Today I started the detox programme. This morning I weighed 142.5lbs. I had gained 10lbs since August last year so I'd be happy to shed them again.
My appointment was at 9am and I turned up a few minutes earlier as advised. The short, stout-looking Indian lady therapist led me to the treatment room. Her English is not strong so she instructs in as few words as possible, like "take your clothes off", "sit", "lie down", "turn over" but her smiles softened the directions. Economical but covers the essentials.
Anyway, I took off all my clothes obediently, then waited for further instructions. She looked at me, pointed at my breasts and said, "take those two off!" I was like, "what?" Then I realised that i had self-consciously put my hands in front of my breasts and I was wearing my watch on my left wrist and a bracelet on my right. And she meant for me to take those two items off. Phew.
She then put a thong on me and told me to sit on the edge of the treatment bed, which looked more like a mortuary slab than a massage bed.
She put some oil on my head, on my face, my chest and back. The oil on my chest and back smelled faintly of eucalytus and was probably for my weak lungs. Then she told me to lie down and oiled me all over with lovely hot oil. After awhile, she told me to turn over and oiled my back. It was a light but firm rub with long strokes and was very pleasant. Though the closest description I can think of is that it is like being basted. Then she asked me to turn over again and i felt like a slippery piece of meat. I guess that is why there is a raised edge on the bed so that people don't slide off. Then she put some nose drops up my nose which wasn't that pleasant.
After the oiling, which took about 30 minutes, she said I could take a shower. She gave me a steel bowl with a yellow powder in it and she made it into a paste and that was my soap. It actually worked quite well. I rinsed off from a tub of hot water (thank goodness I didn't have to have a cold bath!) and after awhile, though I didn't feel that the oil came off completely, I decided to continue bathing at home.
When I came back out to the reception, the therapist gave me a cup of a dark coloured substance which looked like honey. Yum I thought. She also gave me a cup of hot ginger water. So i tried the dark coloured liquid and it was like a thick oil. My natural reaction was to retch. I chased it down with the hot water which helped somewhat. When it got to the bottom of the cup, the oily substance was mixed with some powder which made me retch even more. I managed to finish most of it but couldn't quite get to the end.
I showered again when I got home but the oil is still there. I guess it could be like a natural moisturiser. I now also smell a bit like Bangalore. Guess I will not have any special social events for the next 7 days.
So now I fast until 4pm when I can have a bowl of plain porridge. That would be all I eat today and then I go back to be oiled tomorrow. I can also have ginger water - which is made with a piece of crushed ginger boiled in water.
4.41pm: I'm not that hungry though I was feeling peckish - more because of the habit of eating and the yearning for taste rather than actual hunger. Anyway, at 4pm, I have had a bowl of porridge. It was very bland and tasteless. I'd love to add garlic and spring onions and century egg and salted egg to it but plain porridge it is. It will be an interesting 5 days of this.
5.56pm: I'm now having a tummy ache and have been going to the toilet.
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