During the academic year, I lead quite an unhealthy lifestyle. I'm an unapologetic, workaholic college student who doesn't exercise or eat balanced meals. And to be honest, most days I don't have the time to eat full meals at all. 

espresso, wine, beer, coffee
Alex Frank

Instead, I'll inhale several cups of coffee in the morning (because I am a Gilmore Girl) and consume copious amounts of tea at night. I'll eat a banana, granola bars, and sometimes a quesadilla or wrap at the dining center but that's usually it. It's not because I don't know how to cook or that I don't have the means to get food, it's simply because I don't have enough time. 

Typically on weekends I'll cook myself a nice pasta dish with tons of veggies or on Tuesdays and Thursdays (my lighter days) I'll prepare a chopped kale and spinach salad. That's about all the time I can allocate for grocery shopping and cooking. 

That's why this winter break I decided that I needed to be kinder to my body and rejuvenate myself with a detox. Even though I was traveling across India, I committed to a basic dietary schedule that I could add to and also omit from as long as I followed its basic structure. 

juice, sweet, melon, watermelon
Jocelyn Hsu

No matter which city I was in, I began my day around 8:00 am with a cup of chai with lots of ginger, some toast, and a variety of fruits (figs, watermelon, guavas). Later, around 10:00 am I had fresh coconut water or narial pani as we say in Mumbai. It was hydrating, packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. 

onion, pork, chicken, meat, pepper, vegetable, rice
Vinita Saggurti

For lunch, I either ate sautéed veggies like okra or rice and lentils. If we were ordering take-out then butter chicken or malai chicken with tandoori naan was my go-to order. Dinner was usually some variety of baked meat, rice, roti, and more lentils.

milk, milk chocolate, sweet, candy, coffee, chocolate
Christin Urso

Since I'm a foodie, I couldn't stick to just the basics and ate lots of paani-puri (an Indian street snack), ras malai, ladoos (Indian desserts), and of course chocolate. However, all in moderation. 

In the culinary world, people usually refer to a detox as a period when they're only having veggies, fruits, or juices. But my winter break detox had me abstaining from a hectic schedule of running between classes, extracurriculars, and throughout campus. In lieu of eliminating foods from my diet I tried to maintain a fairly normal eating schedule. And to me, that was both refreshing and rejuvenating.