Juice Fast Journey: Transition Day 5

Today was the first morning I didn't really feel like juicing. But I made sure to not eat anything else until I had made my juice. I still really think that having a juice is helping a lot in preventing constipation for me. Sorry for the TMI but it's the truth.

Breakfast:

- juice

- egg over easy

- bowl of fresh fruit

Nothing's better than the strawberries from my friends farm! Yum! And have I told you that I'm just juicing once in the morning now and storing my two small jars of juice for lunch and dinner? It is really nice to only have to make all that mess once.

So today I'm introducing corn for the first time in my diet. As you know by now I tend to suffer from constipation and I'm really being slow to introduce all grains and breads to my diet because I really want to make sure I'm going to be okay. Or at least learn exactly what foods cause my constipation so I can avoid them.

Lunch:

- homemade refried beans with onions, cilantro and fresh squeeze of lime

- organic corn chips

- juice

I made sure to give myself portion control and got a bowl of chips, so I don't just reach in endlessly into the bag for more. I actually didn't even end up using them all. I ran out of beans for dipping before that. Man was this delicious! 

I make homemade refried beans quite often. Being a vegetarian, they are a great source of protein for my family and are actually really cheap if you make them at home instead of buying the can. I even buy my beans in bulk from Azure Standard. If you haven't heard of this co-op you can thank me after your life is changed! I buy all my major stuff in bulk, like rice, oats, flours, beans, apples, etc. 

Today I actually had beans made because I was making ahead some bean and cheese burritos for the freezer. We buy the uncooked tortillas and since I haven't been eating much they were going to go bad soon, so I made a big pot of beans, cooked the tortillas and set up my work station.

I think I made about 20. These are great for on days we come back from the farm. I just grab a few from the freezer, pop them in the toaster oven to warm up and they're down in about 10-15 minutes, right when I've finished putting all my produce away from the farm. It's a perfect system.

On the agenda for today was also my husbands 30th Birthday party. I threw him a 'Stashe Bash! It was so much fun. I'll put some pictures below but I'll probably write about it on my other blog: Glued To Glory. You can head over there to see more pictures.

It was SO much fun!!

Anyways, I got distracted and of course I passed on all the crap food that I offered to other people. At the end I took what was left of my veggie platter and added some black beans, onion and I added olive oil and seasonings and roasted it. It may have been at 9 at night, but it was still my dinner.

Dinner:

- roasted veggies, with a squeeze of lime

- juice

- oh, and my very first small amount of fish! We had the smallest amount of mahi mahi so I added the few pieces of that too. My stomach did do some talking after this meal, but what's new?! Ha!

Well, that's pretty much the end of my journey. I have a few major food groups I haven't added yet, like dairy and wheat, but I'll write if something goes wacky but to be honest with you I'm not going to add them as long as I can go! No dairy means no congestion, right? At least that's what everybody says. My husband is still stuffed up and I haven't had a single nostril affected at all. It could be from the healthy eating or maybe it's specifically the dairy. Either way I don't want to mess it up. I'm feeling great and I'm so happy I've gone on this journey. It was a test for my own will power and I amazed myself to be honest. Now I know that with God's strength I really can do it! I know he is the source who helped me along the way.

Here's to a good, healthy life! 

Heather Joy

Juice Fast Journey: Transition Day 4

Breakfast:

- bowl of fresh fruit (honeydew, pineapple, blueberries)

-juice

-egg, over easy!!

This mornings breakfast was delicious! It's good for me to start getting more protein. Mmm!

Lunch:

- Roasted Cauliflower, onion and black beans with a squeeze of lime

- juice

So my favorite thing to do with veggies is to roast them and squeeze fresh lime on top. It's so delicious! If you haven't tried it you're seriously missing out!

Dinner:

- Asian salad with peanut sauce

So tonight was the first night for me to go out. My husband and I had a date at the Alamo Drafthouse. I do like that they have some good salads and a fruit plate etc. Normally I would get the endless bowl of popcorn but I refrained tonight. 

Then after our movie and dinner we went to the Whole Foods. Have you ever been to the whole foods in austin? It's amazing! It's their trademark store and I could honestly spend hours just roaming around and exploring. 

