Fruit Detox Follow-Up

Right off the bat I would like to take a moment to lament the sometimes deplorable condition of being female. As I watched 3lbs melt off the first day followed by another 4lbs with the second day of the detox, I realized that mostly what had happened was due to water retention, or what my fellow ladies will attest to as the common ailment of 'bloating'. And lo and behold, upon consultation with my pill pack and realizing that Mother Nature was indeed to pay a visit in the near future, I begrudgingly once again accepted that along with the mood swings, exhaustion and weight gain, what I had just incurred was merely another bout of PMS. Excellent.

Although, I will say I am grateful for following through with my impulsive desire to detox because once again, I found myself bestowed with gems of wisdom along this journey:

#1. Mind Over Matter is only a saying until you put it into practice: 3 days of just fruits was a stretch, even for a fastidious health nut like myself. But once you commit to making a lifestyle change and make it your own decision, that's exactly what it becomes. It's not a fast, it's simply a way of life. I think too often we get caught up in going with the flow, just blindly following those around us because we haven't decided for ourselves how we feel about a particular situation. I encourage you all tonight to find one aspect of your life that you have no strong feelings towards and just try to assess how you really feel about it, free from the constraints of what impressions may have been left by others. Do you really feel that Obama will be able to create peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians? What can YOU do RIGHT NOW to make an impact on global warming? What do you really feel like eating for breakfast tomorrow?

#2. No matter how difficult the situation, always embrace it with open arms: Family medicine is still the bane of my existence, but I've found ways to make the experience my own and grow from it. So I hate treating boring chronic illnesses like hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Ok, but I love talking to people and most of the time, getting people to make the changes necessary to live a healthier life comes from somewhere deeper than prescribing the right medications anyway. So I sit and spend at least 45 mins with my patients and get detailed histories of everything about them, their past, present and future. And more often than not we are able to identify together certain instances that have shaped their ideas of themselves and the world around them and when we address those issues, sometimes we can make headway in improving their outlook and actions on their health. And I've also effectively just killed off about 1/9th of my day.

#3. There is no such thing as failure. It just means that you haven't devoted enough time or the right kind of energy to the problem yet: No one was as surprised as I was tonight when in my yoga class I was able to lift up into Eka Pada Koundiyasana. I have been painstakingly (and i mean PAIN) working on this pose for my entire yoga practicing existence and have never gotten more than some bruises on my arms out of it. But today, despite consuming only fruits for the past 68 hours I took a deep breath, whispered a prayer and then took flight!

I really hope this is what falling in love feels like. You spend all your time sort of taking a stab at it but it's not until you're physically and mentally ready (and you probably will have no idea when that is either) and then there you go! Knight In Shining Armor with a 5 carat ring is executing the most perfectly romantic (and well documented) proposal in front of you, just like you've always imagined but never needed to vocalize, and you have almost no idea how you both got to that moment.

I'm feeling good. There was some awesome Qi generated throughout the past 3 days and even though I was at times wrought with exhaustion, I'm happy to report that there was nothing but more positive personal growth and happy self-identification that took place over the past 72 hours. I'm thinking about trying to stick to just fresh veggies the rest of the week to balance out the nutrients I've been lacking since Monday. And then it's off to Miami to spend a wondrous weekend with one of my dearest friends....and hopefully will be making some new ones as well ;)

I think it would be wise to call it a night soon. Tomorrow is another full 12 hour day in Palm Coast so off to bed I go. Considering the plethora of insightful dreams I've been having the past few nights I feel it appropriate to now quote Shakespeare, for as I head off to bed and towards hopeful enlightenment via the vehicle of the subconscious, I'm off to "unpathed waters, undreamed shores..."