Juice Feast-Day 14

The Gift of Resolve

It came today. The box of resolve I ordered last night. Thank goodness!

I REALLY sat on the fence for a while today, and very nearly threw in the towel. But instead of trying to distract myself or run away from the feelings, I just sat with them. I breathed them in deep and thanked them for what they were teaching me. Then a shift happened and I began to feel an increase sense of resolve. I CAN DO THIS!!!!

Help From Ganesha

Some of my resolve came the form of a dream I had last night last night. I dreamt about the Hindu deity Ganesha,who is widely revered as the Lord of Beginnings and Remover of Obstacles.

In my dream, Ganesha was standing in front me. I recall thinking of him only as the God of Juice Feasting LOL! My entire body was covered in heavy padlocks, and one by one, I unlocked the padlocks from my body and handed them over to him. Umm...wow...no interpretation necessary. Ask and you shall receive! I AM being assisted on this feast! Obstacles are being removed from my path. My body is being unlocked, unchained, set free! This feast is doing wonders for me, and I've got more work to do!

Keep in mind that I have nearly zero knowledge of the Hindu pantheon and dieties. Before my dream I was familiar with the image of Ganesha, but I actually had to look up what he represented this morning after I woke up. I'm feel so grateful to have this assistance! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Needless to say, when the Gods are with you, how can you fail? :)

Green Juice Stinks!

I've been SO hungry today! I think it's because I've been shorting myself on juice for the past few days and it's all catching up with me now. It doesn't seem like I can drink enough of anything (water or juice) to quiet my tummy. All I've heard all day long is growling and gurgling!

The smell of green juice is still bugging me,too. In fact, I've resorted to burning a candle in my kitchen after I juice just to get rid of the "green" smell. Today I was going to go all fruit juice in an effort to restore my appetite for greens. I really think that green juices are the key to this feast though, so instead, I opted to have my greens first in order to get them out of the way. It worked out well. Now if only I could slow down and quit gulping them down just to get them over with :)


Juicy Diary-Day 14

Today's Juices & Supplements

32 oz water+MSM+2 cap cascara sagrada

32 oz Green juice (apples, carrots, celery, cucumbers, curly parsley) Yucky.This was REALLY awful!

32 oz water

32 oz Green juice (Kale, curly parsley, cucumber, celery, carrots, apple, onion, green pepper, jalapenos).

32 oz water

64 oz fruit juice (pineapple, blackberry) Hands down favorite!

32 oz water

Total Juice = 120 oz (1 gallon)

Total Water = 120 oz (1 gallon)

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Sleep & Dreams: 8 hrs, dreamt about Ganesha, Hindu God of removing obstacles (see above)

Exercise: 1 mile hike with dog

Sauna: 20 minutes

Energy: Good energy, but "on the fence" mentally until mid-afternoon about staying on this feast. I decided I'm all in! :)

Physical Observations: I noticed today that at least for the moment, I have almost zero body odor. No sweaty smell after hiking or sitting in a 230 F sauna for 30 minutes. It's weird, but my breath never smells either. Crazy...

Comments: Whew! I feel like I'm over the hurdle. I really wondered if I was going to make it. I've decided that this feast is my 2008 summer juice Olympics and there's only one way to win the gold---to go the whole distance! Besides, I'm super curious to see what happens both mentally and physically after 92 days of nothing but juicy goodness!

Juice Feast-Day 13

I'm A Okay....

Whew! I made it through yesterday! Today wasn't easy either, but I'm feeling a bit more upbeat. That's primarily due to my hubby coming home from his week-long fishing trip today. Once again all is right in my world :)

I still don't have much of an appetite for green juice. Ugh...It's the smell-too strong. I just dread drinking it. It tastes fine, it just smells really bad to me right now. I might consider going all fruit tomorrow in hopes of restoring my appetite for it.

I'm going to jump straight to my juicy diary now so I can spend some time catching up with my hubby tonight ...

Juicy Diary-Day 13

Today's Juices & Supplements

32 oz water + MSM + 2 cascara sagrada

32 oz water

20 oz fruit juice (pineapple/blackberry/pear)

32 oz water

64 oz green juice (bok choi, curly parsley, dandelion greens, celery, cucumber, zucchini, green pepper, jalapeno, carrots, apples, onion)

Total Juice = 84 oz (0.65 gallons)

Total Water = 96 oz (0.75 gallons)

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Sleep & dreams: 7.5 hours. I had a dream about selling our current house and buying a huge ranch in the country. As soon as we bought it, I had instant buyers remorse and wondered how in the world I would ever maintain such a big property. Hmmmm....Are we afraid of our expanding consciousness perhaps, Ellen?

Exercise: Walk with dog on beach

Sauna: 30 minutes

Energy: I had good energy all day, which is no surprise. I have yet to feel any lack of energy on this feast (*knocks on wood*) I do remain in a bit of an mental slump, however...

Comments: A pretty flat day today in terms of juice feasting. No big highs and no big lows. My consumption was low today, but I obeyed my body and my thirst. If you're not feeling it, you're not feeling it! The mental battle continues as my ego looks for ways to get me out of doing this juice feast. For the moment I'm trying to ignore it. I ordered a box of resolve. It should be here in the morning...;)

Juice Feast-Day 12

A Few Obstacles Today

Today has been tough. It started out great, but as the day progressed, I started to feel down in the dumps. I'm not even sure why. Toxic thoughts? Blood chemistry? Anyway, if it was my thoughts that created my gloomy feeling, I wasn't paying attention to how it all started. I only suddenly became aware that I was feeling down. Throughout the day my thoughts turned increasingly toxic (I can't! It's too long! I want pizza!), followed by one or two hardcore food cravings. In short, I had a really difficult time stepping outside of my head today. Today was also the first day since beginning this feast that I felt really ill-equipped to handle stress. I was one cranky pup by mid-afternoon. And despite never feeling hungry, I really wanted to eat something, anything, in fact. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I when I opened a can of cat food today, I nearly paused to consider it (not really, but it smelled divine to me! *blushes*)

Also contributing to my blues today was the absence of my better half. I've been flying solo all week because my husband's away on a fishing trip. It's always a bummer when you lose your wingman. I'm SO ready for him to come home! He brings such a calm, serene energy to everything he does. Plus, he's my biggest fan! We've been calling and texting each other all week like a couple of love-sick teenagers. His fishing buddies probably either think we're crazy, or incredibly lucky. Both are true! :)
Anyway...chin up, Ellen! Keep on the sunny side! This too shall pass! One thing that has helped me tremendously today is reading the posts of my feaster friends over on Raw Food Talk. I find so much support and encouragement over there that I can no longer imagine walking this path without them.

