I was going to write a post on Cooking Part II that followed up with thoughts from Cooking Part I. At the beginning of October, I had bought a real wok and seasoned it by heating it over high heat while stirring hot salt inside it for half an hour. We made potstickers, translucent shrimp dumplings, and I fried homemade eggrolls and banana fritters. I was on a roll with cooking and it was fun to make things that I hadn’t learned how to make (but ate plenty of) when growing up.
But then in between, I got very busy with work and Mike and I started the Lemon Juice Master Cleanse fast in the interim. I wanted to do the fast because I wanted to lose weight and detoxify. Mike said he would do it with me out of curiosity– to see how it feels to go without solid food for 10 days.
So, I’m not writing about food until I get back into cooking and eating it again. One of the things that happens when you’re on this fast is that you become slightly alien– because food, in all of its variety of textures, colors, tastes, temperatures, and forms, is so integral to being human, or feeling human. In fact, Mike and I were talking about how the character Sonmi451 comes to mind (Cloud Atlas by D. Mitchell). Sonmi451 could only imbibe “soap” and would get ill from eating regular human food (the irony was that she worked at a fast food cafeteria). We’re only allowed to drink the lemon-maple syrup-cayenne solution, and then herbal teas and water. It is very, very strange not to have any solid food. The first few days, it actually feels impossible, a little of how you might feel if someone were to tell you that you were going to be exiled for ten days. That’s what this fast is, an exile from the kingdom of food and all that goes with it (socializing, merriment, community).
It’s made me feel more acutely bound to Mike. For the simple fact that we’re in it together.
Days 1 through 6 were okay. We actually made chocolate tarantula cookies last Saturday (Day 2) and didn’t eat them, but instead exercised great will power and brought the plates of spiders to work for co-workers instead. We were initially going to take them to Patrick and Eddie’s house for their Autumn Comfort Food party, but decided at the last minute that we were not improving our changes of sticking to the fast by going to a delicious food party. Halloween night we didn’t feel like being around a lot of Halloween candy so we made the house dark and went to the movies instead. We saw “Eastern Promise,” directed by David Cronenberg, which was actually really great. Brutal, intense, involving, really good.
I’m surprised that I haven’t really been hungry. I was so busy with working on a deal for work for very long days that I didn’t even have time to think about missing eating (other than the fact that my co-workers would go get lunch and bring it back to the conference room where we were working), so in a way, it made things easier. I haven’t actually felt real hunger until tonight, but once I had my juice, the hunger went away. The salt water flushes are another thing. We get up early in the morning to drink one quart of warm water with two teaspoons of salt in it. It is getting easier to swallow, but feels a little like some prison ritual, or something an ascetic sect of monks would do each morning. I may continue to use a salt-water flush in the future after especially heavy meals. Everything just comes right out of you, tout suite.
It’s Day 6 of the fast, going on to 7. Not sure if I feel any detox effects, other than being very tired and achy, but that could also be because I have been working crazy hours for most of October. Mike and I are both dropping weight but not dramatically. I no longer have my pot belly. Bye bye pot belly. Not sure if I’ll miss it!
I’ve read in Peter Glickman’s book that Day 7 is supposed to be the day that people gain “mental clarity” and extra energy, so we shall see.
