Earlier today was pretty rough. I think after three full days, today my body realized something is up. Nothing bad happened or anything — I’ve just become acutely aware of being hungry all the time. It’s different from my normal hungry, where psychologically I can satiate myself by going “hey, there’s a sandwich around the corner.” It’s more a dull, constant tingling permeating my very being. It got better after I made dinner, but still …

That led me to ponder a possibly disastrous and ironic side-effect of this whole process that could be a possibility once Detox Week ends on Christmas Eve. What if my body adjusts itself to my new, lower caloric intake by then, slowing down my metabolism to burn through less fuel over longer time? I mean, I’m no nutritionist or physician, but I’m pretty sure something like that isn’t out of the realm of possibility, which means I could very well not only gain weight a week or two after adding breads and whatnot back into my diet, but possibly put myself on the road to weight problems. Sure, I’ll be back at the gym full-on, but what if that’s not enough?

Of course, given my 33 years of non-fat-assedness as proof to the contrary, I shouldn’t worry. But forcing my body to go from eating relatively rich foods every few hours to eating nothing but fruits and veggies with less frequency has to be doing something, right? I guess we’ll just wait and see.

Given the weekend I have ahead, in which a lot of work has to get done as well as a moderate amount of unavoidable (and needed) play, I have to wonder whether I’ll hit a breaking point and give up, or push through past the “withdrawal.” I already planned to begin incorporating whole grain rice into my meals beginning Monday, to begin easing the transition back to “normal.” Hopefully that will be good enough, and there won’t be a mad dash on a Domino’s before then.

So there’s that. In the meantime, here’s the usual daily meal log:

• Breakfast: 1 apple, 1 banana, 1 cup “Dynamo” juice blend
• Morning snack: 1 Apple Pie Larabar
• Lunch: A decently-sized salad — lettuce, tomato, carrot, celery and green bell pepper — lightly mixed with about an ounce of Bragg’s Liquid Amino and some sunflower seeds
• Afternoon snack: 1 navel orange
• Throughout day: Mixed raw nuts
• Dinner: Two small, white boiled potatoes with carrots, broccoli and cauliflower steamed in homemade vegetable broth.
• Beverages: Mostly water, as usual, save for an ounce or two each of Trader Joe’s “Green Protein,” a few ounces of Kombucha tea, and one serving of Trader Joe’s “Green Protein.”