Ouch. My head hurts. Achy breaky headachy. Bruno and I foolishly decided to do a sort of juice fast this week but we're only on day two and already we've got serious plans to abandon the juice-and-seeds ship and set sail for the land of bread, wine, cheese and chocolate. Seriously painful caffeine withdrawal. I remember it well from when I was first pregnant with Max and I gave up coffee (the things I do for my children) - 3 days of a thumping, incessant headache. Not sure if I'm up to the task whilst having to play mumsy 24 hours. All I want to do is lie on the couch and moan piteously. And I feel indescribably sleepy. This afternoon Max had his little friend over to play and I embarrassingly feel asleep at the table. Truly! Just like the last stages of labour, when contractions are a minute or 30 seconds apart and you are so exhausted that you 'sleep' in between them - you just can't help yourself. Your body is so tired that it tries to desperately catch some sleep at the smallest opportunity.
Without a doubt I can attribute this to caffeine withdrawal. Bruno had a similar sleepy episode this afternoon, WHILE DRIVING. eeep. Not so good. He pulled over to the closest Migros and bought some apples to tide him over for the drive home. He also got the thumping headache. His is probably worse than mine though, because he drinks much more coffee than I do. Caffeine - such evil stuff. So why does coffee have to taste and smell so good? And go so well with toast?
Poor us! Do you feel sorry for us? Don't - it's all entirely voluntary, and self-inflicted.
Actually, to be truthful, I'm not even doing the proper fast. I'm eating normal meals, but minus the dairy, wheat and meat, in addition to the juices/seeds/tea thing. So I'm not starving. But this afternoon, oh how I craved a chunk of the delicious bread the kiddies were having for afternoon tea.
We were meant to start the fast yesterday morning but Bruno weakened and could not forgo his passion for sunday breakfast - his most sacred and favourite of meals. So we had the usual - atomic coffee, soft boiled eggs, crunchy toast, home-made jam, almond butter, honey. Mmmm.
After brekky we broke out the juices and seeds, stiffened our resolve, and cast yearning glances at the left-over bread.
By the afternoon Bruno was looking desperately at the (still) enormous lump of parmesan cheese in the fridge, and dreaming out loud of having a glass of red wine to go with it.
By the evening we were fantasising about the food fest we would have on the weekend after we had virtuously fasted all week - osso bucco, french toast, toast with lashings of butter and jam, cheese, BREAD, COFFEE, a shortbread biccie with a cup of tea...
This morning I had porridge with stewed apples, hazelnut meal and soy milk (soy milk here is disgusting, by the way. Not a patch on this stuff), plus the requisite 100ml of juice. Bruno had the juice, plus 2 teaspoons of seeds. The novelty was wearing off by this stage. A lot.
This afternoon we both had the afore-mentioned headaches and sleepy eposides. More juice, and herbal tea.
This evening Bruno found out he has to go to Milan on Thursday. There's no way he is going to trek down there with his 4 bottles of juice and little packets of seeds and tea and watch while everyone else tucks into top Italian nosh. No way! And me, well...I'm a pathetic wuss. I see no reason to suffer needlessly (and the mere thought of those juices makes me feel nauseous - too heavy on the carrots and celery for me). I'll see how I feel in the morning...
***Up-date: I wrote the above yesterday. This morning I broke and had a piece of bread and a cup of tea for breakfast. And then for lunch I totally blew the fast out of the water by having a toasted, buttered baguette with cheese, washed down with a cup of excellent coffee : )
Bruno did the same.
oh well.
I have been doing wheat-free, dairy free and red meat free for a while now and have occassionally indulged in the red meat. I have created quite a few recipes that I am happy with that I want to share. I am quite used to it but have yet to post - I have been SO slack on the posting lately I just cannot make the time like I used to. I plan to try this Queens Birthday holiday... I hope.
Posted by: Lushlife | June 10, 2005 at 11:38 AM
Whew, that fast sounds sounds awful-- true dedication. I did a strict juice fast (fruits and vegetables) awhile back...I lasted 30 hours.
Posted by: nosheteria | June 24, 2005 at 07:23 AM