Juice Fast - Day 10

Day 10!  Unbelievable especially if you know me well!  I felt great in the morning and looked forward to my last day on just juice.   I had a honeydew melon waiting for me since Saturday so I decided to make a melon juice and serve it margarita style!  It was cold, refreshing, healthy, and tasty!  The salt on the rim just made it even better!  A perfect toast to celebrate something I'm very proud of.   Only God could have given me strength of mind to complete this fast and for that I'm thankful.

I pretty much stayed busy throughout the day so I took advantage of a Naked Mighty Mango juice I had in the fridge.  I knew I wasn't going to have too much time to juice so the convenience was welcomed.   One of my biggest challenges has always been controlling my eating during and after circumstantial changes and on my final fast day I was challenged like no other day.

Since New Year's Eve my wife and I have known that this would be a major decisive year in our lives. We have lots of pending things going on that in certain ways inhibit us from doing what we want to do.   This along with other simple things like a car needing repair, losing a student, gaining a student, getting a promotion, getting a race medal, and other normal life events has always made me over eat.   My body just screamed for unhealthy food and my mind rationalized it.   Not last night!  There are certain important decisions we have to make that will impact our lives.  The same normal stuff that usually drive me to over eat unhealthy food.  Last night, however, I didn't have that desire.  I chose the healthy option in a situation my body just ten days ago would've begged and cried for saturated fat!  This is the reason my fast was a success.

In order for me to keep on succeeding I have to stay focused and continue creating good eating habits.  The fact that I lost 16 pounds in 10 days (yeah, that's right... 16 POUNDS... incredible! 231 to 215 in TEN DAYS) is not the main point.  It's simply a good side effect of where my mind is right now.  I will eat fruits and vegetables for a couple of days.  Planning on having a hot and sour soup from the Chinese restaurant.  It's all veggies and really good!  I'll most likely eat animal protein, dairy, and grains on the weekend.  This should give my body time to readjust to solid food.  

I have some video footage of my ten days that I'll put together on a single video soon.  Thank you again for keeping up with this adventure and feel free to share my blog.  I have some exciting new ideas for it and in regards to juicing!   

I got home very late last night so I'm writing day 10 on day "11".  I'll still make one juice today but as for now I'm just gonna enjoy EATING my apple :)

Juice Fast - Day 9

1/2 pineapple, 4 leaves kale, 3 celery stalks, 1 orange, 3 apples, 1 lime

Felt great throughout the whole day today!  Whenever I got hungry I took a few sips of juice and the hunger went away.  I can totally see how 60 days of fasting is doable now.  After a certain point you just get used to it.  Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of going beyond ten days but it's no longer a scary thought.  

I'm amazed at how easy it has been to deny solid food... I mean good solid food like pizza and sushi!  For Valentine's Day we "ate" at a Japanese restaurant.  Mirella, my pretty and expecting wife, had some sushi (cooked) and I made a quick stop at the Publix across the street for some Naked Mighty Mango juice and some Açaí juice!  It was like I was giving myself a treat... lol  I was able to watch her eat and in a very determined manner I had no desire to take a bite. 

Dinner time brought upon me another challenge... PIZZA!  I had just gotten home from teaching guitar and was opening the fridge to grab my mason jar of pineapple green juice when I saw my girls walking in with a pizza!  It smelled great, but again, no desire to eat it.  Once my fast is over after tomorrow I'm sure it'll be a different story but the power to resist is in me.  Will power is an amazing human capacity!  So much of what we eat and how much we eat has to do with our state of mind!  I'm glad I have this blogged for future reference.  It's not easy to control what we eat but it's doable.  A lot of it is also my body beginning to crave healthier things in a way it never did before.  The two go hand in hand!  Mind and body working together to create a balanced diet.  

I can already see the light and wish today was day ten... it's not!  Summer, my five year old, reminded me this evening that I'm still on day nine after I acted like I had conquered something... lol Nothing like your five year old kid calling you out and setting you straight.  She was right!  I need to focus and finish strong!  Lot's of juicing left for tomorrow.  

Thursday will be my first day eating solid food... I'll have to stick to fruits and veggies for a day or two so I'll need to get creative with what I eat.  

