Day 15 Raw/Day 1 Juice Fast

Well, we started the juice fast today. So far, I feel okay - still fatigued. We watched a video on how to use a paint strainer to extract the juice and separate the fiber, and we were surprised how easy it is with the VitaMix.

We're making some strange combos for juices, but so far they're drinkable. The hardest part right now, is that we're HUNGRY. We fill up on the juice, and it lasts maybe an hour, so we try to drink more water and stuff. The hunger comes with a vengeance, though. (We've done 3 different types of juices so far, 1-2 glasses each...and it's still early afternoon!) The juice seems to get used up fast by our bodies right now, and the hunger pangs keep coming in shortly afterward.

I'm hoping this subsides after a little while? I don't know how to deal with the "hunger" feeling like this...which is why I did not want to do a water fast. I've tried doing those a few times, and never could (voluntarily) get past 36 hours - the hunger was simply too great and I ended up being nonfunctional and too ill to continue it. I've had surgeries in the past where I couldn't consume any food for a couple of days, but I was drugged up and nauseous and physically unable to keep anything down during those times, so obviously that doesn't count. ;)

Other than that, we'll just wing it for now. It will be interesting to see how I can manage this while working tomorrow, as there is a small fridge there, but not big enough to hold, say, a gallon of juices. LOL! Plus, there is at least an hour and a half commute each way, sometimes two hours (uuuuugh, don't get me started on that), so I'm assuming I'll need to take a cooler or something? I guess if there's a will, there's a way. I don't know of any juice bars around there, and I don't get long enough lunches to drive around endlessly looking for one, so...my options are pretty limited, and I'm going to have to carefully plan this a little bit in advance.

It was surprisingly easy to stay raw and work/commute (just throw some fruit into a bag, premake a salad and throw it into a container, maybe take some raw nuts to munch on for snacks, etc...no worries about keeping it cold, and no worries about enzymes breaking down as long as I consumed it that day and kept it pretty well room temp, etc.), so this is going to be a bit harder.

There again, everything else has come together nicely (free use of a Vita-Mix - thank goodness, as we have NO money to buy one and even buying a lot of produce has been a stretch on our budget), so I'm sure I'll work something out.

Something totally cool that I never really thought of happened, though: My 4-almost-5 year old son, who we can rarely get to eat many veggies and only a few select fruits (bananas and apples are about IT), got really excited when we made some juice out of strawberries and stuff, and he actually drank some. He even tasted some of the veggie juice (so far we're sweetening those with a little apple and/or carrot) and liked it, too.

Before anyone freaks out and jumps to conclusions, I am NOT suggesting that I am going to put my child on a juice fast; HOWEVER, I would be tickled if he drank some fresh juice (as opposed to sugar-laden, processed, "dead" boxed juice) each day as part of his routine.

Something else kind of neat...I thought I would be tempted by all the Easter chocolates and goodies laying around here for our son, and I really am not at ALL. I (aka the Easter Bunny) made up a pretty good basket for him for Easter and managed not to "nibble" on anything...and he received tons of goodies from other family members, and I have not touched - nor have been tempted to...I simply don't want it - any of it. It just doesn't sound good at all, for some reason.

I weighed myself this morning to see if I dropped any more weight, and I was only .2 lbs lower than yesterday. Poop. Hopefully, this juice fast will change that pretty quickly. :D

'Til next time!