40 Day Detox

I stayed around my parent’s house last night so I couldn’t weigh myself first thing in the morning. For breakfast I had a Pakistani Chaunsa mango. It was a poor specimen of a Chaunsa mango. It didn’t look too bad from the outside. It was the firmest in my dad’s fridge, but once sliced open it was a pale colour on the inside, as if it had been picked too early. It lacked a distinct flavour, and wasn’t juicy. Not a great Pakistani Chaunsa mango experience.  

The force is weak with you, old man

I came back home in the morning as I knew I would struggle to find food in my dad’s kitchen to eat that would fit my detox requirements, let alone be of liquid form. Though it seems the last few days I have unintentionally come off the liquid diet as I have increasingly been breaking the rules. Also I don’t feel so good. It seems an unhealthy approach to this detox diet. I went onto it as a kneejerk reaction to putting on body fat, undoing a week’s worth of effort in just one day. As the days went on I noticed waking up with a tingling feeling in my fingers. I was increasingly feeling weaker, as if the life force was being sucked out of me. I felt more vulnerable. When I walked around in the town to do shopping I felt wobbly and hazy in the head. My skin seems to have started to breakout in rashes and spots, and I think my immune system may have withered and feel as though I’m about to come down with something. Overall I have felt first hand how important a healthy diet is to feeling optimum, which I have increasingly been feeling prior to going onto a liquid only diet during the day. I think I could have improved on my liquid intake by having fruit and vegetable juices. However for most of the week I didn’t have anything in the flat to juice. In future if I decided to go down the liquid only route again I would plan for it and make sure I am taking in the nutrition (vitamins, minerals, protein, fat etc) that my body requires for optimum performance. There was at least one good thing that has come out of this experience: an increased intake of water which I think I need to do more of even when I do return to my previous detox diet. 

When I got home I weighed myself. I was dreading weighing myself as I snacked on a bit too many Haldiram’s Chana Dal. I must have consumed half a pack all by myself while watching Four Lions with my family. So I stood on the scales. My weight rose 0.4kg to 68.1kg… oh oh. This sounded real bad. Then I had to wait for the scales to work out my body fat readings… it was 17.2%. Phew! That was an increase of only 0.1%. Not as bad damage as I had thought! My body water and body muscle stayed constant at 56.0% and 43.1%. No decrease in muscle mass yet. This is quite surprising as it’s been a week since I’ve done a workout. When I first joined a gym about 12 years ago I remember I was skinny and wanted to get big. My fitness trainer advised me that it was only necessary to work a particular muscle once a week. The irony is, after I joined the gym, the workouts got me really hungry and as I didn’t know so much about food and nutrition I ended up putting on fat around my belly, and ever since then I’ve been trying to lose the belly fat! Crazy! 

Exercise can make you fat if you eat poorly after a workout

I hadn’t slept well at my dad’s place and felt like a zombie. I ate a couple of dates and went to bed. I still couldn’t sleep. Eventually I got up to make some quinoa with rice milk and blueberries. The quinoa pack was towards its last grains, so I drank mostly rice milk with a few grains of quinoa inside. Around the same time my wife made a vegetable fry up (tomatoes, onion, garlic and mushrooms) with wholemeal coucous. It looked and smelled too good to miss so I had some before going back to bed and finally managed to get some sleep. When I woke up a few hours later I had some apple and carrot soup my wife had made earlier. I picked a couple more dates too! It’s a real bad habit! I then had my first ever dandelion tea. It tasted meh. It tasted like someone had cut the grass in my dad’s back garden, stuffed the excess blades of grass in a tea bag and brewed it. It hardly had any flavour. Maybe it’s an acquired taste. But apparently it’s really good for you so worth giving it a go.  

Later in the evening my wife made a vegetable fry up again and some lentil soup. I put some buckwheat in the soup to get proteins from a more varied source. I made organic rice, spinach and tomato pasta to eat with the fry up. Later in the evening I snacked on a handful of nuts and seeds and some Iranian dates. I drank some caffeine free teas and finished off the apple and carrot soup. 

Orgainc wheat free pasta with vegetable fry-up

Waking up feeling not so good

Over the last few days I’ve noticed that I’ve been waking up with a tingly feeling in my fingers. I feel weak and just don’t feel as energetic or as healthy as I have done during the earlier part of this detox when I wasn’t restricting my diet to just liquids during the day. I don’t think what I’m doing right now is healthy – even though I haven’t stuck to it that strictly. I’ve also been struggling to write. Even though I haven’t been exercising so that I can focus on catching up with these blog posts, it seems my brain is finding it hard to concentrate and I feel very tired. Actually I feel malnourished. 

