Day Eleven my first free day

I'm counting this as day eleven of my juice fast, even though (yes I know) I was not juice fasting today...this was my free day. Since it's past midnight here...I am back on the juice fast.

So free day. I know that this may be a touchy issue with some of you. There are a lot of people who say that you absolutely MUST break a fast in a certain way. Some common advice on how to "properly" break a fast that I found on the Internet is:

• Make the period of time that you take to gradually reintroduce foods into your diet approximately half the time that you were on the fast. So, since I've been juicing for ten days, that would be a five day period to slowly break the fast; during which, I would be slowly introducing fresh fruit and vegetables, then light foods like soups, broths, and smoothies. 
• Don't rush or eat a large heavy meal.

As far as I can find, the worst thing that will actually happen to you if you don't follow this advice is flatulence, nausea, constipation, stomach ache, vomiting and diarrhea. ...And I was willing to risk it. I had cravings that would only shut up if I promised that I would eat some pickles, root beer and a taco today. Going from pretty much eating whatever I wanted, to just fresh fruit and vegetable juice was amazingly difficult. And I only came this far BECAUSE I allowed myself this free day. Now I'm not good at restraint. This is a skill that I am learning and building within myself, so who knows where I'll be with this down the road? In a few weeks or months, I may feel differently about this. But this is a journey that I will experience first hand. And right now, I need my free days. I don't think I gained weight today. But I also know that I didn't lose any either. So free days are basically a wash. They serve as a way for me to take a break from the austerity of fasting and also allow me to continue on for longer periods of juicing. (At least..that's what I think of them today.)

So what did I eat? -Everything. I had: an egg sandwich, 7 Pizza Bites, 3 Bagel Bites, a taco, a bean burrito with extra onions, a grilled cheese sandwich, HALF a jar of pickles, two liters of diet root beer, a slice of pizza, some jalapeño chips, a sip of cherry icee, and a handful of skittles. So all in all a pretty horrible day diet wise. It tasted great but had almost no nutritional value. But what I was really testing out was how would my body respond? Would I be doubled over in pain? Would explosions of diarrhea come flying out of my ass? The answer is: No. I was fine. I felt pretty much the same. Not tip top yet, but not horrible either. I did notice that I got full with much less food. Nothing too dramatic. A good example would be dinner; it had been about 3 hours since I had eaten, and I ended up having one slice of pizza for dinner (and I couldn't even finish the slice!). Now granted...this is a monstrously large, deep-dish, Chicago-style pizza. But still...before this juice fast, I could have easily eaten two slices, plus a salad. And now, I was full for the rest of the evening on one slice. This is not too bad. I had a lot of different foods, but most of it was in very small portions. I pretty much grazed my way through the last twenty-four hours, and my tummy is no worse for the wear. I think this may be because I am in a way still digesting and drinking juice, so it's not like my body is going from complete nothing to digesting a shoe. I plan on trying a more traditional "break" from the fast in the future. I'm curious to see how it will fare compared to today?

Things I learned today:

1. Contrary to what many, many, many people will say on the interwebs; you CAN break a fast and just start eating. Nothing truly horrible happens. The worst that might happen is an upset tummy and some gas. But even that doesn't always happen. I do think that the more traditional way of breaking a fast, slowly, and by gradually introducing small amounts of lean healthy foods into your diet, probably IS the best way to do it. I'm just saying that if you don't do it that way, and just rush out and get some Taco Bell...nothing really happens. At least...nothing really happened to me. Who knows about you?
2. Nathan's Kosher pickles are not only delicious. But they also only have 5 calories each, making them an awesome guilt-free snack. 
3. Towards the end of my free day I actually did crave juice and fresh water. 
4. My eyes are always bigger then my stomach.