mike's fast

So it's saturday and day seven since he started the whole process. Its day 3 of nothing but the fresh juices and water. It was about 4pm today when he came outside where I was sitting and said "I'm ready to eat again, what are you goint to make for dinner?" Haha! I told him he should finish off this day just to say he did the minimum of 3 days of juice but nearly as quick as I could say it he was out the door to go get pizza from Dominoes. He said he plans to keep doing the juices during the day but he will "eat" a meal at dinner time. So I told him to weigh himself before he started eatting again and he weighed 201 (210 was his start weight a week ago). Pretty close to 10 pounds. Just think if he had gone 7 days of only juicing! He did good, I'm proud of him. We watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" the other day together and it makes me want to do a juice fast. Maybe next week after he leaves on TDY I will do it...we will see :)

I forgot to add that after his salad in the evening, he has another fiber drink and probiotic before going to bed (so that makes 3 fiber drinks and 2 probiotics per day) Adding these things in to the routine is what makes it a "colon cleanse" you can also do just the juicing part. And also, lots and lots of water!

Mikes Juice Fast

So today makes day 4 that Mike is doing all alkaline foods and fresh vegetable/fruit juice from the jucier. So far the routine goes like this: A fiber drink upon rising along with a probiotic, a juice for breakfast (usually a few carrots, 1/2 granny smith apple, sometimes 1/4 a lime, some kale or other green vegetable such as bok choy, broccoli, celery, cucumber or zuccini). I make him 2 more juices to take with him to work and drink during the day and he has a 2nd fiber drink midday, then another juice when he comes home, a giant salad for dinner with lots of greens, sometimes some fruit, nuts or seeds and home made dressing with NO sugar. He has been doing a great job and the only thing I would consider cheating is he ate some roasted/salted sunflower seeds yesterday (everthing is supposed to be raw) and he likes to add more fruit to his juices than I feel is good (the vegetables should be the main ingredients with only a small amount of fruit). He is in good spirits, hasn't complained of any headaches or anything like that. The only thing is he is having a hard time running like he used to. Mike runs a lot and he is training to do the Honolulu Marathon again this year. It is no big deal for him to run 6-10 miles in the mornings. But today he intended to run 8 miles and was too tired. He said he ended up walking most of it (that is unusual for him!) So I'm hoping that in a day or two this side effect will pass. And most surely when he starts "eatting" again his energy level will rise and along with that he should be carring a few extra pounds. When he started he weighed 210 today he weighed in at 206. Beginning tomorrow he will move into the next stage of ONLY juices 4-6 per day, no more salads in the evening. He is going on live starting today, so not being at work will make it a little easier for him to do it. He won't have to take juices with him to work, everything will be right here for him and won't be tempted to eat out with coworkers and he can rest if he needs to etc. So we will see how he does. It kind of makes me want to do it again along with him but all that produce gets expensive!!! Today he spent $70 something just one produce (and toilet paper lol). He bought a lot more of the sweet fruit than the green stuff though :/

Juice Fast

So I'd like to journal my experience doing a juice fast over the next few blogs. I have already tried to do it twice, and both times I "cheated" a little. So I will start by writing about what it involves and how I did but then I plan to do it for real with no cheating and write about my results.

If you are interested in doing one, you will need a juicer. I found my juicer on Craigslist for $50 and was super excited to get one so cheap. It isn't the best out there but the better ones are around 2-300 bucks! At the time I wasn't sure how much I was going to use it or if it was just going to sit and gather dust. Now, however, if I needed to buy another one for whatever reason I would be willing to spend a little more on a really good one cause I use it ALL the time! Mike thought it was stupid of me to buy one in the first place but guess what...yep, he is working on his first juice fast also! Along with my juicer I bought a used book on Amazon all about juicing and detoxing and it breaks it all down for you with step by step processes and recipes. I would also recommend anyone interested to watch the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" on Netflix.

So to begin, you don't want to jump into strickly juice right from the start cause that would be a drastic change on your body. Also the plan that I followed is a Colon Cleanse, so a big part of the plan is a fiber mix (you can make your own from a homemade recipe but I use a fiber mix I buy from Melaleuca) and probiotics. The whole thing should last 7-10 days beginning with eatting only "alkaline" foods and then a few days straight of ONLY fresh juice from your juicer and then you end it by going back to only alkaline foods. Alkaline foods are vegetables, vegetable juices, good oils (coconut and olive) nuts and seeds, most legumes, fresh herbs, filtered water or herbal tea without sweetener, some fruit (lemon, limes, granny smith apples, berries etc). And all of this should be RAW. NO animal products at all (meats, milk, cheese etc), NO breads or pastas, NO caffine or sugar. Did I already mention it is tough? Now you can see why I had to cheat a little. But I'm confident that when I do it this next time I will NOT cheat. Why am I doing this? Because I am convinced that we stuff our bodies with garbage disguised as food and what is good for us no longer looks appealing anymore. I want to get away from all the artificial fillers that are sending people to the grave at an early age. I would like to rely on God's good Earth to nourish my (and my families) body not some man made chemical. God gave Adam a garden rich in plants and herbs to nourish him. Man kind were vegetarians until after the flood. We do not need meat at every meal to get the protein we need! I see so many young people suffering from the same diseases that were once considered only old peoples ailments. We are doing it to ourselves! And instead of turning to what God gave us to make us better, we turn to some kind of "pill". Just more chemicals added to what is already poluting our bodies, more toxins to clog us up. And so this detox/colon cleanse is meant to sweep it all away and give a new start. I couldn't eat this way forever but I plan to do it every so often as a "clean up". And in the process I have made some big changes in my everyday eatting and what I put in front of my kids.

I have to go to bed now, been up since 5:15am but I'll write about my experiences in the next one.