It will be neat to see what happens on a 30 day fast.
In preparing for this 30 day juice fast, I've had to get both inspired and disgusted. I watched two mind bending documentaries: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, and Forks Over Knives, and read three books: A Beginner's Guide To Juicing, The Beauty Detox Solution, and Skinny Bitch.
Next, to calm my nerves at the thought of a 30 day juice fast, I ravenously indulged in all my favorite foods: Thai Green Curry, Buffalo chic pizza with blue cheese, Friendly's peanut butter swirl ice cream, an occasional margarita, and all kinds of snacks that fill the large pantry where I babysit for a living. Pancake and egg sandwich breakfasts (weekly), steak and potato dinners (twice last month), and despite my antipathy for cow's milk and it's cancer causing animal protein "casein", and my rants against parents who ignorantly feed it to their kids, I indulged in at least two bowls of cereal with organic skim cow's milk in the past forty-five days, and I'm beyond disgusted with myself for that alone.
(Note: Anyone who hasn't done a 3 day or 10 day juice fast should attempt to STOP intake of certain food addictions, like caffeine for example, before the fast. Otherwise he/she might kill someone. I had already long-ago weened myself off coffee, soda, and all sugary drinks, as well as most meat and dairy products).
Finally, I had to carefully choose a 30-day time period in which my unwillingness to eat would minimally inconvenience others. So about a month ago, I decided to begin the fast on October 15 (OMG that's Monday!). Breathe. Bend. Okay. And it will end November 13. I'll have an excuse to avoid Halloween candy, and be done in time to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas meals with family.
This is also a good time of year for reverse-hibernation, since I plan on eating non-stop all winter. I don't need fat reserves in my gut, thighs, and love-handles beforehand. I also don't move much during winter. It's too dark, cold and depressing, and I have a thyroid problem. If you don't know what an under-active thyroid does to your body temperature, I'll pay you a visit to put my icy cold hands on your belly.
That's exactly what I do to the kids I babysit when they complain about me not playing outdoors with them on cold days. I just put my hands on their belly and tell them I'll freeze and die if I go outside. If they're young enough, I tell them I'm part human and part ice-queen. Then I prove it to them by asking if they want to feel my cold powers. In all seriousness, I crack my knuckles then place my bare hands under their shirt. They scream in disbelief and look at me with awe and wonder. If the child is foolish enough to whine to me about building a snowman or going sledding after I've revealed my condition to them, I remind them a second time, with icy handed bare belly tickles. They usually don't ask a third time.
On particularly frigid days, when my circulation is almost obsolete, my fingertips and toes turn perfectly white and colorless, despite my efforts at self-massage and endless bowls of hot water for soaking. I squander children's favorite blankies as shawls and their parents' bedding as middle-eastern overgarments, and walk about the house as an unrecognizable beast. Sometimes I even roar.
On a more serious note, I had a really healthy day yesterday, just to make sure I still had a trace of willpower in my bones, and I successfully stuck to raw fruits and veggies all day, along with a green superfood powdered drink mix called Boku, and by dinnertime I was so full, I just went to bed early without eating anything else. I woke up this morning to my skin looking radiant, and my hair looks healthier and longer. Just from that one day of pure healthy eating! Imagine what 30 will do! But today I have a 3-year-old's birthday party to attend, and there will be homemade lobster mac and cheese, as well as cake and ice cream, and I will indulge. Then on Sunday, I'll perhaps indulge in one last favorite meal (most likely Thai green currry), before Monday arrives and the true test begins.
Stay tuned. I'll keep you posted!
Good luck! I would definitely like to follow you thru this... maybe join you for a day or two here and there... lol. Id be interested to see how this works. So what CAN you eat/drink?
ReplyDeleteI can drink fruits and vegetables. I use a juicer and blender. The blender is mostly mixing in a banana or avocado with my juice, or for blending salads (more on that in a second). Most people don't know that fruits and vegetables contain more protein and calcium than meat and milk. And more vitamins and minerals than any other food group. I'm going to incorporate a little raw vegan food into my fast, such as solid fruit in the morning, just to ease into my day without having to wash, chop, juice, and wash juicer (the routine can get tiresome, though it takes less time than preparing a sandwich really, let alone a meal). I'll also drink a green superfood powdered mix called Boku, which I mix with coconut milk or a blended salad, called the glowing green smoothie. The glowing green smoothie is a big deal. Look it up on YouTube. You blend spinach, romaine, parsley, and an apple (and I throw in pineapple for extra sweetness cause the drink is really gross but extremely beautifying). As for the powdered superfood supplement, which is my own addition to my fasts and daily non-fasting lifestyle as well, I use a product made by Boku, which can be ordered online (Amazon is more reliable than the solitary other shipper in L.A. It's a hot new trend, the Boku, and worth every penny, especially if you've tasted how gross the other green superfood powdered drinks taste!) Boku contains broken down sea vegetables (seaweed), sprouts, and several other "live foods" that Americans miss in their fruit and vegetable grocery store selections, and it helps me feel full. I can also get creative and add ground flax or wheat germ to my blended drinks, I can add ginger to my apple carrot juices, and so on. I'll feel full and energized, but might miss an occasional glass of wine at night.
ReplyDeleteSo you do banana and avacado as well? So, like a smoothie? That makes sense. I imagine that is good for feeling more full as well. Do you drink any other things besides the Boku and coconut milk?
ReplyDeleteI pretty much stuck to juice, water, tea, coconut milk and the Boku. Yeah you can blend an avocado or banana with your juice. I recommend it because your body needs Omega 3 fatty acids to help your body absorb all the nutrients in the juice, and avocados have those fats, and bananas have some fat in them too. I've also learned since doing that 30 day juice fast that you need to juice fruits only in the morning, and vegetables only in the afternoon and evening. You shouldn't be juicing fruits with vegetables. Fruit juice and vegetable juice need to be completely separate with at least a couple hours in between. I should have been juicing 3 times a day, and only having 1 small cup of juice each time, but I was having like 2 or 3 tall glasses. I didn't lose that much weight because I was over juicing. Body builders and athletes often juice to gain weight. They drink lots of fruit juice. So try to stay more disciplined than I was. Also, there is one exception to the rule of separating fruit and vegetable juice. You can juice apples with vegetables. Apples are the only fruit you can safely juice with vegetables if you feel you need to add sweetness. Carrots also help for sweetness, and if you juice something extra watery like a cucumber or watermelon, you can have a second glass of juice because there won't be much sugar in it. I had one cheat I LOVED which was celery and watermelon. Sure they were a fruit and vegetable, but the combination of those two foods - celery and watermelon - was heavenly. If you cheat on the juice fast, pick ONE food group to cheat with: Dairy, Meat, Wheat, or Sugar. Don't go cheating with a binge. You'll end up worse off than when you started. -Erin
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