Day 3: Premature Food Dreams

Thursday, August 3, 2006

I had the rare pleasure of reading a cleanse blog that was maintained by a man. The blog was well written, and judging from the comments, he had a group of friends watching him closely and waiting for him to quit.

According to the male author of the blog, while researching the cleanse, he came across the "interesting and corny" idea of food dreams. On day 6 of his cleanse, he finally had a food dream and discovered the truth behind how real - and stressful - they can be.

Well here I am on Day 3 of the cleanse, and I started the day with a food dream. It was amazing. The colors were vivid, the situation was realistic (a cookout/picnic), and I could also taste and feel the food. This particular food dream was quite advanced, because I actually became upset about breaking the cleanse in the dream. Usually, a food dream results in fear after waking that the cleanse was broken. I didn't even wake before that fear hit.

I actually prepared a salt water flush (SWF) this morning - making 16 ounces instead of 32 ounces. I have never gotten down and entire SWF, so I decided not to waste good Celtic salt. I almost finished the entire 16 ounces, and that darned flush worked for at least 2 hours. Needless to say, I had the day off from work.

The day was quite enjoyable, and cleanse symptoms were almost none. I had a slight hint of a headache, and the twitching under the right eye continued. Other than that, I'm having an eerily smooth time on this cleanse.

I only had 5 glasses of lemonade today and lots of water. I forced the last glass down, because I don't want to miss the suggested 6-glass minimum by much.

My sleep has been fabulous, and I'll write more about that tomorrow.

Rock on.

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Back from the Black Hole

Monday, May 1, 2006

Well dang. I disappeared for too long. Do you ever have those times in life when you fall into a black hole, and some unseen force is munching away your days like M&M candies?

I apologize for being away so long.

I finished my last cleanse on Day 5. My tongue was turning pink, and that sealed my thought that I need to leave a little more time between each cleanse.

I'll go dig up the message I left at the Yahoo board and share it here...

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Day 6: Pink Tongue and Orange Juice

This last cleanse was a breeze, and I felt great the whole time. I was surprised that I could only get down 3 to 5 glasses of the lemonade per day, and sometimes I was trying to chug that before bedtime! In spite of getting much less lemonade, my energy was great, my eliminations were great, and I'm pleased with the results.

On the evening of Day 3, I checked my tongue and noticed pink. I ignored that as a hallucination, because that seems waaaaaaay too early for a pink tongue. Lo and behold, I am on pink alert again today, so goes the cleanse.

Having left about 2.5 months between cleanses, I guess it's possible I'd be pink on Day 6 the third time around. Besides the short time off the cleanse, I considered some other possibilities:

• On the last cleanse, I eased myself back to eating MUCH slower. I continued to "cleanse" and lose weight afterward with the orange juice and lots of produce.
  

• I gave myself a hard time about returning to some foods. Now, I realize that I developed some good habits that I didn't give myself credit for. I became a nut about drinking lots of water each day, I replaced MANY of my snacks with organic pistachios, I increased my intake of fruits and vegetables, and I incorporated more whole and organic choices.
  

• My wardrobe is slowly getting too big for me. I hadn't really noticed, but people had been commenting about the way my clothes fit since before I started this third cleanse. Just more evidence that I'm doing something right between each cleanse.

I want to do a cleanse at the end of June, as a summer seasonal thing. The timing is perfect, because I'm able to leave a full 3 months between cleanses.

Rock on, y'all!
Hawa (Moderator)
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In Memoriam on Day 3

Tuesday, March 28, 2006
People describe the life of drinking lemonade as "boring," and sometimes fall off the cleanse out of sheer need to break the monotony. Yet I find so many fun things to do while cleansing, like observing the oddities of life on the Porcelain Throne. So before I continue:

I want to call a moment of silence for the toilet paper rolls that are murdered in large numbers while cleansing. [ ]

It's amazing how little time passes before the lifeless little brown tub is hanging helplessly from the roll. One day, the roll is loaded with soft quilted goodness, and the next day it's just a shell of its former self. I wonder if the septic system would need an upgrade if everybody in my townhouse community cleansed at the same time.

