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

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?

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.

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.