Weight loss update and other ramblings.

Today (or close to today) I would have been closing my "30 day juice feast". Yes, I decided to end the juice feast early and I know that some of you may be looking at my example and think, She couldn't even do the juice feast for 30 days, how am I ever supposed to do it? or She couldn't even do the juice feast for 30 days, that's pretty weak.


I knew when I initially posted my goal that I may not reach it. I had no idea what I was in store for.  But by day 8, I felt done. I felt that I had gone through my phases. First the sugar, then the breads, then the meat. I felt good and I had reformed my body. My stomach reevaluated what it meant to be hungry and I learned to recognize when I was hungry or just bored.

Throughout my week's journey, I had lost 10 lbs. I knew that I would gain some back after the juice feast because since I would be eating solids, I would be having more solid poops. So when I got off of the juice feast, within 2 weeks I was back up to 151 lbs. I was okay with that. I watched it close and I was regulating so 5lbs total loss from the juice feast isn't bad.

Let me tell you, I was really nervous coming off of the juice feast and eating again. I was so afraid that I would go back to my old habits or that it just wouldn't work. I would try to eat healthy and despite my best efforts, I would balloon up. Then I realized that I've got to have faith in the system. I had to have faith that if I ate healthy, results would follow. I didn't really have a choice. I couldn't juice feast forever!

I have been off of the juice feast for about 3 weeks now and I am down 7lbs. I'm now 1 lb bellow my pre-pregnancy weight and I have no doubt that it will keep going down. I now know that this system works. What's the system? Eating whole foods and very little processed foods or foods with preservatives. I really chalk up my success to the fact that I don't have little dairy and no sugar. I'll occasionally have some butter (say, once or twice a week and usually only a tbsp at a time) and maybe some ketchup with my black bean burger but that's pretty rare.

Plus, I've said it once and I'll say it again, I don't feel deprived. In the past I have tried to do weight watchers and it was hard to try to keep away from the treats and snacks because I'm like a 4 year old. When you tell me I can't have it, I want it. Now? I have treats all the time but the right kind. I eat my fake caramel corn and raw brownies any time I feel like it and as much as I want. I snack on almonds every single day and not just a little! I'm talking about a couple of handfuls every day. A nutritionist would smack my hand and make me sit in a corner for eating too much fats. I say screw them! I've eaten so many avocados and nuts that my fat intake must be through the roof but when you look at the numbers, I've lost more weight eating like I do now than any other diet I've been on before. The thing is that I stuff myself full. I eat as much of my healthy food as I want and stay away from anything else.

You must think that what I eat goes something like this:



It's really not. It's more like this:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snack

Snack

Anyway, there is my update and rambling. I just wanted to show you how easy and simple it really is. 

Weight before juice feast: 156 lbs

Weight as of this morning: 144 lbs

*Also, I didn't have time to proof read this because I have to watch the Bachelor! Sorry for mistakes. Use your imagination and fill in the blanks*

When you want something sweet.

One thing I have realized with this juice feast is that I still will occasionally want something sweet to eat and that's okay.

But if I could have my choice, I would rather choose something that is yummy AND healthy rather than something that is yummy and unhealthy. Sounds like a no brainer. Wouldn't everyone like that choice?

Well I present to you:

Cinnamon Glazed Popcorn Mix

You can find the recipe here

Do you like kettle corn? Do you like a buttery and caramely flavor in one? Do you like a slight crunch with your sweet?

Okay, throwing aside cheesy salesmen cliches, this stuff is seriously good. I made mine without cashews and I think it tastes just dandy! So try it out and let me know what you think.

TMI

Le's get real here. I'm going to talk about something that is quite taboo and icky. Enemas.

As part of the juice feast regime, I gave myself daily enemas.The idea wasn't too new to me because after I had Jack...well, it would suffice to say that pooping was like giving birth again. It was horrible.

I had an episiotomy with Jack and passing clay that was near to stitches was something I would never wish on anybody. I even took the stool softeners, twice a day, so as to prevent this from happening. Still, I became so constipated that I had Tyler run to the store to get me more stool softeners, milk of magnesia, and, yes, an enema.

