I suppose I should start out by explaining a new "adventure" I am taking on: Juicing! A "school days" friend of mine on Facebook had posted about beginning another juice fast, and I became interested in it. I contacted her to ask about it, and then I picked up a couple books from the library. I read "Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxing for Life" by Cherie Calbom, and I was hooked. (I've also started reading another of her books.) I started researching juicers. After a couple weeks I narrowed it down to a couple, then finally made up my mind. I went with the same brand that my FB friend has and suggested, but went with a very similar, but different model. The Omega 8004 Nutrition Center Juicer is my new 'toy'.
This past Friday the kiddos and I went to Costco for our regular fruits/veggies/milk/soymilk but I also picked up huge bags of carrots, spinach, and kale. I also hit up our local co-op for some other organic veggies that I didn't want to buy in bulk, and a few apples (I don't use much fruit for juicing) just because we love to eat them.
I juiced a few times over the weekend to test it out and prepare for my juice fast. I've tried several combinations now and the first glass was "interesting". It wasn't bad, it was just different. By the second time I had acquired a taste for it, and now I am really enjoying it. My husband was hesitant to try some the other night, he gave it the look, but then after he tried it-he thought it was good! I am working on acquiring a taste for juiced kale, which is something new to me anyways. I tried it just raw and wow does it pack a lot of flavor! I will be looking for some other recipes to use it up, but will continue to juice it a bit.
The plan was to do a one day juice fast a couple of times in the next few weeks, and then work my way up to a 3 day juice fast. I then would like to work on the colon cleanse, kidney cleanse, etc...
I do have to point out that the main purpose/goal of my adventure is to feel better overall, physically and mentally, and to increase my energy level, all as part of my healing from depression (I will still post later this week about where I am at with this). I am not looking to do this as a way to lose weight, although I think juicing would really benefit those looking to do so. I have a crazy high metabolism due to a genetic syndrome that I have (Nail Patella Syndrome-don't worry, there will be a future post about what that is) so I have actually always had a hard time gaining weight (yes folks, things work both ways-being skinny w/a high metabolism is just as challenging/troubling as I imagine being overweight is). Because of this, I will be careful to make sure I'm not losing much weight-since that is not my purpose, although I do realize that I can't avoid it all together.
Yesterday I didn't have my daycare kids, and there was no school for the kids (conference week) so it seemed like a good day to start. Monday night I made a big batch of juice to have ready for breakfast/snack. In addition to the juice, I am also drinking about 2 1/2 quarts of water each day (which is about 10-eight ounce glasses). The day started out well, and the water in between the juice helped to keep me feeling full. There were times that I did feel hungry, but I tried to space out the juice so I could drink it when I was feeling hungry. I think I peed a couple dozen times at least, throughout the day.
I kept really busy yesterday; I don't know if it was increased energy from the juice :-) or trying to distract myself from the fact that I wasn't eating solid food (I LOVE to eat...). I managed to rearrange and reorganize the upstairs living room, which is our play/reading/activity area. I also rearranged and organized my son's room, and organized my daughter's room. I now have a trunk/car full of items for the garage sale that my mom and I are having at her house in a few weeks.
The hardest part of the day was making dinner for my family. I made homemade spaghetti sauce and it smelled SO GOOD. I know my husband would have taken care of dinner for me, but he was doing some work in the garage, and helping out with a few other things, so I decided to get it made up. I kept organizing while they ate, and then had my juice later.
We often times snack after the kids go to bed (usually chips/salsa, or banana/peanut butter for me) so it was a bit of a challenge after my last glass of juice for the day because the water could only keep me so full. I kept busy by reading a novel that has been pretty good so far, and then went to bed a little earlier than usual.
I woke up this morning feeling good, no hunger pains, and feeling refreshed (unlike how I usually feel) so I decided to go for another day... I have daycare kids today so after I got everybody set up with their breakfast (homemade waffles...smelled so good, with apples and milk) I got my juicer fired up. Lunch will be challenging (leftovers from dinner last night) but I think I will manage. I have juice ready to go for my lunch, so I can drink it while they eat, then I'll juice again in the afternoon while the kids nap. I may eat a light dinner to break my fast tonight, or I may finish out the day and break it in the morning. I haven't decided yet - we'll see how I am feeling tonight...
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