Equally inspiring are posts from the blog of the divine Miss Aleesha Stephenson over at Aleesha's Raw Life. Aleesha is about a week ahead of me on this feast, and I have found it very helpful to go back and read posts of hers that correspond to the day I'm on. When comparing notes, it looks like I'm right on schedule with the blahs :) Today was an opportunity to strengthen my will. What will tomorrow bring? I know one thing it will bring. Chris comes home! Yippeeeeeeee!!!!!

Juicy Tip

Here's a groovy trick I discovered today:

Pour a bit of water into your juicer while it's running after you finish juicing. It's a great way to recover a lot of extra goodies hiding in there that didn't get pushed through. This worked great today with some blackberries I was juicing. Even though I pushed a pear through afterwards, adding a tiny bit of water pushed out a whole lot more blackberry juice.

Fruit and vegetable pulp can also both be tossed into your juicer a second time around to wring out any extra juice.
Juicy Diary-Day 12

Today's Juices & Supplements

32 oz water + MSM + cascara sagrada

8 oz psyllium/bentonite shake

12 oz water

14 oz cantaloupe/strawberry

32 oz water

24 oz kale/apple/carrot/ginger

32 oz water

47 oz kale/green pepper/cucumber/celery/carrots/red onion/jalapeno

32 oz water

32 oz pineapple/blackberry/pear

Total juice =117 oz (0.91 gallons)

Total water = 147 oz (1.15 gallons)

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Sleep & Dreams: I slept for 5 1/2 to 6 hours last night but woke feeling rested.

Exercise: 1-mile hike with dog.

Sauna: 30 minutes

Energy: Steady. It was mostly brain fatigue today :)

Physical Observations: I produced some more pooplets today (hooray! 3 days in a row:). I know it seems weird to discuss BMs on a blog, but as other feasters will attest, this is the kind of stuff that matters :) I plan to close out this week with another enema (will only be my 3rd so far). I still have a good case of acne going, too. A mild, short-lived headache appeared later in the evening and I've had bouts of very fuzzy thinking all day.
Emotional Observations: I was certainly in the emotional dumper today. This was by far the toughest day mentally that I've had so far. All I did all day was play mind games to get out of this feast. Glad to be closing out this day...

Onward to tomorrow ------------------------>>>

Juice Feast-Day 11

A Dandy of a Day!

A Ha! I figured something out today. Dandelion greens make me pee. Whenever I add them to my green juices, I always seem to be running to the bathroom twice as much as usual. Now I know why. It turns out that dandelion greens improve liver functions, promote weight loss, and possess diuretic effects.(I can certainly vouch for that :) Got a special event coming up? If you feel like you're retaining water, adding a few dandys into a glass of greens should do the trick! Dandelion greens are high in vitamins, minerals, and protein. They actually contain more carotenoids and vitamin A than carrots, but they make a b-i-t-t-e-r- juice, so all you need a is handful. And speaking of juicing bitter things...

...I'm really trying to rotate my greens to make sure I don't miss any key nutrients. So for something different, I tried 4-5 Brussels sprouts in with my daily greens today. Brussels sprouts give you the same key benefits as vegetables from the cabbage family. That means you get a six pack of hard to pronounce anticancer compounds, plus vitamin C, potassium and iron. It's best to juice these mini cabbages with veggies that are high in calcium (kale, spinach or parsley) because Brussels sprouts have a high phosphorus content, and high amounts of phosphorus can reduce the utilization of calcium. I found that they juiced well and didn't get caught up in the blades like some of the leafy greens can.

More Thoughts On pH Balance

Just like some foods are acid-forming, I've read that anger, fear, and jealousy also swing the pH balance toward the acidic in your body. Stress and overwork are acidic, too. To stay alkaline, we need to eat plenty of raw fruits and veggies and stay positive. Meditation and thoughts focusing on peace, kindness and love have all been shown to have an alkalizing effect on the body(*Om*) (*Om*) (*Om*)....

Juicy Diary-Day 11
Today's Juices & Supplements

32 oz water + 2 MSM caps + 2 cascara sagrada
32 oz yellow watermelon/strawberry
8 oz cantaloupe/strawberry
32 oz water
32 oz water
36 oz green juice (Lacinato kale, green pepper, carrots, parsley, dandelion greens, celery, cucumbers, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, and apples)
32 oz water + B12
40 oz green juice
20 oz cantaloupe/strawberry

Total Juice = 136 oz (1.06 gallons)
Total Water = 120 0z water ( 1 gallon)
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Sleep & dreams: 8 hours. I had a waitressing dream last night. As a former waitress, I still enjoy the occasional "in-the-weeds" dreams. This one was different, though. It was more of a "food for thought" dream-and something totally related to this juice feast. Too bad I can't remember what I was being served.
Energy: Excellent. Each day I seem to have more and more energy. Today was amazing! I think the change in order of fruit juice, green juice, green juice, fruit juice was key for me.
Exercise: 2 mile hike with dog and another fight with my lawn mower. I won this one! I got a great workout mowing the lawn today. You'd have to see our lawn to appreciate it. It's very steep in places.
Sauna: 35 minutes. Even when it's warm out, this feels great. Today I had the dog and the cat in with me (I sat in the middle).
Physical observations: I'm not going to include any detox symptoms until something else happens :) Beyond my juicy glow, I am starting to notice some other significant changes. The first is my knees. They are typically very creaky, especially going up and down stairs. In the past 2 days, I don't feel any pain anymore. It's incredible. I'm not sure if it's the MSM or the juice or a combination of the two. Who cares! I may run again!
The second is my body. It's definitely shrinking and tightening up, which is weird to me seeing as how I'm not exercising anymore than usual. The third is my energy. I can't believe how much energy I have! I'm practically bursting!

Juice Feast-Day 10

10 Days ! Yippeee For Me!!!

Wow! Amazing! Tempest Fugit! 10 days in already! I can hardly believe how time is flying by. I don't think I've ever done anything for 10 whole days before...:)

I came across an interesting list in my juicing book today. A top 20 list of the most nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits for juicing.

