Hungry Hungry Hu
SASA MENSON,
Y WRITING
December 3, 9 a.m. It's day one. Day one means no over-sized muffin for breakfast — apple juice will have to do. It means I can't grab the breadsticks at Wescoe Terrace for lunch — replace that with a glass of cranberry juice. It means no filling up on Diet Coke, munching on Junior Mints, making gooey grilled cheese or adding dessert with dinner. Substitute fruit juice for all of that. Worst, day one means no morning wake-up coffee - including the imitation cappuccino that I can't seem to do without.
It's the beginning of my three day detoxification fast. I'm writing this fasting journal to chronicle my brief experimentation with the healing benefits of alternative medicine. I'm going basic and starting easy; three simple days of juice fasting to detoxify and rejuvenate.
The Web sites, books and pamphlets say this could be the miracle healing method to ease my headaches, tension and stress.
Then again, it could just leave me really, really hungry. Your mother was wrong. Sipping Campbell's chicken noodle when you were sick with the flu was a mistake. Eating the toast with a smidge of butter to set tie your stomach was prolonging the pain. If only you'd been told not to eat and instead try a health fast. It could have rid your body of the toxins and chemicals adding to your illness to quicken a recovery.
Sound irrational? Not to the growing number of KU students trying the ancient method of cleansing. Fasting, despite ongoing controversy over its benefits, is gaining popularity at the University of Kansas. Marty Glenn, clinical dietician at Leavenworth's Veteran's Administration Eastern Kansas Health Care System, says fasting is a hot topic that more and more students in his KU nutrition class are asking about. He says the holistic alternative lifestyle of fasting draws students to the idea.
Hal Sears, wellness manager at the Community Mercantile Co-op, has spent 25 years in the health product industry. Sears says in the past few years, he's seen a wild expansion in supplements, products and customer requests for all things fasting, Pills, cleansers, fiber and pectin stock the shelves in the wellness section of The Merc at 901 Iowa.
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2.17.0.1 Campbay