Sweet relief! I learned that enemas aren't scary. Enemas are my friend. Enemas are there to help you, not hurt you.So walking into the juice feast, the enemas were the least of my worries. It would be fine. I drove down to a local medical supply shop and got myself a legit enema bag for $3.75.

Day after day, I got used to sticking the enema up there and I actually grew to crave the feeling of being totally cleaned out and light. What I normally do is lube up the end with coconut oil. Why coconut oil and not just plain ol' lube? Because we're too busy using that for other things. I kid (I don't kid). The actual reason is because coconut oil has natural antifungal properties (So ladies, if you're prone to yeast infections from doing the deed, try this).

One little piece of advice: don't open the floodgates all at once, people. You will be overwhelmed by the urge to "go" that you won't be able to get much in or hold it in for very long. Go slowly and let the air out of the tube before you stick it up your bum. If you don't do this, it's no skin off my nose but you will have lots of airy gas.

Basically the goal is to try to hold the water for as long as possible. I still can't hold it for very long but it still works. You get to decide how much to fill it up, too. I usually fill it up about 1/2 but I can't get it all in at once. Don't torture yourself and do what feels moderately comfortable. Also, sit on the toilet like you are giving birth with your knees up by your chest, if you can. It will help get more out and you will feel better.

Afterwards, I clean the tip of the enema bag and bask in the satisfaction of feeling cleaned out. But why should you even do enemas in the first place? Isn't it only for constipated people? Actually, it isn't. It's for everyone! This video is kind of long but these people are just so cool and the information is quite amazing.

http://www.therawfoodworld.com/blog/?p=2751

I've heard so many times, Oh I could never do enemas. Yes, you can. It's not that hard and it doesn't make you cramp up. It just makes you feel like you need to go poop and it is totally not scary. Trust me. 

Just try it. What have you got to lose? Poop? Believe me, you will feel so much better.

So even though I am done with the juice feast, I try to still do enemas daily, if not, every other day. I feel better, my stomach is flatter and it's not a hard thing to do. What are you waiting for? Seriously, go dig in your couch for pocket change and get an enema bag. Just try it.

I've lost count...

...BUT I wanted to share something with you.

Behold, "raw"fredo sauce:

http://www.therawtarian.com/raw-alfredo-sauce-recipe

I have been so excited to try this but also so nervous because I have never made something quite like this before. The recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of cashews (I didn't do the pine nuts) to which you basically blend the $#!% outta 'em with garlic, lemon, and seasoning.

When I was finished blending, it looked like alfredo sauce, It smelt like alfredo sauce, but did it taste like alfredo sauce?

Holy eff did it ever! It was the creamiest alfredo sauce I have ever tasted. It even passed the husband and child test. Both Tyler and Jack ate it up. I purposefully didn't tell Tyler what it was exactly because then he would be skeptical. His only request was that I add chicken to it but we didn't have any and I don't want to eat as much meat.

I didn't have it completely raw because I did buy some brown rice noodles at WinCo and cooked those but on a whole, this was a gluten and (as far as I know) dairy free alfredo meal. Not too shabby!

But lets get down to real business. Juicing.

I still juice in the mornings and sometimes it's hard but it's kind of like a homemade V8. I drink it for breakfast and then feel so great that I have gotten all of my veggies in for the day. And the fiber, you ask?
I still get plenty throughout lunch, snacks, and dinner.

What I try to do is have dinner be my worst meal. This usually means having meat or where it is mostly cooked. Lately for lunch, I have been eating the salsa I posted a while back. I make it with olive oil and it is SO yummy. I usually just eat it like nachos with store-bought chips (that have no preservatives and I actually recognize all of the ingredients on the list). But now I'm outta chips and it really makes me have more empathy for the pioneers in the olden times (ha, I joke, of course). For snacks, I have raw almonds I munch on, clementine oranges, or my raw brownies.

Now my weight, as I'm sure you are wondering, has gone up. This is mostly because I actually have solid...erm, solids inside of me now instead of what usually came out during the juice feast. Over all, I am still happy that I weigh around 148-150lbs. That still equates to me losing 6 pounds during the juice feast so that's not too bad.

Occasionally, I will get so frustrated with the number on the scale. I mean, I eat NO white flour and NO white sugar so shouldn't I see results? But I have to remember that these things take time and I like my new lifestyle so why quit now? Yesterday, Tyler wanted me to stop by his work so he could show me around and then maybe we could eat there, as he suggested.

