day 31: must try harder

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

meta

i've seen so many juicefeasters trying to present the facts & figures together in a structured way in their daily blog posts and i kind of want to do that. i know it would be useful for anyone reading this and undoubtedly for me to check my progress, see what works and what doesn't. but really... i don't have that kind of discipline. so i'll mention my juice combos, note the superfoods i actually remembered to take, and anything i did as part of the program. otherwise, i'm sorry, but you're just getting my evening brain dump of the day. 

also in the meta category. i'm so disappointed with blogger. i love my blog over at princessloulou.net, which runs on movable type, for the ease with which i can do whatever it is i need. it's a bit more techie in that most stuff is best to just edit it directly in the html. blogger is supposed to be for people who don't understand html and i thought it would be easier to use because of that. but no. it doesn't know what to do with the flickr code. it crashes frequently. it doesn't use paragraph tags but instead inserts div

tags when you hit carriage return. crazy. thank god it's free or i really would be moaning.

so pleased i bought my camera. it's come in so handy for snapping pics of juices and fruitiness. i'm determined to embellish this blog with my own (or YummyHubby's) pics, rather than borrowing off the web. this is such a great project and as it's all about internal growth as well as physical transformation then i think throwing some creativity into the mix is a good thing. 

day 2

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

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

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!