Lemons, Lemons, Lemons! Okay I still have not been hungry; however, I am growing VERY TIRED of LEMONS! The 4th of July was especially tough, for about 30 minutes I inwardly contemplated breaking the fast. It is a good thing I had supportive reading material along, The Detox Diet by Dr. Elson Haas, that gave me just enough inspiration to hang in there. It is now the end of Day 7, my energy has been good, I feel very well and enlightened… and I am determined to hang in there for 3 more days for detox purposes.
Up until day 4 I did not even have any cravings for foods and was completely motivated by my sense of well being. Around day 4 I began to grow tired of the monotony of flavors entering my mouth. It really is interesting to evaluate my emotional connection to food and observe various cravings come and go. As the various cravings have emerged I have been able to find emotional connections and think about how my emotional eating could have long term negative health effects. This experience and introspection will most definitely give me tools to help combat eating to cope with stress (e.g., over indulging on cake, ice cream, and cookies).
I have also begun to plan for the breaking of the fast. Wednesday will be my last day of lemonade (yea!) and since my body is now flushed and has not been digesting food for a while it will be necessary to gently reintroduce foods. Thursday I will only drink vegetable and fruit juices and some kombucha and may have a fruit smoothie later in the day. Along with the juices, kombucha and smoothie I will take some probiotics to help further colonize my digestive tract with benefiical bacteria. Friday I will eat steamed veggies and some quinoa. From there I will have a vegetarian, hypoallergenic diet for a while. I already know that I have gluten and dairy sensitivities; however, I have a number of foods that I would like to test and coming off a fast is the perfect time to slowly reintroduce foods to see if there are any adverse reactions (e.g., loss of energy).
As a side note, while I am following the same cleansing program that I did two years ago it is a completely different experience. I am learing so much more about myself, my habits, and my relationship to food. What began as a detox to help prepare for pregnancy has become healing in many other ways.
I have been interested in a detox cleanse for a while, but have been afraid that I wouldn’t make it, afraid that it might not be that healthy and I don’t really know what my husband would say. At the same time, I really feel that I need to cleanse my body. I’ve felt off for a while and want my old self and energy back. I think I’ll look into this master cleanse. Thanks for documenting it here.