Sir, Could I Please Have Some More?

I feel like I've come full circle in some ways on my blog. My first posting was a sunny portrait about World's Fair Donuts, and this one is about my recent 3-day fast. I didn't fast because I'd gained weight (even though I was starting to feel a little bulky), but I needed to "reset" my healthy eating habits and get centered again.

I've been deleriously happy for the last 3 months and everything in my life feels like it's fallen into place. Being happy, I've allowed myself some luxuries that I hadn't before...donuts, candy bars often, coffee with cream and sugar (not soy or decaf, but all out coffee with half-and-half), and anything else that I could shove in my face that I thought would give me a moment of pleasure.

But then that pleasure started to fade a little. My workouts felt harder, my meals were less satisfying, my cravings felt deviant...and it wouldn't stop. My need for instant gratification from food raged on, until I felt helpless to take a step back and feel alive again. I was weighted down, not by food, but by the crap I was ingesting.

So I did some research. I reviewed various fasts and decided that a detoxifying 3-day would be best. It wasn't a total abstention, but very minimal organic intake. It sounded really easy, if I'm drinking fresh juice and eating fruit, how hard could it be?

Day 1
On this day I could juice fruit of my choosing, eat a cup of brown rice for lunch, and eat a salad with no dressing and fish for dinner (that does not mean eating my weight in salad, a SMALL salad). On this day I felt energized. I'd planned to be off from work and I ran a ton of errands. I got two new yoga outfits with my birthday money. I even went to the gym and did a full workout, 40 minutes of cardio and upper body weights. By evening I was feeling a little weak, but I felt like I'd gotten through the day without too many complications.

Day 2
I thought this would be the easiest of the three days. I had fresh fruit for breakfast, greens without salad dressing for lunch, and salmon with steamed snow peas for dinner (I feel like there should be some sort of majestic sound before the word salmon...it was the best meal in recent memory...I was STARVING). I went for a long walk with a friend in the afternoon. That evening I went to a movie ("Constantine"...excellent, especially if you read Sandman comics) and crashed when I got back. I was exhausted.

Day 3
This day was in some ways easiest and hardest. I tried to abstain from food, but I could eat fruit if I needed to. I had 4 pieces of fruit. I was a little shaky, slow-moving, forgetful, and weak. My honey and I hung out with some friends and I again crashed at night.

Today
I woke up this morning feeling amazing. I put so much water through my system in the last few days that I'm totally hydrated, I lost an amazing amount of weight (even though that wasn't my goal), and my skin is glowing. I'm not craving bad food and am not obsessing over meatball subs from Subway like I was before. I feel like I accomplished something and followed it all the way through. When I took a bite of wheat toast this morning it was almost better than the salmon.

What I learned
1. I do not need copious amounts of food to survive and I was eating too much before.
2. My boyfriend is adorable and totally supportive with anything that's important to me. He ate dinner with me (the same food I ate) on Friday and Saturday and was prepared for me to be extra sassy (even though I don't think I was...I was too weak).
3. Healthy eating habits make me feel more vibrant and able to take on my day...work, personal, everything. My energy and ability to concentrate is better.
4. I don't recommend watching "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" on the third night of a fast.