Five Day Juice Fast: Results

Down almost four pounds this morning, which was nice to see. Especially after last night's cheat. When am I going to learn to put me first? It is not in my nature to do so, and if we all did that all the time we would be in an even worse mess than we are now. But on a personal level, I need to somehow embrace the notion that my needs are as important as anyone else s in the home.

I know, what am I blathering about. Some background. Most of the time one of these three scenarios plays out at the end of each work day.

1. On my way home from work I pick up A from daycare if it's raining, freezing or burning hot.
2. Her father walks over (just around the corner)(Ha!)(nod to Ryan & Hanks) and picks her up.
3. Her mother picks her up an hour later on her way home from work and
     a. brings her home
     b. takes her to run an errand before heading home
     c. has her father in tow, they grab some dinner & maybe run an errand before heading home

What does this mean for me and what I had for dinner? Well, let me elucidate. I arrived home at 4:30 and rushed about straightening up because a friend was stopping by on her way home from work to visit. We had hot gingerbread spice tea and each did a quick recap of our lives since it had been over a year since our last visit. She left about 5:30 at which point I decided to wait to do my juicing so I wouldn't be in the kitchen when the kids (yes they are in their 30's) arrived home to make dinner. But unbeknownst to me scenario b. from above was being enacted and when they did arrive home it was to put a pizza in the oven. So now I am hungry and smelling pepperoni pizza. If I had just started juicing when my friend left I would have had my juice and could have done the clean up later. But no, I had waited and there I was. At that point I was not interested in juicing, but neither did I want frozen pizza. So I popped a potato in the  microwave and after a sprinkling of salt and a grind of fresh pepper I drizzled a little organic ketchup (more salt & sugar to boot) over the fluffy steaming cubes of hot potato and headed to my room and away from the pizza that was about to come out of the oven.

I haven't gotten to the bad part yet.

Hours later I am watching TV in my room and my stomach grumbles. And I am thinking about the pepperoni. Luckily for me it was all gone, but not so lucky for me a fresh loaf of soft white bread (organic, not wonder) sitting on the counter and my brain immediately flashed on the salami I knew was in the fridge. So there I was at about 10:30pm making a salami sandwich. Only 4 slices of salami, and 2 slices of the thin sliced cheddar from Sargento and a light smear of mayo - but it felt like blasphemy! And tasted like heaven.

Here is the worst of it. I overslept this morning, forgot my hot cuppa tea on the kitchen counter and never juiced. I made it half way to work before giving in to the little devil that resides on my left shoulder and stopped for a small decaf (1 cream, 5 sugars) and a sausage biscuit.  I figure at this point I am having a reset day and will start juicing either tonight or tomorrow morning when I am not rushed.

All of this could have been avoided if I had juiced last night instead of giving up my kitchen time - which was ridiculous and only in my head. Thinking back I wonder if it was a subconscious sabotage. I have a nasty habit of undermining successful efforts. Feeling thinner = permission to eat. Why I don't know. I could make some therapeutic guesses, but it's all crap. It's just me being weak.

God I am rambling, and on company time too! I'll call it part of my lunch. But I am determined to go to Sprouts for some more Kale Naked juice blend and coconut water for lunch despite my perverse nature screaming for a Mr. Pickles BLT.

Heaven help me.

Five Day Juice Fast: Day Five

Rushed for time this morning I blended up a smoothie rather than juicing, and I will juice for dinner.

Smoothie: Coconut water, kale, pineapple, turmeric root

Not the luscious smoothie I had anticipated as I am picking up the coconut  milk at lunch and didn't have any this morning. I was also so rushed I didn't look up the recipe and just quickly threw it together from memory. The taste is nice with a pineapple finish, but my blender doesn't grind the kale enough so it's full of bits - which I don't enjoy so much.

But here I am in the  middle of day five with only a few minor slips - spectacular performance for me! My plan is to keep juicing for a couple of meals each day and having a smoothie, soup or salad for the third meal, keeping it flexible depending on my time, how tired my back is at that particular moment and what I have available to use.

Off to shop, I see a chocolate, mint & coconut shake in my future. The Shape Shake from Orenda's CBS plan will be an awesome addition to this plan. Pea protein rocks!

