Guest Blog: Through the Looking Glass—Observing the Fast Juicer

When Tina first told me that she was planning a juice fast, I did some soul searching to consider taking the plunge with her.  I quickly decided that I couldn’t afford to take the chance of being sick and missing work, so I quickly changed my train of thought to how I could support her on this journey.  Frankly, I was relieved with my decision as giving up food seems so far out of reach for me, even though I mostly view eating as a chore that is necessary to survival.  The last 10 days have been a testament to her monumental willpower and her commitment to healthy living, and I have seen some pretty amazing changes throughout the process.

We have been on quite a long health journey.  When we met, my diet consisted of fast foods of the worst kind, cigarettes, frequent alcohol consumption, very little sleep, too much work, a lot of play, and a case of Mountain Dew per day.  I had no concept of the impact all of that would have on my body, and clearly was living in the misconception that I was invincible.  When Tina agreed to be my wife, she reminded me that neither of us could live our lives only for ourselves going forward—and that we needed to make some serious changes to be respectful of our commitment to each other.

It started with the cigarettes—they were the most obvious and expensive thing that needed to be snuffed out as soon as possible.  We climbed that one together with the help of the miracle drug Chantix. We started cooking more meals in the house and did away with the fast food.

I couldn’t believe how far we had come—and how much money we were saving.  But I didn’t know we had only seen the tip of the iceberg.  That’s when Tina presented our toughest challenge yet after reading The China Study—the 30 day Vegan Challenge.  I wanted to support her in this, so I agreed to try it, but I was extremely hesitant to give up many of the small amount of meals I found truly appetizing in my life.

Within 2 weeks, I felt 5 years younger than I had.  I had all the energy I could handle during the day, and got perfect sleep in the evening.  I didn’t experience the big crash at the end of the work day and stopped wanting naps in the late afternoon.  When all of this became obvious to us, we knew that we were meant to stick with the Veggie lifestyle.

We continued our health journey together by targeting our soda consumption.  Tina made the conversion to diet, and I started drinking as much water as I was soda. Tina eventually kicked the diet soda and I kicked the Mountain Dew, trading them in for water, tea and juices only in our refrigerator.

As you can see, we have made an immense amount of changes to our diet over the course of the last few years, but I haven’t seen anything more impactful in such a quick way as the juice fast Tina just went through.  This powerful detox had a positive effect on her energy level, cognitive abilities, sleep quality, self confidence and mood—all OVERNIGHT.  For the first time in years, I can see a look of relief and relaxation on the face of my beautiful wife with her vitamin-enhanced complexion.

Though there were a couple of ups and downs throughout the process, I watched how her whole existence was detoxified and a new level of being came to reality during this show of ultimate will and determination.  This experience cleansed her body, mind and soul—and it will have effects that will last long after the fast expires.

I was not strong enough to take this on with her—she made it look easy, and I hope to someday soon make the time to attempt a short Juice Fasting detox as well.  Congratulations babe on another successful step in your health journey—thanks for taking me along for the ride!

The Husman of GoodLuckTina

h

h

Start at the beginning of her juicing journey.

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1 of my Juice Fasting

h

Where it all started

GoodLuckTina’s purpose

Day 9—Graduation! Juice Overview

Slept like a grizzly bear.

So remember how I went to bed early last night because I was listening to my body? Good thing I did, because it was obviously TIRED… I slept  for 13 hours straight—no wake ups, no interruptions!!! Talk about beauty sleep, this is absolutely crazy and never happens! Usually the most sleep I will ever get without waking up is around seven hours. I almost doubled this.

The old me would have had guilt and shame for my lack of time management and laziness—thinking of all the things I could have gotten done instead of sleeping. But not anymore. It is important to listen and understand what your body wants. Shut the brain off and listen. This is a goal my husman has been trying to teach me for years. About 4 years ago he tasked me with something that seems rather simple—take two consecutive days off for yourself. Still I have not found time to do this. Epic fail! He is slowly teaching me (I have a thick head and a personal to-do list that circles the globe 47 times) that it is okay to relax, take time for yourself and let your body do the talking. I know he is right, but it is hard to do. The fasting process has expedited the lesson. I always understood what he was talking about, but now I subscribe to it as well. Where is my bon-bons and tv remote! I kid. I cannot sit and watch television. And bon-bons? The last time I saw those was on a commercial over two decades ago.

