Blog / 10 day juice fast

This is Day 1 of the next phase of our lil juice fasting experience. Yesterday, August 10th was day 10. We did (what turned out to be) the usual 16-20 ounce green juice in the morning, 24-32 ounce green juice at lunch time, a 16 ounce juice around 4:30 but what we did for dinner time was a small juice consisting of 1 big bunch of kale, 1 beet with greens, and 3 green apples. We drank a smaller 12 ounce juice each and all the while had kelp noodles soaking in lemon juice to soften them, I spiral sliced 1 zucchini to make zucchini pasta and I made a light local tomato marinara sauce. After we let the juice rest for a short while, we made a small plate of zucchini and kelp noodle pasta with a couple dollops of the marinara sauce. Matt served the portions and I asked him to. I was too hungry to serve myself a proper portion. (Sometimes my eyes can get the better of me.) He used dessert plates and served out our dinner. We all sat at the dinner table and ate. There were a couple times I had to take little breaks and breathe because it tasted so delicious and I felt so hungry for it, that I could picture myself devouring it. It was the perfect amount and it filled us up super well. I didn't think that was going to be possible. I thought I was going to want seconds and thirds. My stomach was very satisfied. It was nice to chew food, too! I had wondered what we were actually going to break the fast with. I was thinking fruit first or possibly a simple soup. But I was drawn to the kelp noodles. We talked how we were going to phase out of the fast and how we were going to continue on. All during the fast there was the desire to continue on. I like starting new life habits for a period of 21 days because it's said that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. So for these next 11 days, we're going to do green juices in the morning, a nice green smoothie in the afternoon and then a raw dinner. We'll adjust if we need to as we also want to start more exercising to this program. So this is Day 1 of the next phase of this endeavor. Wish us luck! I went to bed last night thinking it's kind of fun to plan your life in 10 day increments! I wanted to write on this blog the best yet savory green juice that Matt made up. Growing up in CA, he really has a knack for working with various hot peppers. This is what he and I came up with. I put the veggies that I wanted to juice and he worked out the proportions: Day 9 kickass savory juice = hella yummy: 1 head escarole, 1/2 bunch kale, 1 small cuke, 1 red bell pepper, 1/2 bunch parsley, 3 cloves garlic, 2 jalapeno peppers, 2 pints cherry tomatoes, 3 carrots. This is divine. Made 2 quarts of juice. I think he also added a scallion or two in there and he definitely added a shot of Vital Heat and a dash of coconut aminos. It was a magical drink and it instantly squashed any cravings. We were happily full afterwards. 10 day juice fast gratefuls:

• I'm grateful to have released 11-12 lbs during our juice fast
• I'm grateful to feel SO awesome in my body
• I'm grateful to have so much inflammation gone from my body
• I'm grateful for the clarity of mind and the increased energy to do other things
• I'm grateful for the decluttering and organizing that seeemed to just happen during these 10 days. Even yesterday, instead of getting on the computer in the morning, I tacked the 2 big piles on my desk and filed away some and recycled way much more. I even paid some bills that were there.
• I'm grateful for all the shifts going on in my life, in my heart and in my mind. That's the biggest part.
• I'm grateful for my body and for this experience.
• I'm grateful for my kids who did a great job to make themselves green smoothies and put together their meals so that I didn't have to do too much of that.
• I'm just plain grateful. :-) <3 <3 <3

