17 Days until surgery is going to land me on my butt for 12 weeks and I have started the cleanse process.  It’s hard but I’m not feeling as rotten as when I did the Nektar Advanced Juice Cleanse in June to prep for my vacation.

I read some great reviews on bn.com about a book by Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary, an Integrative Neurologist who found a way to combine the modern medical advances of Western taught Neurology with the centuries old wisdom of Ayurveda.

Despite the title, The Prime  Prepare and Repair Your Body for Spontaneous Weight Loss the book isn’t selling or even really talking about a diet.  That, far and above, was what appealed to me.

The main focus of The Prime is to eliminate the effects of stress, inflammation and toxicity on the body.  The effects can manifest as:

• Bloating and Tiredness after eating
• Migraine Headaches
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Diarrhea
• Gas
• Mental Cloudiness
• Weight Gain
• Depression
• Anxiety

Dr. Chaudhary sought out complimentary Ayurvedic treatment options for her patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease and discovered that some of those patients were able to begin cutting back on the traditional pharmaceutical options that she (and other doctors) had been prescribing to them and they were seeing greatly improved quality of life.  It wasn’t any religious chanting, no special oils or anything other than a concentration on regaining the balance in their digestive system which then would allow their other internal organs and systems to detoxify so that the treatments they were receiving could have their maximum effect.

The best thing I read (by page 14 no less) was that a very simple adjustment to refresh the way the body digests food was resulting in:

• Sharper and clearer mental focus
• Skin regained elasticity, wrinkles began disappearing, skin brighter
• Excess weight began falling away, puffiness disappearing
• 10 pounds gone with no additional exercise and no diet changes
• Energy returned
• Less pain in joints
• Fewer sleep problems
• Fewer memory issues
• Cravings for sugar and other foods that can lead to weight gain all but disappeared in addition to cravings for excessive sugar, alcohol and caffeine
• Cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure levels returned to normal

Since there seemed to be so many pluses to this approach and it’s a very easy to follow cleanse that allows me to eat whatever I feel like eating, I gathered the herbs required and brewed my tea today.

Prime Tea

• Boil 4 to 5 Cups of Water in a Pot
• In a Tea Ball (Mine is aluminum mesh) combine
• 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds (I got my herbs at Sprouts but know that my Albertson’s has them in the spice aisle too)
• 1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds

Additional Options:

• 1/2 tsp Manjistha Powder.  If you are particularly bloated (if your socks leave marks on your ankles when you take them off, your rings leave dents in your puffy fingers, etc.) you can add this to the steeped tea afterward (it’s a powder)
• 1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds – if you are gassy
• 1/2 to 1 inch Peeled Fresh Ginger – if you want to really get the digestive fire started

Let your tea steep in the boiling water at least 10 minutes, get rid of the seeds in the tea ball (you can leave the ginger in if you like) and drink it warm all day – finish by 6 so you’re not up peeing all night.

I made the tea today and have had no problem drinking it at all.  It’s got a pleasant kind of nutty flavor with a hint of the ginger.  I am going to the bathroom a lot more than I do taking my prescription Hydrochlorathiazide (water pill), so I think it’s doing the job.  I haven’t been hungry all day so hopefully it’s doing that job too. Fingers are crossed!

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