Well, I wanted to stay away from hamburgers and white bread. They did have sandwiches (I could get a veggie one with no cheese) but they only had white bread. They did have chicken sandwiches, but the chicken was fried and not grilled. So I declined to half off of burgers, fries, fry sauce, white bread, mayo, and all of the free custard I could eat (with any mix-in I wanted, of course).

It wasn't too bad because I want to be healthy more than anything else and I want to get skinnier. The juice feast really has proven to me that it has broken me of my addiction to white sugar and white flour. It's like a drug and I don't want to prolapse so I stay away from it.

Besides, I can have really yummy food like these bad boys:


Of course, they were whole wheat with blackberries in the center and pure maple syrup. It was SO good and I've said it once and I'll say it again, I don't feel deprived and I eat as much as I want. At the end of the day, I will sometimes go on Myfitnesspal and see how much I've consumed that day and I have always been within the 1200 calories minimum. Eating healthy is much easier than I thought.

Day 10

I'm such a sucka for sleep. I could easily sleep for 9+ hours a night. In college, I would sleep in until 2pm, I'm ashamed to admit.

With that being said, I was a lazy arse today and didn't wake up until 8:20 and seeing as I have class at 9:45, that left me little time to get ready & eat breakfast. But when I did get home, I finally was able to have my juicy breakfast. It felt so good knowing that I had my very own V8 juice. I had gotten my veggies in for the day so I felt great.

I also had an American Industrial Hygiene Association meeting today. Sounds fancy, huh? It was opening social complete with pizza. I purposefully went because I wanted to face temptation and kick it's butt. I wanted to grab the bull by the horns and show him who's boss.

It was actually really easy to resist. Besides it was Little Caesar's. That's not even good pizza! It's crap hobo pizza, in my opinion. What helped me even more was knowing that I had this bad boy waiting for me at home:

Which reminds me that I forgot to add the onions...

Yeah, that's right! I had a salad with this topped on it and it was freakin delish. I made myself a small salad and I couldn't even finish it but I did eat all of the avocado's out of it for good measure. 

Then for dessert, I made some of these:

Yup. Pretty much sex rolled into a ball. They are completely raw brownies made out of dates, almonds, honey, water, and coco powder. If you like dark chocolate, then this is the way to go. I don't feel guilty eating it because it is naturally sweetened and there is no white flour in it. There's actually no flour in it period so if I wanted to be all suave, I'd tell you these are Vegan Gluten-free Raw Vegetarian Healthy Brownies. Don't I sound all posh?

See? You can have yummy food and not feel guilty about it. 

Day 9

Today is my first day of eating solid foods. I feel like a 6 month old baby. I get to rediscover what food tastes like again.

The protocol for getting off of the juice feast is to take the number of days you juiced, divide by 4 and then you get how many days it will take to reintroduce your body to fiber again. As instructed by the juice feasting website, I soaked my prunes overnight for breakfast the next day. You wouldn't think that soaked, soggy prunes would be good but they were! I soaked enough for two meals so that constituted breakfast and lunch. For dinner, I had some pineapple.

I was kind of anxious to see how my body would handle the fiber and real food again. One thing that I have noticed though, is that I am full very quickly and I have learned to recognize when I have had enough. It was kind of interesting to eat about 4 or 5 small slices of pineapple and think, "Wow, um...I'm full. I'm done."

Tyler really presented me with a challenge too. In honor of my first day off of the juice feast, he came home from work (Nielson's Frozen Custard) early and had a huge concrete in his hand. Don't freak now, Jessica, but Satan himself has appeared in the form of frozen custard and your husband is the deliverer of evil. This is how our conversation went:

J: "Heeeeeeyyy-Tyler.....How was work?"

T: "I think I have found the best combination ever!"

J:"Oh yeah?"

T: "Yes! I mixed cookies and cream custard with cheesecake chunks and bits of cookie dough!"

J:"-And because you work there, you get to load up with as much toppings as you please?"

T:*Cheesy grin while nodding*

J: "Sounds pretty fantastic."

