Day Ten complete. Fast over.

Well, I did it. I fasted for ten days. Today I felt great. All day. Great.

I felt great physically and mentally, and I also felt great because I was proud of having achieved ten days on the fast. People congratulated me, and I felt deserving of their congratulations. I will have some more meta-comments sometime over the next few days. I’m not in the mood right now.

My friends who did the cleanse all started on soup a little earlier than the Master Cleanse book instructs, and they all did okay, so I am going to push the easing in process along just a little bit. I am going to go for broth tomorrow, even though you are supposed to drink only juice for one full day. In fact, since it is 3:21am and I can say with all honesty that I did fast for ten full days, I am going to drink a glass of juice right now to get things moving along. Get that “gut flora” rebuilding. Whatever that may mean. Wish me luck.

So close…

Day Nine ends without much new to report. I feel like I could pretty much do this forever if I wanted to, which I sure as hell do not. But I can see how people do it for 40 days and more, because I feel just like I usually do except that I’m not allowed to do something I really like. Eat. One more day and then…juice.

Day Nine, feeling… great

Food is getting closer and closer!  I sure miss it.  But this is a great exercise in discipline.  It’s probably going to be even harder when Thursday comes and all I get to have is juice.

The prescribed easing in period calls for one day of juice, one day of juice and broth, and finally one day of starting to add veggies to the broth…then you’re good to go.  Some of my friends that have just completed the Cleanse are hurrying this schedule along a little bit, and based on their experiences I’ll decide what to do.

Other than that, my feelings are the same as Day Eight.  See below.

Day Eight, feeling great!

And not just because it rhymes. Day eight is now about over, and it felt good. I feel sharper than I have in a long time, and full of mental and physical energy. I still cannot wait for the fast to be over so I can eat all sorts of delicious food.

Technical details:
I skipped the laxative tea for the first time last night, and I did not get the gassy cramps that have been bothering me in the morning. I did the salt-water flush first thing, and it was more effective than it has been yet. Before this I would wake up at ten and drop some crap from the laxative tea, then go back to sleep and do the salt water flush around 2, and not crap out much else. I have concluded that the saltwater flush is sufficient for me, and it doesn’t cause stomach pains. But for the record, as a laxative, Senna Leaf tea does work.

Meta comments:
Yesterday at work a customer came in to buy two six packs of Heineken and when I told him it was 12 bucks each he balked a little and claimed he’d gotten them for 9 each earlier in the day. I cut him right down, coldly and effectively, and continued to coldly cut him down after he gave me some attititude. “They’re twelve, I don’t know why they’d give them to you for cheaper, but my price is the right one” …attitude… “I believe you. I don’t care. They’re twelve.”

Now this is no extraordinary tale, but I was very happy with my cold directness because I tend to get flustered in confrontational situations and often get overly confrontational as result of being upset. I guess I am not a very confrontational person and when I get put in that position I have to try too hard to conjure up my authoritative side so it comes out a little over the top but also a little nervous and agitated. But yesterday I was feeling very sharp and I was completely confident about what I was saying and didn’t have to get upset about it or give attitude back. I projected confidence and pulled the rug right out from under this guy’s attitude.

After years of bartending I’ve learned how to do this more or less effectively, but yesterday was a beatiful example of how to handle such a situation. A minor example, obviously, but I attribute it totally to my sharp mental state.

Tonight I hosted the Open Mic night, as I do every Monday, and was able to conjure up a lot of the goofiness that I usually use alcohol to find. I created a character that I become on Open Mic night, and usually the character is fueled by alcohol, but tonight I got into the character just by feeling good.

Lastly, I average about 1 and a half pimples at a time, even though I am 27. Before one is totally gone from my face, another one has usually appeared. It’s not enough to matter. But no new pimples have formed in the eight days since I started the fast. I have only a small trace left of the last one I had that was born about 12 days ago.

Day Seven, stomach troubles

I’m experiencing nasty stomach pains after drinking the salt water flush.  Every morning around 10am I’ve been awakened by a milder version of these gassy pains, seemingly due to the laxative tea, which works, and then the pain goes away and I go back to sleep.  Today it never really left and maybe the salt water flush made it worse.  Who knows.  I’ve been slowly purging a whatever is in there a little at a time and it’s getting better.

Wheee!

Day Six completed

I have periods of excellent mental focus, and I accomplished a lot today, while also catching the better part of two exciting playoff football games.

My shift at work was cancelled as my presence was unnecessary.  I actually pointed out to my boss last night that I probably wouldn’t be needed, so I was pretty much expecting this, but when it came I found myself unsure of what to do with the whole evening, and that made me wish I could make myself a good dinner.  That’s often what I do with whole evenings off.  It took a while before I could shake the feeling and move on to productive and enjoyable activities, of which there were many.  It’s just that my favorite idea was to cook and eat dinner.

Full day tomorrow, but first on the agenda is watching the Eagles game with Andy, who will be on Day Eight tomorrow.  Moral support, sharing experiences, and playoff football!

Day Six about the same

I don’t think I feel like a superhero, but I feel pretty good. Did a couple hours of recording drums this afternoon.

Last night at work I felt more talkative than usual, and pretty sharp too.

The days are moving along now! Can’t wait ’til next weekend when I’ll be eating solids again.

Day Five moving along

Rode 12 miles this afternoon, still feeling fine.

I was in deep South Philadelphia and was once again reminded of how much food is a part of everything. Since I’m not usually that far south, I wanted to stop and soak it up a little bit. One of the many small eating establishments would have been perfect, but obviously out of the question. I couldn’t even get a cup of coffee. So I just rode back north.

I feel like this account is getting kind of boring since things have been about the same the last couple days. I crave food less, but still think about it a lot. I feel fine. I can do things. etc.

Maybe on Day Six I’ll feel “like a superhero” and that will be something interesting to report.

Day Four ends

I rode my bike six miles today, in order to buy 20 lemons and 2 bottles of pure maple syrup from Whole Foods. That’s the most strenuous thing I’ve done yet on the fast, and it wasn’t any different than it normally would have been. I felt fine all day, got some stuff done, watched a college football game, and hung around my room enjoying my day off from commitments. I don’t feel any of the mild cold symptoms I thought I was feeling yesterday.

I haven’t really thought of coffee at all and am glad to learn that I’m not really dependant on it.

Food cravings have turned into what I might call food impulses, the way someone quitting smoking might get over the initial nicotine cravings but still want a cigarette sometimes because he doesn’t know what to do with his nervous energy or fidgety hands. I was thinking of this today and I remembered that my friend Raph, who is on Day Five of the Cleanse, is a smoker, so he’s dealing with that withdrawal on top of everything else. I wonder how that’s going for him. I should ask him tomorrow. My friend Andrew is on Day Eight, which still seems so far away.

I have four nights of work coming up. The way I feel today, I am thinking it should be about as easy as ever. I might be a little on edge, but I don’t anticipate much trouble.

That’s all there is to report. Four days down. Feeling fine. Still miss food, but not terribly.

Day Four begins

The last two nights I have had dreams of forgetting about the fast for a few minutes, eating some food, then remembering and being very upset that I ruined the fast. First it was an oyster. Last night it was some bran flakes cereal. It’s nice to wake up and realize that I am still right on track.

I don’t crave food or coffee at all right now but I haven’t been awake for long enough to decide how I feel.