Lamaze, Doritos and Will Power

http://www.raw-food-for-health.com/

Day 2 of Break-fasting
Feb. 12, 2012
Sunday AM

So what does lamaze, Doritos and will power have in common that they should all be mentioned in the sentence/breath? This post will seem like random thoughts- kind of like a murder mystery movie. Hopefully all the incohesive parts will come together into an elegant point at the end- bear with me here ;)

So of all the blogs I've seen on Juicefasting- they all end on the first day of eating their prunes....

In 1982 I was the model lamaze student at the hospital classes held 2 or 3 times weekly. I was 19 years old and having my first child. I didn't work so attending classes was a must, in my opinion. I wanted to be totally prepared- I was scared out of my wits! Well nothing could prepare me for the horrendously painful labor that was to ensue. My first son weighed 9 pounds, 11 ounces and ironically was also born on 9/11!! It was a 9-11 experience for both of us!

Labor was 12 hours even with pitocin and doctor directed water breaking! The compassionate replacement doc I had said he "didn't want to have to hang around all day" while I was in labor!!! But I do digress just a tad... So yeah, baby was born... then, then.... what? WHAT?! The baby was out, so what the heck was that... and THAT! Another contraction? for what?! I was totally unprepared for anything except complete and total recovery- I was exhausted after pushing for 2.5 hours!!! Did you know that you "give birth" to the placenta?! They didn't go over that part in class! That totally took me by surprise.

So maybe now you know where I'm going with the whole lamaze thing. There is more to the story than having the baby- not much more, but more nevertheless. And there is more to breaking a juicefast than just your first bowl of prunes.

Will power...

Well you might be able to guess why will power and Doritos are mentioned together, but not so fast! I have some iinteresting facts to share about will power that might surprise you.

Did you know that you have a limited supply of will power, and that you can use it all up? Yep, it's true! A study was done on 2 groups of kids. One group went to the beach and was allowed to play and romp at will- doing whatever they pleased to have fun. The other group was put in a classroom and tortured with math problems the entire day. At the end of day both groups of kids were put in separate rooms, but given the same instructions. A large bowl of cookies was placed on a table in the center of the room, and the kids were told not to touch/eat them. The kids that were allowed to play at the beach had seemingly little problems following the instructions. But the kids who were heavy laden with math burdens could hardly control themselves- it didn't take long for the cookies to completely disappear!

The kids who were forced to do math all day had used all their will power to do the task demanded of them- see where I'm going with this now? ;-)

I was not keeping this in mind when I was battling so hard to stay on the juice. I was really wearing down my will power reserves. And, apparently I was quite cranky too, so reports my husband! He said that yesterday (the first day of breaking the fast) I was a completely different person. But there was a lot involved with that change in disposition, not just breakfasting. The news of a 3 day respite which initiated the break was also huge in my mind. But again I digress (I told you there would be randomness! ;)

So yesterday started off with a cup o' joe!! (as did this morning as well :) Oh coffee, coffee coffee coffee- how I've missed you!! I don't want to start this back as a habit, but I am giving in to my weakened will power for now- I'm tired of battling. Then came the bowl of prunes- yumi! But I also took 2 cascara sagrada caps too- big mistake!! lol I sooooo did not need to do that! hahaha I do believe the prunes would have done an ample job w/o any help whatsoever. No cascara today! Oh the rumblings that took place all day yesterday- wow!! I also had some fruit juice as well- same as today again.

But yesterday I made macaroni salad for Ken and Steve, et em... yeah. I don't usually much care for macaroni salad, but food in general has been a torment to be around. I didn't eat much though, about 3 or 4 condiment bowls throughout the day, but it had turkey meat and I had to put horseradish sauce on it!!! Oh my, how I used to love horseradish sauce on my sandwhiches!! And yes, then there were the Doritos! I didn't have a lot of those either, thank goodness, but the fact remains.... several times during the day I did dip my hand in the bag for a chip... okay, okay... or 2!

I felt badly knowing these things were the complete antithesis of the juicing I had just finished, but I resolved to not feel guilty. The whole will power concept came back to me, and I gave myself compassion. I had just completely run out of fight. I have to admit though, I was concerned about how long that would last. But to my pleasant surprise I'm not a bit hungry today :) And even though I will probably indulge again today in something not especially good for me (raw) I don't feel the compulsion or drive to it that I did yesterday- whew! It kinda feels like I got that out of my system. I'm feeling much more in control today, ahhhhh :)

Lessons learned?
1. There's more to JuiceFasting then your first bowl of prunes.
2. Don't push yourself past your reserve of will power. There will be a resulting backlash.

It's been a long time since I've felt like I have come to the end of myself, but by day 42 I guess I really had (and was practically unaware of it- how is that?!). I'm almost glad for the experience though- it gives me more compassion for those who suffer in life with things that sap them of their reserves. My husband is one such person who uses a lot of will power to do things on a daily basis that he just does not like to do.

I really don't care to see any more green juice again for quite a while though. I did dump a couple of quarts down the drain this morning- just can't do it (Oh the blasphemy! lol). I cleaned up the kitchen- put the juicer away for now, and am getting all my raw things out where I need them again :) sigh.... I love a clean kitchen!