The following is discussion of Day 3 of my 10-day detox. To begin with Day 1, click here.
Day 3 sucked, but not as badly as day two.
I will now offer a warning – there is going to be discussion of pooping below. It won’t be too graphic or anything, but we’re going to talk about what happens in the bathroom. If I’m going to talk about the detox and its impacts on the body, that has to be fair game.
OK – end of warning.
The sucking, again, didn’t have much to do with not being able to eat. I’m hungry, of course, but then again I’m always hungry. This is not one of those starving hungers that crowds out thought of anything other than a cheeseburger, though – merely the standard low-level grumbling normal when you live your life in a constant state of hunger.
Breakfast was oatmeal with raisins and a banana, and an apple. Snacks were again almonds and apples. Lunch was leftover vegetarian chili over potatoes, which is awesome. Dinner was the last of the ratatouille and a bowl of minestrone that I made the night before. The food was good, and filling, and generally satisfying. There was the issue of the two 1 scoop shakes again, but I choked those down well enough. Overall, the food isn’t an issue.
The headaches also subsided. There was a little rumble just before lunch, but it didn’t last long. I’m going to have to make a decision after this is all over how and whether I even want to re-introduce caffeine. I’m not convinced it is bad, and as a runner I also know the, um, restorative, effects of a cup of coffee before a run. However, anything that can make you feel like that after only one day of not having it deserves a level of thoughtfulness that I’m unaccustomed to providing to my morning beverage. We’ll see.
(This paragraph is the pooping part. Skip at will.) Foul things happened in the bathroom, though. I’m going to try to be descriptive but not graphic here … after a lot of gas and rumbling, there was a mid-morning go that was impressive and left me feeling measurably better. It did not, however, stop the gas – which was pretty constant for the rest of the day. I wound up spending much more time than I’d like on the toilet in the afternoon, though it is difficult to describe. This wasn’t diarrhea exactly, but lets just say that it was impossible to trust a fart. Things settled down through the evening but never felt truly calm.
If we’re scoring, by the way, that’s one day hammered by crushing headaches and nausea, one day worried about being hammered by crushing headaches and nausea, and one day on and off the toilet and worried about shitting my pants. This is not a good score, and if this is valuable at all I’m going to wind up feeling GREAT next week.
A few odds and ends:
- This is almost certainly the longest I’ve ever gone without meat since I was a baby. I’ve probably had several caffeine droughts, but not meat. Interesting. I miss it a bit, though not as much as I’d have thought. As I’ve said – I’ll never be a vegetarian, but this does cause me know that I can rethink things on a meal-by-meal basis.
- I’ve intended to get up for the last two days to run and haven’t been able to drag myself out. I think I’m scared of it, if I’m honest. I know that it won’t feel great for awhile, and I’m worried that my foot / ankle issue will flare back up and bring the discouragement with it. This is something I’m going to have to power through, but it is there.
- Day 4 begins the hard part of this process. Nuts, seeds, grains are all out – just vegetables, fruits, and legumes … and now two full shakes, with 2 scoops of the powder. Days 5, 6, and 7 are down to basically leafy greens, an apple or two, and 4 shakes a day. I’m nervous about this, because I’m going to be starving and I also know that starving myself like that isn’t really necessary. But if I’m going to do this I’m going to do this … and it is only 3 days. We’ll call it an experiment – not quite “Super Size Me” but in that category.
If you had the under on three days, you lost. See you tomorrow.
Day 4 is available to read here.
A Constant State of Hunger 
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