Staring me right in the face was temptation herself but then I thought, "Hold on a sec, Jessica. You've just lost 10 pounds and are ever so slightly thinking about throwing that all away for THAT?" I mean, sure, we're talking about frozen custard here but still. I had sacrificed so much, I was not going to throw it away just to get addicted to white sugar again. No thank you!


One thing that juice feasting has taught me is to break up with my food. I was such a needy gal when it came to food. I would think, "Oh I better eat this now. There may not be more later plus it's best when it's warm and fresh." Now?

Who cares? I know I don't. Food will always be there. I can always have something later and I can always cook it again. My relationship with food has changed. I don't care about it as much. Sure, I still want yummy food but it's just not one of my top priority now. I can make lots of good tasting food without compromising nutrition. I already have lots in mind.

Day 8.

I think I'm done. I'm at a point now where I would rather go hungry than drink my juices because they taste just so darn nasty (and that's often what I find myself doing). For some reason, in the beginning, all of my juices tasted fine to me. Sure they were a little "green" tasting but nothing I couldn't handle.

Now, it's just...nasty. Everything I've juiced for the past 3 days has tasted like dirt. It's hard when you are hungry to realize, "Oh yummy, I get to drink dirt juice for lunch..."

This morning in class, I saw a girl eat a Nutragrain bar and I thought to myself, "That doesn't even look good. I just want a salad..." I want whole foods again. Occasional homemade whole wheat bread, raw "tacos", raw zucchini chips, cucumber "pasta", and almond milk with homemade granola. I don't want junk. I don't want ice cream, candy, taco bell, hamburgers (unless it's a black bean or a veggie burger made from scratch), pizza or nothing!

I figured that once I started craving this, I could stop. However, stopping now seems like such a fail. I wanted to go 30 days but if I feel done and I feel good, then why should I force my body to do this? I can always juice again if I feel like I need to and I know that I will continue to juice in the morning.

Then, I started to examine why I feel like a failure but the truth is, I drank nothing but strait, fresh, vegetable and fruit juice for 8 days. That's a total of 32 juices (more or less) that took determination to stick with it and courage to start. I did this and I went through the pain of withdrawal and the detoxing. I freaking stuck plastic tubing up my butt every day and gave myself enemas! I restarted my body and I am proud of that. I should not feel like a failure for trying to be better and start a healthier lifestyle. Haters gonna hate but I have tougher skin.

So with my last juice of the day, here's to my new lifestyle.

Day 7

I have officially been on the juice feast for one whole week.

The first 4 or 5 days weren't so bad but now, I'm just not feeling the juice feast love anymore. All of my juices are starting to taste nasty. Maybe my taste buds need to detox or maybe I should just embrace the green flavor. Either way, it's not fun to drink something that tastes gross when you're really hungry.

I'm just not sure if I'm ready to go off though. I really like how light I feel and I especially love the weight loss, who am I kiddin'? The other day I asked Tyler if I looked any thinner. He said I looked the same. Boo. But then I realized that at that time, I had only lost 5lbs or so. I could definitely feel the difference. My stomach is a lot more flat and I am almost down to my pre-pregnancy weight, I'm ashamed to admit since it took so long.

I tell myself that I can go until day 10. Then by day ten, I might as well finish the rest of the week and go to day 14. But then after that, what's another week? Slowly, slowly, I will get there.

Cravings
It's been interesting to see how my cravings have evolved. At first, I couldn't even look at the candy in the house. It was like those Oreo balls were calling my name. But I remained strong! Then at the end of last week, it was starch. Pasta, breads, and anything else that was full of carbs and starch. Now? I think it's meat, cheese, and eggs. This morning, I made breakfast for Tyler. He wanted a homemade egg McMuffin on a bagel with cheese. The trifecta of my cravings! But now I am really in deep with the juice feast, if I cheated, my body would freak out and I would get very sick.

Juices
I'm not sure what it is, but I am satisfied with only 3 quarts of juice a day along with my morning quart of water. I hope it's not too little but I honestly am satisfied with my three juices. I'm not hungry or anything. This is what I had today:

-Spinach/kale/apple/celery/cucumber
-Orange
-Spinach/kale/apple/celery/cucumber

I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the kale but my juices have been kind of spicy. Ick. Tomorrow I'm going to try it without the kale and see how it goes.

