Day 10: What Happens When Your Appetite Tanks?

It was weird. I hit some kind of strange wall today - not really thirsty yet feeling dehydrated. Not really 'hungry' for any kind of calories. Dinner tonight - a quart of Savory Juice Base - was about all I really wanted to manage.

Has anyone with any previous experience had this sort of thing happen to them? I'm stumped. I've a bit of a sore throat, and I'm tired as they come and I've always heard that when you're sick you should starve a cold and feed a fever.... unless it's starve a fever and feed a cold.

Either way, I'm not hungry. Or much thirsty for that matter.

Today's Menu:

• 1 Quart Savory Juice Base
• 1 cup ultra ripe raspberries
• 2 c hot coffee

OBSERVATIONS

You know I didn't do well today. Or reach anything close to nutritional goals. But I'm too tired to care.

MUSINGS and HINTS

• It would be great if someone could tell me whether to feed or starve a sore throat.
• It is actually possible to be non thirsty and feel dehydrated at the same time

Have a Question? Feel Free to Ask!

Day 9:Baby You're a Firework

Happy Fourth All!

Nothing to report today except that melon is indeed a saving grace.

Day 7,8: If you say watermelon really fast while moving your lips...

Watermelon, Watermelon, Watermelon.

Not only is it a handy word for those times when you forget your lines during choral concert and other vocal performances, it's also a handy, sweet, and absolutely refreshing way to spend a hot summer. Especially when you find yourself at Fourth of July Ad Infinitum Ad Nauseum, and there's not much to do but eat something. 

Watermelon has been my saving grace.

Remember: Watermelon counts as one of those fruits that meets my Exceptions Clause in my guidelines:

Other

Any fruit or veg that will completely juice with little to no pulp may be eaten whole without removing the feasting status. Example: watermelon flesh.

As you can see it actually made the list as the example in this exception. What a lovely fruit - you can eat tons and tons of it, and [because you might just happen to be allergic to everything else and everyone knows it] nobody blinks or asks you an odd question or tries to get you to take more of that family famous secret sauce recipe that you really really secretly don't like at all.  It's also filling and tasty.

Did I mention that I discovered about two days in that it makes me break out in hives?

This one bears examination. Or perhaps my head does, because I'm still downing it. I'll wait for another two weeks to let the allergist tell me that it's give up watermelon or die before I actually give up my lovely watermelon.

And hope it stays at hives until then.

As always see my Juice Yields Page for approximate amounts of produce required

Today's Menu:

• 1 Quart Fresh Juice Base
• 1 Quart Fresh Pineapple Juice
• 2 c fresh carrot juice
• water water water... melon that is!
• 1 tbsp Bee pollen
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

OBSERVATIONS

With this much sugar coursing through my veins, I'm high as a kite. There is a reason to drink that extra quart of green juice. Or perhaps my brain is having some random anaphylaxis-analog to the melon.

Despite waking up and feeling like Super Bloat meets Flab Woman, They tell me at my monthly weigh in that I've lost 3.8 pounds, of which 2.8 is fat loss.

Also lost several inches. You can see my Before and After Page for updates, but I don't see the difference and I doubt you will either.

MUSINGS and HINTS

• Watermelon is the food that is also a drink!
• People cut you way more slack when you're allergic to literally everything on the menu.
• (including the watermelon)
• Saying "Watermelon" really fast doesn't work when you've forgotten your lines in the school play or are presenting your quarterly report to your boss.

Have a Question? Feel Free to Ask!

Day 6: Sometimes the Supermarket Beckons

Sometimes life just hits you hard and taking a break from all your worries.... well, it sure would mean at least a little.

Catching up at work, and maintaining a very active (and hungry) family put me at Stage Tired, so I cut myself a break and used some store bought extra time for my day. Maybe that's not ideal. Maybe it's a stupid idea. Maybe I need to cut myself a break after putting in well over 60 hours for the week already and maybe knowing your limitations is healthy, too....

Sometimes I think we have an all or nothing mentality, so if it's not perfectly raw, perfectly fresh, perfectly organic... we throw in the towel and quit. It's a symptom of orthorexia, and it's not a good thing. I battled in my younger years with eating disorders, and this type of thinking only gets you  depression, defeat, and denial.  To make something like a raw foods diet or a juice feast stick, you've got to understand that sometimes good enough is actually good enough, and every step in the right direction is, indeed, a step. I get angry - really angry - with the orthodoxy, the orthorexia I find in many of the health foods movements, because I think it ultimately defeats the goal of progression and the reality of imperfection and leads to the opposite of what we're trying to accomplish - which is bringing as many sheep into this beautiful, verdant sheepfold as possible.

Today's Menu:

• 1 Quart Fresh Juice Base
• 1 Quart Fresh Pineapple Juice
• 1 bottle Naked Green Machine Jucie
• 1 bottle Naked Coconut juice
• 1 tbsp Bee pollen
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

OBSERVATIONS

oddly enough my nutritionals were fine today, or at least not any more off than usual.

MUSINGS and HINTS

• It's okay to cut yourself a break sometimes
• Don't let others dictate how your own personal journey will go
• Sometimes it's better to give a little than cave a lot

Have a Question? Feel Free to Ask!