I imagine how teams of preschoolers could have endless fun hours of toilet-roll-cardboard-thingy craft projects. Parents would squeal with glee as the next "I love you mommy" project was sent home.

Here's how Day 2 went yesterday:

• I drank 53.8 ounces of lemonade (5 glasses) plus 20 ounces of fresh spring water
• It took my P.M. Senna tea exactly 7 hours to work, but this time, it "worked" for about an hour. I was up from 3am to 4am killing more toilet paper.
• The strange dull aches in both ears lasted all day long.
• I continued to have nagging pains in certain joints, but it subsided by evening
• I found myself watching cooking shows, excited about eating healthy foods after the cleanse. I didn't want food though, even when they pulled the fresh Italian pizza from the oven.
  
• Cooking dinner for my son was easy. He had an organic pizza with basil pesto and a whole wheat crust. I wasn't the least bit interested.
• I do still fantasize about my next opportunity to have chitlins, but the good thing is, I don't want them right now.

Cleanse 2, Day 3: Chicken Burrito with Beans and Salmonella Sauce

Tuesday January 3, 2006

Why are women so strange about being heard in a public bathroom stall?

Today was the first day back to work while on the cleanse. I was reminded of how “colorful” bathroom trips can be. As I was fighting not to sound like I had a Chicken Burrito with Beans and Salmonella Sauce, I wondered why women are so dainty about public bathrooms.

Face it, men stand in cattle lines with their family jewels in hand, and we’re afraid of a few sound effects. Sheesh. LOL

Anyway, besides my public bathroom antics, today was smooth sailing. I eased my own fear of 21-days by rationalizing:

Gee, that’s only 6 more of what I just did (3 days).
Six sounds a whooooole lot better than 18.
Hey, whatever works. ;-)

Other quick notes about the day:
* Woke up with a mild sore throat
* My calves shrank already!
* I slept like a baby
* Just like the last cleanse, I find myself walking fast everywhere. I find that "symptom" quite funny, since I usually complain that everybody is walking too fast.

Quick Stats:

Glasses of Lemonade: 6
Ounces of Water: 40
AM: Senna Tea, PM: Senna Tea
Healing Crisis: Not really, just a few itchy spots on the skin in the AM.
No-Scale Weight Loss: Hmmm.. Feet look longer when not wrapped in bloating.
Wildcard Stat: I posted more times to the Yahoo masterclease Group than any other day.

Flashback:

Take a look at where I was on Day 3 of my first cleanse:
Day 3, Part I: Control (Like Janet)
Day 3, Part II: Over Tall Buildings in a Single Bound

Just in case you missed it, Salmonella is the bacteria, which causes food poisoning.

Cleanse Day 3, Part II: Over Tall Buildings in a Single Bound

Oh my Lord. I don't know what to say about feeling better OFF of solid food than I ever felt while EATING food.

I danced as I prepared a nice-sized dinner for my sons... and even invited mom over to have my plate. I treated them all to a bbq chicken dinner, with cornbread and asparagus. I even served on glass plates. As a single mom, my standard for at least a year+ has been paper and plastic.

By the time my mother got to the the house, she had a tentative look. I guess she figured I'd be drawn in the face and clawing at the walls for a chicken leg. I literally felt like I could run around my neighborhood.

I washed down my entire body with Dr. Bronners Castile Soap (Tea Tree variety). I noticed a "bruised" looking area on my left had that stung when submerged in water. That's my first skin blemish. I'm actually encouraged. That means I'm starting to eliminated through my skin. Yipee

The nite ended with Senna tea at 8:30pm... hoping to not have some "action" at 4am. Tomorrow is my first day back to work. I'd like to still be asleep at 4am.

