I'm on day six of my juice fast. That means it has been over five days since I have had a single bite of solid food. I just added it up, and it comes out to about one hundred and forty four hours so far. That's a gross of hours without solid food.
The first two days were pretty rough. I was battling a nasty headache and serious fatigue. Of course, that didn't really start until the first evening, so before I started feeling crappy I was able to ride my bike up to the farmer's market with Scott. I spent that evening and the whole second day huddled under a blanket on the couch, watching Doctor Who episodes and guzzling juice and water.
On the third day the headache lifted, and I felt a lot more energized, but awfully achy and sore. I felt compelled to help move the toxins that were hurting me along by going to sweaty yoga at Black Swan. Yoga, I loved. I spent the rest of the third day positively elated. I had hit the high.
Day four was ok, as was most of day five, but still achey. I had classes for ChefHangout on both days, which was awfully difficult. Imagine having to cook food while you are forbidden to eat. Ugh. But I got through, and besides minimal testing for flavor, I did not give into temptation. Cooking noodles nearly pushed me over the edge, though. Ramen is my go-to comfort food. If I was dying of stomach flu I could probably still eat ramen. It's always the first thing I eat to help regain my appetite after being sick. The natural temptation to gobble them up was really pretty taxing.
So last night, after cooking noodles, I found myself to be insatiably hungry. I could hardly sleep while my stomach gurgled and groaned. The feeling has not left since, even after my morning juice and a big glass of water. I am now about to work on a green curry coconut soup for the World Foods Fusion Taste Team project I'm taking part in. It's the first of six recipes I plan to make over the course of the next six weeks, most of which I will only be able to taste, not eat. Sometimes this fast feels like an awful lot to put myself through.
But, I am determined to break any and all food addictions I have, and more importantly to help reset my body to a point where the internal toxins are at a minimum. Of course, my Dad cheerfully reminded me recently that the ground water here in the United States is so saturated with DDT, antibiotics, and chemical residue that it's almost impossible to detox. Ugh. Well, better some than none, if you ask me, so we're going to keep plugging along on our fast. We'll hit our first goal of ten days on Monday, October 22. After that we are shooting for fifteen days, which would end on Sunday, October 28.
Being knee-deep in day six, it's a little hard to imagine keeping this up until day fifteen. I may have to watch some more shock-umentaries on health and food to keep up my morale. Before starting the fast I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead twice, as well as Forks Over Knives and Vegucated.
Anyone have a good suggestion for another film to keep me going? I'd also love to hear from fellow juicers on favorite recipes or tips for beating the crappy aspects of juice fasting.