Bring on the solids!

A highly anticipated day today—graduation. I celebrated with a simple salad of romaine, campari tomatoes and a tiny amount (2 T) of my favorite dressing, Famous Ott’s (remember to measure your dressing, no pouring from the bottle). Yum, yum, yummy. I have always loved simple salads, but this one—magnificent! This is the snowball I was hoping would happen. I would crave healthier treats instead of a Whatchamacallit. Success.

There were a couple of hiccups in the day. Since I can eat real foods, my mind is going crazy with wanting to cook. I have to eat only fruits and veggies for the first couple of days, cooked or raw. Everything I can think to cook has grain or beans. Urgh! So I opted to stick with raw foods. My evening meal was a platter of just that—celery sticks, carrots, blackberries, an apple and grapes. I snacked on this spread for hours, starting slowing listening to my body. Body approves! I wanted more, more, more.

When juicing it is easy to listen to your body. It is full after every juicing and you don’t have room for more. You are full and satisfied—you don’t want more. Because of this, I was able to see a pattern of my food eating habits. I ate just because food was there and my fingers and mouth worked, not because I was hungry or needed nutrition. Even though majority of the time the food I was mindlessly eating was healthy, I wasn’t necessary. Food is fuel for the body, period. At this realization,  I made note that I need to be more aware of why I was eating. Not so easy now that food is in front of me again, but I will prevail. Even though I wasn’t hungry by the end of my feast, I was aware.

Mood and Mental

All good on this front. I am running on all cylinders. My brain is in overdrive. I have constant energy. I like looking in the mirror. I am laughing more, making the husman laugh more, making the dog’s tails wiggle more, making me laugh more—a infinite happy circle of laughter and butt waggling up in our house.

What is Next?

My next few entries may be slightly sporadic because I do not foresee too much variation from day-to-day in the next week. I have drafts of other supplements I am working on about juicing that I hope to post within the next week such as making your own blends, FAQs and tips. I have heard from a few friends who are inspired to make changes, this makes me so happy. My whole purpose of this blog from day one was to be a platform for awareness. I never expected anyone to follow my path or sample my path. All I ever hoped for was to create awareness. I want people to question the status quo. Even the things you think are 100% healthy may not be when you put back the rug or find out the funding source of a scientific study—pink slime anyone? Just being aware of what you are doing is a huge step. Remember to do your research and listen to your body. And GoodLuck[Jessica, Heather, Melody]

h

h

Check out my other entries for recipes, nutritional facts and much more.

h

h

Or follow these links for see what my previous days have been like.

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1 of my Juice Fasting

Day 2 of my Juice Fasting

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing

Day 5—I’m in the Seventh Inning Stretch!

Day 6—Mojo Juice!!! Juicing Overview

Day 7—Rockin’ in the World of Juicing

Day 8—The Great Grape Escape

h

Where it all started

GoodLuckTina’s purpose

Day 8—The Great Grape Escape

The sun is out. The weather is nice. The husman is off of work. I talked to some of my most cherished friends. I’m feeling good. I’m looking good.

I get to eat food!!!

While juicing with an apple, orange and grapes, a grape fell from the juicer onto the counter. It escaped a death of the juicer, but not my mouth! It was the best grape that has ever charmed my taste buds. Fabulous! Who would have ever guessed there could be so much flavor in one tiny, little, bitty, green grape?  Oh, but there was! Then what happened next I wasn’t expecting…the COLD. Cold pain shot through my teeth, down my throat and into my stomach. It was so unexpectedly painful. Even though I juice things that are stored in the refrigerator—over half of the other ingredients are not. For the past week the coldest thing to hit my mouth was the temp of slightly cooler than room temperature, not 35 degrees! Didn’t expect that. I sat about a dozen grapes aside to chill out for me to eat later. They were wonderful, but nothing like my first grape.

