Juice Fast: Day 1

My meals for the next few days

With the start of the new year, I've been thinking about a new, healthier me. No, I'm not making crazy resolutions that I'll forget about before February rolls around. I'm talking lifestyle changes that will stick. I've been unhappy with my weight for a while now so I'll admit that's a big motivator for me. But I'd also like to get back to regular exercise since it's really so good for my mental state. 

My sister is a big believer in juicing and has tried to make me one too. I've toyed with the idea of a juice fast for awhile now, but never took the time to actually make it happen. Today was the first day of my juice fast and boy did it start out crazy. My sister was kind enough to let me borrow her juicer (pictured), but when I tried to make breakfast this morning it broke. I don't know what or how it really happened, I just know that mid carrot and celery it stopped spinning. Still determined to start this juice fast, I ran to the internet and found a similar style juicer at, my least favorite store, Wal-mart. So off I went, on an empty stomach, to purchase said juicer.

Breakfast

I did managed to get breakfast. At noon. The juice itself wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. I had a little bit of everything pictured: apple, tomato, carrots, celery, asparagus, beet, cucumber and ginger. It was naturally sweet and I was able to drink it no problem. The problem came 20 minutes later when I was starving. I ended up having more juice about 2 hours later. In between juicing, I'm drinking tons and tons of water. I juiced again later for a snack and again for dinner.


After ending a full day of fasting, I only have a few thoughts. First, the extreme hunger pains and feeling of deprivation are almost unbearable. Several times throughout the day I thought to myself, is this really worth it? Why am I doing this to my body? Can't I just please have something sugary to eat? But I held out and resisted any temptations. The other thing is that I'm finally ready to face my emotional eating. Inspired by a podcast featuring the author of "Made to Crave", I see that I've been using food as a reward system, stress reliever and mood enhancer. Instead of relying on God to give me peace when I'm stressed out, I turn to mountain dew or chocolate. Boy that sounds silly now that I've actually typed it out. So I'm ready to face this habit and kick it for good. 


I don't plan on becoming a raw food person or even a juice fast fanatic, I'd just like to be able to detox and build better eating habits. I'm also about 45 lbs. from my ideal weight. And I'm counting on the increased energy, less pain, all over better feeling benefits that I've been promised I will receive from juicing. I'm still skeptical, but we'll see.


Juicing is not cheap. I decided not to buy organic this time in case I decided it wasn't for me. That way I wouldn't be out even more money than I already am. The fruit & veggies I purchased cost $18.77 at Target. After just one day of juicing, I already need to stop at the fruit stand to replenish. 

To end the first successful day of my journey, I had a cup of hot Tazo Calm tea sweetened with just 1 tsp. agave nectar. I'm allowing myself 1 to 2 tsp. of agave per day so that I can have detox tea during the day and a relaxing tea at night. Agave is a low glycemic food, very low in calories and all natural so I don't think it will sabotage my entire fast if I have a small amount. 

I'm falling asleep so I'll wrap this up. My eyes are starting to throb and I'm wondering if it's the predicted headache that comes with flushing toxins out of my body. I'm prepared for tomorrow to be worse with headache, muscle pain and lethargy. But it's just one more day to a healthier me.