Audio By Carbonatix
In the three days of juicing that led up to this moment, there was a lot of daydreaming about what food I would first break fast with. I imagined many different things but kept going back to my food porn stable: an elaborate veggie sub piled high with Tater Tots. It’s my own broke version of the Primanti Brothers classic. Don’t judge, just trust it’s delicious.
I am an eater who sometimes pens a dinner grocery list as I’m still mid-breakfast but as these 72 hours tick by, something has changed. I’m feeling kind of empty inside but I mean this in the best possible way. Clean slate.
While I never reach nirvana or that wigged out high that everyone says kicks in around day seven, I do feel a certain calm indifference towards the eating process that I didn’t have before. And for a kid whose main reason for wanting to get a driver’s permit was the drive-thru potential between my school and parent’s house, that last part is HUGE.
I check in with resident juicer Circle-of-life.net’s Jill Ayn Schneider one last time. She suggests easing back into a normal diet when I’ve decided the fast is complete. “You don’t want your body to have to work really hard to digest right now.” She suggests salads, brown rice and veggies or soup. I don’t ask where Ore-Ida fits into this food pyramid, I’m afraid I already know the answer.
Schneider suggests doing this cleanse every six months or so, depending on the food issues you are trying to fix. If it’s chemical sensitivity or food allergies, she suggests every two to three months. She also suggests a full seven day juice fast for optimal results.
“We don’t need a lot. We just need quality food, not filler,” Schneider says.
As the cleanse ends, I reach in my backpack for whatever snack stockpile I’ve left myself pre-fast and can only find a handful of random pretzels bits and an unwrapped square of dark chocolate – neither of which I can authenticate an expiration date for. I dig in and they are delicious.