We walked out with another trey from So Delivious for me. Some mocha fudge coconut ice cream bars. OMG! These are my new favorite. I need to find out how to buy them in bulk!

Tomorrow I need to get back on track a bit but it was nice splurging a bit on my date. And before I went to bed I did have a juice. 

I think tomorrow will be my last day writing about my transition. I'm feeling great and I honestly don't have much of a desire for dairy right now and being gluten free is good for my system so I'm not introducing many new foods to my diet to even be writing about. 

Anyways, until tomorrow. 

Heather Joy

Juice Fast Journey: Transition Day 3

This morning I made 3 smaller servings of juice to have at each meal. I still really actually enjoy juicing and want to try to keep it up even if it's on a small scale. 

Breakfast:

- Orange Juice (carrots, pineapple, spinach)

- Honeydew

- Blueberries

I'm actually really enjoying my juice and fresh fruit in the morning. Most mornings I used to be energetic and then the moment I'd eat I'd feel kind of sluggish again but since juicing I've had more energy in the mornings now.

Lunch:

- my first salad!!

(Including: spinach, Swiss chard, bok choy mix, 1/3 diced pear, dried homemade cranberries and onion, with a drizzle of olive oil and local balsamic vinegar) 

- oh, and of course a carrot juice

This was delicious! Before this whole thing I lived off of salads and I'm so happy to be eating them again!

Dinner:

- romanesco cauliflower (my favorite!)

- mashed sweet potatoes with a bit of black beans and a slab of butter ( I've been craving onions and so I put some on but they didn't taste good with it so I ended up not eating)

- juicing

I'm still feeling great! Loving eating fresh and healthy...and then insert tonight's dessert!

My husband went out and got me some of that So Delicious Coconut ice cream since I am still trying to avoid dairy, although I had my first par of butter in the entire pot of sweet potatoes. 

Heather Garcia

Juice Fast Journey: Transition Day 2

Today is another wonderful day of eating!

I have been feeling good, actually great. I wonder if my body would have been doing better if I'd eating a small amount all along. Anyways, I am still working on gradually increasing food while still trying to juice.

Breakfast:

- Orange Juice

- About a cup of honeydew

Lunch:

- Guacamole: avocado, 1 lime, fresh cilantro, 2 Tbl. Onion, 1/4c. Black Beans

- small juice

I did get a little big gassy once I started eating this. Could be from the fat or the beans I'm not sure, but My goodness guacamole has never tasted so good! Avocados were what I was dreaming about eating on my juice fast. They are a staple in my diet and I have at least half a day. Good fats. Yum! And I really need some fat on my body right now. Did I mention that my weight got down to 116! That puts me for sure in the underweight BMI category. I am just glad to be not loosing weight anymore. I've already gained 1lb. Since yesterday.

Dinner:

- broccoli, about 1 1/2 cups

- 1 handful of blueberries

- glass of lemon water

Tonight was my husbands 30th birthday dinner. I made delicious salmon, broccoli and garlic bread. I wish I could have enjoyed everything but I was almost too giddy just to be eating broccoli. I think if I had eaten the salmon all the oils from the marinade would have made my stomach upset. But I felt fine all day.

So, one thing I'm noticing now that I didn't during this whole thing is my skin. I feel like my dandruff is the same but the rest of my skin feels youthful for some reason. I wasn't having an eczema outbreak on my hands during the fast and it had been a little while even before that since I've had one so its hard to actually judge, but my hands feel normal! 

Now, to understand what that means you have to understand what I occasionally suffer with. My eczema is mostly centered on my ring finger mostly but has sometimes spread to other fingers as well. Sometimes it just has small clear bumps and other times it's a full blown thing, dry, cracked, etc. My mom suffers from eczema on her hands and they get so bad they crack and bleed almost all the time. She wears gloves a lot of the time just so her skin won't snag on anything and make it worse. Anyways, even when I'm not having a full blown episode of eczema my ring finger is always abnormally shiny/dry-ish. It's kind of hard to explain but if you felt and looked at my other fingers you would see and feel the difference and now I can honestly say my ring finger looks completely normal! No bumps, no dryness and it's kind of amazing considering how much fruits and veggies I've been cutting up. A lot of the acidic foods react with my hands but they've been fine. 

