So I've been plagued by this cough the last few weeks. A dry, racking, horrible cough, often afflicting me at work when behind the bar, or out and about, making my life a bit miserable. I've had it once or twice before in recent years, but never this bad. It's bad enough that occasionally people will suggest that I give up smoking. Which is funny...since I've never smoked.
Drugs haven't worked. Not much, anyways...one drug slightly alleviated it from time to time, but it still persisted and came back. Nothing's worked. And other than the cough, I feel perfectly fine, and have so the entire time.
So the other night, when this cough deteriorated into me having actual dry heaves, not for the first time (which is very weird when you consider that I don't ever really puke), I decided I needed to try something drastic.
Many years ago, some former coworkers did a system cleansing flush, a several day restricted diet that is supposed to clean all the toxins out of the body. I did it myself, and I fly pretty good afterwards. So, since nothing else has worked for this damn cough, I decided to give the flush another go-round.
Now, it's nothing drastic, like a different "cleansing" some of my current coworkers recently did, which was basically a two week starvation with a lot of water and a daily cayenne pepper/water concoction. To which I say fuck that--starvation, no matter what you call it, is starvation, and I run too high energy for that, especially for two freakin' weeks.
But this other cleanse, while difficult, kinda makes sense. I remember my friends did it for four days, I decided to do it five this time. Here's what it entails:
Drink only water. I drink a lot of Gatorade, so that's tough, but I've gotten through day 2 so far.
No caffeine. Easy. I don't anyway.
No booze. Boo!
No dairy. Goodbye, cheese.
No red or fatty meats. Goodbye, bacon.
No processed foods. Goodbye salami, all condiments, all bottled salad dressings, all bread, all pasta, everything canned, including soups, and on and on.
Fish? Fine.
Seafood? Fine.
Chicken? Fine.
Veggies? Fine.
Fruit? Fine.
So I already eat a bowl of fruit every morning.
I went shopping yesterday and bought tons of stuff for salads, some chicken, some fish, some snacky fruits, and some cashews, also for snacks. Came home and prepped msot of it, then made myself dinner.
Day 1: bowl of fruit for breakfast. Dinner was a massive salad of spinach, jicama, bell pepper, red onion, zucchini, cucumber, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, a dressing I made of olive oil and fresh lime juice, and some chicken tenders I cooked up on the stove.
Day 2: bowl of fruit for breakfast. At work, had some blackened mahi and some saffron rice our chef had made for a special (rice, saffron, chicken broth--fits the diet.) Came home, watched tv, munched on some cashews, some kumquats, and some ham (the only part of my usual sandwich that I can eat).
Tomorrow I plan on making up some yummy home fries (red potatoes, white onion, been pepper, garlic, salt & pepper) and, for another meal, pan sear some fish and do that over another salad.
Thursday and Friday will be entertaining, but along the same lines.
No idea if this will work. But I'm hoping, so hoping, it will. If nothing else, even if the cough persists, I'll have flushed a lot of toxins out of my system.
And appreciate my weekend SO much more.
Damn, I want a beer.
Drugs haven't worked. Not much, anyways...one drug slightly alleviated it from time to time, but it still persisted and came back. Nothing's worked. And other than the cough, I feel perfectly fine, and have so the entire time.
So the other night, when this cough deteriorated into me having actual dry heaves, not for the first time (which is very weird when you consider that I don't ever really puke), I decided I needed to try something drastic.
Many years ago, some former coworkers did a system cleansing flush, a several day restricted diet that is supposed to clean all the toxins out of the body. I did it myself, and I fly pretty good afterwards. So, since nothing else has worked for this damn cough, I decided to give the flush another go-round.
Now, it's nothing drastic, like a different "cleansing" some of my current coworkers recently did, which was basically a two week starvation with a lot of water and a daily cayenne pepper/water concoction. To which I say fuck that--starvation, no matter what you call it, is starvation, and I run too high energy for that, especially for two freakin' weeks.
But this other cleanse, while difficult, kinda makes sense. I remember my friends did it for four days, I decided to do it five this time. Here's what it entails:
Drink only water. I drink a lot of Gatorade, so that's tough, but I've gotten through day 2 so far.
No caffeine. Easy. I don't anyway.
No booze. Boo!
No dairy. Goodbye, cheese.
No red or fatty meats. Goodbye, bacon.
No processed foods. Goodbye salami, all condiments, all bottled salad dressings, all bread, all pasta, everything canned, including soups, and on and on.
Fish? Fine.
Seafood? Fine.
Chicken? Fine.
Veggies? Fine.
Fruit? Fine.
So I already eat a bowl of fruit every morning.
I went shopping yesterday and bought tons of stuff for salads, some chicken, some fish, some snacky fruits, and some cashews, also for snacks. Came home and prepped msot of it, then made myself dinner.
Day 1: bowl of fruit for breakfast. Dinner was a massive salad of spinach, jicama, bell pepper, red onion, zucchini, cucumber, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, a dressing I made of olive oil and fresh lime juice, and some chicken tenders I cooked up on the stove.
Day 2: bowl of fruit for breakfast. At work, had some blackened mahi and some saffron rice our chef had made for a special (rice, saffron, chicken broth--fits the diet.) Came home, watched tv, munched on some cashews, some kumquats, and some ham (the only part of my usual sandwich that I can eat).
Tomorrow I plan on making up some yummy home fries (red potatoes, white onion, been pepper, garlic, salt & pepper) and, for another meal, pan sear some fish and do that over another salad.
Thursday and Friday will be entertaining, but along the same lines.
No idea if this will work. But I'm hoping, so hoping, it will. If nothing else, even if the cough persists, I'll have flushed a lot of toxins out of my system.
And appreciate my weekend SO much more.
Damn, I want a beer.
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