July 2013: Just Juice Day 3 of 5

This morning my usual juicing insomnia hit and I was wide awake much earlier than I would have liked.  This happens often when I juice.

Our church picnic about did me in... what was I thinking doing this when we had a picnic in the schedule??  The food, so. much. food. and as hungry as I was, every stinking bit of it looked delicious.  Even the hotdogs. (GAG)

Tomorrow is the last full day of just juice.  YAY.  This morning I weighted 102.0 even.

July 2013: Just Juice Day 2 of 5

Day 2 is always a good day.  The hunger is not as intense and I start to get my juicing groove. :-)

I weighed 102.8 this morning.  I usually have a big drop from day 1 to day 2 and then it goes much slower after that.

I felt good all day today, but am currently feeling wiped out.  I usually have a slump after dinner whether I am juicing or not, so it's normal for me.  I'll get a second wind later probably.

I got to use squash, tomatoes, carrots, and cucs from my garden for today's juice.  That's pretty cool.

July 2013: Just Juice Day 1 of 5

Time to Juice Again!

This time I will juice 5 days again.  My weight in the morning was 105.0.  I have successfully kept my weight around 103-105 since my juice fast in January.  This is a weight I am very comfortable and happy with so that is why I choose to do a 5 day fast as opposed to a longer one.

There are two reasons, I believe, why I have not gained weight back this year.  The first is I stopped drinking soda.  I was a one a day girl and on bad days, maybe two.  I always do a 40 day soda free fast at the beginning of the year, and this year Mark said let's go longer... so we did... and kept on going.  I haven't had any soda this year.  I mainly drink water, but will occasionally have a sweetened drink.  Probably not even once a week though.  The second thing I have done, as I have mentioned in previous blog posts, is cut my carbs.  Less breads, less pasta.  These two things are all I have done differently, but it has been enough.

Today I made 32 oz of green juice and had 12 oz of warmed spaghetti juice for dinner.  Mark and I went to a movie at the cheap theatre and the popcorn smelled heavenly.  The first day of a juice fast is hard because hunger is pretty strong, your sense of smell increases, and you are breaking the habit of eating mindlessly.  So many times today I had to catch myself before grabbing something and putting it in my mouth without even thinking.

I realized today that I have to go to a birthday party tomorrow, and our church picnic is on Sunday.  There is just never a "good" time to do the fast.  There is always a reason to put it off.  There will be more parties and more picnics, Lord willing, many more.  That's another part of the fasting process for me.  Realizing my ability to avoid food, even at special events, and not suffer from it.

May 2013: Just Juice Day 5 of 5!

Finished my fast today at 1pm.. a little early, but I was DONE.

I weighed in at 99.8 this morning.  Today I had two pieces of apple pie, so I won't be weighing that tomorrow.  And, I don't much care. LOL.

A 5 day fast is not difficult to break.  I did forget my stomach has shrunk and ate a bit too much at dinner.  Actually, it was the amount I would normally eat, but felt like too much after a 5 day juice fast.

It's so funny to me that this 5 day fast was probably the hardest of all!  Stop back Sept. 1 when I plan to do my next fast.  Most likely another 5 day-er.

May 2013: Just Juice Day 4 of 5

Still starving!  I think this time has been hard because the weather is dreary, I am home alone with the kids and there's nothing to do but sit around, put together puzzles, play connect four, and watch bananas in pajamas.  That would make you want to turn to food too!!

I can't wait for tomorrow!!  Apple pie is on the menu.  Nice thing about a 5 day fast is that it shouldn't be too hard to break it.  A banana after church, then if I feel okay, a salad for dinner followed by pie for dessert.  Just a small piece. :-)

I'm also looking forward to catching up on facebook.  I have peeked at facebook occasionally, but refrained from using it personally.  Even with blogger I can post to facebook without USING facebook.

This morning's weight was 100.2

May 2013: Just Juice Day 3 of 5

Today was just wrong on so many levels.  Would you look at this????