Well, I'm happy to see some sort of healing in the outward parts of my body. Although I know I need to have patience to let my body truly heal from the inside out. 

Well, another day down and life is looking good!

Heather Joy

Juice Fast Journey: Transition Day 1

Well today is my first day of eating and I'm determined to not shock my system. 

Breakfast:

-juice, small pint size

- 1/3 pear

Lunch:

-pint of juice

-about 1 1/2 cup of colorful steamed carrots. I'm so blessed with a farm friend! These are beautiful. 

Snack:

-3 watermelon wedge sticks

Dinner:

-pint of juice

-roasted sweet potato tossed in olive oil, seasonings and a squeeze of lime

Today I felt so good! The juicing wasn't even that hard because I have the small portions of food to look forward to. 

The only time I felt trouble was a little bit after the sweet potatoes. My stomach started getting bloated and gassy. Now to be completely honest I tend to be a gassy person in general and my stomach always talks. Before during and after digestion my stomach will make noises it when I get gassy it makes LOUD noises. And I wouldn't say it was really bad but I definitely heard some stomach talking and it's surprising to think about it now but I didn't really have any gas problems while juicing. 

Anyways, I think the oil was to blame for my tummy rumblings, but it really wasn't a big deal. 

Anyways, I really am feeling great! Almost better than on my juice fast ever even though I'm only eating very little. 

See you tomorrow!

Heather Joy

Juice Fast Journey: Day 7

I am so so excited to be here, day 7, my last day of strictly juicing. Yes, that's right folks, I've decided this is the end for now but now that I know what I'm capable of in the future I plan to do at least an 8 day fast. 

So to finish things off strong I started my morning by making three juices: one for my sick husband, my breakfast and my lunch.

Here's the drink I made for my husband, just thought I'd show you for another juice idea:

It included: carrots, one apple, Swiss chard, small amount of red cabbage and ginger. What's awesome is that I'm trying to sneak in more veggies he wouldn't normally eat right now, and since he can't smell or taste very well he didn't even notice. Success!

Okay, well moving on to me, here's what I decided to add to this mornings juice:

That's right, it's a papaya! So I've read recently that papayas are supposed to be super helpful for preventing constipation and since I tend to be that way I was really wanting to add them to my diet and so I thought I'd start by juicing them.

Breakfast:

- red juice

Included:

- strawberries, about 2 cups whole

- one wedge of red cabbage

- 1 lime

- 2 carrots

- papaya, about 4-5 large pieces, roughly 1/5 of a papaya

So, I must share with you my lesson learned while juicing with the papaya. Apparently you shouldn't. That's the lesson. So when I juiced the papaya it actually bogged down my machine and more of a thick smoothie type consistency came out and not actually just juice. 

Can you see the texture of that juice. It was like slop. Now I have to tell you it was very good slop but honestly it was like having a smoothie so I almost felt like I was cheating. Anyways, needless to say I asked to see if my eldest daughter wanted some fresh papaya and she tried it and said she didn't like it. What?! In my 'smoothie' it tastes so good but honestly I've never had fresh papaya so I couldn't argue with her. So alas, all the rest of the papaya got cut up and frozen later for real smoothies.

Lunch:

- orange juice

Includes:

- 4 carrots

- 3 celery stalks

- piece of ginger

- Swiss chard leaf

- handful of sugar snap peas

- 3 large wedges of pineapple

This drink was okay. I think I added too much ginger. I'm not a huge ginger fan and honestly I can't believe some people add so much to their drinks. I'd rather not have my whole drink taste like fire down my throat, but I can suffer through a little for the health benefits.

Well, today was by far the easiest day of the fast and I'm sure it's because of looking forward to eating more fruits and veggies after this. I wasn't even tempted really all day. I just planned in my head to eat that another day that all. 

I honestly have had a lot of fun learning through this process of juicing. What veggies do I like in my juice? What fruits mask the veggies the best? What's a good combination? Etc. I have had so much fun with my girls being my helpers too! They will ask me to wait for them so they can be my loader and pusher for my juicer. 