Another Social Outing, Success!

Next we were off to a business get-together—trade show style. I had my water and said no to all the samples of food, cookies, chips, coffee—where’s the fruit people!?! But not to worry—I was born a boy scout, I am always prepared. You will not catch me out without a healthy snack in my car or purse. I always have my healthy loot with me when I leave the house. I do not want to find myself in a position where I have to be faced with eating something I will regret later or having to pay convenience prices for a piece of fruit.

It was a fun day that ended at happy hour. I did get some razzing about juicing, but overall people left me alone. I did not partake in the alcoholic activities, instead I opted for water with lime. Bonus, I got free refills!

I don’t know what it is with social peer pressure and alcohol. People are uncomfortable with a sober person witnessing the possible debauchery, I guess. I have found a convincing alternative to drinking and avoiding the situation of lines like: “come on, one won’t hurt” (yes, it will) or “you can have one and drive” (not me, my tolerance it too low) or “its happy hour, you have to” (says who? I don’t have to be drunk to be fun). Funny how peer pressure gets more ridiculous at Happy Hours. Quietly order water with lemon or lime. When you comrades glance at drinks on the table, they assume you are drinking a vodka tonic or something similar. Situation avoided. Score.

Safe and sound, time to eat!

I decided not to eat whole foods (besides a handful of grapes) until I was in for the night. I didn’t know how my body was going to response to food—didn’t want to chance it, so I waited until I was home. For the remainder of the night I drank my juices and ate an orange, a clementine and a raw potato. I am not crazy! Raw potatoes are good and very filling. I didn’t eat all the items at once, instead spread them out over a couple of hours to see how my body would respond. All was quiet until it came to the potato. It is a dense food so I guess it took more body power to break it down. It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable, just vibrations and noise. Then all the sudden, I felt so sleepy. Remember I am a hoot owl. My bedtime is usually closer to the sun coming up rather than slightly after midnight, but when I started this process I said I was going to listen to my body. My body said sleep. I say it was a successful day and off to bed. I read two pages of my book before I fell asleep. Next Day 9—Graduation! Juice Overview

h

h

Check out my other entries for recipes, nutritional facts and much more.

h

h

Or follow these links for see what my previous days have been like.

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1 of my Juice Fasting

Day 2 of my Juice Fasting

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing

Day 5—I’m in the Seventh Inning Stretch!

Day 6—Mojo Juice!!! Juicing Overview

Day 7—Rockin’ in the World of Juicing

h

Where it all started

GoodLuckTina’s purpose

Day 7—Rockin’ in the World of Juicing

It is hard to believe it has been 7 days since a piece of food has graced my taste buds. But my taste buds have been alive and kicking all seven days—thanks to the good and not-so good juices that I made this week.

Bring on the Juice!

Today was the best and easiest for juicing. No more having to try new ingredients looking for happy surprises, nope. Been there—found a few—done that. The entire day consisted of one juice over and over. The previous six days I have juiced between 4-9 times (the high amounts the juice went down the drain). That means I had to wash, cut, juice, and clean up 4-9 times a day. Today, once! I made a pitcher full of juice with the remaining ingredients I had and it filled four 20 oz. cups. I rotated that with water and had a good, quiet, peaceful day from the juicing chore. It was super fabulous!

Dancing with Myself

3/4 cantaloupe, peeled
1/4 honeydew (very potent flavor)
5 green apples
3 oranges, peeled
1 lime, peeled

I would suggest when you make something that tantalizes your taste buds, write it down! Give it a clever name. Do not rely of your memory (unless you are my mom—ironclad, ironclad).

Mood, Body & Energy

I finally feel the mental clarity that I was expecting. Brain is top-notch. Sleep is like hibernating. I start my day with bright eyes and a fresh look. My skin is smoother to touch and smoother in color. All of the sudden my body dropped a couple of pounds. I feel taller when I stand (I’m sure that is in my head). My mood should be illegal! Plain and simple—I feel good, really good.