what a difference a day can make! I woke up feeling loads better this morning. I'm not sure what all was going on but I trust that my body needed to do what it needed to do. I'm happy I just slowed down and vegged out. In retrospect, it would have been THE perfect time to get a colonic or enema. I'm looking forward to when my bathroom gets done so I can have a colema board on premises for such times as this. For now, I just drank a lot of water and rested. I felt better after the savory juice that Matt made last night. It had jalapeno peppers and garlic in it. Maybe those things helped to clear out something that was making me feel so zapped. I'll post recipes from yesterday and today down below. I keep commenting that it's unbelievable how much fruit and veggies we are going through. It's a juice feast, not a fast. We are drinking from about 80 - 90 ounces of juice per day. My joints, muscles and bones feel very good. I feel like so much inflammation has just dissolved out of my body. I definitely want to keep steering my boat in this direction for sure. I feel way better in my body. Even when I felt my body feeling tired yesterday, I was still able to walk up and down stairs with great ease. You don't realize how you are feeling until something is different and then you have a place to compare it to. Over the last 10 years, my body has been so happy with the diet and lifestyle changes that I've had thus far. I went from being in constant pain for 7 years where it was hard to eat, sleep, walk, sit, stand and be without shooting, screaming, yelling, horrible pain. I even had one doctor tell me that I'm just going to have to live with it. I finally found a great chiropractor in Montpelier, Leita Hancock, who helped me start to get back into a place of minimal pain. When I shifted my diet to incorporate what Joel Fuhrman writes about, that's when I had the fastest and biggest shift in my body. 45 lbs released and I could start to walk again. I went from not even being able to walk 1/4 mile without Matt having to come and get me with the car because I was crying in pain to being able to walk 5 miles a day. Still, there has been continuous and chronic inflammation patterns. I was doing about 80-90% better and I would have these things where some flare up would happen every 6-8 months (not really that regularly.) But I'd be doing great and then something would happen and I'd be screaming out in pain and not being able to move for a few days. The most recent was in November when a deep tissue massage sent me into a 2 month back spasm. I discovered sound therapy with Eileen McKusick which helped miraculously. The other thing that I've been doing with regularity and finding gratifying results and pleasure with is Lydia Russell's Anusara yoga. The yoga is helping me to strengthen core muscle groups so that my body knows what it feels like to hold itself up. The Anusara part helps me to remember the bliss inside me and live it up each day. The journey continues. I fell back into eating more fats from nuts/seeds/oils and way more sweets than I need. This fast is breaking that cycle and pointing my boat in a different direction. I thought I was feeling so much better and yet now I can see how I feel now in these last 9 days. But if I'm honest, as of 10 days ago, I was coming home and feeling so much pain in my legs from standing for 4-6 hours each day. I thought I was doing better because I wasn't feeling the old pain in my hips and back. But it just shifted to my knees and legs. I also put on some weight that didn't make things easier on my body to move either. So this is all a very fortuitous series of events here, starting with the back spasms in November. OK onto the recipes. A recap from yesterday: morning juice of Day 8: big bunch of lettuce, 3 carrots, 2 oranges, 1 grapefruit and 1 apple. made 24 ish ounces of juice for both of us. YUM afternoon juice of Day 8: 1 bunch of kale, 2 beets with greens, 3 carrots, 2 pears, 1 apple and a container of strawberries. This made a whopping 32 ounces of juice for each of us. It’s pretty delicious too. early evening juice of Day 8: 1 bunch kale and 3 pears. served 2 16 ounce juices evening juice of Day 8: finally! a yummy savory juice! Matt made this: a bunch of kale (the last from the garden), 3 carrots, pea shoots, 1 beet with greens, 1 red bell pepper, 2 jalapenos (de-seeded), 3 cloves garlic, 3 stalks celery, 4 tomatoes. Spiced up with coconut aminos and chipotle spice. - this made about 24-20 ounces each person. I actually couldn't finish it - it was so filling! and this morning's juice of Day 9: this morning's juice that Matt made: 6 carrots, 1 container strawberries, 3 pears, 2 oranges, 1 grapefruit. It's delicious. I'm afraid to drink it. I like a lot of greens to help with the sugars of the root veggies and fruit. Better exercise after drinking this! I gave Emily some so that I didn't have a lot. It's very yummy though!

