Autumn is officially upon us.  With back to school, leaves changing and fall festivals, this time of year marks a renewed sense of discipline for many. With tonight’s full moon and the beginning of a new season, its a great opportunity to kick things off anew.

One of my Autumn disciplines & goals is to shed the extra pounds I’ve accumulated after an indulgent summer, as well as clean out the system.  A great way to kick it off is with a natural detox.

Several years ago at a London bookstore (on holiday when living in Amsterdam and happy to find books in English!), I picked up Carole Vorderman’s 14 Day Easy Detox.  Carole is a British media personality who has written several books on Detox diets with the partnership of nutrionist Anita Bean.

The book starts out by saying “Are you feeling lethargic, sluggish and a few pounds heavier than you’d like? Do you have a niggling suspicion you haven’t been eating as well as you ought to? Are you unhappy with your weight or worried about your health?”  Yes!

Benefits of detoxing… it “will do wonders for the way you look, the way you feel and your ability to cope with stress.”  I’m in!  Now what do I have to do?  “The main focus of the 14-day mini-detox diet is nutrient packed fresh food.”

Most people think detox is hard and upon first examination, the plan looked difficult. But the first time I embarked on the true 10 program fully, I lost 7 pounds and kept it off by incorporating many of the detox principles and recipes into my daily life, which are actually quite easy once you get started.

The reality of a natural detox is it can help you understand what impact foods have on your body.  Strip many of the common ‘toxins’ out (dairy, wheat, red meat) and see how you feel.  Then slowly re-introduce them to see what it does to you… are you bloated after dairy or wheat? stomach upset after red meat?

Its all information to help you live a more balanced life.  And without any crazy fad diets or pills.

Check out Carole’s books on Amazon.com including her number 1 best seller Detox for Life.

Cheers to Autumn and a good cleanse!

Tonight in yoga our teacher let us know tomorrow is the Official United Nations International Day of Peace.  We dedicated our practice to peace and knowing that peace exists in every being on earth.

So tomorrow why not join the celebration? Have peaceful thoughts, speak peaceful words….toward yourself, toward others, toward the planet, toward those you might feel are different from you.  See how it feels.

And maybe consider making it a daily practice…one thought, one word at a time.  What if we all did?

The power of our thoughts can truly make a difference.  “Thought forms create an energetic field strong enough to empower the course of planetary destiny.”

Peace!

While in Santorini I was thrilled to discover a new wine!  Wineries dot the island and the ‘bushes’ grow everywhere.  The dry volcanic soil produces a very unique grape. One evening during our stay, Vendema Resort’s Sommelier Vaios Panagiotoulas took us on a Greek Wine Journey in their Canava Wine Bar (a catacomb carved out of the earth) and taught us everything we needed to know.

Vaios told us Greeks were the first winemakers dating back to 6,000 B.C.  The first vines were discovered on a northeast island of Greece and then taken to Crete where it was cultivated on the Archanes winery near Knossos.  Then to Sicily, then Italy (who improved the taste), onto Spain and finally France.

There are over 300 varieties of grape in Greece in 7 wine zones. One of those zones is Santorini which produces mainly 3 white varieties: Assyrtico, Aidani and Athiri.  Because Santorini is so warm and windy, the grape vines are grown in bushes.  These basket shape bushes allow the grapes to grow inside them, protected from the wind and letting them capture the humidity in the middle of the bush at night.

We tasted 7 different wines on our journey.  The Assyrtiko grape produces a crisp, minerally wine with high acidity and high alcohol content.  Athiri is more fruity and lower acidity / alcohol content.  Aidani grape is typically sweet, fruity, fragrant with low acidity.  The blending and aging process chosen have a big impact on the final result.  I found from our tasting and since when I’ve enjoyed Assyrtiko (the main variety you find outside of Santorini), it is a dry white wine (many literally have a slight smokey smell from the volcanic soil), fresh, crisp, with sea salt and minerals. Some are more citrus in smell and taste while some tend toward apricot and honey.  The grapes also make very good dessert wines, Vinsanto I’m sure you’ve heard of.  The name means ‘wine from Santorini’.

We also visited Santo Wines Winery, the biggest producer on the island with a huge tasting room and patio with amazing views (built for big tourist groups but still worth the visit).  One wine we tasted is an exclusive wine called Nykteri, meaning ‘staying up all night,’ which is picked in the afternoon and pressed at night when its not too hot. The wine is very complex with layers of jasmine, fruit like banana/pineapple and spice.

Next time you’re out for Greek or making some at home, try a Santorini Assyrtiko.  Yassas!

For more Santorini wine pictures visit the gallery.