Giving My Organs a 10-Day Rest & Detox

I decided to give my body a rest over the next 10 days.

I work in social service, which demands me to give a lot spiritually & emotionally of myself. My work gives me such deep joy, and the queer youth I am so lucky to work with light up my life completely.

I also have to be extra careful in practicing self-care because of the work I do, and also because i believe women, queer folks, people of color, and folks involved in activism or folks who give a lot of themselves (like teachers, therapists, mothers) in their lives need to remember to take care of themselves (body, mind, and spirit) and not only care for our families & our communities. Remember the soldaderas? We are all soldaderas. We need to remind each other to take care of ourselves!

I decided to spend some of my hard-earned cash on some dietary supplements (which is totally unnecessary for nutritional healing) because I felt like that was something I wanted to treat myself with over the season of "gift giving." I rarely spend money on anything but rent & food, but self-care is something I like to integrate in ways that feel good and affordable for me. I'm lucky!

The day after Thanksgiving, I went over to Ecoterra, the local Korean-owned, holistic market and pharmacy in my native Claremont.


Ecoterra is the community creation of Myra Sohn & her family. I first met Myra two years ago, when my dear friend Cara was doing a cleanse under her guidance. I decided to stop in and meet Myra, to see if I too was interested. We sat down for a consultation, no appointment necessary & free of charge, and she held my hand to look at my nails. She asked about my digestive patterns, my menses, my sleep patterns, etc. We also discussed various causes and treatments for acne, which I have suffered from on and off since adolescence! We decided together that a liver cleanse along with a nutritional cleanse and detox would suit me. As she stirred me a liver detox tonic, she told me how she used to be a Western pharmacist, but that too many times she felt so sad because she knew her clients could heal better with whole foods and herbal remedies, instead of Western drugs they were prescribed. She said she always want to suggest a holistic healing method for them. Finally, fed up with Western pharmaceuticals (which only treated isolated symptoms and not the root imbalances that cause problems), she re-connected with the holistic methods she knew to be true, passed down along her ancestral lines.

Today, Ecoterra is a one stop shop for any of the dis-eases or imbalances you may be facing. I recommend speaking to Myra 100% about whatever might be going on for you, and she will kindly lead you in a direction that feels good (her consultations are free). You can also check out Myra House, literally Myra's family home that is also a Holistic Living Center.

Stay tuned for a few new recipes over the next 10 days! I've already got some of my staples simmering on the stove top.....

Oh and btw ~ this isn't anything like the "Master Cleanse": a cayenne pepper, maple syrup, and lemon + water liquid cleanse. This detox will consist mainly of practices we are already blogging about: taking a break from meat (for 10 days), dairy, sugar, (coffee - we'll see about that), and processed foods! I'll go day by day letting you know the steps I'm taking, healing with (not without!) whole foods. This "DETOX" has me eating a LOT of affordable whole foods!