spring clean: day 6, 7 & 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

garden salad

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

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

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

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...