Here they are in order:
1. Bell peppers (numero uno!)
2. Parsley
3. Kale
4. Broccoli
5. Spinach
6. Celery
7. Brussels sprouts
8. Cauliflower
9. Carrots
10. Cabbage
11.Beets
12. Pineapple
13. Cantaloupe
14. Watermelon
15.Tomatoes
16. Apples
17. Strawberries
18. Pears
19. Oranges
20. Grapes
As you can see, fruits are farther down the list. This is because they contain more natural sugars and tend to be higher in calories. Still packed with the good stuff, though! I was surprised to see that Brussels sprouts made the list. Surprised in that I mean I had never considered juicing them before. I picked some up at Co-op today and I'm going to add them into the mix tomorrow.

Today's New Juice
Red Grapes/Orange/Lemon/Pear *Yum*

Ratio: 3 cups grapes, 2 oranges, 1 lemon, and 1 pear. Initially, I wasn't going to add in the pear. I only did it because I needed more juice and I wanted to drop in something that had a neutral flavor. It was yummy-a real keeper (*licks lips*)

Juicy Diary-Day 10

Juices & Supplements
(in order of consumption)

32 oz water + 2 MSM caps + 2 cascara sagrada
20 oz yellow watermelon
15 oz yellow watermelon/strawberry
32 oz water
64 0z green juice (kale, rainbow chard, celery, cucumber, green bell pepper, apples, carrots)
10 oz water
32 oz grape/orange/lemon/pear
Total juice = 131 ounces (1.02 gallons)
Total water = 64 ounces (0.5 gallons)
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Sleep & dreams: 6.5 hours
Exercise: 1 mile walk with dog, fight with lawn mower.
Sauna: 30 minutes
Physical Detox: Still have the zits that sprang up yesterday, but otherwise...um...no.
Comments: I'll say it again. Wow! Ten whole days of nothing but juice and water. 9.02 gallons of juice (and 900 trips to Whole Foods) so far! I'm saving my receipts. What no one seems to talk much about on this feast is the cost. Food prices are high right now and it takes a lot of fruits and veggies to produce a gallon of juice every day. I feel fortunate that I can do this for myself, but I'm starting to understand how healthy food options could be challenging for some-especially those who live in places where growing seasons are short, or in places where most produce is shipped in.

I'm still planning on going the distance-92 days. I'm trying not to think about how long I have left, but just how far I've come. My plan is to use the Daffodil Principle-that is, using the accumulation of time to my advantage:)

Juice Feast-Day 9

What a difference a day makes!
Brrr! Apparently Spring took the day off to observe the Memorial Day holiday-probably went to a barbecue or something. It was 37 F degrees by 6:30 PM this evening. There are some frost warnings out for the overnight, so I put some tiny sweaters on my spinach, chard and kale (in the form of a window over their pots). Sleep tight my little greenies!

I kind of suck at juicing.
I added lemon to my green juice today. Too much lemon. Yucky. When you make enough green juice to last all day, adding a bit of lemon to it helps it stay fresh. Up to this point I haven't felt the need to add any lemon. Instead, I've been adding things like onion and jalapenos everyday to make my green juice taste more palatable. Sort of "Juicy Mexicana" if you will.

It worked at first. In fact, it tasted awesome. Nine days and nine gallons of juice later, the thought of drinking green juice now repulses me. Yesterday I added WAY too much jalapeno and too many apples. It was a hot mess. So today I thought the lemon would be a nice change.

Um...nope. (*shiver*) Plus, I skipped the carrots and apples today. You know, trying to keep things simple and all....Hmmm. Another bad idea. The result was bitter lemonade. It was brutal. I drank it all, but I ended up gulping it down really fast because I couldn't stand the taste. Not good. Probably in for loads of G.I. trouble tomorrow :o

Juicy Diary-Day 9

(In order of consumption)

32 oz water + MSM + 2 caps cascara sagrada

34 0z yellow watermelon, gogi berries, Tulane cherries. This really didn't turn out as well as I thought. Plus, the cherries were a real pain to pit before dropping the into the juicer.

32 oz water

32 oz green juice (Lacinato Kale, Bok Choi, Cucumbers, Celery, Lemon, Red Onion).

32 oz water

32 oz green juice

Total Juice = 98 ounces (0.77 gallons)

Total Water = 96 ounces (0.75 gallons)

Today my juice totals were the lowest they have been so far. I felt satisfied all day, though. Hopefully I won't pay for it tomorrow.

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Sleep: 8 hours. No dream recall.

Energy: Rawsome! I was pretty pumped up all day today. The most amazing part of this juice feast is that I haven't experienced any lack of energy. In fact, as my feast progresses, I feel like my energy level is climbing :)

Exercise: Took the dog on a brisk two mile hike today. I had a lot of energy for more exercise, but a work deadline got in the way today.

Sauna: 40 minutes + skin brush.

Physical Detox: Yipeee! I've got a huge zit on my chin! It seems like a weird thing to celebrate, but I'm happy to finally have a concrete sign I'm detoxing! The cascara sagrada and benotnite/psyllium shake I had yesterday must have finally kicked in. I finally had a BM today. I know I'm not eating three squares a day, but my body is still metabolizing things and creating waste, so I was happy to see it. It wasn't a poop as much as a pooplet. It wouldn't win any awards, that's for sure.

Today I sneezed a bit and had some gunk in my throat, but again, it only lasted briefly.

Comments: Another day done! I'm not going to lie. The mental part of this feast has been the toughest part for me. I know there will be ups and downs, though. It's all part of the process. I'm trying to take it one day at a time, but it's hard not to look down the road and wonder if I really have what it takes to last for 92 days....

Juice Feast-Day 8

Starting Week Two

Okay...here we go. Starting on week two today. We've been blessed with a gentle rain here today, and I'm in a "curl up with a book on the couch" kinda mood...

pH...It's all about BALANCE Baby!

Today has been an interesting day. I stopped by the local co-op again to pick up a pH kit (Seriously, I should apply there. Most customers already think I work there anyway). I'm was curious as to the pH of my saliva and urine. Why? Because when the body is constantly kept in an acidic state all kinds of things go haywire with our internal ecosystem. ALL disease thrives in an acid state!

