Well, I'm home again.
San Diego was fun, it's a beautiful city, with a very vibrant nightlife, and plenty of shops, restaurants, and attractions. A quick recap of my week.
Monday -- Got up at 5:00, hit the fitness center and worked out for about an hour, had breakfast at the hotel (paid 8.00 for a little fresh fruit and an herbal tea. After breakfast, walked to the store (about 3 miles) stocked up on fresh fruits, vegetables, and a couple of box salads for lunches. End result -- $50.00, but didn't have to buy breakfast or lunch for the rest of the week -- had dinner at the welcome reception.
Tuesday -- Woke up at 5:00, worked out, did breakfast, had morning sessions, Salad for lunch, did the afternoon sessions, and had almost 1500 calories left over for the day, so went to Kansas City barbecue and had some beef brisket. Yum! We went down to Seaport Village, and wandered around a bit where I met Murrugun the Mystic. (www.murrugun.com) we headed for Gaslamp and walked around a bit, all in all, fun night.
Wednesday -- Woke up at 5:00, worked out and had breakfast in my room. Did the morning sessions, went to the AVID luncheon for lunch and had a chicken dish, went to the afternoon sessions, then dinner on my own before the Padres game. Found a neat little Irish Pub, and had some fish and chips and a Guinness. Mmm... Guinness. Padres THRASHED the Dodgers 6-1, awesome game.
Thursday -- Did not wake up at 5:00... in fact, due to an alarm snafu, woke up at 9:30. ACK!!! Turns out I turned on some soothign music on the alarm to go to bed, and then set the alarm. Hit the off button to turn off the soothing music and it cancelled the alarm. Awesome... After the afternoon sessions we headed to Old Town and had some delicious mexican food. I had steak fajitas. After dinner, we headed to Gaslamp to go to the Shout House where we stayed until about 11:30 listening to some incredible live piano music.
Friday -- Woke up at 5:00 got all my stuff packed. I had some bagel and lox for breakfast as I was out of food in my room. For lunch, I had some Sushi at the airport, and then Izzy's for dinner when I got home with the family. Looking forward to some normalcy in my diet. Waiting to see as of Monday whether the choices I made were enough to keep the weight about the same. I'm betting I gained a couple of pounds, but we'll see. The workouts were pretty intense, and aside from dinner -- it was apples, bananas, salads, raw nuts, etc... I guess you never really know.
As of Tuesday this last week, the raw diet is over, and its all about real foods from this point on. I can't say I'm wheat and dairy free anymore, nor can I say I haven't had any refined sugars, but I have still not taken in any caffeine, and haven't had soda in almost a month. That will for sure remain as time goes on, and I'm avoiding refined sugars, wheat and dairy as much as possible.
It's good to be home.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Whirlwind couple of days...
Sorry about the lack of posts for those of you that are actually reading this. :)
Friday evening, our kitchen sink backed up something fierce and I spent most of the evening leading up to Sabbath fighting with that -- to no avail.
Saturday, we went down to Eugene for services, and were treated to a wonderful late lunch/dinner by the Harmon family with all sorts of delicious vegetables, and pasta salads, etc..
I decided for sake of keeping things up on the go in San Diego (where I am now) I would cut the raw requirement as of the Sabbath this past week, and instead focus on healthy/primarily vegetarian/real foods for the duration of this week. I had a salad bowl at Chipotle's today on the way up to the airport, which filled me up! I've been working on snacking the rest of today. Eating healthy is tough to do in an airport, but I found some good stuff in Portland (dried bananas and cherries mixed with no additives) and then some cashews in Los Angeles. I'm not too hungry tonight. I really need to drink some more water. That's what I've been lacking today.
Excited to tool around San Diego tomorrow -- it looks like the first day meetings are for teams only, and since my team is not coming down until next week, it looks like I've got a day off. We'll find out officially tomorrow, but whatever will I do?? :) Whatever I do, it needs to be off the trolley line -- cabs suck.
I'm heading for Petco Park Wednesday night to watch the Padres take on the Dodgers. Other than that, I have nothing else planned... I want to make it to the Shout House one night this week, and I'd like to have dinner at Croce's at some point. That will just about blow my whole day's food budget though. lol
If I go easy the first couple days, that will open up my budget a little more towards the end. If my hotel has a complimentary shuttle to the airport, that will also help a bunch. I'm about to go find those things out.
Not sure how many updates I will keep you posted on, but I'm already starting to think a little bit different about my food choices. That didn't used to happen. I think that is a good thing.
P.S. The sink is still plugged up. If anyone in Salem has any other good ideas... we'd prefer not to call the 'rooter'
Friday evening, our kitchen sink backed up something fierce and I spent most of the evening leading up to Sabbath fighting with that -- to no avail.
Saturday, we went down to Eugene for services, and were treated to a wonderful late lunch/dinner by the Harmon family with all sorts of delicious vegetables, and pasta salads, etc..
I decided for sake of keeping things up on the go in San Diego (where I am now) I would cut the raw requirement as of the Sabbath this past week, and instead focus on healthy/primarily vegetarian/real foods for the duration of this week. I had a salad bowl at Chipotle's today on the way up to the airport, which filled me up! I've been working on snacking the rest of today. Eating healthy is tough to do in an airport, but I found some good stuff in Portland (dried bananas and cherries mixed with no additives) and then some cashews in Los Angeles. I'm not too hungry tonight. I really need to drink some more water. That's what I've been lacking today.
Excited to tool around San Diego tomorrow -- it looks like the first day meetings are for teams only, and since my team is not coming down until next week, it looks like I've got a day off. We'll find out officially tomorrow, but whatever will I do?? :) Whatever I do, it needs to be off the trolley line -- cabs suck.
I'm heading for Petco Park Wednesday night to watch the Padres take on the Dodgers. Other than that, I have nothing else planned... I want to make it to the Shout House one night this week, and I'd like to have dinner at Croce's at some point. That will just about blow my whole day's food budget though. lol
If I go easy the first couple days, that will open up my budget a little more towards the end. If my hotel has a complimentary shuttle to the airport, that will also help a bunch. I'm about to go find those things out.
Not sure how many updates I will keep you posted on, but I'm already starting to think a little bit different about my food choices. That didn't used to happen. I think that is a good thing.
P.S. The sink is still plugged up. If anyone in Salem has any other good ideas... we'd prefer not to call the 'rooter'
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Going to keep this super short as I've already posted a near full post today. But today was another of the same kind of days. I haven't been eating a whole lot for breakfast, and in doing some reading, it sounds like a lot of raw folks don't. Their body is still detoxing from overnight, and they tend to find they're not super hungry in the morning.
I've been making sure to get up and get water going as soon as possible, and I've been drinking an herbal tea in the mornings (Cinnamon Apple Spice). Today for breakfast (about 9:00 am) I had a plum, and then about 1/2 to 1 hour later, I had a banana and some almonds. That carried me through until lunch. I made sushi for lunch (see the picture above) where I took the mock tuna salad, a.k.a. Crab Delight on From SAD to RAW, wrapped it in some Nori pieces, and then poured about a tablespoon of Soy Vay (which is surprisingly organic) to slightly flavor it. VERY GOOD!!!
I also had some of the Flax Seed crackers in Guacamole today, and some more Mexican Lettuce Wraps.
I made some more Larabars today, added water like the recipe suggested to help hold it together. Never again. Made them stickier than fly paper. Just pressing them together worked way better last time, altered the recipe slightly this go around -- instead of raisins as the dry fruit, I added dried cherries, and added 1/3 dried raisins in addition to the rest.
I put all of that together in my new Food Processor! I picked up a Food Processor (12 cup capacity, 500 horsepower motor) at Fred Meyer today, they were on sale for $50.
It. Is. Awesome.
The batch of Larabars went super fast, it has high enough capacity to do all of the crackers and chips and everything else. Will work great.
Other than that, another day towards 21. Next Tuesday marks the 21st day on raw foods -- 3 days into my San Diego trip. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but I'm going to do my best to stick with it while I'm travelling.
With that, I'm going to go -- the wife and I are going to watch some episodes from the first Season of the Cosby Show.
Cheers!
Ben
BBQ
I'll keep this short as I didn't get a chance to log an entry last night before bed as it was a late night. (Wife and I watched Back to the Future II)
Yesterday was pretty standard -- Food, workout, etc... but I had a chance to get some stuff cooked up and made that is pretty neat.
I seasoned and dehydrated some more almonds for snacking on. This batch wasn't as good as my other ones -- have to do it the original way again. I also put together and made some flax seed crackers for some snack items as well.
I'm finding the raw thing isn't particularly difficult if you have some low fat, raw snacks to keep around. The main dishes are veggie wraps, salads, and raw entrees if you get really adventurous -- but as the goal of most 'diets' is basically grazing as the day goes on instead of 3 square meals, it works pretty well.
So yesterday we had a barbecue for the Northwest Steelheaders (a fishing/conservation organization I belong to) and its potluck style. The hardest part about this raw diet is eating around others that are not raw. (and for me, explaining it all to a bunch of crusty old fishermen from up the canyone didn't sound like fun...) Last year, Shannon and I went, and we weren't able to eat the main course as they were pork Octoberfest Sausages -- however, it wasn't a problem because there were TONS of salads! So I made some raw coleslaw to take with us, and figured I'd have some salad, and some raw coleslaw.
We got there, and everything on the table this year had been purchased -- Reser's Potato Salad, some Italian Pasta Salad, Fried Chicken, Brownies, Cookies, Blueberry/Peach Cobbler, the list goes on. Not a salad to be seen. The entrees: Really good looking Costco Hamburgers, and a freshly caught Chinook on the grill.
I went through the line, grabbed myself some coleslaw, about a tablespoon of the pasta salad, and a little chunk of Chinook. (I know... Slap my hand) I'm not sure I can technically classify myself as non-wheat or 100% raw anymore. But it was delicious, and a 1000 times healthier choice than the Costco burgers.
I was still hungry, so I had a little more coleslaw, and then I went through the burger line, and grabbed some lettuce, onion, and tomato, and stuck the tomatoes and onions into the lettuce, with a little bit of mustard, and nommed on those. Not too bad.
My body has been craving protein, at least it seems that way, so I'm tryign to be more conscious of taking in more nuts and seeds with my raw meals. The refried beans that I made, and the almonds have got plenty, but with the workouts and building muscle, my body could always use more. Not to mention, the O+ Blood Type requires a high protein diet. So I'll need to come up with a maintenance diet the start this weekend that allows for higher protein.
