28 Comments
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Jane Pratt's avatar

Boy, do I love your writing, Charlie, and the way you just go there. Thanks for that!

One particularly insightful concept for me here is the idea of forgetting how to chew. I'm the type of person who, if I think about something, even something involuntary (this has happened to me before with breathing), I get worried that I won't remember how or be able to do it again. So a big sarcastic thank you for giving me another thing like that to worry about with chewing (I'm right there with you in those early morning hours!).

Second, I am the biggest baby when told not to eat solid food. Before a colonoscopy once, I went deep diving in Reddit until I found a bunch of people saying that it was OK to eat gummy bears before the procedure and that they would not affect the test. So two bags of gummy bears later and that information, it turns out, was not accurate. Sorry, Gastro doc! So you're braver than I am, Charlie!

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PJ McNerney's avatar

Charlie, your broth-based misery and mashed potato redemption hit me right in the gut (pun intended). I once survived 8 days of the Master Cleanse (basically spicy lemonade mixed with regret). By Day 4, the dog's kibble looked gourmet, but I held strong. I did, however, successfully exorcise Diet Coke from my life. Pretty sure I saw a 12-pack levitate! It was like hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL on my taste buds. Reboot successful.

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Jane Pratt's avatar

You are friggin hilarious. And I quit Diet Coke too years ago and it wasn't easy!

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PJ McNerney's avatar

Jane Pratt once called me hilarious. Adding to LinkedIn under "core competencies."

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Jane Pratt's avatar

Hahah! Why don't you write an it happen to me about it? I'm sure, based on these comments, it would be brilliant. Xox

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Jasmine Glass's avatar

Against all odds, this article has inspired me to done a bone broth fast. But I am not as brave as Charlie, so I will only be doing 72 hours. Still, wish me luck (…even just 3 days without food sounds awful. 😅)

Btw, Charlie, big fan of your writing. Had me laughing from the start (literally - the headline) all the way through! 😂

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Charlie Connell's avatar

Firstly, thank you! You put a big, ol' grin on my face.

But, more importantly, neither I (and by extension, Another Jane Pratt Thing) take any legal responsibility for any misery that comes your way during this fast. This is a legally binding comment on a blog.

Seriously, good luck! It's not going to be as bad as you think.

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Jane Pratt's avatar

Haha you and your "legally binding" cautions crack me up (along with your headlines, etc. – as noted above!).

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Jane Pratt's avatar

Such a great comment to such a great writer (I agree!). I'm curious why you're doing the bone broth fast also – is it for a health reboot? Or just to try something different? Or for some reason that you don't want to tell me? All good!

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Jasmine Glass's avatar

What about our interactions so far makes you think there’s something I wouldn’t tell you? 😂

I am trying it out of curiosity and hoping it might be a nice little digestive reset. Supposed to be great for gut health. I will circle back here to report any meaningful findings from my experiment. 🫡

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Jane Pratt's avatar

That sounds fantastic and no, there is absolutely nothing in any of our interactions so far to indicate that there is any iota of any tidbit of any experience that you would ever withhold from me. I love it! And it's mutual!

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Jenny Melander's avatar

As a professional polyp grower, I get the benefit of getting more regular colonoscopies. Since my dad’s dad, and all of his brothers, died from colon cancer, I begrudgingly do it. It’s one day of only eating/drinking clear liquids, followed by drinking the worst tasting drink ever, then some other stuff happens we don’t have to talk about. I can’t sustain life on Jello and Gatorade. I’m glad you are feeling better and are making good life choices. I always pick Mexican or wings as my post procedure meal and then hate myself. And Kim is a magical unicorn. Everyone should have a Kim!

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Charlie Connell's avatar

I bet a chum cocktail from El Palmar would be the perfect post-colonoscopy beverage!

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Jane Pratt's avatar

I want a Kim too and have considered trying to steal Charlie's. She is the best!

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Charlie Connell's avatar

No. I will not allow this. LOL

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Jane Pratt's avatar

But I'm the boss! In some sense, anyway.

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Derek Kupper's avatar

I did a juice fast in college and made it less than two days before I just inhaled a hamburger.

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Charlie Connell's avatar

Trust me, if the specter of certain pain wasn't hanging over my head, there's no way I would have had the willpower to last any longer than that.

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Derek Kupper's avatar

Yeah - mine was just random college kids trying something interesting so there were no stakes at all.

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Jane Pratt's avatar

Haha. No stakes at all describes my attitude about everything to do with my entire college experience, by the way. "Let's do an experiment where we don't study for an entire year and see what we actually absorb!" That was one good one.

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Derek Kupper's avatar

At one point, we decided to try what someone assured us was "Da Vinci's sleep pattern" which was like a 15 minute nap every 2 hours, and then 2 hours sleep at night.

It did not go well. I am fairly sure I hallucinated a few times during that one. But weirdly, I was not the one that set the basement kitchen on fire, even though it happened at the same time!

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Jane Pratt's avatar

Wait, were you and I friends in college? For one special study semester, where we could make up our own program, mine was reversing the sleep/wake cycle and seeing all the ways it affected me. Put another way, you are a genius, Derek!

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Derek Kupper's avatar

I feel like probably not because you're too cool for me, but probably we also both went to some small liberal arts college. We *also* had a special study semester called Janterm where you got to do weird and cool stuff. One year I studied cave paintings from the Pecos River valley and then we took a week long trip to see them in person. Another year I convinced myself I could afford to go on the trip to Japan and learned Japanese and then waved to all my friends when they got on the plane without me because I couldn't convince my parents to give $2500 to go spend the week in Japan.....

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Jennifer Dines's avatar

" It’s probably the generations of Irish Catholic guilt baked into my DNA, but I tend not to do nice things for myself if there’s a cheaper, easier way" Oh my god, so relatable! And this sounds like torture. This is like a "model prepping for fashion week" type of thing; I wouldn't last a DAY. Hopefully, never again will you have to endure this.

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