Five Day Juice Fast: Day Four

This morning I finished the last bottle of juice from the fridge on my way to work. Not juicing anything fresh meant I would have to figure out lunch. I was dreading spending $8 on a green juice from Jamba Juice, but that is what I thought would happen. Instead I stopped in Sprouts (local grocery store) to see what they had and viola! A new Kale blend from Naked  on sale for $2.99 so I bought two and then added two cans of their coconut water. The ingredients matched almost exactly what I would have juiced plus the kale, which was a puree so there was texture to the drink.

I finished the 2nd kale drink on the way home and half of the 2nd coconut water. Signing on to check the Fit For Life plan I saw that I could have soup for dinner so I opted for an easy dish and opened a can of Amy's organic vegan lentil soup for dinner.  And now I am sleepy! Must be the solid food.

Tomorrow I will juice enough in the morning for my first two meals, having picked up the cucumbers I lacked today at the produce market during lunch, and then for dinner it's finally time for the kale, coconut, turmeric, mango smoothie. I hope it's as good as it looked in the video!

I think my face looks a little different; not so puffy nor as full as usual. This is a good thing, right? It's so easy to avoid mirrors and pretend I don't care what I look like, but checking my blog pic against one taken last weekend, it's obvious I have aged greatly in the last 7 years. My Bad.

But I have been in a rare mood this past week, and part of me is beginning to believe that perhaps my psyche is finally on the mend.

Here's to another good day tomorrow, may the gods be with me.

Five Day Juice Fast: Day Three

Today's juice: ginger, lemon, green apple, cucumbers, carrots, celery, a small beet & some black seedless grapes. So very delicious. The grapes added just a touch of depth and sweetness to balance the earthiness of the beet.

Busy day at work, home to clean the juicer that I only rinsed this morning before rushing out of the house, and later this evening after the kids are done in the kitchen I'll prep for tomorrow's juice. I need to go look, I think I get a smoothie tomorrow! Can hardly wait to try the turmeric root and mango together with the coconut. I have fresh alligator kale to blend with them too - hope it's as good as i anticipate.

This was my first day without taking any cold meds since becoming sick last week. My only lingering symptom a random rough cough. I am notorious for coughing for six weeks once I have a cold in allergy season so I am grateful for this. I'm using my daily standards from Orenda, the Immune and O'Tropin, and I've added the Alfalfa complex and Nutriferon from Shaklee since my daughter brings them home at her discount, plus their Defend and Resist Complex. What a handful twice a day! I know that as soon as I bring my weight under control the Orenda will once again be sufficient unto my needs. But an extra 80 pounds is tough on the immune system and I'm using all the help I can get my hands on right now.

I glanced at the two remaining glazed donuts as I grabbed my last bottle of juice to drink on the way home. They looked like they wanted to jump into my open arms so I left quickly!

R is in the kitchen brewing up some pot roast - ah the smells! I'm not interested in the roast, but potatoes and gravy...I imagine that I do not need to elaborate, who would not like to jump into a bowl of that particular heaven.

Time to rescue my Red Rooibos tea bag from drowning and finally sit for a short rest before the next part of my day begins.

Fit For Life Five Day Juice Fast: Day Two point two

And then our neighbor came over with a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. And not just any cookies, chocolate chip cookies made using her mother's special recipe. My neighbor and I sort of bonded over our loses; she had just lost her Mother and I was still raw from losing Joey when they moved in next door. How could I say no to one of her mother's cookies? I couldn't. But I did only eat half of one. Followed by a small handful of seedless black grapes that I had washed in preparation for tomorrow's juice. Wow they were sweet! Now I'm really looking forward to juicing some; not too many, just a handful to add all the wonderful micronutrients they offer. Click the link and scroll down past the macronutrients to the antioxidants, vitamins & minerals. And these are only the ones that have been identified.

