Day 5

I dedicate this portion of my blog to Val Brown and Steven Sklaver, two people unafraid of potty mouth.
It was going to have to come down to this sooner or later, so far those of you afraid of a little bathroom talk, turn away now. Many, or maybe most, juice fast proponents are also major advocates of some sort of intestinal/colonic cleansing. Whether its a twice daily enema or a weekly high colonic, juice fasters seem to like to get their poopers scrubbed. Now, its one thing to stop eating for a month. I can imagine that. It makes sense to me. Nothing goes in the mouth that isn't juice, pretty simple.
But, how it goes from a diet to an anal spa regimen, I'm less sure of. To be honest, its true that I've had very little to almost no activity coming out the back door in the course of the last week. A little nerve-wracking for a guy who is used to a very regular morning session. Even if the body is only taking in liquid, there has to be some waste of some kind. Theoretically, the juice fast is a cleanse as well as a diet. According to the juice fast "literature," innumerable toxins have accumulated along my intestinal walls from a 21st century, urban life of eating and drinking. Presumably, these toxins are being sloughed off during the fast. Although my western medical counterparts seem to disagree, the juice fasters claim that these toxins are being reabsorbed if I don't proactively flush them out. Theferfore, not doing so would sacrifice a major part of the juice fast glory. So, I tried these little psyllium husk capsules. Husks seem like the kind of thing that could do some intestinal scrubbing. No dice. So, now I'm facing down the spector of a plastic bag with a long tube coming off of it hanging off my shower curtain rod. I can't even visualize the yoga techniques necessary.
Needless to say, I have spent quite a bit of time worrying about this matter. I think I will move on to prune juice this week. I know this is a fairly over the top topic for bloggersation, but I feel like it's the reality of the world in which I currently live. I apologize to those I may have offended and can only say that I promise to minimize the future focus on bowels and their movements.
Oh, and by the way, we have a new segment on this blog, Mer's margin. We're happy to have a new addition.

The Stats

Current Weight: 197

Day 4
AM - Carrot, pear, ginger, cherries apricots
Mid-day - green barley juice
Afternoon - Carrot, apple, peaches, blueberries
PM- Cinnamon spice herb tea

Day 5
AM - Carrots, apples, orange, ginger, blueberries, strawberries
Mid-day - Carrots, celery, lemon cucumber, beet greens, broccoli
Afternoon - Watermelon Juice
PM - Orange mint herb tea

In general, I'm still feeling pretty good. No major headaches, no major weakness. I do feel much more sensitive about the ups and downs of my energy levels and am much more cognizant about responding. When I start to feel myself dipping into a trough, I am quick to seek out my juicer and usually go for something sweeter with an immediate sugar rush (fruit). I save the big veggie juices for when I need some slow long-term energy.
I haven't been sleeping as well as I did the first couple of nights. My nighttime backaches seem to be recurring along with a nerve tightening down my legs. Since I'm blaming everything that happens these days on the fast, I'm going to have to figure out how to rectify this one within the juice context.
Somehow, I seem to have already moved out of the hunger phase. The last couple of nights I have decided against an evening juice, feeling satiated without it. Strange, given that less than a week ago I could put down a pint of ice cream at midnight in the blink of an eye. Don't get me wrong, I definitely have the urge to grab a chip or a cherry tomato or a artichoke leaf when I see one, but it seems more out of habit than starvation.