"Don't Believe The Hype"

As promised, here is my conclusion of the lemonade diet wrap up. I know, you lost sleep last night waiting on this, right? Patience, grasshoppah.

Despite being worried that I'd feel chronically undernourished, I never really felt hungry during my three-day fast. Whenever I did feel the beginnings of hunger pangs, I simply drank the lemonade/maple syrup concoction and the feelings vanished. It was a bit weird to not be eating, but I never really felt like anything was missing.

I was worried beforehand, though, because I am in charge of Mr. Connor during the day. This means that I've got to keep food in him or else pay the price (Don't make Connor angry...you wouldn't like him when he's angry.) Since I knew there was no way of convincing my two-year-old Tasmanian devil of a son to undergo the fast as well, I resigned myself to watching him eat while I sipped on my juice.

By the way, he immediately noticed that something was out of place. "Daddy eating?" he asked me, several times. After a meal or two eating solo, he got used to my ever-present blue cup filled with "Daddy's juice," as he liked to call it.

I was worried that sitting with Connor while he ate, in addition to "preparing" his food (translation: heating up someone else's hard work), that I wouldn't be able to sustain the fast due to food envy. But, since all the basic nutrients I needed were in the lemonade, I never had a problem with feeding Connor, because I wasn't ever hungry. Additionally, I made a couple of trips to the grocery store during this time and never had a problem either. Wal-Mart has a way of making me lose my appetite, though. Maybe I should try visiting Whole Foods before I jump to rash conclusions.

As is one of the intended by-products of this particular fast/cleanse, I began to study the amount of food that I consume from a different perspective. When I realized that I didn't need food (strictly in the short term sense, mind you) I felt as liberated as George Takei.

I've been taking gradual steps to reduce my daily food intake, or at least replace some of the filler food with more nourishing sustenance. I'm still trying to figure out a decent excuse to continue consuming Atomic Fire Balls. There's gotta be some vitamins in there somewhere, right? Cure for cancer, maybe?

When I did start eating again, it took a bit of mental readjustment — even though I'd been without food just three days. My mind started to think of food as an extravagance, and it felt unnatural when I did eat again.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't have started off with Taco Bell.

Kidding.