Day 21 and the detox is back

Hello! Long time no talk!

I decided to skip a few days of posting just because I didn't have anything interesting to say. No weight loss, no weird symptoms, just... a whole bunch of juice. It's actually been super easy the past few days. I flew back to Denver yesterday, and I have been in uber-stress mode ever since. When I got back to my apartment, I realized I left my keys in New Jersey, so I went through a huge fiasco trying to get into my apartment. I hardly drank any green juice (just 1 liter), so that probably wasn't a good thing.

When I woke up this morning, I looked disgusting. My skin was completely broken out, I my stomach was HUGE, and my lips and tunge felt like they were on fire. I realized that this could partly be because I have not done an enema in about 3 days, which is a really bad idea!! So for the next week, it's going to be daily enemas for me. I am not breaking my fast until I have completely cleared up. I don't care if I have to go to San Diego on my fast if that's what I need to do. I am completely committed to doing what is best for my body, and I'll do whatever it takes.

Just for anyone who is keeping track, after 3 weeks of juicing I've lost approximately 7~8 pounds. I started somewhere around 145 (I don't have a scale but I weighed myself a few months ago, and that's what I weighed). And yesterday when I weighed myself, I was 137.8.

Day 19- Last day in NJ

Hello fellow juicers :)

Well today is my last day home in new jersey. I will miss my time spent with my family, but I think I'm ready to go back to Denver and start my journey again. I am looking forward to juicing while I'm at home alone (not to mention that I have a few friends in Denver that are really into juicing right now! yay!)

I did weigh myself the morning, and I weigh 137.8. I am slightly disappointed with this number, not going to lie. I only lost 2.2 pounds in the whole 9 days that I spent at home. I know that I am experiencing so many other amazing benefits from the fast, but I was really hoping to be under 135 by the time I left new jersey. I know that it is inevitable to gain some weight back after a fast (just from the water weigh alone), and I was really hoping to be able to stabilize my weight under 135. But hey I've got another 10 days so we'll see what happens! I think I know why I am having such an awful plateau right now, though. Every time I have ever tried to go on an extreme "diet" and lose a whole bunch of weight, I've NEVER dropped lower than 138 lbs. I would be stuck there for weeks, and then I would just give up on the diet and then gain a bunch of weight back. I've heard people say that breaking through these types of plateaus are extremely hard. But I am not letting my weight get to me. I look amazing and that's what matters!

I think I will definitely do another long juice fast in the summer. I really wish that I could have been doing this one in warmer weather so that I could have spent more time out in the sun and in my garden. After my fast, I plan on fasting once a week every week. Many people recommend doing this as a normal supplement to a healthy diet to keep your digestion flowing and energy high.

I am looking forward to getting back to my bikram yoga too! It has been almost 15 days without a hot yoga session. Last time I tried taking a class during the fast I got really light headed, so hopefully I will fair better this time.

I don't remember if I already mentioned this, but I have decided to slowly break my fast on day 28 rather than 30 due to my traveling. But I will spend 4 whole days starting on the 28th day consuming only juice, green smoothies, and soft fruits (like figs and plums). Then after those 4 days I will slowly add more fibrous fruits and veggies into my diet in the form of salads, nuts, dates, etc. I also might make some soups during the 4 days. I haven't decided yet whether to be 100% raw after the fast or not. I was 100% high carb raw vegan for about 2 months in the fall, and then about 80% raw for the last 2 months. I don't really know which I liked better. I don't want my diet to be an obsession anymore. Some people are so obsessed with keeping their diet completely raw. I totally understand their reasoning for it (it is much easier to stick with a diet if you commit 100%). But from a nutritional aspect, I feel like if I have a warm soup or steamed veggies a few days a week that I will not be any worse off, infact it might even be healthier than the way I was eating when I was completely raw. So, we shall see. In my opinion, as long as you are atleast 80% raw and eating extremely healthy, unprocessed, organic foods, then there is nothing better you could do for yourself. Just love your body and it will love you back :)

Check out this interesting article on intermittent fasting

Day 17

Hi All!

Well I am just chugging along, aren't I? I love how smoothly the days are flowing along at this point. And I'm only 3 days away from the big 2-0. Superrrr awesome!

So I changed things up a tinyyy bit today. I went grocery shopping in the morning, and GT Synergy's Passionfruit Kombucha was calling to me. Many people swear by drinking kombucha during a juice fast. I personally stopped drinking kombucha when I went raw, however that does not mean that I don't appreciate kombucha for the healing affects that it possesses  My body was just craving the drink, so I listened to it. And oh.my.god. it was heavenly! It was the best present anyone could have given to my taste buds. I don't really know what sort of effect it had on me. I am writing this post 24 hours after drinking it and I don't feel worse for doing so, so I'm going to say that it was OK. I might have some more today, though I do not plan on drinking it every day (just as a small treat while I am still visiting my family). Another things that I did (that I also do not recommend doing other than for a small treat) was I took some sparkling water and added it to my fruit juice. Oh man, this tasted like the most delicious soda I've ever tasted. But just remember your intentions for your juice fast- it is not to have treats or to drink things that are bottled and unpure, but rather it is to nourish your body with the purest and freshest fruits and vegetables in your possession.

My mom was baking cookies allll day today. I think this is why I let myself have the small treat, just because it was so unbearable seeing and smelling all of those cookies. The nice thing about being vegan is that I know that I would NEVER put a non-vegan cookie in my mouth, so really it is not even a temptation to me.

