For over a decade, clean eating and regular resets have been the foundational guardrails of my life. But let’s be real—sometimes, life happens! After a gorgeous trip to Nova Scotia packed with bread, seafood, and dairy, followed by a double-header week of baby showers (yes, there was cake!), my body started screaming at me.
My hands and arms woke up feeling swollen, sore, and stiff, and a stubborn case of trigger finger in my pointer finger—which started back in July after intensely scrubbing our yurts by hand—refused to budge.
As a lifelong natural health warrior, I know that standard blood tests often miss the full picture. Our bodies carry their own deep intuition. With the Autumn Equinox arriving this week and my husband Craig traveling out of town, my inner voice made it crystal clear: The time for a deep, grounding reset is NOW.
I have tried many types of resets for my various physical signals (psoriasis, inflammation, gut reactivity, chronic fatigue) and instead of jumping into a highly cooling, raw-juice heavy summer-style protocol, I am honoring the shift in seasons by turning to ancient Ayurvedic wisdom. I am combining warm, soothing mono-meals with a targeted, custom-blended herbal apothecary to quiet my immune system, soothe the stiffness, and give my joints the deep lubrication they are begging for.
Here is exactly how I am structuring my Equinox healing week!
The Reset Blueprint: My Custom 7-Day Timeline
To ensure my digestive tract and nervous system glide smoothly into this reset without a shock to the system, I’m following a strategic “ease-in, ease-out” protocol:
- Monday & Tuesday (Ease-In Days): Keeping my morning superfood-packed smoothie, transitioning to clean vegetable/plant proteins for lunch, and enjoying a comforting homegrown butternut squash soup over rice for dinner.
- Wednesday – Friday (The Core Mono-Diet): 100% pure celery juice on an empty stomach every morning, followed by two daily meals of freshly cooked Instant Pot Jasmine Kitchari.
- Saturday & Sunday (Ease-Out Days): Gradually reintroducing dense foods, starting with clean plant-based meals, and prepping a gorgeous, reset-friendly root vegetable medley for our weekend Equinox potluck!
The Ultimate Bloat-Free Comfort Food: Instant Pot Jasmine Kitchari
Traditional Kitchari is the ultimate Ayurvedic cleansing food because it provides a complete amino acid profile while requiring almost zero energy to digest, allowing your body to redirect its resources toward deep cellular healing.
While basmati is traditionally used, I am using what I have in my pantry: clean Jasmine Rice. Instead of the elusive spice hing (asafoetida), I am using a secret weapon from my apothecary to fully break down the lentils and prevent bloating: dried epazote leaves – a South American (closer to home) substitute my friend Candace gifted me from her garden.
Daily Fresh Batch Recipe (Yields Lunch & Dinner)
- 1/2 cup Organic Yellow Mung Dal (Rinse thoroughly until water runs clear—never use green or red split peas, as they are too drying for stiff joints!)
- 1/2 cup Jasmine Rice (Rinse well)
- 4 cups Water
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Ghee (Crucial for lubricating dry, stiff autumn joints!)
- 1 tablespoon Dried Epazote (or Hing) Leaves
- Spice Blend: 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, and 1 tsp freshly grated ginger.
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Turn the Instant Pot to Sauté mode. Melt your ghee, drop in the cumin seeds and grated ginger, and let them sizzle for 30 seconds until aromatic. Stir in the turmeric.
- Add your rinsed, drained jasmine rice and yellow mung dal. Stir for 1 minute to coat every single grain in that beautiful, golden, spice-infused ghee.
- Hit Cancel. Pour in the 4 cups of water and use a wooden spoon to firmly scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the steel liner (this is crucial to avoid a “burn” message!). Toss your epazote leaves right on top.
- Lock the lid, set the valve to Sealing, and pressure cook on Manual/High for 6 minutes.
- Allow a Natural Pressure Release (NPR) for 10 to 15 minutes to let the rice expand into a soft, soothing, mashable porridge consistency.
Scoop a big, warm bowl for lunch (top with fresh garden parsley!), put the lid back on, and leave the Instant Pot on Keep Warm. Your dinner will be perfectly heated and waiting for you after a long day, with zero extra pans to wash!
My Custom AM/PM Apothecary Setup
I spent some time grouping my beloved loose herbs and tinctures into targeted morning and evening jars to perfectly accompany my daily Kitchari and my favorite SuperBiome gut supplement (while taking a temporary pause from my beloved Joey mushroom coffee!).
☀️ The AM Thermos: Lymph & Joint Movement
Between meals, I fill a large thermos with a blood-purifying blend designed to clear systemic heat from my skin and circulate anti-inflammatory warmth directly into my sore fingers and arms.
- The Loose Herb Base: Equal parts dried (and homegrown!) cleavers, dandelion, and burdock leaves.
- The Hot Infusion: I simmer the loose base for 10 minutes alongside an organic turmeric ginger tea bag and dried ginger flakes.
- The Tincture Boost: Before sipping, I add a full squeeze of Herb Pharm Cat’s Claw Liquid Extract directly into my mug. Cat’s Claw is a premier immune system builder, making it my absolute go-to for managing an active viral or EBV flare.
🌙 The PM Mug: GI Restoring & Grounding
Right before bed, I brew a deeply relaxing blend designed to melt away stress, ease the chronic tension in my neck from past car accidents, and coat my digestive lining.
- The Loose Herb Base: A calming mix of loose chamomile, lemon balm, and dried licorice root (which creates a beautifully soothing, demulcent barrier for the gut).
- The Tincture Boost: Right before drinking, I add a squeeze of Herb Pharm Certified Organic Fennel Tincture. Fennel serves as a natural carminative, perfectly supporting my digestion and ensuring the SuperBiome can do its job overnight with zero bloating or discomfort.
Physical Boundaries: The Finger Brace Sign
To round out this holistic week, I am committing to wearing my finger brace strictly at night. Coming across it yesterday while looking for something else was the ultimate sign! Keeping my pointer finger from curling into a fist while I sleep will give that swollen tendon nodule 8 hours of absolute rest so it can finally shrink and stop catching.
I am stepping into this Equinox week feeling incredibly empowered, deeply connected to my choices, and ready to watch my body heal itself from the inside out using the power of food, herbs, and intentional rest.
TELL ME!
Are you doing any lifestyle resets or shifting your routines as we head into the autumn season? Let me know in the comments below!