Also, I have been slowly building up my taste to celery. Before, when it was overpowering, I backed down and only put 2 stalks in there. Now, when I make it with spinach, I put 4 stalks in there and I can't taste it at all! That's over half of the stalk. Yippee!

Weight
148.6. So I am 2.4 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight! Took me freaking long enough....But if anyone asks, I'm going to blame it on the breastfeeding. Have you ever tried to diet while breastfeeding? It sucks and Jack was not happy about it.

Day 6

Wow, I am almost to an entire week. Holy smokes!

Yesterday I chatted with my sister which helped a ton. She had completed a 21 day juice feast just a few months before me and she really encouraged me to go on. I have really tried to listen to my body during this juice feast and it has taught me a lot about self-control and patience.

I found that I am stronger than I thought. I mean, 6 days and about 4 juices a day equals 24 juices that I've made in the midst of cooking food for Tyler and Jack, Tyler starting a job at Nielson's Frozen Custard, grocery shopping and walking past the frozen food aisles, Taco Bell out-to-eat nights, and now, a Sunday meal.

Detox
I know I am now off of white sugar. In fact, just saying it out loud kind of made my stomach turn to think of the mass quantity of white sugar that is in everything. We STILL have Christmas goodies laying around the house. This ain't your average Christmas goodies. These are my mother-in-law's Christmas goodies. They are super yummy and plentiful. Seriously, we have fudge, salted nut roll, candy canes, butterfingers, gummy candy, almond roca, and oreo balls covered in chocolate.

But you know what? That hasn't been tempting at all. I don't even remember it's there and I certainly don't crave it. I used to really want something sweet after lunch or dinner but now I couldn't care less.

However, with that being said, I know I am still addicted to white flour because I daydream about pasta, rolls, breads, bagels, and basically anything that is starchy and carb-y. I feel that once I no longer crave that, then I am clean and I can get off of the juice feast. Maybe that will be day 30 but maybe it will be day 14. I have re-evaluated what this juice feast really is and it's mainly to detox me from the standard American diet. Once I am detoxed, I am free and can go to eating wholesome, good, natural food.

So once I crave a salad and Taco Bell or pizza looks revolting, I'll know I'm clean.

Weight 
150.2lbs
I just drank my water and my juice and I haven't done my enema yet so, you know, around that weight.

Juices
My juices are starting to taste different. A lot less sweet. It's like I can't even taste the apple in it anymore and all I taste is the lettuce. It's kind of odd. You'd think that it would taste more sweet than anything but oh well. It's still satisfying and filling. Here are my juices:

-Romaine/apple/cucumber/carrot
-Spinach/celery/kale/parsley/apple
-Pineapple*
-Spinach/celery/kale/apple/parsley*

The little * is just to let you know that I haven't exactly juiced that one yet but I will. Fresh pineapple juice is basically manna from heaven. I also have just not been feeling that into my 4th juice. Mainly because I've been drinking my morning juice late which is a big no-no. I'll probably just make another spinach one but we'll see how I feel. I like just sticking to the basics now because if I juice one that turns out nasty. Too bad because that's my meal! Maybe I'll have the guts to try a spinach and beet one again...

Also, I have the video I want to post but as it was 90% uploaded, my husband shut down the computer. So I'll try uploading it again today and hopefully post it soon.

Day 5

This juice feast is a lot harder than I thought!

I figured it would be kind of difficult to resist temptation but not too bad because the juice feast isn't a diet. You get to drink as much juice as you want. If you're hungry, just drink more juice. No big deal.

But it's when I'm hungry that's most dangerous because I want to eat everything. in. freakin. sight. My jaw longs to chew on something and I've often found myself looking in the fridge for a snack. Yeah, not gonna happen. You get juice or juice.

The biggest thing that keeps me going, ironically, is the weight loss. I have already lost about 6 pounds and if this rate keeps up, I will have lost 36 pounds by the end of the month. I'm pretty sure that number isn't accurate though and it will taper off.

What I have to remember is that food will always be there. Taco Bell will always be there. This juice feast isn't forever. By Feburary, I will be eating solids again and while it will be very healthy solids, it will taste amazing. I can do this.

