loulou's juicy adventure

May 2010: day two

2010-05-16T22:09:00.002+01:00

what I ate

almond milk and strawberry shake

raw pecan and buckwheat snacks

cheese and non-wheat crackers

steamed asparagus and baby new potatoes

apple juice, cider

verdict

not the most balanced diet today, but it's Sunday, so I'll let myself off. During the week, though, it's definitely a case of "must try harder". Letting myself get hungry so I don't eat what I intended is a pattern to break.

May 2010: day one

2010-05-15T19:30:00.001+01:00

what I ate

whole canteloupe

coffee with rice milk (treat)

coleslaw and butterhead lettuce (all raw)

2 vegan chocolate truffles (treat)

raw (dehydrated) buckwheat nibbles

mouthful of crisps from YummyHubby

baked sweet potatoes and salad

glass of wine

verdict

No juices or smoothies today for practical reasons, but otherwise a good food day compared to, well, pick any weekend day in the past few months!

This is a food diary for my reference.

May 2010: back on the wagon

2010-05-15T11:38:00.003+01:00

Goodness. It's been a whole year. There's a story in there, but it'll take a while to tell and right now is not the time to tell it. It's complicated, it spins out in all directions and I've tried to tame it, but it's unwieldy. I'll have to spend time organising my thoughts before I post them here.

So for now, this stands as an introduction to the food diary I'll be posting for reference for when I'm somewhere along the path and need to remind myself.

The regime:

For the past few days I've added in extra fruit, swapped cooked dinner for raw and tried very hard (succeeded so far!) to avoid snacks.

For the next few weeks I'm on a high-raw regime, loose enough that it doesn't restrict me and make it feel too hard to stick to, but with some guidelines to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Daily intake:

fresh juice

green smoothie

whole fruit

raw lunch and raw dinner

Treats: coffee with non-dairy milk, dried fruit/nuts to snack on, glass of wine with dinner.

Restrictions: No wheat. Minimal dairy.

Allowances: comfort food and cooked food, such as baked sweet potato or homemade soup, couple of times a week at most.

Upgrade: replace meals with green smoothies.

I intend to "upgrade" after a week perhaps, then again a week or so later, until I've cut right back, got all wheat, dairy and coffee out of my system.

Why blog?

One of the reasons I've written this down and put it out there is to have some accountability. I've tried to take on this regime several times in the past few months and it's failed. I've had one too many treats and allowed the cooked food on my plate to take over the raw. I've looked at the juicer and the thought of cleaning it afterwards makes me turn away from making juice. I've got home to a fridge of uninspiring vegetables and preferred to cook them with some olive oil and garlic. Whatever my hidden reasons (and reams has already been written on why we fail to stick to a raw diet) it's just no good. I can't keep doing this. So, written down, in a dusty corner of the Internet, is my commitment. You can call me on it.

Why bother?

I'm at my best on a raw diet. Eating cooked food - and a generally healthier diet than most - I get ill frequently. Then I get fed up of being ill. Then I do this, go back to raw food. Seems like a never-ending cycle. My dream is to stick to a mostly raw diet for a year, because I think if I can make it through winter, family crises and holidays then I've got past most of the hurdles. And if I can do it for a whole year, I can do it for many years. And the thought of being slim, fit, healthy, glowing, full of energy - which is what I would achieve after a year on raw food - is such a huge shining light of a goal.

oriental stir-unfry

2009-05-01T16:20:00.003+01:00

I'd washed a pile of spinach to make a green smoothie, but when it came to lunchtime, I wanted to eat, not drink. So I made this instead. YUM!

I used the concept of stir-fried Chinese greens, which is one of my favourite things to eat when making oriental food at home. I say oriental as we always take a bit of Chinese, bit of Thai, bit of Japanese and hash it all together. In 'real' stir-fried greens you'd use pak choi, but this recipe, since it isn't cooked, recreates the original texture best with spinach.

ingredients:

200g (half a pound) of spinach, washed and dried

1 spring onion (green onion, scallion) finely chopped

1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped

half inch of ginger, finely chopped

2 teaspoons sesame oil (or other nutty flavoured oils)

splash tamari/soy sauce/nama shoyu

1 teaspoon honey (if you're true vegan, substitute with your favourite sweetener, but I'm not sure it will have the same effect.)

sprinkle of sunflower and sesame seeds

method:

Mix half of the oil, the garlic, ginger, tamari and honey and leave it to infuse for at least ten minutes (you can do this the day before for extra punch.)

Make sure the spinach is thoroughly dry. Drizzle the rest of the oil over the spinach and massage, with your hands, until the spinach darkens and becomes soft and glossy.

Add the chopped spring onions and seeds, then give the dressing a good mix or if you made it in a jar, then shake until homogenised and pour that over. Mix well.

Serve in rice bowls with chopsticks as a great oriental starter or side dish to some nori rolls.

spring clean: day 6, 7 & 8

2009-03-08T22:05:00.003Z

progress report

We've been at this for a week. We're juicing sweet breakfast juices, sometimes having a bowl of fresh chopped fruit too, green smoothie for lunch and a green juice mid-afternoon, then another juice or a fairly simple raw dish for dinner. I've had a horrendous week of headaches and high temperatures, but I have had that "I'm invincible!" feeling too, from time to time, which is groovy. YummyHubby(tm) is having a salad at lunch too, sometimes partially cooked, with falafel, for instance. He's coping really well, much more so than a pure juicefeast, which he finds really tough. So although we're not currently juicefeasting really, we are following a really healthy, light regime, and it's doing us both good.

I did say we'd do this for a week then step it up to just juices, so it's time to cut out the dinner salads, but I'm going to keep the smoothies going for a few more days, as it does make things so much easier. You don't get hungry, you're getting plenty of greens and they're a great carrier for all sorts of supplements. Plus we're moving house this week, so we need that yummy banana energy.

daily consumption

We've had all sorts over the past few days, so this is just an average day as I can't think of the exact blends we've had.

1.5 pints peach passion fruit pear orange mango juice

1 pint spinach banana peach smoothie

1 pint celery cucumber mint pear juice

kale avocado olives pomegranate pepper onion salad

spring clean: day 5

2009-03-05T22:01:00.002Z

still getting better

I'm mostly fixed, with a light nagging headache that comes back now and again. I'm quite tired too, but I suspect that's a side effect of all the painkillers I've been taking. I don't like taking conventional medicine but if I can't resolve it myself with the various natural remedies I'm comfortable with, then I can't see that I have a choice. But I do know that a month of juice will raise up my health foundations and I won't need to resort to chemical nasties to heal my head or skin or whatever it happens to be.

The office fruit box was surprisingly still full today, on new fruit box delivery day, so I helped out by clearing out all the mandarins and clementines and making a big jug of juice. They were past their best for eating but they made a delicious, slightly tart juice.

Today I made us some steamed veg for dinner. I was craving it, so I relented and had it. I was absolutely starving this afternoon and I really needed some solid food. Still, it's a huge leap from my comfort eating, overeating of late. I'll write more about that another day.

today's consumption

3 pints watermelon juice

1 pint spinach peach banana smoothie

1 pint mandarin juice

3 medjool dates

steamed vegetables with olive oil and garlic

Keep it juicy!

spring clean: day 4

2009-03-04T22:28:00.005Z

Today has been so much better!

For breakfast we treated ourselves to a bowl of delicious strawberries that were too good to juice, followed by neat pineapple juice, which is our favourite. My headache has subsided. Yes, it's still clinging on for dear life there, but I can function like a normal person now. Hurray!

We're sticking to the mixed approach right now of juices, smoothies and some raw food, and in a couple of days we'll step it up again.

I'm excited about the changes I'm about to start seeing. Just a few more days until I start to feel the benefits and I'm so looking forward to that.

today's consumption

bowl of strawberries

1 pint pineapple juice

1 pint pear mango spinach smoothie

2 pints orange juice

1 pint celery cucumber chinese leaf mint juice

Feeling juicy!

spring clean: day 2 & 3

2009-03-03T21:30:00.002Z

headaches
Had a truly evil headache for two full days. Have taken lots of very strong painkillers as well as using lavender oil and trying to get plenty of rest.

I think this is a combination of stress and a touch of the bug that's going round, but just in case it's severe detox, I've swapped my dinner juice for a salad, to slow down detox.

the bearable lightness of being
I'd forgotten how much I like that empty stomach feeling. Is that odd? After months of overeating and comfort eating I've slipped so quickly into loving that delightfully light feeling of fully processed stomach contents!

consumption
Monday and Tuesday were almost identical:
water and herbal tea at regular intervals
1.5 pints carrot orange apple ginger juice
1 pint spinach banana mango pear smoothie
salad with lettuce, spring onions, olives, avocado, grated carrot, apple, tomatoes

I'm looking forward to getting through these first few tough days and getting into the swing of juicing. We had a massive fruit and veg delivery today and I'm so looking forward to pineapple juice for breakfast, and a big green juice - I'm even ready to get face to face with my dreaded celery.

Keeping it juicy!

spring clean: day 1

2009-03-01T11:55:00.006Z

daily consumption

green tea with jasmine

1 pint carrot orange apple peach ginger juice

1.5 pint pineapple strawberry mango passion fruit juice

1 pint spinach banana nectarine smoothie

ugli fruit (wow is that just gorgeous! so juicy!)

skipped dinner juice

YummyHubby wasn't well today so I played Florence Nightingale and went to bed early to keep him company. I did abandon him briefly to go to the supermarket and stock up for the next couple of days before we can get a grocery delivery.

Nothing else to share as yet.

spring clean

2009-03-01T10:55:00.006Z

It's funny how things come together.

I've felt pulled towards lightening up my diet, getting some juices in, generally feeling like it's time to shake off the winter stodge. I am pulled towards heavier foods and eat lots of hot food in winter. As winter progresses I seem to erode all my good intentions and end up eating 100% cooked food. Of late I've turned to coffee to keep me awake and when that turned into a daily habit, accompanied more often than not by a slice of cake, that's when I knew it was time to slam the brakes on!

It seems that the rest of the raw world is feeling the same way. I do think it's a Spring thing. Over winter you store fat to keep you alive through times of scarcity. Come Spring it's extra, weighing you down, slowing you down, and you need rid of it. So around the globe people are cleansing through juices, smoothies, whatever feels right for where they are on their journey and what their body needs right now.

I've decided on a week of green smoothies and juices followed by just juice for the rest of the month of March. I'm open to continuing the juicefeast after that, but I'll play it by ear.

YummyHubby is joining in at least some. He may still have solids for lunch, but will have juices and smoothies with me at home.

We're about to move house, so being able to pack up the kitchen already, bar the juicing and smoothie-making equipment, will definitely make things easier! Our usual glass of wine to "christen" a new home that we move to will be replaced by a tall glass of OJ :)

goals, facts and figures:

I got on the scales this morning for the first time in months and was horrified to see that I've gained 20 pounds since last summer. The way my clothes fit backs this up, though. Everything's feeling a little snug. The smaller size I'd moved into last year has been relegated and the year before's jeans are back at the front of the wardrobe. Damn shame.

I've had some kind of eczema on my hand for a few weeks. It got very sore a while back starting to crack and bleed It's the worst I've ever had it. The natural remedies I tried didn't work, and the prescription cream I got hasn't fixed it either, so I'm hoping this juicefeast will work.

I stopped taking my twice-daily asthma medication Autumn last year, and now I carry, but don't need to use, a reliever. Of late I've felt I might need to start using it from time to time, so there's another reason to heal myself.

And last but not least I've had a lot of phlegm and mucous build up over winter. I cough a lot and have blocked sinuses. I want to clear of that out.

So that's where I'm starting from. Four specific things to tackle and an overall goal of feeling better, having mental clarity, physical energy, clearer skin. Man I love the results of juicefeasting. It's tough. Anyone who's tried it knows that. But the benefits are glorious.

BRING IT ON!

autumn juicefeast - days 17 to 23

2008-10-24T20:29:00.001+01:00

Sorry, about this. Messing up the usual every-other-day posts.

This week has been slightly unusual in a number of ways and almost every day I've been busy from the moment I got up right up till past a reasonable bedtime. I had some tough emotional stuff to deal with at the start of the week, and it threw me off kilter. So, in summary, I've continued to have, usually, 4 pints of juice a day plus a ton of herbal teas, but I acknowledge that I'm really not getting enough juice. The days I managed to write something are below.

day 19

starvation diet

One day I'm not hungry, not interested in juicing or drinking, and the next day I'm ravenous. Perhaps it takes a while for my body to recognise the hunger for what it is. Hmmm.

I had a big meeting today, followed by the busiest afternoon ever. There's a project with a wildly unrealistic deadline and we're all frantically trying to pull it all together so as not to disappoint those who pushed for the idealistic launch date. Anyway, it meant I didn't have time to make lunch juice despite being hungry and wanting more juice.

You know, this has been a busy week so far, with lots to do, including appointments after work and I really am starting to feel the strain. I need a long, hot bath and a day of downtime. It's also messing up my ability to tell how well I'm feeling on the juice. Ho hum.

today I had:

carrot-apple-orange-strawberry juice x2

tomato-celery-pepper-basil-coriander-garlic juice with flax oil, salt and fresh ground pepper (tasty!)

day 23

the tipping point

melon juice (I love that frothy, creaminess...)

carrot-celery-romaine-parsley-apple-orange

white miso soup

Got home very tired from a physically and emotionally draining week. We relented and had a cup of miso for dinner. We talked a little about plans for transitioning. YummyHubby is having a 'double smoothie' (one litre of green smoothie which he takes to work) every day, so he's a few days ahead of me. I'll add in one smoothie a day for a couple of days, then move from that onto one smoothie, one juice, one raw meal. I'd like to think I could stick to that as 'the way I eat' - at least if I could do that for a month it would help with a) weight loss and b) to keep me raw when I return to solids. It's time to hatch a plan for post-transition.

autumn juicefeast - days 15 & 16

2008-10-18T16:08:00.006+01:00

Hurray for us! We're half way through. It's really been easy so far. I wonder if it's a case of being an old hand, or it's just the right time to do this, or, well, no idea. YummyHubby isn't doing bad either, with barely any detox symptoms, so it feels very comfortable.

day 15

We went for a colonic today. YummyHubby's first time, and we were both a bit anxious, but it was fine. The lovely bottom lady recommended he take probiotics for a while - same happened to me first time. But otherwise he got a good report card. She was very impressed that I seemed to be detoxing a lot. There was a shock in there, too, though: I passed what looked like a parasitic worm. Ewwww!!!! How did that happen? I've been vegetarian for 25 years! The bottom lady said it was dead, probably been stuck in my colon or small intestine for a while but the detox had shifted it. So that bit's good. Better out than in. She also said I could have ingested it via veggie food from somewhere with poor hygiene standards. It's unlikely it's been there since the last time I ate meat. I'm still reeling from the shock!

Today I had:

orange-carrot-apple-ginger juice (soooo good!)

savoury broth

savoy cabbage-carrots-apple-celery

I made the savoury broth by adding chopped ginger, chilli pepper, garlic, onion to hot water on the stove and kept it warm while I added a bay leaf, cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, nutmeg and a splash of tamari. I let it sit for 15 minutes or so and added a spoonful of coconut oil at the end. It was quite tasty and satisfied my savoury cravings. I think it might be salt I'm missing, so I'll remember to put a tiny bit in my savoury juices from time to time.

I also did a weigh-in today. I've lost another 4 pounds, so that's a total of nine so far. Hurray!

day 16

So I might have spoken too soon about dry skin and not much detox... my face is feeling a little taught, so I've bought a richer face cream and will try to up my oils intake. I also spent most of the afternoon-evening with a headache, which felt like a detox headache. Bleh.

We went shopping for a few bits and pieces today then were going to spend the afternoon on the allotment, weeding and planting the spring bulbs. Didn't happen. YummyHubby went up and harvested a mammoth marrow for a colleague and that's about it. I've done a few chores between lying on the sofa not doing much. I entertained myself by watching a video of David Wolfe being crazy and inspirational, and read a few blogs here and there.

Today I had:

"Pre-Christmas Spirit" juice: orange-apple-lemon-lime-pear juice with nutmeg and cinnamon

coriander-carrots-celery-pepper-ginger with cardamom (another failed experiment!)

mango-pineapple-golden kiwi-passion fruit

We bought a litre size Sigg bottle for YummyHubby today so we can both take smoothies/juice with me. We also had a chat about how he's going to approach his diet post-juicefeast. Avoiding dairy and gluten in general in order to have the good stuff now and again - so no cheese sandwiches for lunch, but perhaps some extra-special cheese at home with great crackers and homemade chutney. So it's a 'treat' rather than the norm. He's going ethical vegetarian, with a handful of 'get out of jail free' cards for special occasions. We talked about choosing the best option when the range is limited. Despite him working in one of the most affluent areas of London the range is not fabulous when it comes to veggie food. In fact, it's extremely limited; so he needs a bit of leeway there. But it's positive stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing how we both step up the healthy eating habits post juicefeast.

autumn juicefeast - days 13 & 14

2008-10-17T20:14:00.000+01:00

day 13

Had a bit of a day and didn't manage lunchtime juice. I'm not hungry any more. I mostly want hot tea, and I do get the urge to have savoury broth type teas. I'm avoiding miso as YummyHubby reckons that's what was giving him hunger pangs.

Today I had:

pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit (new soft fruit peeler worked a treat!)

outrageous juice, courtesy of YummyHubby: savoy cabbage-carrot-chili-basil-beetroot-leek-pepper

This needs some explaining. YummyHubby generally takes my lead in the kitchen and asks me what to put in the juice, but this time he was feeling adventurous and decided he would make something up. The result was dinner, and it deserved its "outrageous" name. Oh boy. Super spicy and strong flavoured. We had to sip it, it took forever to drink because of the taste explosion in our mouths. I don't think we'll be making it again!

day 14

melon juice

beet-romaine-cucumber-parsley-apple-pear

pineapple

We were tired this evening and just couldn't get green juice sorted out, but my 'blood' at lunchtime was substantial and packed with parsley so I figured it would be ok. Last time I juicefeasted I got a bit of candida, so I am aware that I need to keep my greens up and my fruits down.

Wow, and also, we're half way tomorrow. Yeehaa!

autumn juicefeast - days 11 &12

2008-10-16T09:36:00.003+01:00

It's going well. We're only getting light detox symptoms - which concerns me, to an extent, as we should surely be getting rid of junk at this stage. YummyHubby has decided to have a green smoothie for breakfast as he's getting too hungry. He had a moment of wavering, wondering if he really was going to last much longer. He's set a target of next weekend and then he'll have another think - whilst also believing that if he makes it half way then he'll want to keep going. So that's positive.

We're still adding crystal manna and flax oil to our savoury dinner juice and having our honey-filled coconut hearts to keep the oil coming in. It seems to be working. My skin is fine - it hasn't started to dry out, though it did threaten to briefly.

day 11

We're both aware that we need to drink more juice in general, and more greens too. It's really quite a challenge some days, but today I think we did quite well, whilst also having yummy treat juice. I had a green smoothie today for breakfast but it was too heavy. It kept me going until dinner time and even then if the juices hadn't been so darn' tasty I might have had to force them down.

green smoothie (banana, peach, spinach with maca and coconut butter)

greens-celery-cucumber-mint

strawberry-mango-orange (gorgeous)

day 12

I made lots of juice in the morning and packed us off with Siggs and bottles. Then I made more at work with the leftover produce from Monday - only to realise that I'd be having pretty much the same juice all day long. Doh!

carrot-apple-spinach-ginger-celery (x2)

melon juice straight up

Feeling good...

autumn juicefeast - days 9 & 10

2008-10-13T21:18:00.003+01:00

day 9

Did a fair few chores today and busied about a lot. Quite tired and washed out by bedtime, that's for sure.

Today I had:

watermelon juice

orange-carrot-romaine-apple-ginger

broccoli-mint-lemon-pear-grape

day 10

Feeling pretty good today. Maybe because I've upped the greens and veg. I'm also nearly over this cold that's been dragging me down for the past week, so my energy is coming back. YummyHubby still seems to be escaping the ravages of detox.

