The 99-day challenge – Part 2
Insane Cravings
By Darralynn Hutson
So much is going on with my body that I can’t help but pay attention to it. I feel that stomach growl and that gas bubble moving through my back down that my…..opps. Whereas, I thought I’d have to keep this juice fast thing to myself, I’m finding that I’m offering it as an excuse pretty often this week. I cross my calendar in purple marker, indicating that I’ve just completed day 14 of my juice fast. Going 14 days without eating after a while feels surprisingly kind of normal.
“I don’t know how much weight I’ve lost,” is what I tell my mother whose obsessed by numbers for some reason. I still haven’t gotten on the scale as I enter into my third week of the fast because my body tells me that I’m shrinking. I don’t need that daily gratification or disappointment. I really want to feel my body and see the results in my clothes. I want so much that I have dreams about what I’d look like in a particular outfit or in a swimsuit or walking in a pair of tall heels comfortably. WOW!, what that would feel like? So I press on.
My mind is very fluid and I’ve been able to express myself this week going on a job interview where they actually wanted to know how I come up with ideas; what’s my process? I have to admit that my words haven’t gotten jumbled since being on the juice fast. I’m able to convey myself clearer, I believe. Although my workout has been a bit boring this week, including the treadmill, elliptical and stationary bike, I got in three days of cardio this week – growing stronger.
I haven’t taken any medication this week for the usual aches and pains that I feel when I go to bed. No pain pills especially for my right knee that gives me constant grief. The grief isn’t gone but I’m not self medicating.
Clarity.
So, fifteen days ago, I started a personal challenge to juice my meals and open my eyes to roadblocks that were keeping me from succeeding financially, professionally and personally. And it’s a challenge. I don’t want to convey in anyway that withholding food is easy, especially that way I use to shovel food into my mouth. Everyday I want to break the fast, I want to go grab something from a fast food joint, any of them and in secret, consume it in my car where there’s no one but me. But then I think, I don’t want to be that person anymore. So I use my brain and defer my thoughts to this challenge.
Two women encouraged me while I was talking about fasting: one was a woman at the gym that I attended when I asked her where a nice juice bar was in Detroit. She was an avid juicer that had started a program, but was fiending for some fish. I told her that I was having problems finding fresh veggies if I couldn’t’ make it to the eastern market on Saturdays. She offered a market in my neck of the woods and encouraged me to keep going.
In the past two weeks I’ve grown accustomed to my morning juice of kale, spinach and Granny Smith apples. I’m still struggling with consuming 64 ounces of juice everyday. Discovering that banana and sweet potatoes make a pretty good combination has been fun and I good way to expand your palette. I’d love to get my body to the point where it craves kale salad instead of chicken salad smothered in ranch dressing. I rewarded myself with carrot juice and the juice from the collard greens on Easter Sunday and they were heavenly.
Next week Weigh In?
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