Before I went to India to do the Yoga Teacher Training I have had already a pretty healthy lifestyle. Never drunk lots of alcohol, here and there a beer on a hot summer day or a glas of wine on a cosy winter night, no smoking, had stopped eating meat half a year before. However definitely needed my two cups of coffee in the morning. Always did sports on a daily base, or every second day, have never been a big party girl but rather lived life during the day and gave my body a proper rest during the night. Sounds good so far!
At the food market
When I arrived at the Yoga camp, I honestly didn’t know what to expect, haven’t even informed myself in detail what specific diet Yogis would follow. I quickly noticed, there was no coffee, no meat, no fish, no sugar (only the sugar cane if you would ask for it), definitely no alcohol. No vegan nutrition, there was still milk and eggs. Anyways Indians don´t consume lots of alcohol besides New Year´s when they get absolutely drunk. So everything that could cause an addiction is to be avoided. The mind shall be free of addictions.
One lunch example
For me this felt alright, could deal with it, I thought. But not even coffee? First week seemed ok, the food was delicious even if it was only plants based. However, by the end of the first week a small beer right at the beach sounded like the best thing in the world to me. So I went to get one together with my colleague, secretly, it felt absolutely forbidden to me in this situation. It did not happen again and I decided to fulfill 100% of the Yogic expectancy regarding the nutrition.
One dinner example
Week 2 was alright for me, I had gotten the hang of it, but noticed colleagues couldn´t live without coffee anymore and they had gotten themselves some. Then there was Christmas. Us will-be Yoga Teacher Trainers asked for a piece of fish, no meat of course, but simply something special. Yes, wow, after one month of super clean plant based eating minus coffee, sugar or alcohol, this felt like the best that could have happened too my gustative nerves.
Tourists who stayed at the camp only for a Yoga retreat were even served a glass of wine which us future Yoga Teachers of course could not enjoy as we were trained to be Yogis and to live as such. And do you know what? I didn´t even want to have this glas of wine anymore. All the lust was gone I noticed in this specific moment when I saw it. Realized it might only be a habit to drink or eat what I did before back home, but it didn´t do well for me.
A fresh juice first thing in the morning, no added sugar of course.
What did enhance after a month of not consuming any stimulating nutrition? I didn´t fall into this hole of being tired in the afternoon anymore but felt equally awake and fit throughout the whole day, no tiredness the next day after this glass of wine, no Insuline high due to sugar and no hunger pangs anymore, seamless digestion, deeper and longer sleep without awakening in the middle of night. I had also lost weight, looked definitely more fresh.
Due to all the benefits, I then decided to continue this style of nutrition and I always will. Besides one point – I had stopped drinking alcohol for one year, noticed this wasn´t so welcomed by other people looking at me like „Oh poor girl, she doesn´t know what´s real fun“ and I instantly felt sorry for them and made jokes about it. However I decided then, to may be enjoy a glass for special occasions which is now may once a month. And it feels great! By the way what you see on the left, that´s a pure no-sugar Papaya juice – my New Year´s drink 2018/2019, best start into a new even healthier lifestyle.
