Sunday, March 4, 2012

juice juice juice.

Guess what?  For the past 48 hours I have consumed nothing but juice.  Literally.  Who am I?  I don't even know.

Now, let me preface this post with a few points...
  1. I know detoxing and fasting is super controversial, but let's keep things friendly, shall we?  Thanks much.
  2. I'm not advising anyone to alter their diet or start a juice fast.
  3. I still am a member of Weight Watchers and still whole-heartedly support and advocate the program.
  4. I am not primarily doing this juice fast for weight loss purposes.  Any weight loss is just a welcome side effect.
  5. I did do a fair amount of research before starting this fast and am not walking into it blindly.
So let's backup a bit, shall we?  Lately I have really been enjoying all of the documentaries that I can stream online with Netflix.  Not surprising, I thoroughly enjoy the food and health-based documentaries like "Food, Inc." and "Forks Over Knives."  A week or two ago I enjoyed another health and food centered documentary, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead."  After watching it once, I convinced Hubz to watch it with me the next day.  In a nutshell, the creator of the documentary does a 60-day juice fast, loses 70 pounds, basically reverses a disease he's had for several years and comes out of the whole thing super duper healthy!  Yay!  Even though we have wanted to purchase a juicer since we first got married (almost a year and a half ago--crazy!), this documentary convinced us to buy one! 

I've been wanting to do a detox or a cleanse for quite a while.  I have just felt the need to reset my body and give my system a little rest while still giving it all the nutrients it needs.  I also wanted to do a type of detox during Lent because I know that it will cause me to really focus on not only my physical health, but also my emotion, mental and spiritual health.  Win-win.  So I decided to undergo a very similar regimen as the creator of "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead," though for a much shorter time.  I'm aiming for five days.  It's quite a challenge but I'm up for it, and so far so good... well, sort of.

One thing that I didn't necessarily follow the instructions from my research on was that I should have probably cut out animal products, excess sugar, caffeine and other food products that aren't as nutritious for your body for a few days before starting the fast.  I... didn't.  In fact, Friday, the day before starting the fast I enjoyed copious amounts of coffee, a big blueberry muffin and spaghetti with ground beef.  Possibly not the best life decision.  Lesson learned.  So without further ado, here's what the past 48 hours of my life have looked like:

Saturday:

Breakfast:
Juice from 1 orange, 3 carrots, 1 cucumber, handful of broccoli, handful of spinach and a handful of kale

This was probably my least favorite juice so far... but it got lots of dark greens into my system right away, though it was probably a shock to my system!

Lunch:
Juice of 1/4 a pineapple, couple handfuls of spinach, a couple of strawberries and half an inch of ginger

This was deeeeelicious!  Probably my favorite so far.   Supposedly the pineapple, spinach and ginger are supposed to help relieve menstrual cramps, which I unfortunately was afflicted with.

Dinner:
Juice of 5 stalks celery, 2 big handfuls kale, 1 lemon, 2 apples and a half inch of ginger

This one was also really good.  Though it was a little bit too acidic for my stomach.  Maybe next time I'll try to cut down on the lemon and ginger a little bit.

Beverages:
Lots and lots of water and two cups of decaf green tea

How do I feel?
As I already stated, I'm suffering from the cursed female ouch time so it's hard to tell which "side effects" are from the juice fast and which are from the PMS.  This is way TMI, I know, but I can't lie, I spent A LOT of time in the bathroom this morning and early afternoon.  I was slightly totally miserable.  I also have had a headache for quite a bit of the day, and am generally just kind of crabby and irritable.  I haven't really wanted to quit, but it's been amazing to see the emotional attachment that I have to food.  I have been craving spaghetti and roasted potatoes with rosemary all day.  I don't really crave chocolate or sweets so much.  I'm a born and bred South Dakotan, so meat, potatoes and me are likethis.  Am I crazy for trying this?  Probably.


Sunday:

Breakfast:
Juice of 2 apples, 3 carrots, 4 strawberries, 2 handfuls of kale and half an inch of ginger

This one was really really good again.  It's amazing what a couple of fruits can do to disguise the taste of dark leafy greens like kale and spinach.

Lunch:
Juice of 2 oranges, 1 apple, 3 carrots and 1 stalk of celery

This juice was super tasty, the only downside is that it didn't have any dark greens which I have been trying to incorporate into most of my juices.  The dark greens make your juices super nutrient dense and have more protein, which was one of my concerns when starting the fast.

Dinner:
Juice of 2 cucumbers, 2 apples and 3 carrots

This juice definitely wasn't my favorite.  It wasn't bad but it also wasn't great.  I probably won't make it again, or will need to alter it so that I can enjoy it.

Beverages:
Tons of water, one cup of rooibos tea, one cup of detox tea and one cup of decaf green tea

How do I feel?
I woke up feeling pretty good today.  I got decent sleep and even though I woke up feeling hungrier than normal, I felt fine after some water and my morning juice.  I noticed that my biggest food cravings are right before I juice, when I get the most hungry (I know, big surprise).  Overall I feel way better today, though it could be because my cramps aren't so bad.  I didn't have to spend much time in the bathroom today (thank goodness!) and I think overall I was less crabby.  My headache was a lot worse today.  I know that my body is going through the major detox phase right now and that's why I'm not feeling as good.  I'm hoping that by tomorrow I'll be feeling really good.  I've been told that after a few days you start feeling really good and energized.  

So that's how it's going so far!  We'll see how I'm feeling in a couple more days.  I'll definitely update you.  I'm excited to see how the rest of this little experiment goes. 

Have you ever tried a detox or a cleanse?  How did it go?

K.

5 comments:

  1. That's really interesting! I would love to buy a juicer, what kind did you get? I'm interested to see how your detox goes!

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  2. We got the "on a budget" juicer

    It is the "Big Boss" juicer. It does fine, great for the price but a super awesome juicer. The most complaints people had were that it broke on them. We are expecting to start saving for a nicer one soon but this one is doing its job!

    http://www.amazon.com/Big-Boss-Juicer-700W-000/dp/B004FLK0IW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1330980999&sr=8-4

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  3. Hi! This is a very detailed diet program and it will help me lose weight fast. I know that it shouldn't become a lifestyle, but at least I will cleanse my body. You could also check out some of my articles on loseweighthow.org.

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  4. juice perfect for summer, rooibos tea is very helpful to lose weight and great alternative for coffee :)

    ReplyDelete