Try An Ayurvedic Cleanse. Bring On The Ghee!

What really happens when you eat according to the seasons and down ghee straight from the jar every morning? Yoga Journal’s digital strategist, Samantha Trueheart, reports.

- Samantha Trueheart

I dipped a teaspoon into an oversized jar of grass-fed, organic ghee and filled it to the brim, just as I was instructed. Yet as I held it to my mouth and caught a whiff of the pungent, good-for-me fat, I had a strong urge to abandon this Ayurvedic cleanse, stat. Why was I about to toss this ghee down my hatch? I’d turned to an Ayurvedic doctor for help with my digestive woes, hormonal acne, and weeks-long exhaustion. But now, downing a teaspoon of clarified butter every morning seemed extreme. Would it really help me feel better?

There was only one way to find out: I squeezed my eyes shut, held my nose, and swallowed the congealed fat, shivering a little as it liquified in my mouth.

I consider myself a healthy, physically fit, 26-year-old woman and I’m grateful for the body I’m in and lifestyle I live. However, since I was a teenager, I’ve suffered from irritable bowel syndrome, painful menstrual cramps, and acne. After the implantation of my hormonal IUD a couple years ago, I noticed an increase in my symptoms. Worse, I was feeling anxious, exhausted, and stressed almost all the time, and I found myself in a yoga slump. The creative vinyasa home practices I usually enjoyed seemed boring, and my monkey mind was on overdrive. I didn’t feel like my happy go-lucky, inspired self anymore. So, I reached out to John Douillard, a globally-recognized Ayurvedic doctor in Boulder, Colorado, where I live, and he recommended I follow an Ayurvedic diet for a month.