Day 72

Well, I forgot to weigh-in again this morning.  It has been busy in the morning since my car is in the body shop and we are sharing Jeremy's car.  That means the girls and I get up early to drop him off at work, then come back home and rush to get the girls ready for school.  I should have my car back tomorrow, so they say.  I'm crossing my fingers! 

The juice fast starts tomorrow.  Last night I juiced 4 cups of fruits/veggies for Jeremy to have this morning, just to help him get used to the idea of drinking it.  Starting tomorrow (actually tonight), I'll become a juicing freak.  It requires a lot of time to juice for all meals, especially for two people.  Juicing itself is fast and easy.  It's the preparation and cleanup that requires time.  Jeremy has volunteered to make sure there is always pineapple and melon cut up in the fridge, ready to go.  That is very helpful!  He also offered to help juice.  I had to pass on that one.  LOL.  He is the type of guy to just throw a bunch of stuff together and drink it, even if it doesn't taste very good.  I just can't do that.  If it doesn't taste good, I'm not drinking it!  So I'm in charge of making all the juices.  We'll both be happier because of it.   :-) 

Day 71

Well, I was rushing around this morning and totally forgot to weigh myself before having breakfast and getting dressed.  So I will have to push it off to tomorrow.  I also have a typo on the previous post....  the juice fast starts April 1st which is Thursday, not Monday.  We just started eating more whole foods on Monday to prepare for Thursday.  Looking forward to it.... however, juicing for TWO is going to be A LOT of work!

Day 68

Well, we were in FL last week for vacation (Disney World!).  I tried to make good choices...got veggie lasagna, etc....but even that was greasy and filled with cheese.  It was pretty gross.  Ordered salad a couple times, but all they use is iceburg lettuce.... no flavor or nutrition in that.  When I got home I was 5-6 pounds heavier!  But, I'm happy to say as of this morning I weighed exactly 172.0.  So I lost it all, plus and extra 0.8 pounds.  Official weigh-in is on Tuesday, and I start the next juice fast Monday!  Looking forward to both!

Day 50

Drum roll please....I lost 3.6 pounds.   Yippeee!  Now the challenge will be to keep it off and lose more!  I am more motivated than ever....so close to the 160's!

Day 48

For breakfast I juiced:  one bunch romaine, one canteloupe, one apple, two oranges, and one lime.  Tastes really good!

For anyone wondering how I'm feeling....I feel wonderful!  I am drinking tons of juice and getting plenty of calories.  I'm normally not a morning person (like don't talk to me for at least 30 minutes), but lately I wake up feeling happy and refreshed.  I woke up at 5am this morning feeling ready to go.  I have more energy than I've had in a long time, and just feel so happy - I totally attribute this to all the nutrtion by body is getting - something I have been lacking for YEARS!  Yes, I've been big into nutrition for quite some time.  But other than a smoothie and salad on some days, not every day, I have not been getting near enough fruits and veggies.  So I feel fantastic!  Oh yeah, and I have had a few slip-ups with food.  It WAS healthy food.  But I have not been 100% juice, more like 80-90%.  Once this fast is done, I plan to continue juicing for breakfast.  It is that great!

Day 47

This morning I juiced:  1 bunch kale, couple handfuls of carrots, 1 red bell pepper, 1 celery stick, 1 peach, 1 apple, and 1 lime.  Delicous!

Day 46

This morning I juiced a whole pineapple, two kiwis, two peaches, and a whole head of red leaf lettuce.  It made close to 4 cups of juice.  Definitely one of my favorites so far!  Later I'm juicing two whole canteloupes with some other fruit and greens!  Yummo!

My goal is to make it to the gym both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.  We don't have any major plans, so there's no excuse not to!  Still feeling fabulous, and lighter!

Day 45

Today for breakfast I juiced: 3 grapefruit, 3 celery sticks, and 2 cucumbers.  It made close to 5 cups of juice.  I did drink it, but it was a little tart for my liking, so I don't think I'll do this one again.  Excited for my afternoon juice.  I cut up a whole pineapple I'm going to juice along with a whole head of red leaf lettuce, and some other things.