What’s Next?

I love the way juicing makes my body sing, but I want to eat those grapes, oranges and carrots that I am juicing. So I am meeting on the juice-side of the middle. Chewables are entering my routine tomorrow!  I can eat raw foods. I will mostly be eating the juicing ingredients, but also bananas and avocados (things you cannot juice). I will do this slowly to allow the body to adjust to whole foods coursing through the organs. I will find the happy medium by listening to my body. Next Day 8—The Great Grape Escape

h

h

h

Check out my other entries for recipes, nutritional facts and much more.

h

h

Or follow these links for see what my previous days have been like.

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1 of my Juice Fasting

Day 2 of my Juice Fasting

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing

Day 5—I’m in the Seventh Inning Stretch!

Day 6—Mojo Juice!!! Juicing Overview

Where it all started

GoodLuckTina’s purpose

Day 6—Mojo Juice!!! Juicing Overview

I’ve got my Mojo back, baby!!!

Now that I have the brain capacity to think again, I am wondering how the instant smartness occurred? Could be three options. Unlike fog that slowly dissipates, the brain fog was switched off like a light. Awesome! However the switch was not flipped until after my morning interview, damn. It’s all good though, it was a very unconventional fun interview (keeping my fingers crossed).

Anywho, the moment of mental clarity came while at my chiropractor’s office. Because of my chronic scoliosis (curvature of the spine) he is my hero, my godsend and my lifeline at times. I had received my acupuncture and then my adjustment. After an adjustment he always instructs me to walk across the room to see if the pain has been alleviated. It was like magic. The moment I stood up to venture my switched had been flipped, I’m back!

1. Was it my chiropractic care—adjustment and/or acupuncture?
2. Or was is it the coconut oil I added to one juice per day giving my brain fat content again?
3. Or was it all coincidental and part of the juicing process?

Who cares? I have my mojo back! But just in case, I am keeping my coconut oil.

All the other stuff

I do have the hop, skip and jump in my walk now. I feel lighter on my toes, strong in my stance, and simply happy. Life is good. Next Day 7—Rockin’ in the World of Juicing

h

h

h

Check out my other entries for recipes, nutritional facts and much more.

h

h

Or follow these links for see what my previous days have been like.

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1 of my Juice Fasting

Day 2 of my Juice Fasting

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing

Day 5—I’m in the Seventh Inning Stretch!

Where it all started

GoodLuckTina’s purpose

Day 5—I’m in the Seventh Inning Stretch!

Bring on the Juice!

Remember the produce loot photo? Well, that was supposed to be all the ingredients for four days of juice fasting. Because I didn’t make the 5 juices per day that was slated, I had plenty to take me into this day. The bad news? The recipes left over—by glance of their ingredients—were not on registering on my yumminess scale. But I had to try everything at least once. And I did. The first juice I drank of the day ended up being the 6th that I juiced. Yes, that is right. Five juices down the drain. One of the five actually made me have a gag reflex. It was horrible! Remember juicing is not to be a chore (besides washing all the juicer components after each juice). Juicing is supposed to be healthy and enjoyable. The ingredients were already purchased, either way they were going to end up in the compost, might as well try them first. No happy surprises here. But at least I can say I tried.

The rest of the day’s juices? Whatever I wanted. Carrots, kale and cucumbers are my favorite veggies and I like every fruit that grows. My day’s remaining juices were a combination of those wonderful yums. I read in one book and on a couple of websites that drinking the same few juices every time you juice is best for a body detox because the body doesn’t have to keep adjusting to the new variteies. I have no idea if this holds any truth, but I know when I used to eat the same breakfast and lunch everyday with my dinner only have slight variations—I felt amazing! I plan to research further.

Mood, Body and Energy

Like yesterday, I am not having bursts of energy with lows intertwined which was the mantra of my prefasting days. My energy and drive is at a constant throughout the day which rocks. My sleep is perfect. My skin is brighter already (I have a good baseline for measuring this—makeup). My organs are quiet still. Maybe it is TMI but I haven’t had any bowel movements for days. No fiber to push it through. Because I didn’t remember hearing about this important detail on Fat Sick & Nearly Dead, I researched it and found this is a normal occurrence although not healthy. Toxins can build up in your intestines and leach into your tissues. Herbal laxatives are a recommended solution from a myriad of websites.

