Blog / juice fast

I got up at 6:30 this morning - don't ask me why. I lingered in bed a bit, did my intentions and meditations for the day and then got up. There's lots to do this morning! This morning's juice was huge - I'm still drinking it. It contained: beets carrots a WHOLE lotta kale green apple oranges I typically like the kitchen sink variety of juices - where I put in what I have and see what happens. I found a couple beets in the fridge and decided to put them in. Now I'm full from juice. I am sure I will be peeing a lot again today. :-) I'm off to see about meeting a realtor, seeing what I can do to get this Vitamix order out and then I'm off to do a follow up with my ND for some blood tests I had done a couple weeks ago. More to follow... Afternoon time! Busy day thus far. Went to see the realtor and then went to a follow up DRs appt in town. Then drove back and helped at the tail end of getting boxes on palettes for Vitamix. Took a photo or two and will post that here. Was HUNGRY at around 11 but was out and didn't bring anything to munch. I made a smoothie today for lunch (a little more substantial) banana orange an entire head of lettuce blueberries coconut kefir It's good and once again filling me up. OK, I'm off to do some orders. I'll write more after dinner. OH YES! Here are the photos: Evening! The dinner smoothie/juice was: celery radish greens kale carrots and then I put it in the blender with an avocado, dulse and some dashes of hot sauce. It was good and I sucked it down pretty quickly. I drank it outside - once again it was a beautiful evening out there. Right now I'm going to do some journaling. Time to delve into something a little deeper within myself. Have a lovely night.

Hello there! Here I am again, doing a short juice/smoothie fast. The reason: In the last year or so that I had chocolate sights, smells and tastes so nearby, I succumbed to chocolate again. (Who wouldn't when it's being made right in your place?!) :-) I was off all caffeine and sugars for over 2 years and then started up with a bang. I have to admit I can get pretty darn addicted to this stuff. I'm serious. I recognize it as an addiction because I can't seem to get enough of it... So this fast is a break. I technically started this break in NJ when I was there for 2 weeks recently. I greatly reduced chocolate and sugar intake while I was there and so it seemed good to take a real break now. I would have done it immediately upon my return but had SO many things scheduled for that first week back that it made sense to pick a quieter week. (However I write this and I already have something planned for so many days this week...) This morning's juice was 32 oz in size and contained: celery kale cuke green apples carrot orange it was pretty heavy on the cuke but nice to drink first thing. I got up early this morning and immediately began posting up things for sale on craigslist. We have to weed down some inventory to make room for new endeavors. I've been wanting to post up that list since March so it's a long time coming but I was grateful for the gumption to post it. I put a link to it on the cafe page: http://www.vt-fiddle.com/rawfood/fiddle_heads_cafe.php. Anyway, I worked for several hours on this. I posted so much that craiglist told me to slow down. I hope it's going to be OK. :-) The afternoon came and I was getting hungry. I ate a mango that was very sweet but very fibrous. Still, it tasted yummy. I went over to the cafe and took more photos of things I wanted to sell and then came back to make another juice. This one I plumped up more like a smoothie. In this juice/smoothie, the ingredients were: oranges a WHOLE LOTTA mesclun mix celery carrots and then I added bananas and 1 apple. YUM. this was a delicious drink. I drank about 32 oz of it. It went down pretty easily. The afternoon was pretty relaxed by comparison to how other days have been going and I welcomed it. I posted more items for sale and then spent time listening to a book on tape. I had a nice chat with an old friend and then it was time to get dinner ready for everyone. Dinner for me was: celery kale parsley cuke tomato and then I threw the juice from that into the blender and added 1/2 avocado, dulse and a few shots of vital heat. The night has been so nice and I went outside to drink on the grass. Very nice. I enjoyed it immensely. The avocado made it very filling and the dulse and vital heat (hot sauce) made it savory tasting which I have found from previous fasts that I enjoy at night. The rest of the night is before me. My mood is calm and I'm just riding the wave of doing very little. Enjoy the night, Linda