Well I woke up around 6:30 this morning and couldn't really get back to sleep until I did a meditation tape and then started to drift off. How funny is that! My energy level this morning on day 8 has been a bit low when compared to energy level all week thus far. It's the time before my cycle when it gets that way anyway and this morning I just felt draggy. I've been laying pretty low today and I had to cancel a fun date in town that I'm bummed about. I took some Adapt to Change tincture which has licorice root in it. I thought that might help with whatever is going on. It is helping and yet my body is still telling me to take it slow today. So I'm listening despite a brain that says, "do this! do that!" We're on our 2nd juice today. Matt has made them so far today and he's made really really big juices today. I also had 1/2 liter of water so far and also drank some young coconut water with a splash of coconut kefir water in it for the electrolytes and probiotics. This morning's juice: a big bunch of Pat's lettuce, 3 carrots, 2 oranges, 1 grapefruit, 1 apple. This made 20-24 ounces of juice this morning for both of us. YUM! This afternoon's juice: 1 bunch of kale, 2 beets with greens, 3 carrots, 2 pears, 1 apple and a container of strawberries. This made a whopping 32 ounces of juice for each of us. It's pretty delicious too. Yesterday (Day 7) I felt really great. Loads of energy and a happy happy spirit. I still get hungry around meal time. I've gotten rid of 10 lbs and a boatload of inflammation so far. That's great news for me. I spent the day around the house and outside. We walked to a lil book sale in town here that supports a local charity. We did a little family thing where we picked names out of a hat and we are doing something nice for that person: could be doing a chore for them, write them a nice letter, make something special for them or whatever comes to mind/heart. We're continuing that until we have our own names picked out of the hat so we can do something nice for ourselves too. Yesterday was a chore day as well and straightened up the house some while Matt worked on his new truck. A nice Sunday for sure. That's the recap. I'm going to finish this incredibly large juice here and maybe do some painting if my body is up for the fun. Also have to jar up some kim chee I made last week. Oh, here's the juices from yesterday:

this morning's juice: Bunch of Pat's lettuce, handful of Pat's string beans, 3 stalks of celery, 2 carrots, 3 of Pat’s apples, 2 oranges and a grapefruit. *burp* (it's actually quite good!)

afternoon juice was VERY refreshing: 1/2 bunch fresh parsley, 1/2 bag pea shoots, 1 bunch collards, 4 kiwi, 1 orange, 1 apple. YUM! Made 2 16 ounce juices

evening juice: so many bunches of lettuce from Pat's garden, 1/2 bunch parsley 1/2 small watermelon, quart strawberries and 1 apple. YUM. this made 2 30 ounce juices

later evening juice: a whole bunch more of Pat's greens, 4 of Pat's carrots, 2 cloves garlic, 1 oz or so of pea shoots and 4 tomatoes. A savory juice that felt great to drink but taste-wise wasn't as good as the rest. I added some habenaro tumeric hot sauce dabs and a drizzle of coconut aminos to make it more palatable for me. Next time I wish I had some celery and a cuke.