Yes, my very very sweet neighbor just happened to have an "extra" one of these laying around and he just happened to bring it by while I am in the middle of a stinking juice fast!

I was already feeling weak in the will power department.  Mark is out of town so I bought the kids pizza for dinner.  It looked and smelled delicious.  Then the kids had ice cream for dessert... my mouth was watering.  Then a few minutes later the pie was brought to my door.  UGH UGH UGH!

But this illustrates a great fact.  It's so easy to forget that there will always be more pizza, more ice cream, more pie.  I am lucky enough to be able to get any of the three pretty much whenever I want.  It's okay to pass it up sometimes.  There is always more.

This is my 5th extended juice fast, if you add them all together I have fasted 36+ days and today was by far the hardest.  I really really wanted to EAT!  But I didn't.  And I won't.  Because if I do it once it will be all over for me.  It will be that much harder to stick with it the next time.  For me the hardest part of sticking to a fast is not the physical, it's the psychological.  And you can bet I am keeping a piece of this pie for Sunday!!!  YUM.

Morning weight was 100.6.

May 2013: Just Juice Day 2 of 5

Today I was my last day of school for the semester.  I had a final today so I didn't get to make juice until after 12.  Made 3.5 cups of my usual combo.  Then for dinner I made this warmed "spaghetti" juice (pictured below).  It's a lot like a tomato soup.  It's really good.  

One thing I love about juice fasting is how well my nose smells food from a mile away.  This used to be difficult, and would make me want to give in and eat.  Now I just enjoy the heightened sense of smell.  Just like everything tastes good when you are hungry, it smells good too!

My weight this morning was 101.8.  I might break into the 90's this fast.  Remember I am super short, so that is not really a big deal.  I always weighed 97-99, while eating anything I wanted, when I was nursing Katie and Luke.  Gotta love breastfeeding!!

If you have never fasted, I highly recommend you do a short fast just to see that hunger doesn't kill you.  It is really important to stop telling ourselves that feeling hungry is something to be avoided at all costs. Did you know that experts say most of us could go up to two months without food and live?  A day or two is certainly not going to hurt any healthy person.  

One of my goals now that I am at an ideal weight is to work on gaining muscle.  I plan to get back to the gym now that life has calmed down a bit.  Now hold me accountable. HAHA.

May 2013: Just Juice Day 1 of 5

This morning I was off and running so there was no time to make juice until around 11am.  This is not a big deal since I typically do not eat breakfast anyway.  I used to always eat breakfast, but after my very first juice fast in April 2012 I never went back to eating it.  When I was eating breakfast I used to always wake up hungry.  Now I don't typically get hungry until around 10am.  

Let me just stop right here and say that if you have believed that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" or "you should never skip breakfast" or some other such nonsense... just google something like "never skip breakfast myth" and read up.  Besides.. what do most people eat for breakfast... most likely something loaded with CARBS and SUGAR.  The absolute worst thing to start your day.  If instead you skip breakfast, your body takes a nice meal from your own fat tissue.  Win-Win.

Anyway, I had already had a couple glasses of water and a cup of coffee (I drink coffee when I am juicing... it helps me get through and keeps me from getting massively cranky) before I remembered to weigh myself.  I don't typically weigh more than once every week or two, so I am not in the habit.  I weighed 104.0 pounds exactly.

Around 11am I made juice: 1 cucumber, 1 rib celery, 2 huge handfuls of spinach, 2 carrots, 2 apples and 2 handfuls of strawberries.  This gave me 3 cups of juice.  In my opinion strawberries make everything taste good.  If you use strawberries add them to your juicer last, because the seeds will clog the screen and you will yield less juice on anything put in after them.

This is what my juice looked like today.  So interesting how it formed in layers with the strawberry juice in the middle.  I shook it up before drinking.

So because today was crazy I only drank 3 cups of juice.  I would have made 1.5 to 2 cups "spaghetti juice" but I just didn't have time until after 7:30 and by then I was too tired to want to do all the clean up involved.  I did drink plenty of water, and hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Time to JUICE again

I missed my regularly scheduled juice fast due to the busyness of life.  So starting tomorrow I have planned 5 days of just juice.  I'm soooo looking forward to it.