What's exciting to see also is when your kids will drink your juice down and you have to make more. My eldest is even saying when she doesn't like one as well and suggests we add something to make it better. It's really great to see! Parenting success! 

I really do want my life to be filled with healthy vegetables and fruits and I realize how hard it is to fit it into a busy schedule but after this experience I'm wanting to try to at least juice once every other day. 

Well, here is how I finished it off strong.

Dinner:

- red juice

Included:

- 1 pear

- 1 cup of honeydew melon

- 2 carrots

- 1 celery stalk

- 1/4 of small watermelon

- tiny bit of leftover sugar snap peas

At this point I didn't even care about adding many vegetables to my juice! I just wanted to finish it off with something sweet!! And it was really good! And it made a lot!

Well, that's it folks. I'm done! Tomorrow I will be able to add some veggies and fruits to my diet. Although I know that I need to transition my body slowly. I made the mistake after a 3 day fast to eat some dairy right away and I had such bad gas I was curled over in pain I kid you not! It was horrible!! I've since learned that your body gets used to having readily available easily digestible foods and has to transition back to having some of the harder foods to digest like, dairy, meats and fats.

I will try to keep writing a few days of my transition diet to help people with that too. Hopefully I can do better this time. Fingers crossed people!

Heather Joy

Juice Fast Journey: Day 6

Well, I can't believe I'm here, day 6! Right on the cusp of the end. I feel so proud of myself it's amazing! I had church this morning and made breakfast before, along with a juice for my sick husband and my juice for lunch later.

Breakfast:

-red juice

Includes:

-2 cups pineapple

-handful of pomegranate seeds

-1 apple

-2 yellow Swiss chard stalks

-2 carrots

Was good. I love my sweet juice in the morning

Off to church today. Will power don't fail me, I know there's going to be those trays of donuts and coffee and all kinds of stuff that I need to not have this morning. 

Well, I made it okay through church but I was reminded this morning that today is Super Bowl. Boo! Today people will be eating galore; chips, dip, pizza, etc. To make it worse we are invited to a friends house for a party where I will be sitting around and smelling said foods without being able to indulge. 

I think I've hit rock bottom folks, maybe that why I'm craving everything right now. But I'm not giving up! I can and will do this for my health, for my kids, for my husband I CAN do this! 7 days. Almost done!

I'm needed some motivation and since everyone is asleep in the house I'm snuggling up on the couch and decided to watch 'Hungry For Change' on Netflix. I've watched it before but it's been awhile so I thought it might help remind me why I'm doing this: to heal my body from the inside out.

Lunch:

-my regular green juice

And to be honest I don't even feel like drinking it, but I will.

Well, while sipping my green juice and watching that film I did get a bit hungry and also a bit more motivated to stick with this. I'm in it to win it. I'm in it for my health and to prove to myself I can accomplish what I commit to.

We went to our friends Super Bowl party this afternoon and I made a fruit and veggie tray to being because that's pretty much all we have in the house right now because of my juicing. It was a fun time. And while my kids got to dive into the pizza and chips and veggies I was a little bit jealous for sure. They had even bought the good local pizza! But I just made sure to mention to the hostess right away to not be offended if I don't eat anything and that it all looks great but I'm on a juice fast. It actually made it easier to just mention it right off the bat and it helped to hold me accountable. 

It also brought up good conversation about why I was doing it. And when I showed her my tongue she guessed right away that I have geographical tongue. What?! She acted all normal with the whole thing until it hit me, duh! She's a dental hygienist and she apparently must see it all the time. She said there's really no cause for it and that she sees lots of people with it. I'm not completely sold that there's no cause for it, it just means they don't know what the exact pinpoint trigger is but it's still not healthy in my book so I'm going to have to do more research now. 

Well, I passed the Super Bowl test and didn't eat anything at the party. Actually to be honest I came home and with my leftover fruit and veggie tray I made my juice for dinner:

Dinner:

- Dark Green Juice

1/2 cup pineapple

1/4 cup snap peas

2 cups of carrot sticks

2 cups of honeydew melon

4 stalks of bok choy (the only thing not on my tray)

Was pretty good. Maybe not my sweetest but after watching that show I'm trying to make sure my juices aren't too sugar oriented.