Also interesting...I just read an article that talked about how our bodies hold on to fat to protect itself from an acid condition. Fat is where the body stores excess acids and toxins when it can no longer handle the acid load! A balanced body will arrive at its proper weight naturally. Health first and the weight will melt away by itself.

Ideally, normal blood pH is tightly regulated between 7.35 and 7.45 (slightly alkaline). When too many acid forming foods are ingested, acid buffers in the body start dumping the excess into your saliva and urine. So, in a balanced individual, urine and saliva pH should test neutral at 6.8 to 7.2. I'm there! Well...almost. My saliva and urine pH don't exactly match (my saliva was slightly more acid today). All that means is that I still have some work to do:)

1 Week Weight loss

I'm down 11 lbs as of today-from 188 down to 177. Of course it's not all fat, but I can tell you that no matter what it's composed of, my body appreciates anything that lightens the load. Weight released means less toxins in my body:) Yipeeeeee!!!!!
Juicy Diary-Day 8

(In order of appearance)

32 oz water + 2 MSM caps

2 cascara sagarda caps (herbal lax)

32 oz pineapple/strawberry/orange

32 oz water +1 B12 cap

14 oz water bentonite/psyllium husk powder

32 oz water

100 oz Green Juice (bok choi, rainbow chard, collard greens, dandelion greens, carrots, apples, jalapenos, cucumbers, celery, zucchini, parsley, radish, green bell pepper, and garlic). Bok choi in the mix today. High water content and green thrown in as a bonus. Mild flavor. Loved it!

Total Juice = 132 ounces (1.03 gallons)

Total Water = 110 ounces (0.86 gallons)

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Exercise: 1 mile hike with the dog. 30 minutes yoga.

Sleep: 6.5 hours last night. Great sleep! Felt well-rested this morning and woke up early without the alarm. No dream recall, though :( which is odd, because I dream A LOT!

Energy: Excellent! I had a lot of energy today-the best energy day so far on this feast. I found myself fidgeting a lot today trying to burn off the excess. Whaaaaa!!!!!

Sauna: 30 minutes

Physical Detox: Slight headache and a bit of a grumpy stomach early in the day. Could have been my body saying, "Juice me, please!" Both feelings lasted only a few minutes then passed. No cravings today, but I nearly psyched myself out thinking about the fact that I have to drink nothing but juice for the next umpteen days. (*breathes deeply*) The green juice tasted icky today. *gulp*

Weight loss so far: 11 lbs. Hopefully comprised of 3-4 solid pounds of toxins :)

Juice Feast-Day 7

Tweet! Tweet!

Closing Out Week One!

Yippeeeeeeee! I made it through a whole week already! Seven days of juicy goodness! I feel SO much joy and gratitude for the past week!

For the fruit portion of today's menu, I juiced a small pineapple, two oranges and some strawberries. Yum! Too bad I never got around to drinking it. It seems that greens is what my body was craving today, so that's what I gave it. When it got late I worried that drinking the fruit juice would spike my blood sugar before bedtime. Not to worry, though. It will make a delicious fruity breakfast for me in the morning :)

I am awash in juice right now. Swimming in liquids! I feel like I'm drinking soooooooo much! And I'm drinking ALL DAY LONG! I'm trying to alternate juice with nearly the same intake of water, so it seems I've always got a glass of something sitting next to me. For something new, Bok Choi will be in tomorrow's mix. I bought the most beautiful head of it today at Co-op. It's supposed to be pretty mild tasting and it looks like it will gift me a lot of juice.

No BM's for two days now, so I'm starting to wonder what's up (maybe nothing). I seem to be eliminating everything through my kidneys (and forever running to the bathroom). I'll be starting on cascara sagrada tomorrow and plan to stay on it until around day 40 or so. I've read that this is a pretty strong herbal laxative, so I'll be taking it with great care. Hopefully the combination of cascara sagrada and the occasional enema will stimulate my colon and keep things moving on out.

Juicy Diary-Day 7

Today's juices and supplements

(in order of consumption)

32 oz water + 2 MSM caps

16 oz water + B12 cap (1000 mcg)

4 oz wheat grass juice

16 oz Green Juice (kale, cucumbers, zucchini, celery, jalapenos, carrots, green bell pepper, radishes, Thai peppers.

16 oz water

26 oz Beets (with tops)/Green Apple

32 oz Green Juice

32 oz Green Juice + 1 Tbsp Flax Oil

32 oz water

Total Juice = 110 oz ( 0.86 gallon)

Total Water = 96 oz

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Sleep & dreams: 7 hours last night. No dream recall.

Exercise: 1 mile hike with dog (what a gorgeous day!)

Energy: I'm wasn't feeling CRAZY energetic today, but I did have plenty of energy to take care of the tasks at hand. I would describe today's energy as calm. I feel peaceful, centered, and rather introspective.

Physical Detox: I did have a mild headache this morning, but it didn't last long. In the past 24 hours I've also had some mild abdominal discomfort-just things making their way toward the door I'm sure!

On to WEEK TWO!!!

Juice Feast-Day 6

Dreaming About Food
(I'm talking food fest here, folks.)

The hunger pangs. They're back. And they're stalking me under the cover of darkness. I'm not having any serious physical detox symptoms (still waiting for that shoe to drop), but my dreamtime processor is working overtime. It would seem that although I've been giving myself daily pats on the back for overcoming the occasional (monster) hunger pang (*sigh* it's day 6 people-when are they going to go away!), I've clearly been in a state of denial.

The entire dream, a random series of me opening things, went like something like this:

Ellen opens mailbox to check mail. Surprise! The mail is Chicken Nachos!
Ellen opens a Christmas present from her mother. Surprise! The present is frosted sugar cookies!

Ellen opens the silverware drawer in the kitchen. Surprise! The silverware is beef jerky!

Ellen opens the trunk for her car to get spare tire. Yep! Surprise! Spare tire is a giant bundt cake!

The good news (according to my interpretation) is that I refused to eat any of it in my dreams. Woke up hungry, that's for sure. One juicy glass of greens and I was all set, though. (*takes deep breath*)


Dogs Dig Saunas???