today was the hardest day and that's because I didn't have enough juice with me. I spend the day out of the house on thursday and get up early (well, early for me). today I was tired and hungry all day. I got up early and had a big juice early in the morning. by 10 am, was already hungry for lunch. I had a nice phone call from a bestie and then mailed off some birthday cards. I was sooooo tired that I fell asleep in the car for 45 minute or so (wasn't keeping track) Got up at 12:45 and drank my smoothie (made a smoothie thinking it would be thicker and keep me fuller longer) By 3 pm, I was hungry. I walked to a local coffee shop and got a ginger tea (16 oz). It was steeped pretty long so I added some cinnamon and that was pretty tasty. I did some work on the computer and then walked back in the blustery cold. I drank a coconut water (about 16 oz) and that felt ok for a short while. Drove the kids home and had to make a pit stop at a market in Waterbury because I had the longest pee in the world! (from tea and coconut water. I was pretty darn tired and was pretty grumpy on that ride home because every slo-mo-fo driver inched their way in front of me as my stomach was growling. I was so happy to get home and make my evening drink. I sucked that bad boy down so fast. I drank nearly 32 oz of water on top of everything else so it's been a lot of liquids today. (no wonder I'm peeing like a race horse!) :-) morning juice: 1 1/2 heads of boston lettuce 1.5 oz radish greens 1 carrot 6 oranges afternoon smoothie: 1/2 head boston lettuce 1.5 bananas a whole lotta strawberries green powder 16 oz ginger tea with 2 dashes of ground cinnamon 17.5 oz coconut water dinner drink 3 stalks celery 1/5 oz radish sprouts 6 or 7 handfuls of baby spinach (maybe more) 1 carrot 1/3 european cuke 3 plum tomatoes added the miso, dulse and 1/2 avocado. also added a small bit of this curry cashew thing that I made ages ago. so that is it! looking forward to getting a good night's sleep À BIENTÔT

I was a bit more hungry today than yesterday. morning: about 1 lb baby spinach (maybe a bit less) 2 carrots (to help the machine with the spinach) 5 oranges delicious lunch 3 oz sunflower sprouts 1/3 euro cuke 1 stalk celery 2 apples 3 oranges dinner: 1/3 euro cuke 1 bunch red kale 3 stalks celery 4 plum tomatoes again, I added 1/2 avocado, 1 TBSP dulse flakes, 1 rounded tsp miso and some dashes of hot sauce. Very tasty but not as spicy as last night's juice. I liked it more spicy. overall, a good day of juicing. I had 2 appts in town. There's some stress in my life at present and I think I'm glad for this super nutrition here. I'm remembering to feel my feelings, let them be and be really gentle with myself...

day 3 of juice fast. still doing fine. here's what I ate: breakfast juice: 1 bunch kale 3 small carrots 1 celery stalk 4 oranges lunch juice: 3 oz radish sprouts 1 bunch kale 3 green apples 2 oranges dinner juice: (So happy for savory juices at night!) 2 stalks celery 4 huge bunches of baby spinach 4 oz radish sprouts 1 zucchini 5 plum tomatoes I took the juice and put it in the vitamix, added 1/2 avocado, 1 TBSP dulse flakes, 1 TBSP miso and a few dashes of hot sauce. This was a YUMMY and SPICY green drink! So far, so good.

day 1 of a juice fast - doing this again. I was expecting to go to a spa-like place beginning tomorrow (3/17) and be taken care of and drink juices and eat sprouts for a couple/few weeks. Those plans didn't pan out (dammit) so I decided to do a juice fast for a few days anyway. It won't be the same, but it will be fine.

I woke up this morning and had a cup of tea. I decided to have smooth move tea for some dumbass reason.

My first juice was:
2 stalks celery
2 small beets
4 carrots
1 bunch kale

this made about 32 oz veggie juice. it wasn't super sweet but it was good.

