Seven Eleven

First things first, I would like to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my precious husband, GORDON today!! Although not a professing raw foodist, my husband IS a saint on this earth. God truly blessed me over 5 yrs. ago by sending him to me straight from heaven. Other than snoring, the telling of real stupid jokes and his quarterly manic cleaning tangents, he's perfect. I love you so very much, Gordy. Thank you for making everyday a holiday.

Now to address a question that has been sent to me several times over the past few weeks:
"Regarding your recent juice feast, do you have any specific things that you might have done differently (if anything?) before, during or after juice feasting?"
Let me start by saying, I intentionally tried to stay very positive and up during my juice feast and throughout my postings here on the blog. I knew that I had a good number of people reading and I had read other blogs that seemed too negative regarding detoxing or other personal issues. I was fortunate because I had already done some cleansing work leading up to my feast, my symptoms were never all that bad. My goal was always to encourage others because I believed, and still do, that juicing is the quick road to renewed health, alkalinizing, and to helping to totally reset your body's cellular memory and overall force field.

One thing I regret is that I didn't exercise much. Other than jumping on my rebounder, doing occasional yoga classes and a bit of brisk walking, I wasn't consistently active. My intention was to do some form of exercise daily, but that didn't always happen. If I could go back, I would do more because I think I'd have saved some muscle loss. I DID lose just under 30 pounds in 92 days, but I had 50 pounds to lose. I'd have probably seen more consistent results if I'd made exercise a priority.

The only other thing I would do differently, is that I would have ended my juice feast earlier. Probably at about day 60 or 70. I pushed myself, as if I were in a fierce personal competition. My body started revolting a bit around day 70 -75 but I white knuckled it through to day 92. Once I got past day 60, I didn't lose one pound or experience any noticible cleansing/healing benefits. I think that should have been my personal stopping point, but I just wanted to lose all of my extra weight, so I pushed. Through that experience, I learned to listen to my body. If you are juice feasting and you start seriously jonesing for food three days in a row, even when you're taking in plenty of juice, you're probably done. Also, when you get into prolonged anxiety with your juicing program and it becomes an overwhelming chore, you're probably not going to reap the benefits. So both of those are good indicators that it's a good time to move to a modified juice feast.

I'm actually starting a modified juice program tomorrow. (Once I get past my husband's birthday celebration tonight!) I am going to be doing a green smoothie for breakfast, a salad or green juice for lunch and then a green juice or normal (primarily raw) meal for dinner, depending on what my social schedule dictates. My goal is to get 64 oz., or half a liter, of green based liquid into my body everyday plus one luscious green salad. Anything else will just be extra fluff.

There are two reasons for this switch in diet right now; one is that I have gained 6ish pounds back since I quit juicing. I'll never forget my brother in law telling me that my nephew is following my blog because he's pretty sure that once I go off juice, I'm going to blow up again. You have to understand our sick family sense of humor to know that Ryan's comment didn't offend me at all. On the contrary, it motivates me all the more to stay on track and to not veer too far from the path I have set myself upon. I'll most likely be thanking that hip, skinny kid the next time I see him. Then secondly, I just feel so much better mentally, physically and spiritually when I keep my diet juicy and light. Although I was careful to ease back into solids, I've dabbled in all sorts of foods since going off juice. I am a foodie to the core, so it's really easy for me to taste a bite of this and that. I've been having tons of fun dehydrating again, hosting meetups at my house and making loads of gourmet raw food. You know I'm tasting everything as I go. For me, it all adds up, and adds up fast.

So tomorrow, I'm going to get a little more juicy again and I am so looking forward to it. I'm also signed up for Bunny Berry's 100 Day Raw Food Challenge that starts August 1st. Bunny inspires me and makes me laugh. Any diet or lifestyle has to be enjoyable or what's the point? Life is short and I want to live it to the fullest. More tomorrow.....Happy Friday and Happy Birthday Gordon!!