Hoping you are all well and happy. xoxo, Linda

This is the start of day 7 of our 10 day juice fast. WOW! There was a time on day 3 when I thought I would just scrap the whole thing right then and there. Yesterday I wrote on FB, the recipes that we had throughout the day but I didn't get to writing anything on the blog so I figured I'd do that today. Day 6 almost felt like 2 days rolled into one. There were some points when I felt like it was day 6 but then maybe it was day 7 now. What day is it? I think everything is starting to roll together into one big day. I think I felt like I could just do this fast forever and it doesn't matter about counting it out anymore. I'm feeling really good in my body. 10 pounds are gone, wow! Loads of inflammation is gone. I hope to see neither of them again! I'm running up the stairs again. WOW! It's been a long long time since I've done that. We are going through so much produce. I've ordered more for this coming week. We've talked about continuing on with the addition of smoothies for the next 10 days. So it would be green juice, smoothie and then green juice. We'll see how it goes. We also want to start a bigger exercise program so for me that will mean a little bit of weights along with the walking and biking and yoga that I do. I'm inspired not only by that movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead but also by this amazing body builder, Ernestine Shepherd who started her body building at age 56. When I saw her website and story, I thought, "if she can do it, I can do it." And after I watched Joe and Phil in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, I thought, "if they can do it, I can do it too." These people are amazingly focused and unwavering in their intentions and actions. This is key, I think. Working at the cafe yesterday was good. It wasn't super busy and I got a lot of things done. I slowed my brain down while I was there. I get into multi-tasking mode so easily there. It's really the nature of how things go: I've got a list of things I want to do, our employees have their own list, many of which need questions answered by me or whatever, customers come in, phone calls come in. I'm getting pulled into many directions. Even when things are slower, I still get myself into that habit of being pulled into many directions so yesterday, I had the opportunity and I took it to slow things down. I didn't try to make myself super efficient and get as much done as possible. I did one thing at a time until it was done. I slowed down my breathing and my pace. It was very enjoyable. Matt brought over a juice and that tied me over for about 3 or so hours. Somewhere around 3:30, I was hungry so I had some young coconut water and added a bit of coconut kefir water in it. It hit the spot incredibly well. The evenings still are the hardest part for me on the juice fast. I'm used to having liquids for breakfast and lunch. I'm used to not snacking (although I really did get back into the bad habit of snacking at the cafe.) But the evenings are when it's time to make dinner for the kids that the sights and smells are just there. Last night was no exception. It wasn't torturous or anything, but I was definitely looking at their meal with a little bit of longing in my eyes. :-) It's best, I'm finding, to keep active when the mind starts longing for something. We went to see the Harry Potter movie in the theater again last night. I'm also finding that I'm writing more, I'm reading more, I'm staying off my email more. I'm even cleaning and organizing more. I have this thing that I want to be a really highly-functioning being and I want my house to be highly-functioning too. So old rickety tables and chairs, if they aren't going to get fixed, are out and are replaced with newer models that I found off of craigslist. (Still into reusing/recycling, mind you!) :-) Things we've held onto that we don't use or have come to the conclusion that we aren't going to fix them, just have to go. My mind is also feeling clearer which is great. It's still just a part of the journey and I've got a long journey ahead of me. The other thing I'm noticing is that when the dinner is out and I've got that longing, I really employ my intention a lot. Same for when my stomach is starting to growl and I'm at work and it would be too easy just to grab some cheezy cauliflower and pop them in my mouth as I'm helping a customer. I'm glad I wrote out that intention because it's how I get myself back in focus of the bigger picture. That is the key to help shatter any self-talk that might try to convince me to just stop this silliness of doing only juice for 10 days. When I've got my intention back into focus, I can speak to that gremlin in my head and say, "Be quiet now. This is only 10 days. A person can do anything for 10 days and I choose to do this. I feel good and I'm going to continue." We all definitely have monkey-brain sometimes. So that's the recap now here's the recipes from yesterday... We drank a lot more juices yesterday:

the morning juice by Matt: bunch of kale, 2 stalks celery, 2 beets with greens, 3 small carrots, quart of strawberries, 3 oranges. we have a good 30 ounces of juice here. let's see how it tastes! YUM!

lunch juice - another big one! 2 stalks celery, 1 bunch kale, 3 small carrots from Pat, quart of strawberries, 3 peaches, 1 apple. YUM YUM - 30 ounces of yumminess!

afternoon/early evening juice: 1 bunch local collards, 1/2 bag pea shoots, 1/2 head local red leaf lettuce, 1 orange, 1 pear, a bit of watermelon (because I've never juiced it before) and 3 peaches. YUM. Today is lots of juices day as this was also 2 30 ounce juices

late evening juice: 1 bunch kale, 3 pears. made 2 16 ounce juices. yum yum yum thank you for reading! If you are on your juice fast, keep up the great work! thank you for supporting me and I hope we can support each other.

Wow! We're halfway done! Amazing.

Day 5 morning juice: 1 bunch kale from garden, 2 stalks celery, 5 or so peaches, 1 grapefruit. Made 2 16 ish ounce juices. grapefruit dominated the flavor. It was yummy though.