All my readings this morning stayed constant: Weight: 67.7kg; Body Fat: 17.1%; Body Water: 56.9%; Body Muscle: 43.1%. 

Rice milk, quinoa, blueberries and agave nectar

I had a hot lemon juice first thing in the morning followed by a mug of decaf coffee (I didn’t know at this point in time that decaf coffee contained caffeine). I then ate quinoa and blueberries with calcium fortified rice milk. Like other alternatives to cows milk, rice milk also tastes quite nice. It tastes a lot better than soya milk and slightly different to oat milk. I do prefer the taste of oat milk and coconut milk though. Rice milk mixes well with a hot beverage like decaf coffee. Soy milk, oat milk and coconut milk however all start to curdle when put in a hot drink. 

Apple and carrot soup (tastes nothing like apple and carrot juice)

Through the day I snacked on apple and carrot soup and mugs of various caffeine free hot drinks. 

In the evening I went to my parent’s house as my brother is visiting from Dublin. There I snacked on a handful of almonds, a can of sweet corn and an apple from my parents’ garden. They have three apple trees and one plum tree. The plums are really small. I tried one and it was super sweet. I and my wife picked some cooking apples from the garden. When she made the apple and carrot soup earlier this week, you couldn’t taste the apple much. I think if she has another go with these cooking apples she will get much better results. I’ve just done a Google image search and I believe we have picked Bramley apples.

Bramley Apples

Baingan ka Bharta

My dad cooked lamb mince meat with peas and a vegetarian dish called Baingan Ka Bharta. It involves flame grilling a whole aubergine directly on a flame, so that the resulting dish has a delicious smoky flavour and aroma to it. My dad did good. It came out really delicious. I ate it with some salad. Eating food cooked by my dad with my immediate family was a very enjoyable experience. 

Previously when I experimented with vegetarianism, I partly did it for moral reasons and partly experimental spiritual reasons. At the time I perceived the world through a pantheistic perspective and didn’t like the idea of murdering a fellow conscious being and eating its flesh. While I was experimenting with vegetarianism I happened to see animals killed for their meat whilst travelling in the Middle East. These acts of dehumanising brutality re-enforced my disgust for eating the carcass of creatures. After a while however, it’s easy to desensitise yourself when eating meat. It’s easy to see a chicken leg as a delicious piece of food rather than what it is i.e. the butchered leg of a helpless chicken.

Bon Appétit!

When I started this detox, I did not give up meat for moral reasons. I did it for selfish reasons. I reminisced about how good I felt after day 10 of my previous detox. I literally felt fantastic. I was full of energy and felt like skipping down the street rather than just sluggishly walk. I felt psychological and emotional joy at just being. I strongly believe that amazing feeling was partly due to me giving up meat. I was seeking that feeling again. I am well past day ten and passed half way through this forty day detox, and I am afraid I have not regained that amazing feeling. I was hoping to get it again and share the experience with you on this blog. Unfortunately it hasn’t happened. Not yet anyway. But for the first time during this detox when I saw the mince of lamb my family were consuming, I didn’t look upon it with an eye of envy or temptation. I looked at it as what it really was: the mangled flesh of a dead lamb. I imagined it in its raw form rather than the wonderful colour it had with peas and Indian spices. For the first time during this particular detox I felt disgusted at the idea of eating a murdered animal. I am starting to feel as though eating meat would some how make me unclean. 

Dirty meat

I’ll be honest, and confirm that my thoughts about eating meat again after the detox are mixed. If I had regained that amazing feeling I would more than likely stay a vegetarian. However I have not. I also know from previous experience that I have lost fat in the past by eating just vegetables with lean forms of meat like fish while eliminating starchy carbohydrate foods like rice, bread, pasta and potatoes. Though because I am detoxing and not eating meat, in order to get complete proteins from vegan sources I feel like I give myself a better chance by eating rice, buckwheat and quinoa along with legumes and nuts. After the detox I may come back to eating lean meats so that I can get my complete proteins in a lean form and avoid starchy foods altogether and thus accelerate muscle gain and fat loss.

