Day 11 – The Dirty Dozen

I’m more than half-way there! I’m making progress. 10 more days to go. I can do this:) Yesterday was an uneventful day and I was extra tired and felt a little foggy. I had to take a nap when I got home from work, but when I woke up, I definately felt better, so I went to the grocery store…to buy more fruits and veggies of course! I know I’ve said this before, but this juiciing thing is VERY time consuming. Like it literally consumes your life. I’ve been going to the grocery store every 2-3 days so everything is fresh AND because otherwise everything wouldn’t fit in my fridge. Being at the grocery store last night, it was an interesting experience. Typically I just do all of my shopping in the produce section, but my husband had some requests so I walked through most of the store. Certain things look good, but so many things just seemed to be full of bad stuff that I don’t want to put into my body after putting all of this good, organic stuff in. (I’m going to get back to the organic topic in a minute) The point is though, that I’m not craving the same things I craved when I first started. I’m actually craving healthier things. What I’m looking forward to most is going to my favorite little place, RAW, in Chicago and just stocking up! Everything they have there is just to die for…and everything is raw. I’m certainly not a raw foodist (is that a word?) or even a vegetarian, but I discovered this place a couple of years ago and they make creative, delicous, real food that makes you feel so good when you eat it. I’m planning to eat raw for the week following my cleanse so I can safely transition into eating again. It’s important to be smart when breaking a fast…but I’ll talk about that as I get closer to actually breaking my fast.

Let’s get back to the topic of Organic produce. I just recently started buying organic because I educated myself on what that really means and what I’m getting if I don’t buy organic. I don’t buy everything organic (it gets expensive), but I do buy everything organic that is on the ‘dirty dozen list’ (see picture above). Those are the things that, even when washed properly, still contain harmful pesticides that you shouldn’t be putting into your body. There are other benefits to eating organic, and I think this article is a good one if you are interested in learning more. Also, if you have a local farmer or go to the farmers market, I urge you to speak with them about their growing practices. Some of the small farmers aren’t official organic, but follow organic practices. In the end, it’s what you feel comfortable doing and it’s a decision only you can make:)

P.S. – I made those dog treats with the leftover pulp and Grizzly went crazy for them. He literally sat there drooling for more, so all-in-all a success!

Day 8 and not feeling great but Day 9 and feeling fine!

Yesterday was a rough day. I would argue the most challenging day I’ve had yet. Maybe because it’s tough getting back into the swing of things after a long weekend. Maybe because my husband was done with his 7 day juice cleanse and was back to eating and I still have 2 weeks to go. Maybe because it’s rainy and dreary outside yet again (and cold!) All I know is yesterday I was tired, hungry and not feeling the juices! I ended up listening to my body and went to bed early and…

Today is Day 9 and I woke up feeling sooo much better! I’m back to having energy again (thank god!) I’m also really starting to notice changes in my body. My skin feels smoother, my break-outs have sub-sided, and my psoriasis seems to be getting better…very slowly though. And I finally can see that I’ve lost weight..beyond the ‘water weight’. One of my co-workers asked me yesterday what I was doing and told me I looked better than ever and was just glowing! I guess all this juicing is working:)

Next week (my last week!!!) I’m going to be more of a purist when it comes to my juices. My plan is to skip the nut milk, and drink only green juices (with the exception of 1 juice of my choice to keep me going and for something to look forward to). It’s going to be challenging, but I really want to get the most out of this experience and think that is the way to do it. On another note, have you ever had coconut water from a fresh young thai coconut? I’m not talking about the stuff in box/bottle. I’m talking about literally breaking open a young coconut and drinking fresh coconut water. If you haven’t ever had it, you are seriously missing out and I highly suggest you go out and get a young coconut to try. Depending on where you live, they can be a little difficult to find (we unfortunately don’t have palm trees in Chicago….) but they have young thai coconuts in the refridgerator section at Whole Foods and also our local grocery store, Marianos. Check out this video of how to open a coconut to get the water – it’s a little tricky, but you’ll get the hang of it! Coconut water contains lots of potassium and minerals, and is very hydrating. I’ve enjoyed one almost every day of my juice cleanse. It’s okay to drink the boxed stuff, but read the label to be sure there isn’t any added sugar. The water is already sweet enough. But i’m telling you, once you try the fresh stuff, you’ll never go back:) Cheers!

Day 7 – Keeping Busy!

