I recently took a long overdue vacation and instead of heading out on a road trip I instead did the aptly named “stay-cation”. If you don’t know, stay-cation just means you don’t travel anywhere, you just hang around your house and perhaps visit some friends and family. That’s just what I did.
One of these trips leads to a friend of mines house whom I had not seen in months. He and I became friends while working for the same company but a few months ago … perhaps a year now, he took a job with another company. While I hate not seeing him more regularly I’m glad he took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself. An advantage of not seeing a friend for a while is that changes that happen slowly over time seem more dramatic. My buddy has been working on his health and has lost a significant amount of weight. As weight loss and overall health is something that’s on my mind as well I asked what specifically he was doing. No tricks or anything, just making better choices, being a little more active, etc. He did point out that he had a unique morning routine.
Now my mornings are pretty chaotic. I’m up, saying hello to the kids and then running out the door. Rarely do I take time for breakfast which means I’m stopping and grabbing something along the way. Needless to say, this is not the wisest of options and certainly not good for my long-term health. My buddy tells me how he mixes a solution of soluble and insoluble fiber and tosses in a vitamin C supplement and drinks it all down as part of his morning routine.
I should stress, what I’m about to tell you I don’t recommend to anyone. ANYONE. If you follow this advice then you’re doing so at your own risk. I am not a medical professional and I’m not giving medical advice.
So I purchase the non-name brand versions of these powders, I picked mine up at the local store but they are available on Amazon as well. I got Equate brand Fiber Powder and Equate brand Fiber Therapy. For my vitamin-c enrichment I picked up, you guessed it, Equate brand Immune Support. The directions state to mix 1 teaspoon of the powder with so much liquid and drink. The Immune Support you just drop into a glass of water and let it dissolve. However, my friend never does anything halfway or by the book … so he mixes a tablespoon of each powder (so 2 tablespoons total) and tosses in the Immune Support for good measure. I follow his instructions, and his advice to not let the mixture set too long. Anyone having experience with quick setting cement will get the picture. So I quickly down the concoction before it could begin to setup. I was doing this on the waning days of my stay-cation as I did not want to experiment on myself as I returned to work.
I’m glad I didn’t. He had warned me about making certain I drank enough liquids. For whatever foolish reason, on this one day, I didn’t drink my normal 80oz of water. It ended up taking over 26 hours before things finally, “moved along”. Prior to that, I was in so much pain from the bloating and the back up that I couldn’t lay on my stomach. Now, 26 hours means I passed another morning breakfast where I should have had another fiber flavor aide, did I?
Of course, however, I did not follow his directions the second go round. First I assumed my body needed to acclimate to the abundance of fiber I was putting through it. Second, I realized that I should probably work up to it. So I started with one teaspoon each and as of late I’ve been doing 2 teaspoons each. I still drop in the Immune Support which with its effervescent powers seems to fluff up the mix. I drink my warriors drink in the morning and enjoy an egg. I have not stopped for breakfast for almost 2 weeks now. I’ll certainly say that things are moving along nicely and that I’m not starving come lunch time.
I should add … I typically don’t have an issue with going to the restroom. My problem has always been an overactive system in that I go too much. Add to that having my gallbladder removed and well it’s just a recipe for an unfortunate accident. Since having Snell’s Sludge, my new name for this mix, things have slowed down and I’m not as sick to my stomach as I used to be. I think in part because I’m not eating the crap served through drive throughs, and I’m settling into a solid morning routine.
If you wonder the name, Snell’s Sludge … well make some for yourself and let it sit for about 5 minutes before drinking. It turns into the consistency of really thick applesauce. Let it set longer and it’ll hold a spoon up in the glass. Yes, I know that means it turns into that in my system but I think that’s part of how it works. The thickness keeps you full and when it moves on down the road it scours the gut of old junk that would otherwise get left behind. Gut health, I have found, is so important to overall health.
Again, I’m not saying this is for everybody or even anybody. But I’m having good results with it and while I don’t know that it’ll lead to any weight loss, I know it’s already lead to me feeling better … at least in the crappy sense.