Salmon with salad

I can see the subject of eating meat from many perspectives. Part of me wonders what if vegetarianism and veganism is a more evolved way of looking at the world. Another part of me realises that as humans we have survived all these millions of years and got to where we are because we have a versatile digestive system that is capable of extracting its nutrients from both plant based foods and animal based foods i.e. by being omnivorous. I wonder, if we evolved to just eating foods from plant based foods: could we increase the risk of becoming extinct by decreasing the adaptable abilities of our digestive system? Could developing kindness to animals be a step back in evolution rather than a step forward? Is the ability to be brutal a necessary component of a species that is fittest to survive? I’m not sure, and my mind is not made up. I’m not even sure if looking at things from a competitive evolutionary perspective is the right way of looking at things anyway. Whatever your perspective on this subject I am sure you will be amazed, shocked and perhaps delighted at what is captured in the following video:

After dinner I drank some detox tea (luckily my sister had a few tea bags left) and I snacked on Haldiram’s Spicy Chana Dal. I checked the ingredients and it didn’t seem to break any of my detox rules. All ingredients seemed natural. I also figured the Chana dal would provide me with a source of protein, which I believe my diet was lacking today. I overdid it though. These Haldiram snacks are really addictive once you start. I think I ate half a bag all by myself. I was enjoying the moment, but dreading the impact on my fat content the following morning at the same time. Ah well…

Haldiram's Chana Dal

My weight stayed a constant 67.7kg. My body fat dropped 0.1% to 17.1%. My body water and body muscle stayed constant at 56.9% and 43.1% respectively. Both days where I consumed lentil and rice soup during the day my weight, body water and body muscle stayed consistent while body fat only dropped by 0.1%. Whereas when I spent the day consuming mostly vegetable soup my weight and body fat dropped considerably while body muscle and body water also went up significantly. Hmm… interesting. I shall consume mostly vegetable soup again after I’ve finished the lentil soup and see what happens. 

Gluten free pasta with vegatables in tomato sauce

Organic gluten free pasta made from rice, spinach and tomato

In the evening I made wheat and gluten free organic pasta made from rice, spinach and tomato. I had the pasta with a tomato and vegetable sauce like concoction I invented as I went along. It had onion, garlic (a special Italian, one bulb, one clove garlic – tastes incredible!), cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, sweet corn, green peas, carrot, green chillies and the world’s hottest chilli called the Naga Jolokia pepper. 

In 2007 the Guinness Book of Records certified the Naga Jolokia as the world’s hottest chilli. It’s 400 times hotter than Tabasco Sauce. I have to confess I did not know this at the time of consumption. I’m still not sure if I entirely believe it! I knew it was hot, but didn’t know it was that hot.

It smells like it means business. It’s got a very aggressive smell - I don’t know how to explain it. It smells like a bully that’s going to knock the crap out of you. It’s like the difference between the impression a wannabe gangster gives and the first impression a genuine murdering evil bad man gives. Some people just look like pure unadulterated evil. They have this dark presence about them and you dare not look them in the eyes. Sometimes you might walk around staring out wannabe bad boys feeling very comfortable that they will be intimidated because their badness is fake. But then there are some people who just have this look of, well they’ve probably killed people before and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again, and you wouldn’t dare look at them. Well that’s what this Naga Jolokia chilli smells like. It smells like it’s the real deal. Its smells like its going to do real damage if you dare to play with its flames.

Would you have a staring match with these guys? I wouldn't.

I took a bite. It tasted serious. Certainly not a pleasant taste. It’s so strong it tastes horrible. It tasted like it should’ve really been hurting me at that moment. It didn’t seem as bad as I thought. It tasted like it was supposed to be hotter and hence more painful. It smelled and tasted hotter than it actually felt. Perhaps it was so hot that it went beyond what my mouth could sense? Maybe it burnt my taste buds out of action so that my mouth became numb to how hot it really was? While thinking: “Ah it’s not so bad” I noticed that I started to sweat profusely. Maybe it was hotter than I could detect after all? I ate it all with the rest of my meal and took a photo of myself afterwards. Straight after my meal I reached for the rice milk and ended up eating grapes and blueberries to try and soothe my scorched mouth. 

My face sweating after eating a Naga Jolokia chilli pepper

There are many entertaining videos of people eating this chilli raw online. I ate mine bit by bit with a meal and after it was half cooked. I might well do my own video later in the week of eating one raw, just for the crack! I may as well as I have another 25 or so to consume as I bought a £1’s worth. For the rest of the evening I kept belching the horrible aftertaste of this criminally insane pepper. 