That's all for now, tonights blog will go up this evening.
Yesterday was pretty standard -- Food, workout, etc... but I had a chance to get some stuff cooked up and made that is pretty neat.
I seasoned and dehydrated some more almonds for snacking on. This batch wasn't as good as my other ones -- have to do it the original way again. I also put together and made some flax seed crackers for some snack items as well.
I'm finding the raw thing isn't particularly difficult if you have some low fat, raw snacks to keep around. The main dishes are veggie wraps, salads, and raw entrees if you get really adventurous -- but as the goal of most 'diets' is basically grazing as the day goes on instead of 3 square meals, it works pretty well.
So yesterday we had a barbecue for the Northwest Steelheaders (a fishing/conservation organization I belong to) and its potluck style. The hardest part about this raw diet is eating around others that are not raw. (and for me, explaining it all to a bunch of crusty old fishermen from up the canyone didn't sound like fun...) Last year, Shannon and I went, and we weren't able to eat the main course as they were pork Octoberfest Sausages -- however, it wasn't a problem because there were TONS of salads! So I made some raw coleslaw to take with us, and figured I'd have some salad, and some raw coleslaw.
We got there, and everything on the table this year had been purchased -- Reser's Potato Salad, some Italian Pasta Salad, Fried Chicken, Brownies, Cookies, Blueberry/Peach Cobbler, the list goes on. Not a salad to be seen. The entrees: Really good looking Costco Hamburgers, and a freshly caught Chinook on the grill.
I went through the line, grabbed myself some coleslaw, about a tablespoon of the pasta salad, and a little chunk of Chinook. (I know... Slap my hand) I'm not sure I can technically classify myself as non-wheat or 100% raw anymore. But it was delicious, and a 1000 times healthier choice than the Costco burgers.
I was still hungry, so I had a little more coleslaw, and then I went through the burger line, and grabbed some lettuce, onion, and tomato, and stuck the tomatoes and onions into the lettuce, with a little bit of mustard, and nommed on those. Not too bad.
My body has been craving protein, at least it seems that way, so I'm tryign to be more conscious of taking in more nuts and seeds with my raw meals. The refried beans that I made, and the almonds have got plenty, but with the workouts and building muscle, my body could always use more. Not to mention, the O+ Blood Type requires a high protein diet. So I'll need to come up with a maintenance diet the start this weekend that allows for higher protein.
That's all for now, tonights blog will go up this evening.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
I think I'm starting to get the hang of this...
So today I put together a bunch of stuff from the seeds I had soaking. I made some Sunflower Seed Refried Beans (that don't really taste like refried beans, but aren't bad), some really good pico de gallo, and I made some guacamole, I also finished the mock tuna salad, which is AWESOME wrapped in lettuce with a little bit of soy sauce. I have some additional projects going as well -- I'm in the process of making some banana chips, and seasoning some more almonds to dry, as well as soaking more sunflower seeds for some additional things.
Food-wise, I had a banana with my herbal tea this morning for breakfast, mid morning had a couple ounces of seasoned almonds, for lunch I had a salad with some mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, sunflower seeds, and shredded carrots. During the afternoon, I had the rest of the seasoned almonds another ounce or two, and a homemade larabar (I need to stay away from those things! LOL) For dinner tonight I had some lettuce wraps. One of them was the Mock Tuna Salad, and another was a wrap of the sunflower refried beans. Then I put together two wraps for dinner that were a combination of Sunflower Beans, Pico De Gallo, Guacamole and sprouts wrapped in some green leaf lettuce. It was super good! (Picture is at the top)
Weight is holding steady at 304, at least I'm not rapidly losing anymore. I should start losing at about 1-2 pounds a week now with my calorie intake about 2,000 calories a day. I'm working out Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays right now, and looking for something to put in on Tuesday and Thursday evenings that would not necessarily workout the muscles that I'm using M-W-F as I need to be resting them, but still is a workout/relaxing/stress relieving -- maybe Yoga or Pilates?? Racquetball? Swimming? Don't know. Still thinking about that.
Other than that, things went pretty good today from a diet standpoint. I was a little on the irritable side, but that's just kind of a me thing every now and again -- I don't think it was a function of lack of energy or anything.
Well, I need to cut this short so I can get the stuff from the foods today put into Vida so I
can count todays calorie intake.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, Monday...
Hey everybody!
Quite a busy day today -- this marks the 14th day off of caffeine, refined sugar, wheat, dairy, and processed chemicals, and I spent a good portion of it working on some homemade foods that I can eat that are completely raw.
Raw is an interesting definition for those of you that are unfamiliar. It is defined as food that is as close to its natural state as humanly possible. It can be heated up to approximately 120 degrees, but no further as at the 120 degree mark the enzymes within the food begin to break down from the heat. The goal of a raw diet is to monopolize on those enzymes to increase your bodies ability to digest and use the food -- rather that produce large amounts of waste.
It's not a cheap way to eat as organic vegetables and raw nuts are expensive, but I'm finding that it can be done, and can be delicious. If you take a look at my lunch today in the picture above, raw can also be versatile. What you're looking at is what's called a Gorilla Sandwich. The name is actually trademarked. Seriously. So it is a hollowed out cucumber that you cram the fillings into. Its supposed to be one whole piece so you can carry and transport it easily, but I modified it slightly. Inside the cucumber sandwich is some delicious stuff!! There is avocado, tomato, kale, lettuce, sprouts, olives (not raw.. I know. Slap my hand), sunflower seeds and some Jalepeno Jack Almond Cheese. The salad to the side is just made up of the leftovers from the sandwich, and the chips at the bottom are the honey mustard raw potato chips I made in the dehydrator yesterday. (Desmond LOVES them... he nearly ate half my jar of them today.)
I'm keeping track of my calorie intake with a program called Vida Diet and Health, its got a calorie counter, workout trackers, and a bunch of other stuff to help track weight loss and goals. My meals today: Coconut Yogurt with 2 Bananas, mid-morning snack of almonds and some chips, the lunch pictured above, and dinner tonight (1/4 of a Canteloupe) followed up by a homemade Chocolate Coconut Chew (Totally Raw Ingredients) -- totalled 2019 calories. I was STUFFED today. Breakfast was substantial, Lunch was HUGE, dinner was a little light because I had it after I came back from the gym tonight at like 8:00, but I never once felt hungry -- and my food program is telling me to consume 1440 some additional calories. Um No. I'm good. :)
P.S. Homemade Larabars are INCREDIBLE. The recipe found here is perfect as is, tastes identical to the Chocolate Coconut Chew Larabar that Shannon likes so much. It made 10 of them. The nuts are soaked and ready to make the mock tuna salad, the sunflowers are ready to go for refried beans, and with a little pico de gallo, and a lettuce wrap, I've got vegetarian burritos. :)
I'm having a lot of fun with all of this -- and feeling great.
Cheers!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Hooray for Food!
With the juice fast behind me, now I have a chance to look forward to some awesome natural foods and some different methods of preparing those foods than I have been used to.
Using the website I posted in yesterdays blog, I've started several of their recipes and am in the middle of a few projects... but let's back up to today's foods.
This morning, I woke up and had my last mug of potassium broth. It won't be necessary now that I'm taking in solid foods again. I had a bowl of non-dairy coconut yogurt, with fresh blueberries and organic banana. YUM! The coconut yogurt is not very sweet, in fact, EXTREMELY tart, so I added a bit of honey to it to take the edge off.
For lunch, I made a vegetable juice of 2 apples, 1 English Cucumber, 3 Celery Stalks, 2-3 Kale leaves, and 2 Carrots. Pretty good stuff, so far my favorite vegetable juice recipe.
I finished the juice up about 2:30, and went a while without eating. I finished off the day with a nice big salad of fresh lettuce greens, kale leaves, onions, tomatoes, avocado, and sprouts in a vinagrette dressing. SO GOOD!
I picked up all the stuff I needed tonight for homemade larabars, which I plan on doing tomorrow. I made potato chips today -- they're rad. A bit on the salty side (oops) but overall, pretty tasty. Very different texture than standard potato chips. Made them in the dehydrator.
I've got some mexican spicy almonds dehydrating on the dehydrator now for little snackies too. If I could find some good raw soy sauce that didn't cost and arm and a leg, I would do a soy/wasabi almond. They're my favorite flavored almond.
Other than that, I'm in the process of also making some "Sunflower Refried Beans", "Onion Dip", and "No-Bean Hummus". I'm also planning a dinner, perhaps tomorrow night of Raw burritos. The Sunflower Refried Beans, some almond cheese, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, raw guacamole, cilantro all wrapped in big lettuce leaves.
Intrigued and excited about the possibilities as the week goes on. Shannon has become a guinea pig, ("Hey Honey!! Try this!") she is less than enthused. :)
Using the website I posted in yesterdays blog, I've started several of their recipes and am in the middle of a few projects... but let's back up to today's foods.
This morning, I woke up and had my last mug of potassium broth. It won't be necessary now that I'm taking in solid foods again. I had a bowl of non-dairy coconut yogurt, with fresh blueberries and organic banana. YUM! The coconut yogurt is not very sweet, in fact, EXTREMELY tart, so I added a bit of honey to it to take the edge off.
For lunch, I made a vegetable juice of 2 apples, 1 English Cucumber, 3 Celery Stalks, 2-3 Kale leaves, and 2 Carrots. Pretty good stuff, so far my favorite vegetable juice recipe.
I finished the juice up about 2:30, and went a while without eating. I finished off the day with a nice big salad of fresh lettuce greens, kale leaves, onions, tomatoes, avocado, and sprouts in a vinagrette dressing. SO GOOD!
I picked up all the stuff I needed tonight for homemade larabars, which I plan on doing tomorrow. I made potato chips today -- they're rad. A bit on the salty side (oops) but overall, pretty tasty. Very different texture than standard potato chips. Made them in the dehydrator.
I've got some mexican spicy almonds dehydrating on the dehydrator now for little snackies too. If I could find some good raw soy sauce that didn't cost and arm and a leg, I would do a soy/wasabi almond. They're my favorite flavored almond.
Other than that, I'm in the process of also making some "Sunflower Refried Beans", "Onion Dip", and "No-Bean Hummus". I'm also planning a dinner, perhaps tomorrow night of Raw burritos. The Sunflower Refried Beans, some almond cheese, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, raw guacamole, cilantro all wrapped in big lettuce leaves.