 One thing to note: if your wanting more liquid to you juices celery or cucumber are really good as a base. And when I don't have celery I use bok choy because it yields a good amount of liquid too.

Well, another day gone and done! Tomorrow will be my 7th day and probably my last day of strictly juice but tomorrow I will officially make the decision. Besides my hemorrhoids being gone and my super easy stools which help in any prevention of that I feel like everything else is still the same. I realize, however that it takes time for your body to heal from the inside out and that is what I'm endeavors get to do. I don't want some quick fix or temporary fix that won't last. I am in this for the long hall!

Until tomorrow then!

Oh, and my weight seems to have stabilized, which is great.

Heather Joy

Juice Fast Journey: Day 5

Well, today is a new day and I'm feeling so good. I almost feel like I'm lighter, which I guess I am because of the weight loss, but more so in my head. My head just seems really clear, not bogged down. 

I started today with a poop colored drink. Yeah, my juices tend to get that way because even if I have a sweet drink, which this is I always want to add in more greens and when you add in greens to any of my other juices they tend to make a lovely brown color. Here ha go:

Breakfast:

- brown juice, which includes the following:

(1/2 pineapple, 1 large carrot, handful of pomegranates seeds, and 3 stalks of Swiss chard)

Was as good as ever, even despite the unappetizing color.

Lunch:

-my regular green juice

(1 cucumber, 1 lemon, 1/2-3/4 inch of ginger, 4 stalks of kale or Swiss chard, 1 apple and 2 stalks celery)

Had my energy swings again. One minute I'm feeling great and the next I'm tired and feeling really groggy. 

The weather was rainy and dreary anyways so maybe that was it but I don't feel like I've really reached a 'high' yet like everybody talks about. 

Dinner:

-finished some more of my regular green juice from lunch I didn't finish

-neon green juice

This was my first time juicing honeydew melon. Yummy! 

My neon juice included:

1/3 honeydew melon

1/2 cup roughly of blueberries

4 stalks of green Swiss chard

1 handful sugar snap peas

This juice was delicious! I even experimented with adding the snap peas. Didn't even taste them, although I didn't add very much but I had some I needed to use up so maybe next time I'll even add more. 

Day 5 done and to be honest I'm kind of ready for this to be over. Maybe I'm just on a low right now but I don't feel quite as good as what I was hoping by this stage in the process. I mean, I don't really feel bad, just okay, kind of bleh. Good thing I only have two more days until I complete my 7 day challenge. I told myself that if I'm losing too much weight than I will start to add some high fat foods and fresh veggies into my diet, mainly avocados. But if I'm feeling awesome on day 7 then I might continue this to 10 days or more.

My symptoms are all the same as previous. Counting my blessings that I don't have any major problems but I almost wish I could see something visibly healing. My tongue is my main concern right now and nothing seems to be changing with that. Time will tell I guess. 

Weight: 117.5lb so I've lost quite a bit. 😁

Until tomorrow!

Heather Joy

Juice Fast Journey: Day 4

Well today I woke up and had my morning BM. Not much too it! The nice thing is that there's not much going through my body so my hemorrhoids can really have a chance to heal. Still have a little uncomfortableness down there but I can't figure out why because I'm not really flared up anymore, just my ugly skin tags are there and bigger than ever. Okay all done with the TMI. 

Went for a quick walk around the neighborhood before everyone woke up. Felt great and didn't really lack energy until I got home and I felt starved. Distractions really do help me. So, first thing I made my breakfast.

Breakfast:

- red juice this morning

Included:

-5 carrots

-1/2 pineapple

-3 stalks of red Swiss chard

It was delicious! I do think it livens me up to have something more sweet in the morning.

Advice:

So every morning I make my breakfast juice and then I grab one of my premade mix bags and then juice my lunch. So, save time by juicing multiple juices at a time. I realize you might not get the exact amount of nutrients as you would if you made it fresh, but let's be practical people! Lunch is always a rush and the one thing that sucks about juicing is always washing out your machine. So I think juicing once in the evening and then once in the afternoon/evening is plenty for me!