My evening food consumption didn’t end there. I had soaked some buckwheat earlier with the intention of finishing the moong daal chilka we had left before I decided I was in the mood for pasta. I didn’t want to waste the buckwheat so I ate that with the daal after I ate the pasta. Then my wife came up with this idea to make apple and carrot soup. She made it and there was no way I was going to give that a miss so I consumed a bowls worth. Will I have to pay for this over consumption, by not burning any fat as a result, or perhaps worse, an increase in fat content? We shall see…

Today my weight dropped 0.6kg to 67.7kg. My Body Fat dropped 0.8% to 17.2%. My body water increased to 56.9%. My Body Muscle rose 0.5% to 43.1%. These are pretty good results considering I haven’t done any exercise since Monday 23^rd August (Day 19). 

I continued to consume mostly liquids during the day. Today, instead of vegetable soup I snacked on red lentil, sweet corn, green peas and whole grain basmati rice soup. I figured it would be good to have a continuous source of protein in my diet. 

A regular pack of Tunisian dates

I have a confession to make. For the last couple of days I’ve been breaking the rules. I think I’m addicted to Iranian dates. The slightest thought of them has me reaching for the fridge to grab myself a treat. I know I’ve committed to only consuming liquids during the day, however every now and again I can’t help myself but to grab a couple of these dates. They taste so good. As it’s Ramadan there are a large variety of dates being sold in Asian and Middle Eastern grocers at the moment. Muslims consider it a Sunnah of Muhammad (a practice of Muhammad that should be imitated as doing so will result in being rewarded in heaven) to break one’s fast with dates. As far as I am aware Tunisian dates are very commonly used in this country to break one’s fast. They are readily available during this time of year. However to understand the difference in quality and delight of consuming Iranian dates compared to Tunisian dates: a pack of Tunisian dates cost from 50-60p, whereas a pack of Iranian dates will set you back £2.50-£2.80. And trust me when I say that the £2.00+ mark up is worth it! Tunisian dates tend to be coated in glucose syrup to make them appear moister. Such a procedure is unnecessary with Iranian dates. They are dry on the outside but melt in your mouth. They are a lot squishier and have such an addictive taste. Tunisian dates on the other hand have a dry and stringy texture to them. Eating them in comparison just feels like you’re eating a date filled with air. They simply don’t compare! Just the thought of Iranian dates as I am writing this is tempting me to go out and buy some! Perhaps I should make the most of it as Ramadan will be over in about ten days after which finding these dates may not be so easy! Be right back! 

My new pack of Iranian dates

Right, I’m back. With a brand new pack of Iranian dates. I can’t read the box properly, but I think they are from Bam, Iran. I think. It seems Muhammad’s practice of breaking his fast with dates has sound wisdom in it. When you’ve been fasting all day your body will be depleted of carbohydrate energy. Eating some dates first thing will provide a source of quick digesting high GI carbohydrates to give your muscles a quick source of energy. It seems this fact may also be part of the reason why I am addicted to Iranian dates. High glycaemic index (GI) foods can be addictive like drugs. Consuming high GI foods causes blood sugar levels to rise quickly. Apparently this sugar rush stimulates the same part of the brain that drugs and nicotine addiction do. It really does feel like a full blown addiction to Iranian dates. I feel a very strong impulse to break the rules for them. I have not felt a similar craving for caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, meat, or anything else that I have banned for the detox. Then again I’m not sure the high GI of Iranian dates is solely to blame, as I don’t feel the same addiction for say mangoes or any other high GI fruit. Perhaps there is an element of convenience with dates. They are the same size as sweets. I don’t need to wash them or cut them, like I would need to do for a mango. And maybe because they are small I may feel as though it’s just a minor sneaky break of the rules.

In the evening I ate buckwheat with moong dal chilka and snacked on a handful of mixed nuts and mixed seeds.

Following my decision to consume only liquids during the day yesterday, my weight stayed constant at 68.3kg, my Body fat dropped 0.1% to 18.0% while water content and body muscle stayed constant at 56.3% and 42.6%. It seems the new regime hasn’t made much of a difference, yet. Perhaps I ate too much last night when I did start eating solids. 

During the day I didn’t do a workout. I’m almost a week behind in blog posts and I want to focus the next few days on catching up on them before resuming my workouts. 

