Reinvent yourself... Combine the time tested wisdom of sister sciences Yoga and Ayurveda to reinvigorate your metabolism, optimize your weight, awaken your energy and enliven your spirit.Uncover your ideal blueprint. By changing your eating alone, you can change your life. Modern culture has lost touch with the way we were designed to eat. The result is weight gain, sluggish energy, and compromised health. The mind is clouded and the spirit is dull. When it comes to eating and food, the ancient knowledge and common sense behind Yoga and Ayurveda is needed now more than ever. Rediscovering this wisdom alone can transform the body, mind and spirit in just 40 days.There will be no counting calories, fat, carbs, or points. This enlightened way of eating did not originate in Beverly Hills or South Beach, but from long ago and far away. These forty days aren't only about losing weight but about gaining health, energy, and vitality. Many eating plans cause weight loss at the expense of energy and health. This plan is different. This plan is developed to lighten not only your body but the mind and spirit too. Optimal weight, health, energy, and vitality are the natural by-product of eating in the way we were designed to eat. Each day is a chapter in the book. Each chapter is one step forward on the journey to transformation. The next forty days will detoxify the system and reset your cravings, appetite, metabolism, and eating patterns. Forty days is the spiritually prescribed time period needed to reconstruct habits and forge lasting change. Watch your metabolism ignite, your moods lift, your energy surge, and your spirits soar. Your optimal self is there waiting for you at the end of the forty days! I regularly teaches a six-week course called 40 Days to Enlightened Eating at my own studio Shining Lotus Yoga and Wellness.  I encourage and support other Auyrvedic practitioners and Yoga instructors around the country to teach 40 Days to Enlightened Eating to their students.  Many have done so with impressive results!  To find out how you can teach 40 Days to Enlightened Eating at your studio go to 40DaystoEnlightenedEating.com Elise Cantrell is a professional yoga instructor and owner of shining Lotus Yoga and Wellness in Kohler, Wisconsin. She holds a master's degree in education from the University of South Carolina. She completed her 200 hr. yoga certification at White Lotus Institute and has earned 500 hr. level advanced teacher training at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. Elise is also a certified Ayurvedic lifestyle counselor through the American Institute of Vedic Studies. Elise regularly teaches a six-week course called 40 Days to Enlightened Eating.  She encourages and supports Auyrvedic practitioners and Yoga instructors around the country to teach 40 Days to Enlightened Eating to their students.  Many have done so with impressive results!  To find out how you can teach 40 Days to Enlightened Eating at your studio go to 40DaystoEnlightenedEating.com 40 Days to Enlightened Eating Journey to Optimal Weight, Health, Energy, and Vitality By Elise Cantrell BALBOA PRESS Copyright © 2012 Elise Cantrell All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4525-5467-9 Contents Preface: How My Own Journey Began...............................................................................viiIntroduction....................................................................................................xiDay 1: Beginner's Mind..........................................................................................1Day 2: A Clean Slate—Putting Beginner's Mind into Action..................................................6Day 3: Setting Intentions.......................................................................................17Day 4: Tapas—The Fire of Transformation...................................................................25Phase 1: Food and the Body......................................................................................30Day 5: You Really Are What You Eat!.............................................................................38Day 6: What is Your Eating Style?...............................................................................41Day 7: Samscaras—Self-sabotaging Eating Patterns..........................................................50Day 8: Exercise "Samscaras".....................................................................................60Day 9: Can Yoga Help Me Lose Weight?............................................................................67Day 10: Enlightened Eating OUT!.................................................................................81Day 11: It's Not How Much You Eat as Much as What You're Eating.................................................90Day 12: Starting Over...........................................................................................96Day 13: The 3 Gunas of Eating.................................................