Day 26- Before and After

Hey everyone!

I am sooo tired today! I got more than 10 hours of sleep last night. I went to bed at 8:45 hoping to wake up at 5:00, but instead I woke up at 7:15. I don't really have the energy to do yoga or go for a walk. I'm a bit bummed about that because I was hoping to have more energy at this point, but I know that everything that is happening is happening for a reason.

I am going to start adding pulp back into my juice today. I want to make my transition as smooth as possible, so I thought this might be a nice way of doing so.

And here they are- my before and after pictures! The pictures really don't do me much justice, though. It doesn't look like I've lost too much weight, but obviously as you can see from the measurements I posted yesterday I have gotten much smaller. I think that the pictures really just show that I have alot more muscle tone than I did before the fast.

I really hope that my blog has given you all the inspiration and motivation you need in your life to start living healthy and joyful lives. I will do my best to give some updates after the fast, and I might do some recipes as well. But always feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions at all! I'm always here for all of you :)

Peace and Love!

Day 25- Fruit love!

Hi everyone!

Today is already an amazing day! Woke up a bit late and headed over to Sprouts because my friend told me they had some good sales on fruit. Oh boyyyy did they! Here are some of the things I got:

Organic grapefruits: $.69 each
Organic valencia oranges 5 lb bags: 2 for $5 (i.e. $.50 per pound!)
Mangoes: $.88 each
Blueberries: 4 for $5
Papaya: $1.69 per pound
Organic Cantaloupe: $.99 each
Pineapple: 2 for $5


It's like summer over here!!! I was like a kid in a candy store, it was amazing.


Also, I'd like to share some measurements with you all. I measured myself this morning and compared the numbers to what they were a few months ago:

	Before	Now
Upper Arm	12"	11"
Waist	29"	27.6"
Hips	36"	34"
Upper Thigh	23"	23"
Calf	15"	14"

So if you need some help with your math... that's 7.4" lost in 25 days. Not too shabby :). I will post pictures eventually.

Here's my breakfast: blood orange and pomegranate juice. Mmmm mmmm!

Day 24 no new news...

Hello everyone!

Well really nothing exciting at all is happening these days. Although I did get my period this morning and it was wayyyy better than it normally is, so that was awesome. Usually I spend several hours in dreadful misery, but today I only spent about an hour in a bit of discomfort. Yay progress!

Emotionally, today has not been the best day. Over the past month I've kind of distanced myself from people because I needed the space for my fast, but now I feel like all the alone time is really starting to catch up with me. I am in need of companionship! Thankfully our vegan dinner, Chomp, is tonight so I will get to see friends. Unfortunately, I will not be able to eat anything.

I am very glad to only have 4 days left on the fast. I am really looking forward to getting back to my new normal. I plan on eating completely raw, and I'm super excited about it :).

I just wanted to spend a second blogging about emotions, because I am going through a lot of them right now. Very often, we let ourselves get into funks. We get really bummed out and upset over something that something isn't even an issue. The hardest thing to do in a situation like this is to try to make yourself feel better, because misery feeds misery. But you just have to remember that WE allow ourself to get upset, and WE can allow ourself to be happy! Just say "NO" to any bad feelings that try to sneak up on you. Remember to be grateful for the amazing life that you have. And most of all, just remember that EVERYTHING will be fine. :)

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!