Lunch juice: Hmm... let's see if I can remember. Oh yes, I took a 5 mile walk with Karen. Came back to nearly chug down a quart of water. Was soo sweaty on the walk. It felt good. So I took the rest of the kale from the garden, the rest of the local lettuce, kiwi and celery and 2 apples. It was a delicious lunch. I went to look at my garden and we have wiped it nearly clean. Amazing as just a few days ago, I thought we had so much stuff in the garden! I went to the cafe and to be honest, I wanted to immediately go home and play hookie again, like I did yesterday. (Did you notice I didn't write a day 4 post yesterday?) It was a gorgeous day outside and I was happy to be home and only take care of myself and the kiddos. I had fun at the cafe though. I cut up the garlic for the 3 batches of kim chee I made yesterday. I also peeled, sliced up and sweated eggplant to prepare it for making more bacon. I stayed until about 5:30 at the cafe. I drank another quart of water with a little bit of homemade coconut kefir water in it. My taste buds are changing because I really liked the way this tasted. Normally I want to put some stevia in it to sweeten but this was very satisfying. The probiotic drink was thirst quenching and on a juice fast, everything feels as if it is instant nutrition going right to your blood and brain and body. I made an early evening juice of a small bunch of kale, 3-4 carrots, 2 apples and 2 stalks celery. It was good and it made about 12-14 ounces of juice. My energy level today has been good. Matt felt pretty low energy around 6 pm. Our friend Pat offered up some lettuce from her garden today. I didn't think I was going to need anymore produce but we've been POWERING through it. It's unbelievable the amount of fruit and veggies we're having. It's good though because Matt was concerned about getting enough nutrients and I can say that we've never gotten this many nutrients each day! We drove to Pat's house and she filled up a HUGE bucket for us with some beets bunches (including greens), some carrots, some lettuce, and some apples from her immense garden. She said she was happy to have us take some because she was feeling overwhelmed by the quantity. I went home and used about 1/2 the stuff for our evening juice. So funny! Normally we'd look at that big bucket and think, "OMG! That'll last the whole week!" But the rest will be gone tomorrow morning. No joke! So dinner's juice was a big one, about 30-ish ounces each. I know it's best to have more frequent smaller juices but I was just juicing and it got the better of me. :-) Dinner juice: a WHOLE LOT of lettuce from Pat's garden, maybe about 3 cute and twisty carrots from Pat's garden, 3 apples from her tree, a coupla beet greens, pea shoots (1/2 a small bag), 1/2 orange because it was starting to go bad and lots of fresh strawberries. It was a delicious juice. I notice that I start to jug the juice and have to just slow it down. It tastes so yummy and I've been hungry (which is nice) so I'm just drinking and drinking and then I have to consciously SLOW it DOWN. We sat outside on this gorgeous night and drank our juices. Tonight I think we're going to do a foot soak. That will feel very nice. Tonight I can honestly say that I had some cravings for solid food. Not anything specifically. I didn't want to talk about any solid food tonight and I was very happy that the kids again heated up their own dinner. Sam made a huge green smoothie for himself and his sister and I was also happy about that too! The smell of their dinner was enticing. It was about changing my focus. Whenever some solid food thought came up, I put my mind on something else. It went away pretty quickly but I wanted to write it down because it was something that was there. I've been thinking on and on about when I did a 40 day medically supervised fast when I was 19. I think I'm going to write about it because it keeps popping up in my head. Thanks for reading. The best part of this juice fast has been all the support and people joining in. It helps us all and I feel very supported. I want everyone to keep up the great work, keep inspiring me and I'll do my best to keep anyone inspired who is joining us.

Well work was crazy busy today and before I knew it, it was 5:30. I was feeling super hungry and actually it felt pretty bad. I finally had a juice around 5:30 and drinking it took a while for me to feel better. But by 6, I was feeling good again. I have to remember to STOP around 4 and have a juice while doing this fast. It's definitely MUCH easier to do this when you have an office job or better yet, not working at all. Just had a great big huge juice. It was about 30 ish ounces tonight. We were both pretty darn hungry! I made dinner for the kids and that doesn't bother me. Being at the cafe and making food for people doesn't bother me. But people talking about the food they are going to eat when they are off their fast - well that makes me hungry. For some reason, talking about food is worse than serving it. Anyway, here's the after dinner juice - or was it the dinner juice?