Apparently mine does. Buck took his first sauna today (with no coaxing on my part, either). I was kind of surprised he wanted in. After 10 minutes I finally gave him the boot so I could kick up the steam (plus he was hogging the top bench). Our two short hair cats love taking saunas (the long-haired has yet to show interest).While I'm in there they sit directly in front of the door and stare at me through the window until I let them in. Then they climb immediately to the top bench (the hottest spot) and proceed to groom themselves. When they are done they go down stand by the door and I let them out. They don't like steam either. I'm SO grateful for my animal companions :)

(Whoot! Whoot!) A shout out to all of the juice feasters over on RawRoodTalk.com. Great job all of you! You can do it! You inspire me!

Juicy Diary-Day 6

The stars of today's show, in order of appearance)

32 oz water + 2 MSM caps

32 0z Green Juice (Kale, dandelion greens, carrots, apples, radishes, green/yellow bell peppers, celery, cucumbers, jalapenos) Mmm. I'm telling you, I'm really on a hot-n-spicy kick!

32 oz water

32 oz pineapple juice (next time I'm going to add blackberries to this)

32 oz green Juice

Total Juice = 96 oz (0.7 gallons)

Total water= 96 oz

I've missed the gallon mark a few days in a row now, but I'm feeling satisfied. I noticed I'm getting chilly though. A sinking metabolism, or lots of cold juice? Hmm...

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Sleep & Dreams: 8 hours last night. Whahoo! All the more hours to dream about food!

Exercise: Thank goodness I have a large dog so I got in another good hike today. I'm going to slowly up my exercise regime as my feast progresses. I figured I would take it easy this week-thought I would be feeling some awful detox. Not so. In the past two days, I've started to feel chilly, which I suspect means that my metabolism is taking a dive. I'm going to need to step things up a bit to keep it humming along.

Sauna: 30 minutes

Energy: I had great energy again today. I was easily near the top of a 10 point scale. I'm SO happy to be feeling re-energized!

Physical Detox: Nada.

Comments: It's crazy how fast these days are flying by, and how often I have to run to Whole Foods for more juicy produce (I have refrigerator storage issues). It's back to the store again tomorrow. I guess it's going to take a little while before I know exactly how much produce I should buy each trip. I do enjoy the looks I get when my cart is filled with all of my juicy yummies, though. I dare say I'm the only one in my city currently on a juice feast;)

I was reading some interesting info on the Internet today regarding how your tongue can be used to diagnose health problems. Mine is still pink, but it has a few cracks in it and some teeth marks around the perimeter. Not a banner for tongue health. I'm wondering what effect this juice feast will have on it. I'm going to the library to try to find some more research on this subject. Until then, if you want to diagnose your own tongue visit

http://beyondwellbeing.com/herbs/tongue-diagnosis.shtml

Juice Feast-Day 4 & 5

Calm Waters...

I'm combining posts for day 4 & 5 due to an Internet outage on the evening of day 4.

Smooth sailing! I'm amazed at how fast time is flying by! In general, everything is going really well. A few minor glitches, but otherwise pretty non-eventful. Day 5 was a bit challenging, as I was out for several hours for a friend's birthday party. It's doubtful I'll be doing much of that again over the course of this feast...

Juice Diary-Day 4
Today's Juices & Supplements
(in order of consumption)

32 oz water + 2 MSM caps

4 0z shot wheat grass juice

32 0z Green Juice
(carrots, green bell pepper, spinach, parsley, beet w/greens, radish w/greens) chard, collard greens, apples, celery, cucumber, lemon)

32 oz Crenshaw Melon/Strawberries

32 oz water

40 oz Green Juice (same as above)

Total juice = 108 oz (0.84 gallons)
Total water = 64 oz
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Sleep & Dreams: 7 hours last night. Right before I fell asleep my tummy was making all sorts of funny noises. Not rumbling exactly-more like hissing noises. It was quite humorous and I wondered if it might be my cells releasing toxic gases :)

Exercise: Digging in the dirt all day long :) Not exactly intense exercise, but enough to cause some sore muscles tomorrow I'm sure.

Sauna: 30 minutes

Energy: In general, I had really good energy today. I was out digging up flower beds all day, planting, trimming tree branches, and doing yard work. I definitely noticed that certain chores tired me out faster than usual, but I attribute most of that to spacing my juices too far apart. Once I got into gardening mode I seemd to forget to take juice breaks.

Physical Detox: The only detox symptoms I experienced all day was a slight headache, and that was probably due to spacing my juices too far apart. Later in the evening, I did have some serious hunger pangs (dang commercials).

I'm thrilled with how this is going, but I'm also starting to get suspicious. So far I'm not experiencing anything close to the detox symptoms I experienced while on the Master Cleanse. During the Master Cleanse, my body was a bit behind the "norm" in regards to detox stages, too. I'm assuming the same will be true of my Juice Feast. No detox symptoms, so no need to assist my body with an enema today.

Physical Changes: My skin is suddenly super soft and smooth and my eyes are starting to develop the "twinkle" that is synonomous of drinking a lot of juice. I've been taking a lot of care to make sure I chew my juices as I'm drinking them. As a result, I have had little gas and almost zero bloating (YAY!)


Juice Diary-Day 5
Today's Juices & Supplements
(in order of consumption)

32 oz of water + MSM

2 oz shot of wheat grass juice

30 oz beet/yam/carrot (super high in beta-carotenes & yummy!)

32 oz crenshaw melon/strawberries

16 oz water
16 oz water
16 oz water
16 oz water
16 oz water

44 oz Green Juice
(Kale, onion, carrot, apple, beet w/greens, garlic, Thai pepper, green bell pepper, cucumber, celery, radish w/greens, lemon)

Total Juice = 108 ounces (0.84 gallons)
Total water = 112 ounces (0.9 gallons)
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Sleep: 6.5 hours last night. My sleep went uninterrupted, but I did have some intense dreams. They all had to do with me worrying that I may have wronged certain people who are no longer in my life. In my dreams I was the one being wronged. It was like I was experiencing the karma I thought I deserved. I was fine with it, too. Happy even. Relieved that I didn't have to feel guilty anymore about hurting anyone's feelings. I woke up feeling really rested this morning, although I had VERY dry eyes. Weird.

Exercise: 1 mile hike with the dog.
Sauna: 20 minutes
Energy: High energy all day today.
Detox: Oh, happy day! Again, nothing too exciting to report. My hunger pangs have gone now and my body seems to have settled into the rhythm of the feast. I didn't experience a single physical detox symptom today. I'm a lucky girl and continuing to feel a great deal of gratitude for this experience.