Today I had:

pineapple juice

romaine-parsley-celery-carrot-orange-apple

beetroot-carrot-celery-greens-pepper-garlic with pinch chili powder and curry!

It turns out the oil we've been using is actually flax oil, not hemp oil. I thought it didn't feel so oily or taste so overpowering! I much prefer flax oil.

YummyHubby is going to start including green smoothies for breakfast as he gets too hungry in the mornings. I'm still undecided whether to join him. I'm not really getting hunger pangs, so that's not an issue, but I'm not sure we'll have time to make smoothie and juice in the morning and clean up afterwards. We'll see.

autumn juicefeast - days 7 & 8

2008-10-12T21:16:00.002+01:00

quarter of the way there

day 7

We're running out of fruit and veg already! I bought a couple of baby watermelons from the greengrocer on my way in to work and made over 2 litres of juice out of them. It was probably too much straight up fruit juice, really, but boy was it good. There is a downside though. It's a potent diuretic so I had to get up three times during the night to pee - my bladder was bursting to the point of discomfort each time, too. Must remember a) not to have quite so much in one go in future and b) to have watermelon juice next time I get PMT.

Today I had:

pineapple juice

watermelon juice

spinach-celery-cucumber-pear juice

day 8

Weigh-in day! YummyHubby(tm) lost 2 pounds and I lost 5 pounds, so we're very happy with progress on that front. My skin is looking good, though I'm concerned about it drying out so I'm keeping up my oil intake. I keep checking in with YummyHubby to make sure he's doing ok and not starving or feeling faint. I'm so pleased with his progress!

Today I had:

melon juice

mango-papaya-passion fruit-kiwi-pineapple

greens-celery-cucumber-apple-carrot

autumn juicefeast - days 5 & 6

2008-10-09T20:40:00.006+01:00

Wow. YummyHubby is doing fantastically well. He's not suffering any detox symptoms so far (!) and the only side effect is the odd moment of lightheadedness which I think all juicefeasters get at some point.

We aren't remembering to take all of our superfoods and supplements so I'm going to have to sort that out. We get a huge delivery tomorrow of more green and less fruit, which I feel I'm gravitating towards.

The big thing I'm excited about is that I seem to have almost picked up from where I left off in terms of needs, desires and focus. I don't feel hunger pangs or food cravings. The not-so-great habits I had in the big juicefeast earlier this year have evaporated. I'm having a lot of fruit juices because that's what is in the fridge/fruit bowl, but I'm looking for more greens. Last time I forced the greens down. Even celery doesn't taste that bad. So this is all good news!

I wrote those first paragraphs early on day 5 and then succumbed to the temptations of dates and miso soup, so perhaps I was jumping the gun a little. Though I still truly believe I'm in a much stronger position than I was at this point last time round. It's fine. I'm not worried.

day 5

Today I had:

pineapple juice (yum!)

miso soup (ok, so I caved in... but I lasted four whole days without it.)

gazpacho in a glass

2 medjool dates

carrot-beetroot-spinach

crystal manna, hemp oil, coconut oil, bee pollen

day 6

Today I had:

watermelon

orange-carrot-apple-ginger

romaine-celery-pear-alfalfa

crystal manna, coconut oil

I feel and look better than I did a week ago, despite the last vestiges of this cold clinging on for dear life. I had my first hunger pangs today, but I still think I'm way ahead compared to last time, so it's all good.

I'm hoping for my package from the weight-loss fairy (credit to Bunny Berry for that expression!) when I get weighed on Saturday. YummyHubby's love handles and pot belly are disappearing. Bit of a shame, really, I've become quite attached to that little belly. I'll just have to put up with a six-pack instead ;)

autumn juicefeast - days 3 & 4

2008-10-07T19:48:00.006+01:00

It's been a challenge. I'm still battling a cold accompanied by an evil headache. YummyHubby is mostly just hungry.

day 3

I stayed off work, dozed, listened to some podcasts and dozed again, to see if the coughing and spluttering would clear up. I don't like spreading germs around and am lucky to be able to decide to stay home and take care of myself.

We made a ton of juice first thing, before I was totally washed out, so YummyHubby had his first taste of taking juice to work with him and I could just get up and go to the fridge to get my juice when I needed it. YummyHubby will be getting juice from the juice bar near where he works on weekdays, so our daily consumption will differ and the juice lists from now on relate to what I drank.

Today I had:

orange-apple-carrot-ginger juice (extra ginger to help clear out my respiratory tract)

orange-apple-carrot-ginger-greens-mint juice

spinach-romaine-mint-pear-cucumber juice

lots of water, herbal teas, crystal manna, hemp oil and coconut oil treats.

Turns out the juice bar near work for YummyHubby does have decent juices, boosters, superfood shots and so on, so he's quite happy. Hurray! The nearest juice bar for me is ok, but a little tame. They don't have what we'd call hardcore juice - mostly fruit, and no greens, though they do one juice with celery. It'll do in a pinch but not ideal. Whereas YummyHubby is totally set up with ubergreen juices to go. Hurrah!

day 4

Today was much the same as yesterday. I stayed off work, slept and dozed my way through the day, trying to get rid of this cold and headache. I hate that I tend to be slow recovering from anything that involves headaches or my respiratory system. But I'm on the honey and pollen and with the juicefeast cleansing properties I should build up my immune system soon.

I am delighted to see that I've lost the bloat I acquired just prior to and during my holiday. I've lost a couple of pounds since starting the juicefeast but I think I must have lost a good few during last week's green smoothie and salad regime, too. Though I didn't get weighed before I started on the clean 'n' green regime last week, I look a lot slimmer than I did. Hurray for green smoothies!

Talking of which, the lovely Penni over at Real Food Tulsa is also juicefeasting right now, but with a twist - she's adding some green smoothies and blended soups into the mix. I suggested to YummyHubby that we could do that if things got tricky. I could certainly go for some miso soup right now...

Today I had:

orange-peach-passion fruit juice (mmm, thick and creamy. Delicious!)

orange

'gazpacho' tomato-cuke-basil-leek-apple-peppers-lime

herbal teas with honey, hemp oil, coconut butter treats

autumn juicefeast - days 1 & 2

2008-10-05T19:56:00.002+01:00

day 1

We started off with our two pints of water. No MSM as I was not convinced by it during the Global Juicefeast. I just didn't experience the benefits everyone else talked about.

We made a big green juice, with spinach, chard, celery, apples and pears, which was actually very good, despite the celery. Or maybe my tastebuds adjusted after 65 days of it last time around and that's stayed with me.

Then I showed YummyHubby how to skinbrush and after we both showered we snuggled on the sofa and watched a movie and sipped herbal teas. We're both fighting off colds at present, plus I'm plagued by nasty headaches, so it was a write-off day anyway.

Early afternoon, we had a mint-melon combo which was lovely and fresh, followed by "gazpacho in a glass" for dinner.

More herbal teas with honey and an early night.

day 2

Made a big tropical juice for brekkie, while listening to The Archers. Papaya, pineapple, mango, lime, passion fruit and oranges. Delicious! We had our uber-green-celery juice for 'lunch'with some hemp oil and a bit of an experiment with spinach-parsley-beet-apple-carrot for dinner, which turned out to be quite nice, with just a touch of earthiness.

YummyHubby is doing surprisingly well. I can't tell if it's detox or the headaches I've had intermittently for the past week, but I'm feeling rough, and rubbing lavender oil into my temples to keep the pain at bay.

We've made some coconut oil treats. The oil's needed to stop your skin drying out, if nothing else. But it also provides some basic calories and nutrients. I melted the coconut butter in the dehydrator, we blended in some maca and a pinch of cacao (which is a bit naughty, I know) and then for others we made honey centres. We left half of the coconut butter to almost set in the chocolate moulds, scooped a small hole out, poured in the honey then poured more liquified coconut oil over the top and stuck the tray in the fridge to set. Yum!

Tomorrow I'll be calling the natural health centre to book us both in with the lovely Annette.

Before I go, I just want to shout our a huge congratulations to YummyHubby for making it through 2 days of juicefeasting. Hurray!

autumn juicefeast - intro

2008-10-04T12:01:00.002+01:00

Wow. I'm back again already.

When I did the big juicefeast earlier this year YummyHubby was evidently inspired and said he'd like to do it at some point. So we set aside the month of October as a practical choice; post-summer hols and before it gets too cold, avoiding any major family celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries etc. It seemed like the right month. And boy did we choose well. Over this summer I slipped down that slide towards cooked foods. It started with the odd cooked thing here and there, mostly because we now have an allotment producing lots of veg, some of which is not edible raw, or so prolific the only way to eat it all was to have it cooked. So, I started cooking healthy, homemade food several nights a week. I stuck to raw breakfast and lunch but eventually more cooked snacks snuck in and then we went on holiday and I ate all sorts of things I haven't had for ages. Thinking back, even now, I'm shocked at how easy it was to slip back into old habits I thought were entirely killed off. So this juicefeast is well-timed. I need to drag myself back from the very edge of the abyss!

We spent the past week transitioning. We've had green smoothies for breakfast, raw salads for lunch, raw/dehydrated snacks and raw dinners of soups and crackers, pates and so on. Then, on Saturday we started the juicefeast regime. We're taking lots of what I learned from the Global Juicefeast and incorporating it into our regime, though we're not doing all of it.

So this is our intention for our daily regime:

2 pints of water first thing

minimum 4 pints of juice (I found 8 pints a real challenge)

at least one green & celery juice

herbal teas with honey

coconut butter, maca, hemp oil and misc other supplements

Plus as often as we can, the following:

skinbrushing

enemas/colonics

exercise and relaxation

We're juicing until the end of the month, for 30 days, and transitioning starts Monday, November 3rd.

Our goals are slightly different. I want to regain control of my food choices and lose the weight I've put on since the last juicefeast ended (I haven't gained it all back, but I have gained a chunk of it. I expect all of the regained weight to drop off during the juicefeast, and a few more pounds, hopefully.) YummyHubby is mostly doing this as an experiment. He's become more conscious of his health since he started running two years ago, and he's hoping to come out the other side with improved health which will improve his running performance. He copes very well on a mixed omnivore, mostly healthy and balanced non-raw diet, so if he cleans up and has optimal nutrition he expects his physical fitness to peak as a response. Though if you ask him what his aim is he'll say "to survive it" since he's only ever managed to stick to juice for 24 hours each time he's tried in the past.

So, welcome to our journey. Enjoy the ride.

cool as a cucumber soup

2008-08-11T10:17:00.001+01:00

We made this last week for dinner and it was really very good. Destined for stardom, I'm sure.

Based on a recipe out of Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food made Easy, it's fast, delicious, good for you - everything you want from a raw food recipe.

ingredients

1 medium cucumber, peeled

1 avocado, peeled and pitted

4 mild lettuce leaves

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon fresh herbs (I used mint and dill)

1 clove garlic, crushed

splash olive oil

pinch salt and pepper

method

Blend everything together. Serve. Hurray!

No really, that's it. The dill is just fabulous in this dish, it really does work. It's creamy, refeshing and filling. Perfect.

Serve with awesome "crazy bread" or flax crackers.

RawFu: day twelve (incorporating newbie notes!)

2008-08-10T14:38:00.005+01:00

newbie notes: define your boundaries

Today's newbie notes are based on one of the most fabulous tools I've ever been given. This is a Karen Knowler special. Karen taught me this technique just before I was due to go on a week-long business trip, where I was unsure how much control I would have over when, where and with whom I'd be eating. So, as preparation for the unknown, she taught me this 'boundaries' trick.

I've since adapted it to suit me, so I'm presenting my adaptation here.

Define what you eat in three broad groups. Group one is what you want to eat, stuff you know is good for you, you like and want to eat abundantly. Group two are things which you are happy to eat in moderation. Perhaps you're trying not to eat too much fat, so you could put nuts, olives, avocado, salad dressings in this category. And the third group are things which you will try to avoid unless circumstances are difficult. Put in here your lesser trigger foods, comfort foods and so on - anything you'd rather not eat, but will allow yourself a little of if push comes to shove. Everything else belongs outside the three groups and is absolutely off limits. So all those things that leave you craving more (like if munching on one biscuit will lead to you demolishing the entire packet) and will undermine your hard work are firmly stuck in this no-go area. Obviously, for me, this was more about when I don't have an option to eat from my first/second group, which food should I choose to eat and which to steer clear of from my third group. It still requires a level of willpower, but if you allow some foods into the third group then you don't have to put yourself through a guilt trip when faced with a difficult choice. Just don't trick yourself into thinking you don't have a choice when you do. If your choice comes down to anything off a fast food menu, then remember that a banana, an apple and a glass of water will keep you going for a couple of hours until you get chance to make something more satsifying. A salad with a creamy dressing is still closer to your goals than an all-out pasta alfredo extravaganza.

Draw big concentric circles on a piece of paper, each one representing one of your groups, fill it out and stick it somewhere you can see it. Then thank Karen Knowler!

RawFu: day ten

2008-08-10T14:00:00.003+01:00

First 10-day mini-challenge challenged and defeated. Take that!

It's been fairly easy so far. I've been 100% raw most days, but I have had some of our lovely homegrown potatoes alongside my salad, and a bit of cooked here and there over the weekend, But that's ok. It feels very much under control.

Detox has subsided a little so I'm looking forward to enjoying the "high raw high" next week.

I've given up on posting what I eat everyday, mostly because I'm just not inspired to write every day and I know a food diary is definitely useful but I'm just not up for it right now.

However, I do have a list of 'newbie notes' up my sleeve that I will share as I think these are useful. Some of them are posted over at RawFu already but since the network is closed to non-members I think it's only fair to post them here for the whole wide world to access.

newbie note: supplement, substitute, subtract

While you're still starting out on your journey I think this is some of the best advice you can get. It still helps me when I fall off the wagon.

So, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. Three simple steps. SUPPLEMENT first, then SUBSTITUTE, finally SUBTRACT.

So, first, while you're finding your way, just eat more raw foods along with your regular diet. You supplement with extra raw fruits and veggies. That's it. In practical terms that means adding a salad to your usual dinner.

Next, substitute. As you notice you get more attracted to the raw food, or you make a conscious decision to increase your raw food, then you can start to substitute cooked food with raw. Choose a raw soup instead of your regular dinner. Swap that "I'm tired and don't want to cook" pizza with a quick and easy green smoothie. Or, make your side salad into a main meal salad and don't have the chicken/quiche/pasta or whatever you would normally have.

Later on in your journey you can start to cut out specific foods. I cut out wheat and dairy first, as I'm gluten intolerant and it's a big trigger food for me. I am not 100% vegan, I've been veggie for years and the only dairy I have is cheese and live yogurt, but as I get on my raw wagon I try to avoid all dairy products because I know that's better for me. Then cut out your other cooked dishes and unhealthy habits one by one. No more coffee this week. Next week kick the tortilla chips habit. The week after face down your Ben & Jerry's addiction. And so on.

Then slowly build up to 100% (or whatever your chosen % is) raw vegan from there. Take it easy. You'll get there.

RawFu: day six

2008-08-06T22:02:00.004+01:00

Apart from being tired and headachey, oh and a bit of backache and... oh ok, so I think I've hit detox. But I'm mostly upbeat and feeling good in between the crappy bits. I'm definitely having deja vu here! How many times have I done this now? Maybe this time I really will stick to it. Lord knows I've learnt enough theory to be able to stick to it.

Over the past few days I've settled into 100% raw. I find that anything less than 100% raw doesn't work for me. It's very much all or nothing for me to stick at it. There are some things I can eat without cravings coming back to tempt me, and others I need to avoid. So today's homemade lemon poppyseed muffins in the kitchen at work I knew would be my downfall. I could cut a tiny piece of... but I know I'd be pulled back throughout the day and end up clearing the plate. So, I repeated the mantra "Cravings are only temporary" and distracted myself as best I could.

And that brings me to:

newbie note: what's your poison?

Toxins are interesting things. As you detoxify you'll find that you crave certain things. You'll feel a pull towards the food toxin that is currently leaving your system. For me it's wheat, the big trigger. And like all addictions, the 3 day rule works here. If you go cold turkey you will get over the addiction and you won't be pulled back to your trigger food as if you really needed it, often accompanied by a slew of emotional connotations. But if I was tempted by and gave in to, ooh, say a tiny slice of pizza, I'd crave it again for another 3 days while the wheat stuck around in my system, and trying to get me to have more as the effects start to wear off, like the drug it is.

So, my advice? Find out what your trigger foods are and then, if you must treat yourself from time to time, make sure you leave at least 3 days between each treat. That way the addiction won't settle back in and you can stay in control. Hurray!

RawFu: day three

2008-08-03T18:32:00.004+01:00

I had planned on spending the day at the allotment but as I was on my way home from grocery shopping after breakfast the heavens opened, so I took that as a sign, and have spent the rest of today pretty much locked in the kitchen. But we've got yummy dinner ready and waiting plus I have a ton of stuff prepped for during the week. Things like grated carrot, sliced red cabbage and other bits that are easy to throw together for a fast lunch salad and a few treats for breakfast or evening dessert too.

I am feeling a bit tired and achey, but I don't know if that's just from last week's sleep deprivation or if I'm heading for a bit of detox. I doubt it's detox as I haven't been eating considerably cleaner than usual. In fact, with all this weekend's kitchen goings on, I've eaten lots more rich, nut-based food than I usually do.

So today, I have mostly eaten...

am:

fruit salad with cookies (made these up on the fly: used almond pulp leftover from making milk, added honey, vanilla, cacao nibs, dried mixed berries and dehydrated overnight)

apple

pm:

lunch was same as last night's dinner. Using up leftovers when they're that tasty is no hardship.

snack: cookies, juice of an orange

coleslaw with sweetcorn, ginger-orange-sesame dressing; courgette hummus and cashew crackers; warm peach pie with coconut-mango ice cream (pie adapted from a recipe in this summer's Get Fresh! magazine, ice cream was totally made up)

Found a lovely tea in the supermarket today. It's green honeybush, which is a herb from Cape Province in South Africa. It's mixed with a blend of flowers and is light and refreshing, and tastes of flowers and honey. Yummy.

newbie notes

I still struggle to stay raw, I'm not claiming I know everything, but there are a few things I've learned and can pass on to those who have just discovered raw. So when I think of something, I'll post it here.

today's top tip: drink more water.

Drink a pint, at least, when you first get up, and at least another 3 throughout the day. Don't drink large quantities just before or after you eat, do it between meals. This helps keep you hydrated and flush out toxins which will be leaving their homes in your fat cells and making their way into your bloodstream. You want them out as fast as possible, so keep things moving with plenty of liquids.

There are raw foodists who say because of the quantity of water you consume via fruits and vegetables on a plant-based diet that you shouldn't need to drink much water. I recognise that the quality of water locked in a cucumber, say, is far superior to that in your filter jug or transported half way around the world in a plastic bottle, but when you have toxins to rid yourself of, you need to supplement food-sourced water with drinking water. If you eat a lot of nuts or dehydrated foods, again, you'll need more water. Unless you're living off watermelon, you'll need water.

And, regardless, I still think you should drink more water, however water-rich your diet is. But that's just my opinion. Make your own mind up once you've done your research.

RawFu: day two

2008-08-02T19:14:00.000+01:00

Neighbours. Who'd have them? Our upstairs neighbours came in late and, it seemed, drunk, and woke me up. I was extremely unimpressed. Between that and waking up early, probably from the birdsong, I feel a bit groggy this morning.

am:

fruit salad - mango, nectarine, banana, blackcurrants and ground cardamom

handful almonds - soaked, marinaded, dehydrated yummy things

pm:

big salad with homegrown lettuce and tomatoes, olives, seeds, spring onions

blonde macaroon, chocolate truffle

burritos - Ani Phyo's taco filling with corn salsa in romaine wraps

I spent the morning catching up on all the online activity I don't seem to have time to keep up with during the week these days. Then I hit the kitchen and got my uncook on. YummyHubby had to go into work so I was on my own, with my cooking music blasting out. I made coconut-mango ice cream, crusts for peach tart for tomorrow. Cashew crackers/Crazy Bread and Kale chips. Berry choc chip cookies. Plus the "taco meat" and fixings for dinner. Phew!

