Recap: Day One of Detox

(My morning-after recap of Day One - Saturday)

Everything was great until I finished off my first (and only) serving of coffee for the day. The whole time I was writing the intro post, I was feeling mostly very confident. I even wondered if I shouldn't be doing a 14-day challenge.

The first few hours zoomed by while I worked on sorting, packing and labeling boxes for storage. I downed 2 16-oz bottles of water while I did laundry. I was doing great.

Then I started craving a second coffee.

There are lots of days when I don't have a second cup of coffee and never think about it. Saturday was a day when I was thinking about my second coffee before I had finished the first one. It was a day when I began having involuntary fantasies about coffee. I almost had to take a cold shower to get my mind off of coffee.

I made it past the cravings by drinking more water. I was saving the prune juice for later. I decided that I could think of prune juice as a treat. Prune juice is dark like coffee, so I was hoping that I could satisfy my java cravings by visualizing the prune juice as very sweet, creamer-free coffee. How sad is that? Is that normal while in caffeine withdrawals, or is that bordering on needing-help-from-a-professional? (I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I was thinking of ways to add a few grains of coffee to my water just to tide me over. Thinking about it was just getting to be masochistic, so I put my tub of coffee where it was way out of my sight. I need to #SeekHelp.)

After around 2 in the afternoon, I was okay with just water. I wasn't even very hungry, which surprised me since I had been so physically busy all morning. When I was getting weary of the taste of water, I brushed my teeth. I love the taste of water after I brush my teeth. PRO: Helps that I hate the taste of coffee right after I brush. CON: what a waste of energy. What am I brushing off my teeth? The stains of cravings? Whatever.

I noticed something interesting about drinking so much water just partway through the day: I wasn't peeing a lot. Not nearly as much as I expected to, since there was no food intake to absorb any liquid... Maybe because of my java withdrawals, I spent a few minutes in the throes of a hallucination about my kidneys being damaged or my urethra being clogged by my junkie-like need for a hit of Yuban. My brain went into shock from all that damned water and fluoride and I swear I saw Juan Valdez out of the corner of my eye trying to hawk me some coffee like a beloved friend of the worst influence.

Yeah. Things were getting tricky.

The hardest part of the day was when I went shopping with my sister. It was late afternoon, I was starting to think about food more and more often. Bad time to be in the grocery store. If I could have focused more on all the wonderful food I was seeing, I might have given in. Thing is, I had to pee. Every ten minutes. I hate using public restrooms, but for the hour that we were in the store, I used up all the "rest" out of the "room"! I think my brain and bladder were playing Tag with each other. I'd see something edible that made my mouth water and my brain would Tag my bladder. At least being in the restroom so much kept me (temporarily) away from the temptations of food.

Now it's confession time. I slipped up once. Or twice, depending on how you count it.

I blame it on the olive bar at the store. I love olives. I love olives with pits. I love olives stuffed with garlic. I love garlic. This dang olive bar has all kinds of olives. And garlic. So I had an olive (just one) and some garlic (some = two). I hope there is an olive bar in Heaven.

To pay for my slip-up, I drank a whole 16 ounces of water as soon as we got to the car. Sixteen ounces of warm-from-sitting-in-a-hot-car water. Ugh. (And I chewed two pieces of gum. To save some vampires from my breath. My sister gave me the gum. She dang near shoved it into my mouth.)

So. I made it through Day One. I only made it to 3 seconds past 10:30 p.m. (because I hadn't had solid food since the same time the night before), but I made it. Then I broke my fast with a treat that my sister bought me: goat cheese. I never thought I could fall as in love with a cheese as I am with olives and garlic. I never thought I'd want anything to do with nourishment from a goat. (I'll tell you about the goat cheese in a separate post.)

I made myself drink another 16 ounces of water before I went to sleep. That brought my daily total to around 75 ounces. Short of the planned 88 ounces, but I'm okay with it. I'm just happy I made Day One of my challenge (except for the olives and garlic). By the way, I didn't drink the prune juice. I counted the olives and garlic as a replacement.

I had an epiphany while writing this post (as I start Day Two) where I identified my enemy as my habits, not my hunger. Just like everything in life.

