xalicexalicex

there’s a library book sale on saturday, which also happens to be my birthday. as my present to myself i’m going to bring a backpack and allow myself to buy any books i want as long as they fit in my bag, and not worry about the price. i’m particularly excited about reference books, and library sales sometimes have series sets. probably none that i want, but i can hope.

it’s the afternoon of day ten and i did the only cheating i’ve done all this time. i licked the spoon while making potato leek soup. and my fingers after crumbling blue cheese.
why am i cooking while on the cleanse you ask? well because i won’t have time tomorrow or the next day, they’re my long days at work, and i’m sure not going to work 13 hours with only orange juice. i did it with the lemonade but that has some calories at least. so i made some vegetable broth, naturally, and a vegan tomato soup from allrecipes.com (it’s called tomato soup iii) that smells delicious. i was tempted to put in some anchovies and make it more ratatoullie-like but i resisted. i also made potato leek soup to eat on wednesday it has some cream in it, and blue cheese dressing to replace the oil and vinegar i’ll be putting on my salads. i also have a whole chicken defrosting in the fridge, destined to be put in salads and soups this week, but i’m holding off cooking that as i want some of the crispy skin (oh that’s the first thing that’s really made my mouth water in days) and i won’t be eating it until wednesday if not later.
i started taking probiotics today, i’ve taken one with each glass of lemonade except the first. i couldn’t find any official-sounding guidelines for how much to take but everyone seems to take quite a few the day before going off the cleanse and the first day off, continuing them for a couple of weeks. seems sensible to me. i looked for daily-dophilus but my health food store was out, so i went with kyo-dophilus which a few people online recommended. guess we’ll find out if they’re right. i was bewildered by the options for probiotics. i thought it would be straightforward but it’s nothing of the kind. there are dozens of kinds of probiotics, not just different brands but different kinds that work for different maladies, but the labels don’t tell you which ones! thank god for internet research.
no more salt water cleanses for me, hurray! i got up late today because i was just laying in bed thinking about how as soon as i got up i’d have to drink that stuff. laid there for an hour. but no more salt water now!
my period seems to be a real period now, a whole week early, i’m curious to see if it’ll be on a new schedule now or if i won’t have one for five weeks instead of four this next month.
i guess i’ll go strain that broth now. whoopee. i’m looking forward to trying a grilled cheese with that tomato soup… i made a huge batch to make sure there’s some left for when i can eat cheese. and coffee tuesday sounds good too. and being able to socialize normally, that’s what i most look forward to.

just took the salt water, only one to go now. i feel like it would be to my benefit if i took it one last time in the morning of the last day after the cleanse, but i’m not sure i can convince myself to. it’s so horrible. i have been taking it with cold water the last few days, though, and while it’s still horrible i don’t feel like throwing up while i drink it. it’s recommended that i use lukewarm water, i assume so i don’t shock my system so much, but better a little shock of cold than throwing it all up and making the whole exercise pointless.
i’m feeling better about finishing the cleanse today, i think because the end is really in sight. i’m going to go to the farmers’ market after all this salt water gets out of me to buy some vegetables for the soups i’m going to make; i’ve been researching recipes for days. it’s funny, i was vegan for years and i remember making some dank soups without recipes. all the time actually. but i’ve gone and forgotten how to make good vegan food on demand, at least without using grains. i do know a lot of raw food recipes though, that should be useful in a couple of days.
after a couple of hours on the internet i still can’t find real advice on when to reintegrate cigarettes, alcohol and coffee. so i’m going to make it up. cigarettes as soon as i’m off the regular cleanse (though i don’t think i’m going to be too tempted to smoke until i have a cup of coffee or a beer in my hand), coffee the morning of the day after, once i’m eating a little bit of solid food, and alcohol that night, just a small drink to start with, again because i’ll have solid food in my stomach.
i almost forgot: something weird. i’m on birth control, using the ring (it’s a ring that secretes low doses of hormones inserted into the vagina for three weeks out of four). i’m scheduled to take it out on monday, the day after tomorrow, and normally, actually always, i start my period in the late evening of the thursday following the monday that i take it out. but the other night, last thursday, i started getting spotting and i still am, heavier now. not a full-on period, but like the end of it. it’s very weird. i thought when one starves oneself one’s period is postponed, not early. there’s some info on how the cleanse can make one’s period unpredictable, but i’m still confused because my birth control normally regulates it so well no matter what my diet or stress level. eh. i’m sure i’m in no danger. at least i didn’t miss it instead and have to worry about accidental pregnancy.
today and tomorrow, then orange juice and BROTH! hurray!