Adam Detoxifies: Day 8

So far, so good. No cigarettes, and still haven't veered from the prescribed diet. Well, OK, I'll admit it: I did accidentally eat half of a Werthers candy today.

I've been eating a lot of almonds, stir fry, and fish. I've learned how to make some interesting dishes such as black bean soup and artichoke heart hummus. I've even started roasting my own almonds.

But man, I miss the rest of the food spectrum. The worst is walking outside of a Thai restaurant on a cool, crisp evening when smells linger longer and have fewer peers to compete with. So tempting... There's a lot of things I'm looking forward to eating in 4 days.

I'm also looking forward to being able to eat out again! It's hard not being able to grab that slice of pizza on the way to your next appointment.

This is the first self-imposed diet-type thing I've ever done, and it's made me a lot more conscious of my eating choices. I'd like to say my energy level is higher than before, but its not - probably due to the lack of selection for food.

Do I feel detoxified yet?

Meh. I want a donut.

Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox: Adam detoxifies

After a weekend trip to Vancouver I was chatting with Jason, my roomate, and warned him about impending unpredictability due to my intentions of quitting tobacco, and he shared his successful strategy: the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox program.

Not really intended as a 'quit smoking' scheme, the primary purpose of the Wild Rose program is to "support the body's systems of elimination," thereby removing accumulated toxicities in the liver, colon, kidneys and lymphatic glands.

It involves taking herbal supplements, laxatives, and following a strict but manageable meal plan: no flour products, no sugar, no dairy, no tropical fruits or fruit juices, and no alcohol or other stimulants for 12 days.

And so we shared a bottle of wine that night and nearly finished an entire block of aged cheddar cheese. The next morning we went out and bought the kits, and as I write this we are at day 3 of 12 - so far so good.

I did a little bit of online research and apparently some people get a bit sick on this program, but other than rather frequent visits to the washroom I seem to be doing fine... so far!

It's an interesting challenge as your diet really influences many other parts of your life - your social activities, pasttimes, etc. From refusing offers of lifesavers to catching myself as I'm about to pour milk into my coffee to bringing my own popcorn to the movies...

I'm already trying new foods, and expect to learn a lot by the time these 12 days are up. Stay tuned for more updates as the program unfolds.

Sunday Morning Photographs

Here is a piece of advice that will serve you very well if heeded:

The best time to take photos is at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning.

Today I woke up early for a photo safari and got some interesting results...



But first, a short story:

A few months ago my backpack was swallowed by Thetis Lake along with my cellphone, mp3 player, journal, a tub of roasted red pepper hummus, and a few rolls of film.


Thankfully, the event was witnessed by a gaggle of kokanee-drinking 15 year olds, one of whom scaled down the cliff to retreive the bag before it disappeared into the depths forever.


Later, when I tried to develop the film they told me it was wet and that I had to let it sit in the sun for a while.

And so I did.

I put the film on my windowsill, and forgot about it, as I was too broke to be able to develop it anyways.

Then this morning I took some more photos. I used the old film and took new photos overtop of the old ones.

I didn't know the old ones were there.