I am very happy with the results I am noticing at this point. When I woke up this morning, my skin was SO beautifully soft and radiant. It just really stuck out to me as having improved over the past few weeks. I also love how baggy my clothes are. Right now I'm wearing a pair of jeans that I definitely could not squeeze myself into a few months ago, and now they are baggy on me and I love it :)

Day 16- Christmas

Merry Christmas all :)

Well I had a weird morning. I woke up feeling ok, but then I immediately got really grumpy. I weighed myself only to find that my weight loss has come to a standstill in the past 3 days. This is kind of a bummer, but it serves me right for weighing myself. It is a very addictive habit, because who wouldn't want to know whether or not they have lost weight. But really it is an unhealthy habit. It's so important to remember that weight does not matter- health matters. If you are healthy, then the weight will sort itself out. Fasting is not a quick fix for weight loss. It is, however, a quick fix for health, and at the end of the day that is what's most important. Not to mention that even though I've stopped losing weight, I still weigh 138 lbs and that's the thinnest I've EVER been since I was 16.

So this year I really tried to push non-commercialism on my family for the holidays. We had a very small and nice christmas. We got my dad an awesome omega juicer (the same brand I have, expect it's the super delux version). And my mom got me an insanely awesome healing gemstone necklace. I didn't even realize a person could spend over $300 on a healing necklace! So apparently this thing is super legit, and I'm so grateful that she bought it for me.

My family is off to my aunt's house for Christmas dinner, which I decided to opt out of. It will be very nice to have a few hours to myself so that I can practice my yoga and do some meditation. I haven't had a quiet day for a while so this will be a very nice christmas present to me :)

And here's a shot of my dad with his new juicer!

Day 15- Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve everyone :)

Oyyyyy today was a doosey. Well this is the first holiday EVER that I have not been able to eat anything. Not even snack on the fruit plate for an appetizer. It was utter TORTURE. But I made it through! I feel extremely accomplished for having made it through the day with my head held (somewhat) high. I definitely had my moments today that I just felt like crumbling and breaking down and crying. I was craving food SO badly. Today was definitely the worst day of the 15 days thus far. I decided to opt out of Christmas dinner at my aunt's tomorrow night, so Christmas should be a non-issue (hopefully).

The important thing here is to remember why I'm doing this.

• To break my addictive habbits towards food
• To bring myself peace, joy and abundance in my life
• To lose weight and feel comfortable and healthy in my body

I am definitely making HUGE strides in all of these fields, but I also know that I am not where I need to be yet. These are the reasons why:

• Tonight proved that I am still addicted to food. All I wanted to do was stuff cookies in my mouth all day and I could not get food out of my head
• Today I also realized that I need to work on keeping myself centered and balanced in hard times. It is easy to talk about being present when everything is good- but it's a totally different beast when things are bad.
• I am still not comfortable with my weight. I know that I am not a very healthy weight, but I still feel like I have extra pounds around my belly and I will not be completely comfortable until those are gone. I love myself and my body, and this is not meant to be self-defeating. I just know that I can make my body healthier, and that is what I plan to do.

Today I really doubted whether or not I'd be able to do another 15 days of this. But after I came home and made myself a small cup of pomegranate grapefruit juice I think I reassured myself a bit. I really think that I will reach my goals if I go for another 15 days. I plan on manifesting this with all my heart. :)

Peace and blessings to everyone! Love all of your faces!

Day 14 - Before and after

Hello everyone!

I'm half way thereeee! Well, by the end of the way I am :). I couldn't resist weighing myself this norming, and I weighed 138.6! I'm about 5 pounds away from what I'd be sooo happy to weigh, so we shall see if I can get there in the next 2 weeks (although I guess I won't have any way of knowing... oh well.)

I thought I'd take a picture of myself this morning too. I don't really have a good before picture. I took a picture a month ago when I was starting a different fast, so I will just use that one to compare myself with.

So it's kind of hard to see a difference. In the first picture I probably weighed around 147, and in the second one I'm 138. The big thing is that my skin is so much tighter and glowing, and I just feel awesome in my skin.

Day 12-13: Wedding Fasting and Groceries

Happy Winter Solstice!

Today was a big day! Not only was it the winter solstice which made things crazy, but it was also my cousin's wedding. Let me tell you- it is not easy fasting at a wedding! Thankfully almost none of the food at the wedding was vegan, which made it completely unappetizing, but still it is very hard to not eat anything while everyone around you is stuffing their face with food. But I made it!! And now it is day 13 and all is good :).

Oh! And I weighed myself yesterday, and I weigh 139 lbs! This is a pretty big deal for me, since I have never weighed less than 140 lbs even at my slimmest. I've decided not to weigh myself again until the day before I leave new jersey. I don't own a scale at my home in Denver, so I want to see where I am at before I leave and don't have a chance to weigh myself again.


Also a note about food prices. I now understand why my parents never buy organic- it's like 3 times as expensive as it is where I live!! I guess people think eating fruits and veggies are such a luxury in certain parts of America that they make organic produce super expensive, since no one actually bothers to buy them.

These are all the groceries I bought this morning, only half of it is organic, and I spent $55! Craziness.

Lots of oranges (mix organic and not), 2 pineapples, 5 grapefruits (mix organic and not), 1 bag organic apples, organic herbs, lettuce, cucumbers

After reading over this I realized that some of the things I bought organic they didn't actually charge me the organic price (the grapefruit and the cucumber). Just imagine how expensive it would have been then!