Thank you so much for reading my blog!  Soon I'll be posting lots of food and juice recipes as well as introducing some new kinds of posts!  Feel free to share it :)

Juice Fast - Day 8

Joe Cross Facebook conversation... we're buddies now! lol

I started day 8 with enthusiasm because only one week ago I had no idea if I would be able to sustain my fast this long.  After making a pineapple orange juice for breakfast I noticed that Joe Cross had written me on Facebook!   Joe Cross is the reason why I decided to try a ten day fast.  He is the star and creator of the movie FatSickandNearlyDead.  Awesome documentary and if you haven't watched it go rent it today and watch it with your whole family.  He is also the creator of www.jointhereboot.com.  A website designed to help you incorporate juicing into your lifestyle.  Needless to say, I thought this was the coolest thing!  Here I am chit chatting with the man himself!  lol  Mirella, my wife,  still can't believe I told him what I did but that's another story :)

I have also received lots of good information from my friend Andi Dornelas of AndiDornelas.blogspot.com.  She is becoming a health guru herself and was my motivation to start running back in 2009 creating running schedules and getting me to sign up for races.  I have run 5 races so far and have 3 medals!  Not so many but I'm proud of my achievements.  I have the Gate River Run coming up March 10!  She sent me a recipe that I didn't like too much... that is until I put a pinch of salt in it!  It all of a sudden became an awesome drink!  One orange, one tangerine, one apple, and one cucumber.  This drink made me feel refreshed and ready to go!  Thanks Andrea! 

I teach private music lessons on Monday nights so I had to plan ahead for a long night of just juice.  In honor of Joe Cross writing me I decided to make the classic Mean Green Juice.  At first it tasted ok but in order to finish it I needed to add some salt to it.  I might have to tweak it a bit to suit my taste.  Not a big fan of celery except in stews so next time I'll add an apple and take away two celery stalks :)

Mean Green Juice

Going to Walmart is not on my fun list. In fact, I pretty much stress out in there!  Unfortunately I ran out of tea and it was the most convenient place to buy it on my way home. I picked up a pack of peach herbal tea.  I was never a tea drinker but now I'm a big believer in it!  It is calming and tasty with a spoon of natural honey.

Mean Green Juice

I am feeling great in spite of a headache here and there.  We figured that some sort of nutrient deficiency was causing the pain.  Salt on the drinks definitely helped soothe the pain.

Thank you for keeping up with my juice fast! 

Juice Fast - Day 6 and 7 The Weekend

I knew the weekend would be tough but I could have done a better job with my juice choices.  Note to self:  Don't randomly juice fruits and veggies and if the juice is brown don't drink.  Chances are it's no good!  Saturday morning started off well with a strawberry and kiwi juice that held me over through an early piano lesson and a trip to the Farmer's Market.  It was all down hill from there.  

Once I got home around 11am I decided to make two two pint servings of two different juices.  I had gotten some oranges so I tried getting creative.  It turns out that oranges are best left alone unless mixed with pineapple juice as I did this evening.  The other concoction I made was a huge mistake to say the least!  Amazingly enough and much to my detriment I drank it all! Brown juice can't be good!  Summer looked at my kale cabbage spinach carrot orange apple cucumber ginger brown juice and almost puked! I was disgusted by it also but I gulped it down as fast as I could.  I didn't feel too good the rest of the day.  For the first time during my fast I kept going to the bathroom frequently and felt tired, hungry, and bored.  Boy was I bored!  Food being out of the equation is a tough thing to deal with! 

Towards the evening I got very hungry so I made a carrot beet and apple juice.  This juice is more fulfilling than just fruit drinks and even though it's veggies it still tastes good and sweet.  Later on I found out that the whole day was a mistake.  Holding everything in was tough and we had somewhat of an accident... oops lol  I'd later on find out that kiwi is a laxative especially if you haven't had any in a while.  I had 4 in the morning and then I had lots of cabbage in my other juice.  Another note to self:  Find out what fruits and veggies make you go before juicing a lot of them together. This combination was lethal!   Needless to say I'm staying away from mixing all those veggies again :)  

Sunday has been a much better day!  Thank God!  I decided to make it a fruit day and it has worked out great!  Apple berry juice in the morning and pineapple orange juice in the evening.  For lunch and throughout the afternoon I drank Naked juice that I got from Publix on the way home.  Totally recommend it and plan on buying some for snacks and for days I won't have time to juice.  

