked and ate only non-fat kitchari with seasonal vegetables, the occasional chicken breast for protein, took herbs and a teaspoon of ghee every morning.
I’m not gonna lie—the first two days were difficult. I was having intense sugar cravings and wasn’t seeing any immediate improvements. I still felt fatigued and my IBS-C still remained. I took a restorative yoga class, and the teacher De West told us that in Chinese medicine the liver holds anger. Interestingly, I felt like anger was rising up in me throughout the liver cleanse. Old memories, resentments, and fears surfaced, but at the same time I felt a sense of calm like they were not attached to me anymore. My stress and anxiety really were melting away.
I ate my dinners at 5:30 pm every day, as Dr. Douillard had recommended, to give my digestive system a break until the next morning. I noticed by doing this, I woke up with more energy, positivity and enthusiasm. Before the cleanse, I would hit the snooze button several times and then immediately pick up my phone and scroll through social media until I felt awake.
By the fourth day, I was feeling more energetic than I had in years. I was excited to start working out, eating healthy foods, and taking care of myself in a loving way again. The final push of the cleanse was to drink an epsom salt laxative to release all the leftover toxins.
By the end of the four-day period, I lost eight pounds and I felt like a fog had been lifted off of my life. Everything felt clearer. My portion sizes had become a lot smaller, and I felt satisfied by less. I realized that before this diet, I’d frequently been eating out of boredom more than hunger. I felt like I had been brought back to life.