This afternoon I feel pretty crappy all of a sudden. Lack of energy. Just going up the stairs actually makes me tired for a second. I actually took a nap because I felt so bad. 

Lunch:

- regular green juice

Insert my nap here. Pure bliss!

Dinner:

- purple juice! Boy am I getting adventurous! 

Tonight's Purple Juice:

-1/4 red cabbage head

-1 lime

-3 red Swiss chard leaves

I tried it and it tasted a bit too bitter for me from the lime, so I added:

-1/2 lemon

So, I love the beautiful color of this juice but I'm unsettled on it. One sip and I think it's not too bad and taste the citrus mostly and the next sip I feel like it's way too cabbage flavored and is gross. Now, don't get me wrong it is still palatable but it's not my favorite. But cabbage is so good for you a little less than delicious is still worth the health benefits to me, plus I already made my late night sugar fix juice that is super delicious so I have something to look forward to after this. 

So, after my nap I felt a little better and then I seemed to get an energy rush. I cleaned the whole downstairs! Now this could also be because my husband was feeling sick so it kicked me in the butt to really get stuff done and take care of him but I like to think it's because I'm pass the 'horrible hump' of juicing. Has anyone else had these energy level swings? 

Dessert:

-pink juice, and boy was it good! Might even be my new favorite!

Included: 1/2 a small watermelon, 1 lime and half an apple.

Day 4 done! I really am proud of myself. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to do it. But now I'm not even as tempted because now I feel like I've made it so far I don't want to ruin my progress.

Symptoms:

-hemorrhoids are gone. Feeling good.

-dandruff is still the same

-tongue is still as bad as the previous day. I'm wondering if all the citrus is making it worse. 

See you gents tomorrow!

Heather Joy

Juice Fast Journey: Day 3

Today I woke up feeling surprisingly well. A lot of people talk about feeling pretty bad around day 3. Maybe it's because I wasn't really addicted to caffeine, soda or anything else besides sugar apparently. Despite being a bit hungry I was feeling fine and today was the first day I didn't have pain after my morning BM and flare is almost completely gone (sorry if that's too much information but I want people to know in case they are on a journey like me). It's been a week exactly since my initial flare up. Usually the first three days are the worse and then it's bearable but for some reason my body just didn't shake this one...until today, that is!! Praise the Lord!

Because of my sugar cravings I thought I would go with something sweeter today to help with my sugar cravings:

Morning:
-Orange Juice (carrot, orange and pineapple). OMG!! So good!! This one really helped with my sugar fix.

Orange Juice:

-4 average size carrots
-1 orange
-1/2 pineapple

Oh, and my weight this morning was at 122lb. Yikes!!

So, I probably should have actually weighed myself before I started but my average weight is usually at its lowest 130lbs. So even if I was at my lowest, that's still 8 pounds! Come to think of it my belt is a bit loose. 

So, one of the best things while on a fast is to plan a distraction. Having something to do and keep your mind off of food is great, not to mention all the extra time you'll have not preparing and eating food. Juicing takes a bit of time but not that much. Anyways, today was nice because we always have farm day on Thursdays. One of my closest friends and her husband own a farm and have a CSA program. So on Thursdays I go and help her get all the shares ready for pick up. I also created their website and update it as needed. My kids roam around picking strawberries and what not, it's awesome! And I am blessed with amazing food. So today was hard because usually when I'm prepping the food I'll eat a less than perfect strawberry here or there but then all I could think about was how good those strawberries are going to be juiced! 

In our share this week we got:

Cabbage, carrots, bok choy, Swiss chard, cauliflower, strawberries and Brussel sprouts. And do you know what?! I can use almost all of that in my juicing! I may pass on the cauliflower and Brussel sprouts but I am stoked about everything else!

We came home from the farm and thank goodness I already had my lunch juice ready to go because I made some melty, gooey, cheesy quesadillas for my girls per their request and I almost snuck a handful of cheese, but I just went and got my juice and sipped while I was making their meal. 

Lunch:

-my regular green juice

My husband came home and surprised me with some more sweet fruits for my sugar cravings, hence my juice snack. Yum!

