mandalay

crave

Day 1:

8:05 a.m.

Warning: female content.

And so it begins. Last night, I had my so-called last meal, which consisted of leftover Juan in a Million (a Don Juan taco), some regular coca-cola (still in my fridge from xmas) and two brownies that I baked Thursday night. At the time of baking, I had my suspicions as to why I had a ravenous appetite and wanted to gorge myself on chocolate and, while I am always loath to admit that we get weird cravings or moods at this time, it was confirmed yesterday by the arrival of the joy! of womanhood.

Now, this presents a problem in more ways than one. I had decided in carrying out this fast that I wanted to do it the right way, re: no extraneous substances. Now I don't take lots of painkillers; from my intimate knowledge of headaches, I've found that drugs often do absolutely no good, but when, as the Penobscots say, I am "in my moon," I usually go at least three days taking 800-2000 mg of ibuprofen a day. We'll see how long I last without or if I end up in the fetal position under my desk at work (and no, I'm not exaggerating, it is possible).

Friday night, I slept only about 2 hours, Saturday clocked in at about 12 and then last night, snoozed for a grand total of 4. When I woke up this morning at 5:40, I decided to get up and do some yoga. Right now it is 8:16. I am a breakfast person, so I am already hungry. I'm heating water in the break room for some herbal tea. I'm hoping that by tonight, I can get 6 hours or so and begin to equalize, though who knows how my body will respond to no caffeine? It's made me sleepless before.

11:00 a.m. and already my will is weak. I just drank some chamomile tea and have been jamming to modest mouse, until I got to the part where Isaac brock sings "My brain's the burger and my heart's the charcoal" and of course, being the highly suggestable soul I am, I thought, "mmm... burger." And now the taco man has come and brought my favorite (chorizo breakfast tacos) and yet I must prevail. Why am I doing this again?

Day 2

9:51 a.m.

Yesterday didn't go so terribly. By the time evening came around, I'd already passed the most difficult point and knew I wouldn't have to break the fast. Of course, people telling me about their wonderful meals (thanks to Ross for the description of the tiramisu he's making for Elle, my mom for the smothered pecan pancakes she had yesterday in Blanco, and Sophia for the chicken spaghetti story ) as well as my visit to Wheatsville didn't help matters. Nor did the lovely program on TLC entitled "Diets from Hell" which I only watched long enough to see a 30-year-old woman who had literally starved herself deaf.

So yesterday I had the following: a cup of almond herbal tea, a cup of chamomile herbal tea and a small glass of coconut-pineapple juice. Before I left for work this morning, I skinned six large carrots and threw a small handful of kale into the juicer. I was actually really surprised by how it tasted. I'm not saying that I wouldn't prefer some curried chicken salad, but it was actually rather sweet and more subtle than I was expecting. And the addition of the kale really didn't mess it up. However, I don't know that I'll be able to do such a large glass in the future. Now I'm finishing up some hibiscus tea. My energy has not been great. We'll see if I get delirious and that changes. Right now, I think the caffeine withdrawal is a bit overpowering -- I fully intended to halt my soda drinking pre-fast, but on Sunday, when faced with the prospect of eating my Don Juan without a diet coke, I just couldn't do it. I went home yesterday at lunch and took a nap for an hour. I don't want to have to do that again, but I've only been here two hours and Ich bin müde!

1:21

I accompanied Kristin to the grocery store just to get out of the office and helped her pick out some ravioli. It was pretty damned exciting. Word to the wise: don't go to two grocery stores within 24 hours of a fast. Now I'm back at my desk, slowly drinking a small glass of blueberry-cranberry juice and snuffing out the sins of plagiarism.

9:11

Well I didn't have any set amount of time that I was going to do this thing, though I had considered trying 3 days, but after 48 hours of no food consumption, I decided it was time to visit thundercloud and get a sandwich (and I'm so glad I did because I ran into a guy I worked with at Mozart's -- the same one who showed me on my first day how to spoon the drunk fruit flies off the lemon tarts!). I still haven't had any caffeine though and let me tell you, the nap I took this afternoon was freaking awesome. I think I had visions. I'm pretty pleased with the experience and will probably try it again in the not-so-distant future. And the darnedest thing - I actually didn't need those painkillers...

Labels: food

posted by amanda @ 9:15 PM