I made it through Day One, mainly by keeping busy and focusing on how badly I want to feel well. I have this sarcoidosis that's disabled me, but I don't have to give the disease any more weapons.

My sleep last night would make Rip Van Winkle look like a coke addict. I dozed off knowing that morning was going to be the end of a rainbow where my coffee was waiting. Of course, I woke up about five times to visit the bathroom, but I had no trouble getting back to sleep each time.

This morning, I got out of bed so fast to get to my coffee maker that I almost pulled a ligament. By the way, this coffee... best coffee ever.

Peace
--Free

My Natural Detox Challenge

The past week or so, my body and brain have been feeling sluggish. My water intake has dropped the last few days. Too much going on, what with moving, having my birthday, the Fourth of July celebrations, and family here for a visit from the States.

All of this (except the moving) has been fun, but is starting to wear on me. I think it's just stress and fatigue, so I am trying to cleanse myself from the inside out. I'm going to set myself a challenge to do a 7-day natural detox. I will update here about my progress.

No cheesecake? Well, that sucks.

When I looked at various detox "systems", I decided against anything involving pills and powders. I take enough prescribed meds as it is. This WikiHow lists several natural ways to cleanse the body. I took what I liked from parts of this list into what I think are the best for me:

• Through healthy eating and drinking. I am going to be better about drinking lots of water and I'd like to give the Dandelion tea a try. The Burdock tea interests me, but I'm worried about how will taste... Still not giving up my coffee, but I can limit myself. 
• Specific Cleanses. The only one of these that sound safe for me is the Green Tea Smoothie. Not as tasty-sounding as a Cheesecake Smoothie, but safe. There's no way in Hades I'd ever mess with a "salt-water flush". My blood-pressure would probably shoot up high enough to explode across the sky in sparkles. Drinking salt-water doesn't sound safe for anyone unless their doctor is present with some of those emergency paddles and an ER team.
• Lifestyle Choices. No duh. When it comes to my lifestyle choices and managing my stress, I face challenges every 5 minutes. Water instead of coffee; green and leafy over creamy, sweet and gooey; walking away from an irritating situation instead of facing assault charges. 

Basically, all this is common-sense stuff. Very do-able. I call it "The Spirit is Willing" plan. My weak "flesh" is why I'm looking to detox in the first place.

 ~sigh~

Here's my self-challenge (starting today and ending on Friday the 11th):

Day 1 A (solid) food fast. I'm limiting my non-water liquids to 1 (12oz) coffee with flavored creamer; 12 oz of prune juice.

Day 2 - 4 No "simple" carbs, and no pasta (a "complex" carb). Adding tea to my fluid intake of 100 ounces. (Info on simple vs complex carbs)

Day 4 - 6 Limiting my white bread intake to 2 slices per day. Fluid: 100 ounces (water, teas, prune juice). Unless I'm working off too many calories running to the bathroom with "prune juice issues". Shut up.

 Day 7 Limiting myself to vegetables, fruits, prune juice and 1 8oz coffee with creamer. Fluid: 100 ounces.

Hopefully, on Day 8, I will feel better. During the challenge, I'll post on my mood and energy level and whatever effects I'm feeling.

By the way, about teas: I thought about using Dandelion tea and/or Burdock tea, but some of the warnings are worrying me. Green tea is one that I know is safe for me. I love chai tea, so I should learn to drink more in place of my massive amounts of coffee.

Add a good book & it's a prescription for depression

I figure this challenge is going to definitely be good for my body. That's what I figure. What I know is that I'm going to be resentful every time I see someone else chewing food that I can't have or drinking a really good cup of coffee after I've had my daily limit. What I am hoping is that I will be able to do adopt this challenge into my life on a regular basis. Drinking more water is definitely going to be a constant. I'm shooting for 80 ounces a day.

Also will decrease my lotion budget

I'm tired of being tired. I want to really work on getting well for the long-term. So... here I go, off to my challenge.

I'm almost to the bottom of my 12 ounces of coffee and I keep looking over at that gigantic bottle of prune juice I haven't opened yet. My water jug is waiting, but I refuse to think about it until I've licked my coffee mug free of every last drop of the International Delight Heath bar-flavored creamer. Every. Last. Drop.

Peace
--Free