Staying raw is easy if you regularly ring the changes and up the ante. Having yummy gourmet food a couple of times a week means it's ok to live off salad, coleslaw, green smoothies and more salad for the rest of the time. That's what I've found, so I'm keeping it in mind.

RawFu: day one

2008-08-01T19:16:00.001+01:00

Wow, that took me by surprise.

Yes, I knew it was on its way, I signed up, didn't I? But here already? I'm a bit disorganised.

Bunny left a lovely video message on the RawFu site last night. She's so excited, it's wonderful. There are over 1000 people registered to join in which is amazing considering this happened pretty much all by word of mouth and in less than a month.

It's going to be fun!

Here's day one's intake. Spot the not-so-deliberate mistake...

am:
juice - apple, carrot, beetroot and ginger
green smoothie - spinach, fat hen (lambsquarters), nectarines, banana, cacao, maca
1 piece raw chocolate

pm:
salad - red cabbage, mixed greens, sweetcorn, peppers, tomatoes, onion, seed mix, honey & mustard dressing

2 apples

3 pieces raw chocolate
sir fry - tofu, sprouted mixed pulses, shredded veggies, egg noodles, sesame oil, tamari, garlic, ginger, spices

raw and non-raw ice cream

Due to a software malfunction we had cooked food for dinner tonight. It was intended as the last supper, and a peace offering for YummyHubby who's going to be getting bored of salad for the next 100 days. But my shopping and food planning software (ie: my head) crashed. No biggie. Tomorrow's another day.

It looks like the RawFu site has been closed again (so it's like Facebook, if you're not a member you can't see anything) so I'll cross post here from my blogs on there. Today I set up my overall goals and my first mini-goal. We have ten-day challenges, which I think is a great idea. It's much more "one day at a time" when you chop it up like that.

Overall goals:
lose 25 pounds (12 of which have snuck on since I finished my juicefeast)
stick to as near to 100% raw vegan as I can, with cooked food, dairy and alcohol permitted on special occasions
more juices, preferably green

First 10 day goals:
have a juice every other day

make interesting dinner salads so YummyHubby doesn't get too bored

One day at a time, you can achieve anything. True story.

speedy (gonzalez) burritos

2008-07-15T20:38:00.005+01:00

Yet another entirely 'off the top of my head' recipe that wowed both of us at dinnertime.

It was YummyHubby's turn to not-cook and I suggested something Mexican(ish). He made a pile of chopped fillings, I helped make the sauce and then we piled everything onto the 'tortilla' rather than mixing each thing with its own sauce/spice combo. Hence the speedy nature. It's easy peasy and lends itself to adaptation. Check the fridge and then decide what to use! We did this:

ingredients for 2 people

6 baby greens (collard) leaves

1 avocado, finely sliced

3 spring onions, sliced

3 carrots, grated

2 tomatoes, diced

half mango, diced

1 head of corn, hulled

for the sauce

1/2 avocado

juice of 1 lime

pinch each of cumin, chili, cinnamon

garlic salt or one crushed garlic clove

salt & pepper

Put the piles of ingredients on a plate or big cutting board as you chop. Blend all ingredients for the sauce and pour in a bowl. Lay the washed leaves on a plate and invite everyone to make their own. Lead by example and spread some sauce over the leaf, then pile all the ingredients onto the leaf and roll up. That's it!

I think some finely sliced red peppers and fresh herbs (cilantro would be the right herb, but I"m not a big fan, so I'd use parsley and chives, perhaps) would round this off, but the occasional burst of mango flavour is such a treat, that really works!

So, ¡ándale! Go make it!

moroccan stuffed peppers

2008-07-14T21:37:00.003+01:00

Here's a yummy dinner I made tonight. I stole ideas from various places and put this together. You'll need a dehydrator and a food processor or a sharp knife and some quality time. Quantities serve two.

ingredients:

2 orange bell peppers

1 parsnip

1/4 red onion

1/4 cup mushrooms

3 dried apricots

3 sundried tomatoes (in oil or rehydrated)

a few olives

tablespoon pine nuts

tablespoon fresh mixed herbs (I used chives, lemon thyme)

Moroccan spices/Harissa paste

Halve and deseed the peppers and dehydrate for up to 6 hours, until they start to soften but don't lose their shape.

Process the parsnip with the s-blade until it's evenly sized, you're looking to make a rice substitute. Put in a mixing bowl. Finely chop or process onion, mushrooms, apricots, tomatoes and olives and add to bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix well.

For the spices, I used a tablespoon of harissa paste and salt and pepper, but you could easily add cumin, cardamom, curry spices and so on.

Stuff peppers with the rice mixture and dehydrate for an hour or so until warmed through.

Serve with minted "yogurt" drizzled over the top (try a macadamia or cashew-based sour cream with plenty of chopped mint.)

Bon appetit!

tools

2008-07-14T13:46:00.004+01:00

Despite cooked dinner on Thursday, as we were out straight from work (YummyHubby was in a race) I managed to get back onto my smoothie and raw salad lunch the next day with no problems. Hurray!

Though I had a fair bit of cooked or not-so-ideal food over the weekend, once again, today it's back to green smoothie and juice before noon and big salad for lunch. I find by about Thursday things destabilise. The foods I'd prepared, or started dehydrating, during the previous weekend have run out and I don't have that 'off the top of my head' idea. Suddenly eating out/take away sounds like a good idea. So I've taken to leaving a couple of raw recipe books around the place so I can find inspiration easily.

I'm also following the sage advice of many raw food coaches and Deb's comment a few posts back: choose raw for the next meal. If that fails then let it go and try again next time. This is such a simple but effective tool. It pushes guilt out of the equation and brings a practical approach in.

I also did Karen Knowler's questionnaire at the weekend, also featured in the latest edition of Get Fresh! magazine. It's so helpful. Go try it out: What do you need to believe?

So that's 3 things added to my toolbox:
1: keep inspiration at hand
2: make the best choice you can *this* time
3: understand your motivation

it's all good

xxx

PS: yes, I've made an effort to capitalise. Whatever next, no smileys? ;)

raw ninja madness

2008-07-09T21:32:00.002+01:00

i've been watching the trials and tribulations of bunny berry for a couple of months now. she committed to 100 days of raw food, in search of better health and weight loss, and has been doing daily videos and blog posts. she's entertaining and it's a breath of fresh air to see a raw food newbie rather than hear the stories of now-established figures recounting the struggles of their past, so definitely worth watching out for her. she's decided once she finishes this challenge in about ten days from now she'll have a break and start again in august, and she's invited us - her viewers - to join in. so i have. she's set up a social network on ning, and as i'm already registered there for give it to me raw, the global juice feast and so on, i thought ah, go on then. it's currently a closed network, but hopefully bunny's going to open it up, so that when you click on the badge you will actually get to see my profile :)

View my page on Raw Fu

back on the wagon: day 3

2008-07-09T07:17:00.004+01:00

wednesday 9 july

here are the recipes i promised you.

cashew crackers aka crazy bread (requires dehydrator)

1 red pepper

1/3 cup cashews

2 teaspoons minced onion, chives and garlic

pinch salt

pinch paprika

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

blend everything together in the food processor until smooth. spread onto a teflex sheet to about 6" square. score with your spatula to make the shapes you want. dehydrate overnight then remove teflex sheet and flip over. they should be light and crispy in time for dinner!

this is a small quantity recipe, we ate the lot for dinner, they were so yummy fresh out of the dehydrator. next time i'll make double the quantity. i made 6 crackers and piled pate on top for dinner, but you could score them into triangles to use as snacking 'tortilla chips' too.

find the original recipe over at carmella's raw freedom community.

karen knowler's carrot almond pate

2 large carrots

2 cups almonds

1/2 cup coarsely chopped red onion

1/4 cup lemon juice

pinch sea salt

water

my tweaks: i swapped a few almonds for some sunflower seeds and i added a few drops of bragg's liquid aminos. next time i'll soak the almonds first and possibly add a little oil to improve the texture.

as there was too much for just us two to use up without getting bored of pate, i rolled some spoonfuls into little balls and stuck them in the dehydrator overnight and took them to work to have as a side to my lunch. that worked very well!

today i was hungry again by the time i was leaving work. need to take something to snack on in the late afternoon, so that i don't get home and eat too much before dinner. but i'm doing well. i signed up for bunny berry's 100 day raw food challenge, too. that should be fun. what a crazy lady!

today i had:

water, tea

green smoothie

salad with sprouts, chopped veggies, lemon, honey, mustard dressing & carrot-almond balls

more tea

larabar

fresh pressed orange juice

coconut macaroon

edamame - not raw, steamed, salted beans

kale salad

carrot-almond pate balls (as in recipe above)

it's all good.

back on the wagon: day 2

2008-07-08T21:51:00.002+01:00

tuesday 8 july - what a difference a day makes

feeling better already. wheat-belly subsiding, head clearer.

today i had:

morning water and tea as usual

green smoothie

3 strawberries

salad with sprouts, grated carrot, tomatoes, seeds, homegrown lettuce, peppers, lemon dressing

2 chunks conscious chocolate with superfoods

more tea

handful candied almonds and teriyaki almonds fresh from the dehydrator

small kale-avo salad, carrot-almond pate and 'crazy bread'

glass red wine from same bottle as yesterday

i was very hungry when i got home, hence the act of eating nuts straight from the dehydrator. but that's better than reaching for the cookie jar, right?

the 'crazy bread' might have to be rechristened as the name is prompting lots of questions! i'll write up my version of the recipe, and the carrot-almond pate tomorrow. both were very nice and the 'crazy bread' once i've adjusted the recipe a little, will be a fabulous quick and easy standby.

two days in a row of 100% raw success. yeah, baby!

back on the wagon: day 1

2008-07-08T07:35:00.005+01:00

monday 7 july

to make life easy in terms of prep time and yumminess factor, to help me stay focussed on the goal of getting to the weekend with only raw food inside me, i'm going for the smoothie and salad combo. fast, easy to clean up and i don't know about you, but green smoothies fill me up so i don't need treats or snacks. also to help me out, i'm fessing up to my daily intake right here. so, quick and tasty food is the carrot. publishing what i ate to the world is the stick.

today i had:

2 pints water

green tea

1 pint of green smoothie with banana, spinach, nectarines, plums and apricots, maca and cacao

1 salad of lentil sprouts, lettuce, pepper, spring onion, tomatoes, lemon-oil-mustard dressing

green tea

bliss bombs

handful nuts off the dehydrator tray

mixed salad with carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, spring onion, seeds, lemon-sesame-honey dressing

kale-avocado salad

glass red wine

the smoothie kept me going until lunchtime, so no picking or temptation to go and buy non-food. i also didn't have time to go via any shops on the way to work, so temptation was kept at bay. i find if i'm picking up bits for lunch i'm tempted by other things. i might intend to buy raw ingredients for a salad but i can leave the shop with a couscous or pasta salad instead. or as well.

i was hungry when i got home, hence the nut snacking. i'll write up the recipes tomorrow for my yummy concoctions. i try to use seeds more than nuts, for the good stuff they contain and to avoid too much fat. almonds are my top nut for nutritional reasons. and them and cashews are the only ones i can get which are guaranteed raw. as much as i adore pecans, they're most likely heated when they're shelled, so i recognise that they count as a healthy snack compared to, say, non-raw, non-vegan chocolate cake, but they contain cooked fat, and are therefore not optimal nutritionally. the wine, well, it's red, vegan, fairtrade and organic, so you're not going to get me giult-tripping on that one. i know some people don't think alcohol should be part of a raw diet, and i can see their reasoning for it and respect their decision. but i'm happy with a glass of red wine now and again, and if i fancy one, i have it. i do find i'm not attracted to it when i stick to a high-raw diet for long periods of time, so one day i might stop. but through a natural desire, not because i forced myself.

after dinner i made some 'crazy bread' as part of tomorrow's dinner. i'm not entirely sure where i got the energy from, but i think determination to succeed in my mini-challenge might have played a part. i'll let you know how the bread turns out. it was super quick and easy to make, so if it's tasty then it will be a winner!

the 'bliss bombs' are from the health food shop and you can find out about them here: pulsin.co.uk

day one has gone by without hiccups, hurray!

that darn wagon and me

2008-07-03T17:28:00.007+01:00

i hadn't intended to come back here to post, as this blog was purely for the juicefeast experience, but what i have to say is relevant. so here goes.

there are days when i feel like a fraud. i don't feel i can call myself a raw foodie when i just ate cooked food for the third time this week. so i feel the need to publicly state that i'm struggling to stay raw. again.

the battle with cooked food

i worked out part way through the juicefeast that drinking juice for 92 days wasn't going to stop my cooked food cravings. the juicefeast would give me time to explore my relationship with food and work out some of the pyschological hangups, but it wasn't going to be a miracle cure. but, you know, i was dealing with it. so far so good.

then i completed my juicefeast, calling it quits after just over two months, when i saw that my heart just wasn't in it and i was starting to pick at food. i eased myself back into eating, with lots of fresh fruit, salads, smoothies and a firm commitment to eating raw for health reasons. and let's not forget that amazing energy you have on a high raw diet.

falling off the wagon

but then we had house guests. and then there was a family get together. and then whatever other social occasion. and each time i thought "i'll just have a little cooked food today, to keep thing's easy" and fully, genuinely, intended to keep going that way. then somehow, it all fell apart. and now, two months later, i'm eating way too much cooked food. i eat mostly raw most days, but i also binge out on rubbish. in the past two months i've eaten ice-cream and crisps, of all things, and lots of not-that-great cooked food. it's crazy! but i'm not going to get myself in a mess over this.

the all or nothing option

i read steve pavlina's update on eating raw and felt consoled. a slight aside here, i didn't know he'd continued to eat raw. i thought he'd done an experiment and then gone back to his usual diet. so i was quite impressed to wander back over to his blog and discover he's now pushing himself to stay 100% raw. anyway, the point is, that it's often easier to stick at 100% raw than to dither at 80% or do the"'i'll just eat this cooked food tonight because i'm eating out with friends but i'll be back to 100% raw tomorrow" thing. i guess that differs from person to person. i compare it to the casual smoker, or the innapropriately named 'social smoker'. some people can smoke like a chimney for the duration of a party night out then not touch a cigarette for months. yet the majority of people would be buying a packet of ciggies the next day because the nicotine had already got a stranglehold. cooked food is just as insidious. once the wheat starts to leave your body you get that sickness which you either ride out as detox or you cave in and have some more to appease the beast.

yo-yo side effects

i still eat plenty of fruit. i have green smoothies a couple of times a week and eat a big raw salad for lunch and dinner most days. but because of the inconsistency i don't feel as well as i should. i get lots of detox headaches after a cooked food 'binge' - especially wheat, i've found - and i'm putting on weight again. so it's time to rein in. i get so frustrated with the yo-yo-ing. i've read a few things recently which talk about falling off the wagon and they all come to the same conclusion. and it's something i know, inside, to be true. recognise you've fallen off. dust yourself down. get back on again. no guilt. no recriminations and no "if only"s. just get yourself a juice or a green smoothie and start planning a few days' worth of raw food.

so that's what's happening in the loulou household. we've got a week of juices, smoothies and salads coming up. i'm making some teriyaki almonds and we have a cupboard full of conscious chocolate, so i have treats available for those tricky moments.

wish me luck.

garden salad

2008-05-12T18:59:00.003+01:00

thank you all sooooo much for your wonderful supportive comments since my last post. what an amazing bunch of people you are. i have and will continue to praise you all to everyone who stands still long enough to listen. i'm so very grateful to have found such a lovely, warm, non-discrimating community. but enough with the schmaltz ;)

we've spent lots of time in the allotment, weeding, planting, sowing, watering, tidying and having lovely picnics, with homemade salads and a few shop bought bits to go with them. it's been fabulous. we have three potato plants now peeking out of the sandy, dry soil, the onions are sprouting and i'm now waiting for the carrots to show themselves. we've got five tomato plants in the soil and about a dozen still growing at home. the peppers are nearly ready to plant out. there are peas, beans, corn, lettuce and wild flowers sown straight into the earth, then cucumbers, cauliflowers, dozens of herbs and a few flowers all in little pots, waiting to germinate. over the next two weeks we have another huge bunch of stuff to grow/sow/plant. it's been scorching hot and working outside for 6 hours a day means, despite copious high-factor suncream, we're both suffering a little from over-exposure. YummyHubby just goes from his lovely milky coffee colour straight to a fetching shade of guinness while i'm sporting a golden glow, and some bright pink bits on my shoulders. tomorrow we're only having a half day in the allotment as we need to get on with some other chores, so that should give our skin time to recover.

so, food. cos that's what it's all about.

i really don't want juice. well, i'd love a pint of orange juice, and made some for breakfast this past weekend, but i think i'm a bit juiced out. i know i should have some, but i just can't face it right now. i have got green smoothies on the dinner list, though, so at least if i have a couple of those a week i know i'm getting some nutrient-dense food into me. if i leave it a while i'm sure the urge to juice will return.

i've made a few things in the dehydrator - some worked, others didn't - and i'm trying to keep it varied, with different styles of food, and remembering to occasionally make light dinners to leave room for dessert. some of the things we've eaten this week: 'sushi' and vietnamese rice paper rolls; pizza with salad one day/ different topping and jicama 'fries' another day; banana ice-cream with raspberry-cacao sauce; creamy curried coleslaw; almond-cacao milk; sugarloaf pineapple and indian mango salad; 'falafel'... on the upcoming list are kale-avo salad (yes!); zucchini hummus; grawnola; apple cookies; soups; green smoothies. see, that should keep us going for a while.

things i've noticed. i'm starting to see how if i don't get enough greens i get hungry quickly and if i eat anything cooked no matter how much salad i have with it, it just doesn't satisfy my hunger. how odd. i don't have much of a sweet tooth at the moment. fruit for breakfast is fine, but even then sometimes i'm wanting savoury for breakfast. it's kind of tricky to work out what i could do about that. i'm trying to keep my oil intake down but i do know i'm having a bit too much right now; it's so easy to slosh the oil on the salad... flax crackers rock. i'd forgotten how tasty they are, easy to make and they keep so well.

i've got lots of energy. on cooked food, after dinner i don't usually move much - if at all - but now i'm back up and in the kitchen, tidying, preparing stuff for the next day. or pottering around the house tidying, sorting, doing light chores. this is great news :) i can reclaim an hour or so of my day back this way :)

YummyHubby is mostly joining in with my food at the moment and having the odd meaty thing, usually as a snack or appetiser (tonight he had some smoked venison - of all things. he picked it up at whole foods) so that makes it easier in some ways, but it does also mean i have to think about what i'm preparing in advance. i'd quite happily just eat salad five nights a week :) but perhaps this is one way to keep things varied, knowing that i'm prepping food for him, too. except he's not keen on cauliflower and i love it. so he can buy fish and chips for his dinner the night i do cauliflower cous cous ;)

belated stats

i said i'd post my pre and post juicefeast stats, so here you have them.

weight: BEFORE 169 pounds AFTER 141 pounds
height: 5' 6"
fasting blood glucose: BEFORE average 4.9 AFTER 4.3
cholesterol: 3.9

urine ph: 7-7.25 AFTER 7 (? still not terribly convincing result)

i also measured myself at strategic points. here's how much i've lost from each measuring point.

bust: 3.5"

spare tyre: 3"

waist: 3.5"

belly: 3.5"

hips: 3"

thigh: 2"

arm: 1"

(spare tyre = the bit between your bust and waist; belly = between waist and hips)

i'm really happy with those results. just to prove it, i ordered some clothes last week. they arrived today and are too big. i'm sure it's just the retailer chooses a generous cut... but if i go by their sizing, i've gone down 2-and-a-bit dress sizes. yeehaa!

now to get back into my exercise routine and firm up all this soft, squishy flab that needs shifting.