Detox
So far, I haven't had any major detox symptoms. Aunt Flo is visiting now so I can't tell if it's just her or the detox.  Only in the morning do I feel like I need to go and it is slightly uncomfortable but nothing like some of the other episodes I've had pre-juice feast.

Juices
I can't tell if it's just me or the juice but it has just been tasting off lately. My normal morning juice tasted like dirt and then I realized that in my rush to feed Jack, I forgot to wash the carrot. Sick. Then I had a normal cantaloupe/apple juice for lunch but it too tasted off. It just wasn't as appetizing as it normally was. Maybe the next juice will be different. I hope so because on the day that I have faced the most temptation, it has also been the day that my juices were sub par.

What I had today (or will have):
-Romaine/carrot/apple/cucumber
-Cantaloupe/apple
-Spinach/apple/celery/cucumber/parsley or kale

Weight: 
As of 3 seconds ago, I weigh 149.6 lbs. It pretty much fluctuates throughout the day because I was as much as 151.8 this morning and as low as 146-ish late last night.

Fuzzy Teeth
Kind of an odd thing but ever since drinking my juices, my teeth have been fuzzy. It's easily fixed with brushing and doesn't really bug me. It's just...odd. I recharged my power toothbrush so that I can really get those pearly whites rid of juice fuzz.

Day 4

Same old, same old kind of day. I totally thought I had class so I woke up at 6:30 in order to make sure I had enough time to at least get my morning juice in. Only when I had walked up all of the fourth floor did I realize that my class is a Monday & Wednesday class. Eff.

But the good news is that I finished my juicing video. I tried to cut as much as I could out of it to make it short and sweet but I feel that it is still a bit long. Enjoy! *It's loading on YouTube now so I'll post it when it's done.

Juices
I am really starting to like my morning juice and my morning "tea". I recently went to the grocery store and I bought more spinach this time. I want to try to transition more to darker greens as well as build up my tolerance to the celery.

Also, pineapple was on sale so I snatched that right up! I had it for lunch today and it was delicious and surprisingly filling but I'm not sure if that is because of the pineapple juice or because my stomach is getting used to digesting juices.

The juices I've had so far are:
Romaine/cucumber/apple/carrot
Pineapple

I plan on juicing a spinach/celery/kale/apple/cucumber/whatever else I feel like later this evening. I'll probably have two of those.

Bathroom Adventures
This morning, I didn't feel too well. My stomach was just a little unsettled and I felt like I needed to go. I still haven't had a solid BM like I would have had before the juice feast yet and what does come out of me looks exactly like the juices that I put into me. Maybe I'm already cleaned out?

Weight 151.2 lbs.

4.8 lbs down from when I first started. Not too shabby! I just can't wait until that scale will read in the 140's. It's been too long since I've seen 140's in these parts of town.

Day 3

This is my produce in one day that I will juice. Now that I post the picture, it doesn't really look like a lot but it feels like a lot to me. So there.  

Detox


I was fully expecting to wake up today completely sick from detoxing. I still feel fine today but I don't think I've eluded the great detox monster that's inside of me just waiting to come out will a full vengeance. I believe it is somewhere in my transverse colon now.

Morning "tea"


I found that it was a lot easier to drink my quart of water with the lemon. On day 1, I felt it was just too much water to drink that early in the morning. But now, I can drink it just fine. It tastes good and refreshing and it satisfies me until I can finish making my juices for the day.

Juices


Yesterday's juices where Na-ha-ha-ha-sty! So I decided to stick with my morning one that I really like which is romaine lettuce/cucumber/apple/carrot. It's sweet, but not too sweet like my strait-up fruit juice one.

Speaking of the fruit juice, it's like cocaine! Man, I love my fruit juices and I look forward to them SO much. Soon you may find me down a dark alley drinking something bright and fruity while I cower under a makeshift cardboard shelter. I'll probably be shaking and have crazy eyes . I need my fruit juice, man. I NEED it!


So here is what I juiced today:

Romaine lettuce/cucumber/apple/carrot
Orange/grapefruit/sea salt
Spinach/celery/apple/cucumber/bell pepper
*leftover romaine lettuce/cucumber/apple/carrot

I know I'll end up juicing some more but I had class and was late. I can juice some later tonight.

