Remember when at the beginning of this thing I was talking about that mild upper abdominal discomfort that I was experiencing about a year and a half ago that sent me to the doctor?

Well, mysteriously, it’s come back, somewhat. And I’m not sure why. Why would the same issue I had when I weighed 10 to 15 pounds more and ate lots of foods high in cholesterol reappear when I shift to a purely vegan diet?

As I mentioned, two different doctors and multiple types of tests never found a good reason for the location or on-and-off nature of the pressure. Yes, my liver was “fatty,” but why would it be “fattier” now than then? My now-regular doctor theorized it was a muscle, not an internal issue. And sure enough, when I began to regularly get back to the gym, the pain dissipated.

Between the holidays, my workload and this detox (which really doesn’t afford me enough calories to do much more exercise than walking), I haven’t been to the gym in more than three weeks. I notice this discomfort only really appears when I’ve been sitting at a desk for long hours — which I do daily, obviously. So what I’m hoping is that once I ramp up the caloric intake again and re-diversify my diet, returning to the gym regularly will fix whatever this is.

Does anyone else have this problem, though? I know people get back problems from bad office seating, but anything like this? I dunno, would be great to know I’m either not alone or not dying.

Otherwise, tonight I tried adding jasmine rice back into the food game, because we’re coming to the last 36 hours of Detox Week and as I wrote at some point in the last week, I didn’t want to drastically return to semi-normalcy. Not a big thing, just steamed rice and vegetables with a splash of Bragg’s Aminos. But remember how I said I’ve had pretty much boundless energy without those post-food comas or mid-day drags? Sure enough, about 15 minutes after finishing dinner, I got sleepy at my desk. I managed to shake it off, but it’s amazing how much more obvious the effects of eating certain types of food are made clear when you can actually isolate the components. Those starches, man, they’ll get you.

I did boil down another batch of vegetable stock, made from all the leftover veggies I’ve accumulated over the last few days, and also cooked up another batch of vegetable stew for lunch or dinner tomorrow. I’m going to be co-hosting a little Christmas Eve gathering at Casa Awesome (as usual), but I think I’m going to take it easy on the snackage and drinkage. I really want to refrain from diving into cookies and potato chips or rum-infused egg nog (actually, no egg nog at all) and shocking my system. Will probably stick with vegan appetizers such as chips and salsa and samosas. Because nothing says “Christmas” like Mexican and Indian food.

Anyway, here’s your second-to-last Detox Week menu from today. Enjoy!

• Breakfast: 1 banana, 1 cup “Dynamo” juice blend
• Morning snack: 1 peanut butter cookie Larabar
• Lunch: Large salad (romaine lettuce, celery, bell peppers, cauliflower, carrots) with Bragg’s Aminos
• Afternoon snack: Mixed raw nuts
• Dinner: Jasmine rice with steamed broccoli, carrots and cauliflower, spritzed with Bragg’s Aminos
• Evening snack: 1 piece raw “fudge” from Go Raw (all gone!)
• Beverages: Water, plus a few swigs of Trader Joe’s “Green Protein” juice blend