What No Carbs? What happened when I went on a juice fast retreat.

WHAT - NO CARBS?

What happens when we remove ourselves from everything and go on a juice detox retreat. 

 This is something that I have wanted to share with you since returning from a retreat in July. I am still a surprised by what happened and I am also in awe of what can happen when we retreat and do nothing. 

There are holidays when we choose to do something other. Retreats that can be specific, leading me to say, “to do or not to do, that is is question”.

I went on a retreat that was a 7 day fast. When I booked it I fully intend to to cheat, yes you read that correctly. I have never been a fan of extended fasting as I feel this is something that is one of many trends that can be complicated. I still have these thoughts but in a controlled environment and with support it can be very good for us to do. I just feel that fasting whilst managing our daily life is really hard and can be frustrating because we can fail and that presents another problem for us. 

Healthy habits take time to establish, and if you read my blogs or come to my classes you will know that I am in the small incremental steps to change rather than a full on immersive experience. 

My other reason to cheat was because I wasn’t going on a juice fast week to loose weight, I wanted to a rest and rejuvenate after up rooting myself re locating to another part of the country and all that goes with that. 

I wanted to return to a yoga practice and give myself a good stretch. Yoga teachers still need a teacher in our lives even after thirty odd years. We need coaxing back to practice and also we too need nourishment. 

Which leads me to two important themes, practice and nourishment. It’s not just about food.

However at the stage of booking the retreat, re-establishing healthy habits in the kitchen and consciously nourishing myself wasn’t really on my mind. 

I just felt that it would do me good. 

I was also considering what food I could smuggle in. 

But after some research I found that some of the foods that I intended to secretly snack on were not good for such a situation. I began to consider taking a few things just in case, but the closer that I got to the date  I changed my thought process and decided to give it a go and see what happens.

I felt a bit apprehensive as the group lined up for our first juice. It was hard to get excited about a glass of juice being the only thing on the menu. There were a few other added extras which also didn’t appeal to me, gut supplements and wheatgrass powder. 

This was to be a week of no caffeine, no sugar, no carbs, meat or dairy and also nothing solid. 

Surprisingly I felt ok, in fact the first day I felt fantastic and for the first time in years my vision was so clear and I didn’t need to wear my glasses. I never believed this to be permanent but I could be persuaded to explore this over time. 

Was I hungry, no not really. I was aware of what I would describe as a flutter of hunger, but I just waited to see where that took me, and it just passed. 

Of course this makes me aware that we are emotional beings and therefore we often act from our emotions.

Emotional eating was something that we discussed as a group, and I continue to be aware of the times when I eat when I am not hungry. 

But this is  another subject and I am not really qualified to talk about it. I am just sharing my experience.

The days were filled with beautiful yoga sessions and hanging out in nature, pond swimming was optional. The pond is truly stunning as is the landscape that I was surrounded by. 

Other people to chat with as and when, reading and more juice. 

Retreats are made of this sort of thing, the whole idea is to retreat from our day to day and perhaps even from ourselves. 

It was all going well until day 4. 

Ion that morning I was hit by a strong sense of boredom, and I let everyone know about it. I did say that it was not a reflection on the people or the place. It was in me. I considered  packing up and leaving the next day. My attitude was that I now felt great and the job was done I need not do it anymore. I think this was the most that I had said in the time so far. Food wasn’t really my issue, but there was something in that moment that was.

A wise woman was sitting opposite me, listening to me rant on, when she asked. 

“is this what you do?” 

WOW (this is my acronym for Women of Wisdom)

“Absolutely it is” I replied and laughed.

As clear to me as my eyesight had been on that first day. 

I am also one of those people that laugh when they are shocked. 

I actually felt a relief, that someone had called me out. 

I could accept myself as a quitter!

I then went on to say that as much as I wanted to leave I could see that the last two days are probably where the good work will really happen. 

To be able to savour the moment or time is also important. 

Why rush back to what I had decided to retreat from. 

I continue to laugh at myself. 

There continued to be more surprises.

I stayed and began to think about what I needed to do in order to maintain the feeling of good health and wellbeing when I got home.

My yoga students have seen some of these actions in my classes. I ordered a bolster for yoga practice and my students either had them already or bought one for  themselves and these are now incorporated into our online sessions. 

I also committed to using the room in my (still new to me) home that I had always though would be a great place for yoga but for what ever reason I just hadn’t got around to doing this. 

I pre ordered a food delivery and a week-long meal subscription service to arrive the day after I got home. Making it easier for me to manage my diet. 

It's now four months since I returned and I continue to feel well. I gave myself time to continue to soak up and savour the benefits of the retreat. Saying to people in my life that it might all look a bit extreme but if this is what it takes to feel well then I will do it.

I didn’t know how long this would take, I thought maybe six weeks through the summer max. 

Slowly reintroducing food that I like, coffee has always been my preferred start to the day but I also have a cupboard full of herb teas that I prefer to have and a particular bed time tea  that is my go to end of the day ritual. 

Yes chocolate made a comeback, it never really left me but I am not someone with a sweet tooth and I am just trying to manage the portion size of the carbs that I love. I don't always need second helpings. 

Lapsing is ok, it happens sometimes. 

Our yoga teacher has continued to support us post-retreat, which has been beneficial, as I said we teachers also need a teacher. She has reminded me of many things that I once knew and has inspired me to act more deliberately with what I love to do.

As for boredom, well I accept this part of me, and I really try not to react. 

I can now sit comfortably with boredom and also let a bad mood hang around for as long as it takes to pass by.