Day 11

My tea decided to kick in early in the morning. Real early. At 3:00, while people were still drinking at the bar below, I was stumbling in the dark to the restroom, which I visited three more times in the next 1.5 hours. Then it was my boyfriend’s turn. I didn’t sleep all that well as a result, and had to be awake at 6:30 as it was. It was Saturday, but it wasn’t a break for me. I had a seminar to go to at 10, and we were heading to the local greenmarket at 8:00 to pick up vegetables for the soup we were making when we broke the cleanse. My boyfriend had woken up still feeling not great, and was set on Day 11 being the final day. He wanted to finish the day out, though I encouraged him to just stop then if he didn’t feel well. I was still on the fence, I felt well enough to continue, but didn’t want to split up. As we picked up some fresh, local, organic produce, I got more excited about the tastes I was missing. Asparagus, tomatoes, potatoes, scallions, onions, leeks, peppers, cucumbers, apples, pears. Everything looked and smelled marvelous. We bought what we needed and I jumped on the subway to go uptown. …As a note, I didn’t SWF that day because of my two-hour no-bathroom period. Not safe.

At the seminar there was a really lovely looking snack table, which I left where it stood. Two co-workers (a guy and a girl) were with me, and though they didn’t mention anything at the breakfast break, at the lunch break the girl asked if I wanted anything, anything at all “want a grape?” No, I was fine. I was, too. I was surprised, again, but I was not hungry at all. Even in the tiniest bit. It was marvelous to not have that yoke hanging around my neck. I didn’t feel like I had to rush to the snack table, like I normally would have. I wasn’t drinking my juice, though, because of the layout of the seminar it would have been really awkward to break out the giant bottle I had with me. We got out at 2, and I drank some then, wanting to get some calories in me.

The day was beautiful and my boyfriend and I headed to the park for a while. While we were there I decided I would end the cleanse with him. I was starting to get worried about the Senna Tea as it was, and, though I felt fine, it would be difficult to have different eating schedules at this point. I was also the better versed on cleanse info, so I didn’t want to be in a position of trying to give him whatever advice I could though I wasn’t going through it myself. We stopped to get some tea after that and paid great attention to our taste-buds. They were going to be in a whole new world in the next couple days. As I started drinking the juice later, at around 5:00 my stomach started bubbling up. That was enough to clench it. I’m sure it would have passed quickly (it had before), but we excitedly drove to the store at 7:30, picked up orange juice and a couple more veggies, and went home. I took a couple table spoons of syrup to make up for the juice I wasn’t drinking, and said good-bye to the lemonade. We got another movie, drank water, and went to bed. No tea.

Was I disappointed to end the cleanse before I felt I had to? Sure. Neither of our tongues had quite finished clearing (though they were getting better by the day), and I felt like I could keep going for a few more days, even with my Senna concerns. I was, however, looking forward to food. All those flavors out there were calling to us. Plus, being a few days before my birthday, I could eat something then—though still not cake… I decided solidarity was best on this, and didn’t regret my choice.

Total lbs lost: 9.5