Throughout the day while I was sat at my computer I consumed numerous hot drinks. I also made a vegetable soup and snacked on that on a few occasions to give me something more satisfying while waiting for my evening meal. I’ve forgotten the exact details of what I consumed, however to give you an idea, I was sat writing all day and I pretty much always had something to sip on that was sugar free. I have no fruit in the flat at the moment so I didn’t drink any fruit juices. 

In the evening I had some whole grain basmati rice with mung dal chilka. Later in the evening I also ate an Anwar Retol mango and a handful of nuts and mixed seeds. 

No caffeine for 40 days

I’ve cut out caffeine for this detox. But what’s wrong with caffeine anyway? It is a diuretic, which means it takes water out of your body’s cells and causes you to urinate more. Dehydration can lead to headaches, feeling weak and muscle cramps. Caffeine in large amounts can also lead to the body losing calcium and potassium causing sore muscles and delayed recovery of muscles after a workout. Caffeine is a stimulant, too much of which can speed up your heart, cause nervousness, irritability, anxiety and disturb your sleep. Caffeine increases the workload of the liver as it is the main detoxifying organ for caffeine. It increases stress as it stimulates your fight or flight mode when it’s not needed. It increases the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood, which can lead to an increase in abdominal fat. It reduces the brains ability to problem solve. It decreases oxygen in the blood and overall blood flow to the brain.  There is a long list of problems with consuming caffeine and this is why I’ve removed it from my diet for the purpose of this detox.

Here is a list of caffeine free hot drinks I’ve been consuming along with their benefits:

1. Redbush Tea from the Redbush Tea Company: it is 100% natural and caffeine free. It has less than half the amount of tannin found in ordinary black tea which can prevent the absorption of iron and protein in your body. It contains nine trace minerals which gives it many healing abilities. It increases the memory and helps fight the ageing process of the brain. It has been used to treat skin allergies, eczema, stress sleep problems, indigestion, infection and inflammation.
2. Apple and Cinnamon Twist from the London Fruit and Herb Company: this tea smells and tastes great. I find it a particularly good choice during a cold night to give me a cosy Christmassy feel.
3. Winter Spice by Twinings: a similar effect to the above tea, this has been designed specifically with the scents of Christmas to make you feel warm on a winter night.
4. Cleanse by Pukka: contains organic nettle, fennel and peppermint tea to purify your skin.
5. Detox by Pukka: contains aniseed, fennel and cardamom to cleanse and revive you. I just love the taste of the aniseed in this tea and drink unsweetened.
6. Pure Peppermint by Twinings: I’ve been drinking this tea first thing in the morning when I’ve had no lemons left in the flat. It is also great after eating dinner as it is good at soothing the stomach and aiding in digestion.
7. A moment of calm selection by Twinings: this pack contains a selection of five different flavours from Twinings designed to soothe and calm you. Twinings are currently my favourite manufacturer of delicious teas.
8. Organic Dandelion by Clipper: to be totally honest this is my least favourite tea in terms of taste, simply because it doesn’t seem to have any. However, benefits wise it has many: it’s good for digestion; purifies the blood; enhances detoxification; reduces bloating and water retention; reduces inflammation of the gall bladder and bile duct; good for reducing rheumatism and arthritis; optimises liver, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach and gall bladder functions; and reduces cholesterol. Dandelion has a long list of health benefits.
9. Pure Camomile by Twinings: This tea tastes great as does Twinings Apple and Camomile. Camomile is good for insomnia; anxiety; muscle twitches, stomach problems and skin conditions.
10. Fresh and Fruity Selection from Twinings: this pack contains a selection of five different flavours from Twinings designed to bring some fruity colour into your day. If I feel like something a bit exciting I’ll choose a tea from this fine selection.
11. Detox by Dr Stuart’s: this tea has dandelion, burdock, peppermint and spearmint designed to “spruce up your insides”.
12. Nescafe Gold Blend Decaf: though there is no mention of caffeine on the packaging of this decaf coffee I have just found out that decaf coffee as well as decaf tea still has caffeine in it. This means I should stop drinking this during this detox!

I had discovered earlier during the detox that decaf tea still had caffeine in it, however it has only just come to my attention that decaf coffee also still contains small amounts of caffeine. Luckily, I’ve only occasionally indulged in a cup of decaf coffee during the detox. But from now on I shall stop doing even that.