Day 5: Don't Try this At Home!

Well, I decided to forego my yummy drink bases today for two reasons:

1. We had a ton of stuff that really needed to be harvested from the garden.
2. I was still on sugar overload from the camping trip
3. I was still sleep deprived from the camping trip and could not therefore be trusted to actually think.

So I made what my son lovingly referred to as 'swamp water'

You don't want to know the recipe. You really don't want to make the recipe. But here it is:

• 3 quarts random juice from whatever greens/herbs/weeds you find growing in your garden that may have bolted due to you being out of town 
• 2 whole lemons
• 1 lime
• 3 inches of ginger root

Juice it all. Wait. Force yourself to drink it.

Let's just say it was bitter and bland, spicy and over sweet all at the same time. Like spit from a person doing every  Man V Food Hot Wings Challenge ever created.

Not recommended. Ever. Especially for convincing your children to drink freshly pressed juices.

Today's Menu:

• Swamp Water

OBSERVATIONS

Swamp Water is awful.

MUSINGS and HINTS

• Test anything before feeding to your kids
• Liver Flushing isn't always pleasant
• Better to live and let live than try to repair with Swamp Water

Have a Question? Feel Free to Ask!

Days 2,3,4

No, I haven't abandoned you.  I found myself in the middle of beautiful Cook Forest (pictured above) on a camping trip with 9 impressionable teenagers. No, these huts/yurts/whatever beautiful pieces of art were not what we stayed in. But the woods were truly that beautiful... and a girl can wish.

I was more glad than you can imagine that I'd given myself some reasonable exceptions/guidelines for feasting, because hauling around several gallons of juice in the middle of the summer in the middle of the woods was not happening. Especially when you're carting a bunch of preteen and teenage girls and trying to teach them to treat their bodies like temples instead of borderline eating-disorder meccas and then trying to explain why you're not consuming solids.

The trip started with me trying to super load on my juices for the day before heading out. This was good in theory, since we were getting in later and I could get my feast done right at least one day. But the drive was nearly 3 hours long... and it was a lot of juice. Fun stuff. Lesson learned: just take a cooler and sip the juice while everyone else pounds Monsters.

This was followed by two glorious days of soft fruit - mostly melon. Cantaloupe in shades of orange, so ripe and luscious that it was silk in texture - the scent filling the air for a distance of a hundred feet.  Watermelon running with juices over the hands and arms and soaking down into the ground like the ancient drink offering. Peaches bursting with flesh so saturated that each bite literally juiced itself upon contact with ones lips. Good stuff. Of course I underestimated the fact that in nature, surrounded by beauty, and with plentiful activity, even Standard American Monster Drinkers will raid the fruit bowl. Lesson learned: Pack more fruit or expect to be hungry.

I also didn't account for what so much fruit would do to my insulin. That's a lot of sugar to load into one's veins at a clip, let alone 48 solid hours. Stomach gripes and blood sugar issues finally hit on the way home, leading me directly to the closest bathroom in the nicest Wing Street/Pizza Hut I've ever encountered. Okay to be honest the first one I'd ever entered, but the place was five star in decor. Frealz.

The plan is to juice out green green green and do a little detox tomorrow. 

Today's Menu:

• Lots of melon and a few ripe peaches

OBSERVATIONS

No internetz means no Livestrong. Alas.

MUSINGS and HINTS

• Soft Fruit contains a significant amount of fiber. It will eventually come out the other end.
• Teenagers love fruit
• Never juice load before a 3 hour drive when the lead driver is a get-in-and-get-there kinda guy.

Have a Question? Feel Free to Ask!

Day 1 Again....

Whether I created my guidelines last night or not, I feel compelled to start over at Day 1 Consecutive, because it would only be 3 out of 5 that I've juice fasted.

Today we've got a wedding and so I wanted something with a little more fiber and bulk to fill me up before we go - my thought is that with two hungry kids who will happily clean my plate and with so many people around - and so many food allergies - it should be relatively easy for me to bulk up before and to avoid anyone noticing if I'm eating a lot or at all during the reception.

Green Juices tend to satisfy me, but I also wanted some actual 'filler' for the belly. Soft fruits like melons, bananas, and strawberries do tend to bulk the juice more since they retain a greater percentage of fiber.

I also wanted to give myself some real taste treats, so I've included a few new recipes.

Today's Menu:

• 1 Quart Pickle Juice
• 1 Quart Waldorf Cocktail
• 2 Quarts Basic Sweet Base made with the following ratios: 2 c Juiced Cantaloupe, 1 c juiced banana, 1 c juiced strawberry, 4 c Carrot Juice. (Yield: a little less than 2 Quarts)

assorted other:

• Bee pollen (1 tbsp)
• Coconut Oil

OBSERVATIONS

Still slightly low on protein (about 20% too low) and fat (40% too low) for recommended daily, but otherwise right within range.

MUSINGS and HINTS

• Cantaloupe Juice is Amazing. For nutritional quality juice the whole thing.
• I don't really like weddings. Does anyone really like weddings?

Have a Question? Feel Free to Ask!