Detoxobsession

Last Saturday, my boyfriend and i decided to hit the gym and have a quiet night at home in order to avoid the crowds of Valentine's day. During the day i had to work and the stress of work combined with the elimination of toxins at the gym was the perfect recipe for my getting sick. My body is extremely sensitive to my environment, so i know that just one hour of stress or one pinch of dust can make me react. (Heck, i'm the type of person who gets sick after a massage!). Is that good or bad? I want to say both. It makes me more aware of my body and at the same time, i know I only need a small dose of herbs for them to have an effect on me.
I want to say that toxin elimination was the reason i got sick (after all, i've only just started going to the gym after a year-long hiatus), but i also heard there was a new type of virus going around on the news. Normally i don't really believe the news, as they are always trying to scare people into taking flu shots or a new medicine. Plus, believing my toxin-releasing story made me happier and more apt to getting better, faster.
So there i was, on sunday, with a scratchy throat. On monday, i had a full-blown fever, sinus pain, headache, sore throat, etc. The works. I wasn't hungry, so i just ingested liquids all day. First, i had some rooibos red tea, then i had some ginger tea. Later in the day, i had some fresh-squeezed orange juice. My fever caused me to get very hot and sweaty, then very cold, on and off all day. I pretty much stayed in bed and slept the whole time. In Ayurveda, regardless of your dosha, you need extra sleep when you're sick. Also, i made sure to sleep early at night, as your body is programmed to self-heal and rejuvenate between the hours of 10 pm and 2 am. That's why people who go to sleep in the wee hours are seriously damaging their bodies. Sorry to say, but that also goes for people who work the night shift. Even though you have adjusted your sleep patterns to shift, there are chemicals and hormones in your body that march to their own drum. It's like they know it's between 10 and 2! This is also why it's okay for yogis and yoginis alike to start their day at 4am. The restful sleep happens before.
While i was sick, i also threw up some mucus (there was nothing else in my stomach!) But this is a good thing! Mucus is extremely toxic and your body will not digest it at all. In fact, being snotty and having a cold is not being sick- it's actually your body ridding itself of whatever made you sick in the first place! And your body does that through mucus. So next time you have a cold and you're annoyed at how many rolls of toilet paper you've gone through, just remember it's just your immune system doing its job. Ahh...don't we all feel better?

Anyways- to set my body up for rapid healing, i ate only rice with ghee, salt and pepper. It was was perfect and easily digested. I continued to drink a lot of water and a lot of tea. Whenever i had my ginger tea, just one sip of it made me feel instantly better. It really is an awesome herb. My orange juice automatically gave me energy, and i also took some vitamin B12 because i don't eat meat. The more i drank tea and water, the better i felt. For the first time ever, i felt hydrated. It's an incredible feeling...You feel like each cell of your body is pervaded with water (but not drowned in water). The downside is that i stopped being do diligent about drinking liquids as soon as i felt better and then i felt absolutely parched for 4 days.

On a side note, I have to admit (and i'm quite ashamed of this because of my ginger post and that whole spiel) i did have aspirin while i was ill. I had a splitting headache / sinus congestion for two straight days and i was sick of it. Maybe that helped in breaking my fever a bit (or so it says on the box). Normally i don't like taking pharmaceuticals unless i'm really in pain. And aspirin is pretty much the only one i'll have.

Anyways, two days later, here i am feeling 150% better and my boyfriend comes home bearing gifts: chocolate croissants. Nooooooo! I automatically shoved one in my mouth. 1 hour later, i'm having stomach cramps. So i guess that wasn't the best idea. But when you're feeling better, you just think you're a superhero or something.

One interesting thing that was happening though, and please stop me if i'm being paranoid, i could literally smell the toxicity in the mucous my body was creating. I swear! For about 5 days everything had this smell... this horrible smell. The closest i can come to describing it was that is smelled like a really bad version of ketchup. I felt like i was smelling my own toxicity and the toxicity in the food...but i'm not sure. Down here in health-obsessed California, we're really into detoxing...and consequently we become paranoid with anything toxic. For instance, i don't leave the house without some sort of makeup foundation, as I truly believe it sets a barrier between my face and the pollution-filled air here in L.A. Another example- my sister only eats organic food. She'll even bring her own food when she's invited to a non-organic dinner. If it's your birthday, she'll call you up a few days before to coax you into choosing an organic restaurant to celebrate. Yes, we angelinos and our fear of toxins... Ketchup... *shudders*