Day 6

Today is day 6 of my detox diet. I have lost a total of 9 pounds so far. I am feeling great and have tons of energy. Exactly like everything has said. I am not hungry, but am always SO thirsty.

I have always been a very low energy person. Lately, probably at partly because of my weight gain, I have been even more sluggish. Anything that I did would wear me out. So today I had enough energy to do everything I wanted to do with out being worn out and needing a nap. For me, that is a big thing. I am loving how I am feeling now.

I thought I would answer a few questions. Becky from Frumpmama wanted to know if I am following a specific book. I'm not. My biggest resource has been http://www.juicefasting.org/. They do have a down loadable book that you can follow. I also just google juice recipes and find some good ideas. I also linked to a great article at cbn.com about fasting.

Phoebe from Cents to Get Debt Free (who is my friend from high school! Hi Phoebz!) wanted to know if I tried a green smoothie. I can't have a smoothie. Even though it does sound good. Spinach with mango blended in a blender. Even though it is a blended smoothie, it is still solid food. I can only have liquid from the vegetables or I will continue to be hungry. There is some pulp that comes out of the juicer. Most of that I let rise to the top and spoon off. I did get some spinach and am deciding what to do with it. I don't really know if I can juice it.

My sister wanted to know if I have had any "poo issues." Thanks, sis. You always keep it real. I have had the issues you would expect to have after eating only raw vegetable and fruit juice for almost a week.

Another thing I wanted to add was that I feel like my taste buds are changing. Before I needed sweet or salty or garlicky food to enjoy it. Today for dinner I drank the juice from a tomato, half a green pepper, a carrot and 2 apples. It was so good! Not something I would have enjoyed a week ago.

Also, I have never been able to drink a lot of water. I was always making sugar-free flavored waters but lately have been feeling bad about all the artificial flavoring and sugar that I was drinking and even giving to the kids. So the amount of water that I crave every day has been great. Water is my favorite thing right now.

The hardest part so far has been cooking for my family and not taking a bite to taste the seasonings. Okay, and not taking just a bite of cheese tonight. I have been making really yummy dinners and sitting down with my glass of juice and watching my husband and kids eat. That is not easy, but not hard any more.

So, thanks for all your support and kind words. It has really helped to raise me up.

Day 4

Let me just say that I hope today was the worst day and that it is over now. I feel like I have been only complaining these last few days and I need to get away from that.

I have had one weird reaction, though, that I wanted to talk about. My mouth has been burning and I think I figured out why. Sometimes when I juice a lemon I just put the entire lemon in the juicer. I think all the zest from the lemon was burning. So, lesson learned- the little extra flavor is not worth the pain.

So, enough of that and on to my good news. I was down three pounds today. And, I am enjoying an herbal tea with honey tonight to wind down with. I also want to report a success today. I was offered a piece of chocolate- it was even dark chocolate. I turned it down.

Anyway, not a lot to report today. I feel like this post is too boring to even publish, but here we go! I am hoping to have only good things to report for tomorrow.

Day 3

No weight loss to report for this morning. I was thinking of weighing myself again before bed but I want to stick with my rule of weighing in the morning. I do have some good news, a pair of pants that I couldn't button a few weeks ago fit nicely today. Well, still a little snug but I could wear them. These are pants that fit great last summer and a few weeks ago had a big way to go to fitting. I am looking forward to trying a few other things on.

There is a great article today at cbn.com about juice fasting. There are a few recipes as well. That was encouraging to read right now. I am hungry right now. Probably the most that I have been so far. It isn't anything that I can't handle. It is so different than how I usually feel when I am hungry. If I didn't eat for a while I would get very shaky and VERY grouchy. Right now, though, in spite of a few tummy rumblings I feel pretty great.

My arms and legs felt sore today and still felt weak. I had a nice nap this afternoon while the kids were in their rooms and it helped a lot. I have been reading that the 3rd or 4th day is the worst. So either today was it and I am past it or tomorrow will be. Either way I can tell things are going to be fine. I did not have much trouble today with the temptation of food at all.

And I know now what a temptation it was. There was an obedience problem that is coming to light. I have been given stewardship over this body, this house, and this family. I have not been properly taking care of any of that. I need to take care of my body and not indulge in whatever craving I have at the moment. That is not God's plan for me or my body. This body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I need to treat it like it is.

So, I am going to keep going with this. I am actually enjoying the process. I am enjoying learning so much about myself, even in these few short days. I can't believe how much I thought about food. I can't wait to see what else is in store!

Breakfast:
1 mango (minus a few pieces for the kids)
enough pineapple to fill up the glass

Dinner:
2 carrots
1/4 cucumber
1 lemon

Day 2

Today was not so bad. I was really prepared for the worst. I did not wake up hungry and I haven't had any terrible hunger pains all day. I was a bit hungry tonight after dinner, but it was not too bad. Nothing a glass of water didn't fix.

I have had a few weird things today. I don't know if it is really related to the detox or not, but I will report them anyway. I have had a sort of coating on the roof of my mouth that will not go away. Even right after brushing it still feels yucky.

I had a small headache all afternoon. Nothing that I would normally take Tylenol for but it was there.

I have felt sluggish today. Like my arms and especially my legs just didn't have any energy. Climbing the stairs felt like a major accomplishment today. I didn't feel tired today, just like I did something strenuous.

