Detox Bath

When I was working on fighting a nasty cold a few years ago I did some research on the benefits of adding different ingredients to a hot bath to help with congestion.  A lot of obvious ingredients surfaced like peppermint essential oil and rosemary but one that I was very surprised by was ground mustard powder.  Evidently it has been used in traditional medicine for a very long time.  They say it aids circulation, opens your pores and makes you sweat.  Now don't get me wrong, this is not medical advice.  This is just something that I have found that makes me feel better when I'm feeling crappy.

Add to a hot bath as it is being drawn:

2 T dry mustard powder
2 T baking soda
a few drops of peppermint essential oil
a drop of tea tree oil

I have the water about as hot as I can stand it and make sure to drink lots of water and Yogi Cold Season tea and try not to drop my iPod in the tub.

When I feel like I'm clearing up I'll stand up and rinse off and get back to resting.


I think I am finally starting to feel better after an evening of watching scary movies on the couch with the hubs.

How Could This Happen

I'm sick.

I noticed a tickle in my throat at work on Saturday.  I tried to ignore it but in the back of my mind I knew I was coming down with something.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling like I had a jackhammer in my brain, I was nauseous and dizzy.  OK, I'll admit it.  I was hungover.  Strike that... I'm pretty sure I may have still been drunk from the night before.  I was trying to help my cold with a little whiskey and red wine and apparently failed miserably!  Not only was a drunk AND hungover, I also was stuffy, congested and coughing.  Thank goodness for sympathetic co-workers because I was also supposed to be at work in an hour.

I popped some cold pills and slept it off.  I woke up feeling more stable but the symptoms of my little cold were still annoyingly there.

I rested all day yesterday watching episodes of 30 Rock and The X-Files patiently awaiting my husband to come home from work.  When he did, to my surprise and delight, he brought me Thukpa soup from our favorite Nepalese restaurant.

Today, not feeling much better, I pretty much spent the day in bed again.  I did take the dog for a short walk.  It was long enough for me to get depressed by how beautiful an autumn day it is here in Baltimore.  Stupid cold!  I did notice an item in my newsfeed on facebook that seemed as though it was tailored just for me...  I recently friended a page called "Plant-Based on a Budget" and today they posted: "Have a cold or flu? Give this soup a try to help you battle those symptoms!"  Garlic- Ginger Soup  I made a few tweaks based on what I had on hand, but this was just what I needed tonight to help me fight this cold.

Alright, alright, back to resting...

One Week Down

I've been a pretty strict vegetarian this go around for three years and change.  Cumulatively I have been a vegetarian for almost 10 years of my life although I would say that the first time around I was more of a "carb-etarian"...  But still-- I've steered clear of gelatin and fish and various kinds of meat-based stocks.  Bacon and sausage and other things that some people consider to be processed enough to no longer be meat are no-no's, too.  I remember sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner at an ex's house and, after confirming that a certain pasta dish was vegetarian, got a mouthful of prosciutto.  "It's not meat!" his Aunt yelled after me as I excused myself to the restroom...

So long story short, I'm no stranger to dietary restrictions so when I recently became preoccupied with dabbling is veganism, I didn't think it would be the challenge that my family and friends had made it out to be.  The animal products I regularly consume are few and far between and mainly consist of organic eggs, cheese and milk-based ingredients that are found in things like box-cereal, whey protein powder and bread.

Last weekend I went down to Berlin, MD for my art exhibition at my friends' restaurant, Si'Culi.  Berlin is on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where one of the chief industries is poultry farming.  As my husband and I were driving down there he pointed out windowless chicken coups and we passed a truck full of live chickens in tiny, rusty, filthy cages with legs wedged between bars and feathers flying.  I pretty much felt like I was going to barf when I saw that-  especially after recently seeing the movie Samsara, in which there are several very graphic scenes of factory farming.

I will admit, as a vegetarian I was never super focused on the animal rights aspect of choosing a meat free lifestyle.  I have definitely, at least this time around, been more focused on the health benefits.  My husband chose to "go veg" almost 15 years ago as a preventative measure against diabetes which runs in both sides of his family.  However, after seeing that movie and then those chickens in real life I had a pretty visceral reaction to that.

This was the impetus behind finally going vegan on a trial basis for at least a month. I am hoping for even more added health benefits as well.

It is definitely a chore to read and decipher food labels.  There is a lot of research involved in figuring out what ingredients may be animal derived.  I think I have been doing a pretty good job of being creative in my meal planning so that my husband doesn't complain about eating vegan with me (except for on Mondays when it is 2-for-1 pizza night at Tutti Gusti).  He is a vegetarian, too... but he loves his cheese!

Happily, a lot of the food that we normally eat is already vegan.  This is one of my favorite already-vegan recipes: Vegetarian Pho!  I made this the other night and can't wait to make it again.