Weight


My mother-in-law had an extra scale at home so I asked if I could have it. A friend of a friend brought it down (they live about an hour away) and I was so excited, I couldn't wait! When it finally got to me, I put the new battery in and stepped on. I weighed 35 lbs.

Crap.

Okay step on it again. Wait. Now I weigh 6 lbs.

#@*  &*^$&   %$*&^!!! So the scale doesn't work. No biggie, I can go get one the next day, I think to myself. Well, because I'm cheap, I went to a local thrift store to find one. They had about 6 but choosing to get something there was like trying to decide which STD I wanted (in more ways than one). They all looked bad, and there was a chance I could buy one, only to have it be broken or I could hit jackpot. There was one I stepped on and knew worked but it said I was 161 lbs so that mother $@*^& scale got to stay at crappy DI.

If I were a whore, I'd have the worst STD of them all because the one I chose doesn't work! Yes, it was only two dollars, but still. I just want a stinkin' scale and preferably one that is accurate.

So yes, I did just type out that whole story to prove a point that I don't know what I weigh yet. I'll update soon though.

Bathroom uh...stories?


For some reason, I was just NOT feeling the love I have felt from my 2 previous enemas. Now that I reflect back, it was probably because the water was just a little too warm. When I fill up my enema bag I ask myself, Okay, when you have to pee in a cup at the doctor's office, how warm is it? That's probably the temperature you'd want. Obviously I was a little overzealous and my colon did not thank me for that.

I'm still peeing every 30 minutes but now it's only right after I drink my juice. Ha! Take that, Mr. Know-it-all-I'm-gonna-make-you-piss-your-pants Kidneys!


In other news, I made a video on how I juice my juice but it still needs to be worked on. I'll post it hopefully later today or at least tomorrow.

Day 2

I wanted to show you my beautiful array of juices. As you can see, the purple juice (beets & spinach), has a little less but the lime green colored (my celery "soup") and my peach colored (cantaloupe & apples) have a ton of juice so I think it makes up for the lack.

I am so excited about my juices today! As I was reading another juice feaster's blog, I realized that he had juiced all of his celery to make into one meal. This got to me thinking that I could add things like, garlic, onion, a bit of tomato, and carrots to essentially make myself a juice "soup" so to speak for dinner. No more overpowering celery taste in ALL of my juices for the day.

I went to the store again but this time I got garlic, onion, cilantro, tomato, beets, green onions, and mushrooms. I've heard it's actually quite common for first timers to try mix the juices with the most flavor since we are so used to flavor and variety in our daily diet. It's true. I want FLAVOR, but only for now. I'm certain that will change as time goes.

My morning juice was quite pleasant. It was dark green but sweet at the same time and I gulped it down happily. Unlike yesterday, where I had to stop and compose myself after the celery taste. Honestly, you'd think I was a complete wuss, the way I talk about the celery but really, go put your celery through a blender, strain it, and try drinking it. Then you can report back and if you think it's not bad at all, then I deserve a kick in the pants.

My lunch juice was amazing again! Right now, I live for my fruit juices. It just tastes so yummy.

I had my snack juice (the beet & spinach one) and it tastes like dirt, unfortunately. I put some honey in it to liven it up but the aftertaste of dirt still lingers. My sister and her sister-in-law (who have both done the juice feast) said how when you mix the two together, it tastes like chocolate milk. I think I put too much beet in it because...yeah, it doesn't taste like chocolate milk. However, it's not horrible but it's not one of my favorites so far.

I also had my dinner juice is it was nasty. My stomach is gurgling as we speak. It was indeed savory and had lots of flavor but something about it was not right and I did not enjoy it. I got about 3/4 done when I called it quits. It was just too much. Maybe I should just suck it up, do strait celery juice, and get it done with.

I'm still waiting for the dreaded detox. Usually it happens on day 2-4-ish but I feel fine today. No headache, no body aches, no nuthin' (except for my slight cold I had before starting). We'll see how tomorrow goes.