i'm moving back to my other blog. like many before me, i'll keep this online as a testimony to juicefeasting. and you never know, i might do it again next year. (never say never, right?) but i miss my lovely theme over at princessloulou.net and i'm going to blog more about my lifestyle, food choices and the learning process that YummyHubby and i are going through as we strive to be as sustainable as is feasible without packing up our current jobs and buying a farm...

thanks for being with me so far. come and join me over at princessloulou.net soon.

love to you all xxx

photo credit: thanks to 'wrestlingentropy' for this pic, see the original here.

the week that was

2008-05-09T22:00:00.007+01:00

hello all. so, some of you know, cos we're twitter buddies, and some of you don't know... i broke my juicefeast last weekend.

i'd had enough. i tried to explain myself to YummyHubby and the thing that i kept coming back to was that 'my heart's not in it' then went to look at the feastbreaking protocol on juicefeasting.com and what was the first reason to quit on their list? your heart's not in it (and you know you're going to eat something) so i'm sure it was the right thing to do. so i kind of feel rubbish because i didn't stay the course, but you know what, i juiced for an amazing 65 days, and the last 15 days were really tough, so i say 'go me!'

i broke the feast with the prunes - which i didn't enjoy so much. the first 5 or 6 were fine but i struggled to eat the whole 8oz. YummyHubby helped out by picking at a few and i left three in the bowl.

on my first fruit day i had a charentais melon for breakfast, which was divine, and the second day i made papaya whip (i love this: blend coconut meat, papaya, mango and passionfruit. eat. worship at the altar of tropical fruit) which is soooo decadent for breakfast. i love that.

my first salad meal was a soft green lettuce with a few bits of tiny chopped up pepper, tomatoes, spring onion. my alfalfa sprouts are still sprouting. not ready yet. i added half an avocado, thinking i'd need the fat for my crinkly skin but i ended up picking it out and leaving it as i really didn't want avocado. i've been all over the place all week. one minute craving salty things then the next thing tastes too salty. wanting fat then feeling sick, because i don't want fat. hmmm. i'm a bit out of whack and need sorting out.

it's kind of disappointing that i'm tempted by some cooked stuff, too. ben's comment on my previous post is inspiring and yet doesn't seem to be working 100% for me. no, i don't want beer or curry(!) but cheese and, bizarrely, chargrilled artichokes are still tempting. i could say that perhaps if i'd stuck it for the remaining 27 days i might have dealt with the rest of the cravings but i think that's unhelpful conjecture and i'll spin it around and say that i know i will still have stuff to work through and deal with during my raw life. hell, even uber-raw karen knowler continues to up the ante with her raw lifestyle at regular intervals, so why should get a different paradigm? it's a spiral. onwards and upwards. cyclical and metamorphic. it's a journey i'm looking forward to.

when i knew i was going to quit the juicefeast i saved some juice pulp and i made some flax crackers. i split the 'dough' into two batches and added piles of fresh herbs to one half and to the other i added curry spices (a generous present from a house guest - i have an awesome collection of yummy fresh herb and spice blends.) i made the herb ones into thick rounds for pizza bases and the spicy ones for crackers. then i took a couple of crackers and some hummus to work for elevenses, which worked really well. i made a bruschetta topping for the pizzas and had them for dinner. yesterday i added a pile of rocket on top and then tonight i had a big green salad separately. it was tasty both times :)

i've got a few plans for food and i'm looking forward to making stuff. the optimism is there, which helps. i don't feel defeated at the thought of organisation and preparation. after a juicefeast, this is just a walk in the park.

i've been happy about not having to spend so long in the kitchen each morning. i've had a couple of lie-ins compared to the ridiculously early hour i got up at during the juicefeast. i've taken shopping bags to work and prepped a big lunch salad there, which only takes a few minutes, not like prepping and cleaning up after juice. this is all good :)

i'm trying to be more aware of the food as it goes into my mouth. the temptation to shove it down quickly is still there, so i need to get a handle on that. don't think i'll go quite as far as fletcherism, but i do need to concentrate, taste everything, and chew thoroughly before i swallow. i'm still learning.

oh, right, before i forget. those vital statistics. i wrote down my various measurements at the start but haven't measured myself since, so i'll do that tomorrow and let you all have the final weight loss and size loss figures. in non-specific terms we're talking substantial :)

top photo: pizza bases about to go in the dehyradator. they're slightly pink from beetroot. YummyHubby thought they looked like meat patties. gross. bottom photo: tonight's pizza. both taken by YummyHubby.

day 63: smells

2008-05-02T21:03:00.005+01:00

the week after i started the juicefeast i also started a new job. my previous job was just under two miles away, so unless the weather was horrid i would walk to and from work (yes! great exercise!) with my iPod belting out, marching along, in my own little world.

then i started working in an office a train ride away and my life changed. i don't like commuting. i don't like people when they're squashed together on a train or a platform. pushing each other, standing in front of the doors so they can't get on and those who want to get off struggle to do so. it's so counterintuitive, the whole thing. horrendous. anyway. i'm here to talk smells.

so i'd walk up to the station with the smell of damp pavements, the odd waft of cigarette smoke from someone walking ahead of me and then i'd head into the station and be assaulted by the overpowering smell of bacon sandwiches from the on-platform cafe. i swear they just leave a bit of rind burning all the time, hoping to entice people to buy a sarnie because i have yet to see anyone actually eating one. so on the train we get and then off at the other end... where it gets much worse. there's the roasting coffee and the sweet, caramel aroma of danish pastries. and onwards i go, hauling 2 litres of juice in my bag, shoulders groaning.

on the way home i pass two indian restaurants (my favourite comfort food) and then back at the station the smell of various south african meats hits me first, and the coffee and pastries have been displaced by the strong smell of cornish pasties, hot dogs and pizza. off the train and i'm hit by the divine fragant calling of the fish and chip shop (so hard to resist!) and i turn the corner into the enticing wafts from the noodle bar. approaching home and one last struggle as i pass the italian cafe on the corner. phew. made it through all that temptation.

fast forward to today. this morning the train was very full. i was squished into a corner next to a woman having her breakfast of coffee and croissant and the smell of the croissant was positively nauseating. i don't know why, but i was so unbelievably turned off, the thought of ever eating a croissant/danish pastry again is so alien to me. amazing. then, on the way home as i passed the two indian restaurants i conjured up what it would really be like to eat some of my favourite dishes. all i could think of is how oily they'd be. the magic had gone. just like that. no longer appeals. wow. that's HUGE for me.

good job i found some amazing curry recipes on gone raw ;)

image credit: Indian thali at Jaipur, Milton Keynes by Scorpions and Centaurs on Flickr. attribution-non-commerical-sharealike.

day 62: modifying

2008-05-01T22:07:00.000+01:00

so, it's time to admit it, to myself as much as to you, dear readers, but a one-off has turned into a mini-habit. i started off having half an avocado one evening as my skin is terribly taut and dry. not flaking, but papery and unhappy. then a couple of days later i did it again. this time i chopped a tomato into it. then a few days later i had a whole avocado with chopped tomato and, go on, why not, a spring onion. all the while knowing i had to stop before it became a habit. then yesterday i came home staaaarving. i ate three olives (wow. since when were olives so salty!) then chopped up a carrot into sticks and dunked them in houmous. oh dear. that's almost real dinner.

i'm torn. i want food. i just don't fancy juice any more. yet here i am, over two-thirds of the way through. i'm so very nearly there and yet my heart's not really in it. what to do... do i get some prunes and call it a day (or two months, in fact) or do i try to get back on the wagon?

doesn't help that my juicer blew up last week. YummyHubby wonderfully went and bought a supercheap juicer while i get the real one repaired (it has a six-year warranty, so i get it repaired/replaced for free. hurray!)

i definitely need to lose more weight - though i'm immensely grateful for the huge weight loss i've enjoyed so far on this juicefeast. but honestly think i could do that better by getting some exercise. since the second week of the juicefeast i've given up on running. it was too hard while i was going through intense detox at the start and since then i frankly haven't had time and energy during the week to prep my juice and exercise.

so, my juicy friends, i'm considering, for the zillionth time during this journey, packing up and heading back out to solid foods land. watch this space...

day 58: backbreaking

2008-04-27T13:47:00.009+01:00

backbreaking in that i've broken the back of this juicefeast. 7 weeks down, 5 to go. slightly disappointed that i don't seem to have the same verve and commitment that i can see in my juicebuddies. i'm looking forward to the end - i want to eat already. and not just prunes! so many people get past the first month and are on such a wonderful trip that they just don't want to get off. not me. i'm still aching for yummy kale salad, drooling over lemon cookies and oh boy do i want lunch from rainforest cuisine asap pls thx.

also backbreaking is the work on 'the lotty' - our wonderful allotment. it's hard work clearing the weeds, building the shed, hauling mammoth bags of compost around. but we are both loving it! it's so exciting.

yesterday we planted early potatoes - they'll be ready to eat in two months, and, yes, i will be cooking them and eating them! there are a few things we'll be growing which need cooking, but the vast majority will be raw-edible. the point is to feed ourselves, so we've chosen carefully. some stuff i'll make into chutney as christmas stocking-fillers for friends and family and i will give surplus away as it grows. i like sharing. we've got some small red onions to go in next week, and we're germinating tomatoes, herbs, and flowers around the house ready to plant out in a few weeks. we get the main bulk of the veg seeds arriving next week, so we'll be busy sowing, germinating and planting for the whole of may! we're going to have such a wonderful garden of eden. it's got to be the best hobby in the world ever. despite being covered in dirt, sweating, breaking my nails, getting scratched and bruised... it's still my favourite way to spend the weekend.

recovery mode

back to the juicefeast situation. so, i've somewhat recovered from my horrid midweek crisis. i've decided not to be so hard on myself, not to give up when i'm past halfway and since i've recovered - it seems - from the candida, thanks to all those lovely probiotics i'm taking, i'm choosing the easy option when i can and having my favourite fruit juice for breakfast and moving on to green for late morning-afternoon juices. much more palatable that way.

stats and stuff

i got weighed on saturday morning. i've lost a total of 25 pounds, which i'm happy about. i was a bit disheartened when the weight loss stagnated but it seems to have picked up again. i would like to lose another 15 pounds and i think it's possible to shift some, if not all, of that over the next five weeks. a fairly low fat raw diet and plenty of exercise will deal with the remaining few pounds.

i do find that my weight moves first and my body settles into the new shape in the following weeks. so even when i don't lose any/much weight on the scales, my clothes say i've lost mass somehow. i've dropped two dress sizes and my 'spare tyre' has gone. i'm liking what i see in the mirror :) i'm no longer fat. i'm still on the curvaceous side of slim, but this time last year even that seemed out of reach, so i've made great progress!

i had a colonic yesterday. the therapist congratulated me on my progress and encouraged me. she also said i'm getting a very clean colon - she was impressed with how it clean it was. hurray!

photo credit: before & after pics by YummyHubby

day 55: fallout

2008-04-24T20:13:00.005+01:00

today was a vast improvement on yesterday. i received a timely subscription email which reminded me to transform the negative to positive, to stop fighting things i can't control and to let go of thoughts and feelings which don't serve me and to move on. that really helped me loosen up a bit when the woman's oversized bag was bashing into me as she practically pole-danced on the tube and when the old woman pushed her way onto the train without letting people get off first etc. ok, so i haven't nailed it yet, but i've started on the road to resolution for the daily commute stress bundle.

i didn't mention in amongst everything else yesterday, but i've got permanent neck and shoulder strain from lugging bottles of juice to work and fruit and veg from the supermarket. i did go shopping on the way home tonight but deliberately bought less than i thought i could cope with so i didn't add to the shoulder ache. plus i got a real bargain in the health food store which cheered me up :)

at work i forced myself to delegate. i spent about half an hour pulling a bunch of info together and passed it on to my admin assistant who dealt with two fairly mammoth tasks successfully, so that saved me about 5 hours work. i know i should be doing this anyway, but i often feel like it would be quicker if i did it, rather than go through the process of explaining, tidying up my notes to pass on, then having to check his work later and make the final tweaks etc. but hey, i'm learning to let go...

i had a mashed avocado for dinner tonight, with lemon juice, flax seed oil, salt and pepper and some sunflower sprouts. i just crave fats. what's a girl to do? my skin's still dry. on my face my wrinkles are really showing round my eyes, despite the two sets of moisturiser i'm using morning and night, and on the rest of my body my skin is kind of, um, not sure how to describe it. 'old' springs to mind! i'm skin brushing and taking msm and i did find my skin was much softer after a few weeks, but now it seems thin and papery and screaming out for internal moisture.

YummyHubby and I made some plans to get me some rest and he seems to have taken on the task of getting me to get ready for bed earlier. every bit helps.

i've got a sore throat. that started yesterday and definitely contributed to my meltdown when i thought i was going to get ill. but it hasn't got any worse today, so i might yet overcome it without it turning into anything major.

and i'm still tired. but then i've got a lot of catching up to do after the extreme sleep deficit of the past month. but i do feel a lot better today and i'm no longer on the verge of a breakdown. hopefully each day that passes will help me walk a step away from the precipice.

day 54: meltdown

2008-04-24T08:03:00.003+01:00

note: written on day 55, the day after, with - i hope - a clearer perspective on things.

ok, so yesterday afternoon i hit rock bottom. well, i hope that was rock bottom. don't want to find out if there's further down to go...

it felt my world came tumbling down around me, i just Could Not Cope any longer.

for the past few days i've noticed i'm bright and breezy in the morning but by early afternoon i'm tired and by the time i get home i'm frankly exhausted and getting crabby. i hate being crabby (can you see the start of a vicious circle there?) then, because i'm tired, i sit down and don't move. by the time i haul my backside off the sofa to prep for the next day it's late. i know, totally counterproductive. if i prepped my veg and got clothes out, planned my moves etc, i'd have an easier morning. but i haven't been doing that. i've been going to bed late, getting up shockingly early and still managing to miss my train to work.

then there's the commute to and from work. it's not bad, as far as london commutes go, but there are a lot of mean, pushy people and i get bad tempered. then the trains have an odd schedule, where there are 3 i can catch all packed into the space of 15 minutes, then there's a half hour gap. so if i juuuust miss the last of the three then i have to stand on a cold, windy platform, surrounded by the smell of food, and watch a dozen trains that don't serve my route go past me. oh, and get pushed around by mean commuters.

then there's work. i'll start by saying i love my new job. i'm working with a bunch of people who i get on really well with, there's true affinity there. there's one guy who can be really unhelpful, but he doesn't mean to be, it's just a flaw in his approach to the chain of command, and i try to be forgiving and coax him along. but he rubbed me up the wrong way yesterday. but it's a mammoth task that i've been hired to do, with a zillion itty bitty things to pull together into a cohesive plan. now that's a loulou kind of challenge. but over the past couple of days i've felt like i've dropped a couple of balls and despite my project planning the whole thing is such a house of cards that it felt it was about to collapse into chaos yesterday... i forgot my old-time mantra of 'no one is going to die' and just felt panic, discomfort, disappointment etc welling up inside me.

then... i had to go via the supermarket to pick up more greens on the way home and by then i was past myself. i was ready to give up. call it a day. give up the juicefeast, that is. claw back some time to myself. regain my sanity. i got home and - i don't think i even said hello when i walked through the door - just crumpled in a heap and poured it all out in one huge splurge to YummyHubby. he was fantastically helpful and thoughtful and we worked through lots of it. it's not over, but he said he's not letting me give in so easily.

i know this crisis is not over yet, but i feel like if i can get to the weekend and then give myself some space, some thinking time, do some yoga, refocus... then that might get me through a little while longer.

and we're promised some "unseasonably warm" weather. sunshine is my number one mood-lifter, so, c'mon mini-heatwave. bring it on!

day 51: remiss

2008-04-20T20:44:00.001+01:00

oh boy, i've been terribly remiss. life's kind of been busy lately and i've chosen to read all your blogs rather than write my own. just haven't had the wherewithal to keep up recently.

so, quick catch up before i head for a soothing bath before bedtime.

day 50 came and went. how amazing is that. way over the half way mark, now. i got weighed last week and had gained 3 pounds (monthly water retention, i'm guessing) but yesterday that had all gone along with another pound. so in total i've lost 22 pounds. i'm disappointed that my weight loss has plateaued as i had my mind set on losing 40 pounds. it's not like that's not doable - so many people have achieved that and more, so why shouldn't i. however, i haven't been doing any exercise, due to lack of time, so i guess that's why. this weekend's marathon digging session may have made up for missing my thrice-weekly run.

ben talked about cheating during his feastbreaking, and i guess i have 'cheated' too, though i prefer not to think in terms of cheating. so here's the thing. i felt i needed to eat something, i've also got dry skin, despite taking hemp oil/coconut oil (i know i'm not taking them often enough, but i find them hard to ingest, i have to say, they make me feel quite sick) i've also been picking at things i've been preparing. a nibble of cheese (i know!) while prepping YummyHubby's dinner, or a strawberry/slice of mango etc. so i decided to do it and get over it, to see if i could stop the incessant nagging in my head to have some 'real ' food. so, i mashed half an avocado with some garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. oh boy! it was divine. i ate very slowly, mindfully, relishing each tiny forkful. it didn't upset my stomach or have any adverse effects at all, so i think i 'got away with it' as it were. i don't feel guilty about it. sort of disappointed that i know it is doable to not pick at food throughout the feast, but i also understand that what i'm doing is tough, and though i know it would be better for me to avoid eating anything at all, it's not such a big deal to eat two cherry tomatoes or a strawberry here and there. i mean, it's not like i'm going out for a curry. though tonight, after a day's gardening, i could see curry and beer as being the perfect end to the day. didn't happen, of course. i have parsley-romaine-apple-carrot-lemon juice instead. should have added some garam masala. heh.

this past week i went out with some ex-colleagues who haven't seen me for 7 weeks - i finished working there the day before i started the juicefeast. it was wonderful to see them all. plus they all, without fail, said i looked fabulous. three people said i was 'radiant' and 'glowing' - so, if you were ever in any doubt as to the amazing benefits of juicing, i am living, breathing proof :D oh that and my jeans so do not fit. luckily i have found two pairs of jeans i bought a year ago. they were too tight at the time. it was a kind of incentive to keep the weight down. and now they're comfy, a little on the loose side, but don't make me look like a total scruffbag which my usual jeans do. hurray!

i'll be posting about our allotment adventures on my other blog, so once i've put something together i shall let you all know.

keep it juicy!

day 43: achieving the impossible - being present

2008-04-12T12:23:00.002+01:00

if you read this blog regularly you'll already know this, but just in case...

when a person embraces a raw lifestyle or embarks upon a 3-month juicefeast, there are bound to be changes. yes, they'll lose weight. yes, they'll get healthier. yes, they'll cure some old ailments and improve the general state of their physical wellbeing. but they'll also see non-physical changes.

now, i've been where you are - at least in relation to raw foods/juicefeasting - in that i've been a standard, albeit vegetarian, eater for most of my life, so i know this causes eyebrows to raise. it's raised mine on multiple occasions. and even eating raw consistently for months at a time wasn't enough to shake off the disbelief when i read blogs or listened to podcasts of long-term raw foodists who claim an interconnectedness with the world, a spiritual awakening, a fundamental shift in their relationships with their environment and community. sounds far-fetched. but i'm starting to catch a glimpse of that on the juicefeast. i am also trying various other approaches to being more grounded, 'in the present' and i am open to feeling the glow others talk of. so, it's not just the food. or lack of it, right now.

so what's my current status? i have managed to get and stay, briefly, in a great place. but it needs more work to make it permanent. i felt kind of untethered. sort of like i could just float through everything - not like a ghost, but i didn't feel anchored to my past or pinning all my hopes on the future. i was just there, with what was going on around me. how crazy's that? it's very calming, i can tell you that. stress doesn't get to take over once you get rid of everything other than what's right in front of you. it was very cool. i enjoyed it. and chuffed i got there, even if briefly :)

day 40: gobsmacked

2008-04-09T20:36:00.003+01:00

i made it to day 40. can you say momentous?

