Day One and Still Standing

I woke up hungry, but excited to start this whole thing. First thing’s first: the salt water flush (SWF). An entire QUART of water with two teaspoons sea salt. Ughhhhh. I’m shuddering at the thought. There’s no mincing words about it: the taste is horrendous. Perhaps the worst beverage I’ve ever consumed, and there is just so much of it. 32 ounces! That’s four glasses of water! It took me 15 minutes and two stifled gags to get it down, but I did. And I felt fucking proud of myself for it. During the water drinking, I was making the “lemonade”-- 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, 3/4 cup organic maple syrup, 60 ounces of water and a half teaspoon of cayenne. The first glass tasted great.

The first few hours weren’t too bad. It was really the only time my stomach growled today. I can’t say I haven’t been hungry, that’d be a lie, but it’s not unbearable hunger. It’s more similar to that dull, nagging hunger you get in-between meals. It’s there and it is real and it could probably be satisfied by a snack, but if you occupy yourself, you can ignore it.

So to occupy myself today, I went to the book store with my brother (I picked up In Defense of Food and Naturally Thin to keep me reminded of why I am doing this--- to get the processed poison OUT). Unfortunately, after the book store my brother was hungry, and he was hungry for Chipotle (forehead smack). So naturally I bitched a little, but ultimately, people eat food. It’s gonna happen and the only thing I can control is what I do. I stayed in the car while he got it and I never saw him eat it when we got home. Several hours later though, I had to endure the delicious smells of pork chops emanate up to my room. That was significantly more difficult to bare than the Chipotle. No doubt. But I just stayed in my room.

Drinking the lemonade tonight was harder than this morning. The cayenne kick is hitting the back of my throat, the acid from the lemonade is starting to affect my tongue as well as offering some slight acid reflux. I don’t find it very encouraging. The senna tea though is pretty mellow and pleasant. It has a lovely, mentholly finish that was really refreshing.

I have a dull headache at the moment, which is supposedly a normal side affect. Overall though, I don’t feel bad and my mind is very clear about the goal in mind. They say if you can make it through the first three days, you can do it. Most people apparently don’t survive day one; presumably because of the SWF, but I don’t know.

The key to tomorrow is staying positive and occupied. I think I can handle it.

(Originally written 8/10/09)