The Purple Almond

Day two of my 72- hour herbal tea fast. It’s been about 20 hours since my last solid meal. I’ve been drinking my red tea, as well as matcha green tea. I had Kettle & Fire Chicken Bone Broth for dinner last night and for lunch today. For more info on bone broth see THIS ARTICLE. Bone broth is amazingly healthy and I feel a good addition to this fast.

If you’re not familiar with Kettle & Fire, it’s considered the gold standard of prepared bone broth, if you’re too busy (or lazy in my case) to prepare your own. (and it tastes AMAZING!) Made in the USA, they use 100% grass fed beef bones or organic chicken bones and slow simmer them for up to 24 hours at 130 degrees. It’s amazing stuff!

Anyone familiar with my blog, knows I struggle with sinus problems. I did an elimination diet last year and discovered a whole host of foods that contribute to the headaches. While that helped tremendously, I still wake up, on occasion, with sinus headaches, as was the case this morning. This tells me I haven’t healed whatever is wrong with my sinuses, I am only avoiding headaches, by avoiding problem foods. So, my search for a sinus headache “cure” will continue, but first the fast and detox symptoms.

The main issues I’m having today are mainly hunger (a given I guess) and a fairly decent sinus headache. Normally, I’d take pain meds for them, but I can’t today, since I’m fasting and detoxing. It doesn’t really pay to detox, if I add to the toxin load with pain meds.

If you’ve never done a detox program, let me tell you, things definitely get worse before they get better. Your body depends on glucose for energy, and normally gets that through the food you eat. It takes some of that glucose and stores it in the form of glycogen, in your liver and muscle tissue, for a quick source of energy. Your body doesn’t store a lot of glycogen, approximately 300 – 400 grams in the muscles and up to 100 grams in the liver. When you’re on a fast, like I am, your glycogen stores deplete rather quickly, since I’m not getting any real calories. So, mother nature dips into the fat reserves for energy. (Which is the whole point, right) There is a problem to this, however….

Your liver is the main detox organ. On a daily basis, you are bombarded with toxins in food and the air around you. In an effort to protect the body, the liver stores the toxins in the fat. So, when you are on a fast, or detox, as I am, these toxins are getting released into my blood stream.

The release of toxins can cause what’s known as a “healing crisis“. This is when your body is struggling to deal with the toxins that have been loaded into the bloodstream from the release of fat. You need to help them get out of the body, or they’ll just end up going back into the fat.

The only symptoms I’m having right now are my sinus headache, hunger pangs, and fatigue. A healing crisis is a fairly normal part of detoxing, and to be expected. You just need to help your liver move things along with a few simple strategies. Keep in mind, if you have a known chronic illness, or disease. DO NOT detox without the support of a nutritionist and your doctor. Detoxing can be especially hard on the liver. AND, if you’re already sick, your liver is already in a weakened state. Something to keep in mind.

The herbs in the red tea are designed to help the liver with the detox and flush the body of toxins. I’m drinking 48 ounces of tea and a gallon (128 ounces) of water. This isn’t my first detox/fast, so I knew what to expect.  The first three days are always the worst, which is why I started on a weekend. It’s also good to have a detox “buddy”. I’m lucky to have my significant other doing the detox with me. So, I have built in support.

Until next time…

NAMASTE MY FRIENDS!