A Practical & Spiritual Guide to Health and Happiness, The Cleanse, from Oprah Winfry's Show

[Guest guest]

Excerpt from Wellness: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Health and HappinessBy Kathy Freston

From the show Take 10 Years Off Your Looks Makeovers The ultimate guide to complete well-being, Quantum Wellness is an instructive book on how to reach the highest level of health and contentment through small, focused changes.Start Cleansing!Every individual has different needs, as dictated by your past medical history and medications, so it's important not to begin this or any significant change to your diet without first consulting your doctor. Choose a doctor, if you can, who is well versed in integrative medicine (medicine that combines allopathic care with alternative and natural approaches) so that you have the most up-to-date and well-rounded advice.This Jump-Start Cleanse will eliminate sources of toxins and allergens, giving the digestive system a break from working overtime to process the substances that inhibit optimum performance the most. Again, increased energy, better digestion, and relief from various aches and pains (including headaches, muscle aches, and joint pain) are just a few of the known benefits. As with each of the practices in this book, this cleanse, which you might think of as something you do for your physical body, has its emotional and spiritual components as well. As you eliminate sugar, for instance, you might experience the feelings you were unconsciously trying to escape by indulging in desserts. Since you no longer have the distraction of the whole cycle of craving a sweet—trying to resist eating it, indulging anyway, and then feeling guilty about it—you are left simply with that feeling you had been trying to avoid. Which might be uncomfortable, yes, but as discussed earlier, awareness is good. Being in touch with our feelings, even if they aren't "pleasant," is key to our ultimate well-being.And on a spiritual level, when I first did a cleanse, I couldn't believe how difficult it was for me to give up the foods I had become attached to, even knowing that the cleanse would only last a couple of weeks. It became clear how enslaved I was by my habits inasmuch as my mood was ruled by my ability to eat the goodies that I loved and I was used to. I realized that if I was to be on a serious spiritual path, I had to look at all my attachments, including food habituations. If I was to continue growing and evolving, I had to be able to see where I was not free. The cleanse helped me to identify some glitches where I was not able to choose out of freedom rather than habit, and so I was able to focus more effort on becoming more conscious.Stay on this program for as many days as you can, up to 21 days, as your ambition, willingness, and ability allow. Just do the best you can and don't worry about perfection. The first time around, you may go just a day or two. That's fine. Just give it a try. Take one day at a time. Don't look too far ahead. Who knows? You may surprise yourself when you find yourself on day 14!For the next several days, up to 21, please avoid the following:

Caffeine Sugar Alcohol Gluten Animal products

THE PILLARS OF WELLNESS:

When it comes to makeovers, Oprah knows one thing for sure. "If you want to look and feel your best, you have to make the complete mind, body and soul connection," she says. "That means you have to work from the inside out."Best-selling author and spiritual counselor Kathy Freston has been an expert on inner makeovers since she went through one herself. "In my teenage years, I was filled with anxiety. I had tons of insecurity," she says. "I was one of those people who just wasn't comfortable in my own skin. I never felt like I was pretty enough or smart enough or interesting enough."Kathy began modeling at age 17, but rather then boosting her confidence, Kathy says the industry made her insecurities worse. "The art director would lean into my face and point out my pimples, and they'd look at my waist and say that they were disappointed," she says. "I would be sent home from jobs."Around that same time, Kathy says her addictive personality began to act up. She says she was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, eating unhealthy foods and getting involved in destructive relationships."I had so much failure, and life kept clunking me on the head. I was forced to confront the structures within myself," she says. "So I started reading books about philosophy and spirituality. Of course, that's when life opened up. … When I stopped looking for the results, everything just sort of appeared."

In Kathy's book Quantum Wellness, she describes her eight pillars of wellness, practices she believes are the staples of an engaged life.The first pillar of wellness is meditation. "For anybody who is looking to change your life, I would absolutely recommend that [meditation] be the first thing that you do," Oprah says. "I think there are a lot of misnomers about what it is. People think it's something that it isn't. … Meditation is not religious."At the heart of meditation is stillness, Kathy says. "It's really just getting quiet, going inside and connecting to that inner light. For some people, it's religious and spiritual, connecting to that higher power. For other people, it's just a matter of becoming present."Kathy says meditation rescued her in her darkest hour. "I was constantly beating myself up, trying to figure out what was wrong with me and how to change it," she says. "Meditation pulled me into my center."

There's one wellness practice that Kathy says should be observed above all others. "The mother of all pillars is conscious eating," she says. "It doesn't only make a difference to our own personal health and well-being, but conscious eating means you stay aware of where your food comes from, how the animals are treated and how the environment is affected by the foods that you eat. You take in the energy of whatever went into creating that food."

Kathy is a vegan, which means she doesn't eat meat, eggs, or dairy. "Nobody was harmed—that's conscious eating," she says. "If I want to be someone with spiritual integrity, I have to think about the principles that I want to adhere to—compassion, kindness, mercy and the alleviating of suffering when I see it. … I thought, 'If I want to further myself on my spiritual path, as well as my health path, I need to have more integrity. I need to be conscious about it.'"

Exercise is another pillar of wellness. Kathy suggests engaging in physical activity three to six times a week for 30 minutes a day. "It's good for your body, mind and spirit," Kathy says. "Especially when you're outside."

The fourth pillar of wellness is visualization. "It's like creating a blueprint for the way I want to become and setting down the intention," Kathy says. "I journal in my notebook, and I think about where I want to go, who I want to be. Then, I just need to close my eyes and see the breakthrough happening."Spiritual practice is Kathy's fifth pillar of wellness. Kathy keeps a statue of Kuan Yin in her home, who she says is the Chinese deity for compassion. "I have her in my bedroom because I always want to be reminded that it's not just about me," she says. "So as much as I can, [i try] to be aware of the suffering that's all around and to be compassionate. I think that's the best spiritual practice anyone can have."

To achieve the sixth pillar of wellness—self-work—Kathy says she is constantly educating herself. "What I do is I read all the time, whether it's on nutrition or spirituality or emotional well-being," she says. "That means going inside and learning where you're stuck and pushing yourself past what's comfortable. And then I choose a book that's going to help me push through those boundaries."

Service is Kathy's seventh pillar of wellness. "When I was feeling depressed and like life wasn't going my way, I started volunteering and doing service, and things had a way of just turning around," she says. "I felt like I didn't get fixated on my own self-centered fear, and I felt like there was an abundance in the universe that I was participating in. And that made me feel really good."

Fun activities are the last pillar of wellness. It may seem simple, but Kathy says it's still important. "Doing something fun just kind of loosens up your energy, makes you feel grateful for everything" she says. "And you have levity in your life, which is important. Once a day, I do something fun, whether just rocking out to music or painting."If you only focus on work, Kathy says you lose the spirit inside. "Get back to that spirit," she says. "That spirit actually is the thing that generates the good ideas, the inspiration."

To jump-start your self-makeover, Kathy says a 21-day cleanse can improve the way you look and feel. "We just take a few things that are irritating to our bodies and we eliminate them for any time up [to] 21 days," she says. "And if that's too hard for you, literally take three days or a week or two weeks." Kathy stresses that it's not about perfection. "Go as far into it as you can," she says.