Day 1

This morning I started juicing around 830am. My first juice is the Mean Green juice. I made enough to last all day...


Recipe:
8 Kale leaves
3 apples
1 cucumber
1/2 a lemon
Small piece of ginger
4 celery stocks
and voila....juice

The recipe above is enough for 3 16oz drinks. I drank 2 today.

Then this evening I made this one....

Recipe:

2 Apples

3 Carrots

1 Celery Stock

Bit of Lettuce

This was enough for a little over one 16oz cup. I drank about 3/4 of this 16oz's

We also have purchased our first ever house scale. Chris and I have been married for 9 years and have never had one. If we wanted to weight ourselves, we just always did it at the Gym. So we really had no need. But since I am no longer at the gym every day...or at all lately for that matter, and I am wanting to really track my weight for the first time ever, we got a scale.

The hardest parts of my day were definitely when Chris got out the chips and Guac. I quite honestly believe that Guacamole should be one of the main food groups. Just the smell was intoxicating. Which brings me to a note: Whenever I fast, it's like my smell sense skyrockets. The salt in the chips, the avocado and onion in the Guac. Hard. I really wanted to lick the bowl. But resisted. And my next hardest part is right.now. It's night. Chris is gone at life group. Kids are in bed. Generally this is movie, email, surf the web, and snack time.

I haven't had any cravings yet...except the Guac which was right in front of me, and didn't even sound good until I smelled it. I know I have many hard days ahead. We have done other fasts before. Our church does a 21 day fast every year in January. We have participated the past 2 years. The first year we did liquids only for 12 days, then just added in baked potato and a few veggies for the remainder of the time. The second year I did fruits, veggies, and beans only for a couple weeks, then the last week added in rice. And even those were challenging after a week. The liquid fast consisted of any liquid. This meant I was still drinking milk based products, soups, etc. We've never juiced before a couple days ago.

I'm a flavor person. And a consistency person. So I'm just glad that the juice doesn't have any sludgy pulp in it. It's just juice. So nice. I do have to say that the Mean Green juice leaves a bit to be desired. I like to drink the Naked Green Machine drinks....this tastes nothing like it. I think it's the ginger that gets me. If you like ginger, you won't have a problem at all. Hoping it grows on me, because it's full of great nutrients. And the ginger specifically is great for digestion. Will probably start tomorrow out will some fruit only juice for breakfast and then ease into the Mean Green for lunch and dinner. As I write this I am re-watching the Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead show and I noticed that Joe starts with fruits. And as hard as the Mean Green was at 9am, lol....tomorrow it's a fruit morning so I can better get the juice knocked out.

I am honestly stuffed right now. Hence not even being able to finish 3 juices. The recommended amount of juice per day is (4) 16-20oz cups. If you are trying to loose weight you do the less amount, so the 16oz. I actually bought some 16oz plastic cups and straws so I know how much I am consuming without having to really measure it out. I use the same cup & straw all day and just wash it out so not to accumulate a lot of waste.

The biggest thing for me to remember is that cravings and over eating is really just that emotional attachment to food. If I'm physically active or just out doing something in general I don't feel the need to eat as much. It's primarily when I'm alone or when we are with friends. I'm definitely a social eater. And thus my biggest challenges...overcoming my emotional attachment and not feeling the need to social eat/graze and drink coffee all day long. lol

It's said that if you do something for 21 days, or 21 times in a row that it becomes habit. I'm hoping that after this is over I will have a healthy habit :) One that consists of learning new recipes for cooking healthier for our whole family, stay juicing, keep veggies and fruits and my primary source of nutrition, less snacking, less emotional and social need for the snacks.

And that's day 1

Fast: Sept. 19th - Oct 18th - 30days