Intrigued and excited about the possibilities as the week goes on. Shannon has become a guinea pig, ("Hey Honey!! Try this!") she is less than enthused. :)
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Who knew?
Who knew a banana could taste so good!! Today marked my first day off of the 'juice fast' and as a result I began adding things into my daily schedule that I've missed. One of those things....
Chewing.
I know it sounds silly, but its really kind of cool to just sit and chew your food enjoying each of the wonderful tastes within. lol
I woke up this morning, had my normal cup of Potassium broth, drank some water, and made my first juice of the day. I call it Pop. It's Pineapple, Orange, and Plum. Super tasty, great way to start the day.
Then I had my banana. The best tasting banana ever. No really. Ever.
I made a sub-par V8 for my afternoon juice today, finishing it once we got home from services. Following that I ate some organic red seedless grapes, and later on some fresh blueberries. I also had a chance to go shopping this evening after Sabbath to pick some stuff up to start putting together for next week.
I'm going to make some Almond Cheese, some Flax Seed Crackers, some Raw Salsa, and something called "Crab Delite" which is supposed to mimic a crab/tuna salad, but apparently is pretty good with no crab whatsoever wrapped in lettuce leaves. I also picked up a couple of cucumbers to try out the 'Gorilla Sandwich". I've got plenty of greens for salads, but looking for a decent dressing recipe.
I got hungry while I was shopping this evening and broke down and bought a Larabar. Two things I noticed.
1) They are WICKED good.
2) They are definitely a treat, not a staple. With that said, I think I should probably find a good recipe and make my own, otherwise, a guy might go broke. lol
I think I'll start out tomorrow with a juice, then some Coconut Yogurt with blueberries and banana. For lunch I think a salad sounds awesome with plenty of fresh vegetables. For dinner... hmmm... have to look around and see what I can find. Found a great website with lots and lots of raw recipes here
I'll keep you posted on the adventure.
Chewing.
I know it sounds silly, but its really kind of cool to just sit and chew your food enjoying each of the wonderful tastes within. lol
I woke up this morning, had my normal cup of Potassium broth, drank some water, and made my first juice of the day. I call it Pop. It's Pineapple, Orange, and Plum. Super tasty, great way to start the day.
Then I had my banana. The best tasting banana ever. No really. Ever.
I made a sub-par V8 for my afternoon juice today, finishing it once we got home from services. Following that I ate some organic red seedless grapes, and later on some fresh blueberries. I also had a chance to go shopping this evening after Sabbath to pick some stuff up to start putting together for next week.
I'm going to make some Almond Cheese, some Flax Seed Crackers, some Raw Salsa, and something called "Crab Delite" which is supposed to mimic a crab/tuna salad, but apparently is pretty good with no crab whatsoever wrapped in lettuce leaves. I also picked up a couple of cucumbers to try out the 'Gorilla Sandwich". I've got plenty of greens for salads, but looking for a decent dressing recipe.
I got hungry while I was shopping this evening and broke down and bought a Larabar. Two things I noticed.
1) They are WICKED good.
2) They are definitely a treat, not a staple. With that said, I think I should probably find a good recipe and make my own, otherwise, a guy might go broke. lol
I think I'll start out tomorrow with a juice, then some Coconut Yogurt with blueberries and banana. For lunch I think a salad sounds awesome with plenty of fresh vegetables. For dinner... hmmm... have to look around and see what I can find. Found a great website with lots and lots of raw recipes here
I'll keep you posted on the adventure.
Friday, July 16, 2010
10
That's that. For the last 11 days, I have taken in no solid food, No refined sugars, wheat or dairy products, No High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sodium Benzoate, or any other junk that goes in most processed foods, and I feel pretty good!
It hasn't been easy, but it also hasn't been the hardest thing I've ever done. I never felt undernourished, 90% of the time I had incredible energy, my skin feels pretty good, and I know this sounds weird, but my teeth feel good. lol
I have detoxed quite a bit in the last 10 days on "Da Juice", I have lost a fair amount of weight -- weighed in tonight at 304 down from 325 a few weeks before I did the juice fast. The juice portion of things doesn't go away now that the 10 days is up, quite the contrary. For the next 3 day, I come off of the fast. My body has had no solid food whatsoever for the past 11 days, so its important to slowly reintroduce things, tomorrow I will be having some mashed up banana in addition to my morning juice. I made some raw organic coconut yogurt, and will be having some of that with some blueberries as well, as I slow myself back into things. Mushy food for the first day and a half or so, then slowly start adding in some roughage.
Thank you for your kind words and support -- it has been greatly appreciated, and has helped a lot! Truly, from the bottom of my heart, Thank You. Now comes the most difficult part for me in this whole thing -- free choice and options. For those of you in the church, this is the best analogy I can make. My body as just spent 10 days at the nutritional Feast of Tabernacles, but its time to be done and go back into the world. The choices that I make from here out will really dictate the success of this whole endeavor.
Following the 3 days, will be a 100% raw food diet for 8 days, then no more 'dieting' so to speak, just smart lifestyle and food choices. a.k.a. The REAL FOOD Diet. Keep checking back in as the journey continues.
Happy Sabbath to you all, may it be resting and rejuvenating, but most of all spiritually rewarding.
Ben
It hasn't been easy, but it also hasn't been the hardest thing I've ever done. I never felt undernourished, 90% of the time I had incredible energy, my skin feels pretty good, and I know this sounds weird, but my teeth feel good. lol
I have detoxed quite a bit in the last 10 days on "Da Juice", I have lost a fair amount of weight -- weighed in tonight at 304 down from 325 a few weeks before I did the juice fast. The juice portion of things doesn't go away now that the 10 days is up, quite the contrary. For the next 3 day, I come off of the fast. My body has had no solid food whatsoever for the past 11 days, so its important to slowly reintroduce things, tomorrow I will be having some mashed up banana in addition to my morning juice. I made some raw organic coconut yogurt, and will be having some of that with some blueberries as well, as I slow myself back into things. Mushy food for the first day and a half or so, then slowly start adding in some roughage.
Thank you for your kind words and support -- it has been greatly appreciated, and has helped a lot! Truly, from the bottom of my heart, Thank You. Now comes the most difficult part for me in this whole thing -- free choice and options. For those of you in the church, this is the best analogy I can make. My body as just spent 10 days at the nutritional Feast of Tabernacles, but its time to be done and go back into the world. The choices that I make from here out will really dictate the success of this whole endeavor.
Following the 3 days, will be a 100% raw food diet for 8 days, then no more 'dieting' so to speak, just smart lifestyle and food choices. a.k.a. The REAL FOOD Diet. Keep checking back in as the journey continues.
Happy Sabbath to you all, may it be resting and rejuvenating, but most of all spiritually rewarding.
Ben
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants.
Its hard to believe that I've been at this now for 9 days, and that I haven't had solid food in 10. I never would have imagined I could have even made it half this time before I started, and it feels to me like I could go on for quite some time more if I felt like it. However, I think the detoxification is mostly done. Tomorrow marks the last day of the juice fast, and I will start coming off of the fast over the following 3 days, slowly adding more and more solid foods into my diet until I reach a 100% raw diet for the next 8.
I've been perusing some blogs/websites/online resources looking for raw recipes, and have found a couple of very good ones.
http://rawon10.blogspot.com/
http://www.fromsadtoraw.com/RawRecipes.htm
http://www.goneraw.com
http://www.giveittomeraw.com
As you know if you've been reading subsequent blog posts, the type of diet that I want to be partaking in when I'm done has gone back and forth several times. I'm still not sure. My primary focus in all of this was to begin eating healthier -- becoming more cognizant of what I take into my body in both amount and content. I want to ensure that the food I am eating is nutritious, healthy, and full of solid beneficial calories, not empty and wasteful calories.
That's what lead me to the 'Raw' diet and lifestyle. I love that the food is uncooked so all the beneficial enzymes are present in it. I love that there is a focus on raw organic fruits and vegetables. What I don't like about it is the cost and the lack of availability during the winter months. I also have absolutely no desire to become vegan -- I like meat. I hunt, I fish, and not just for the outdoor experience. There is nothing better than sitting down with your family and partaking in a Elk Roast, or a Salmon Fillet that you killed, butchered, and cooked. It's a satisfying feeling -- and one I'm not particularly willing to give up.
So I thought, I'll go 3/4 raw or 50% Raw, that way I can still partake in meat or dairy (in moderation) if I feel like it, and just make sure that the fruits and vegetables that I take in are raw.
Then I got to thinking... really, what I'm philosophizing over here is semantics. There is a quote by Michael Pollan on the cover of his book, In Defense of Food that sums up my maintenance diet strategy succinctly.
"Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants."
That's it. The wonderful beauty of simplicity. As I thought about it, that summed up my entire viewpoint on the matter. Really, my concept of a 'raw' food diet, was more a concept of a 'real food' diet.
The things we should stuff in our craw should be REAL food, not the 'edible food like substances' pimped in the aisles of our grocery stores. REAL FOOD! We should avoid the food that have been processed, artificially dyed, mixed with 30 different chemicals that hardly anyone knows what they are. We should be looking at it from a standpoint of family farm food. Fresh raw fruits and vegetables, farm fresh eggs from your own chickens, grass fed meats and wild game.
In addition, we should control the portions of the real food that we do eat. There's no sense sitting down at a meal and downing a 32 ounce Prime Rib. No that's not a typo, I've done it. 32 ounces in a single sitting. WITH the mashed potatoes, vegetables and roll. It was uncomfortable, but achieved. Seriously? That should have been 4-8 different meals. Portion control...
Lastly, what we eat should be mostly plants. What I thought I was talking about with my 'raw' food diet, actually was more of a mostly vegetarian diet -- increasing my intake of fruits and vegetables, most of which should be raw organic fruits and vegetables purchased from local farms or grown myself. Meat should not be the centerpiece of a meal. It should be used in moderation and as a compliment to the remainder of the meal.
We have become so reliant in the United States on CAFO's, Monoculture, GMO's, and the like -- we've failed to realize what we're even putting in our faces anymore. It's not food. It's engineered, made in a lab. It's got to stop. The sad part, is that its priced affordable for folks to eat. It's encouraged on Oregon Trail and food stamps, in fact the Organic Produce is priced so much higher than other comparable, yet pesticide laced fruits and vegetables, that many skip right over it. Why? Because the agricultural companies would go bankrupt and go under if everyone started buying from local family farms. Then those large agricultural corporations couldn't support political candidates that keep their farms alive by making laws that support them. It's time to go back to the basics folks. THAT'S what I want to do when this 21 day RAW experience is over. Get back to basics.
Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants. Rant over. Out.
I've been perusing some blogs/websites/online resources looking for raw recipes, and have found a couple of very good ones.
http://rawon10.blogspot.com/
http://www.fromsadtoraw.com/RawRecipes.htm
http://www.goneraw.com
http://www.giveittomeraw.com
As you know if you've been reading subsequent blog posts, the type of diet that I want to be partaking in when I'm done has gone back and forth several times. I'm still not sure. My primary focus in all of this was to begin eating healthier -- becoming more cognizant of what I take into my body in both amount and content. I want to ensure that the food I am eating is nutritious, healthy, and full of solid beneficial calories, not empty and wasteful calories.
That's what lead me to the 'Raw' diet and lifestyle. I love that the food is uncooked so all the beneficial enzymes are present in it. I love that there is a focus on raw organic fruits and vegetables. What I don't like about it is the cost and the lack of availability during the winter months. I also have absolutely no desire to become vegan -- I like meat. I hunt, I fish, and not just for the outdoor experience. There is nothing better than sitting down with your family and partaking in a Elk Roast, or a Salmon Fillet that you killed, butchered, and cooked. It's a satisfying feeling -- and one I'm not particularly willing to give up.
So I thought, I'll go 3/4 raw or 50% Raw, that way I can still partake in meat or dairy (in moderation) if I feel like it, and just make sure that the fruits and vegetables that I take in are raw.
Then I got to thinking... really, what I'm philosophizing over here is semantics. There is a quote by Michael Pollan on the cover of his book, In Defense of Food that sums up my maintenance diet strategy succinctly.
"Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants."
That's it. The wonderful beauty of simplicity. As I thought about it, that summed up my entire viewpoint on the matter. Really, my concept of a 'raw' food diet, was more a concept of a 'real food' diet.
The things we should stuff in our craw should be REAL food, not the 'edible food like substances' pimped in the aisles of our grocery stores. REAL FOOD! We should avoid the food that have been processed, artificially dyed, mixed with 30 different chemicals that hardly anyone knows what they are. We should be looking at it from a standpoint of family farm food. Fresh raw fruits and vegetables, farm fresh eggs from your own chickens, grass fed meats and wild game.
In addition, we should control the portions of the real food that we do eat. There's no sense sitting down at a meal and downing a 32 ounce Prime Rib. No that's not a typo, I've done it. 32 ounces in a single sitting. WITH the mashed potatoes, vegetables and roll. It was uncomfortable, but achieved. Seriously? That should have been 4-8 different meals. Portion control...
Lastly, what we eat should be mostly plants. What I thought I was talking about with my 'raw' food diet, actually was more of a mostly vegetarian diet -- increasing my intake of fruits and vegetables, most of which should be raw organic fruits and vegetables purchased from local farms or grown myself. Meat should not be the centerpiece of a meal. It should be used in moderation and as a compliment to the remainder of the meal.
We have become so reliant in the United States on CAFO's, Monoculture, GMO's, and the like -- we've failed to realize what we're even putting in our faces anymore. It's not food. It's engineered, made in a lab. It's got to stop. The sad part, is that its priced affordable for folks to eat. It's encouraged on Oregon Trail and food stamps, in fact the Organic Produce is priced so much higher than other comparable, yet pesticide laced fruits and vegetables, that many skip right over it. Why? Because the agricultural companies would go bankrupt and go under if everyone started buying from local family farms. Then those large agricultural corporations couldn't support political candidates that keep their farms alive by making laws that support them. It's time to go back to the basics folks. THAT'S what I want to do when this 21 day RAW experience is over. Get back to basics.
Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants. Rant over. Out.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
What a Difference a Day Makes...
Much better day today than yesterday. Sleep is an amazing thing. My mood was good with the occasional irritability, but I attribute that to being home with my children, not this diet. LOL!
I went through the second day of inserting workouts into the juice fast template. I waited the first week, to kind of see how things went -- make sure the energy was there to get it all done with when this week started having had plenty of energy the week before, I went into the YMCA and started doing the MobileFit program.
It's a slick program, I'll give you a quick run-down -- the program starts you out based on your weight, weight loss goals, and motivation levels and sets up an individualized workout plan for you. You download your daily workouts, actually do them, and then when you're finished, you supply feedback. Based on your feedback, the system adjusts your workouts accordingly. It even has a meal tracking program that goes with it, but that costs extra. I'm using one on my computer called VidaOne. In that program, in addition to MobileFit, I can keep track of my calorie bank, and workouts.
Part of this journey has been to become more organized, and more deliberate about my meals and exercise routines. I've always been a shoot from the hip kind of guy, and I approach my food and my workouts in much the same way. Looking for something to eat? What's in the cupboard.... hmm.. nothing quick and easy (didn't plan accordingly and I'm out of time) so pop down to the market and get some Swedish Fish. Yup, that sounds like a solution to me. Workouts were much the same way, I think I'll do a little of this... a little of that. Maybe do some running, maybe lift some weights. MobileFit helps me to become a lot more deliberate and certain that my workouts are getting the job done.
I wondered whether I would have the kind of energy for a pretty demanding workout on top of my daily routine just on juice, and I've got to tell you, except for yesterday, lack of energy has not been a problem. Quite the contrary, there have been times where I've had nervous energy, and can't hardly sit still. Fat is a solid fuel, and when your body starts burning that, in addition to not using your digestive system, you have a large surplus of energy.
That energy is coming from the raw juices I've been taking in for the last 8 days, hard to believe its been that long. I've finally settled into a nice pattern and found some recipes that I like. Today's juices were mainstays that I have done before.
Juice 1: Apples, Carrots, Celery, Plums
Juice 2: Sorta V8
In addition to looking at juices, I've started looking forward -- in 2 days, the 'juice' portion of the cycle is over, and I start to seque from nothing but juices into a 100% raw diet until the 21 days are up. As I've been reading into the raw food lifestyle more and more, I find parts that I like, and I find parts that I don't like. I find the raw lifestyle very limiting (which isn't always a bad thing) but I think the principles of raw food, taken with the freedom of choice (with health in mind) is probably a smarter and more sustainable viewpoint for me. The stricter the diet is, the more difficult it has been for me to keep in the past. I know myself, if this starts getting really difficult to maintain, that increases the chances that I won't keep going. I've been there too many times in the past to expect a difference now. With that said, I have 8 days of eating 100% raw, I might find that using Rayetta's resources and with enough motivation, it might be easier than I think. You never know until you try. I keep on reading and printing off recipes to try.
I tried one out on Shannon today, I made some Cantaloupe Salsa. Pretty easy, except my cilantro went bad and I had to throw it out.(boo!) It's super easy, nice and cold and fresh for a hot summer day, full of nutrition (Cantaloupe is one of the most nutritious fruits you can eat) and according to Shannon -- pretty good! Aiden was eating it with a spoon. lol
Cantaloupe Salsa
1/2 Canteloupe finely diced
3/4 cup Red Pepper finely diced
1/2 cup Onion finely diced.
1 cup Cilantro (Adjust according to your like of cilantro. I LOVE IT! so I use lots.
Juice from 1 lime (I used like 8 key limes)
Mix it all up and serve. This made a normal sized kitchen bowl worth. Double it if feeding more than a couple. I just lived vicariously through them and drank my V-8.
Tomorrow, more reading about Raw foods, scouring for recipes and things I would like -- no workout -- and look forward to getting some things done around the house.
I went through the second day of inserting workouts into the juice fast template. I waited the first week, to kind of see how things went -- make sure the energy was there to get it all done with when this week started having had plenty of energy the week before, I went into the YMCA and started doing the MobileFit program.
It's a slick program, I'll give you a quick run-down -- the program starts you out based on your weight, weight loss goals, and motivation levels and sets up an individualized workout plan for you. You download your daily workouts, actually do them, and then when you're finished, you supply feedback. Based on your feedback, the system adjusts your workouts accordingly. It even has a meal tracking program that goes with it, but that costs extra. I'm using one on my computer called VidaOne. In that program, in addition to MobileFit, I can keep track of my calorie bank, and workouts.
Part of this journey has been to become more organized, and more deliberate about my meals and exercise routines. I've always been a shoot from the hip kind of guy, and I approach my food and my workouts in much the same way. Looking for something to eat? What's in the cupboard.... hmm.. nothing quick and easy (didn't plan accordingly and I'm out of time) so pop down to the market and get some Swedish Fish. Yup, that sounds like a solution to me. Workouts were much the same way, I think I'll do a little of this... a little of that. Maybe do some running, maybe lift some weights. MobileFit helps me to become a lot more deliberate and certain that my workouts are getting the job done.
I wondered whether I would have the kind of energy for a pretty demanding workout on top of my daily routine just on juice, and I've got to tell you, except for yesterday, lack of energy has not been a problem. Quite the contrary, there have been times where I've had nervous energy, and can't hardly sit still. Fat is a solid fuel, and when your body starts burning that, in addition to not using your digestive system, you have a large surplus of energy.
That energy is coming from the raw juices I've been taking in for the last 8 days, hard to believe its been that long. I've finally settled into a nice pattern and found some recipes that I like. Today's juices were mainstays that I have done before.
Juice 1: Apples, Carrots, Celery, Plums
Juice 2: Sorta V8
In addition to looking at juices, I've started looking forward -- in 2 days, the 'juice' portion of the cycle is over, and I start to seque from nothing but juices into a 100% raw diet until the 21 days are up. As I've been reading into the raw food lifestyle more and more, I find parts that I like, and I find parts that I don't like. I find the raw lifestyle very limiting (which isn't always a bad thing) but I think the principles of raw food, taken with the freedom of choice (with health in mind) is probably a smarter and more sustainable viewpoint for me. The stricter the diet is, the more difficult it has been for me to keep in the past. I know myself, if this starts getting really difficult to maintain, that increases the chances that I won't keep going. I've been there too many times in the past to expect a difference now. With that said, I have 8 days of eating 100% raw, I might find that using Rayetta's resources and with enough motivation, it might be easier than I think. You never know until you try. I keep on reading and printing off recipes to try.
I tried one out on Shannon today, I made some Cantaloupe Salsa. Pretty easy, except my cilantro went bad and I had to throw it out.(boo!) It's super easy, nice and cold and fresh for a hot summer day, full of nutrition (Cantaloupe is one of the most nutritious fruits you can eat) and according to Shannon -- pretty good! Aiden was eating it with a spoon. lol
Cantaloupe Salsa
1/2 Canteloupe finely diced
3/4 cup Red Pepper finely diced
1/2 cup Onion finely diced.