Why just 5 days?  Well since my last fast I made some permanent changes to my diet.  Up until this time I had always gained back all the wait lost during my fasts.  This time I have actually lost 3 lbs.  That's right.  My weight has been hanging out comfortably between 103-104 and it feels RIGHT.  I don't need to or want to lose any more weight.  I think a 5 day fast will be just right for giving me a recharge, but I shouldn't lose weight permanently from just 5 days.

So here I go again.  :-)

4 weeks out...

So I am four weeks post juice fast and I have not had any trouble maintaining my goal weight!!

1-18-13: 106.6
1-25-13: 106.6
2-01-13: 106.0
2-08-13: 106.0

What is different this time?  Well, I am a reformed carbaholic.. sort of.  I am definitely not as "low carb" as I would like to be, but I have changed up my diet, swapping out carbs I would normally eat for fresh fruits, veggies, even nuts and meat.  I eat as much or more than I used to but my tummy is not bloated, and I am not putting on weight.  The lack of any tummy bloat is the most amazing part of eating less carbs.  Even "that time of the month" did not cause me to puff up like I used to. ;-)

Whenever people would talk Atkins, or Paleo, or just Low Carb in general, I always said I like bread, pasta, and sweets too much to go there.  I'd die.  Guess what?  I was wrong.  Swapping out has not been as awful or hard as I imagined it would be.  I feel good too.  I actually don't deprive myself, I still eat sweets, and bread and rice... just smaller amounts and less often.  

For me this is not a diet, these are permanent changes I am making for my health.  Last year the focus was on getting rid of as much of the "food-like products" from our diet as possible.  We have done pretty well except for the blasted vanilla creamer, and so this year my goal is to increase veggies and reduce grains in our overall menu.  It's going okay, but the littlest two are a hard sell.  Nikki is enjoying salad now though, which makes my heart happy. Baby steps, baby steps.  

Weekly Update...

Three weeks after my juice fast and my weight has remained steady...

1-18-13: 106.6
1-25-13: 106.6
2-01-13: 106.0

Besides doing a couple fast days a week where total fast time is around 20 hours, I have tried to sub other foods for the carbs I used to eat.

For YEARS my go to lunch has been: 1 PB&J sandwich on whole wheat bread, 1/4 cups popcorn air popped with 1TBS coconut oil (used to be spray butter, but subbed the coconut oil a while back).  As you can see... carbs and more carbs.  Now I have cut the sandwich down to one slice of bread and the popcorn down to 2 tablespoons AND I don't eat it every day.  I have tried to sub fruits, veggies, hardboiled eggs, etc. in place of the carb fest.  As you can see, it works.

This week I rewatched an awesome documentary on Netflix called "Hungry for Change".  If you have Netflix, I highly recommend it.

2 Weeks Post Fast

It has been two weeks since I ended my just juice fast.  Breaking the fast was hard.  The first day I mainly ate strawberries.  The second day we took Kloe out for her birthday and I managed a few bites of a salad.  It was the fourth eating day before I felt like I was ready to resume normal eating. 

This time I decided to make a concerted effort not to gain back the weight I lost while fasting.  I really feel like 103-107 is my ideal weight.  I have been successful at staying within this range using the 5:2 intermittent fasting method.  Two days a week I fast for 20-24 hours... dinner to dinner.  The goal is 24 hours but anything past 20 and I call it a good fast day.  On my two fast days (or down days is a more accurate description) I end up eating 500-750 calories.  On my five up days I average between 1200-1500.

One week post fast I weighed in: 106.6
Two week post fast I weighed in: 106.6

I think I've found my balance in order to maintain at this weight.   Now my goal is to gain muscle and reduce body fat percentage.  I am also working on reducing the percentage of my food that comes from carbs.  For a carbaholic this is no easy task, but I've made some progress.

