tools

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

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

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

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

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

it's all good

xxx

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

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.

supplements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

pollen: yes. probably in my lunchtime fruit juice.

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

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

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

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

the countdown begins

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

to supplement or not to supplement?

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

toxins - better out than in

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

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

juicers and blenders

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

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

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

by way of introduction

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

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

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

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

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

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