so many times on this epic journey have i thought i wouldn't make it, i'd give in before day 92. i have tried, very hard, to remove the temptation wherever possible - like not having prunes in the house, allowing myself the tiniest nibble of something as a 'treat' so i got the taste but didn't feel compelled to stuff the lot down my throat in one go. so i'm claiming a victory here. my methods have worked. for me, that is. you may need different motivators.

i'm looking forward to getting over the hill. midway on the fast is less than a week away, and a week from now i'll officially be on the home straight. i read ben's post with interest. he's got to the stage now where he's nervous about finishing the feast and starting to eat solid food again. bizarre how these things affect you.

today i've had lots of greens. i've gone off cabbagey greens, especially in juice that i'm not drinking right away. but i do have a soft spot for chard. yum. so i'm doing lots and lots of spinach and lettuces of various types. i've also gone off pears, they oxidise too quickly. i find i return again and again to cucumber, mint, apple and oranges to pad out my greens, with the odd pure pineapple juice as a real treat.

i can feel how much weight i've lost. it's not actually a vast amount in pounds (20 of them have been given their marching orders) but i can see my waist clearly, my tummy's flatter, my bras are a tad too big, my face is slimmer, cheekbones more prominent and firm. all great stuff.

i'm still on a relative high, with positive energy and optimism, and right now i feel like i'll make it to day 92. i'm not saying i won't have some more tough days in the next 50 days, i'm sure i will, but right now it feels achievable, so i'm hanging onto that state of mind.

to all my raw/ juice buddies out there: you are all amazing. thank you so much for your loving support.

juice on!

photo credit: YummyHubby

inspiral lounge

2008-04-09T19:54:00.004+01:00

on saturday night we went to the inspiral lounge for dinner. my first impressions were that it was smaller and less groovy than i'd anticipated. having read suki's raving reports of it, i'd expected somewhere much more, hmm, not sure, maybe slick? they said they'd had a really busy evening, so perhaps they didn't get round to turning the lights down, setting out the candles and creating an evening ambience. we'd reserved a table as so many of us were going, but they didn't have that ready and i was soooo disappointed, until who i presume is the manageress appeared and sorted it out. so we got the booth downstairs, with low lighting and some music, and she was lovely. the staff seemed a little frazzled at the influx of people, and i think there's just not enough space to fit in more staff, yet the traffic in there and the labour-intense juicing, definitely requires more staff.

also, i have to say that they really tried to fob me off with a smoothie instead of juice, as the smoothies were pre-made in jugs, while the juices had to be made to order. when someone else in our group went to the bar for drinks he came back with a smoothie even though he asked for a juice. i get that they're busy, but come on. don't give people smoothies in place of juice!

personally, i thought the music was too loud for somewhere that doesn't have a dancefloor. it was good music though, and had me shimmying in my seat whilst straining to hear people over the top of it. the food looked great and everyone who ate there really liked what they had. they mostly had cooked food, with just a smidgen of raw, so i said they were all wimps ;) but we bought a plate of chocolate balls (raw, superfood chocolate truffles - i wondered if suki xocolati had a hand in that?) and i persuaded YummyHubby to let me have a nibble of his - it was lovely!

i will go back, probably during the day, for raw lunch, but at night - a saturday night, at that - i found it a little overpowering. i was really looking forward to it and desperately hoping that everyone else would like it - after a half hour tube ride - that it did have a lot of expectations to fulfill! once i'm off my juicefeast i might also consider suki & joel's tuesday night cacao bliss events, as i just know the vibe will be totally different :D

facts and figures:

nearest tube: camden

website: www.inspiralled.net

AGM & kale salad

2008-04-09T19:10:00.000+01:00

AGM

on saturday i spent the entire day at our AGM. i'm a founding member of a small start-up, and this past year we've had real clients so we have to have an AGM and sign papers and take minutes and stuff. but it's great to hang out with a bunch of cool people i hardly ever see (the rest of them are US-based) so even though there was a serious, business side of things, we also tried to fit in some QT, which included hanging out in borough market and going to the inspiral lounge for dinner and drinks with a client and various friends. i made a huge batch of greens&veg juice before i left in the morning, and made juice for everyone as a mid-afternoon snack and quaffed a good deal myself. i also had bits of juice other people had made for me throughout the day, and it rocked! i had a veg juice at borough market, which was really tasty, and at the inspiral lounge i had two juices - mostly veg but not sure what was in them, i just asked for juice, whatever they had. anyway, it's certainly been my most varied juice day ever!

kale salad rocks da house

on sunday i made lunch for everyone at the second part of our AGM, and besides some shop-bought tarts, i made a regular "wimp" salad of baby salad leaves, cucumber, tomato etc., and a kale salad. i have to confess, i did eat a forkful of the kale salad. just couldn't help it! everyone loved it, asked for the recipe, and polished it all off. what a success! YummyHubby says it's his expert kale massaging technique that really makes the salad, and that may well be true. he is getting good at it :)

if you have never made kale salad before, it's easy peasy. this is my take on karen knowler's salad (bragging rights: she taught me it in person!)

300g or so curly kale

handful small tomatoes

handful black olives

2 avocadoes

2-3 spring onions or half red onion

red/orange/yellow bell pepper

juice of 2 lemons

olive oil

coarse salt

wash the kale and trim off all tough ribs. shred finely (i do this with my hands, it's easier than with a knife) then put in serving bowl with a glug of olive oil and pinch of salt (if you're in the UK, use Maldon salt, it crumbles fabulously) and massage the kale. get your hands in there and gaze out of the window or meditate for 5 minutes until the kale is really supple and dark, shiny green. now add the lemon juice and stir.

cut the avocadoes in half, score the flesh and then squeeze them out into the bowl. remove the stones and you're left with softened lumps of avocado. get your hands back in there and massage again until most of the kale is coated and there are only a few chunks of avocado left.

halve and pit the olives, chop the tomatoes, pepper and onion and throw in the bowl. stir well to distribute. serve. be showered with compliments :)

this salad lasts well. the lemon juice keeps the avocadoes from browning, so do make lots and it'll stand you in good stead for lunchboxes at work. fabulous.

image credit: kale salad by hnau. please respect the creative commons licence: attribution, non-commercial.

days 34-39

2008-04-08T22:01:00.005+01:00

long time, no see, juicebuddies!

it's been busy. i've tried to keep up with everyone's blogs, but that has to be squeezed in along with everything else these days. this week i was drooling over heathy's pot pie, terilynn's fritters, and shannon marie's muffins. i was so encouraged by the article terilynn linked to in a local newspaper about three journos going raw for 30 days, and have been following the blog since. and ben made me laugh - thanks to all of you. you make my day :)

so, how've i been doing? first, a humble moment, i'm so grateful to know that what i write here is read by people out there in the big, wide world. people actually want to know how i'm doing. that is such an awesome feeling. you guys, my 'juice buddies' care about my progress enough to stop by - taking a chunk out of your busy schedules - to spend time caring about me. awesome! thank you so much.

so, back to our regularly scheduled programming. i've been physically much better. i've still had some embarrassingly loud gurgles but i've had no headaches over the past few days and i've had enough physical and mental energy to get through the day. i had a couple of unpleasant emotional moments, though, at the end of last week and i can only assume that i hit some kind of deep emotional detox. i woke up on thursday and friday with a mammoth black cloud hanging over my head. talked it through with YummyHubby, thanked him for, as ever, being there to help me along, and he said he can cope with my moods, he just wants whatever's best for me. but i acknowledge it must be tough to have me on this emotional rollercoaster. brief moments of elation and long hours of misery. i don't know where the misery came from, and i was gearing myself for sitting down and having a poke around in my head and heart to sort things out. it seems, though, that despite a heavy-going weekend, i've released whatever was, as i'm now back to being fairly consistently upbeat. which is fab!

i admit there have been a couple of times when i've seriously considered quitting. i've thought long and hard - not just because i can smell coffee and toast (which, actually, no longer tempts me! so bad example, but anyway, a craving) but because i was getting so many headaches, and then they cleared up and i started getting these black clouds in their place. neither of those situations make daily life exactly easy. ok, so headaches suck, but if they get too bad i relent, i take some strong painkillers and get to bed as soon as i can. but a depressed mood, short temper and loss of interest in everything takes its toll on those around me and i don't want YummyHubby to suffer that. and so i asked myself: is it time? have i come as far as i can on this journey? so, since i don't have any prunes, i'm always ready to keep going until tomorrow to see what that brings. luckily, tomorrow generally brings some relief.

ugh. you read this far? you deserve a medal!

so, i've increased my daily juice intake. i'm managing between 3 and 4 litres (roughly same as quarts) and trying hard to keep that mostly veggies, with plenty of greens and i have been feeling so much better these last few days. coincidence? who knows.

i still want this to get easier. no kidding. the buying produce, storing it all, preparing it, scrubbing celery and peeling oranges, making juice, cleaning up, carrying it around with me... it's a never-ending cycle. but at least i've achieved the ultimatum i set myself of feeling physically and emotionally positive for three days in a row. hurray :)

i've got another two posts half-ready, which i'll put up tomorrow or thursday. in the meantime, keep it juicy xxx

image credit: YummyHubby created this south park avatar for me. aren't i cute?

day 32: spring

2008-04-01T20:48:00.007+01:00

today was an improvement on yesterday. i had a headache, but much lighter than i've been getting, and coped it with it reasonably well. spent the morning quite focussed and got through lots of work. i started flagging in the afternoon, though, and am looking forward to an early night.

YummyHubby and i had a chat last night about me either giving up on the juicefeast or getting my act together so i can continue it. he thinks i should keep going and offered to not eat dinner at all so i don't suffer the tempting smells etc. they haven't been bothering me as much as at the start though today's special temptation was sweet chilli noodles from the noodle bar i pass on my way home from work.

thank you to all you lovely people who left a comment on yesterday's post; besides encouraging me to keep at it you've also made me think - again - about how i can get more juices in. it's possible that i'm feeling so rough, consistently, because i'm not drinking enough and i've gone into fasting mode. but i have juicefasted before and i don't remember having such a bad time of it this far in. realistically, i don't know how i can drink more. i'm not hungry, and when i do occasionally get hungry, i don't enjoy the juice. i'm trying to drink mostly green juice but i just don't like it. i drink it slowly because it's not enjoyable. it's a chore. now if i could drink pineapple juice all day, well that wouldn't be a problem. i could drink a gallon of the stuff. or orange-apple-carrot-ginger juice. but celery and greens don't do it for me. i've tried adding stuff; salt, cayenne, lemon, but it still doesn't work for me. perhaps next on the list is to try adding my greens to juices i like, so they're partly masked by the fruit, but i do need to cut down on the fruit because of the dreaded candida. oh, what to do, what to do...

today i had:

0.5l melon juice

1.25l cucumber-celery-spinach-parsley-lime-pear juice

0.5l tomato-basil-parsley-garlic-lemon juice with pinch salt

herbal teas with honey

on a much more upbeat note, it's definitely spring now. the trees are blossoming like nobody's business and it's wonderful walking home in the last rays of the sun, plus it's not quite so cold now. roll on summer! with the nights being lighter i should be able to go for a run after work soon, so i don't have to try to fit that in before work (along with the extra hour and a half a day for making juice/enemas) and i'm looking forward to shrugging off a couple of layers and getting some vitamin d.

photo credit: "spring signs" by cuellar. please respect the creative commons licence: attribution, non-commercial.

day 31: must try harder

2008-03-31T19:48:00.004+01:00

today's been another mixed up day. it started off well, then i got a headache, then a bit of an upset stomach, then i felt great for an hour and now i'm tired, washed out and craving food. i haven't been hungry for a few days but i was so tempted by the smell coming from the two indian restaurants i walk past on the way home from work (more on that in another post) but knowing that even if i decided today to break my feast i still couldn't have a curry made it easier to keep walking.

on the way home it was bright and the last rays of the sun made me smile, but i still did consider, very seriously, calling it a day. i'm fed up of the headaches, i'm fed up of not feeling great most of the time - though i feel truly amazing at times, it's always for short periods. and i want food. i'm still fixated on kale & avocado salad, currently it's the black olives that are the most tempting.

the thought of having to admit defeat will keep me going for a while but i tell you, i really want less crappy, detox days, and fast, or i'm checking out of the juicefeast motel.

today i had:

1l msm-lemon water

1.75l celery-spinach-chinese leaf-broccoli-apple juice with pinch salt

0.75l carrot-orange-strawberry-raspberry-pear juice

various herbal teas with honey

1 tbsp hemp oil

day 30: woohoo!

2008-03-30T21:03:00.004+01:00

first up, congratulations to everyone who joins me on day 30 of the global juicefeast. high-fives! and to those of you who are now winding down and about to eat your feast-breaking prunes, well done and i hope that the raw meals you have planned over the next few days area utterly delicious. i am so jonesing for karen knowler's kale & avocado salad. mmmmm. only another 62 days to go...

today was a mixed up kind of day. we slept in a little according to the clock as the clocks went forward last night and the UK is now in daylight savings or, as we brits know it, british summer time. YummyHubby had a bacon sarnie while i made my juices for the day. then we went out shopping for more greens, with the intention of going for a run when we got back. but i felt unwell. i felt sick and weak. i made some peppermint tea and snoozed on the sofa under the throw instead of getting some exercise. i had so much planned for today and i just didn't get it done. so disappointing. and after feeling great all day yesterday, with lots of energy, it's a shame i've come right back down again. i remember katrina saying in her blog at the start of the juicefeast that she alternates a high-energy day with a low-energy day but i figured i should be over that by now. i could do with a few days in a row of feeling awesome to buck me up a little.

today i had:
1l msm-lemon water
0.5l melon juice
1l cucumber-mint-spinach-romaine-carrot-apple juice
1 tbsp bee pollen
1 tsp nature's living superfood
1 tsp ground zeolite
1 tbsp hemp oil
pinch salt
probiotics

on a brighter note, it sounds like the wlir nyc crew and lots of my raw/juicy twitter buddies had an amaaaazing successfully raw weekend, dancing away until the wee small hours. wish i could've been there to see them all. maybe i'll make it to raw spirit this year... (just throwing that one out there, see if the universe hears me...)

and so ends another weekend. have a wonderful week, all.

photo credit: thanks to ksilvennoinen. see the original on flickr.

day 29: c-day

2008-03-29T18:25:00.005Z

c stands for colonic, candida, cut & colour and climate change

colonic

first thing today i went for a colonic, which was extremely productive. even the therapist was amazed at what came out. again, we had a really nice chat and i felt motivated by her encouragement. she said i looked radiant, which was fabulous :)

candida

i noticed late on thursday that i was cultivating a bout of thrush and have been using natural remedies i know from years ago when i suffered horrendously with it. having talked to the colon hydrotherapist about it, the nagging suspicions i'd been fermenting along with the yeast, settled into some harsh home truths. i've possibly had candida for some time and the juicefeast has uncovered it. the amount of fruit i'm juicing will have to drop considerably. no more straight pineapple juice. it explains the gurgling stomach over the past few days too. so i've got some probiotics and i'm going to use up the fruits i don't like mixed with veg (pineapple & melon mostly) and then replace my fruits with greens as much as i can. *sigh*

cut and colour

went to the hairdresser for a long-awaited spruce up of my horrendous hair. it's been annoying me for a while. it became overprocessed and far too light, thanks to a stylist who just wouldn't listen to me (don't worry, he no longer enjoys my custom) so i'm trying to get it back to something like my natural colour. we're making progress :)

climate change

we observed earth hour here in loulou towers. at ten to eight we gathered candles, turned off all lights, tv, computers etc. and proceeded to enjoy each other's company for an hour. it was amazing how quiet it was in the living room with no hard drives whirring (we have a pvr and two laptops on the go usually) and i really enjoyed having no choice but entertain ourselves. we talked of dreams and hopes for the future. it was very civilised. YummyHubby is now enamoured with the idea of earth hour once a week. i left my computer off (which is why this post appears on sunday) and at 9pm, earth hour over, we left the lights off but turned on the dvd player and watched a fantastic robert rodriguez movie which kept us both highly amused.

today i had:

0.5l msm-lemon juice

0.5l pineapple juice

1l celery-cucumber-carrot-mint-apple-bell pepper juice

lots of herbal teas with honey

1 tbsp bee pollen

oh yes, and it's weigh-in day. lost another 2.5 pounds, that's a total of 16.5 pounds. not bad going considering the complete lack of exercise over the past two weeks. must remedy that soon.

photo credit: bushy park (our local park) taken mid-run by YummyHubby, on his cameraphone

day 27: detoxing

2008-03-27T22:57:00.002Z

right. i've figured out the whole migraine thing. i've been detoxing for these past couple of days. i did an enema last night, one this morning and another one this evening and boy did i have some stuff to shift. i have a spot on my chin and woke up with lots of mucous and have had a runny nose all day, so put all that together and i figure that's what it's all about. no headache today, felt so much better. what a relief, i was getting worried.

having told lots of people this thing ("your diet" or "liquid diet" as most people call it) is a choice of 1/2/3 months, i'm finally starting to say out loud to those who i didn't expect to get it, that i'm going to keep at it for the full three months. people's chins drop. audibly. the funny thing is, i reckon they'd freak out more if they knew what i eat when i'm eating. hah.

today i had:
0.5l water no msm, ran out of lemons
1.5l romaine-spinach-grape-apple-celery juice
0.5l "work fruitbowl" juice mandarin-apple-plum-pear
0.5l romaine-spinach-mint-orange-pear juice
1 tbsp bee pollen
lots of teas with honey
3l water

day 26: hiccups, heartburn and headaches

2008-03-26T19:30:00.004Z

had an excruciating headache all day. reluctantly gave in and took ibuprofen but it still didn't fix it. then i got heartburn. i wonder if that's from the ibuprofen, or the coating of the tablets.

last night i got hiccups briefly, which i got rid of by doing some pranayama, but it sparked off an attack of heartburn. it was bad enough that i had to take some gaviscon.

any thoughts on what might be causing it, anyone? i hate taking medication at the best of times, but it's annoying and frustrating having to take it now, mid-juicefeast. it seems a bit pointless to juicefeast to release toxins and then shove more in your body. but i can't cope with a full day at work with a stinking headache, or get to sleep when my throat feels like it's burning up.

today i had:
1l msm-lemon water
2l romaine-spinach-carrot-apple-grape-orange-ginger juice
0.5l tomato-celery-romaine-apple-leek juice
1 tsp zeolite
1 tsp nature's living superfood

1 tbsp hemp oil
various herbal teas with honey
3l water

today's been fairly tough, as i've been feeling pretty rotten. however i can honestly say that i didn't feel any hunger or food cravings for two days. i am a little peckish now and fancy something to eat, but nothing like the hunger pangs and cravings i've had. and i'm about to make some more juice which should sort me out. so, at least i am making some progress. huzzah!

day 25: water

2008-03-25T22:32:00.002Z

today's goodness:
1l msm-lemon water
2l celery-cucumber-swiss chard-watercress-carrot-apple-grape-pear juice
0.5l pineapple juice
1 tsp zeolite
1 tsp nature's living superfood
1 tbsp hemp oil
various herbal teas with honey

woke up and then leapt for my clock in a panic. it was so sunny in the bedroom that i thought i must've slept in. but no... there were another 2 minutes before the alarm was due to go off. it was just absurdly sunny this morning.

had time to do everything this morning and go for my train without dashing, which is such a vastly improved way of starting the day compared to my usual flustered, headless chicken mornings.

i set myself the goal today of drinking a glass of water every hour, on the hour, while at work, so today i managed to drink - excluding morning msm water - 4l water. not bad. will keep going with this, makes sense to drink as much water as i can, seeing as i can't manage the full quota of juice.

had time to do some yoga this evening which was great. if i'm organised i can fit everything in!

i'm exhausted, eyelids are closing. sorry, no images today, must sleep....