Every thing is great except for my brain! It still is not fully functioning. Normally I am a very efficient multi-tasker and a very focused individual, my cognitive thinking is very high. Not now!  My brain is in a fog and I feel as if the world is passing by me too quickly. I cannot focus on reading which is the hobby I do most regularly. My mind wanders in conversations, my smartass wit is gone—it is my trademark trait! I couldn’t even concentrate on the Twins game and we were at Target Field. Even though my body feels good, I do not like where my mind is at. When I am speaking (or writing) I will lose words, snap my fingers and try to push the word out, but get sidetracked in the process and go somewhere else. The only thing I can relate this too is when I am running on fumes without sleep.  I get a little delirious and lack in the smarts department when I am up for over 24 hours with little sleep the night before. That never worries me, I know my body and mind are tired and all I need is rest to reset myself. Done. But this is a whole new ballgame. I know my fat intake is practically nonexistent right now. I know that fat runs the brain, so I added some pure coconut oil to one of my juices tonight in hopes that I can gain some mental power. (Coconut oil is basically 100% fat). We shall see, I have an interview tomorrow and I need to be sharp! Not a good place to lose words. If the coconut oil doesn’t have the desired effect, my fast probably will be ending at 7 days. I still have my cat like reflexes though. My reactive senses are so sharp that no thought is required, it is instantaneous.

First Social Outing and First Smells of Real Food

Target Field, so beautiful

WE WON!!! I love seeing the Twins play, but was a little nervous. Nervous to be away from my juicer and because at a ballpark there are a plethora of delightful smells. Although I knew I would stay true to my choice, I knew I would have no control over what my body did. I didn’t want to be living with hunger pangs or annoying anyone with my RockBand belly. Piece of cake. All those smells were wonderful. I could appreciate them for afar and cheaply. I was able to smell all the goodies, but didn’t have the heaviness or cost of devouring any. Not one stomach growl. The friends we went with were supportive and nonjudgemental—great traits for friend, but extremely appreciative when doing something unconventional. Next Day 6—Mojo Juice!!! Juicing Overview

h

Check out my other entries for recipes, nutritional facts and much more.

h

Or follow these links for see what my previous days have been like.

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1 of my Juice Fasting

Day 2 of my Juice Fasting

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing

 Where it all started

GoodLuckTina’s purpose

Nutritional Facts on Veggies and Fruits (PDF available)

So there are a few things that are uncool about fresh produce—shelf life is short, some are seasonal. Those I can live with, but what about the nutritional information?

I use to food journal and I had several of my staple fruits and veggies memorized, but that was only their calories, and maybe some of their fat, protein and carb amounts. I want more! And now I have added about 45 more fruits and vegetables since I started juicing, so I must have more. I always say it is best to buy food without a label, but dang it—that label would be nice. So I made a spreadsheet charting nutritional facts. It is better than the mandated label on processed food. Why?  Because I give so much more info. I did it the only style I know—I went overboard. And guess what? I am sharing a 16×20 downloadable PDF.

Here is what it looks like (download link at bottom of post)

Some notes

1. The totals are not per serving, but per item (unless otherwise noted). I know this is not standard, but no one eats half an apple. Plus, I made this chart for juicing not meal recipes, so keep that in mind.
2. I did add a column of weight (grams) to help with any possible confusion.
3. I was not able to obtain folic acid or beta-carotene for all food items. If the space is blank then no information was acquired. If it has a slash, it means the value is zero.
4. I pulled this information from many websites, taking hours, so there may be a miskey on my part or a misinformation from the source.
5. Not every vegetable or fruit produced is on here. I did the ones I needed.

Click the link for a downloadable PDF of Produce Nutritional Facts.

PDF of Produce Nutritional Facts

How about some Juicing recipes? Go to 107 Juicing Recipes for you! (PDF available) to download the PDF.