Comments: Today involved my first difficult social challenge. My husband and I were invited out to a bar for a birthday party for his boss. I stashed some juice in a cooler in the car for juice breaks, which worked out great. The easy part was not drinking alcohol (I'm not much of a drinker in the first place). Even the mountains of greasy deep-fried bar appetizers didn't sway me. The really tough part for me was the sensory overload. Loud music and loud drunk people. Thank goodness you can't smoke any bars around here anymore (that would have been a deal breaker for me). I started the day with a lot of energy, but by the end of it I was exhausted. The whole environment felt so unhealthy and I found it challenging connecting with people who were in such a different place mentally. I'm going to my best to avoid these situations in the future (juice feast or not).

Juice Feast-Day 3

Preserving My Pearly Whites

I was going to post pretty pictures from my garden tour today, but I didn't go. After tossing and turning all night I opted to sleep in. Maybe next year...

My teeth hurt today. It's a bummer, too, because all of my life I've been blessed with nearly perfect teeth. I've never had braces and only 1 filling, which I'm still convinced was completely fabricated by my dentist because he needed some fast cash to pay for his kid's braces. Anyway, I love my teeth. And although it's true that at times I have been known to rely heavily on the wonderful genetic gifts that have been bestowed upon me (thanks Mom and Dad), I do take really good care of them and I want them to stay healthy.

I already have some pretty thin enamel in spots. I'm a chronic grinder-a condition I hope is lessened as a result of this feast-so certain teeth have been subjected to abnormal wear and tear. (I do wear a splint at night which occasionally causes me to drool all over my pillow. If I don't, I face a mighty stiff jaw in the morning). Today, after 64 ounces of apple/orange juice, my teeth were feeling ultra sensative.

So what of all this sugary fruit juice I'm drinking?!?!

My dentist has told me in the past that brushing your teeth before you eat or drink sugar is best. Unless, of course, you're eating pieces of sticky dehydrated fruit-then it's best to brush immediately after. Apparently, every time you eat or drink anything sugary, your teeth are under an acid attack for up to an hour afterwards (yikes). Sugar reacts with the bacteria in the plaque on your teeth and produces harmful acids that can erode the enamel-eventually leading to decay.

I had a dentist appointment earlier this month (just a cleaning :) so I got a chance to ask my hygienist about it. Yep. Brushing your teeth BEFORE you drink fruit juice is best. As it turns out, waiting to brush your teeth until after drinking sugary drinks can be even more damaging than not brushing them at all. Your teeth are still coated in sugars and the toothbrush bristles can act like sandpaper on softened tooth enamel. It's better to brush before and remove the plaque (the playground for the attack) and swill water afterwards to let your saliva restore the pH of your mouth naturally. Who knew?

Juicy Diary-Day 3

Today's Juices & Supplements
(in order of consumption)

32 oz water + 2 MSM caps

32 oz Green Juice
(Carrots, Celery, Chard, Jalapenos, Kale, Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Red Leaf Lettuce, and Apples)
I decided today that I'm on a jalapeno kick. Forget adding cayenne pepper to my juice-it's not hot enough! I also threw in a bit of red onion because every time I opened the fridge over the past two days I thought they smelled divine :) I made 64 ounces of this juice total-enough for the whole day.

32 oz Water

64 oz Orange/Apple

32 oz Water

32 oz Green Juice

Total Juice = 120 oz (1 gallon)
Total Water = 96 oz Pretty good, no?
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Sleep: First of all, I stayed up WAY too late last night. Once I did go to bed I tossed and turned most of the night. I was in bed 8 hours, but slept maybe 4. Hence my decision to skip the 12 hour motor coach tour.

Exercise: Nope. We did get the Buck to a nearby pond for a good session of fetch, however. Atta boy! Gosh, I love that dog!

Energy: On a scale of 1 to 10, I was a rock solid 8 all day. That's pretty phenomenal for as little sleep as a got. More or less, my energy dial felt "normal," only turned up a degree or two.

Detox: I had one or two mucus-filled coughs, some pretty short, but serious hunger pangs, and a bit of a runny nose after drinking my jalapeno-packed greens. But jeepers, other than that, today was surprisingly mild. I kind of expected some big guns detox right away, but it hasn't really happened...yet. I have no doubt my body is still in shock from this sudden influx of juicey goodness and contemplating its next move. I did have another enema, which was (ahem) quite colorful given yesterday's large volume of beet juice :0
Uff da, it seems I have to pee every 10 minutes.

Sauna:30 minutes

Comments: Overall, today was fabtastic! I'm so happy to be 3 days into my feast and have those first couple of days behind me. My energy was great today and I didn't feel any volatile emotional residue bubbling up to the surface (*smile* I know it's coming). In fact, today I felt far more even tempered than I have for quite a while. Yay! I'm so happy to be on this journey! I feel grateful for this day because I know some serious detox is heading my way. Most people are 100% raw or have been high raw far longer than yours truly has before attempting a juice feast. I have 39 years of toxins to start to clear out and I'm pretty much starting from ground zero. But I've got to start somewhere, right?

I will say that limiting myself to just two different types of juices worked well for me today. I worked really hard at spacing them out better, too. The green juice is tasting especially good to me. I experienced some pretty intense hunger pangs today, and when I did, only the green juice seemed to give me any kind of satisfaction. I'm not really grooving on the fruit juice at all. It's too sweet and leaves me feeling spacey, unbalanced and...well...sort of empty. I think it's all the sugar. I'm just not used to it. I'm going to back off to 1 quart of fruit juice a day until my body asks me for more. My fridge is nearly empty so tomorrow I'm off to the farmer's market to resupply the crispers :)

Juice Feast-Day 2

The Roller Coaster Ride

Oh, my. Today was interesting to say the least. Up and down, up and down. Geez, Louise. I felt like I was on a roller coaster. Now, I'm a person that normally likes amusement park rides (well, I sort of did when I was little). Umm...not anymore. Grown up Ellen likes her tootsies firmly on Terra Firma-thank you very much! I'm learning food combinations the hard way. I started the day sticking to the 2 quarts green juice/2 quarts fruit juice plan, unfortunately, I decided to experiment and make 4 different recipes.-2 different green and 2 different fruit. Yucky. It was too much. Some of the recipes were just too intense in that volume. Plus, I gulped them instead of "chewing" them, which led to almost instant nausea.