• 1/2lb of lb local mesclun mix from our CSA,
• 1 bunch of local chard from our CSA,
• a bunch of local radish greens from our CSA,
• 1 lbs of cherries,
• 3 oranges

I actually liked this juice a lot. The first sips tasted sour or bitter but then I really really really liked it. Mostly because it wasn't super sweet. I'm absolutely LOVING all the fruit varieties we are having but I'm not used to this much fruit. This made almost a full Vitamix pitcher full and it was great to drink. I'm going to hang out with my kiddos. xoxo

I thought I'd write a bit more than just what we are drinking, although recipes are fun for me.

This is the start of day 3 and I'm sleeping very well so far. Sleeping very soundly. Funnily enough I had a dream last night about eating olives and almond butter. I'm definitely missing fat but from my perspective, I have enough fat on my body which I'd rather "eat" first with this fast. There is something in the mind that makes us get a little panicky when the stomach starts to gurgle and groan in hunger. When that happens, it's good to take a deep breath, drink some water and relax. Tell yourself that another juice is coming soon and all really is well in the moment right now. Then do something else to get your mind on something more productive.

I didn't drink as much water yesterday as I normally do. It was the busy-ness of the day that aided in my neglecting myself with regards to drinking water. This morning I drank 16 oz of water, then had a juice and have almost finished a quart of water. It's nearing time for me to make another juice. This morning for sure I felt a bit cranky. I'm at the part of my cycle where I'm longing for chocolate. I have a slight headache and feel like detox is in fact happening. There's a slight feeling like you get when you're about to get a cold or the flu - like lymph nodes are a little sore and feeling a little foggy and cranky. I also am noticing a little bit of phlegm in my throat on occasion which is interesting. I'm going to be sure to drink lots and lots of water today to flush this out. Plus I will take a vigorous walk or ride the bike to help sweat things out. This would be a good time to do an enema or get a colonic, too, but I don't have that in the plans for today. Another good thing, too, would be to rest and take a nap. Boy that actually sounds good to me right now.

This is the just like anything else that one goes through to try to better themselves and/or their health. Sometimes it feels worse before it feels better. Have you ever given up smoking, drinking or drinking coffee? Somewhere around day 3 or 4, it can be pretty awful, but if you get yourself over that, it gets easier and the rewards are great. So it's good to take stock in it as well as what is feeling good because there's plenty of that too. Thankfully what I feel today is NOTHING like giving up smoking or drinking or drinking coffee. Been there. Done that. I've graduated. :-)

What I'm feeling is much greater ease to move and walk up the stairs and get up and down from sitting. Inflammation is easing up in my hips and I'm super extremely grateful for any ease I feel in my hips and back. I feel lighter and I have lost weight so far. I haven't checked the scale today but was down 4 lbs yesterday. I'm feeling more MOTIVATED to keep a forward momentum going. There's not a lot bogging me down to stay on the couch and kvetch. And not even kvetch verbally - it's like my body is kvetching because it hurts and wants to just stay still. The lightness in my body is deeply gratifying. There's also a lot of clarity of mind: being able to see one's patterns and bad habits/behaviors with regards to food/eating is a big one. I've been working very diligently to eat mostly for nourishment and less because of emotions, boredom or rewards. I work very diligently to eat mindfully and I have noticed in these last 3 days that it's pretty easy to spot the mindless grabs for a snack when I'm hungry during the day. On day 1 it was kind of funny to see my hand reaching for the bag of cheezy cauliflower snacks that I've got at the cafe. Yesterday it was the cherry tomatoes and blueberries that came in the Farm to Table order that were attracting my attention.

