Forgive my absence, dear readers, but I’m just back a weekend getaway to Houston with the liver, a delicious mini-vacation your liver might also love to try sometime.
What were the keys to having a fantastically relaxing, liver-loving outing? Here’s what made this weekend such a helluva holistically good time.
1. Birds of a feather…
When you’re dating, it’s important that your friends like your current flame, and vice-versa, yes? It’s even more true when it comes to your relationship with your liver. After all, even if your friends despise the bad jokes on the table when your date attempts humor, your liver and theirs are all subject to the food you all eat and drink together.
Supportive friends are pivotal in major relationships in your life. They empathize, share stories, and generally keep you on the right track according to the common values you share.
Do you ever talk about health and nutrition with your friends? Not how cute their outfits are, or if who’s losing/gaining weight, but about energy levels, cooking, the benefits and pitfalls of certain foods? How what you’ve been eating affects your practice of working out, or vice-versa?
2. Dinner in the City
Eating out can be especially tricky when looking for human-sized portions and healthful cooking. Temptation is so easy to give into when you actually have to place the order for the fried or steamed rice.
Why bother?
Ease yourself out of the stress of worrying about whether you’ll eat healthy if you’re eating out or what could possibly be on the menu during a liver-detox by enjoying the therapeutic benefits of cooking at home. One fantastic thing about bigger cities are better grocery stores. Hubbell & Hudson, a gourmet grocery my friend frequents for it’s heavenly fresh juice bar and scintillating selection of fruits and veggies, made for an engaging shopping experience:
-fresh Watermelon beet basil and Pear ginger juice while we shopped
-descriptions of the various fruit and veggie options and proposals of how to enjoy them
-grains I’ve been looking for for ages that I’ve only been able to get on the Ukrainian black market
-A simplicity in the modest selection that didn’t overwhelm like some large specialty/high end grocery stores
My friend, who totally approves of me dating my liver and is such a help to strengthening that relationship, suggested stuffing orange bell peppers, which went deliciously. His gluten-free lifestyle lately has really helped his energy levels and digestion, so we had some tasty millet instead of bread crumbs for our stuffing. Roast veggies, including avocado and onion, along with a chopped egg or two, made this dish a real light and summery treat while we ate on the patio.
3. Yoga the night away
So last time we hung out, we thought we had invented this genius new thing-partner’s yoga. Then I discovered in my latest Yoga Journal that this practice has actually been going on thousands of years…so yeah, a little late getting that memo.
Since both of us practice at home, often with the guidance of the free video podcasts on Yoga Journal’s website, we were plenty used to the meditative calm of solo yoga. By partnering up, however, we were able to get feedback on the technique of each pose to improve our solo practice later.
We had a really great moment discovering Fish Pose, an incredible chest opener.
In partner-practice, I had a flashback to being in high school and giggling over Cosmo magazine while reading how to be in relationships, and of course the embarrassing stories. Flash forward to me working on my relationship with my liver (which loves the detoxifying and body-awakening yoga routine), and here I am with a friend again, reading straight out of a magazine (Yoga Journal this time) to learn more about the play by play of the Fish Pose.
I would highly recommend reading aloud with a partner as you work through poses from a magazine or website. Hope your day is going as well as my first weekend getaway with my liver!