Note to self: Stick with 1 green juice and 1 fruit juice each day, and DO NOT drink fruits and veggies close together. Keeping it simple will also save serious time.

Second note to self: Pineapple and parsley separate almost immediately after being combined, and 26 oz of beet/apple juice is too much at one time this early in the game (you should have seen my red tongue:).

I had a pretty low key day (some light gardening and then work), which is how I'm trying to keep things for these first couple of days (weeks?). Tomorrow is my first real challenge-a day long garden tour. I'll be gone for 12 hours, including 4 on a motor coach. Our trip includes 1 rest stop, 2 tour stops and 2 stops for meals. Hmm...Are we looking at gardens tomorrow or did I book an I/94 dinner tour?

I've been considering how to transport my juices tomorrow, and I've decided it might be best to opt for mixing water and powdered greens until I get home tomorrow night. I can keep them separate and mix them Johnny-on-the-spot as I need to. A more interesting question is how I'm going to answer all of the, "Aren't you going to eat?" and "What's that you're drinking?" questions I'm going to get.

Juicy Diary-Day 2

Today's Juices & Supplements (in order of consumption).

32 oz water + 2 MSM capsules

15 oz Pineapple/Parsley Juice. This was intense and gave me an instant headache. Or maybe it was the cup of Kombacha tea I had afterwards. Not sure...but I REALLY hate headaches.

1 cup Kombacha tea

26 oz Apple/Beet/Cucumber Juice (Wow. This stuff does some serious liver cleansing. It is INTENSE! I chugged this down pretty fast and no long after my pineapple/parsley concoction. I was immediately overcome with nausea and had to go lay down. It passed after about 10 minutes and I felt fine.

15 oz water

37 oz Kale/Carrot/Apple/Rainbow Chard/Bell Pepper/Jalapeno/Cucumber/Celery (YUMMY in my Tummy!)

20 oz hot water with fresh lemon

32 oz Cantaloupe/Strawberries (Seriously. This one is going to be a favorite of mine over the summer).

Total Juice = 110 ounces (0.86 gallons)

Total Water = 67 ounces

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Sleep: 6 hours last night

Exercise: Nope, sorry poochie :(

Energy: Up and down and all around. In general, I would rate it lower than normal.

Detox: I experienced mild headaches and intense hunger pangs throughout the day, but all passed with a few deep breaths and some juice. I also had a weird runny nose and sore throat mid-afternoon between juices. It literally passed in like 3-4 minutes, but was strong (and bizarre) enough that I took notice. I also had my first enema today, which seemed to help alleviate some of my detox symptoms. In general, I would say that I'm surprised at how badly I felt for it only being day two. On the Master Cleanse day two was pretty much a breeze. It may have been my odd juice combinations. Who knows...

Sauna: 30 minutes

Comments: I did take a few minutes to breathe deep and create some space today. I'm happy this day is over and sort of look forward to water/green powder fasting for most of the day tomorrow. I think a day of strict consistency will help keep me even while away from home.

BTW: If you're subscribing to this in a Reader or RSS Feed, your getting these posts a day late. I don't know why. I guess it's because I post so late each night.

Juice Feast-Day 1

Juicy Day 1
Whahoo! I'm wrapping up day 1 of my juice feast! So far so good! I started the morning by making all of my green juice for the day. I decided I would try to get the green juice out of the way as early as possible in the day because it isn't as appealing to me (at least not at this point) as drinking fruit juice. I'm keeping it in the fridge in my Brew House growler (I'll miss you Chester Creek Ale). The growler is 2000 ml (~68 ounces), which makes it easy for me to keep track of where I'm at in terms of approaching a gallon. My goal is 2 growlers of juice a day, which will put me just over 1 gallon.

The green juice recipe I used for today was modified from a recipe called Bone Builder's Cocktail in The Complete Book Of Juicing by Michael T. Murry, N.D. ( I added celery, cucumber and few more apples). I like this juicing book a lot. One reason is that the approximate nutrient content is given for each recipe. It also gives a detailed nutritional analysis of singular fruits and vegetables and lets you look up recipes according to fruit or vegetable type.

Juicy Diary-Day 1
Today's Juices & Supplements
(in order of consumption):

32 oz of water
2 capsules MSM (1000 mg)

64 oz "Bone Builder's Cocktail"
3 kale leaves
2 collard green leaves
Handful of parsley
3 carrots
1 apple
1/2 green bell pepper
I quadrupled this recipe (at least), plus I added a full head of celery, 1 cucumber, and a few more apples. Oh, and a few stalks of fennel.

8 oz water

32 oz orange/strawberry juice (diluted with water), plus
1 scoop (35.5 g) GeniSoy Soy Protein Ultra XT
I decided I'm going to add a bit of protein powder into some of my juices-at least until I get into the swing of things.

44 oz watermelon/honeydew juice (Mmmm...super yummy!!!)

1 cup chai coconut tea

Total juice = 140 ounces (1.1 gallons)
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Sleep: 6 hours last night
Exercise: 1 mile hike with dog
Energy: No complaints. I had good energy all day, despite wishing I could have slept longer.
Sauna: 30 minutes
Comments: Enemas are recommended every day for the first week of this feast. I skipped today as things seemed to be moving better than usual ;)
I hate to even go here (I mean seriously, how horrifying?), but I'm going to post my starting weight. (*Gulp*) It's 188 lbs. Eeeek! Okay, so now it's out there. I've never weighed this much before, which is why I feel that I'm in a health crisis and it's time for a radical change. Truth be told, I've let myself get out of shape and unhealthy. And at 39 years old, I'm feeling it.
I'm inspired by people others who are willing to share their struggles, which is why I think it's important for me to lay it all out there. But just for the record, although the goals I hope to accomplish during this juice feast do include weight loss (although I'm not going to lose it all), that isn't my only goal.

Me, Juicy Day 1 :)

The Eve Before...

My Juicy Feast!

I've decided that tomorrow is the right day to start my juice feast, so I made a quick trip to Whole Foods and Cub tonight to stock up on produce. The fridge is now packed full of all things juicy!

The juice feast program I'm following is based on the 92 day juice feast developed by David Rainosheck, and written about in the Juice Feasters Handbook, by Angela Stokes. According to the program, I need to strive for a minimum of 4 quarts (1 gallon) of juice a day, including 1 full head of celery per day and at least 2 lbs of greens.