Interested in my juicing fast journey?

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1—Juice Fast Breakdown

Day 2—My Juicing Overview

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing

107 Juicing Recipes for you! (PDF available)

My flipbook of Juicing Recipes, link at bottom of page for PDF download.

Instead of running to the computer, looking at post-it notes or having too many books in the kitchen—I compiled all of my recipes and made this flipbook for my juice fast. It took so long to make that it would be a shame not to share with anyone who is interested. The PDF download is letter-sized paper with 5 recipes per page. As you can see above, I cut the recipes down to one-up and spiraled the pages to make a simple flipbook.

Example of a recipe

Majority of the recipes have all the categories filled in, but it was a long and tedious process and I decided I really didn’t need to know every detail about every recipe (remember there are 107), so there are a few holes here and there. If you would like to fill in the blanks, I did make Nutrition Fact Sheet to help aid in the filling in party, see my blog Nutritional Facts on Veggies and Fruits (PDF available) to download the PDF.

Click the link below for a PDF download of the Juice Recipes.

Juice Recipes <—- here!

Depending on your browser, it may download automatically. Or open in a separate web window. In the separate web window select File from menu > save or print. If you still cannot get it to work, email me at goodlucktina@gmail.com and I will send you the PDF.

Interested in my juicing fast journey? 

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1—Juice Fast Breakdown

Day 2—My Juicing Overview

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing

Recipes from Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead a documentary by Joe Cross and Ultimate Juicing by Donna Pliner Rodnitzky.
Some recipes are slightly modified from the original source. 

Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing

Slept like a rock!

I don’t know if I moved a muscle last night. We had a late night watching movies so I skipped my nightly routine of reading for hours before making myself sleep. See, I am trying to relax. It was a much better day today. I actually wanted to get out of bed and start my day. The prefasting days I would wake up and be so drowsy I would fall back asleep immediately. Not now. I wake up and I am alert and my brain is a high speed processing machine.

Bring on the Juice!

The Lemon Lime. Back in my youth (hehe) I used to drink Sonic Cherry Limeades all the time. So maybe it is part nostalgia that made me excited to try this concoction. It was simply delightful. The photo shows the lemon and lime not peeled, no worries I peeled them before they hit the juicer. I cut the peel off with a knife leaving as much pith as I can. The lemon has a softer skin and is much easier than the lime. I would suggest investing in a good knife (not the knife block with assorted knives) it is a must for vegetarians. So when you think of lemon lime do you think of pink and red? Me neither, but it was wonderful.

Lemon Lime Juice Goodies

Lemon Lime Juice

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–—

The Melon Kale Juice, whoa! Talk about yield. It overflowed the provided catcher and had a mess to clean up. Makes me wonder if I copied the recipe down wrong because as you can see by the PITCHER, yes I had to get a pitcher to hold all of it, I have a lot of juice to drink! The honeydew is the most prominent flavor.

Melon Kale Juice stuff

Melon Kale Juice, now that is a lot of juice!

–

–

–

–

–

—

–

–

I had one juice today that was not good at all, the V28. Sometimes the first sip can be not so good, but when you go back for another the tastes merge better. Not this one! My second sip was more than a sip and it got lodged in my throat and then into the sink it went. It tastes of salty earth roots, whatever that means. This one had a few ingredients I hadn’t tried before, but there was no happy surprise. Some people may be scared of drinking a jalapeno. If you are, I wouldn’t worry. I couldn’t taste a hint of jalapeno.

Would you like these recipes in an printable PDF format? Go to 107 Juicing Recipes for you! (PDF available) to download the PDF.

V28 Veggie Loot

–

–

My garden is going to be so happy (once it is in the ground), for now my composter is filling up with goodies. This is the pulp, peels and mush accumulated from only 4 juices! The two bags from the juicer are very dense and super heavy. The third bag is just the leaves from the beet roots. It is at least 7 times bigger than the beets themselves.

