Fully Juiced!

Fully Juiced!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Day 9 & 10 of 12...

It's Wednesday today, and Friday is my last day of the juice fast.  I tell ya, I have really enjoyed this journey.  It has proven to me in a palpable, straight-up raw evidence way that you truly ARE what you eat!

Today, as a result of 9 days of fasting on mostly-only organic fruits and veggies I am:
  • Totally rested, and feel caught up on the sleep I've lost due to insomnia the last 10 years of my life
  • Down 9 pounds with only an occasional stomach growl or craving (mostly just missing chewing)... 6 more pounds and I would weigh what I weighed in high school !!!
  • Clear-minded without that constant feeling of being overwhelmed/frustrated/stressed out
  • More energetic all around, with an overriding sense of joy, well being that is too hard to explain.  Believe me, though, it's real
  • Optomistic and resolved to add at least 32 oz of fresh, homemade juice to my regular (cleaner) diet for the rest of my life...my husband, Jake is totally on board as well. I know now that if I ever start to gain a few pounds, or feel too stressed, or the insomnia comes back, or just want to reboot to feel better in general, I will do a 5 day juice fast to get back on track... After a 12 day fast (and honestly, I could do it much longer at this point, if I had the weight to lose or whatever; it is NOT hard), I can easily do a 5-day maintenance fast now and then...or just replace 2 meals a day with juice for a few or whatever. Easy.
  • The Owner of a 100% dependable digestive system (who needs Activia if you have JUICE!)
  • A Total Convert to eating clean and healthy...forever.  Once you know better, you DO better.  Knowledge is Power, etc.
It's been about 8 weeks since I returned from Europe, resolved to make a major life-shift after seeing how I felt eating so well over there.  I made small changes at first, added juice, saw remarkable results, and then just went for it!  I'm so glad I did...and if you are reading this and are hesitant for any reason, I just want to say: Jump in, you will be amazed.

For me and those who live with me this means a complete overhaul of the foods in our home.  I'm throwing out more and more crap (like condiments in the fridge) each day and thinking: "I'll never buy that again!" and replacing it with whole, healthy, organic, natural alternatives....like my new Maranatha organic peanut butter, the organic fruit spread instead of the Welches, the organic milk and natural teas for the soda and hormone-injected milk of yesteryear.  And, no one's complaining !!

Last night at our family dinner with both sons, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter over, they enjoyed (I was drinking juice) a natural chicken I roasted with clean, natural potatoes and org. carrots...fresh organic salad greens with tomatoes and cukes from our garden...and homemade, blackberry cobbler (I made with the berries we picked and organic whole wheat flour, butter, etc.  I did add white sugar, but will experiment next time with honey!).  Everyone was full, and content, and ate it all.

I will try to contain my juice-zealousness when ever I see you around town, or at the studio, or on facebook, I promise...not acting like a total militant health-nut radical is important because I know how those "types" always turned me off to their message in the past.  But if you ask how my juicing is going or how the fast went.... ;D, be ready for an earful... Just warning ya :D

Jake and Me :)

Seriously, Jake and I were talking yesterday about how cool it would be to open a totally organic Juice Bar in town, with a million varieties on board...and other healthy stuff.  It's just a dream because we already own a business and are tapped out on time and investment $$....but if YOU open one, we would be regulars ! :)  But, that's an example of how far our mind-shift has gone in so little time...we not only want to eat well for ourselves and our family, but we want to share what we know with the world.  It still may happen, only on a smaller scale, we'll see.

In the meantime here are a couple of tips and reminders that have worked for me when sending my juice through the juicer:
  1. Wrap your green leafy Kale around a carrot before you send the whole "package" through...it helps keep the blade spinning rather than getting bogged down with just the green clumping in the chamber.  The carrot keeps it smoother
  2. End each juice with your Cucumber...it cleans everything out and "pushes" anything that is stuck, through the spout
  3. Juice your fruit first (if you just want some fruit juice later)...keep the machine running, then do your "green juice", and then any tomato-V8 style juice you may want to try that day last.
  4. Keep your Juice in the frig in GLASS containers...and try to use wooden or metal chopping boards, utensils, etc.  Plastic has all of that bad chemical stuff that leaches into the container during storage (BPA's....see this link: What the heck are BPA's and why are they bad for me and my family?
  5. Peel anything that's not organic and can be peeled...don't put bananas in your juicer, they will gum it up!
  6. "Chew" your juice if you have an issue with diarrhea on the fast... just bite down a few times with each gulp.  This starts the digestion process in your mouth (important to get the oral digestive juices into play) rather than just gulping and swallowing and making the stomach do all the work.
That's it for today...as Joe says, "Juice on!" (here's a link to him interviewing a fellow juicer so you can hear him say it yourself ;D :   Joe talks to a fellow juice faster...)

......and as I say, Carpe Diem!

Just for "fun"..here are some links you may want, enjoy or need:
Link to the "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" movie site
The Rebooter Website and Community of Juicers
The Dirty Dozen Food List, with ratings of worst to best!


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