Lemon Juice Fast: Day 4

I suppose, to be more accurate, this fast is a lemonade fast, rather than a lemon juice fast. Here’s the deal:

• 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of grade B maple syrup
• 0.1 teaspoons of cayenne pepper
• 8 ounces of spring water

Now, a tenth of a teaspoon is, for some, a pinch and for others, a dash. For me, I round up to about half a teaspoon. I like the spiciness (I’m Indian, after all).

I woke up extra early (5:30) so as to do the salt water flush. In case, I haven’t mentioned this part in previous blog posts, it’s basically 2 teaspoons of uniodised sea salt in 32 ounces of lukewarm water. And you’re supposed to chug that. Look, the first couple of times, I nearly choked the stuff right back up. I had to force it to stay down. Today, I didn’t have to force so much, but it’s by no means a pleasant drinking experience. They say it takes 20 minutes to flush, but for me it’s anywhere between 30 and 75 minutes for 3 flushes. Sometimes longer.

For the curious out there (I can’t believe I’m actually going to talk about this part), I haven’t had anything solid in the flush since day 2. It’s all just been the left-over junk, so it doesn’t take very long. It feels like I’m fairly flushed, but who knows? Apparently, there are other toxins still to be released. We’ll see.

Lunchtime at the office was rough. I could smell people’s food and it drove me bananas (which I craved in the mid-morning, incidentally). I wanted Chinese food. Have you ever eaten a vegetarian Chinese restaurant that serves you those fake meat dishes? Well, Aimee and I had our first experience a few weeks ago when we went down to Chinatown for Sunday lunch. That stuff is delicious. And I’ve been craving it for lunch. Not so much as I write this, but definitely during the lunch hour.

So, back to the morning. I had a glass of the lemonade for breakfast, then made up 3 glasses worth for the day to bring to work. It’s now a little before 3pm (15:00 for the non-USians amongst my readership), and I have quarter of a glass left. I’ll have to ration this remainder till I leave for home. At lunch time, I want a bite of whoever’s burrito was wafting over to my nostrils, and instead have to satisfy my hunger with this lemonade. I mean the lemonade tastes good, but it’s no burrito.

It’s weird, because the food smells made me hungry (salivation, tummy rumbling, etc). The juice makes me feel full, but still hungry: strange. On the subject of cravings: I’m not craving the Indian food anymore. The funny thing is, I remember craving Punjabi food last night, but I don’t remember craving the South Indian food from Saturday. Maybe, it’s because the Punjabi was under my nose and the dosa not.
Today, I feel indifferent to both. I just want that fake pork dish that we had in Chinatown. I keep plotting, you know, what I’ll have at the end of this fast when I can eat again. Yesterday was Punjabi Dhaba. Today, it’s Chinatown. I don’t even know what tomorrow will be. Oh yeah, for a while yesterday, I was thinking about Ethiopian food, too. Some injera with those veggie dishes on top of it. That still sounds good.

See what happened on Day 3

Day 5 is the halfway point of this fast.

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