Day 22 Juice Feast -- Bump in the Road

I can't even be surprised but last night, instead of enjoying my movie--I fell asleep. I feel fortunate my body usually tells me what my priorities are. Last night I was the party-pooper. Unfortunately when I woke up (just as the movie was ending) I had my first real detox headache on this JF. Yikes! I am not a person who regularly gets headaches and it literally felt like poison was coursing up and down my body and was pounding in my temple. I ended up warming some water for an enema and out came (sorry, sorry, sorry) something that looked like broken up asphalt.

In the face of hospitality I try to accept anything offered that is vegan--but still I can't recall anyone ever offering up asphalt. I have no idea where this stuff comes from!  I decided to leave the castor oil pack on the rest of the night and I immediately went back to sleep. I knew if I felt any detox in the morning I was taking the day off. I woke up feeling well enough to go to work.

Walking Meditation in the Park (Source)

I decided a nice walking meditation in the park would suit me so I drove to the park and walked barefoot in the sun for 45 minutes.  I didn't burn but I did stay too long so I won't be able to take in much sun tomorrow. I thought some sun and clearing my thoughts might help draw anything else out. I was happily surprised when I returned to work and discovered I had an appetite for juice. For the briefest of moments I thought maybe this wasn't a good day to see how cantaloupe spinach tastes together (tasted like cantaloupe to me).  I only had 3 quarts today and I'm debating if I'll make a 4th now.

Dealing with Cravings on the Juice Feast

During my first Juice Feast in the first few weeks I had intense mental cravings for junk food.  I thought it rather harmless, my nocturnal junk food cravings for McDonald's (where I worked as a teen) and other vile "food" I hadn't thought about or touched in years. It reminded me of Larry Groce's  old song Junk Food Junkie.

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I often resolve tough situations with humor--or maybe humor is such a fundamental part of my life (I find it intellectually stimulating to make others laugh) that it arises without much needed thought or incentive.  Nevertheless I deal with these false psychological cravings for junk food by recognizing them as phantoms from my past. Some say it is a form of detox. The Juice Feast did funny things to me emotionally--at times my emotions were like a wild roller coaster ride.  This was foreign to me as I'm a pretty even kind of person. I often found myself talking myself down from the ledge of irrationality.  Don't get me wrong life is often irrational but I make sense of it (most of the time) through rational means.

In the first JF I'm fairly certain I didn't meditate once. I wasn't a regular back then. Now that I have meditation working with me I intend to use it to help me clear my mind of cravings during the second JF. I also keep a journal of the days. I find much of what I wrote to be repetitious nonsense and that's okay as it is really an outlet for my mind to stop thinking about things. I find that when I write things down my mind is triggered to let go--I won't forget the message because I've written it down.  Another tactic to deal with cravings is to accept them as they are.  When I quit smoking I did a lot of reading on addiction. The books I read all indicated a craving lasts no more than seconds. I knew I had the willpower to outlast cravings despite the mind doing funny tricks on me. I would usually notice the craving, count for the seconds it lasted and be amazed how it disappeared.  On occasion a craving would return three or four times in one hour and I would repeat the process--but this was rare for me.

I recognize cravings will come and go on the JF.  With any luck they will amuse me--and quickly go away.