For breakfast I had the BEST drink. It was 2 pears (2 was too many- next time I will use 1 1/2) a lemon and a small piece of ginger root. It could also be made with apple in place of the pear. This was so good! I will be making this even when I am not on a diet/detox!

For dinner I had 1/2 carton of cherry tomatoes- all I could find that were ripe, a few handfuls of grapes for sweetness and 1/2 green pepper. It was not bad, but very thick. The green pepper seemed to stay at the top even after I stirred it. The grape juice sank to the bottom, so the last half was much better than the first. Sort of like dinner and dessert all in one glass.

The hardest thing today was making dinner. (Oh, my husband quit. Did I say that already? He lasted about 12 hours.) I made home made spaghetti sauce. It was hard to make without tasting it. It would not have been a big deal, but I knew it would make me hungry. Also, when I was helping Isaac (who is 2 now) with his food it was very hard not to lick my fingers. Also, the cookies were teasing me today. "Just one butterscotch chip!" they kept calling from the counter.

I have to say, I have been impressed with my willpower so far! Tomorrow, though, is Mops. We are having a spring swap so it won't be a regular meeting with a ton of food, but I know there will still be something good. If I can get through tomorrow morning, I will be set. This is going to take a lot of prayer.

So, um, I lost 4 pounds? I know it is just water weight at this point, but I like that number on the scale. Also, I was expecting to be SO hungry when I woke up this morning, but I'm not! I feel pretty good. Normally when I wake up in the morning I could eat my own arm I am so hungry so this is a pleasant surprise! I will report more later!

Day 1

Today was the first day of my juice diet. My cleanse.

For breakfast I had a grapefruit, an orange and 2 small apples. Not bad! Sweet and filling enough. I was hungry by dinner time but not intolerably. Then at dinner I had 4 carrots, 1/4 cucumber, 1 stalk of celery, 1 and 1/2 apple and 1/2 lemon. All I can say is yuck! It was just too thick. I ended up leaving some in the glass. Next time I think I will only use 2 or 3 carrots and a whole lemon. The cucumber gave it a nice flavor, it was just the thickness of the juice that I didn't like. Oh, and a few glasses of water.

The day went fine. I was pretty tired around 2:00, but I don't know if that is really anything different. I kept busy to keep my mind off wanting to eat. That was the biggest struggle today. I had to remember not to just pop something into my mouth as I went about my day. Just a bite of a cookie or just one slice of cheese. I never realized how much I would eat during the day. This has really made me notice how bad my eating habits are.

The biggest question, I think, would be how bad is the hunger. Right now I am hungry but I really feel that it is more of wanting food than needing it. My stomach isn't growling or hurting, but at night when the kids are in bed is my time to sit on the couch and veg. Eat whatever I want and not have to share it with them.

One thing I have been surprised to notice is how thirsty I have been. I have really noticed that a lot more than feeling hungry. My body is in a constant state of dehydration and I really want to change my habits in this area. I need a LOT more water on a daily basis and I hope to start some good habits. I did stay away from coffee today. I am not a person that can not live without it so I might as well do this right.

I think tomorrow is going to be worse than today, but once I am over that it will all get better. I have decided to weigh myself daily first thing in the morning. I am not going to post my weight, but I am going to post my weight loss. I will most likely post once in the morning to report any weight loss. The isn't a great chance of having any to report so early, but I am sure I will be loosing plenty of water weight in these first few days.

Now I am going to sleep (after I fold a few loads of laundry and watch Lie to me) and forget about food for a while.

Today begins a new season in my life. A new first. My first diet. In the past I have tried to watch what I eat to loose weight and tried to exercise. I had different results each time. The easiest way for me to loose a lot of weight in a small amount of time is to have a nursing baby. Then, the weight just melts off but after that it starts to creep back on and before I know it I have 15 pounds or more to loose, none of my pants fit and I feel lousy.

Today I am starting day 1 of my juice fasting diet. I am excited to see what happens. This is a total detox diet and who knows the amount of junk I am carrying around. I decided to chronicle my experience here. So, after a long absence from blog-land, I am going in a slightly different direction. I am sure I will still pop on and make a comment about my kids or my knitting.

My husband is also trying this with me. Hopefully he will be a built in support system. I also have a friend that is doing a variation of this diet. I decided on this particular diet first because I have witnessed the results and they were amazing. After doing my own research I found there are many health benefits to a fasting diet. I also am hoping to jump start my weight loss. My husband decided to try it just because I am doing it.

The plan is to try this for about 12-14 days. If we are feeling like we can take it, we may add another 5 to 7 days. The health benefits during this last week are the greatest. We will drink a glass of juice in place of every meal. No solids are allowed. Drink plenty of water in between. Coffee is allowed, but only black or with non-dairy creamer. Dairy and all proteins are off limits. Of course no sugar and absolutely no chemicals- nothing processed or enriched. Only fresh fruit and vegetable juices.

I am excited about this. There is of course a very spiritual aspect of fasting, even a juice fast. I am excited what the Lord will show me during this time.

There are so many areas of my life that I need to get into order and this is a good way to get that started. I am armed with my juicer, my Bible and a kitchen full of fruits and vegetables and I am ready to start my journey!