Great reading on Intermittent Fasting

 If the idea of intermittent fasting interests you, here's a couple great articles that give you a good overview and answer some common myths as well.  Happy Reading...

http://renegadehealth.com/blog/2012/12/14/occasional-starvation-why-fasting-is-good-for-you

http://musclepyramid.com/fasting-101-fasting-for-fat-loss

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 10

This morning  I broke the fast with 1/2 of a strawberry (no lie) when I woke up this morning.  I then proceeded to eat one strawberry every half an hour until around noon.  I also drank lots of water.  From noon until 3 I ate 2-3 strawberries every half an hour.  All together today I ate 2 cups of strawberries, a banana, one small piece of home made naan bread, two bites of curry rice, and a chocolate chip cookie.  I wanted more curry rice but knew that I would regret it so I just stuck to having a taste.

This morning's weight: 104.8


So what now??  For a year and a half I have been researching and reporting the benefits of intermittent fasting, but I haven't always been good about doing it.  This time around I have renewed my interest in using Intermittent Fasting to maintain my weight.  I have talked about Brad Pilon's "Eat Stop Eat" before.  Basically he recommends that you fast from eating for 24 hours (usually dinner one day until dinner the next) once or twice a week.  I have also found another approach of Alternate Day Fasting (ADF) that allows you to eat a reduced number of calories on alternate days.  The amount you reduce depends on whether you want to lose or maintain your weight.  The website for this idea gives you lots more information:

Alternate Day Fasting: Up Day Down Day method


So as soon as I am back to eating "normally" I am going to try alternate day calorie restriction to maintain my weight at about 105 ish.  I plan to blog about my successes or lack thereof.

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 9

Day 9 of the fast is over!  Tomorrow morning I will allow myself to eat fruit.  In fact, I don't imagine I will eat much other than fruit tomorrow.  Perhaps a small salad at dinner time.  I actually felt pretty good today, much better than the last two days.  I didn't make juice, but I had one cup leftover in the fridge from yesterday and I did drink a couple cups of 100% not from concentrate orange juice and 100% grape juice.  I don't normally include store bought juices when I fast, but overall it was such a small portion of what I drank the last 10 days, and at times it was just easier.  Looking forward to eating the yummy fruits in the bowl above tomorrow!!

Today's weight: 105.6
Juice drank: about: 3 cups
Water: about 3 cups
Coffee: 2 cups

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 8

I felt better today and was not as tired as I was last evening.  However,  both yesterday and today I have been majorly irritable.  I was not irritable at all until yesterday, even though people commonly complain of irritability even in the first days of a fast.  I guess I should be glad it didn't show up until yesterday.

Tomorrow I sub again and am really kind of tired of juice, so I am planning to do just water, and perhaps some not from concentrate orange juice.  I probably won't break out the juicer though.  The 10 day mark would technically be Friday evening, but I plan to begin eating raw fruits earlier in the day.  I want to begin the break-fast process so that hopefully I will be ready for a small salad when we take Kloe out to dinner for her birthday on Saturday.

VERY VERY ready to end this fast.  I think 7 days is a good length fast for me.  I remember the last time I did a 10 day that days 8 through 10 were not pleasant.  I do like to push past my comfort zone now and then however, and I am not sorry that I decided to do 10 days this time.

This morning's weight was 106.0
Juice drank: 5 cups
Water drank: 5 cups
Coffee drank: 1.5 cups

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 7

I spoke too quickly about how great I felt and how I didn't have hardly any detox symptoms this time! As the day wore on I began to feel very fatigued today. Not just your normal fatigue, but the "I can't move a muscle" fatigue.  In the fasting world they call this a "healing reaction" or "herxheimer reaction".  Basically it's when an influx of toxins is released into your bloodstream and your body can not eliminate them fast enough.  You can get muscle aches, cold or flu like symptoms, or experience extreme fatigue.  Because I am TIRED I am not much interested in making juice.  I only drank 4 cups today.  Didn't feel like making my dinner juice.  Drinking lots of water instead.  I'm not having any issues with hunger.  Basically I get a small twinge a few times a day and it quickly passes.

