The times I’ve done a kitchari cleanse before (like this time), I’ve really enjoyed the journey. Being a big fan of mung beans and rice helps a lot, but it’s more than that. This cleanse gives me so much energy, it clears my mind and it makes my body feel very happy, clean and balanced – it’s such an amazing feeling and well worth the hum-drum and discipline of a monodiet to realise it. Plus my morning practice becomes a total dream without the sluggishness of a sugar hangover dragging me down.

Yes, so the sugar hangover… I’m a self-confessed chocolate fiend. In winter, when I’m tucked up cosily at home, my fiendishness reaches gargantuan proportions – an average day gets a cacao avo smoothie (my favourite) and some obligatory Green&Blacks… What can I say? I love chocolate in all its glorious forms. 

So I decided that after a particularly chocolatey Christmas, I’d do a kitchari cleanse to karate chop my addiction and press the reset switch for a month: Munguary.

After the first few days of headachy grumpy bleurgh, the sunbeams of clean living started to shine through. I love cooking, I love the wholesome feeling it brings. I also love eating such a positive dish that’s healing my body, clearing my intestines, my skin. Kitchari takes so little energy to digest that the prana that usually goes into digesting can be directed elsewhere – to heal and regenerate.

It wasn’t all a walk in the park. Mid-way through, I went through a few days of full-on overwhelm, as well as some hideously grumpy moments peppering the month. Unresolved emotions bubbling to the surface is an inevitable side-effect of any cleanse. I stayed very close to home on these days until it passed, giving myself as much time as I needed.

My finish line was White Tantra on 28 January… and I made it feeling as shiny as a polished apple, complete with the ‘kitchari glow’ mentioned in my previous kitchari post. Really, I can’t recommend a kitchari cleanse enough as a total reset, clearing the slate on a physical, emotional and mental level. It absolutely works and you will find delicious balance. And the chocolate worship? Still there! Ha 🙂

Sat nam x