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?