Mood, Body and Energy

Best day so far. The fog has lifted and I feel amazing, but in a chill kind of way. Prefast when I felt amazing, I would run non stop, feeling good and accomplished, but eventually I would tire out. I do not feel like this at all. The energy and pizzaz I feel now isn’t peaking and dipping like usual. It is a constant feel good. I cannot say I have felt they way before. It is nice.

My body is doing just fine. I must have kept hydrated yesterday because I didn’t wake with a headache. I haven’t had RockBand in my organs in a couple of days and the hunger pains are still nonexistent. I think I am over my little detox hump. Not that I wish to feel bad, but I was looking forward to feeling my body and being aware of what was happening. Call me a masochist if you want, but I like to feel. Maybe is it the blogging and documenting that has kept my mind busy and preoccupied that I missed some of the effects.

A couple people inquired about how much weight I have lost. None. Good thing that is not one of my goals, eh? One reason my weight hasn’t moved is because I am still getting the same amount of calories as if I was eating meals. So no calorie restriction means no weight loss.

Off on a Ramble

Just a note: when you are reading for example Day 4, I am living in Day 5. I do not post nor complete my entry until my day is complete which is sometime in the AM while most of the world sleeps. It is the next day that I fill in the blanks and post the previous day. Slightly confusing for me at times, but I want to give a complete picture of the process including the nighttime hours.

Something that has awoken in me is searching for new, colorful meals. Some people probably think I am crazy to do this while fasting, but last night I scoured Pinterest for vegan meals. If it was colorful and had a pretty picture I pinned it. I cannot wait until I can make some of the delights. I did a good job of shutting off the part of my psyche that wants meals instead of liquid, because my stomach didn’t growl once while looking at the photos and thinking about cooking them. Even a person who would rather eat a vegan than be a vegan would appreciate how good these meals look. See the board.

Tomorrow is my first social outing since starting the juice fast. My excitement is much bigger than my nervousness. We are going to the opening series of Twins baseball. (Here is an example of that confusing day ahead, day behind stuff—as this Day 4 posts I will be on my way to a Twins game. I will know if they win before you do—that is if you wait for Day 5 instead of checking the scores.) I digress, there is nothing at Target Field that I would want to eat any day of the week, so no concerns there. But I haven’t been smelling food either, even bad food smells good to me as long as it is not burning flesh. What I am worried about is being away from my juicer for that long of time. To and from, plus the game is probably going to be 4-5 hours. If only I could figure out a way to bring my juice with me. Wonder if they would take a doctor’s note. 🙂   Next Day 5—I’m in the Seventh Inning Stretch!

Need to catch up on the previous days?

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1 of my Juice Fasting

Day 2 of my Juice Fasting

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Where it all started

GoodLuckTina’s purpose

Day 3—It’s Time to Relax! Juicing Overview

Slept like a person with dogs.

My sleep overall was not as good as the night before, but still nothing to complain about although during one brief interruption of my sleep I noticed I had a headache. Oops, that means I didn’t get enough hydration yesterday. When I did wake up I was less excited about starting my day than the previous days. Maybe it is because it is the dreaded Day 3 or maybe it is because I had dog multiple interruptions. They cannot help it. It is springtime and they are excited.

Bring on the Juice!

If you haven’t noticed I am only mentioning a couple of juices per entry either because of taste or unexpected experience. I have two today that I want to share. Bountiful Brassica Juice was a surprise.First off, I do not like broccoli. It doesn’t matter how it is cooked or what food accompanies the broccoli. At the end of my meal I will have a small mound of broccoli on the side of my plate. To top off the ingredients is cabbage. I had no idea if I would like cabbage. The only experience I have had with cabbage was in 8th Biology we made sauerkraut (don’t ask me why, I don’t remember that). What I do remember is the smell was horrible. It sat in the classroom for many days for some kind of experiment and the smell lingering everywhere! I guess I have shied away from cabbage ever since.

After my yucky broccoli and my shied cabbage was added to the rest and juiced together, I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn’t necessary crave this juice, but it was much better than expected. This is why I love trying new things! Even if you think you will not enjoy it, you might! You never know until you try. Don’t be shicken (my niece used to say this when she was probably 5, even though she is 11 now I haven’t stopped say it)!

