Nicole, my partner in the cleanse, and I had “real” (and by real, I mean not) food for breakfast at the Ccoastal Kitchen. I had the goat cheese rhumba, with spinach and eggs and cilantro, and some tea. Not the healthiest breakfast, but a little gift to myself since I stuck religiously to the cleanse for two weeks.Diana and I were going to have dinner this weekend at Platanos in the Mission, but just found out that the chef there was killed a couple of blocks from there last night. I think that’d be kind of creepy to eat somewhere when the body’s not even cold yet.
Day 14
So today is Day 14 of the cleanse. Man, oh, man, if I wasn’t going to San Francisco this weekend, I’d continue to do it. A hydrotherapist I worked with has been on a raw foods diet for the past two years, and looks extraordinarily healthy. She told me that she covered her stove with a board and uses it for extra counter space. I don’t think I could go that far.So now it’s time to think about new ways of doing things. I am, quite internally, starting from scratch, and giving new thought as to what I want to put in my body, and what sort of exercise I want to do in order to achieve my perceived ideal weight (according to the Body Mass Index) of 175. I’m almost there, at 184.
Gerald Collier
I got to go out tonight. Gerald Collier — a former bartender at my old watering hole – played at Molly’s tonight. He has an alt-country sort of feel to his music, and probably the most pleasant voice I’ve ever heard. He’s one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met in this city, and has the sort of inner peace that attracts people to him. After trying out what a national scale feels like, he’s found happiness in a local existence, where his conversation and musical talents don’t need to be watered down via a media company.
The shuttle Columbia exploded on re-entry – Yow.
I’m on Day 10 of the cleanse. There was great temptation tonight, however, as Molly’s makes really good Irish food, and the smell of mashed potatoes and shepherd’s pie was permeating the establishment.
Deep breathing
I need to learn deep breathing and get back into meditation and yoga. It’s difficult for me to initially start, but once I get going with it, I wonder why I hadn’t done it earlier.
“Oh, yeah! I knew this guy at this party where someone bought one of those strobe lights from Radio Shack, and turned it on, and the guy was shaking all over the place, and it turns out he had epilepsy, and it was a convulsion, and he’s like ‘TURN THAT THING OFF!'”
Overheard on Capitol Hill
Avoiding the cleansing “crisis”
Day one of the cleanse brings back some of the memories of the last time I tried this, June of 2002. I was drinking alcohol in moderately high volumes and two shots of espresso a day. And then I went directly to the restrictions of the cleanse. Bad idea. Day four of that cleanse brought severe caffeine withdrawal headaches, and on day five, I spent the evening at Indian Oven eating a most delicious curry. There’s a schedule involved with vitamins, shakes and two meals in 1 1/2 hour intervals, and to work properly, it needs to be adhered to. I’m not used to this kind of structure, but I figure I can handle it for a couple of weeks.
Pre-Cleanse
Nicole is my cleansing companion. We have decided to cleanse for 14 days concurrently beginning tomorrow, and talk about how we’ll do it and make it easy on ourselves. Really, the cleanse starts tonight with a dinner of a piece of fruit early in the evening to give the digestive system a slight preparation of what’s to come. Over the next 14 days, Nicole and I will eat nothing but raw organic fruits and vegetables, with added supplements and bentonite clay shakes that are part of a cleansing kit. There’s only one place in Seattle we’ll be able to eat out: the Gravity Bar, a vegetarian restaurant that actually has a menu that fits the restrictions of the next couple of weeks. I’ve prepared for this two weeks in a big way: no coffee since December 31st, and limiting my alcohol intake to 2 drinks when I go out (usually, 3 nights a week).
I have to do this. After food poisoning and a sluggish body and mind, it’s time to wake up.
Zed and cabaret
I’ve discovered my new favorite show. It’s on CBC, and it’s called ‘Zed’. It showcases short independent films, and musicians, from mostly Canada, but including the US, UK and Australia. My Tivo taped it while I was gone, and I’m hooked. It’s on five nights a week, and positively the best television I’ve seen in awhile. I don’t know if PBS has an equivalent – I doubt it.
Tonight I had my last real dinner, and alcohol, for awhile, as I begin my cleanse tomorrow night. Thankfully, my Italian cabaret-chantreuse friend Julie is cooking at her place. She’s a true artist, and really believes in what she does – the pursuit of her craft is at the forefront of her existence. I’m fortunate to know her.
Resolutions
New Year’s Resolutions: I’ve decided to lose a little bit of weight (to 175 from my current 195) and go off coffee, but as far as the coffee thing goes, that might be for a couple of months to decaffeinate my system, and then maybe once a week or so. That, and being a vegetarian plus salmon – I’m concerned about mercury levels in fish, and salmon has the lowest concentration, so I guess I’m tempering my mercury intake.