1 cup Cilantro (Adjust according to your like of cilantro. I LOVE IT! so I use lots.
Juice from 1 lime (I used like 8 key limes)
Mix it all up and serve. This made a normal sized kitchen bowl worth. Double it if feeding more than a couple. I just lived vicariously through them and drank my V-8.
Tomorrow, more reading about Raw foods, scouring for recipes and things I would like -- no workout -- and look forward to getting some things done around the house.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Exhaustion...
I. am. Beat.
I don't know if the exhaustion has anything to do with the fasting so much as it has to do with very litle sleep last night, but this blog post is the only thing standing between me and my bed, so this one is going to be quite a bit shorter.
I had an interesting day from the standpoint of moods: I was in a bad one most of the day -- tired, irritable, I just kind of wanted to disappear for some me-time for a while. The kids were driving me nuts, they were both tired as well. Just a bad combination.
Morning -- Melon Delight -- 1 Cantaloupe, 3-4 handfuls of Red Grapes, 3 celery stalks. YUM!
Afternoon -- Vegetable -- Handful of Kale Leaves, Handful of Collard Greens, 3 celery stalks, 1 cucumber, 2 Apples, 1 carrot. Pretty good for vegetable juice. :)
While we were out and about today, we discovered a pretty cool raw food called Larabars. I've been testing them out on Shannon so she can decide if they're any good or not. Something to keep around as treats once we're able to do food again. They're a little pricey, but if you pick them up online, they're a bit cheaper. Might be worth looking into. Shannon really likes the Chocolate Coconut and Key Lime.
I'm off to bed, and hoping for a better attitude tomorrow.
I don't know if the exhaustion has anything to do with the fasting so much as it has to do with very litle sleep last night, but this blog post is the only thing standing between me and my bed, so this one is going to be quite a bit shorter.
I had an interesting day from the standpoint of moods: I was in a bad one most of the day -- tired, irritable, I just kind of wanted to disappear for some me-time for a while. The kids were driving me nuts, they were both tired as well. Just a bad combination.
Morning -- Melon Delight -- 1 Cantaloupe, 3-4 handfuls of Red Grapes, 3 celery stalks. YUM!
Afternoon -- Vegetable -- Handful of Kale Leaves, Handful of Collard Greens, 3 celery stalks, 1 cucumber, 2 Apples, 1 carrot. Pretty good for vegetable juice. :)
While we were out and about today, we discovered a pretty cool raw food called Larabars. I've been testing them out on Shannon so she can decide if they're any good or not. Something to keep around as treats once we're able to do food again. They're a little pricey, but if you pick them up online, they're a bit cheaper. Might be worth looking into. Shannon really likes the Chocolate Coconut and Key Lime.
I'm off to bed, and hoping for a better attitude tomorrow.
Busy Day = Late Night
So Shannon and I planted a mess of peas this year in the garden. With all the cold weather we've been having, the peas did exceptionally well. We picked and shelled 20 pounds worth of peas last night. The shelling took us from about 9:40 last night (once we got the kids to bed finally) to 1:30 or so. So needless to say, yesterday's post didn't happen. :)
It was an interesting day yesterday.
I woke up with a start -- thinking I had broken my fast. I had the most realistic dream the night before about Wendy's Double Stacks. In the dream, I had managed to put away 3 of them, and mid way through my fourth, I kind of went... WAIT! MY JUICE FAST!!! That's when I woke up. I don't even like Wendy's Double Stacks that much. I was glad however upon waking that I was only a dream. I have read in sources on Juice Fasting that cravings and things will come and go. Shannon and I talked a bit about the dream and had a good laugh about it, but the reality is... when this juice fast is over... Those things are still going to be out there. Tempting me - This plan isn't a simple quick fix, it never was. It is still going to be a battle and a fight when this whole thing is over with to stay away from all the processed foods.
Quick rundown of the schedule and Juices yesterday -- Mid morning I had Watermelon Juice, just straight, rind and all. I went to the YMCA yesterday, and started into my workout schedule, so I'm doing that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm supposed to be resting my body. (Good thing too, I'm a bit sore today) Shannon and I swung by Lifesource, a local health food store in hopes that they had a raw juice bar. They did not, however, they sold bottled juices from Columbia Gorge Organic, and of them all, I grabbed the 'Pure Pressed Greens Goodness' because I needed some green vegetables. Bad. It was ok -- really strong, but were needed. Suck it up dude. Do it. Came home, and put together a mix of Celery, Cucumber, Apple, and Spinach for my afternoon vegetable juice. One of the most important lessons I've learned from this fast, and juicing in general is MIX APPLE OR CARROT JUICE WITH YOUR VEGGIE JUICE. Gives it enough sweet to overcome the taste of the green vegetables. Other fruit are no good as the digestive enzymes needed for both are different except for Apple and Carrot, they'll mix just fine.
Couple things I've noticed.
1) I'm down to 308, from 325 the second week of June. Which is great! But as I've maintained, this whole thing is about clearing out the system in preparation for the maintenance diet afterwards, NOT about weight loss. The part that makes me a little nervous is that means I'm down 4 pounds since Friday. That's about a pound a day, which in talking with someone that has done this before -- is not uncommon. It is however not healthy. I know, 2 pounds a week. The weight is melting off pretty quick, but I'm not feeling the least bit faint, piqued, dizzy. I have loads of energy. While not 'healthy', it is something I'm watching/curious about.
2) I injured my shin a few year back at the Yahn's lake cabin at Dore Lake in Saskatchewan. Injured it bad -- like shattered the front part of it. I didn't really realize what I had done until it was too late to go and get it fixed, and as a result, my left shin if you run your finger along it is marred with peak and valleys, and channels were it grew back wierd. Yesterday, I was stretching at the YMCA and happened to put my finger in one of the valleys, and the valley felt super squishy. Not normal. I'm not sure if I'm retaining water, or what the story is, but will be looking into that as well.
3) The more I read about raw food, the more I realize that my goal was more 75% vegetarian. lol. Shannon and I discussed this a bit, and for this maintenance diet to be successful, it has to be sustainable. Eating raw in the summer is easy -- there are fresh fruits and vegetables EVERYWHERE! During the winter though, it becomes more difficult. Don't get me wrong, it can be done. But the cost is ridiculous. As is, organic produce is 2-3 times more expensive than the other stuff, you add in out of season costs with that and a raw diet becomes cost prohibitive. We're looking to set up a seasonal menu of fruits and vegetables that are in season here in Oregon during different times, so that we can focus our meals during that time period to use those fruits and vegetables. I'm still staying somewhat flexible with what I do when the 21 days are up. I want to continue juicing, and want to ensure that the majority of what goes in my mouth is plants, but I would also like to be able to enjoy cooked foods.
I'll have to play it by ear a bit I guess and do some more reading. As always, your suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated.
Off to go make some juice! :)
Ben
It was an interesting day yesterday.
I woke up with a start -- thinking I had broken my fast. I had the most realistic dream the night before about Wendy's Double Stacks. In the dream, I had managed to put away 3 of them, and mid way through my fourth, I kind of went... WAIT! MY JUICE FAST!!! That's when I woke up. I don't even like Wendy's Double Stacks that much. I was glad however upon waking that I was only a dream. I have read in sources on Juice Fasting that cravings and things will come and go. Shannon and I talked a bit about the dream and had a good laugh about it, but the reality is... when this juice fast is over... Those things are still going to be out there. Tempting me - This plan isn't a simple quick fix, it never was. It is still going to be a battle and a fight when this whole thing is over with to stay away from all the processed foods.
Quick rundown of the schedule and Juices yesterday -- Mid morning I had Watermelon Juice, just straight, rind and all. I went to the YMCA yesterday, and started into my workout schedule, so I'm doing that Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm supposed to be resting my body. (Good thing too, I'm a bit sore today) Shannon and I swung by Lifesource, a local health food store in hopes that they had a raw juice bar. They did not, however, they sold bottled juices from Columbia Gorge Organic, and of them all, I grabbed the 'Pure Pressed Greens Goodness' because I needed some green vegetables. Bad. It was ok -- really strong, but were needed. Suck it up dude. Do it. Came home, and put together a mix of Celery, Cucumber, Apple, and Spinach for my afternoon vegetable juice. One of the most important lessons I've learned from this fast, and juicing in general is MIX APPLE OR CARROT JUICE WITH YOUR VEGGIE JUICE. Gives it enough sweet to overcome the taste of the green vegetables. Other fruit are no good as the digestive enzymes needed for both are different except for Apple and Carrot, they'll mix just fine.
Couple things I've noticed.
1) I'm down to 308, from 325 the second week of June. Which is great! But as I've maintained, this whole thing is about clearing out the system in preparation for the maintenance diet afterwards, NOT about weight loss. The part that makes me a little nervous is that means I'm down 4 pounds since Friday. That's about a pound a day, which in talking with someone that has done this before -- is not uncommon. It is however not healthy. I know, 2 pounds a week. The weight is melting off pretty quick, but I'm not feeling the least bit faint, piqued, dizzy. I have loads of energy. While not 'healthy', it is something I'm watching/curious about.
2) I injured my shin a few year back at the Yahn's lake cabin at Dore Lake in Saskatchewan. Injured it bad -- like shattered the front part of it. I didn't really realize what I had done until it was too late to go and get it fixed, and as a result, my left shin if you run your finger along it is marred with peak and valleys, and channels were it grew back wierd. Yesterday, I was stretching at the YMCA and happened to put my finger in one of the valleys, and the valley felt super squishy. Not normal. I'm not sure if I'm retaining water, or what the story is, but will be looking into that as well.
3) The more I read about raw food, the more I realize that my goal was more 75% vegetarian. lol. Shannon and I discussed this a bit, and for this maintenance diet to be successful, it has to be sustainable. Eating raw in the summer is easy -- there are fresh fruits and vegetables EVERYWHERE! During the winter though, it becomes more difficult. Don't get me wrong, it can be done. But the cost is ridiculous. As is, organic produce is 2-3 times more expensive than the other stuff, you add in out of season costs with that and a raw diet becomes cost prohibitive. We're looking to set up a seasonal menu of fruits and vegetables that are in season here in Oregon during different times, so that we can focus our meals during that time period to use those fruits and vegetables. I'm still staying somewhat flexible with what I do when the 21 days are up. I want to continue juicing, and want to ensure that the majority of what goes in my mouth is plants, but I would also like to be able to enjoy cooked foods.