To continue the Day Two saga, the kids went to pick up the items ordered through A's fundraising efforts a month or so ago and now the freezer is full of cookie dough. Adding insult to injury they stopped on the way home and picked up dinner from Der Wienerschnitzel - if you can call that food. I'm still in a good place, although I will confess my mouth is watering for a mini corn dog as I type. Rotten fast food! Or to be more precise, rotten fast food products! My brain is gagging as my mouth salivates for the crap.

After sorting the fundraising items between R and myself for transport to our respective places of work tomorrow, I headed here to my room - my current safe spot away from temptation. I am not hungry, I am working on the last cup of my juice for the day, and will have a final mug of ginger lemon tea before bed tonight. I am good.

I had a busy day at work, mindful of changing positions often, stopping to stretch when my reminder popped up, and doing some distance gazing out the window to flex my stagnant computer locked eye muscles. To quote Katy Bowman, we are not meant to be static.

I'm looking forward to making it through day two with minimal damage, and excited about heading into day three tomorrow.

Black Seedless Grapes. Yum.

Fit For Life Five Day Juice Fast: Day Two point one

I sniffed, I inhaled deeply, and I walked away. Awhile later I had to cruise past the kitchen again (I was at work) and this time took my phone to photograph the source of my temptation.

I lusted but did not succumb.  Hopefully posting this will reinforce my determination to stay clean this evening.

One more day of juicing and then I add a smoothie to my day. I will do this as we do everything else in life, one moment at a time. For this moment I am strong and dreaming of success.

And remembering I have beets, kale and apples in the car that need fetching.

Fit For Life: Five Day Juice Fast: Day Two

Day One recap:  a couple of small slips; six small pretzel sticks and a small side of rice and beans. Other than that, all juice, water and tea all day.

Today's Juice
Ginger, lemon, cucumber, apple, celery & carrots. No beets today, I need to pick some more up at lunch and see what else looks good for some variety tomorrow.

Last  night I prepped my veggies and apples and sealed them up in containers in the fridge. This morning it took me half an hour from start to finish to juice and clean up. I brought three 16oz bottles of juice with me to work, drinking one on the way. I also have a thermos of lemon, ginger water to drink during the day. Re-purposing the glass bottles from the Synergy my daughter buys works perfectly for this, and the bottles fit nicely into my insulated lunch bag. I'ts 1pm and I'm half way through the 2nd bottle.

Off to buy beets!

Fit For Life: Five Day Juice Fast: Day One

Really? Another attempt? Well, yes actually! I may go down more often than not but I will always come up fighting. Always.

I awoke sore and aching this morning, the aftermath from helping prep for what had to have been the best ever 6th birthday party. Frozen visited Livermore via the special efforts of my daughter, Tri Valley Ice Rink, and Pinterest. The cake even had a castle on it - need I say more? Yes. The sight of her classmates, friends and assorted extras all skating with blue flannel scarves and the help of buckets to lean on (it was the first time for many of them) was absolutely awesome. Especially "A" who was resplendent as Elsa; her gown was blue and flowing and sparkly, her blond hair in a braid, and her flashing blue eyes just brilliant in her happy flushed face. Yes daughter dear, it was a hit!

Back to me. Yesterday I joined Fit For Life and printed out the juice recipes. Not surprisingly, I found many of the ingredients I was already using to juice. Again, not surprising, few of them were to be found in the fridge this morning. So off to the market in stretchy pants to buy a basket of veggies and a bag of green apples. I was pleased to see they now have turmeric root in stock and picked up a root of that as well for day four when I get a smoothie.

So yes, I will be juicing for three days. Not as a supplement, but in totality. Plus water and herbal tea. When I mentioned to my daughter that "I don't know if I will be able to do it" she stopped me cold. "Yes you can! You have to go into it knowing you will do it!"  So she will be in charge of eating up the bags of salad I was worrying about going to waste, and will help me prep my bags of veggies and fruit so that juicing in the morning will go smoothly. She is awesome.

Why am I doing this? Um...for my health? For my waist? To be out of pain? Yes, for all of these reasons and more, but mostly for my mental sanity. I cannot go through this Autumn coughing from allergies, I will go crazy if that happens one more time in my lifetime. Juicing will load me up on anti inflammatories, antioxidants, micronutrients etc ad nauseum. So goodby Phlegm, and hello Hope.