Snack:

-pink juice (watermelon and apple) OMG! This is my new fail safe for when I'm craving sugar. So sweet and refreshing, forget that orange juice. Orange juice ain't got nothin' on watermelon juice!

The only thing that's bothering me is just the empty feeling I have in my stomach and maybe it's worse because I've already lost weight and I boarder on the line of being under weight for my height, which I realize a lot of people would love to have that problem, but I don't want to be skin and bones because that's not healthy either! I'm not starved, just empty pit feeling. Oh, and does anyone just feel like their mouth is just disgusting while fasting? I must be detoxing because I'm brushing me teeth all day long and my mouth still feels gross. Weird...but good I guess.

Dinner:

- I actually just didn't feel like it so I skipped, but I made myself a hot lemon and fresh ginger tea. Yum! It was like my little treat at night. Might be doing that more often at night, while my husband has his yummy snacks before bed I can fight the urge by whipping up myself that tea.

Tongue: does seem worse than usual.

Dandruff: same

Eczema: I only get flare ups every so often and right now I don't have one so that's good, but I hope it's laying a good foundation for not letting it happen again.

Hemorrhoid: almost back to being completely pain free, but first day of no pain meds. Manageable pain, more just uncomfortableness in the morning after BM. 

Day 3 done! Woot woot! This is the longest I've done yet. I had a couple two days fasts before but now I'm conquering records! 

See you tomorrow. God bless!

Heather Joy

My Juice Fast Journey: Days 1-2

Well, this wasn't the first topic I wanted to write about on this blog but since this is what I'm going through I thought I'd share my juicing journey with you. I am currently on Day 3 of my juice fast and I'm feeling so many things right now that I want to share with you but first let me fill you in onto why I have the desire to do this fast to begin with.

On the surface most people would see me as the spitting image of health: vegetarian, healthy weight, no visible signs of sickness at all, energy, exercises, etc. But what no one sees is all my 'hidden' sicknesses. There is no way to say this in conversation, which is probably why I don't share it with anybody except my close girl friends, but I struggle with hemorrhoids, bad! Ever since I gave birth to my first born and then it got worse after my second child and now it's almost a daily struggle for me. Everything I do revolves around preventing a flare up. I could go on and on about my struggles with this but I'll spare you the details but I will share that this is my main reason for doing this fast. I want to kick my butt back into gear if you will. I also have a few secondary issues that I'd like to see gone: eczema on my hands, really bad dandruff (which also showed up after my second pregnancy, weird) and my geographical tongue (look it up, it's weird). So, now that you're caught up let's move onto how I'm doing.

Day 1:
Well, as you already know from above I started this because of my hemorrhoids and I had already been flared up for almost a week and no relief, so I just decided to start it today. After all, the less stuff going through (and out) of my body the less pain I'll have during my flare up, so it couldn't hurt, right?

Today I made bags and bags of prewashed and partially cut veggies and fruit, to grab when I'm needing a juice fix. This really helped pump me up for the week of juicing. Plus, it's usually at those times when I'm hungry that I'll be tempted to be lazy and grab something else, so the easier the prep the better.

Morning:
-I honestly just skipped. Didn't feel super hungry yet, so I just waited.

Lunch:
-I had a green juice (kale, swiss chard, lemon, cucumber, celery, ginger. etc) for lunch. This juice is my favorite!

-Dinner:
-Red Juice (beets, kale, oranges)

Besides having my sugar craving at night when I normally have my ice cream (don't judge!!), today was pretty good and not that hard.

Day 2:
Woke up feeling okay. A bit sluggish but not really hungry. Still pain 'down there'.

Morning:
-Green Juice
Lunch:
-Green Juice with Carrots
Dinner:
-Green juice

Okay, I'm realizing I need to go outside of my green juice box, but why mess with a good thing?

Today I'm really having a hard time with my sugar cravings. I'm surprised by how intense it is. But I went to bed without ice cream. A success!! We even had a small group game night and had tons of snacks right in front of me and I didn't give in!! Man, I wanted too! Someone even brought a healthy fruit tray, but I can do this!!! I made sure to bring a juice so I felt like I was having something too, which really helped.

Well, that brings us to today which I will write a complete post about after this one.