It’s been a few days since my last post and a lot has happened. Day 7 today though – one week down (and 2 more weeks to go)!! I’m down 7 pounds as of this morning and feeling really good. I did, however, speak a little too soon when I said I was lucky to not have any major detox symptons… Day 5 was actually one of the roughest days for me so far. I had a headache most of the day and when I woke up, I noticed my face started breaking out a little bit (ugh). Day 6 I woke up headache free and feeling so much better. I guess that is what some people would call my ‘healing crisis’. The weather here in Chicago has been rainy, dreary and cold. Not the ideal weather in May, and it just makes you crave warm, comfort food. I found that the best thing to do to keep my mind off of eating is to just keep busy. I went shopping, took a yoga class, cleaned, my husband and I took our dog, Grizzly to the dog park…anything to keep my mind off of eating.

Yesterday, I actually discovered something that satifies my coffee craving (finally!). I made some cashew milk and mixed it in some rooibos tea. It’s so creamy and delicous and totally hits the spot! Check out the recipe for the cashew milk here. Some people may argue that cashew milk shouldn’t be part of a juice cleanse. I see both sides, but I just needed something and it’s better having some raw cashew milk than breaking the cleanse, PLUS, my favorite juice cleanse company, BluePrint Cleanse, has it as there last juice of the day in their program. It really hits the spot and you look forward to it all day. If you’ve never had cashew milk, you are missing out and I highly suggest making some!! Plus, if you don’t feel like buying a juicer and spending all of the time juicing, try a 3-day juice cleanse from BluePrint. They are expensive, but there are occassionaly sales, so sign-up to be on their email distribution list. Plus they ship anywhere in the U.S.

Working out during a juice cleanse
Some people question whether or not you should work out during a cleanse. I think it’s important to listen to your body. It might be okay for some, but if your body is telling you to rest, then listen and just relax! My typical workout consists of weight training and although I have read that it is okay to do some light weight training, I decided that I would encorporate some hot yoga into my reboot program, since it is easier on my body and all of the sweating will get out all of those toxins! I found that there were a couple of times I felt a litte dizzy, so I had to slow down and be sure that I had enough water, but overall, I felt great when I finished!

What to do with all of the leftover pulp?
One more thing for today. Juice pulp. The first few juices I made, I felt really guilty throwing away the leftover pulp and tried to come up with some ideas of what to do with it. Here’s the solutions I have found:

1. If you have a dog, add some pulp to your dog’s food (just be sure that all of the fruits and vegetable are safe and non-toxic for your dog.) Check out this list of ones to avoid. P.S. My boy Grizzly LOVES the addition to his breakfast and dinner – he literally licks the bowl clean.

2. Add the pulp to your compost pile. We don’t actualy have a compost pile because we live in a condo and don’t have a yard, but one of our neighbors is a big gardener and gladly accepted a big bag of pulp.

3. Dog treats – I haven’t made these yet, but am planning to do it soon and will keep you posted!

Day 4 – Mind Over Matter

My husband seems to be having a much more difficult time than I am with this reboot. He’s a day behind and I think that makes a difference, and I know everyone’s body is different (I seem to be lucky so far in not having any major detox symptoms aside from some low energy the first couple of days) but I can’t stress enough that you have to be mentally prepared for this before you do it. I have literally surrended to the fact that I am only drinking juices for another 17 days. It’s interesting to me all the moments during the day when I would have had something to eat when I wasn’t even hungry. More out of habit. At the end of this journey, I really hope to have a different and more healthy relationship with food.

So this morning I woke up and it was the first day I really noticed that I wasn’t hungry. What a relief. It helps, of course, that I am not around food – yesterday was tough in that coffee shop – whiffs of bacon were really making me hungry. Or were they just making me want to eat? Either way, today I am working from home. I had originally planned on only weighing myself once a week, but this morning I couldn’t help myself. I was just curious to see how much weight I lost in 3 days, if anything. I weighed in at 153 – that’s 5 pounds gone in 3 days!! I know that weight fluxuates and that a lot of what I lost is water weight, but it certainly is motivating. In addition to the weight loss, my psoriasis seems to be not as inflamed. It’s still very much there, but just not as red. I did notice last night that my skin seemed extra dry. I coated myself with coconut oil before I went to bed and may consider adding a teaspoon or so to a drink today, but I really would prefer to keep it only juices. Speaking of juices – I made this new juice that I am drinking as we speak for breakfast today called ‘Sunrise Citrus Juice’ and I think it’s absolutely delicious. My husband wasn’t a big fan at first, but he said he grew on him as he was drinking it. I personally LOVE it! I modified this recipe slightly – here is my recipe:

SUNRISE JUICE

Ingredients:
2 grapefuits (peeled)
1 red pepper (remove stem and seeds)
1 apple
6 carrots

Happy Juicing!