day 24: indulgent

2008-03-24T16:54:00.007Z

i woke up with a headache, which was quite nasty, gearing up to become a migraine. YummyHubby gave me a neck rub with some warming oils and i rubbed lavender on my forehead. had a cup of tea and stayed in bed till it passed, accompanied by YummyHubby who wasn't letting an opportunity to laze around pass him by. so, claiming he was there to support and comfort me, he snuggled down for an hour's doze too. it was lovely.

then attempted to make up for the lazy morning by packing the activites in to the early afternoon. made lots of juice, one almost-all veg and the other pure treat pure fruit. caught up with some blogs. did another slippery elm enema, skin-brushing, shower and off out into the sunshine but bitterly cold wind to stock up on supplies.

i 've even managed to fit in some work (for my sideline, not main job) and now, i'm going to settle down on the sofa with a cup of peppermint tea to read angela stokes' raw emotions. i've started reading it and am hoping it will help me work through my emotional issues i mentioned yesterday.

one thing i have noticed that other than sniffing at YummyHubby's breakfast (hot cross buns) i haven't had food cravings today. halle-freakin-lujah!

there's definitely a positive feel to the day. i chose to wear lovely undies today, which is something that comes and goes with body image confidence levels... and it's great to see my waist again!

thanks to everyone who's sent supportive messages. soooo appreciated. love to all my juicy comrades. xxx

today i consumed:

1.75l celery-beet-parsley-cucumber-carrot-bell pepper-pear juice

1l pineapple-pomegranate-mango juice

various herbal teas with honey

1 tbsp pollen

2 tsp hemp oil

didn't have msm today as it was so late when i started juicing already

image credit: original here; thanks to nicolas. please respect the creative commons license: attribution-non-commercial-sharealike.

day 23: futureproofing

2008-03-23T17:53:00.005Z

one of the biggest things i want to tackle by doing this juicefeast is my yo-yoing with raw foods. i know there's something going on which is somehow stopping me from that full commitment that i crave, and i've been working on this on and off over the past year. i call this self-sabotage.

here's something i started writing a few days ago in an attempt to get to the bottom of things:

why would i not want to fully commit to a raw lifestyle? it's obvious to me that it would be so much easier if i wasn't holding myself back just a tiny bit. so why am i sabotaging myself? all this yo-yoing back and forth, never really letting myself get the full benefit. as soon as i started feeling better i'd 'lapse' and start having cooked food now and again until eventually i was eating more cooked than raw. then i'd get ill... and off i'd go again. the byron katie video on juicefeasting.com plus something i was reading on EFT recently took me back to some work i did last year with karen knowler around this whole thing. we managed to get started on my hidden reasons for not wanting to fully embrace raw and when i dug down hard enough it appeared to be fear of change. what if, on a raw diet i undergo the kind of transformation i've seen so many raw fooders go through, and what i have, the life i lead, is no longer enough for me. what if it means i have to radically rethink my current life? but with no idea of what i'd do or where i'd live or how i'd earn money, the whole prospect is, to me at least, terrifying. yet i'm starting to see how this wouldn't happen overnight. it'd be a gradual change, working towards something new, and i'd have time to work it all out. that isn't something to be scared of.

i carried on for a while after that but you'd have to know a lot more about me any my life to understand it, but hopefully there's enough info for you to get the picture.

i've since found a few other people, posting on the globaljuicefeast.com forums, who seem to be in a very similar position of going through the "determined to go raw" followed by "self-sabotage" cycle.

and i don't have the answer; far from it. but i do know that it's time, now that the juicing part of this thing is pretty much taking care of itself, to start on the emotional reasons for undertaking this juicefeast.

i want to come out the other end with no desires for cooked food. i want to hear what my body is telling me it needs rather than allowing a craving to shout louder and therefore get more attention. at present, i don't know how to differentiate between the two.

but i read a blog post yesterday which really got me thinking. it won't just be automatic. you have to work it out. and this juicefeast may not be the panacea i hope it will be.

hanlie says:

I realized as I was reading Michelle’s post that I had regarded juice feasting as my “magic bullet”. It was supposed to cure my addiction to fast food. It was supposed to be my “pass” into a healthier diet.

The truth is that I still have to fight the temptation to eat the things I have previously been addicted to.

aha. this is where i got to when my heart sank. as i read the words i knew she was right.

But making good choices has become a habit that will stand me in good stead when I eat solid food again. It has become easier for me to consider what my body needs and wants. Starting solid food will be starting a new cycle of transition. And with the confidence and wisdom that I’ve gained while juice feasting, I know that it will be a challenging, yet rewarding cycle. I can do it! I may not make the best choices 100% of the time, but I’ll be grateful for 90% and keep working on the deficit!

ok, so i need to learn to live with that instead. right now, it doesn't feel like enough. but you know, i'm only at day 23. there's still time to work through this. but i acknowledge i need to give time to it. need to sit and think about it, challenge myself and find a way to make this work for me. forever. not just until the first hurdle.

today i consumed:

0.5l msm-lemon water
1l romaine-celery-cucumber-ginger-plum-alfalfa & broccoli sprouts juice
1l carrot-orange-mixed greens-ginger-plum juice
various herbal teas with honey
1 tbsp bee pollen
coconut oil
'thai soup' tea (ginger-lemongrass-garlic-chilli-turmeric-salt in hot water)

all the images were taken this morning, of the beautiful daffodils YummyHubby chose at the supermarket.

day 22: stats

2008-03-22T20:36:00.004Z

and week four begins.

weekly stats:
weight loss 14lbs. hurray! (to my american friends: that's a stone so for me that's a real milestone in weightloss terms.)
ph 7.0-7.25 (which is great!)

it's odd. i don't feel like i haven't eaten for three weeks. i don't really feel any different today to how i was feeling the week before the juicefeast started. i'm still wanting to eat. having cravings for everything i see and smell. getting headaches and horrendous tummy gurgling. not really where i was hoping to be by now and i was feeling a bit down about it. so, i did what i always do and i talked to YummyHubby about it. i went through my reasons for doing this and also said that despite the odd energy peak and moments of euphoria - which i'm not knocking, it's fabulous! - i don't really have that fabby go! go! go! thing going on, and that's a little bit disappointing. but... i'll stick with it. i know i'll get there in the end. and as YummyHubby pointed out, it can't be a bad thing to still feel bouncy at 6pm when the rest of the people on the same train are looking like zombies. so perhaps i haven't quite reached ecstatic bliss and exuberant energy, but damn it, i'm feeling better than most of the world looks.

the photo is of my three bottles to take to work. i know the arguments about aluminium but siggs are lined and they guarantee 0.00% leaching. and three glass jars on a busy tube in the morning just isn't my idea of safe. the one glass bottle scares me enough. they add up (if they're all full, and they usually are) to 2.2 litres, which along with the pint i drink while i'm cleaning up from juicing, is a total of 2.8 quarts. there are days when i get through it all, and i might make another juice when i get home for 'dinner' - but there are lots of days when i bring one of the bottles back home with me to finish at dinnertime. just not enough.

i do worry that i'm not feeling the energy/bliss because i'm not getting enough juice but i can't see how i can make or consume any more right now. i'm hoping my desire for juice will increase, cos right now i have to make myself drink it, even when i make super yummy juices. i just can't take the volume. ho hum. this is loulou in frustrated mode. welcome, those of you who don't know me like this.

today i had:
0.5l msm-lemon water
1.5l kale-baby greens-spinach-romaine-celery-cucumber-carrot-mint-apple juice
0.5l pineapple-orange-raspberry juice
3 cups green tea
coconut-honey heart
1 tbsp bee pollen

day 21: lazy

2008-03-21T20:22:00.003Z

been a bit lazy on the blogging front lately. i've wanted to step away from it so i can get on with some other stuff. i have so many downloaded files off juicefeasting.com to read through, and the rainoshek's videos to watch, and everyone's blogs to read that when it comes to writing up my own blog i've kind of lost interest by then.

i've also got two books on the go at the moment and they've been rather neglected, so i'm trying to get back into them.

then of course there's the new job. it's not tiring or demanding just yet as my big project (the thing i've really been hired for) doesn't kick off until 1st april, so i'm just looking after a couple of small things in the meantime and trying to learn as much as possible about my big project in advance. but getting going with the routine, general settling in and having to catch a train every day is enough to be getting on with! my underling (heh) is sweet and well-meaning but needs a fair bit of hand-holding which i currently find endearing (whilst acknowledging that i might tire of it eventually) and it means the control freak in me is pacified as i get sight of everything, but it does mean i have to be prepared to be stopped every time i pass his desk... which is every time i go to the bathroom for a pee. and as you'll all know, on a juicefeast that means at least once an hour. roll on solid foods...

today we went out for lunch to wagamama. i figured it's somewhere YummyHubby can have his beloved stinky fish soup and i can have fresh juice and since we don't get to eat out, or even together, much these days we should make an effort. however... i also somehow managed to order myself a miso soup. it's white miso, so slightly less full on. i picked out the seaweed and tofu and just drank the broth. i know it was really naughty but, you know what, i really enjoyed it and i felt completely full for the rest of the afternoon, which was the first time in three weeks, so if for nothing else it was worth it!

a couple of things to note from the last few days. i did my first herbal enema. i bought some slippery elm from neal's yard as i'd read in ben's blog that he'd used it. good lord. do people actually drink this stuff? man, just having it in the enema bag was stinking out the bathroom. gross. anyway... i don't know if it helped, but as it's supposed to be good for you i will continue to use it once a week or so. i have some red clover, too, which i originally bought for YummyHubby to drink as an infusion to help with his eczema, but i've read that it's good for enemas, too. it's a strong detox herb so why not?

i've been trying hard to get more greens in, and less fruit. i've noticed furry teeth over the past couple of days. it's weird as the front of my teeth feel superclean, smooth, just brushed - all day long. but the backs are totally icky. i've bought a second toothbrush and some more toothpaste to take to work so i can keep that in check.

haven't been able to face the green superfood or zeolite recently. i've upped my bee pollen and honey intake instead. i know they don't achieve the same things but at least there's some superfood going in. i'm also wanting salty foods, so i'm adding a pinch of salt to green juices here and there. also still making my 'thai soup' tea from time to time, which is a great way to get salt.

despite hating celery like very few things on this earth, i've stopped noticing it in my juices. i think perhaps because i'm so heavy-handed with the mint or parsley or sometimes limes in my green juices, but i just don't even know it's there. this is good.

are we caught up? cool. love to all x

the photo was taken whilst on honeymoon, november 2007

days 18-20: backdating

2008-03-20T20:19:00.000Z

had a headache when i woke up. it turned into a migraine by mid-morning so, finally admitting to myself the lavender essential oil just wasn't cutting it, i went out and bought some f***-off painkillers.

for the rest of the day i drank lots of honeyed tea and took the painkillers as often as the dosage would allow. when i got home from work i went straight to bed. i got up about midnight and did an enema, hoping it might alleviate the symptoms. i've read in a few places that a bad headache is often a sign of detox, so get the detoxing stuff out of your system and the headache will subside. it didn't seem to work for me. i woke up the following morning with a groggy head and a lighter, but still persistent, headache, which eventually dissipated 24 hours later.

blimey. that was a tough one.

day 17: taking it on the chin

2008-03-17T21:45:00.005Z

today i got up a bit earlier so i could fit everything into my morning routine. i took a moment to focus when i woke up and decided that i would breeze through the day, i would be productive, positive and calm. so that was a good start. i intend to work out some good intentions for me to say as a morning mantra. today's worked, so i should totally stick with the program :)

did an enema, which seems like it was a good idea as there was plenty waiting to come out.

i upped my msm intake so my palate, now used to the perfect ratio of water to lemon to msm, had a rude awakening. must add more lemon juice tomorrow.

i had my green superfoods, zeolite and hemp oil all in one go, leaning over the sink in case it all came straight back out again. yuck yuck yuck.

i made 2.5l of juice up front. swigged what i could and took the rest to work in bottles.

then i dashed around getting out of the door just in time to think i would probably miss my train. so i decided to calm down, stop dashing and aim for the next one. this was a really good decision. i'm not great at not rushing but it came fairly easily. it's really not such a big deal, i get to work ten minutes later but i don't have a fixed start time, so who cares, right? so that was cool.

work was challenging and interesting and the day flew past. i was fairly productive in that i moved all my little bitty projects forward a step, but no major results as yet. there were a few things i knew i had to do and wasn't really looking forward to, but when it came to tackling them they were all fine, easy, nothing to get hung up over. so that was good. positive.

so, all in all, a good day. yippee!

today i had:

msm-lemon water

1-5l cabbage-celery-cucumber-pear juice

1.25l orange-carrot-apple-ginger juice

herbal teas with honey

1 tsp nature's living superfood

1 tsp zeolite

1 tbsp hemp oil

no exercise today.

image credit: slack12. original here. please respect the creative commons licence: attribution-non-commerical-no derivatives.

day 16: mixed up

2008-03-16T16:05:00.006Z

today was one of those days where my mood and physical state seemed to swing like a pendulum.

i woke up with a mild headache which dissipated after a pint of water so i think i was dehydrated :( made YummyHubby a big brunch frittata then went out shopping.

when i got home, after a bit of nudging from YummyHubby, i spent an hour doing yoga. i have a yoga dvd which is very basic poses and easy to follow. i always feel so wonderful afterwards and do that whole 'why don't i do this more often' thing... only to leave it a month before i do it again. today i was very impressed because i managed to do a whole sun salutation without pausing the video :) that's a first.

today i had:

1l msm-lemon water

honey-coconut oil heart

maca-coconut oil round

1l orange-mango-papaya juice

0.75l canteloupe juice

2l water

herbal teas

well spotted. there's no green juice on that list. i just couldn't face it. and no superfoods. ditto. i went to the loo unaided so no enema today. i did skin brushing before my shower and an hour's yoga practice.

coconut oil hearts

i borrowed carrie's idea for these. we do have a silicone ice-cube tray but since she said the oil was corroding the silicone i bought a chocolate making mould instead. it has four different shapes so i can also make different combinations and track which are which. i softened the coconut butter a little (put the solid coconut butter into a bowl sat in another bowl with hot water in it) and did four plain coconut squares, four hearts with a drizzle of honey inbetween two layers, i blended some maca in for another four round shapes and the last four pyramid shapes were made by blending cacao powder into the coconut butter. these last four are for YummyHubby. it makes a nice change to eat something, that's for sure.

and now to prep for tomorrow morning. i find if i know what juices i'm making and get it all out, scrubbed and ready for chopping before i go to bed then it makes mornings a lot easier.

have a fabulous week, y'all x

photo courtesy of graham king: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grahamking/826142536/ please respect the creative commons licence if you wish to use it: attribution, non-commerical, share-alike

day 15: check-in

2008-03-15T20:17:00.004Z

so we've been juicing for two weeks now. it feels like i should be amazed i've been going this long and yet it's flown past and really not been that hard.

what i am starting to think, now and again, is that i will get bored of some of the routine going on. like the repetitive shopping trips, washing and scrubbing veg, peeling oranges in such a way as to leave as much of the white bioflavinoid yummy stuff on there. washing the juicer (YummyHubby washes the juicer for me once a day, lovely thing that he is, but i still get to wash either my home or work juicer once a day myself) and don't get me started on taking yucky tasting/textured supplements.

on the plus side i'm starting to feel the benefits. i had an all-too-brief zingy couple of hours on thursday, only to get headachey and develop a runny nose straight after. my positivity and physical energy dipped again, but i am emotionally in a much better place than i'd usually be round this time of the month, so perhaps in a few days i'll pick up and really start to feel the love again.

talking of this time of the month... it is indeed that time of the month so my weekly weigh-in is way off kilter. i got weighed this morning and have lost precisely half a pound since last week. but i gain 3 to 5 pounds during the PMS days and they stick around for the best part of a week, so it won't really be until next weigh-in, a week today, that i'll see any weight loss. however, i can feel that my clothes are looser, so it's looking good.

i have had some further detox symptoms this past week, with an intermittent runny nose, the odd spot (could be PMS) and smelly underarms (eww) but the most astonishing thing is that i've been to the toilet twice this week! it could be that my juicer is straining under the sheer quantity of juice being required of it and isn't separating out the pulp so well, so i may need to strain my juice.

although i'd say that overall this is fairly easy, sometimes, perhaps only for a few fleeting moments, it feels so hard that i don't know how i'm going to manage. then i think back to david and katrina's video where they say "nobody juicefeasts for 92 days. you juicefeast for 1 day." and that's where i'm trying to get myself. into that "present moment" groove. i'm so glad that YummyHubby is right there to catch me if i fall. in fact, he won't let me fall. he's being so unbelievably wonderful. and then there's a mammoth supportive community out there to go to and get inspired when i need it. thanks everyone. i am truly grateful for your support. have a big lime-flavoured kiss.

talking of juicy kisses, i stole a kiss off YummyHubby today while he was eating his lunch just so i could get a taste of tomato and black olive pesto. i am so looking forward to a big kale salad with baby plum tomatoes and plump black olives. yum. so at least i'm now craving raw food rather than random dishes i'd never eat even if it was the last thing on earth. phew.

i tested my ph this morning. it's at 7 and this time i'm confident it wasn't a false positive. so perhaps i was right on my first test, too, and i'm on the "optimum"/alkaline border. that would be stunning. YummyHubby said - not that he's a doctor, but he's obviously been listening to my ramblings - "it doesn't surprise me. your immune system is shot but you're basically really healthy. unlike me. i've got a bulletproof immune system but there's no way i'd describe myself as healthy." so what do you think? is that feasible? i had ME 20 years ago and i have had doctors say to me i'll never really get over that. my immune system will always be compromised. so i get ill because of that, rather than being unhealthy in general. hmm. interesting, sounds logical, but is it feasible?

so where am i at? i know i'm doing some things right. i'm doing my litre of water on rising, with msm and lemon. i take a fair few supplements. i do skinbrushing and enemas two or three times a week and do exercise when i can. buuut... i still can't manage to get all the water and juice in every day. you guys out there who put away 6 litres of juice a day, how in the world do you do it?

YummyHubby and i had a pow-wow earlier today and worked out how i can fit in one or two more things a day without it driving me crazy. so we've put some rules in place and i will try my hardest to do exercise and/or relaxation/meditation of some sort every day plus i'm going to try and up my game and drink more juice this next week.

here's to week three (!) and shifting up a gear. cheers!

day 13: high!