So the observations are great. It's also wonderful to feel hungry. It appears that I've had a slow metabolism for quite a while and I typically like to/need to exercise regularly to help keep things less sluggish. It's been nice to be hungry and feel like I'm metabolizing like I see other people doing (like "normal" people.) LOL

All-in-all, this is a positive experience for me so far and I'll keep you posted on how things continue to progress.

Thanks for reading!

oh P.S.! A wonderful little drink has been a shot of coconut kefir water that I made along with some young coconut water. It's tangy and sweet, slightly carbonated and very hydrating. YUM, can't wait to have that at the cafe.

P.P.S. I'm down another 2 lbs!

I like to ease into the day. Today Matt was eager to get things done so that somehow jump started me into things done. I'm now trying to press rewind and start again but kids are up and wanting to get their days worked out: mowing lawns, play dates, what's for breakfast, etc. So I feel a little grumpy to not have had my morning. They are going to be out of the house here soon so I'm going to ride the bike and sit in quiet (fingers are crossed.) This morning's juice:

• 1/2 lb local mesclun mix
• 2 stalks celery
• 3 oranges
• 2 peaches
• 1 mango

This served 2 16 oz glasses of yumminess. The flavors all mixed well.

first day at work for the week and I was once again short staffed so it's not the easiest to do. Mainly because I have lots of things I want to do but have to totally let them go as they just don't get done. I wanted to make kim chee and some pesto with the produce I have but had to put it on the back burner to help customers and pack up orders, etc. Thankfully our sewing maven Catherine helped me here and there. Matt helped too when he could. I had 15 minutes left to get a whole bunch of stuff done and my daughter dropped and splattered a green smoothie everywhere. I mention this only because in that 15 minutes I was desperate to make my juice before we had to leave (we had an appt in Burlington which is about an hour away) and the green smoothie she had splattered all over the floor and walls and counter where my juicer was. (I also wanted to get the compost out, wash all the dishes, put all the things away for the night that didn't get done, etc. A lot to try to accomplish in 15 minutes but I was motivated to do it before the smoothie bomb.) So needless-to-say, I had to take some deep breaths and change direction. I was still desperate for my juice because I was very hungry but I didn't want to be snapping. Instead I felt like crying. Day two and I'm definitely having moments of emotions getting to me. I'll back up a little bit to the start of the day. I exercised and did about 5.6 miles or so on the stationary bike. I made an incredible juice. it was THE BEST JUICE to drink and I'm now quite grateful for that Hurom slow juicer I got a few months ago. It does pulpy fruit very nicely and I'm not complaining that it makes those kind of juices like a thick nectar. This is what I did (if I remember correctly) Afternoon Lunch juice - best ever (this made 2 16ish ounces of loveliness)

• 1 big bunch of local curly kale (from the garden)

• 1 red bell pepper (because I had it)

• 2 stalks of celery (because I had it)

• 4-6 peaches

• 2 oranges

It was amazingly incredible. The best juice all day by far. OK, so drank that gorgeous peach nectar and went to work. There was no easing into the day (there hardly ever is) so I just went right into it. Helping customers, packing orders, answering phones, making food. Somewhere around 4 pm I started to get hungry again but still had customers I had to help. 5:45 rolled around and I thought it would be a good time to make a juice. That's when the smoothie went KABOOM and that's when I felt like crying. I didn't cry though. We cleaned up. I made my juice. Someone came in at 5:55 and then I wanted to cry again but thankfully she was self-sufficient and it was quick to be able to close the doors and get to my juice and get out the door to the appointment. Dinner juice

• 1 big huge bunch of kale from the garden
• 4 granny smith apples
• 2 stalks celery
• 4-5 carrots
• 1 small cuke

this was a yummy juice that hit the spot. We went to our appt in Burlington and had to make a pit stop to PEE! OMG, the peeing has been amazing so far! We got home and we were both feeling hungry AGAIN so it was time for another juice. We're definitely used to eating the heaviest meals at night and this is something to change if we can. Evening juice - interesting flavors

• 1 lb local baby lettuce mix
• 1 small bunch local mint
• 2 granny smith apples
• 3 ripe mangos
• 1 small cuke
• 1 red bell pepper (because it was the last one)

the mint dominated the flavor. Next was the mango. If I were to make this again, I'd keep the cuke out as that was the third flavor and I didn't necessarily like it. But I've got to say that juicing feels like instant nutrition. Hit the spot. So this gets me to the end of the night of Day two. So far, so good.