Day 3 – Dealing with Temptations

Wow, day 3 and I’m feeling great! I woke up BEFORE my alarm today feeling refreshed after a great night’s sleep. And let me tell you, that is pretty rare for me…typically I hit the snooze on my alarm 2….or 3…or sometimes even 4 times to my husband’s dismay 😉

I’m working from home today and my favorite place to work from ‘home’ is actually this wonderful little coffee shop, Dolce Casa Café right next store to my house. I get sooooo much work done when I work here, plus, the food is absolutely delicious. Typically, I start off with a cup of coffee (cream and sugar of course!), and an egg sandwich or slice of quiche. But I also like to treat myself to their delicious chocolate filled croissants…my mouth is literally watering as I write this. Obviously, none of that fits into my reboot plan, so before I even got to the coffee shop today, I had to have a plan. I packed up 2 juices (Joe’s Mean Green Juice and one with beets, carrots, an apple, cucumber and a piece of ginger) and decided I would order some hot tea. I arrived to see that they have these new glass jars on their counter filled with some of the yummiest looking cookies I have ever seen. This isn’t going to be easy. I had to stop and remember why I am doing this and remind myself that it is all going to be worth it. And when these 21 days are over, I can have one if I want, as long as it is a ‘treat’ and not something that I have every time I come here. Maybe I won’t even want one anymore when this is over? One can hope. My plan following this reboot is to continue to incorporate juices into my daily diet while eating mostly whole vegetables and fruit and cut way back on processed foods. I’m not going to sit here and say that I will never have a cookie again, because that isn’t realistic, but I just need to learn how to have one…and just one every once and a while. Before this reboot I certainly wasn’t an extremely unhealthy eater, but I still love my pizza and cookies….and am an emotional eater and tend to eat when I am bored.
I finally decide on a cup of Rooibos tea. Rooibos tea is a full-bodied, caffeine-free tea that’s very hydrating, plus, it’s packed with antioxidants and flavonoids, so it promotes youthfulness and great skin. The smells in here are tantalizing…but I know I can do this.

P.S. My husband is on Day 2 today and he is very moody!! I hope he feels as good tomorrow on Day 3 as I feel today:)

Day 2

Day 2 – yay! I’m doing okay today…but it’s rainy and dreary out and I’m craving coffee with lot’s of cream and sugar and something yummy for breakfast…but of course, I had to settle on a green juice. And it is not.the.same. I’m tired and was pretty tired yesterday as well and I’m just looking forward to when everything starts kicking in and all this juicing gives me lot’s of energy! My husband is joining me today and has committed to doing a 10-day reboot after he watched ‘Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead’. I’m excited to have him along for the ride (or at least the first 10 days), becuase it will be much easier not seeing him eat food and not having him ask me to make him food. The only downside? I am going to be one busy juice-making lady. I’m planning on juicing every other day and making enough juices to last 2 days. But that meant that last night, I had to juice about 20 juice portions for the two of us. It took FOREVER! (Look at all of those veggies I juiced last night!) I’m hoping that once I get into the swing of things it will not take so long. Juices are best when you drink them right away, but they are still okay to drink up to 48 hours later. Oh, and one tip – run the pulp through the juicer again and you’ll be surprised at how much more juice you can get out of it. I ended up putting all of my pulp through about 3 times and was quite happy with the juice it was able to extract. Happy Juicing!

Day 1

I’ve been into ‘juice cleanses’ for a few years now and have done a handful of 3-day ones with no problem (infact I actually enjoy doing them)…but come day 4, I am ready, and quite excited to eat again. In the last year or so I’ve really been struggling with a few health problems. First, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which I am trying to manage with medicine, but even with the medicine, I still struggle with low energy and have gained about 20 lbs (ugh). In addition to my thyoid disorder, I have also been having flare ups of psoriasis in my scalp, and all over my body, which makes me very self-conscious, especially now that the weather is getting warmer. I have found that it is nearly impossible to cure psoriasis without very strong and potentially dangerous drugs, which I have chosen not to take. A few months ago I watched Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead on Netflix and was truly inspired by Joe Cross and his journey. I did a 7-day juice cleanse and it was tough, but by the 7-day mark, my psoriasis was noticeably better. Something in the back of my head kept telling me that I need to do another one, but go longer this time to really allow my body time to heal itself. Joe calls it a ‘reboot’ as opposed to a cleanse or detox, as you are literally rebooting your body. I’ve committed to doing 21 days, but am hoping to actually go 30. Yikes, that’s a long time without any food, but I’m ready and determined to do this. Here I go….oh, and by the way, I weighed in at 158 today. I’m only going to weigh myself once a week:)