Monday, February 27, 2012

Juice Fast 2012: So, what AM I doing?!

It's Day 13 and I feel amazing. My skin is glowing. My body feels so free and wonderful. My head is clear. My heart is lifted. I feel like I'm in love or something! It's great! I'm lovin' life, livin' the dream like my roommate says. While all of that is true, I'd like to let my readers know what it is that I am actually doing with this juice fasting while clearing up some misconceptions and answering some FAQ's.

What is a juice fast? It's just that: juice! But it's not just any juice. I can't go to the grocery store and pick up a bottle of orange juice and drink a few glasses of it through the day and survive. [File that under: Worst Idea Ever.] The juice concoctions I drink 4 times a day are made up of most vegetables and a few fruits and are made fresh right before I drink them. Sometimes, I'll make juice ahead of time if I know I'll be away from the juicer for an extended period of time, but those are rare occasions.

Why can't I have more fruit juices in my juice recipes? I have a condition known as insulin resistance. In a nutshell, my pancreas produces too much insulin for my body to store safely, so if those levels are elevated by consuming high amounts of sugar (natural and artificial), the insulin floodgate is released open and my body turns the excess hormones into fat. Sugars are dangerous for me in large amounts, so drinking mostly fruit juice is actually defeating the purpose of why I am doing the juice diet in the first place. This is why I will add only a few pieces of fruit to my juice at a time to regulate my blood sugar and keep my body stable.

Is juicing 4 times a day healthy? This is a tricky question to answer as there are varying opinions, but for me and what I am doing, absolutely. My 4 juice concoctions add up to at least 1200 calories, and one needs at least 1200 calories per day for his/her body to stay out of starvation mode. I may not be eating solid foods, but I am definitely not starving myself! Each one of my recipes has all of the micronutrients my body needs each day to live a healthy life.

Do I have enough energy from just consuming plant juice all day? More than enough! It's amazing how much more energy I have now since I've removed all of the bad crap out of my daily diet and just rely on Mother Nature's fresh goodness. I also exercise, so that helps, too!

How much weight have I lost? In 12 days, I've lost about 10 lbs. I'm currently in a plateau, but that isn't surprising to me as this has been my natural rhythm of changing my diet for most of my life.

What is my favorite juice recipe? 2 comice pears + 2 medium fennel bulbs = Heaven in your mouth. I only juice this once a week. It's like my special treat.

What will I do after the juice fast? I will be cooking more at home, limiting my intake of simple carbs, gluten, dairy, and processed sugar. I will be focusing more on lean meats, fish, and lots of fresh veggies with some fresh fruits. I will also continue to exercise daily. Most people are concerned that when this fast is over, I will gain back all of my weight and then some. It's true that most people do that when they go on crash diets. I will not discount that at all. The difference between myself and those people is that they go back to their unhealthy lifestyle they lived before starting something this drastic. I am educated in what I need to do for my body and I had already started implementing those things into my life before this juice fast. I've lost about 15 lbs. total since the middle of January just by getting myself in a healthy mindset towards wellness.

I would love to answer any questions you may have! Just post them in a comment and I'll update the full page! Thank you for reading. :)

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Perspective!

Life is so much about perspective. That's something I'm learning about right now. Day 5 of the juice fast is amazingly better than the past 4 days. It keeps getting easier and easier! Hooray-ray! I'm also on Day 24 of going to the gym. Let me just tell you one thing:

I feel amazing.

I really, really do. I'm making the best decisions for myself right now and I couldn't be happier or more proud of myself for everything that I'm doing and everything that I'm NOT doing.

The juice fast has been really hard and it felt like the first few days were dragging by. Visions of steak and turkey meat would linger in my head. Sandwiches of long ago would call out to me, begging for a remembrance taste. I have wanted to eat vegetables off the floor because they looked so damn good! Yesterday, I went to a friend's housewarming party and chili cookoff. It took everything in me to avoid motorboating every pot of chili on their kitchen counter, the brownies, too! Alas, I stayed faithful to my commitment, and I was proud of myself afterward for using some hardcore self-restraint. In that, I also realized that, yes, food is incredibly social, but it doesn't mean I have to partake to be present and active in the conversations. My friends were amazingly gracious with me as everyone understood what I was doing and why I was doing it, so it was a really great occasion all around. Happy housewarming, Bret & Shrie! You have such a beautiful home! And happy victory to me!

Speaking of social, just today at the gym, I made a new friend! I wanted to challenge myself to run 20 minutes at 4.5 speed on the treadmill because I've never gone that fast for that long. I did it, for the most part! I had to back down when I got some cramps around 10 minutes, but I was back up there within the next 4 minutes and I finished strong. It felt great! What felt better, though, was how the sweet lady 2 machines away stopped me as I was cleaning the machine to tell me that my workout motivated her to work harder. It really goes to show that you never know who is watching and how you can make a positive impact on their life! We are gonna have gym lady dates in the future, which I've had lately with some great friends of mine. Shout out to Gina, Liz, and Sunny for being great gym dates this past week!

So, what does this have to do with perspective? Everything! I decided to challenge myself with a 60 day juice fast and to work out every single day because those are things I've never done before, nor have I had any positive feelings about doing those things. They are working for me now because all I had to do was change my perspective, commit to it, and see the positive results. I've made some other changes in my life that deal with perspective as well, and I've already seen some great outcomes from just giving things a chance, mainly just giving myself a chance.

Happy Sunday! <3.