I feel great....actually surprised I don't have a lot of cravings....well, except for those darn Bubbies Pickles!  Yum.  I definintely had more energy both yesterday and today.  The first couple days I had some detoxing symptoms: tired, headache, some aches and pains.  It's funny, Natasha had mentioned that often times you'll feel pain from an old wound or fracture (as in a broken bone, torn muscle or tendon, etc).  Both Tuesday and Wednesday my right arm was killing me.  It was only one little spot on my arm, but the pain was deep.  Today it is almost completely gone.  Natasha said that when your body gets natural, healthy food that is easy digestable (whether solid or juiced), it has more energy to work on other things in your body that need healing or fixing, and your digestive system gets a little (much needed) break.  I think that is what was happening with my arm.  I'm just feeling so fantastic today, now that most of the detox symptoms are calming down.

Bubbies Pickles

These are my new addiction!  Bubbies Pure Kosher Dills.  I am sad I cannot have them on my fast, so I'll just blog about them.  lol.  I've never been one to munch on pickles, but when I saw these were naturally fermented with NO sugar, vinegar or preservatives....I just HAD to try them.  And, boy, are they good!  They are actually a little spicy and taste a lot different than any other pickle I've had before.  I just happened to have a couple jars of  "regular" pickles in my fridge, so I took a look at the ingredients, which were - artificial colors, preservatives, and even one of them had high fructose corn syrup!  Really?!  High fructose corn syrup in pickles??!!  No, thank you.  They went right in the trash.  Next I'm trying their Sauerkraut.  Never liked sauerkraut, but I have a feeling I will like Bubbies Sauerkraut!

Day 44

This morning I juiced a 1 pound bag of carrots, 1 pound container of spinach, and 2 pears.  It made about 2.5 cups of juice.  And it was really tasty!  I had a bit of a headache yesterday - completely normal!  I feel great this morning.  And I haven't had any cravings for solid food.  The juice is very filling and nutritious, and I'm getting plenty of calories throughout the day.   I would say the juice fast is a success so far....but I still have 8 days to go!

Day 43

As anticipated, I gained weight this past week.  I was at 176.4 this morning.

I am starting a 10 day juice fast today, with Natasha from Raw Radiant Heatlh.  The fast actually started yesterday, but I didn't see it until yesterday, so I started it today, one day late.  This morning I juiced 1 lemon, 3 stalks celery, 2 cucumbers, 1 apple, 1 orange, a little parsley, and 1/2 bunch of kale.  It made a little over 3 cups of juice, and tastes really gooood!  You can obviously do the fast on your own, but the cool thing about doing it with her is you get access to a forum that only people doing the fast have access to.  You are able to chat with those people, share your juice recipes, ask questions, etc....and Natasha chimes in daily with inspiration, answers and videos.  It's great!  I will update you along the way!  And, if anyone would like to try it, she normally has a fast starting the 1st of each month!  I may just do the next one, too!

Day 42

Well, tomorrow is weigh-in day, and I know for certain I will see a gain because I've had a not-so-good week.  But I'm staying positive and this week will be better.  :-)

I am really excited about one thing.  I just placed an order for Tooth Soap... a non-toxic tooth and gum cleaner...it is all natural, mostly organic, and it will replace my toothpaste.  I opted for the Salty Mint flavor.  My teeth are in great condition.  I only have one cavitiy.  But I've had issues the last few years with my gums being a little inflamed, borderline of gum disease.  I've been following Natasha's blog, Raw Radiant Health....I heart her!   She also has a lot of You Tube videos.  I came across one of her videos about receding gums that I found very interesting.  She recommended Tooth Soap, soft toothbrushes, and to also stay away from sugar.  While my gums are not receding, they are a little irritated and inflamed.  I'm going to give these things a whirl and see if there is an improvement!