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The "Cleanse"


weinoo

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So, this being 2011 and only 514 years from the year 2525 ("in the year 2525..." - you all remember that one, right?), I decided to do a little bit of a "cleanse."

Trust me when I say a little bit. That is, for the first three weeks of the year, I'm giving up booze. Which ain't easy. I just felt that it might be a good thing to do...don't ask me why.

But, does it do anything health-wise for me? Other than some lame, pat-myself-on-the-back ego boost?

I know others speak of cleansing with reverence.

Do you cleanse? What do you cleanse yourselves of and why?

And, is once a lifetime enough?

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

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But, does it do anything health-wise for me? Other than some lame, pat-myself-on-the-back ego boost?

Well, it'll be three weeks of not ingesting empty or mostly empty calories (except for cocktails with egg whites), which couldn't hurt and might help.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

"...in the mid-’90s when the internet was coming...there was a tendency to assume that when all the world’s knowledge comes online, everyone will flock to it. It turns out that if you give everyone access to the Library of Congress, what they do is watch videos on TikTok."  -Neil Stephenson, author, in The Atlantic

 

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer

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Good for you! If nothing else you will become aware of how strong your desire/dependency is or is not.

In college I would periodically fast for a couple of days - if only so I would appreciate dorm food. Now, I periodically detox from caffeine. If I get a headache I know it was time.

It's almost never bad to feed someone.

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Well, I do do something like this from time to time. I doubt it makes any difference to one's health. But it's like any other sort of variation from the norm, if nothing else it makes one appreciate things differently when one is de-cleansing. And it surely can't hurt.

It's a bit like eating seasonally. It's not just that spring asparagus and summer berries taste better than the jet-set fruits of winter, but that the absence of these things for large parts of the year somehow makes the heart grow fonder.

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Two weeks in and it's driving me nuts.

What exactly are you supposed to do sober on a Friday night?

This is my skillet. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My skillet is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me my skillet is useless. Without my skillet, I am useless. I must season my skillet well. I will. Before God I swear this creed. My skillet and myself are the makers of my meal. We are the masters of our kitchen. So be it, until there are no ingredients, but dinner. Amen.

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Seriously? The same thing you do any other evening... if you really don't know what to do with yourself without a drink in your hand, that suggests that it was MORE than time for you to do this, and you should consider extending your abstinence period until you figure out how to manage life without it. Alcohol is like anything else - great in moderation, but hardly the be-all-and-end-all of existence.

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Two weeks in and it's driving me nuts.

What exactly are you supposed to do sober on a Friday night?

Wait, you're including weekends in this thing? Wow, that is dedication. Crazy, insane dedication.

I suppose the health benefit is not being hung over on Saturdays. Or Sundays. And occasionally Mondays.

 

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According to my DOC,(MD),2 "proof OZ".daily of(pure alcohol,(ie 5oz of 80proof,(40%alc), is good for you...

Who am I to argue????

Bud

I like your doctor's formula.

I've given up booze for January and have eaten primarily lean fish and salads since the new year...and the way my pants fit already shows it.

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Unless you have a problem with alcohol, or just want to give yourself a bit of a break from the extra calories, this won't make a huge difference physically, since it doesn't build up in your system the way some foods can, if you overeat. On the other hand, it can be good to step back and look at things you normlly take for granted, like what you eat and drink.

I've done a few fasting cleanses, which make me feel great physically, but unfortunately also make me practically homicidal, so I seldom do one more frequently than every couple of years; over the long term, I don't think they change much, unless you've really been rough on your body, although they do give you chance to consider what, if anything, you'll change about how you eat, once you resume.

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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