Can I really say that it’s day two of my juice fast when last night I accidentally ate a piece of pizza immediately after submitting my post? It was an accident, really. I wasn’t even feeling hungry. I did need to get my little guy off to bed, and went downstairs into the pizza smelling heaven – no purgatory – that is my kitchen. All the leftovers were left out. Aarrgh. While putting the food away, oops, I just took a bite. Then the rest of the slice just disappeared. Realizing that I was in enemy territory, I scooped up the kid and got out of there fast.
Looking back, I still count the day as a success. Without my usual coffee in the morning, I had anticipated a terrible day with headaches and major brain fog. I was more tired than usual, and my head felt a little tense, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. What I didn’t plan for was the 20 plus urgent trips to the bathroom throughout the day. I should have listened more carefully when one woman who tried the 10-day fast described something similar. But if I had listened, I probably wouldn’t have started.
Today was a little better. I woke up with a clear head and 2 pounds down – mostly water, I’m sure. I had expected much worse caffeine withdrawals, but I won’t complain. Before leaving for my morning driving rounds, I downed some juice I had prepared the day before. Ideally, it is better to drink the juice as soon as it’s made. However, setting myself up for success also means preparing some juice the night before so I have something for the morning rush. Juicing for the day took about an hour and a half. That seems excessive, but I ruined a batch by added a particularly hot jalapeno, then had to juice more veggies to tone it down.
Usually when I juice vegetables, I grab whatever I have in the fridge. But I’ve gone through so many veggies (especially greens) that I needed a little bit more of a plan to help with the shopping. I went straight to the website, Join the Reboot, that was mentioned in the movie, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. The plans are free as long as you make a profile. I’m starting by following the Long Weekend, although I plan to extend it for 10 days instead of just 3. They don’t have easy peasy shopping lists, but it doesn’t take much to transpose the recipes into a list of what’s needed.
Yesterday I tried both the Sunset Blend Juice (with sweet potato, carrots, red bell pepper, beets and apples) and the Gazpacho Juice (with tomatoes, cucumber, celery, red bell pepper, onion and parsley). Both were delicious and a total diversion from what I typically juice. I wasn’t so excited with the Citrus Green Juice, but it was much better after adding some ginger and lemon.
For tomorrow, I’ve got to plan a little. Most of the day will be spent out of the house running errands with my dad, and a stop at Ikea is among them. Oh, the Swedish Meatballs. Sigh.