So this was supposed to be posted the day after my last blog post, but my website broke.  Now that my computer savvy husband has me up and running again, here it is….

Juicing has its perks.  It tastes great, is fun to make, is packed full of nutrients, you can use veggies that you normally wouldn't eat and it's mostly satisfying.

Juicing has its downfalls.  It gives you bad breath, it turns your pee funny colors, it doesn't exactly fill you up, its not easily accessible out in the world and cleaning up the juicer gets old real fast.

I'm happy to have attempted a 10 day juice fast, but am officially calling it quits.  I still intend to drink a decent amount of fresh pressed juice but am so ready to eat food again.

During the 4 days that I tried hard to adhere to a juice diet I felt cold tired and hungry.  I kept waiting for it to get easier but it never did.  To my surprise, the first day was the easiest and each day after just got harder and harder.  I was freezing the entire time!  I lost 4 pounds which I call a "big whoop" since I wasn't trying to lose weight and I'm sure it will be back on by tomorrow now that I'm not starving myself.  As far as cleansing goes I don't feel any cleaner.  I get better cleansing results by washing my hair every now and again.

Yesterday I had juice for breakfast and morning snack.  Today I had juice for lunch and afternoon snack.  Why?  I just really wanted juice, not food.  I think I'm getting a lot of nutrients from my couple of juice glasses a day that I wouldn't normally get, but I'm so happy to be getting nutrients from my food again.  Warm, cooked, delicious food.

I'll probably do another juice fast for a few days in the summer when it's warmer.  I likely won't try for 10 days again.  3 solid days was good.  Cheers!

I had a big oops on day 3.  Things were going well up until late into the afternoon when I suddenly felt so so fatigued. G-Sauce had been snacking on crackers throughout the day and was in a far better mood than he had been for days, so I decided to try some food.  I got a banana and peanut butter ready to nibble and feel better, spoon in hand, but the gosh darned thing just would not go down my gullet.  It was about this time that my family sat down and dug into some pizza, G included, making me feel REALLY hungry.  I juiced up some juice and drank. Then I juiced up another cup and put it in a to-go mug.  Nana arrived to watch the kids while we went out to see The Descendants (good movie).  I drank my juice on the way and was feeling pretty good when we got to the theatre.  We walked in and I noticed that G had stopped at the concession line.  I told him I would go get us some seats while he got what he wanted, for he had obviously given up on juice for the day.  He joined me in the theatre a bit later with a beer and my biggest weakness... A BIG tub of popcorn with extra butter.  Yes, I ate.  I ate more popcorn than my shriveled up stomach wanted me to.  It was yummy.  Surprisingly, I woke up wanting juice this morning. 

In other news, I will be setup at The Procrastinators Market today and tomorrow on 9th and Myrtle, downtown Boise, from 12-8pm.  Do stop by and check it out. 

Day 2 was, as expected, a bit more difficult than day 1.  I found that my stomach was slightly growly all day long and that my sense of smell was heightened.  Every time I opened the pantry to get some ginger to juice or make something for the kids, there was an amazing whoosh of spices that would fill my nose and make me want to eat.  I probably drank more glasses of juice than the day before because I was feeling hungrier.  Juicing is still tasting good.

One of the tricks I'm figuring out is that the juice is way more satisfying if you sit down and treat it like a meal.  Really enjoy every sip of it and take your time drinking it.  After having a glass of juice, my body feel totally satisfied.  The satisfaction wears off a lot quicker than when eating food, but satisfied none the less.  I've not been craving anything specific and I don't feel like I'm lacking in nutrients.  

Here are a couple of photos:

This is what our refrigerator looks like currently...

this was my lunch.  I love the layering that sometimes happens with the juice.  I believe this cup had beets, sprouts, carrot, ginger, spinach and kiwi.  Or something close.

 

I would say that overall day 1 went juicy sweet.  I didn't ever feel hungrier than I usually feel during the day and the fresh juice was tasty.  My mouth did water a couple of times while out in the world.  A world full of restaurants and nice houses cooking up wonderful smelling food things.  I smelled nachos, steak, fried chickens.  Q-Bear had my mouth watering during dinner time when she made french toast for her and Screamers (who of course wouldn't eat any).  From what I can tell, that girl whips up a good batch of french toast.  Not that I could have eaten it even on a normal day (gluten allergy).

I did feel a little grouchy in the evening hours.  I was getting tired and G-Sauce had just cheated by eating potato chips and left to go play poker for the night.  Screamers was also especially scream-y for the evening.  I think I would have been able to stay in a decent mood if these 4 factors hadn't happened all at once.

I went to bed feeling satisfied in my tummy, did the 2 hour nighttime fight with Screamers, woke up with a kink in my neck but fully rested and am surprised to see that I slept for a full 8 hours and was still sleeping soundly when my alarm went off this morning.  I don't typically sleep so soundly or lengthly.  Perhaps it's because my kids both slept well too or maybe it's because I juiced all day.  I don't know.  Both.

Let's bring on day 2.  For some reason I expect today to be the hardest of all the days.  We shall see.

A few days ago we sat down and watched this documentary, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, where this man who was suffering from obesity and some strange skin disease decided to take on a 100% juice diet for 60 days.  In the end he managed to clear up his disorder that he had been popping handfuls of pills daily to keep under control and lost nearly 100lbs.  I missed the last half of the show but what I saw was interesting and his results speak for themselves.

Fresh pressed juice is YUMMY!  For those of you who have never had a decent juicer or tried fresh juices, I highly recommend you get on that.  My only qualm with juicing is that it's a pain in the rear to clean the juicer and you end up with mass quantities of pulp.  There's a lot you can do with the pulp (baked goods, compost…) but how much pulp does a person really need laying around?  I made some carrot muffins from pulp once and found it to be a bit bland since all the yummy carrot juice had been extracted.  So we tend to just toss the bulk of our pulp.

After watching this documentary G-Sauce showed an interest in trying a juice cleanse.  I'm typically up for a challenge, especially ones that do a body good, so I told him I would join him on a 10 day juice fast or feast.  I suppose in our case it will be more of a juice feast since we won't be limiting the amount of juice we drink.  We start today.

Since I had tomato soup for dinner last night, which is basically juice anyway, I suppose maybe I started last night.  I'm sure I will come across some difficult times over the next few days.  I tend to eat a lot during the day, taking the time to enjoy every bite.  I prepare a lot of food for the kids all day, tasting things while preparing.  There's also the food that is left on plates after the little tummies are full which I am not above finishing off for them.  

I'm anticipating tomorrow to be the hardest.  Maybe the next day too.  I'm hoping that by day 4 I've had awesome will-power and am feeling grand.  I intend to keep a log on my blog and would appreciate any encouragement you might have to help me keep on the detox track.