My body needs to get used to all of the veggie juice I am putting into me. I'm not hungry, per se, because I think my view of hunger is distorted. Before, my meals were probably on the higher end of fat content-wise (in which fat stays in your stomach longer) but now, my juices are digested more efficiently and faster. Mostly, I need to change my view on what it means to be hungry because the majority of the time I think I am hungry, if I wait another minute, I'm not. Also, my kidney's are going into hyperdrive right now. I pee every 30 minutes or so just because of all the liquid I am drinking!


What I juiced:
Romaine lettuce/carrots/cucumber/apple
Apple/cantaloupe
Spinach/beets
Celery/tomato/cilantro/green onion/garlic




Weight  I don't have my scale yet, so I don't know.

Day 1

It took me about 2 hours to juice all of my juices which is pretty good considering that in only 2 hours, I made all of the meals that I would eat in an entire day.

My breakfast juice was a little odd. First off, I'm not used to drinking just liquid in the morning and vegetable liquid for that matter. Plus, the taste of celery was so overpowering. Tomorrow I am going to try to put spinach in to see if it masks the strong taste. But, because I put apple & carrots in it, it was also sweet so that was a plus.

Today I experienced my first enema adventure. Just some FYI, let the water run a little bit before sticking it up your bum or you will get a bunch of air in your colon. Don't ask me how I know.

Psychologically, the enema was difficult because all I could think was, "I have water UP my bum, GET IT OUT!" But I waited and although it was only maybe a minute later, I "went" and it felt really good. It was like I was washing my colon out and as crazy as it sounds, I feel lighter. With that being said, I need softer toilet paper. I've already gone to the bathroom multiple times today.

It'll be interesting to see how my juices play out. I have found myself more hungry but I know that's only because I would stuff at three meals a day. I'm not used to drinking 4+ meals of strait juice. Kind of makes sense since the juice would be easily digested therefore, I should be hungry more often. However, the juices do leave me satisfied.

I have thought it all out in my head and I think I've figured that I will drink every 3 hours. This translates to waking up at 7am-ish and drinking my morning "tea" so to speak to which I will drink my breakfast at 9:00am, then lunch at 12:00, midday snack at 3:00pm, and dinner at 6:00pm. I then have an option of drinking a cup of tea at 9:00pm, which I probably will.

What I juiced:
Romaine lettuce/carrot/cucumber/celery/apple x3
Apple/cantaloupe


Obstacles:
I really believe that one can be addicted to sugar and I also believe that I am one of those people. Right now, it's pretty tempting because we still have Christmas goodies around our house but I really want to give this juice feast 100% so I'm not going to cheat.

It's also been kind of difficult making food for Jack & Tyler and smelling the tastyness of the cheese and the butter (grilled cheese sandwiches). I wanted the grilled cheese sandwich for about 2 seconds and then I tasted my cantaloupe/apple juice and it was heavenly. I'm doing okay.


Misc. Illnesses:
Keratosis on arms
Phantosmia
Permanent stuffy nose
Brittle nails



Weight  156lbs.

The Pre-Game Prep.

Tomorrow I start on my great adventure of juice feasting. I am SO pumped and ready to start. After thinking about this for a long time, I'm reading to take the plumage into a healthier lifestyle.

You can go to www.juicefeasting.com for more information on the program.

Concerns:

• The only two concerns for me is drinking the entire quart of lemon water in the morning. I just don't drink water (kind of ironic seeing as I grew up in Arizona). It's not that I don't want to, it's more that I just forget.

• Another concern is the daily enema I have to do for the first 10-14 days. After I had Jack, I was SUPER constipated and gave myself an enema and it wasn't that bad so I think I'll do okay on this aspect.

• I have class on MWF at 7:45AM. This means that I may have to get up extra early to make sure that I have enough time to juice my juice, drink my lemon water, and give the enema. However, my goal is only 30 days which means only waking up 12 or so days early.

• I'm nervous about detox. I just know I am going to feel like crap because of the toxins I have put in my body. May the juice gods give me strength to push through.

• I'm anxious to see how the juices react to my intestines. Meaning, I wonder if I will cramp at all from the juices. 

My body is ready for this. After Christmas and eating all of the yummy but bad-for-you type of food, I actually feel physically sick. I have a slight sore throat, stuffy nose, and I have had 3 bowel movements already just today! I'm ready to be healthy and in the best shape of my life.

Bring it on, juice feast!