The last time I juice fasted for 10 days I was surprised at how difficult it was breaking the fast.  This time I am much more prepared.  I imagine that days 1-2 post fast will be raw fruits and veggies and still a lot of juice.  Gonna be taking it nice and slow!

This morning's weight: 106.4

Today's juice: 4 cups
Coffee: 1.5 cups
Water: 4 cups

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 6

Today I could not juice until after 3pm because I was called to work as an office sub at a local school.   Somebody has a strange sense of humor, because the only thing for me to do when things were slow was flip through some Rachel Ray magazines... think YUM-O!!  After 5+ days of not eating you would think this would be torture, but really it wasn't too bad.  Thankfully there was no smell to go along with the pictures!!

I honestly felt great today even without having any juice for most of it.   I do not get weak when I juice fast.  I feel energetic and strong.  I just did 20 boy-pushups to prove it... haha.

I am trying not to think about this: if this was a 7 day fast I would be eating tomorrow.  Really though, this 6 days have flown by and I haven't struggled with anything this time around.  No energy lags, no headaches, my only complaints have been a few minor muscle aches, and lots of fur on the tongue and teeth.

Today's weight: 107.0

Juice drank: 30 ish ounces

Coffee drank: 15 ish ounces

Water drank: 32 ounces

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 5

HALF WAY!!  WOOT WOOT!

I had some more muscle aches last night... in my hips area, which is also another problem area for me.  All my aches and pains seem to happen during the night and I tend to feel fine during the day.  Someone asked me in church this morning if I was hungry.  Really, I don't get hungry for more than a few moments at a time and it is usually when I am preparing or smelling food.  Your nose works really really well when you are fasting by the way.

Tomorrow is going to be tough.  I took a subbing job working in the office at a local middle school and I won't be able to juice until I get home... around 3pm.  I'll probably drink a glass of OJ in the morning and then just water until after work.

Today's weight was 107.4

Juice: 32 oz.  (I didn't drink any until after church so not as much time to get more in than that)
Coffee: 30 ish oz. (BAD GIRL!)
Water: 24 oz.

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 4

Day four... doing fine.  Last night while sleeping (or trying to) I had a little detox going on in the area of my lower back where I have certain muscles that always get tight and form a knot.  I have never felt this feeling except during my first juice fast and then this time.  (I didn't get it during my 2nd and 3rd fasts).  It is believed that when your body gets a break from digestion it can then put some extra energy into repairing your body at the cellular level.  Hopefully that's true :-)

My juicing is down to a regular routine.  

3 cups of regular juice containing: 

1.5 cucs, 

2 ribs celery, 

1 rib kale, 

2 carrots, 

1 red apple, 

1 orange, 

Handful of blueberries.

2 cups "spaghetti juice" containing: 

2 carrots, 

2 ribs celery, 

1/4 yellow onion, 

1 clove garlic, 

2 tomatoes

The "spaghetti juice" is heated gently on the stove and eaten warm.  It's really good!  See for yourself!

This mornings weight 108.0
Juice consumed 42 oz
Water consumed 32 oz
Coffee consumed 16 oz

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 3

Three days down and seven to go!  My heart did not go as crazy today as yesterday so that's good.  I still feel great, no issues at all with energy or aches or pains.  I get hungry, but I don't dwell on it.  It's kind of like my marriage... divorce has never been an option so it isn't something I even give any thought to ever.  Same with fasting, eating is not an option so it's not something I let myself think about.

I love fasting once I actually get into it.  It reminds me that I am in control of my appetite, it saves me money, it frees up my time for other things... it helps me maintain a healthy weight.  But I sort of fell of the regular fasting wagon and was not doing my intermittent fasting like I should.  That's gonna change after this juice fast.  Not sure exactly which IF plan I am gonna go with but I am getting back on the wagon.  