I'll have to play it by ear a bit I guess and do some more reading. As always, your suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated.
Off to go make some juice! :)
Ben
Sunday, July 11, 2010
But that's not Fair...
Sure it is. It's the Marion County Fair!
My schedule was way erratic today, and today ended up more of a 'fast' than a juice fast by the time I was done.
Shannon and I and the kiddos were out late last night, (Back to the Future @ Riverfront Park)way later than my tired old hind end can keep up with, so we ended up sleeping late. I got up, tried to go through my morning routine. 24 ounces of water, a mug of broth, computer. I got up, juiced my mid-morning, mid afternoon juice. With the kids a little chaotic, and the hurry, hurry, hurry of getting to the fair. I was able to get through about half of the water, got the mug of broth, did a small amount on the computer. Got my juice made (3 carrots, 1 mango, 2 Oranges) and out the door we went.
It was impossible to find water for under $5.00 a bottle, and I have really been trying to avoid the chlorinated stuff, so once the bottle of water I brought in the cooler with my juice was up, that was it. Needless to say, needed the water today as hot as it was.
Came back from the fair really sapped, tired, a little loopy -- partly the heat, partly the lack of water, and partly the juice. This mornings juice actually made me a little nauseous which was weird. The mango was most definitely not ripe, but I juiced it anyway. Wondering if that was it.
Stomach was still a bit sketchy about 4:00 so I juiced, but refridgerated it. Did a straight watermelon juice, rind and all. (websites suggested to juice the rind as well) It's good -- tastes like you've bit into the rind, but light and sweet.
Tomorrow, the schedule begins anew, with a real focus in making sure that I get to all the things I need to get to. Methinks, part of that means stepping away from Facebook. lol
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and best of luck on the work week ahead.
Cheers,
Ben
My schedule was way erratic today, and today ended up more of a 'fast' than a juice fast by the time I was done.
Shannon and I and the kiddos were out late last night, (Back to the Future @ Riverfront Park)way later than my tired old hind end can keep up with, so we ended up sleeping late. I got up, tried to go through my morning routine. 24 ounces of water, a mug of broth, computer. I got up, juiced my mid-morning, mid afternoon juice. With the kids a little chaotic, and the hurry, hurry, hurry of getting to the fair. I was able to get through about half of the water, got the mug of broth, did a small amount on the computer. Got my juice made (3 carrots, 1 mango, 2 Oranges) and out the door we went.
It was impossible to find water for under $5.00 a bottle, and I have really been trying to avoid the chlorinated stuff, so once the bottle of water I brought in the cooler with my juice was up, that was it. Needless to say, needed the water today as hot as it was.
Came back from the fair really sapped, tired, a little loopy -- partly the heat, partly the lack of water, and partly the juice. This mornings juice actually made me a little nauseous which was weird. The mango was most definitely not ripe, but I juiced it anyway. Wondering if that was it.
Stomach was still a bit sketchy about 4:00 so I juiced, but refridgerated it. Did a straight watermelon juice, rind and all. (websites suggested to juice the rind as well) It's good -- tastes like you've bit into the rind, but light and sweet.
Tomorrow, the schedule begins anew, with a real focus in making sure that I get to all the things I need to get to. Methinks, part of that means stepping away from Facebook. lol
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and best of luck on the work week ahead.
Cheers,
Ben
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Going through the Big E and I don't mean Eugene.
Well I manned up.
I took care of business this morning and with a only with a minimal amount of whining and crying, and screaming. Ok... for sake of losing my macho-ness of 'manning up'. This morning, there may or may not have been something said like "Wait... This goes WHERE?!" uttered, I may or may not have cried for my mother, and I may or may not have curled up in the fetal position afterwards. You know, plausible denial and all.
Actually it wasn't bad at all. With that, the detox is in full effect. Today I learned a couple things today that were interesting that I would like to share with you.
1) Cantaloupe juice is exceptionally good. Seriously, wicked good. I mixed it with some grape, and celery. NUM NUMMY!! Best juice so far.
2) Cabbage is never a good idea to include in your juice in large quantities. It tastes terrible, and it has the unpleasant side effect of causing you to burp. Which when you're in church, the smell of the skeezy vegetable juice that you're drinking radiates to those around you. (Sorry Honey, and sorry Griswold's -- just in case.)
3) Another cool thing I noticed today. I have always had horrifically dry skin.. When I take my shirt off, its like my stomach is snowing -- I have tried lotions, oils, etc... to no success whatsoever. I noticed today for the first time in a long time, I am not shedding skin like I used to. Credit the juice, credit the increase in water intake (which is far more likely, IMHO) but my skin feels really good. My pores feel really clean and fresh, I'm liking that.
With regards to brain function, tired, etc.. I have a TON more energy, most of the time. Sometimes, . It's amazing what your body can do when your digestive system is mostly at rest. I've had a couple random headaches today despite my water intake, and attempted juice intake. Part of the difficulty today was Church split my day in half, and it was tough to juice during church. Particularly because my skeezy vegetable juice had a stank all its own as soon as I removed the cap. I couldn't do that to the poor brethren sitting around me. So I just drank mostly water, and ignored the hunger pangs and headaches until I could get home and make some new juice. :)
As the fast progresses, I'm evaluating the length of the fast a little bit. While I've seen plenty of people and websites online that discuss going 92 some days with it, I don't think that's in the least bit healthy. In addition, my ultimate goal is not weight loss for this endeavor. The people on the 92 day fasts talk about the 90-100 some pounds they lose in the process, and that to me sounds extremely unhealthy. This was never about a quick fix. This was about the beginning of a lifestyle change, and the necessary reset for that change.
In that vein, I'm considering reducing the days of the actual Juice Fast to 10, followed by 3 days of breaking the fast (mostly juice and natural probiotics), and then 8 days of a 100% raw diet (including juices), then to a 3/4 raw diet that will be my maintenance diet. 21 days would not be a problem for me to fast, really truly, I have more energy, and haven't had any problems with hunger, or major cravings. I just want to ensure that this 'reset' is just that. Everything I'm reading says much of the detoxification is done in the first 10-14 days. They claim that the longer you go, the further back you go in your life, fixing the problems you've had. (Not sure how much I buy into that...) The trick is, if that's the case, a raw diet will do the exact same thing, with a lot less strain on your system. To me, it doesn't make sense to chance doing damage over the 21 days if the same effect can be had in 10.
Still keeping my options open, but some things to ponder. What are your thoughts?
I took care of business this morning and with a only with a minimal amount of whining and crying, and screaming. Ok... for sake of losing my macho-ness of 'manning up'. This morning, there may or may not have been something said like "Wait... This goes WHERE?!" uttered, I may or may not have cried for my mother, and I may or may not have curled up in the fetal position afterwards. You know, plausible denial and all.
Actually it wasn't bad at all. With that, the detox is in full effect. Today I learned a couple things today that were interesting that I would like to share with you.
1) Cantaloupe juice is exceptionally good. Seriously, wicked good. I mixed it with some grape, and celery. NUM NUMMY!! Best juice so far.
2) Cabbage is never a good idea to include in your juice in large quantities. It tastes terrible, and it has the unpleasant side effect of causing you to burp. Which when you're in church, the smell of the skeezy vegetable juice that you're drinking radiates to those around you. (Sorry Honey, and sorry Griswold's -- just in case.)
3) Another cool thing I noticed today. I have always had horrifically dry skin.. When I take my shirt off, its like my stomach is snowing -- I have tried lotions, oils, etc... to no success whatsoever. I noticed today for the first time in a long time, I am not shedding skin like I used to. Credit the juice, credit the increase in water intake (which is far more likely, IMHO) but my skin feels really good. My pores feel really clean and fresh, I'm liking that.
With regards to brain function, tired, etc.. I have a TON more energy, most of the time. Sometimes, . It's amazing what your body can do when your digestive system is mostly at rest. I've had a couple random headaches today despite my water intake, and attempted juice intake. Part of the difficulty today was Church split my day in half, and it was tough to juice during church. Particularly because my skeezy vegetable juice had a stank all its own as soon as I removed the cap. I couldn't do that to the poor brethren sitting around me. So I just drank mostly water, and ignored the hunger pangs and headaches until I could get home and make some new juice. :)
As the fast progresses, I'm evaluating the length of the fast a little bit. While I've seen plenty of people and websites online that discuss going 92 some days with it, I don't think that's in the least bit healthy. In addition, my ultimate goal is not weight loss for this endeavor. The people on the 92 day fasts talk about the 90-100 some pounds they lose in the process, and that to me sounds extremely unhealthy. This was never about a quick fix. This was about the beginning of a lifestyle change, and the necessary reset for that change.
In that vein, I'm considering reducing the days of the actual Juice Fast to 10, followed by 3 days of breaking the fast (mostly juice and natural probiotics), and then 8 days of a 100% raw diet (including juices), then to a 3/4 raw diet that will be my maintenance diet. 21 days would not be a problem for me to fast, really truly, I have more energy, and haven't had any problems with hunger, or major cravings. I just want to ensure that this 'reset' is just that. Everything I'm reading says much of the detoxification is done in the first 10-14 days. They claim that the longer you go, the further back you go in your life, fixing the problems you've had. (Not sure how much I buy into that...) The trick is, if that's the case, a raw diet will do the exact same thing, with a lot less strain on your system. To me, it doesn't make sense to chance doing damage over the 21 days if the same effect can be had in 10.
Still keeping my options open, but some things to ponder. What are your thoughts?
Happy Sabbath!
And what a Sabbath it has been so far.
I have been awake for approximatel 45 minutes. In that 45 minutes, I have set a bamboo spatula on fire smoking up the whole house, Aiden has colored all over our couch cushions, and Desmond threw a gigantic knock out drag out fit.
May your Sabbath be more restful than mine has been so far. :)
I have been awake for approximatel 45 minutes. In that 45 minutes, I have set a bamboo spatula on fire smoking up the whole house, Aiden has colored all over our couch cushions, and Desmond threw a gigantic knock out drag out fit.
May your Sabbath be more restful than mine has been so far. :)
Friday, July 9, 2010
Lazy Day
Today was a lazy day. I didn't have quite as much energy as yesterday, that or I overdid it yesterday. lol. Could be either.
