I’m going to vegetate for the next few days – living off nothing but on the graces of God – fresh air, sunshine and water.

With that in mind, I tried to stuff my face the weekend before, unsuccessfully. Dim Sum on Saturday was a let down, maybe because we didn’t have trays upon trays of dumplings on our table. Pizza for dinner was a slap in the face. We ordered WHITE pizza, but burnt cheddar cheese showed up at our door. We had Chinese take out for the last supper, but everything from the ginger chicken to the walnut chicken were either too salty or too sour. The only saving grace was lunch on Sunday of leftover noodles mixed with Japanese curry that I made earlier during the week. The mango/vanilla sorbet after dinner wasn’t too shabby either.

As I sit here, thinking about the food that I had, and am not having, suddenly, the weekend fare doesn’t sound so bad after all. Now you wonder, why I insist on going through this torture? I am not masochistic. Neither am I that vain. It’s my health.

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), and since the medical world do not know the cause and cure for it, I have to rely on the one fact that I know is true. Food hurts. The food in the market today has been biologically altered so much, that it no longer resembles what it used to be. Because of this, the human body reacts very differently to it and in turn, new diseases / pain and aches occur. Different foods cause different reaction for different people. By going for a quarterly all-out cleansing, I can begin anew and reprogram my body. My detox doesn’t seem as painful when I realize the painlessness I am gaining in return for a few days of not eating.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE eating. I eat when I’m stressed. I eat when I’m relaxed. I eat when I’m happy. I eat (a little) when I’m sad. I eat when I’m watching TV (I LOVE watching TV, as much as I love to eat). And according to hubs, he thinks that, I eat when I’m in bed too.

Not eating, then, is a big deal. But, when you have been where I have been, you never want to be back. Not with that kind of pain. Pain that is so unbearable, it makes you feel useless. Pain that is so unbearable, it makes you feel defeated. Pain that is so unbearable, it makes the day go on forever. Pain that is so unbearable, it makes even crawling in bed no respite.

So, as the day comes to an end with my stomach quietly rumbling, I feel my prize is within my grasp.

Days before the detox, my skin started drying up and itching. I have only just realized that I must have a bout with eczema. As I press on to day three of my cleansing, I skin has slowly been revitalized. The peeling, itching and redness has lessened considerably.

As they say, no pain no gain. In this case, I’m cleaning out the system to end the pain. Vegetating can be good.