2008-03-13T18:15:00.004Z

oh yeah, baby! we're buzzing!

i finally got the energy surge. yippeeee! it happened this afternoon, just as i was thinking i needed more juice, i was getting hungry, i suddenly felt the need to run, skip and jump, to sing and dance and be bounteous and lovely to all who crossed my path. what a great feeling. as i hadn't eaten (or rather, drunk) for several hours i knew it wasn't a fruity sugar spike. i also don't necessarily like the rest of the world when i get a sugar rush ;)

so maybe now things will get a little easier, as i have to say i've been struggling to stay afloat.

today i consumed:

cucumber-parsnip-carrot-bell pepper-cabbage-celery-lemon juice

kiwi-grape-cucumber-pear-spinach-mint juice (this was very nice, though a little sweet with the grapes)

msm, maca, zeolite, nature's living superfood, honey and hemp oil

i didn't skinbrush or rebound or do an enema. i did, however, manage to go to the loo unassisted, as it were, which was a novelty.

various herbal teas

and now... i've been tagged!

lovely, supportive penni, from real juice daily, tagged me with a current meme. so i have to tell you 5 things you may not know about me. i saw the 'tag' this morning before i left for work and thought about it on the train. thing is, i don't keep secrets so it's hard to come up with the interesting stuff you really want to know. i mean, if it's not embarrassing or proof of my mental instability then it's no fun, right? so... i have managed to come up with five things most of you who have come to know me via the raw food community probably don't know, but certainly friends and family do. is that a fair compromise?

numero uno: i lived in the basque country in northern spain for ten years. i went out to spend a year or two teaching english and learning spanish, only to find i couldn't quite tear myself away... i came back to be closer to home after my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer (she's fine now, don't panic)

deux: when i was very young, probably four or five, i was watching my dad, a keen angler back then, prepping his bait and there was a plastic bag of maggots. i stuck my hand in the bag and i loved the feeling of the warm wriggling. nowadays thinking about that makes me feel totally sick.

drei: i have a tattoo on my shoulder. i did it when i was at university. i saw a design in a tattoo parlour in the town where my parents lived. i loved it and knew it was the right design for me. i saved up some money and went to have it done, only to chicken out that time. i tried to go back and couldn't for one reason or another. i ended up going back to london for the new academic year without the tattoo. so i decided i would take the concept to a tattooist in london. i went to a well known tattoo artist in soho (which back then was a seedy red-light district, not the vibrant scene it is now) and after a double vodka in the nearest pub, sat down and suffered the intense pain. the original design was of the crescent moon, with stars around it and a cloud passing in front of it. what i ended up with looks more like a lightning bolt through the moon. one day i'll have it retouched...

hiru: (that's basque) i'm divorced and remarried. while i was in spain i married the dashing barman of my favourite bar. it turned out to be a big mistake. it's complicated and i won't go into detail, but i had to leave. it was slowly crushing the life out of me. i was so miserable. i don't regret it though, or i wouldn't have trodden the path that brought me here, where i am now via the fabulous community of geeks at everything2.com and into the arms of my wonderful, gorgeous, romantic, funny, and incredibly supportive best friend who is now my YummyHubby.

cinque: i've had two poems published. well, kind of. both as creative writing competitions for school magazines. one when i was aged four, i think, and the other aged 17. both of them make me cringe these days ;)

and now i have to pass it on. who to pick on... i have to say that some of those i'd choose have already been tagged. so just two tagees (ok, so i made that up) from me.

shea - lovely blog, i find it uplifting and inspiring (though i'm sure she would be confused by that) and it really gets me thinking (more on that in a later post)

nicci - who i met through a karen knowler raw support group a year ago and we've been supporting each other ever since

day 12: busy

2008-03-12T21:33:00.004Z

hello juicy world! first let me say thank you to all you lovely people sending me twits and blog comments to ask after me, as i've been awol these past few days. big shoutouts to penni and dea for supportive communication :)

right. now let's get on with the show. i started my new job on monday and combining that with the juicefeast activities has been tough. so i'll admit straight off i've only skinbrushed once and haven't done any exercise, other than running for a train, since the weekend but at least i have managed every-other-day enemas. supplements are still hit and miss. i forget to take them and remember too late, as i'm in such a rush to leave the house. but... i take comfort in david and katrina's video in which they say that 92 days should be enough to get your routine down pat ;)

i'm still struggling to do the minimum 3 quarts (i use litres, which works out at roughly 1 litre=1 quart) but i am managing to stick to mainly vegetable juices, with 2 or more quarts of mostly veggie and a pint of fruit only per day. i'm also doing the msm-lemon water. i don't know if it's because i also use msm cream on my face and i have some msm body lotion, too, but my skin is very soft. fabulous.

i am starting to get a bit more energy, though i still find i get that afternoon slump and my brain is about dead by 5pm. not sure how to fix that. hope it fades away as the energy surge settles in for the duration.

i've talked to quite a few people now, in some detail, about what i'm doing and have had so much support and genuine interest; i'm quite blown away. i'm sure there are those at my new place of work who think i'm stark raving bonkers, but there are several of them who ask lots of questions and everybody is just rolling with it. might be because i made them all awesomeness in a glass on tuesday; i took 3 pineapples in, juiced them and handed out little glasses to all present. ha. and do you still like the stuff that comes in a carton? no, i didn't think so.

i'm not getting so many weird cravings now, though i do still want solid food. and carrie's photo of her dinner totally got me drooling. oh and i'm so making this sometime in june. and then i'll work my way through my gift-to-myself, the cafe gratitude recipe book (what a lovely book. really enjoyed skimming through it so far.)

and with that, my lovelies, it's time to prep my veg ready for early morning juicing.

keep it juicy!

day 9: eating out

2008-03-09T18:58:00.004Z

i've managed to "eat out" a few times, as it were, on this juicefeast. the wagamama menu has a great choice of fresh juices, plus they do green tea at no charge, so that has been deemed "juicefeast-friendly" and is where i'll persuade friends to go when we go out en masse.

today we went out for a pub lunch. we sat in the bar area rather than the restaurant because we had my parents' dog with us, but with the added benefit that i didn't look daft with place settings in front of me and just a glass of water. i took my juice in a sigg bottle and sipped at it while the others ate. i have to say i was tempted to steal a chip (even though, to be honest, they didn't look that great) so i think i still have cravings for solid food to deal with. perhaps yesterday's banana had something to do with it.

that's it for today. as my parents are staying with us i haven't had time to blog. i had to choose between making juice or writing about it ;) and i need to prep for tomorrow which is my first day combining juicefeasting and working. plus, let's not forget, it's a new job too!

today i had:
msm-lemon water
spinach-carrot-tomato-leek-bell pepper-celery-apple-pear-lemon juice
orange juice
pineapple-peach-mango-papaya-passion fruit-pomegranate-strawberry-orange juice
various teas
not enough juice and i managed to totally miss out all supplements. oops. must try harder.

day 8: race day

2008-03-08T18:46:00.000Z

welcome to week two of the juicefeast, my juicy friends.

so, what progress have you made in the past week? i got on the scales this morning and i'm delighted to tell you that i've lost a whopping 9 pounds! i know some of that disappeared yesterday, during the colonic, not to put too fine a point on it, and also my digestive system is now devoid of decomposing solids. but even so, i'm very pleased.

i got through the initial detox well, without too much discomfort and although i'm sure there'll be more to come later on in the show the first few days are always the worst. although i've been at home this week i have been fairly busy and have still managed to keep up. i'll see how juicing and doing an 8 hour day works. i'm going to have to get up early, that's for sure. but hey, so far, so good. the energy high will kick in soon and help me fit in all the extra time commitments.

what else? i haven't been plagued, as some others have, with gas and/or an upset tummy. there were a couple of days of feeling very, very cold. uncomfortably so, but they have now passed.

you know, on the detox front it's been fairly uneventful, and i'm happy with that.

lessons learned

i know i'm not getting enough juice. could certainly add more greens and i should probably drink more water. i don't measure my water intake, i just drink when i remember or i'm thirsty. i will start to measure my water to make sure i'm getting enough.

i ran my first ever race today. it was a 5k (3.2 miles) my time was slower than i had hoped when i decided to sign up for it 6 weeks ago and you'll know from earlier posts that the last couple of times i've run i've gone at a slower pace and still had to quit half way. so... today at least i finished. it did come at a cost, though. i had a banana smoothie (as juicefeast-friendly as i could make it, with a banana, maple syrup, pollen and maca. tasty!) to give me enough energy to get round the course. it hit my stomach hard but it did the job, so yes, it was a hiccup in the progress i've made on the juicefeast but i also believe it was the right thing to do for the situation. the race was tough but i still managed a fairly good sprint finish - as you can see in the (open sarky tag) uberglam (close sarky tag) photo. that's YummyHubby running alongside and coaching me wonderfully and supportively all the way. and he let me finish first ;)

today i had:
lemon-msm water
banana-pollen-maple syrup-maca smoothie
celery-collard-bell pepper-leek-tomato-carrot-apple juice
orange-carrot-apple juice
carrot-pear juice
carrot-cucumber-tomato-orange-apple juice

day 7: colonic

2008-03-07T08:06:00.005Z

today was the first day i managed to drink 3 litres of juice and plenty of water, too. possibly because i got up so damned early :(

i made 2 litres of green-based juices as soon as i got up and a pineapple juice treat in the afternoon. because i was still hungry (i woke up starving today) i made another juice in the evening, while everyone else was tucking in to thai takeaway. didn't appeal, luckily.

but i'm sure many of you will be itching for gory details of my first foray into the land of colonics. i know i scoured every blog to find out if it was right, appropriate and sufferable for me, so if you're new to the game, here's my first impressions.

the therapist was lovely. very gentle and smiley. i had to fill out a lengthy medical history and diet form so i 'fessed up right there to my raw leanings and current juicefeasting. when she started flicking through the completed form and asking for more detail, she was very impressed with my juicefeasting and supplements, raw diet etc. she was totally cool and i didn't have to convince her. she didn't even bat an eyelid at the 92 day aspect. she knew what i'd be going through at each stage, with a great grasp of detox and i was highly commended for doing enemas at home, too. i felt like teacher's pet ;)

so... if you're of a sensitive disposition you might want to skip this paragraph... the icky bit of putting the pipes in was over in an instant and then for what seemed like a reeeally long time there was nothing but clear water coming out the pipe. i did get the odd spasm and the therapist tried to relax me so i didn't resist 'evacuation' as she called it. for those who don't knkow this bit - like me earlier today - the water flows in and out, it doesn't just constantly fill you up, and she said it was going along my colon one inch at a time.

so we chatted for a while and she taught me all about the digestive system and she rubbed my belly and it was all fine. then stuff started coming out. morbid fascination got the better of me and i watched every little pellet of years- or even decades-old gunk flow out. then it was time to flush the last of it away and i was ushered to the loo to spend some quality time on my own. you know, considering there was nothing in the last bit (as in nearest to the exit) of my colon because between the juices and the home-administered enemas there was nothing left to shift, it's really quite astonishing how much stuff came out during the colonic and immediately afterward. i'm so glad to have got rid of it all. ewww. who wants that inside their body? no thank you.

afterwards i felt noticeably lighter and like there was space in my torso for things to move around a bit. i'm not sure how to describe it. there were no awful after-effects, i felt a light headache starting but that disappeared almost instantly, but that was the only negative thing. i couldn't get quite as excited as some people - not to name any names... oh ok then, like suki ;) - but it was the right thing to do and i'm glad i've got a shiny colon now :D

are you still with me? blimey. last thing. today i felt a sudden flare up of thrush which lasted about 5 minutes, followed, an hour or so later by a cough. now get this. just over two years ago i had a nasty chest infection, lots of antibiotics to treat it and ended up, as women often do, with thrush because of the antibiotics. now go with the 3 days of juice equals a year back in your body's history and what do you get? i just finally cleared out my chest infection and its after-effects. fantastic :D

day 6: cravings

2008-03-06T16:05:00.006Z

well, i have to say that this is much easier than the first week of my juice fast two years ago. though i suppose i had just come off a scary amount of medication after being unwell with bronchitis for two months. this time i'm not detoxing pills, just pizza ;)

i've heard a few people say they have bizarre food cravings while juicing. i do too. i crave things i haven't eaten in aeons and would never eat even if it was put in front of me mid-craving. and so far, besides the odd thing in the kitchen tempting me, it's all been cooked stuff. at one point my mum's homemade burgers stopped by to say hello and that really freaked me out, since i haven't eaten meat for over 20 years!

i have read in numerous places that as you detox on a raw food diet you will get cravings as the last of whatever you were craving works its way out of your system. i pondered the formula that says for every 3 days on juice your body goes back a year (roughly) so this morning, when i had the beef craving, i would be chucking out old gunk from coming up to two years ago and i know, with absolute certainty there was no beef in my body then, so that didn't resolve the weirdness. i will be interested to see what happens when i get to about day 66 which is around when i stopped eating meat. i think by then i'll just be wanting a banana, but if i get meat cravings that would be so funny!

today i ran out of celery so i failed on one of the cardinal rules of juicefeasting. maybe it was my subconscious asking for a day's respite in the endless onslaught of the detested celery. heh. i didn't have enough greens today, either, but i did thoroughly enjoy all the juices i drank today. i'm also only doing skinbrushing and enemas every other day, but i think i'm doing ok, so i'll stick with that for the moment. it's doable for me and it's more realistic to stick with what i can just about cope with rather than really try to pack more stuff into my day. the whole juicefeast experience needs to be achievable without it leading to me being stressed out because of the time dependencies.

what i drank today:

msm-lemon water

spinach-apple-pear-cucumber juice

zeolite, nature's living superfood, honey, pollen, hemp oil

melon juice

apple-pear-blueberry-peach juice with vanilla seeds and green cardamom (yowser! delish!)

'thai soup' tea of lemongrass, ginger, garlic, chili and coconut oil

went for a run this morning with YummyHubby but wimped out half way. it was so tough. my asthma was giving me a really hard time and my thighs were not responding to my brain. it seems i experienced the famed and feared runner's wall, except that i shouldn't be getting it at the point when it happened to me. i can run much further and faster than i did today with no wall. so the culprit would seem to be the juicefeast. i'm not getting enough instantly usable energy to feed the muscles. i have a race on saturday so i think i may have to modify my feast slightly prior to and during the race and have half a banana and a couple of soaked dates. they've helped out YummyHubby on numerous occasions so maybe they'll work for me.

no real detox symptoms today. no new spots, no headache, not as cold as yesterday. rocking.

day 5

2008-03-04T17:44:00.004Z

i've run out of homemade number pics already. let's hope that YummyHubby (responsible for your fruity numbers so far) can come up with some more stuff soon! in the meantime please enjoy this photo i took yesterday, on day 4. look at those eyes, they're clearer already. can't wait to see what they'll be like on day 92 :D

today i did the right thing and made all my juices up front at the start of the day. i've been torn this week, as i really believe juice should be made fresh and drunk within minutes, but i'm just not drinking enough. i'm leaving too much space between each batch and it ends up with me only managing 2 quarts (that's 2 litres or 3.3 imperial pints) so i gritted my teeth and spent an hour and a half this morning making over 3 quarts - so i've repeatedly patted myself on the head for being a good girl. two quarts green and one of pure orange. yum! all that orange juice can't be good for my teeth though :(

i'm still cold. though not as bad as yesterday. i had to get up in the night and get the duvet from the spare bedroom and put that over our usual duvet + blanket. it's very much an internal cold. even when my skin is warm from my fabulously comforting fox and pig (these are lavender-wheat warmers that you put in the microwave to heat. the pig is pink and pig shaped and very cute. the fox, well, the fox is just a long rectangle but became known as the fox thanks to my sister. long story, never mind.) i still have this chilly feeling. today i resolved to have more oils. i'm going to have a tablespoon each of hemp oil and coconut oil for the next few days, rather than just one or the other. it should also prevent my skin drying out.

consumption today:

msm-lemon water

celery-romaine-cucumber-carrot-pear juice

romaine-apple-pear-ginger juice

orange juice

zeolite, nature's living superfood

assorted herbal teas (including more of yesterday's hot and spicy "thai soup" blend, with hemp and coconut in it)

detox:

cold until mid-afternoon until a headache replaced it

spot on chin is just sitting there, one of my neck has gone

skin around chin is looking a little bit dry and red (got an avocado in the fridge that could be put to good use there. this calls for a lavender-epsom salt bath and avocado facepack later. oh yeah.)

i'm tired. had a busy day. need to save some energy for whipping up that facepack ;) wishing you all a fabulous tomorrow.

day 4

2008-03-04T17:15:00.000Z

day 4 already. wow. where does all that time go? as i mentioned yesterday i'm so looking forward to the extra energy that will be coming my way in about ten days from now. i looked through my blog posts from two years ago when i did a 30 day juice fast, to refresh my memory on my learnings from back then. i had set out to aim for two weeks and keep going if i could, up to 30 days or more. reading through the post it's clear that by day 28 i'd really had enough, wasn't feeling the high or the glow and i broke my fast on day 30. i do remember, though i don't seem to have documented it, having lots and lots of energy some days. i started waking up before the alarm went off. i did some 6am conference calls during that time, and i always had my first juice of the day to sip on throughout the calls. people commented that i looked amazing, my eyes were bright and my skin glowed (though it did get really dry) and i also lost a fair bit of weight - though not as much as i'd heard others had lost, so was a little disappointed. but with all i learnt then and all the extra information and masses of support i can see that this time around is going to flow smoothly.

talking of support, hello and thanks for stopping by to ben, heidi and penni. it's fabulous to have a juicy network to share with.

i've learned a lot about enemas over the past 4 days. if, like me, you're new to enemas, i really do recommend kate wood's video on YouTube (despite the sniffing) as she gives easy to grasp reasons for why to lie a particular way and how to rub your belly for best effect. it all suddenly made sense this morning. i find as soon as a few drops of water go in my body starts yelling for the toilet, but having listened to her yesterday i persuaded myself to ride it out and at the same time i let the water in slowly, turning off the tap and rubbing in small circles following the line of the colon. it soothes the panic and means i can keep going. i let the water in over about five minutes and then can only hold for another two minutes before i have to go to the loo. i find warm water much more comfortable. think about it. your bum is a hot place. warm-to-the-touch water still feels cool in there. so i've started using water that's warmer than my hand and find it less uncomfortable. i've also experienced the needing to go back to the loo ten minutes after the first time, that kate mentions, so this morning i just sat there, with a good book, and waited. i have only one icky thing to say at this point: green! ewww.

today i consumed:

msm-lemon water

cucumber-celery-greens-apple-pear juice (entirely palatable. phew.)

nature's living superfood, zeolite, honey, pollen, hemp oil

raspberry-blueberry-apple juice

pineapple juice (if only i could have this every day! organic pineapples are just too expensive.)

lots of herbal teas with and without honey

so i kept off the dates and miso today. i find miso so warming and comforting, plus it's a great way to swallow oil without gagging. i read katrina's response to someone on the forum that if you need something hot to try ginger tea, perhaps with cayenne for extra oomph. i've got lots of ginger and lemongrass, so i'll try making a tea with that later, with a pinch of salt, piece of chili and maybe even some garlic. ooh. if i add coconut oil and a pinch of salt to that i'll have a nearasdammit thai soup. fantastic. update: oh yeah! chopped and bruised the ginger and lemongrass. squashed a clove of garlic. added one dried chili. tried to not have the water so hot that anything 'cooked' and left it sit awhile. strained it, added a tiny bit of pink salt and a teaspoon of coconut oil. fabulously warming and yes, reminiscent of thai soup. huzzah! :D

detox symptoms today:

yesterday's spot on my chin is receding and i'm getting what feels like a small boil on my hairline, behind my ear. or maybe i've got the black death...

head mostly clear all day, just the odd waft of ache which was completely doable.

was very tired in the afternoon, but i've had a busy day, so that's to be expected.

was cold all morning but warmer in the afternoon/evening, nursing my glorified ginger tea.

when i wasn't cold i was feeling very positive, upbeat. unfortunately for my neighbours i also sang alot.

roll on day 5. woo hoo!

day 3

2008-03-03T19:40:00.003Z

i had a mild headache lingering in the background when i woke up, but it really wasn't too bad. i used lavender oil every couple of hours throughout the day to make sure it stayed mild. other than that today's only detox symptom is a spot on my chin. i can handle that.

i implemented my learnings from yesterday and took the things i don't enjoy the taste of as 'shots' so that's green superfood, zeolite and msm. i also had a teaspoon of honey straight out of the jar to help those nasties go down. i'll have some later in herbal tea, too. isn't this all about abundance? :) (update: just read about ben's honey issues. so maybe i'll keep an eye on my intake!)

i have five days off work this week. hurray! so i've got a long list of tasks, most of them short - you know, the things you never get around to - and a couple that will take up half a day. and the rest of my time is dedicated to making this week superjuicy! i'm going all out with the yoga, meditation, hot-cold showers and epsom salt baths while i can. cos next week it's back to work, in a new job, and i know i won't find the time to do everything. at least not until week 3 when i have boundless energy and only need to sleep 5 hours a night. then i'll be laughing. can't wait.

i've been reading lots of other blogs lately. there's so much to read. along with all the extra downloads available if you register for the 100-day program, which i did, i'm swamped by information. i wish i could just give up the day job for the next 3 months and really delve right down into this whole thing. i count my blessings that i've got this first week to myself but even so, i could really be totally absorbed in the whole thing if i had the time. i salute all those who are doing this whilst looking after a family and working 9-5. truly spectacular.

today's intake:

lemon-msm water

romaine-celery-parsley-ruby grapefruit-apple juice

strawberry-peach-pomegranate-orange juice

carrot-apple-beetroot juice

various herbal teas

green superfood, zeolite, honey, pollen, maca, coconut oil

one soaked date, cup of white miso (yes, yes. i know: that's not in the program.)