I followed up my midday juice with a decently good version of V8 juice. This time, super simple. 5 Medium Tomatoes, 1 celery stick, 1/4 onion, 1/2 a cucumber, handful of basil, handful of oregano, some salt (bad Ben!) Pepper, Cayenne and a couple dashes of tabasco. Really good.
I was super hungry on wake-up today, but that tamed down as the day went on. I've been having cravings -- I'll be driving along and think to myself how good a bag of Cheetos would be, or a Hamburger, or something else. Shannon about killed me tonight with dinner. Chicken Flautas. *drools and salivates Homer style*, but I'm being as steady as a rock with sticking to things. This is only day 3, there's 18 more to go. :)
I chickened out of the 'Big E' today, but I really need to just man up and just get it done, as things are slowing down alarmingly in that department. I suppose that is to be expected, but just to be safe... Probably ought to get after it.
I went with Shannon and the kids to the YMCA tonight to take the boys swimming, but before we hit the pool, I spent about 20 minutes in the Steam Room -- hoping to sweat out a bunch of the impurities. I think it worked pretty good, my skin feels really fresh, and clean. I showered a TON before getting in the pool because I didn't want my skin to soak up all that chlorine, probably didn't work -- so more detox for me. :)
If you think about it -- I mean really think about it. It's pretty alarming how surrounded by chemicals we are, and how much we take that for granted. Most of what you buy at the store contains ingredients we can hardly pronounce, there is elemental chlorine in our swimming pools, municipal water systems, flouride in the water, Mercury in the water, Lead in the water. Not to mention what breathe in the form of pollution, exhaust, etc. We are bombarded by chemicals. I'm hoping over the next 21 days to reduce that bombardment significantly.
With that thought, I take my leave this evening as I drink this smoothie I created with 3 Carrots, 2 Sticks of Celery, 2 Oranges and 1/2 a cucumber. I mixed in some ice, and something in it is tingling the back of my throat something fierce.
Must mean its working. :)
I followed up my midday juice with a decently good version of V8 juice. This time, super simple. 5 Medium Tomatoes, 1 celery stick, 1/4 onion, 1/2 a cucumber, handful of basil, handful of oregano, some salt (bad Ben!) Pepper, Cayenne and a couple dashes of tabasco. Really good.
I was super hungry on wake-up today, but that tamed down as the day went on. I've been having cravings -- I'll be driving along and think to myself how good a bag of Cheetos would be, or a Hamburger, or something else. Shannon about killed me tonight with dinner. Chicken Flautas. *drools and salivates Homer style*, but I'm being as steady as a rock with sticking to things. This is only day 3, there's 18 more to go. :)
I chickened out of the 'Big E' today, but I really need to just man up and just get it done, as things are slowing down alarmingly in that department. I suppose that is to be expected, but just to be safe... Probably ought to get after it.
I went with Shannon and the kids to the YMCA tonight to take the boys swimming, but before we hit the pool, I spent about 20 minutes in the Steam Room -- hoping to sweat out a bunch of the impurities. I think it worked pretty good, my skin feels really fresh, and clean. I showered a TON before getting in the pool because I didn't want my skin to soak up all that chlorine, probably didn't work -- so more detox for me. :)
If you think about it -- I mean really think about it. It's pretty alarming how surrounded by chemicals we are, and how much we take that for granted. Most of what you buy at the store contains ingredients we can hardly pronounce, there is elemental chlorine in our swimming pools, municipal water systems, flouride in the water, Mercury in the water, Lead in the water. Not to mention what breathe in the form of pollution, exhaust, etc. We are bombarded by chemicals. I'm hoping over the next 21 days to reduce that bombardment significantly.
With that thought, I take my leave this evening as I drink this smoothie I created with 3 Carrots, 2 Sticks of Celery, 2 Oranges and 1/2 a cucumber. I mixed in some ice, and something in it is tingling the back of my throat something fierce.
Must mean its working. :)
Fruits and Veggies In, Juice Out
I thought I'd give you a visual of what goes in and what comes out. (No not that kind of out!!!) Out of the juicer! This is my mid-morning/mid-afternoon juice. 3 Carrots, 3 stalks of celery, 4 Gala Apples, 2 Plums. As an aside, it was a fun lesson in density as the layers of juice normalized into a really cool series of layers based on density. (This picture doesn't show it though, as I had shaken the jar just prior to this picture)
The Tingling means its Working.
Remember the old Dandruff Shampoo commercials? The ones that said, "The tingling means its working!", my mom had always told me that, "no, the tingling doesn't mean its working, it means its chemically burning your head."
They never put a warning on those shampoo bottles, but my detox tea comes with a warning. **Not to be used during pregnancy or while nursing.** If pregnant mothers can't use it, then it has GOT to be good!!
It doesn't taste real good, but as I commented to Shannon this morning -- neither has a lot of things I've passed through my gullet in the past couple of days. I'll get over it. :)
Cheers and Happy Friday!
Ben
They never put a warning on those shampoo bottles, but my detox tea comes with a warning. **Not to be used during pregnancy or while nursing.** If pregnant mothers can't use it, then it has GOT to be good!!
It doesn't taste real good, but as I commented to Shannon this morning -- neither has a lot of things I've passed through my gullet in the past couple of days. I'll get over it. :)
Cheers and Happy Friday!
Ben
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Better than Crack...
Actually I can't say that for certain having never been on crack, but MAN OH MAN did I have a mess of energy this morning. That seems somewhat counterintuitive being that I haven't had solid food in 3 days, but I couldn't sit still, and I ended up cleaning the whole house. My wife is loving this juicing thing. lol I had very few hunger pangs today, and had a clear headedness that bordered normalcy. No headaches despite being 5 days without caffeine as well. I think the hydration and natural sugars probably go a long ways towards helping with the headaches. But I was in a visibly good mood all day today, without much of the irritability that happened yesterday.
So, the dealio. The day started the same as yesterday, with a mug (actually 2 mugs) of the vegetable broth that I made. The mushrooms really add a kick that I don't think would be there if it was just veggies. Definitely going to include mushrooms the next time as well.
I followed that up with a very simple Pineapple/Orange Juice for my fruit juice today. It included about 1/2 of a pineapple, and 3 oranges both juiced rind and all. It was GOOD! At least when compared with yesterdays V8 Fiasco.
Following my speed cleaning of the house this morning, I juiced my veggie juice for the day. Not good, but passable. It consisted of 1 full cucumber. 4 stalks of celery, 3 handfuls of spinach, and 8-10 lettuce leaves, and was diluted with water. Came out a pretty cool looking shade of green, and I had hoped the cucumber would provide enough sweet to sip it pleasantly, but it pretty much tasted like water and lettuce. Oh well, its vegetables, and being that I didn't get my green leafies today, I needed them.
For dinner, I slammed what was left of my cucumber, honeydew, kale, celery concoction from last night. Not very good the second day -- hence pounding it faster than a Frat Boy during pledge week.
Interspersed among the day was about 64 ounces of water. Filtered through my Brita, which I'm not entirely sure gets the chlorine out of it. Note to self... check into that. What it does do however is increase urine production to dangerous levels, if I could find a way to pee into a turbine, I could possibly power the city of Salem. No. really.
I'm noticing that I've become rather pungent smelling of late, and I had a pretty thick coating on my tongue today when I woke up. According to the websites I've looked at, both of these are detoxification symptoms, but we'll see. I went to bed last night with what felt like the beginnings of a sore throat, also a possible good sign as it could be swollen adenoids indicating my lymphatic system is starting to kick into gear.
I was really excited as I was cleaning our 'herbal tea' section of the house and found the DETOX herbal tea made with dandelion and a bunch of other good detoxification stuff! I think in addition to my vegetable broth tomorrow morning, I will have some DETOX herbal tea. I want to make sure that the toxins are leaving properly and not being reabsorbed.
I called someone today who is more learned than I regarding the detoxification process in this plan, and it sounds like I need to ensure that in addition to the taking-in of detoxifying products, I need to make sure those toxins are going somewhere. We discussed my urine output and my 'other' output. My urine is nearly water at this point, just clear as glass, but its looking like I will likely have to do the big E.
I'm scared. Not like a poop your pants kind of scared as in 'there's a semi-truck bearing down on you', or that silly video on the internet that you try to do the maze and then the half rotted zombie face pops out and screams at you... but the kind of scared like your Aunt Edna is at the door, and she always wan smells like mothballs, and wants to pinch your cheeks and give you hugs and kisses. Yeah, it's kind of like that -- more of an uncomfortable kind of scared.
With that said... this too shall pass.
So, the dealio. The day started the same as yesterday, with a mug (actually 2 mugs) of the vegetable broth that I made. The mushrooms really add a kick that I don't think would be there if it was just veggies. Definitely going to include mushrooms the next time as well.
I followed that up with a very simple Pineapple/Orange Juice for my fruit juice today. It included about 1/2 of a pineapple, and 3 oranges both juiced rind and all. It was GOOD! At least when compared with yesterdays V8 Fiasco.
Following my speed cleaning of the house this morning, I juiced my veggie juice for the day. Not good, but passable. It consisted of 1 full cucumber. 4 stalks of celery, 3 handfuls of spinach, and 8-10 lettuce leaves, and was diluted with water. Came out a pretty cool looking shade of green, and I had hoped the cucumber would provide enough sweet to sip it pleasantly, but it pretty much tasted like water and lettuce. Oh well, its vegetables, and being that I didn't get my green leafies today, I needed them.
For dinner, I slammed what was left of my cucumber, honeydew, kale, celery concoction from last night. Not very good the second day -- hence pounding it faster than a Frat Boy during pledge week.
Interspersed among the day was about 64 ounces of water. Filtered through my Brita, which I'm not entirely sure gets the chlorine out of it. Note to self... check into that. What it does do however is increase urine production to dangerous levels, if I could find a way to pee into a turbine, I could possibly power the city of Salem. No. really.
I'm noticing that I've become rather pungent smelling of late, and I had a pretty thick coating on my tongue today when I woke up. According to the websites I've looked at, both of these are detoxification symptoms, but we'll see. I went to bed last night with what felt like the beginnings of a sore throat, also a possible good sign as it could be swollen adenoids indicating my lymphatic system is starting to kick into gear.
I was really excited as I was cleaning our 'herbal tea' section of the house and found the DETOX herbal tea made with dandelion and a bunch of other good detoxification stuff! I think in addition to my vegetable broth tomorrow morning, I will have some DETOX herbal tea. I want to make sure that the toxins are leaving properly and not being reabsorbed.