I'm glad the weekend is finally coming to an end.  I have been able to sit through the Grammy's on just seltzer water and hot herbal tea with honey.  Honey!  I've never looked so forward to it my whole life!  I'm also beginning to understand the world of juicing a lot better.  My previous worries about creating a balanced program into my diet is no longer an issue.  I'm beginning to narrow things down in a simple and easy way.  From what I see I just need green juice, carrot juice, and beet juice.  There are other juices but they can be made less frequently and most fruits are better off being eaten anyway. Especially instead of processed snacks.  Easier said than done but that was one of the points of my fast.  Shocking my body to stop craving processed food all the time and to increase my wanting of fruits and vegetables. 

I know more about juicing today than I did a week ago.  In the end, cooking and juicing is a very personal thing. We each have to find what works for us.  I'm going to start focusing on how I can make simple changes to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle that includes the benefits of juicing. 

Starting the homestretch tomorrow! Day 7 is coming to an end but more importantly... I survived the weekend :)  Thanks for keeping up with me! 

Juice Fast - Day Five

My wife posted the above picture quote on my facebook timeline this afternoon.  The fact that I can relate to it as I sit here sipping herbal tea with honey is a testament to the truth of the statement.  I don't know who wrote it but it touches on a theme I have known for a long time but haven't always put to use. 

I'm not always gonna choose the really healthy food.  I'm not always going to make the perfectly balanced choice of nutrients.  I'm also not always going order the chicken breast meal at a restaurant.  I will have steak!  What I can do, however, is balance things out in a much better manner than I have throughout my life except for two time periods.  The first half of 2005 and the first half 2010.  Two 6 month periods that I took that first step deciding I was not going to stay where I was.  It adds up to one year!  I'm 35 years old and there is no reason why the decision can't be for good.  Why didn't it continue?  Will this one continue?  I can only learn from how I handled my past circumstances and all I can do in regards to this time is try.  I do feel that this time I am not only adding lots of exercise (mostly running) but I'm also becoming aware that without a good intake of nutrients found in vegetables and fruits I cannot maintain a healthy balanced body.  Juicing seems to be the best solution for this and I'm happy I found it. 

My breakfast and snack this morning

Citrus and greens (kale is missing from the picture)

Food has always been a part of my life.  Not because I grew up a fat kid but because I simply love it!  I was actually very skinny up until I got married. lol Ever since I was a little kid my dad says that going out with me for Brazilian BBQ or pizza was pure joy.  I ate like an adult!  Once I took over the kitchen in our house the passion has grown to a whole new level.  I believe that food is what unites us all.  It brings everyone together and it makes a party a party.  Nobody gets together without food!  At least I don't. lol  You come to my house you're eating something :)  I don't want the joy that food brings to go away.  All I want is to be aware that eating 12" Italian subs 5 straight days for lunch does not create balance.  Eating huge burgers and fries 4 nights a week on my way home from work is not the behavior of a health conscious person.  I'm hoping that this fast will shock, rest, and teach my body that balance is a MUST.  It's not only about "joy" and "comfort".  There is room for all of that but perhaps reducing the junk and in many cases cutting it out completely (Soda, McDonald's, Wendy's, BK, etc...) is a much better way to live.  In fact, after seeing how I have felt these past five days, I know it is.  I have decided not to stay where I am.  

ABC's juice (missing the cabbage that I added later while juicing... just for fun)

I felt much better today than I did yesterday.  My friend Andrea from AndiDornelas.blogspot.com asked me if I felt I was over the hump today.  I told her I definitely feel I am!  This is the time I really need to focus though.  The weekend is here and it's not going to be easy.  I have to stay focused on my 10 day goal and not get too happy about what I think I have accomplished.  

Running was not as easy today as it was yesterday but I'm glad I was able to run 2.75 miles.  If I didn't have a race coming up in March I would've taken a break from running during the fast but I'm so far behind race shape that I have to train whenever I can.  

Summer drinking fresh apple juice

Summer, my daughter, has been enjoying fresh orange and apple juice.  I have a few recipes I want to give her but I figured I'll let her get used to fresh juices with those two.  My favorite juice of the day was one I got from jointhereboot.com.  They call it ABC's.  I changed it somewhat because I don't have chard but it tasted great!  It was my dinner tonight.  All 4 cups of it! 

Variation of ABC's drink from jointhereboot.com 

2 pears, 2 apples, 2 kale leaves, 3 handfuls of spinach, 1/4 of a cabbage, 4 carrots

Very sweet and yummy

Thank you for following my blog and keeping up with my juicing experience.  All the comments on Facebook have been extremely encouraging and uplifting. Feel free to look at some of my recipes and share.  I am slowly adding some more pictures to them after they got deleted by mistake.