The Green Grape and Pear Juice was awesome, but I prefer the fruity to the veggie juices. If you are like me and prefer fruit, I think the key to getting your veggies is to find a couple of veggies that you like and stick with those. I really like cucumbers and kale which is wonderful because compared to other so-so veggies, cucumbers and kale are always in season and rather inexpensive compared to others. But I am still going to try everything once in hopes to find a few more surprises.

Back to the juice. Look at the photo of the Green Grape and Pear Juice! It is spa-like. How can you not feel good and relaxed while enjoying this sweet and smooth juice. I am also drawn to the appearance of this pastel, spa color because it is so different than all the highly saturated juices.

*Would you like these recipes in an printable PDF format? Go to 107 Juicing Recipes for you! (PDF available) to download the PDF.

Mood, Energy and Body

This was the lowest of the days so far, but I am still fully functioning. It felt more like a case of the Mondays than a detox. I was not as excitable today. My guess it that I am working too hard on researching and writing instead of experiencing the detox.

The food cravings are lesser and lesser. I don’t care that I am not chewing food anymore. I don’t know if this is defeat or what, but I’m game because it is easier that way. I still have my late night triggers—I always eat a grapefruit as a snack, but I can push it out with ease. People have mentioned that I have extremely effective will-power, but I do not see it that way. It is a choice. I made the choice and it is my personal integrity that makes me stick to it with ease.

I have had zero hunger pangs since the few I had on Day 1 when it had been too long since my last juice. This is crazy to me. In the Fat Sick & Nearly Dead it was hard to believe the juicers when they said they felt satisfied and full. Yeah, right? Well, add me to their column. My body is full and satisfied. I think it is the mind that causes the trouble. I can see so clearly now that I ate too much when I was not hungry. I ate for only one reason—because it was sitting there and I walked past it. I can see that I am going to be more mindful about eating now.

I did have a few unusual brain moments today. I am a very detailed person who is aware of their surrounding all the times. I would be a great Mom because nothing gets past me. Well, not today—my brain was either on autopilot or in la-la land.

La-la Land

It started when I went to run errands. I kenneled the dogs and left. One of the places I went I had to sit in my car until I was helped. If you were to ask me how much time had passed, I couldn’t tell you if it was 2 minutes or 20. The normal me would be able to tell you actually how long and many details of the minutes that passed. Not today. I have no idea where my brain was, but it was checked out. When I got back home I walked through the back porch door and to my surprise my the sliding glass door that leads into our house was wide open! What? Guess that means I didn’t lock the door either, huh? That is a first! In all my time having a door to lock there has been probably three times I forgot to lock the door, but leave it wide open? Never.

Autopilot

Besides not being on autopilot to lock and close the door, much of the rest of my day was auto without realizing it. The juicer has to be cleaned entirely after each juicing. So I clean that thing 4-6 times a day. After one of my juices I started cleaning up. As I finished with one piece I went to grab the next and it wasn’t there. Confused, I quickly scanned the room to see it drying on the clean side.

Other Thoughts

Since I started juicing I haven’t had a moment of downtime except when drinking my lemon water. If you have read anything about detoxing in any form than you know relaxing is a key component to a full body detox. Makes sense right? No one I know gets a massage or a mani/pedi to punish themselves. I knew relaxation and calm was important to the process when I started. Actually because of the side effects I thought my first three days would be miserable with me couch-bound reading and watching my Netflix queue. That didn’t happen. In fact, I was so surprised that I felt so well, that I did the opposite. I stepped it up a notch to get ahead just in case the bad days were ahead of me. Not good. Well, I am behind the curve on this one and it is something I must make a priority. I need to get lost in my world for at least couple of hours a day.    Next  Day 4—Just Another Day of Juicing.

Need to catch up on the previous days?

Why am I doing a juice fast (feast)?

Day 1 of my Juice Fasting

Day 2 of my Juice Fasting

Where it all started

GoodLuckTina’s purpose