The Proof of the Pudding...

... really is in the eating. With apologies for the longer than usual blogpost here, but last weekend I accidentally seemed to undergo some sort of unplanned science experiment, the results of which I would not have believed if it hadn't happened to me.

But first, let me take you back to last Friday 13th September, the last day of my juice fast.

So, after my day off the previous week, I returned to the strict regime although I must admit to also sneaking the odd handful of nuts or other healthy morsel leading up to the Friday - the last day of the fast. I avoided unhealthy or processed stuff and it literally was only a bite or two of anything but personally I could not wait for the weekend.  I think my appetite had been whetted quite a bit.

Yes, yes, I was missing food.  Big time.

The weight loss had got up to 2 stone 6lbs over the 30 days, so had slowed considerably and who knows, if I had not veered slightly off course may have topped the 2.5 stone mark, but that's good enough really. The lighting in the photographs isn't overly flattering but there is a big difference from the initial picture taken, especially in the torso.  My clothes are much looser and there are a couple of suit jackets that just hang off me. I must have lost 3-4 inches off my chest measurement.

Abi, Dawns brother Mark's girlfriend, had come down on the Friday and we had a busy weekend planned, so it was good to finish and be able to eat "normally". We celebrated with a whisky (or 3) on the Friday night and I couldn't wait for Saturday morning.

Well, that was a mistake.  I had not had a drop of the spirit for over a month and when I awoke on Saturday morning I felt decidedly woolly headed... not a feeling I had become recently accustomed too!

I had some work to do (as usual) so took myself into the office at about 8:00am.  For once, I did not make a juice and instead paid a visit to my local Costa to grab a drink "to go" but, instead of opting for my usual Chai Latte or Cappuccino accompanied by a Belgian Brownie or cupcake, I elected for a healthy Gingersnap Peach fruit tea and a Granola bar; a healthy-ish option I think?

I did however struggle to get going.  I was paper shuffling and email checking for far too long and it was a good hour before I managed to get stuck into the work that I really needed to do.  For most of the previous month I had managed just to get up and come to work, hitting the ground running. I should have taken notice of this warning sign.

Saturdays lunch was a simple bowl of muesli with some chopped up fresh plums - see, that's also quite healthy - and I had nothing more than water or fruit teas to drink until we went out for an evening meal to a beautiful and quirky local restaurant in Southend called Bacchus, which is well worth a visit.  Beautiful food. It's part of the San Fairie Ann group and their website is here - http://www.sanfairieann.com/.  It is a fine dining restaurant but not ridiculously expensive.  We had a main course and dessert, with a couple of drinks each - no bottles of wine - and including a decent tip came to £70 per couple, certainly not OTT in todays market.  My Lamb shank was delicious and fell off the bone. All in all, we enjoyed a good evening with good company, being Mark and Abi, and one of Mark's old friends Brian plus a friend, who really, really didn't want her picture taken so I've done the decent thing and edited the photo slightly.

We didn't go mad with the drinks - just 3 for me all night including the late one on the way back at Zabranos in Leigh - and looked forward to Sunday and the birthday party we'd planned for Mark's birthday earlier that week and also my son Dave's birthday on the Saturday.  The weather forecast was meant to be rotten so the original BBQ was in doubt, but as it transpired I managed to get started and most of it done before the rain came.  Anyway... what's a British summer without at least one BBQ in the rain?  Many thanks to Dawn's old friend and Godfather to her children, Simon, who had to resort to extreme measures to keep his head dry whilst keeping me company in the deluge (he's an avid West Ham fan!).

So all went well. I drank about 4 bottles of beer ALL DAY and nothing after 7 o'clock.  The food was usual BBQ fare minus the burgers, so just essentially chicken and sausages with some Samosas, Pakoras and Bhajis that I had heated through. I didn't have the time to make these, so they were shop bought (hangs head in shame). There was however a selection of healthy salads, like home made beetroot coleslaw using yoghurt instead of mayonnaise, tomato, mozzarella and basil, minted potatoes, plus some crisps, sausage rolls, french bread and ciabatta with, naturally, a birthday cake (thank you Home Made Bakery - it was delish.).  Being chef, I didn't really have the chance to eat much so just scavenged the odd bit from the grill and then some of the more "snacky" bits when I returned inside.

So that was my weekend.  Not a juice in sight (it was nice not to have to do all that washing up) and quite busy but certainly not what I would have usually consumed beforehand, so I was patting myself on the back for keeping everything in relative moderation.  I had really enjoyed it.

But then I woke up on Monday.

Well, I cannot remember feeling as bad as that for a long, long time.  Slow, lethargic, woolly headed, nauseous, unable to concentrate... seriously, I was totally shocked.  I had been absolutely fine the night before.  I had too many appointments that day to cancel, otherwise I would have done.  It wasn't something bad like uncooked food, as everyone else was fine; it must have been the type of food that was giving me grief. I went back to juices for the day but it was mid afternoon before I felt any better and in the evening I had exactly the same detox headache that I suffered on Day 3 of the original plan. On the Tuesday I was fine, back to how I had felt, with decent energy levels and clear thinking.

I have spoken to several people this week and have established that yes, because my body had been used to 90% nutrition for the previous month, it was indeed giving me a backlash against all this processed stuff I had shoved into it over the weekend.

Now I don't want to feel like that again.  Ever. I could not believe how just one weekend of mild enjoyment would have had such a monumentous effect on my daily well-being.  Those who know me will probably have said that I was most likely to brush that type of feeling aside with ease, as I have a reputation for an iron constitution, can eat or drink anything, never get hangovers or sick and would have simply dismissed the natural and well being argument as "new age, liberal rubbish."  Well I can tell you that the effect of just one weekend has completely shaken me.

I can't stay on just juices for ever, but I can incorporate at least one or two into my regular diet.  This weekend I am out on Saturday night again at friends for a meal and some drinks but will have a couple of juices during the day, plus Sunday as well (before enjoying my Sunday lunch), and will report back next week as to how that felt on Monday.

Oh, one last thing; the weight loss has now hit the 2.5 stone mark, so no harm done.