Get a Detox - Chapter 5

Well that's very interesting.  I sat yesterday evening in the pub with friends waiting for the weekly quiz to start and watched them eat fish and chips The slight revelation is that I felt no compulsion to join them.  Not even to steal a chip.  And that's without having eaten for nearly forty-eight hours.  I stuck to water too and watched with only a minor pang as they finished off a bottle of wine.  Maybe there is something in this detoxing after all.

This morning I feel right chipper.  I finished the liquid-only fast and treated myself to some fruit.  I am looking forward to my brown rice and vegetable lunch.  My skin looks smoother and clearer and my eyes are sparkling without the help of Optrex eye whitening drops.  I notice when I dress that I don't have quite such a muffin-top over my jeans.  I checked my weight and the scales said 65.5kg, again.  I am surprised about that.  Either my body is a bit weird or the scales are wrong, or both.  But I don't terribly care because I am feeling quite good and at the moment the world is alive and bopping about through rose-tinted lens.  This all might change a bit later though.

I have been invited on a night out with my girlfriends, down at the Brew Tap.  This will be much harder than last night as there will be a mammoth range of good beers on sale and I am rather partial to a good real ale. The conversation will flow and I think there will be dancing.  It will finish late.  My question is, will I manage to see the night through surviving only on sparkling mineral water?  I don't mind the restricted diet, I kind of like it actually because it takes a lot of the decision-making process out of dinner and creates not much washing up.  I can even live without the coffee and chocolate.  But the no-alcohol rule?  That's harder, much harder.

Watch out for tomorrow morning's update. 

Get a Detox - Chapter 4

I have a confession.  Yesterday afternoon at approximately 16:00 I broke the rules of my detox.  It was not a severe aberration, just four, rather wonderfully fragrant, plump little raspberries.  But it was an aberration all the same.  The hardest bit of the day, tho, was missing dinner.  I don't mean the food, tho that would have been gratefully consumed, but more about just changing the rhythm of the day - the getting up from the desk, seeing what was in the fridge, deciding what to cook and then a happy ten minutes consuming the result. That hour, between 6 o'clock and 7 o'clock when I would normally be preparing dinner was tough to get through and I really needed something to take my mind off it.  My first tip, then, for a detox is to do something at those key moments of the day when you would normally be eating.  I found myself pacing up and down, not really settling, feeling hungrier and more disgruntled by the minute until I hit upon a solution. The garden looks a mess, go do something about it.  And that did the trick nicely. It filled the 'dinner' gap and segued me into the evening. I am getting fed up of peppermint tea tho.

Having veered only slightly off course and having got through the major hurdle of dinner-time, the rest of the evening passed with little event.  From time to time I would get up and check in the mirror to see if I looked thinner.  I didn't.  Did my skin look better.  It didn't.  Did I feel less stressed.  Well, yes I did a bit.  That might have been a combination of things - sitting in the conservatory looking at the results of my gardening handiwork perhaps or just that the day had been productive and interesting.  Or perhaps it was that a few pesky little toxins were slowly being discreted.  I did feel just a tinsy bit happier though.

I have learned something else too.  It is not totally recommended that you throw yourself into a major sporting exercise on the days you are on your liquid-only fast.  You may wake up perky, opening your eyes to the glorious rays of sunshine (yes! sunshine!) coming through the velux and feel relatively good about life. But, I am telling you now, after a 2.5k session in the pool with all major boosters going, one is one seriously hungry bear.  When I finished my set at 8 o'clock I knew there was another how many hours to go before I could eat anything worthwhile.  And those major grumbles in my stomach got me to thinking when day two would actually finish.  Now technically my fast started at about 10:30 on Tuesday night when I finished my meal at East restaurant. Would it be that the fast finishes this evening at the same time?  Or, does two days mean two full days from Midnight to midnight?  If it's the latter, what I want to know is, will Dominos Pizza still be open?????  That, people, is a little joke because as you know the next five days have the dubious delight of a severely restricted menu.  So if I do eat this evening, whether it be at 10:30 or Midnight it'll be a bowl of brown rice.  But strangely, at this point, I'm really, really looking forward to it.

Just stood on the scales.  The readout said 65.5kg.  They must be wrong.  I can't possibly have lost that much weight in 24 hours. 

Half way through day 2. And counting.

Get a Detox - chapter 3

Today is D-Day. By that I mean Detox-Day, or Detox-Week in my case.  Over the next seven days I am banned from consuming foodstuffs which I cannot quite contemplate life without - there will be no chocolate, no coffee, no wine (yikes), no black tea, no white sugar.  I am not allowed anything cooked in oil, no meat, no wheat and no processed foods.  My fridge is going to look kind of bare.  I am one hour and fifty-five minutes into day 1 of the two-day liquid only fast and I am hungry already.  In filling the bird seed and peanut holders this morning, I had to restrain myself from taking a nibble.  It's going to be a long week.