I had some water later in the afternoon.

somewhere around 3 I was hungry again so I made a big big juice of
pineapple
oranges
1 bunch kale
1 stalk celery

I kept the pineapple and oranges separate - the color was beautiful. the juicer that I use is more like a smoothie in a way - pulpy and yummy. It makes a lot of juice come out. I added some of the fruit juice with the greens and drank it down and then feasted on the pineapple and orange juice. SOOOOO yummy.

I read a bit and then took a nap with the dogs. Very sweet. It was cold in the house though so I was grateful for 2 warm dogs to curl up with.

Woke up, took the dogs out for a walk, fed them their dinner and then made myself a big juice. I liked that pineapple orange so much that I decided to have it for dinner. This time:
2 stalks celery
4-5 oz sunflower sprouts
pineapple
oranges

This time I put the whole thing together. It made about 40 oz of juice. DELICIOUS. Easy to drink.

So now the time is 8 pm and I'm loving feeling full but not stuffed and gross feeling. Day one was a good day. Let's hope I have as much of a good day tomorrow. :-)

all love,
Linda

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!

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.

this morning's juice: serves 2 16 oz juices.

1 head escarole 2 stalks celery 1 tiny peach 4 oranges 1 grapefruit

It was a tasty juice and the dominant flavor was grapefruit. I thought after making the juice that I might not have enough stuff to last the whole day (what if we are super hungry!!?) but the thought subsided after I visited my garden and the cafe. I pulled out various fruits and veggies and came back home with them. All is again well in the world.

I went to the doctor this morning after the juice so it was a sort of rushed morning for me. It's so weird for me to go to the doctor. I'm not used to the various questions and insurance questions. They are also not used to me saying that I take superfoods instead of vitamins, etc. So it makes for an interesting experience all the way around. When I got home with all my fruits/veggies for the next day and a half or more, the thought popped in of how nice it would be to have the whole week off to do this. Part of the challenge will be to incorporate juicing in the middle of the day. Not so much of a challenge when you have a raw food cafe with a juicer, but already today when I stopped by the cafe to pick up fruit, my first inclination was to grab some nuts because my stomach was growling. the juice I made for lunch was a lot bigger. Here's what I did: 1 small bunch local collards 1 bunch local kale (lacinato) 5 small oranges 1 red bell pepper 1 big piece of ginger This made 2 mason jars full of a very spicy green juice. Ginger dominated the flavor here. It is yummy. (I'm still drinking it as of this writing.) I'm using the Hurom slow juicer. It's got some pluses and minuses. I have a Breville at the cafe and I like that a lot. It's super easy to use and clean up is good. With the Hurom, you have to cut things up small so it takes longer to juice. The good news, though, is that you can juice pulpy things like oranges and strawberries, etc. So I'm not complaining at all!

I'm writing this quickly as I have an appt here soon. But I wanted to write a lil pep talk for me as much as anyone else that may read this. We were inspired to do a 10 day juice fast after watching the excellent and most inspiring movie called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. They certainly made doing a 60 day juice fast look very easy. We are only doing 10 days and I've done fasts before with varying degrees of ease or difficulty. The thing that I have to say that was of most importance when doing a fast is the intention behind it. That way you can keep your eyes on the prize, so to speak, particularly if/when the going gets rough. So I've got my intention. I'll write about it later. I'm going to begin here with a juice and I just want to say that I love love love my morning green smoothie so switching to a green juice is just different for me. I did it a bit last week and it wasn't bad at all. Some notes:

• drink 4-6 juices a day that are around 16 oz each.
• MAKE SURE to drink all your colors.
• Vary greens and get in all the colors each day for fruit and veggies.
• Something I heard a long time ago stuck with me: fruits are the cleansers and greens are the healers so eat them both often and vary them for good health.
• If at any time there is a desire for crunching, then eat a juicy crunchy apple but mostly that won't happen on such a short term fast.

OK, now let's begin! xoxo, me