i spent most of today lounging on the sofa listening to music, watched a bit of tv and read vast amounts of juicefeast-related stuff all over the web. watched a bunch of videos on YouTube like the intro to the secret and kate's how to do an enema video (thankfully with no actual, you know, enema close ups). but talking of which... i've also booked myself in for a colonic on friday. i will let you have the gory details on friday afternoon, as i recover from the emotional shock of it all. i sorted out the 'tea' cupboard which was overflowing with dozens of different sized jars and packets and boxes of teas, infusions, coffees and so on and was a tiny maelstrom of terror to navigate. it is now extremely zen in there. phew. i also crossed off a few of my chores for the week. but really, i've had a lazy day. i feel a bit guilty, being so very self-absorbed all day. i need to learn to just enjoy feasting on this time i've given myself to do exactly this.

day 3 done and dusted and it was a breeze. here's to another fabulous juicy day tomorrow. cheers!

day 2

2008-03-02T16:45:00.007Z

not such a great start to the day: headache and mucho mucous. both faded and returned on and off throughout the day. for breakfast made the greenest juice ever, not kidding it was a really dark forest green. i did the blender-strain method with a head of romaine, head of celery, 2 apples, 4 pears. it was really quite unpleasant; to me it tasted of grit and celery. need to find a way to get my greens and enjoy them.

went for a run after 'breakfast' which was quite short and slow, too. haven't been out for a couple of weeks cos of a chest infection, so i hadn't expected much. still, i really need to improve this week, i've got a race next saturday.

after i'd phoned mum and dad (it's mother's day here in the UK) i went out to get yet more supplies. i can't get over how much fruit and veg i'm going to need. i went to a cheaper shop than where we usually go and found they have lots of great offers on and a good range of organic fruit & veg. so i'll be stopping by a couple of times a week to top up on my weekly organic box. as much as i love the weekly box for being local, straight from the farm and so on, it's not cheap and there's no way i can store a whole week's worth of juicefeast supplies in our fridge, it's just not feasible!

when i got home i treated myself to a pure pineapple juice, which is one of my favourite things ever. it's creamy and sweet, just like a shake. yum!

and now it's time to wind down with my last juice of the day; this morning's greens with carrot, apple and pear, to make it more palatable. YummyHubby is making dinner; he broke his mini-feast earlier today with some fresh fruit, and is going to try again the weekend after next, but we need to make much more juice to keep us going.

overall it wasn't a bad day, but i can't say it was the best day ever. let's hope the headaches fade tomorrow :)

update: overcome with killer headache and nausea, i went to bed at 8pm. before i fell into a deep, deep sleep, i set the intention to have a better day today.

stats

2008-03-01T14:09:00.003Z

i've weighed myself, measured myself and done a bunch of tests. here's where i'm at:

weight: 169 pounds (about 10 more than i'd expected. oops.)

height: 5' 6"

fasting blood glucose: average 4.9

cholesterol: <3.9

urine ph: 7-7.25

where do i want to be? two inches taller would be nice... my blood glucose is fine. i'll only test that again if i'm concerned about my blood sugar levels. cholesterol is good, and i'll test again on day 92. ph reading i think is a false positive, so i'll retest weekly. it would be nice, as that's fairly alkaline, but somehow i just don't believe it. as for weight and size. well, i've stated i'd like to lose 30 pounds. but given i weigh more than i thought i did, i would be delighted to lose 40 pounds over the 92 days. i know i'll put on a few pounds as soon as i start to eat again, so that'll level out at a respectable 133 pounds or so. and if, as i hope, my cooked food cravings have been well and truly zapped once i'm out the other side of the 92 days, then i'll lose the rest of the weight easily on a raw diet.

i did take measurements of bust, waist, hips, thighs, the lot. but i'll keep them to myself, along with the photo YummyHubby took of me in my undies in traditional before-after fashion. if i'm feeling reeeeeally brave post-fast then i'll post the full body shots for you to cringe(before)/lust(after) over.

on the non-physical level i have a few goals, too. but it's hard to quantify where i'm at now and where i want to be.

i'd like to strengthen myself in many ways and i'm hoping to introduce more yoga and meditation into my life, as a stress-buster, cos i'm good at stress ;) i want to find more self-confidence, self-esteem and willpower. i'd like to be an all round stronger person and learn more about what makes me tick. i've already started using self-empowerment tactics, law-of-attraction style, to focus myself on my goals and visualise them into being. i hope to learn more and use that more over the next 3 months.

i don't anticipate a spiritual revolution as i'm not a particularly spiritual person, and i sort of feel selfish to only want change for me, to make me a better person and to improve my daily life. but i also know from reading everyone else's blogs that as you become a better person you influence your surroundings and bring good things into the lives of those with whom you cross paths. so that's ok then.

day 1

2008-03-01T11:10:00.005Z

not the best start to the juicefeast. i woke at 5.30am with an upset stomach. well maybe that was my body's way of reminding me why i'm doing this; to clean up my act, big time.

we started the day with msm-lemon water and i've already decided to have the msm and lemon in a half pint of water and drink the rest of the 'upon rising' 2 pints as just straight water. doesn't spoil my water that way.

made the first juice of the day somewhat on autopilot - perhaps i was distracted by the divine vanilla beans which arrived this morning. thanks dhrumil! so i did it in the juicer, rather than the blender-nutmilk bag way, but my juicer is pretty good at juicing greens and we got 2 pints (1 quart) of juice out of 1 head celery, 3 apples, 2 small pears, large bag spinach, cucumber and bunch mint. the mint is for me, to take the edge of the celery which i hate with a passion. yeah, i know. a head of celery a day for the next 91 days *is* going to be interesting. i also added some green superfood at the end.

we went out shopping and were starting to feel light-headed, so we had a half pint of juice each at a juice bar. when we got home we had a lemon balm infusion and went for a nap. YummyHubby is, as i type, still in bed, snoozing off his detox headache.

made a mid-afternoon melon-ginger juice as a pick-me-up before i got on with a few chores. 'dinner' was carrot-apple-orange juice with the pollen i forgot to take earlier in the day.

rounded off the day with a lavender and epsom salt bath and another herbal tea. very relaxing.

so, how was day 1 for me? well, i didn't get enough green juice today, i know that, and apart from the walk into town, i didn't do any exercise. so, no, i don't mean to go on as i started!

t minus 2

2008-02-29T22:04:00.001Z

blimey. it's here. it really is. i'll be going to bed in a few minutes and when i wake up it will be day 1 of 92.

i finished my job today, after 4 years, and i'm more nervous about starting the juice feast than i am about this major shift in my career. how daft is that?

massive kudos to all those joining the feast in the morning. it's going to be one hell of an adventure!

supplements

2008-02-28T22:08:00.008Z

so, there are lot of people out there doing or about to start the juice feast and who are taking a bunch of frankly expensive supplements without really knowing what they're doing. i'm not an expert but i do my research before i go out and a) spend the money and b) take something i'm not sure of. here's what i am/am not taking during the juice feast, based on what i believe to be true and appropriate for me. YMMV etc

liquid zeolite: much lauded in some circles for its ability to draw toxins out of the body, especially modern-day evils such as heavy metals. but... there are those who say that in liquid form it's not capable of doing so, the process to turn it into liquid removes its ability to magnetise and trap these toxins. to reap the benefits you must take it ground. when it's ground the honeycomb chambers of the individual zeolite structures are preserved and can still lock away the nasties and take them out of your body. so... since i'm not a scientist i've decided that the logic of the 'ground not liquid' argument wins me over. ground zeolite it is. thank you.

chanca piedra: literally "break-stone" this medicinal extract is for liver/kidney and gall flushes. i think the juice is enough without it.

intestinal movement formula: given that i'm supposed to do regular enemas i think i've got this one covered. i also have my trusty oxy-powder should i require it.

intestinal drawing formula: i like the sound of this in theory but i have heard awful things (specifically from colon hydrotherapists, so i tend to believe them) that anything containing bentonite or other clays are just not meant to go into your intenstines. the clay does what it naturally inclines to and binds with the water and forms a big, solid rock. in your bowel. not for me, thanks.

parastroy: just sounds too conspiracy theory for me. i have no suspicions that i've got parasites therefore i'm not taking it.

vitalzym: described as a perfect, synergistic blend of enzymes (you get that from a decent blend of juices. enzymes is what raw food is good at.) supposed to be good at breaking down scar tissues, fibrins (as in fibrosis) so i don't see why i would need this. juice feasts repair old tissue anyway and i have no intention of taking something designed to fix something i can't tell if i've got. everyone who has posted a testimony to the vitalzym site states the same amazing things that happen when you're a few weeks/months into a raw food diet. i'm not spending £70 on a bottle of raw food diet. sorry.

oils: i will alternate between coconut oil (i'm going to steal carrie's lovely idea of making honeyed coconut oil hearts) and 'cool oil' which is a cold-pressed omega-rich blend. i know i need oils as i've done a 30 day juice fast in the past and my skin became extremely dry. can't imagine what it'd be like after 92 days of no oil. though a friend did suggest i blend an avocado into my green juice which, i have to say, might not be as crazy as it sounds.

supergreens: yes. i forget to take this on a regular basis, so will make sure i incorporate a generous teaspoon in my first green juice of the day. i have a great blend with grasses, seaweeds, probiotics, NSOs and more, so it covers a wide spectrum of goodness.

pollen: yes. probably in my lunchtime fruit juice.

msm: yes, though i don't fancy the litre of lemon water method. we'll see. i've heard some great things about it and it's recommended for sports peeps so YummyHubby and i take it when i remember... not very often, then.

honey: yes. i love honey. having juice fasted previously the idea of actually being allowed honey is just fantastic. i'll take it in herbal teas throughout the day, as i already do on a daily basis.

there are a few other supplements on the list. if they're not here i'm not taking them. at least, not at first.

i'll also be doing the skin brushing as i do have a brush and wish i could make this a habit. i've, so far, found it annoying and time-consuming, but maybe i'll start to feel the same way about it as terilynn does. that would be cool.

twemes

2008-02-27T22:09:00.004Z

sounds a little odd, i know, but i'm pushing for us - the juicefeast community - to use this as i think it could be really useful.

twemes (twitter+memes) collates twitters, del.icio.us links and flickr posts tagged into one place. so if you add a hash and a tag to your twitter post it will go and join all other identically tagged items. the same tags used in del.icio.us and on flickr appear in the sidebar.

so, go to http://twemes.com/juicefeast to find - at present very few - twitter posts, a few delicious links, some of which are mine and a photo thumbnail of katrina rainoshek wielding a bag of oranges!

it could become a great one-stop resource for those on the fast and i encourage you all to use it. so just add "juicefeast" as a tag when you save a link over at del.icio.us or put a juicy photo on flickr.

go on. you know you want to.

nerves

2008-02-26T21:51:00.004Z

it's silly, really, i know, but i'm starting to get a little bit nervous now!

have crossed everything off my list from last week bar testing out the rebounder. awaiting some things in the post, still, but they're on their way. sooo looking forward to seeing that mountain of produce due to arrive on friday evening :)

YummyHubby is going to help out by taking some photos for me to adorn my blog. i've been very much inspired by the lovely numerical photos Terilynn's used on her juicefeast blog, so we're going to make some of our own.

YummyHubby is going to be joining me for juice at weekends and, he reckons, for dinners. i think he'll find he's too hungry and that he'll need to eat as well as have the juice. though i'm also trying to convince him to join me full-time for the first week of the fast if he can take a few days off work to deal with the inevitable detox he'll get.

second day of blood sugar (glucose) testing and i scored a 5. that's fairly low, but ok for fasting glucose levels.

crazy

2008-02-25T21:09:00.005Z

so everyone thinks i'm crazy. except for YummyHubby, the lovely people on give it to me raw and the juice feasting community.

my mum said, "but you need to chew." what a fantastic response. no, "surely it can't be healthy to restrict your food groups," which is, to be honest, what i would say if i didn't know as much as i do about nutrition these days. maybe she's given up, since i've gone raw, on taking that tack. maybe she's just come to accept that her daughter is weird. who knows.

a work colleague, to whom i didn't divulge the details, just mentioned i'd be juicing so i wouldn't be drinking/eating at an event we're having next week, said, "you're always doing this weird stuff." to which i could only manage to reply, "yep. bonkers."

oh well. never mind.

deep down i'm thinking all the while, "just wait till you see me on june 5th! then what will you be thinking?" i'll be slim, toned, glowing, vibrant, healthy, full of energy, clear-eyed and clear-headed. weird? you betcha!

blood glucose

2008-02-25T20:29:00.014Z

one of the items on the prep list is to get an average fasting glucose (blood sugar) reading. i've bought an accu-chek compact system and had a trial run yesterday to see how it works and my first real - fasting - reading this morning was 4.6, which is fine for first thing in the morning, according to bupa, the uk diabetes organisation and the nhs. so far so good.

so then i went to compare this to the numbers on the rainoshek's blog only to find they use a different system. doh!

a quick google later and i now know that in the US they use mg/dl and here in the UK we measure mmol/L. that means the following conversion holds (using the groupings the rainosheks provide)

US to UK blood sugar measurement conversion

US UK

85 4.7
85-100 4.7-5.5
100-115 5.5-6.4
126 7

i found the algorithm here and as i've never heard of the site before i checked it out across various sites and the numbers above do hold up to inspection.

as for taking a measurement, it's really quite easy and it doesn't hurt (phew!) the kit comes with a reader powered by batteries and with some really clear lcd readouts, a 'pen' to prick your skin, a bunch of 'lancelets' which aren't a type of medieval knight but are the little disposable sharps that go in the pen and a set of testing papers. oh, and a lot of instructions. you can set a depth for the sharp and i found i only need a very low setting. you massage your finger a bit and the blood wells up into a juicy red drop. you stick the test paper into the blood and the reader bips to say it's got enough for the test. seconds later you get a readout. easy peasy.

gearing up

2008-02-23T11:43:00.006Z

i've set myself a to-do list, ready for the big day. i'm starting this weekend with a few of the things on the list and i'll work my through the rest over the next week. so, my preparation involves:

order ph strips and enema kit from the fresh network

buy glucose testing kit from chemist

set up weekly order with the organic produce company

clean out the fridge to make space for all the fruit and veg

buy a big-ass wooden fruit bowl and empty one of the wicker baskets to contain the stuff which won't fit in the fridge

buy small juicer to take to work

get hold of liquid zeolite (update: have decided to get ground instead of liquid, more on that in a later post)

find a place in the house where the rebounder won't shake downstairs's ceiling too badly (it's been decommissioned since we moved in here as the floors are so flimsy, but i'll give it a go...)

i'm very lucky - those lovely stars aligning for me again, for which i'm truly grateful - that i'm swapping jobs and the first week of march is my week off between finishing at one and starting at the new one. so a paradigm shift commences on many levels of my life. but it also gives me the amazing opportunity to spend the first week of the juice feast with time to spare to start it all properly and give myself the chance to set myself up for success. i will have to do stuff, lots of paperwork and organising ready for my new career but no 9-5 to fit in. plus, once i start the new job i'll be able to go in with a set of behaviours that have been settling in over the previous week. so much easier to present myself to a group of people as 'loulou who doesn't eat solids or drink coffee' rather than people who know me thinking i've finally overstepped the normal barrier, which was looking a bit hazy in my case anyway, what with those glasses of swamp gunk i'm so fond of...

so, thank you! universe, for pulling this all together for me. i'm so excited, and a little nervous. i can't wait to begin!

the countdown begins

2008-02-22T13:54:00.003Z

on their blog the rainosheks give you a bunch of things to do or think about or learn each day building up to the start of the juice feast. since i've been dithering about whether or not to do this i haven't been following the preparation blog, so i've got some catching up to do! here are a few things i've learned so far.

to supplement or not to supplement?

having read further i've found that they say if you don't want to do the supplements, or at least not yet, that's ok. phew. i will do the MSM, bee pollen and various oils as i already have them and use them, albeit somewhat erratically. i'm not so keen on the clay-based formulas anyway, as i've heard too many people feel bloated and uncomfortable using them.

toxins - better out than in

secondly, i've been talking with a friend, whose judgement i trust implicitly, about the daily enemas. her opinion is that once you get past the "icky!" mental reaction to them they are actually not awful to do and make you feel really good afterwards. and, of course, the theory goes that they are essential for clearing out all the toxins that get released back into the blood if you don't shift them out first. toxins flooding back into my blood after they've been trapped in my body's fat cells for years is just not something i want to experience. that's what makes detox so horrendous, makes you come out in spots, headaches, rashes, irritability. so, apparently, regular flushing out of these newly loosened nasties, prevents lots of the symptoms of detox.

but nevertheless, there's no getting around the fact that they are extremely time-consuming. good job i'm at home for the first week of march so i will be able to do them during the most important period of the juice feast... as long as i can face the whole palaver. ugh. there's a nice little natural health centre just round the corner and there's a colonic irrigation therapist, so i'll be booking myself in for one of those. let the professionals handle it, i say.

juicers and blenders

i've spotted a little juicer that i could buy to take to work. it's cheap but sturdy enough to last the duration of the feast. that way i can make green juices at home and take them with me and then make my fruit based juice (apple, carrot, beetroot and ginger anyone? or pear, cucumber and mint?) at work in the afternoon. that'll be one less flask to carry to work. 2's heavy enough!

the rainosheks recommend using your blender for green juices, then straining using some muslin or a nut milk bag (which i already have) based on the theory that your average juicer doesn't get enough of the juice out of the leafy greens, it's just not capable of shredding the cell walls to release the fluid. sounds like a bit of a faff to me, but then washing the juicer is a bit of a nightmare...

and that's it for now. more learning tomorrow!

a blogger's tale

2008-02-21T22:41:00.000Z

(of woe)

i've only written one post and already blogger thinks i'm a spammer. great.

apparently their wise spam detecting robots sussed out that this here new blog of mine is a spam blog so they've put a captcha test on, so every time i want to create a draft or save an edit to my post i've got to jump through a hoop. pretty tiresome, i can tell you.

what intrigues me, though, is what they saw in my first blog post to make them think it was a spam blog. there was one link and a quote but otherwise it was just my thoughts.

come on, blogger. show us your spam algorithms ;)

by way of introduction

2008-02-20T17:19:00.006Z

so, i've decided to join in the global juice feast. you're most likely here 'cos you know what i'm talking about already, but for those innocent web wanderers who stumble across these pages, here's the lowdown.

the global juice feast starts on march 1st 2008 and is being co-ordinated by David and Katrina Rainoshek over at www.juicefeasting.com

they're encouraging the world to join in by starting at the same time and staying on for the ride as long as they can commit to. a month is a good attempt, or two, or three. they suggest lots of supplements, some of which i am going to take but most of which i personally feel are excessive or i just can't get hold of them in the UK. they also recommend a number of practices which i'm, er, also considering leaving by the wayside. they do say they want this to be doable by all, and acknowledge that most people have jobs and family to co-ordinate, but the time commitment is still exceptionally high. they say:

A way must be provided that is accessible to all - considering financial, time, family, karmic, and work realities - in which all persons can, at home taking care of their daily responsibilities, transform their health challenges completely, pushing the reset button on their physiology and training their whole being at the cellular, emotional, and spiritual levels to ask for the best foods possible. - The Juice Feasting Imperative

but on a daily basis they are asking you to do yoga, meditation, skin brushing and, uh, enemas, alongside all the time spent washing, chopping and juicing fruit and veg. plus there are daily charts to fill in and the majority of those who've already started the program ahead of the global date are blogging daily about their experiences. and i, of course, will have to do that bit too.

i'm going to try and complete the 92-day programme which is a challenge and has already started raising eyebrows... why so long? i mean, come on! well, the theory goes that 92 days is long enough to "reset your physiology" in other words, it sweeps away all the physical and psychological habits garnered over the years, and you come out the other end pure, clean and ready for a fresh start, which is what i really want! i've been yo-yoing with raw food and been healthy/unhealthy in rapid cycles and i've had enough. it's time.