Juice Fast Day 3

Woke up happy and energetic! I got out of bed at least an hour earlier than I normally do, and it felt so good. I was not hungry when I woke up, so I drank 8 oz of water and did my normal routine. I have lost about 4 lbs, but it is probably mostly waste and toxins. However, I did notice my belt was one notch tighter! After two days! Very nice.

I went grocery shopping this morning, and on the way home snuck one medjool date. I just cannot resist, especially when they are just sitting there in the seat next to me. But I did limit it to one. When I got home I was hungry, so I unloaded everything and made another amazing (but messy) juice:

2 beets

pineapple to taste

I then blended that with:

2 kale leaves

tons of spinach

frozen blueberries

This was so, so good. Beets are suprisingly very sweet! I remember when I was a kid my step mom tried to make us eat them once or twice, but I thought they were nasty. When I got the beets out, washed and cut them, they were such a gorgeous dark ruby red color. When I juiced them, I tasted it, wary. I couldn't believe how much I loved it. It was a little too sweet however, which is why I added the acidic pineapple. Perfect! You can't even taste the greens.

I then made a salad to take to work, and since I don't like most leaves I tried something different. I cut up 1/4 head red cabbage, cut a handful of spinach, cut a carrot using my peeler, then threw in sun dried tomatoes (not the kind in the can of oil! ick!), basil, and cilantro. It was divine. I put just a little basalmic vinegar on it.

About 4 pm I had a watermelon, blueberry, protein juice. It was a nice, sweet pick me up. I felt so energized today so I went on another run, but after the run I felt like I really did need something of substance. So at home I toasted some sprouted grain bread and topped it with an avocado. Not quite fasting, but just what I needed. Tomorrow I will be transitioning back into solid food.

Juice Fast Day 2

Day 2 was much harder than Day 1. I woke up and felt pretty good, did my morning routine, and had an amazing morning juice:

Several carrots

1 apple

1 lemon (yellow peel cut off, but not white pith)

1 cucumber (not peeled)

Ginger (not fresh, just ground)

I juiced everything, put it in a mason jar, added ginger and shook until combined. It was a beautiful orange color, and was one of the best juices I've ever had! I feel like I could drink this all day! This took me a couple hours to consume.

Just a little while later I was hungry, so I made my normal green smoothie (see Day 1). This also took me a little while to drink, but it didn't satisfy like normal. I was hungry.

Since it's Tyler and my only day off together we like to be just together and hang out. Today was the first time we haven't really had anything planned, so we walked around downtown, got Ty some breakfast (I had the tiniest bite of his bagel, seriously could barely taste it). This was probably a mistake. There are restaurants everywhere! Wherever we walked it smelled good! I started to get very hungry, lightheaded, irritated. I woke up with sinus pressure and that turned into a runny nose (which I also had the day before, a sign of detoxing). We finally went home, where I got my leftover gazpacho out, and added about 2 cups of sun dried tomatoes. It was amazing. I ate slowly and followed that with a cup of herbal tea.

We hung around the house for awhile, I was still hungry, so I made the same chocolate smoothie as the day before. We went back out and did more errands, and I was again very hungry when returning home. I caved and ate half a yellow bell pepper and a tiny piece of pineapple. I felt a little better, but what I really wanted was one of Tyler's sandwiches he kept eating.

Finally I called the doctor, desperate and starving. She said she thought we probably went on too severe a fast for keeping up with normal life. She said we should have a salad, adding whatever greens, and even an avocado if we needed it. It was wonderful to have her support and understanding, as she was experiencing the same symptoms I was.

This is a good example to show you probably do not want to embark on a cleanse or fast before consulting with a doctor (preferably a naturopath (ND) who has done this before). I'm very excited to be eating veggies again! I ate one and a half carrots before bed, and it felt wonderful.

Juice Fast Day 1

The good Doctor I work with and I decided to go on a juice fast. What is it? You might ask. Well, it's when you drink only fresh vegetable and fruit juices for a determined amount of time. People have done juice "feasts" where you drink 2-4 gallons of juices every day for 92 days or more! That's a little intense for both of us! We were just interested in "cleaning house" if you will, and the quick weight loss is just a bonus (though it's not usually any fat loss at the beginning, just waste). At first we both decided to do 10 days, however the timing isn't quite right for me. Sunday is Tyler's birthday (yay!) and next Friday I go to Anchorage with my mother and sister-in-law. Besides fasting for 10 days, you do need a couple days to reintroduce solid food back into your diet. So because of this I'm doing a 4-day cleanse with a day and a half to reintroduce solid food. You start by eating salads and raw veggies, then fruit, miso soup, cooked squash, yams, sweet potatoes and quinoa, then seeds and finally nuts.

On a juice fast you want to make sure that you are limiting your fruit to about 4 servings a day. Any more than that and you're likely to have sugar rushed and an upset stomach. You can have as many juices or smoothies as you want, while still adding protein, hemp seeds in small amounts (hemp seeds do not need to be sprouted to be easily digested), maca and things like that.

So here's what happened to me on Day 1 (which was actually yesterday, Tuesday):

I got lots of sleep the night before and almost sprang out of bed (literally!). I felt refreshed, energized, excited to start the fast. I started the day like any other day, a small glass of water, vitamin D, dry brushing, and my normal green smoothie:

Spinach and kale to fill most the Vitamix

One banana

Frozen blueberries

1 tsp maca

1 tsp blue green algae

1.5 scoops protein powder

Water

Blend and enjoy. Took me a couple hours to drink while I did some at-home billing work. I felt great!

I went about my day, cleaning house, doing laundry, doing more research on fasting, took Toby to Creamer's Field and walked around for about 45 minutes, visited Tyler at work. By about 3 I was very hungry, so I hurried home and made a gazpacho.

1 1/2 fresh tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

Tons of cilantro

Cayenne

1/2 yellow bell pepper

Water

Blend

This had amazing flavor, but I had added too much water. I drank a bit, then put a handful of chia seeds in it, stirred, and refrigerated. I also drank a lot of water.

At about 4.30 I went on a run with a friend. It was so wonderful! I felt light, amazing, like I could run for hours. When I finally went home, I was of course hungry so I made a chocolate smoothie:

One banana

Lots of spinach

1-2 Tbsp raw cocoa

2-3 frozen strawberries

Taste of maca

Little protein powder

This was amazing. It was thick and felt like I had something a little more substantial. Even though I knew I'm supposed to limit fruit (especially sweet ones like bananas), I really knew I needed it.

About 8pm Tyler and I visited his family who was in town. Of course when we got there they were still eating dinner--meat. It looked so good, but I was fine. I had drank a cup of herbal tea on the way over. After dinner they busted out the ice cream, and I sighed as everyone but me tucked into their treats. Normally I don't care, especially if I have my own raw treat, but I had nothing and obviously could not even eat fruit or anything. So I sat there and smiled and answered every one's many questions about raw food. When I got home I took a long, relaxing bath with Natural Calm bath salts and felt better.

Now the day was pretty easy, and I felt pretty good. However, as I got into bed I was starving. Real hunger pangs. But I just drank more water (I had over 80 oz yesterday!) and lay there, and after half hour or so I was fine.

So, that was the first day in a 4-day cleanse. The doctor told me she was also starving last night and had a buckwheat waffle with berries. She said after day 2 or 3 you will not feel hungry anymore, your body gets used to just liquids. And since you're getting all of your nutrients from the fresh, easily absorbed juices, you begin to notice your hair and skin will start to glow. Well, we'll see!