I called someone today who is more learned than I regarding the detoxification process in this plan, and it sounds like I need to ensure that in addition to the taking-in of detoxifying products, I need to make sure those toxins are going somewhere. We discussed my urine output and my 'other' output. My urine is nearly water at this point, just clear as glass, but its looking like I will likely have to do the big E.
I'm scared. Not like a poop your pants kind of scared as in 'there's a semi-truck bearing down on you', or that silly video on the internet that you try to do the maze and then the half rotted zombie face pops out and screams at you... but the kind of scared like your Aunt Edna is at the door, and she always wan smells like mothballs, and wants to pinch your cheeks and give you hugs and kisses. Yeah, it's kind of like that -- more of an uncomfortable kind of scared.
With that said... this too shall pass.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Seriously, does everyone have to barbecue today??
First Day almost down. Only 20 more to go...
I've decided it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do this during summertime, with all the awesome grill smells around. Everywhere I went today, people were cooking awesome food!! The Farmer's Market -- Yakisoba and Grilled Teriyaki Chicken. Walking to the car from the YMCA after the kids gymnastics classes -- Guy at the Statesman Journal barbecuing hamburgers. Shannon is outside currently grilling chicken for her and the kids for dinner, which is why I'm inside camping out with my absolutely grotesque attempt at V-8.
The day started out so well.
For breakfast I had some vegetable Broth I made last night from a bunch of different vegetables (Stir Fry Veggie packets on clearance at Fred Meyer) + some mushrooms. Popped it into the microwave, and put it into a coffee mug, and could almost pretend that I was sitting with a cup of coffee. Almost.
For a mid-morning snack and lunch, I juiced 3 large carrots, 2 apples, 2 plums, and 3 celery stalks and diluted it 50/50 with water and nursed that for a while each time I felt hungry. Surprisingly haven't had a lot of hunger pangs today, despite being the second day without solid food.
For lunch I attempted to make V-8. It didn't turn out too well, but it included: 3 Large carrots, 3 very small beets, 5 medium tomatoes, 1/2 a bunch of Spinach, 1/4 head of Cabbage, 1 red bell pepper, 1 green bell pepper, 4 stalks of celery, 1/4 of an onion, 2 cloves garlic, 5-6 Beet Greens, and lots and lots of tabasco to fix the taste. LOL!
It's not particularly good, but its loaded with vegetables, and it ended up making a lot, so I'm still working on sucking it down now that it's 6:00.
In between all of this, I've been working on getting the required amount of water for the day. Plain for most of the day, but the latest bit of water, I threw a few hunks of lemon into for some additional taste, also to help take the taste of the V-8 out of my mouth.
From a standpoint of how I'm feeling, this morning I felt very alert! Woke up right away, had lots of energy, and through the day had a lot of energy. This afternoon however, I'm feeling a bit more lethargic, and my head's feeling a little foggy. I think I'll do up a fruit/vegetable mix this evening -- Pineapple, Orange, Mango, Cucumber, and Kale (I need more Green Leafy's Today) -- as soon as I can choke down the 1/2 liter of V-8 I have left, which should give me a little pick me up. So far so good, but it's still early.
Shannon noticed I'm starting to get a little bit irritable, so its possible that the detoxification has begun in earnest, I haven't noticed how I'm much different than I am normally. ;)
A poll of sorts for those of you who are actually taking the time to read all of this. As the blog progresses, how much information do you want me putting in? Do you want to hear about the Mood Swings? Detoxification symptoms? BM'S? Or should a fellow just keep that kind of stuff to himself.
I'll put it up to you to vote. Majority wins.
I appreciate everybody's support and kind words, it makes it much more difficult to quit if it feels like I'm letting other's down instead of just myself. I'm used to letting myself down, but work hard not to let down others, so I appreciate your encouragement.
I've decided it probably wasn't the smartest thing to do this during summertime, with all the awesome grill smells around. Everywhere I went today, people were cooking awesome food!! The Farmer's Market -- Yakisoba and Grilled Teriyaki Chicken. Walking to the car from the YMCA after the kids gymnastics classes -- Guy at the Statesman Journal barbecuing hamburgers. Shannon is outside currently grilling chicken for her and the kids for dinner, which is why I'm inside camping out with my absolutely grotesque attempt at V-8.
The day started out so well.
For breakfast I had some vegetable Broth I made last night from a bunch of different vegetables (Stir Fry Veggie packets on clearance at Fred Meyer) + some mushrooms. Popped it into the microwave, and put it into a coffee mug, and could almost pretend that I was sitting with a cup of coffee. Almost.
For a mid-morning snack and lunch, I juiced 3 large carrots, 2 apples, 2 plums, and 3 celery stalks and diluted it 50/50 with water and nursed that for a while each time I felt hungry. Surprisingly haven't had a lot of hunger pangs today, despite being the second day without solid food.
For lunch I attempted to make V-8. It didn't turn out too well, but it included: 3 Large carrots, 3 very small beets, 5 medium tomatoes, 1/2 a bunch of Spinach, 1/4 head of Cabbage, 1 red bell pepper, 1 green bell pepper, 4 stalks of celery, 1/4 of an onion, 2 cloves garlic, 5-6 Beet Greens, and lots and lots of tabasco to fix the taste. LOL!
It's not particularly good, but its loaded with vegetables, and it ended up making a lot, so I'm still working on sucking it down now that it's 6:00.
In between all of this, I've been working on getting the required amount of water for the day. Plain for most of the day, but the latest bit of water, I threw a few hunks of lemon into for some additional taste, also to help take the taste of the V-8 out of my mouth.
From a standpoint of how I'm feeling, this morning I felt very alert! Woke up right away, had lots of energy, and through the day had a lot of energy. This afternoon however, I'm feeling a bit more lethargic, and my head's feeling a little foggy. I think I'll do up a fruit/vegetable mix this evening -- Pineapple, Orange, Mango, Cucumber, and Kale (I need more Green Leafy's Today) -- as soon as I can choke down the 1/2 liter of V-8 I have left, which should give me a little pick me up. So far so good, but it's still early.
Shannon noticed I'm starting to get a little bit irritable, so its possible that the detoxification has begun in earnest, I haven't noticed how I'm much different than I am normally. ;)
A poll of sorts for those of you who are actually taking the time to read all of this. As the blog progresses, how much information do you want me putting in? Do you want to hear about the Mood Swings? Detoxification symptoms? BM'S? Or should a fellow just keep that kind of stuff to himself.
I'll put it up to you to vote. Majority wins.
I appreciate everybody's support and kind words, it makes it much more difficult to quit if it feels like I'm letting other's down instead of just myself. I'm used to letting myself down, but work hard not to let down others, so I appreciate your encouragement.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Time for a Change
As I was praying and fasting for Unity within the spiritual body of our church organization today, I came to the realization that it is exceptionally difficult to have spiritual unity when your body doesn't have physical unity. In order to achieve spiritual unity, a persons attitude needs to be steady, loving, and full of the traits listed in Galatians 5:22-23. We are commanded to love all people, and I cannot do that without making a change nutritionally.
I have spent the past 20 odd years abusing my body, from my younger (stupider) days with drugs and alcohol, to my late-teens and later on into my adult life by binge eating processed and refined foods. I haven't taken even marginally good care of myself, much to the detriment of my health, and unltimately to my spiritual well being.
The systems of my body are completely out of whack. I'm chronically dehydrated, and my mood is a rollercoaster. It gets better when I have sugary, fatty foods, and significantly worse when I do not. As such, in order to keep on top of things, I go through cycles that are unhealthy for me.
The realization came today as I was fasting, with the clarity that can only come from prayer, fasting, and introspection. I have got to do something about this, and ASAP. I have been reading for quite some time about body detoxification, but never had the motivation/will power/determination/Hutzpah to do anything about it. It makes sense to me, to reverse the 20 some years I've spent abusing my body, it's high time to make a change.
Just like the Old School Nintendo cartridges that would glitch up and freeze, my body is glitching up and its time to hit the reset button.
I have decided to undergo a 21 day Juice Fast/Feast in order to detoxify and cleanse my body. I will be taking in my food intake in the form of raw vegetable and fruit juices for a good portion of that 21 days (if not all 21 days), and then will be following up the fast with a 3/4 raw diet for the forseeable future. (I don't think I can do full on vegetarian... I like fish and good grass fed beef too much)
I'm preparing for days of extreme irritability, frustration, etc... but feel that some temporary pain and suffering is worth it for the benefits of the long haul.
So... if I say something slightly out of character for the next few weeks, attribute it to the lack of caffeine, refined sugars, wheat, etc... and most importantly, don't take in personally. It's the first step towards a much healthier me.
Day 1 begins tomorrow -- wish me luck, and I appreciate the support.
I have spent the past 20 odd years abusing my body, from my younger (stupider) days with drugs and alcohol, to my late-teens and later on into my adult life by binge eating processed and refined foods. I haven't taken even marginally good care of myself, much to the detriment of my health, and unltimately to my spiritual well being.
The systems of my body are completely out of whack. I'm chronically dehydrated, and my mood is a rollercoaster. It gets better when I have sugary, fatty foods, and significantly worse when I do not. As such, in order to keep on top of things, I go through cycles that are unhealthy for me.
The realization came today as I was fasting, with the clarity that can only come from prayer, fasting, and introspection. I have got to do something about this, and ASAP. I have been reading for quite some time about body detoxification, but never had the motivation/will power/determination/Hutzpah to do anything about it. It makes sense to me, to reverse the 20 some years I've spent abusing my body, it's high time to make a change.
Just like the Old School Nintendo cartridges that would glitch up and freeze, my body is glitching up and its time to hit the reset button.
I have decided to undergo a 21 day Juice Fast/Feast in order to detoxify and cleanse my body. I will be taking in my food intake in the form of raw vegetable and fruit juices for a good portion of that 21 days (if not all 21 days), and then will be following up the fast with a 3/4 raw diet for the forseeable future. (I don't think I can do full on vegetarian... I like fish and good grass fed beef too much)
I'm preparing for days of extreme irritability, frustration, etc... but feel that some temporary pain and suffering is worth it for the benefits of the long haul.
So... if I say something slightly out of character for the next few weeks, attribute it to the lack of caffeine, refined sugars, wheat, etc... and most importantly, don't take in personally. It's the first step towards a much healthier me.
Day 1 begins tomorrow -- wish me luck, and I appreciate the support.
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