This morning's weight was 108.8

Today I had 52 oz. of juice, 16 ish oz. of coffee, and 32 ish ounces of water.

Wanna know a secret...?

Last night I watched a documentary called Eat, Fast, and Live Longer and it totally confirmed everything I have been learning through my research over the past year and a half.  The secret to a healthy weight and a healthy life is not in counting calories, or carbs, or fat grams.  It's not in taking this pill, or reading that book, or following that diet plan.  I'm gonna tell you a secret...

YOU PROBABLY EAT TO MUCH! 

(And so do I)

And not just sometimes... nearly every day!  The simple solution to a healthy weight and a healthy life...

EAT LESS FOOD (A lot less!)

It's not as hard as it sounds.  There are so many ways to accomplish this without depriving yourself all the time.  Here are some ideas I have seen in my research.

You can eat every other day (and fast every other day)- best if you have a lot to lose or your cholesterol and blood sugar numbers are looking really bad.

You can do an alternate day fasting where on your "fast" day you eat only one small meal (500 calories or less) and on your feast day you eat whatever you want.

You can fast 2-3 times a week from breakfast to breakfast, lunch to lunch or dinner to dinner- this is easier because you get to eat at least one meal every day even though you are going without food for 2 or 3 24 hour periods each week.

You can restrict your eating to a smaller window each day, for example only eat between 10 and 6.  This gives you a 16 hour fast window every day.  Your results won't be as dramatic as with the other methods, but you will lose weight.

Fasting gets easier with practice, and it gives you a feeling of control over your appetite and a sense of well-being.  It also contributes to good health and longevity.  Watch the documentary and see for yourself!

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 2

Not a bad day... went to the gym this morning and worked out with the hubby, just a light workout since I hadn't any solid food for 36 hours.  It was no problem though.

Ever since I was pregnant with Nathan I have suffered from heart palpitations which get worse at certain times of the month.  A cardiologist told me that hormonal fluctuations make this a common problem for women.  Anyway,  it is the normal time of the month for me to have palpitations but they are SO MUCH WORSE with fasting.  They increased during my other fasts too, but not quite this much.  I am going to keep an eye on it and stop the fast if it gets worse.  Normally palpitations are harmless, so I think it's ok.

Today I weighed 109.4 lbs

I drank 40 oz of juice, 24 oz of water, and about 12oz of coffee.

Jan 2013: Just Juice Day 1

This is my fourth round of "just juice" fasting and this was far and away the most comfortable first day I have ever had.  I am convinced that the key to "just juicing" is to be prepared psychologically.   Since I have done this three times successfully my mind could not convince me that I was dying of starvation or that I was gonna die if I didn't get something to eat. LOL!  So anyway, I actually did not have all of the things I needed to make juice this morning so ended up not having anything until about 1:30 when I drank 6 oz of pure not from concentrate OJ.  I didn't get to make juice until 5:30 after I finally got to the store.   I made some famous spaghetti juice for my dinner. YUM!

Another thing that was totally different this time... my energy level... I felt GREAT today... no headaches, very little hunger, and lots of energy. 

This morning's starting weight: 111.2 (Thanks to the holidays!)

Total Juice: 22 oz
Total Coffee: about 20 oz
Total Water: about 32 oz

It's that time once again!!

It's time to do another juice only fast!!  I have done 3 fasts of 10,7, and 7 days respectively.  I think it is time to do another 10 day.... we really fell off the healthy eating wagon during the holidays.

Up until now my fasts were purely for health and physical reasons.  Having done three fasts previously, I am now confident that it can be done.  Having proven to myself that I can do it, I am now adding spiritual reasons for fasting.  I probably won't talk much about those, but I did want to mention it.

So the juice only fast began after my last piece of birthday cake this evening and will end on Friday Jan. 11th at dinner time.  Tomorrow morning I don't have everything I need to make juice, but I will drink water and not from concentrate orange juice and head out to the store in the afternoon.  Looking forward to that extra energy boost that comes after the first couple days, cuz this house needs some applied energy before I go back to school on the 17th.