As it turns out, I was up at 2:30am, 3am and 3:20am. Not bad.

I'm still feeling like the million-dollar-woman. Yes, a little bionic.

The hardest part of the day...:
...Not licking my finger when it was all stuck with bbq sauce and cornbread crumbs after serving the kids. Believe it or not, the thought only lingered for the few seconds before rinsing my hands. Piece of cake!

Another spell of tears...
...You know? Since the time I made the decision to accept Christ and live for the Lord, this cleanse is the biggest leap of faith I've made. As I watched Joyce Meyer talk this AM about "putting God first," I found myself "full" and thankful for the cleanse. There's nothing better in life than meeting a challenge that seemed impossible... especially when you chose the journey between you and the Lord.

I'm going to go ahead and admit this "out loud"... I'd really like to be one of the folks who stays on the cleanse for 40 days. I'm loving the freedom from food. Most folks know the Biblical story of how Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days...

As many report, my vision is better. Strange to me, since I always test at 20/20. I don't get tired walking places, and I'm not as annoyed by the little glitches in daily life.

More tomorrow as the dancing continues. Rock on, sistah.

Cleanse Day 3, Part I: Control (Like Janet)

October 11, 2005

Who doesn't remember the song "Control" by Janet Jackson? Okay... who over 30 doesn't remember?

That's exactly how I felt today. It's 1:13pm, and I'm shocked at what a difference a day makes. I'm not having food fantasies. I'm already turned off to the thought of returning to some foods (like the Pork Roll and Cheddar Cheese sandwich I have almost every time we bowl).

In fact, I look forward to preparing dinner for the kids tonite (BBQ chicken, with Bone Suckin' Sauce from Whole Foods, organic Asparagus prepared in butter and garlic, and corn bread). You'd think I would dread the thought.

I'm not a lick hungry. Well... until I got a "grumble" for leaving my lemonade at home while running errands. But no crisis. I didn't want to run to Mickey D's to fix the lemonade absence. In fact, all I wanted to do was get home. I feel great!

I purchased 6 limes today. I may go with a lime drink, or a lemon/lime mix. Why not? Variety is the spice of life. Ugh. That's so cliche.

I also purchased 3 books. In addition to spending more time in prayer, reading my Bible, and severely limiting my TV watching, I want to get some other reading in. Here's the titles I purchased:

1. French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure (Mireille Guiliano)

2. The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health (T. Colin Campbell, PhD with Thomas M. Campbell II)

3. Death by Prescription: The Shocking Truth Behind an Overmedicated Nation (Ray D. Strand, M.D.)

As you can see, I'm sticking to a common theme. LOL I hope to have book reviews for these and other titles I've read in recent past (such as Kevin Trudeau's latest book and others).

I refuse to weigh myself during the cleanse, but I can say: Halfway thru Day 3, I had no objections or other challenges of resistance as I went to put on my jeans.

Tips for those on the cleanse:

1. To help keep my skin under control, I'm using a product that I purchased at Whole Foods Market: Gentle Skin Peel: Papaya Enzyme & Fruit Acid Skin Peel (by Earth Science). I don't know if this will actually help, but my skin looks a lot better today than it was last night.

2. Prepare yourself for the cost. I purchased 19 organic lemons (approx. 3.5-day supply) today, and they cost just over $20. The Grade B organic Maple Syrup was approx. $10 for a 4-day supply. That's not huge, when you consider all the lunches and other meals your saving... but I think I anticipated "lemons" as a much smaller expense. LOL

3. Don't skip a "meal." I was feeling tired, but not hungry, almost all morning. Although I wasn't hungry, I finally drank some lemonade around 10:15am. Within 1 minute (no exaggeration), I was ready to tackle the day. I was waiting until I felt hungry to drink the lemonade, but I didn't realize I was tired because I skipped the lemonade for "breakfast."

More later as I end Day 3 tonight and publish Part II.