Here's the produce I'm starting with:

Celery, Kale, Parsley, Red Leaf Lettuce, Rainbow Chard, Cucumbers, Carrots, Fennel, Jalapenos, Beets, Red Onion, Ginger, Strawberries, Red and Green Apples, Pineapple, Strawberries, Watermelon, Honeydew, Cantaloupe, Oranges, and Lemons. That should get me through most of the first week.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay on this feast. I plan to take it day by day. I would love to make it the full 92 days, which means I wouldn't break the feast until August 19th. Since I haven't even started, that seems far too overwhelming to think about at this stage. My goal is simply going to be to take each day as it comes and listen to my body.

Yesterday was my first day completely off of coffee for a few months. Whew! Thank goodness! I really wanted to go in to my juice feast free from caffeine withdrawals. Getting off of coffee really messes me up, and I can tell you that all day yesterday I pretty much spent the day in bed with a colossal headache. I feel better today, but not great. I've gone through this before (Why, oh why do I EVER go back to coffee?) so I know what to expect. Tomorrow I'll be fine again. Know doubt just in time for some serious juice feast detox :)

I'll be posting a Juicy Diary everyday, including what I drink, detox details, etc. Tomorrow I'll be starting at the beginning-with where I am now (yikes).

So, cheers to a new adventure (*clinks last glass of red wine*)

Yipppeeeeee!!!!!!

Another Argument for Eating Your Greens

Recently I stumbled across some information on Chlorophyll in one of my Botany textbooks from college (Sometimes I'm so glad I save stuff!). As I started to read about it, it really hit home about just how fundamental chlorophyll is to the existence of life here on Earth. Not to state the obvious, but without it, humans simply couldn't survive here.

In case you didn't know, chlorophyll is the green pigment of plants-the primary photoreceptor pigment. Its main job is to convert the electromagnetic (light) energy of the sun into usable chemical energy through a process called photosynthesis. This chemical energy is what drives the biochemical reactions in (nearly) all living things-including human beings.

This picture is of a type of chlorophyll molecule commonly found in plants-chlorophyll a to be exact. Take a close look at it. Do you see what I see?


Nature's design is brilliant! Notice how the long lipid tail on a chlorophyll molecule makes it look like a plant? (maybe a flower :) Isn't that cool?

Chlorophyll and Your Blood

Now check out this picture of heme. I'm talking heme as in hemoglobin, which is the iron-containing red pigment that transports oxygen in our blood.

Yep! The two are very similar in structure. In fact, cut off chlorophyll's lipid trail (the "stem" which anchors the molecule to the inside of the chloroplast cell) and change the central ion (magnesium in chlorophyll and iron(II) in heme) and the two would be identical. Coincidence? Yeah, right. I mean, seriously. How cool is that?

Chlorophyll and Your Health

Like other plant pigments, chlorophyll is thought to have significant antioxidant and anticancer benefits. For example, research suggests that genetic damage caused by certain carcinogens can be significantly reduced when our diet is regularly supplemented with chlorophyllin-a derivative of chlorophyll. So promising are chlorophyll's health benefits, that it has even been suggested to add chlorophyll to the likes of certain beverages, foods, and chewing tobacco to reduce the risk of cancer (makes you wonder about the stuff we're eating and drinking doesn't it?).

Eat Your Greens! Eat'em RAW!

So, what's the best way to eat our chlorophyll? Pass the salad, please :) Studies have shown that when foods containing chlorophyll are cooked (or worse overcooked), much of their precious chlorophyll-cargo is lost. This makes sense. I think we can all recall a time when a lovely pot of steaming green veggies faded from a bright green to olive gray. To preserve your chlorophyll (and your health), it's best to steam your greens for a very short amount of time. Even better, eat them RAW :) Yum!

"Chloro-filled" Foods

Asparagus, beet greens, bell peppers, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, green cabbage, celery, collard greens, dandelion greens, green beans, green peas, kale, leeks, mustard greens, green olives, parsley, romaine lettuce, sea vegetables, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnip greens.

Thinking About Getting Juicy

I'm Feeling Ready to Get Juicy!

So, for those who are unaware, since March 01, 2008, a diverse group of juicy people from around the globe have been partaking in the 1st annual Global Juice Feast. Hosted by David and Katrina Rainoshek of http://www.juicefeasting.com/ , I have been following this event with interest since it started-watching, listening, and learning. Wow! This amazing event is changing the course of people's lives (from the inside out) as they embark on a (hero's) journey to reclaim their health, and the health of the planet.

I've done my homework and at this point, I feel ready to start my own juice feast soon. In January of this year I did a 6-day mini Master Cleanse. I found it challenging. Detox was immediate and it was HARSH. I wasn't as physically or mentally prepared as I needed to be to complete the entire 10 days. Still, the over all experience was a positive one and it left me wanting more.

I want to go from this..


To this...

I need to make a break for freedom. There isn't ever going to be a time when there isn't a deadline, a night out, a party, or an important event.

My life is happening in the NOW.

Things are always going to come up, because life isn't always convenient. But hell, neither is poor health. My mind and spirit are ready now, and I've been juicing and eating high raw for several weeks in preparation.

My biggest concern is preparing my body for the realities of a juice feast. Although I've been eating high raw for several weeks, I haven't experienced much in the way of detox. Am I in for another harsh reality? Maybe so.

I've been searching for information about how long most juice feasters have been raw (or high raw) before attempting their first juice feast. So far I've come up short. Maybe I'm the Guinea Pig I'm looking for.

Will a raw food diet (or juice feast) rattle my BONES?

I'm at a greater risk for bone loss than other women my age due to a condition called Premature Ovarian Failure. I've read studies where people on raw food diets have a lower bone density than those on a typical S.A.D. diet, so I emailed Matt Monarch for his thoughts. He suggested that I contact well known raw food researcher Dr. Fred Bischi for advice. Intuitively, I can't imagine how a diet of raw foods could put my bones at a greater risk than than a diet consisting of meat and cooked food. It just isn't logical. I'm already on a low dose of hormone replacement therapy, take a bone-building calcium supplement and avoid things like caffeine and alcohol. What I could do it get more weight bearing exercise like walking and lifting weights.