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.

day 58: backbreaking

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

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

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

recovery mode

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

stats and stuff

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

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

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

photo credit: before & after pics by YummyHubby

day 51: remiss

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

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

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

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

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

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

keep it juicy!

day 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 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 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!

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.