What I AM allowed to consume over the first couple of days is filtered or mineral water -at least eight glasses with a twist of lemon (yee ha!), herbal tea and diluted unsweetened fruit juice.  For the following five days I have the delights of brown rice, vegetables and fruit.  And the veg is recommended to be of the cruciferous persuasion, that is brocolli; cabbage; kale and sprouts.  Everything that nature designed to increase the probability of inadvertently embarrasing you in company, if you know what I mean.  But don't knock it until you have tried it is my motto and having stood on the scales this morning, weighing in at a depressing 68.3kg (that's ten stone to you traditional types) I am happy to give this a try. The PR blurb guarantees "significant weight loss, or your money back, folks".  Scientific evidence suggests detoxing makes absolutely no difference.  Bring on the combat, that's what I say.  It also tells me that there may be side-effects including nausea.  I must admit that I am feeling sick already. But that's more about the fact I won't have wine for a week.  The upside is that I get to top and tail the detox with dinner at Ten Pound Tuesday at East Restaurant in Peterborough. By the way, it's NEVER Ten Pound Tuesday at East. Always seventeen pound Tuesday like last night or sixteen pound fifty Tuesday like the week before. But, let's not get picky, its a great restaurant with great food, and Tuesday evening is nearly always buzzing.  So, this is what is getting me through the next seven days - the prospect of a vastly expanded wardrobe and the prospect of a bottle of Tinpot.  Methinks I have not quite entered into the spirit of the detox yet.

The other side-effects mentioned also include fatique and difficulty concentrating but that just sounds like a normal day at the office.

So, where am at with this detox lark?  I am two cups in of Japanese Green Tea and one glass of water.  I have stood on the bathroom scales and depressed myself.  I have hidden the chocolate stash and the red wine.  And I am already feeling cratchety.  As I said earlier, its going to be a very, very, long seven days.

More on my detox adventure, later.

Get a Detox - chapter 2

Hmmmm, so which detox diet to go for?  The two-day liquid only; the seven-day brown rice; the five day fruit and veg.  Decisions, decisions.  I have to say, none of them appeal greatly given that I am a growing gal that likes her nosh.  But now while things are quiet is a good time to hit it and like all these things which require discipline and motivation, the results are worth the effort.  Much cheaper than botox! 

The point of detoxing is to give the body a rest and to allow the liver to clean itself and the cells in the digestive tract to replace themselves.  Technically, the liver should be able to do the job itself, afterall we are a highly evolved species.  But somehow, nature didn't quite expect us to be stuffing our faces with chocolate cake and consuming vast quantitites of Sauvignon Blanc.  I am speaking for myself here but expect I am not far different to your average late-forty-something female with varying degrees of stress in her life. At the end of a long day, red wine is where I am at, even if I know that a cup of peppermint tea is probably going to do a better job of relaxing me.  So the liver, albeit quite a trouper needs a little helping hand now and then.  Once a year at a minimum is recommended by the various websites I have referenced but some advocate a water-only day every week.  For me, moderation in everything (except red wine) and I think a couple or three times a year is about right. 

My personal rationale for detoxing is two-fold.  One, to help counteract the stress I have been feeling recently and two, to help me lose weight.  Some of you will know from my previous posts about the spa break at Ragdale Hall that I feel I am enveloped in a kind of Mrs-Blobby-Fat-Suit.  Whilst no one could call me fat, at the same time I am carrying about a stone more than I was two years ago. And now, its time for that to go.  If only because it will double my wardrobe at no extra cost.  Afterall, what's the point in forking out for new kit when one already has stuff that for a bit of weight loss can come out from the back of the wardrobe.  So, it's as much about economics as health.  I save money, I get back into my clothes, I look good in my clothes.  QED and all that.   

I have decided, then, on the 7-Day Detox Miracle program from the book written by Peter Bennett, Sara Faye and Stephen Barrier.  I've chosen this one because the reviews of the book are extensive and positive, though all from women, strangely.  The book is quite academic and well referenced and gives lots of background about how detoxing have been used in various cultures, for example by the Chinese, for a thousand years.  I am hoping that all that history and experience will result in sparkling eyes and a neater waistline.  The program begins with a two-day fast on liquids only, followed by a carefully planned five-day detox diet which it tells me will allow my organs and digestive system to have a bit of a rest.   I have been warned that I may feel crappy, tired and perhaps a little short-tempered over the two-day fast.  Some of my friends may well not notice the difference.

 More on my detox adventure later.

Get a Detox - chapter 1

Having strayed massively from my healthier habits of late, including what I eat, drink and my exercise routine, I feel the way to kick-start my metabolism in both a physical and mental state, is to do a detox.  By the oral route that is.

Having had a somewhat fraught last few days and feeling particularly depressed today, I have resorted to the failsafe approach to feeling better. That means, red wine, steak and chocolate. All three of which I intend to consume this evening.  My detox, then, will begin on Wednesday.  Because tomorrow, for those in the know, is Ten Pound Tuesday at East Restaurant in Peterborough.  So, what we have here, friends, is the Delayed Detox Diet. 

I have detoxed before, a couple of times, and I have to say for me at least, the result has been tremendous.  Brighter in every way - mentally, physically and visually.  The brain is sharper, the muscles more responsive, the skin clear and glowing.  My mistake on a previous water-only three day detox was to break my fast with toast. Except I made the significant error of loading my toast with blackcurrant jam. The result was somewhat like the scene in the Exorcist - where she spat nails, I spat jam.  I think the ultimate distance may well have been similar.  Blackcurrant jam post detox = acid.  The unfortunate thing is that  the effects of a detox, the sense of wellbeing and better connection with the world does not last very long.  The red wine, steak and chocolate kick back in, all to easily.  But maybe this time, it'll stick?

 More on my detox adventure, later.  I have a steak dinner to eat.