Matt made a delicious juice this morning: 1 bunch of curly kale from our garden 4 oranges 1 local beet 4 small local carrots

I'm looking forward to getting my produce delivery today. I'm getting kiwi and black cherries and pears and a whole bunch of fruits. It will be yummy to have them. When I was in the shower yesterday, I thought about CHERRIES and decided to order a whole bunch of fruit I don't eat a lot of. It's been nice to juice oranges and peaches. I'm glad my juicer will do the pulpier fruits. These things keep me looking forward to juicing and it also helps me to drink all my colors. OK, I'm about to do a bit of exercising. And then off to the cafe. oh p.s. I'm 4 lbs lighter today. YAY!

dinner juice was:

• 1 bunch local kale

• 4 green apples

• 1/2 big cuke

this served 2 16ish ounce glasses. DELICIOUS! a couple hours later we were hungry again so made the same thing (plus 1 red bell pepper) except used sour apples the second time. I only drank 1/2 of mine because it was too sour for me. Matt was happy to have more. The tip to remember is to do other things to keep yourself occupied instead of thinking about food. The kids had a large green smoothie because I didn't even want to make a salad (and be tempted by it) and they had some leftovers. (I made a boatload of food last night for them to eat.) The smell of their meals was making me hungry. So that's when the 2nd juice was made. I did the bills and did some laundry and read a lot of magazines on my day off today. Plus sat in the sunshine for a while. It was a nice day off!

Now I wanted to write my intention so I could go back and read it if I need to this week. I'm juicing because my friend Chris wanted to do a juice fast to have a jump start to good health. I said I would do it with her. We watched Fat Sick and Nearly Dead and it was so inspiring so even Matt said he was willing to do it! As I thought about what it was that making me want to do this, I discovered that I had a short list of reasons:

• Firstly, I've put on a few pounds again and that's reason enough for me to jump start a change. If I think about it, I have been snacking more and eating higher fat snacks like nuts and dehydrated cauliflower snacks that I make for the cafe.

• I also wanted to change how I was eating a bit. Typically I have a huge smoothie in the morning that fills me up for hours and hours. I don't typically get hungry again until 4 pm. I thought if I had a juice in the morning and then did the bigger smoothie in the afternoon, it would be better for my digestion. I also want to do smaller dinners. When I'm at the cafe, I put other things before me (something typical that I find myself doing, I admit) so I will skip lunch a lot and then by the time dinner comes, I'm pretty hungry so I pile on the veggies and rice and beans. The kids are always looking for some dessert afterwards and I haven't been saying "No" to that either (well sometimes.) It's not a huge dessert but still, I don't need it to thrive or survive so it's really just a bad habit. So I was feeling in a rut, so to speak.

• But the main reason, for me, would be to help with the ongoing inflammation I've had now for about 10 years. Things are a whole lot better for me than they were and I attribute that to my eating and my lifestyle. I still have some residual stuff going on, though, that I'd like to give my body the chance to do what it needs to do to release and heal it. With juicing, it's like a tiny break on the body. The body is getting fuel and nutrients in good concentrations and without the fiber and without needing to spend lots of time break things down and digesting. So it can put more attention on healing what needs to be healed.

We all will defrag our hard drives. We'll all clean out our bags and purses and wallets. We'll all clean out our cars when they are feeling too full of stuff. Same for closets and cupboards. Well, this is the same thing. Juice fasts have a way of cleaning out what isn't needed - there's usually some taking stock, some rest, some more energy to put towards sweating, etc. I'm looking forward to seeing what this juice fast does for all of us that have said we'll do it for 10 days.