There is so much I could say about the experience I had during the cleanse that I made so public I was going to try. In all honesty, the numbers of topics are ongoing. I thought to myself “will you write about how hungry you were? Or maybe write about nutritional pros and cons to not eating for three days? Or maybe write about how cleanses aren’t in your opinion the “best” way to go about things…don’t sound too one sided though”. It’s been over 2 weeks since the cleanse and I am only writing about it now. Swamped with midterms, and deadlines at my job…I could only get myself to talk about this experience with friends over dinners these last few weeks rather than actually sit down and write about it. I knew writing about it would stir up a ton of information and use some emotional energy as well. I only hope I can remember all the details now. Although since I have used the word “traumatizing” to describe it …I think I can. For these reasons, I am breaking these posts into multiple parts. There are simply too many roads to take with this one. We will start with Friday. Day One.
I knew I was in trouble when one hour after my first juice, my stomach started growling.” How could I be hungry already?” I thought. I managed to hold off a little while longer but eventually ran for the second juice…both now being consumed before 11am. It was day one, Friday. I had 4 juice left as of 11am to last me for the rest of the day and night. In panic mode, I quickly made myself a Juice calendar, and plugged in evenly how I would distribute the juices for the rest of the weekend. That way, I wouldn’t accidentally finish them all too early in a day…or be left with 4 to drink 2 hours before bed. This little recording I did was just the beginning of the madness I refer to as my food obsession. Day one was the worst, that’s for sure. My body had no idea what was coming (screw the lemon tea I had in the days before, where was my oatmeal? Where was my rice and bean burrito for lunch?). I started suffering from what I was told were “detox symptoms” almost immediately, beginning of course with the headache. Ill save you the suspense and tell you now, that I had a headache from 11am Friday morning to about 4pm Sunday night, with absolutely no relief. Within hours, all I really wanted was to throw my juices off the triboro bridge and sit in a starbucks like a normal New Yorker while I sluggishly sipped a latte.
There were periods of relief however when it came to the hunger pains. These periods were usually about 10-15 minutes after consuming a juice, which made sense. This was the time my cells were being fed. But do the math, or the theorizing…juices don’t take long to digest. My 10-15 minute relief periods were short. I was always hungry about an hour and a half after having one again. This was one thing I was disappointed with. Why was I feeling physical hunger? I thought since my body was receiving all the nutrients it would need, that hunger pains would be the last of my worries. I was very very wrong here. Physical hunger was very much a part of my experience, along with fatigue.
By 4pm Friday I took my first nap. This was the beginning of the lack of energy (not the boost I had been promised). I was feeling tired, weak, and a little cranky. With no energy, and a desire to escape the growling stomach, I went to bed. I woke up around 6, and excited to have shaved off two hours, reached for juice #4. Amazingly, I finished all six juices and didn’t break any cleansing rules. I had officially made it through day one. My mantra was “day one is the hardest. You can do this” (literally people, I was saying these sentences out loud in my darkest moments of doubt and worst moments of hunger). But I finished well on Friday night, and, I will admit: slept great. Hm, maybe I really did just get through the worst?
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