FASTING EPIPHANIES

1. Eating certain things was a form of rebellion for me.

2. The food industry, like the government, lies like a rug.
3. When you flood your body with the things it needs, it stops pestering you for crazy crap.
4. When you flood your body with the things it needs, it really can heal itself.
5. My life is not over. It really is NOT too late to be the person what I always wanted to be.
6. Having people you can always count on to be there for you during something difficult can make ALL the difference.
7. Friends are friends even if you have never seen their faces. I never really believed that before.
8. OLD DOGS CAN, IN FACT, LEARN NEW TRICKS!!!
9. Making great choices for my body and for my family is a HUGE RUSH!
10. (This one is borrowed from my friend Jana. It was two different ones for her but I see them as closely related.) There is absolutely no other way to obtain the clarity of thought that is needed to face what caused weight issues without a long term fast. AND A juice fast will force you to take a look at core of your very being, and it will be the hardest and most rewarding thing you will ever do for yourself in your life.

Day 33: ONE WEEK OF JUICE FASTING TO GO

Had a super busy weekend with the grandkids and spent 2 hours working out in the pool again today:) My goal for the next few weeks is to get really regular with my exercise. I bought a 10 class pass for the aquacize class. It's fun and it's a good workout. I do some laps before and after too so I get in a good workout. 

My juice fast is nearing it's end; only one week to go. But I know this will not be the last juice fast I do. I suspect I will juice fast regularly. I haven't decided for sure how often or how long but I'm thinking maybe 5 days a month or maybe even 10 if I get into trouble with food. I have a good plan in place and I don't have ANY desire to eat the way I used to but I do have the holidays looming so I'm not going to underestimate the temptations that will abound. 

Just today, I went to the store and they had one of my favorite seasonal treats right by the checkout. Helloooo Candy Corn. LOL Yes, I used to love Candy Corn. Honestly, now, the thought of it makes me a little sick. In a few weeks, I will have a much bigger hurdle. I plan to have a delicious but super healthy Thanksgiving dinner for my family but there is one thing I haven't decided on yet - my Mom's dressing. It is probably the biggest and most dear tradition for our family Thanksgiving. I can make healthy desserts and I can certainly make some healthy salads and veggie dishes and a healthy version of the turkey. But Mom's dressing is kind of sacred to us. Cameron wants to make a small batch so everyone can have a smallish serving. Part of me thinks that is the best solution. But all that bread and eggs and cornbread and stuff.... That isn't the way I eat now. I know Mom is proud of what I am doing now and would tell me that silly old dressing is meaningless but I can't feel that. 

So, in other news.... I love reading and viewing websites about different views about nutrition and health. I am deeply convicted to the path I have chosen and I know that it will keep leading me to greater and greater health and wellness. That doesn't mean that I know what path is right for anyone else. When I see people getting hateful about Veganism or about Paleo or about Atkins or whatever, it just turns me off to whatever they are advocating. The funniest thing is when someone who has tried to talk me into weight loss surgery or gone out with me for some uber fattening treat on many occasions tries to say that what I'm doing is too drastic. I've said it before but it bears repeating; killing myself with food was drastic. This is sanity and health and joy. I'll stick with that thank you. So here is my thought for the day: 

DAY 29: 4 Week results from Friday, Sep 20, 2013

So this morning we weighed in for our official 4 weeks results and here they are: 
Mom (started 340)  313.6 (-26.4)
Gini (started 288)  261.4  (-26.6)
Harmoni (started 303)  275 (-28)

I continue to feel so good that it seems surreal. Yesterday I went swimming at 8:00 am and swam for an hour. At 9:00 an aquacize class started so I did that too! Then I showered and dressed and went grocery shopping - no electric buggy involved. Today I have my 4 year old grandson and 6 year old granddaughter for the day and overnight. I haven't had one moment of feeling over-fatigued or one moment of pain. I was worried I overdid it yesterday and would be in pain today or at least sore but nope! I'm going swimming again this afternoon:) 

Gini and Harmoni are eating veggies once or twice a day and having juice twice a day and still losing. I fixed them some fish and baked sweet potato slices the other day and they LOVED it. I think that may be my first non-veggie meal next month:) 

I've been looking for motivational images and I found one that is perfect. Well, I enhanced it and added the text to make it the perfect one for me:) 
 

DAY 24 - It can't be this easy? Actually, it CAN. from Sunday, Sep 15, 2013

Two things in the last couple of days have been staying in my mind. First, I read an article from here on Sparkpeople, well linked here anyway, about writing a different story and creating a different persona for ourselves in order to achieve different outcomes. I think it was from Psychology Today. Then, I was reading in Alejandro Junger's book, "Clean," where I got the quote on the following picture. (I made the meme on Picmonkey which I LOVE.) 
 

I've been talking to people about this way of life and people are both impressed and skeptical. Understandable. We are so conditioned by Conventional Wisdom World to believe that it CAN'T BE THIS EASY. We must surely have to combine certain foods or at least macronutrients in just the right balance or at least count calories and so on. After all these years, can it really just be this simple and this easy? And yes, after 3 weeks, this is EASY. 99% of the time at least;o) Of course, I'm not battling other people in the same home who insist on eating differently. God bless those who do! They are warriors!! But since I can create a safe haven here in my home and only have to face the temptations when I go places, I can put on my armor for those encounters and then come home and relax and enjoy it:) 
 
So I am writing a different story for myself. I am taking a different road so that I can come out in a different place. I am the kind of person who eats super healthy stuff and truly enjoys finding cool new recipes for yummy raw, plant-based foods. And as a result I am the kind of person who is getting thinner and healthier and more vigorous by the day! And I will keep doing that because I am constantly seeking out foods that we can enjoy that will keep us healthy instead of waiting for the day when I can go back to McDonalds or Hamburger Helper. I am THAT kind of person. True story.

DAY 19 - Back Among the Living from Tuesday, September 10, 2013

CAUTION, I know I'm going to sound like a crazy oversell infomercial here but every word is exactly true. It's my experience so what can I say. 

A month ago, I had literally given up on my life. I was so weak, in so much pain and so depressed that I literally lived in my bedroom. My grown kids did my shopping for me usually because it was too depressing to have to ride those motorized scooters in the store. I could barely make it to my loveseat from my bed (about 6 feet away) and I would just sit there reading, knitting or playing facebook games all day every day. I hurt all the time. I had to take several medications and pain relievers upon waking to even be able to think or sit up. No exagerration. Just the way it was. WAS being the key word. I slept until 10 or 11 each morning and slept very poorly. Did not feel rested ever. 

Now, I wake up at 7-7:30 naturally, no alarm. I am OFF all meds, including OTC pain relievers. I have NO PAIN. I get up and make juice, clean up the kitchen, get online for a little while and then go swim or clean on my wreck of a house or whatever I feel like doing. I go shopping and WALK through the store on my own. I had started developing holes in the retinas of my eyes (a side effect of the Myasthenia Gravis) and sunlight felt like I was being stabbed in the eyeballs, even with my perscription sunglasses. THe sunlight didn't hurt my eyes today! 

My 19 year old has had chronic allergies year round and chronic acid reflux as well. SHe has had multiple surgeries on her ears and still has hearing loss but she had strangely been left with no sense of smell after the last surgery. Yesterday I handed her a juice that had cacao bean and banana in it and she said, I can really smell the banana. I said yeah it smells yummy. she said, "MOM! I can SMELL the BANANA!" I was like, OH MY GOSH! THat kid hasn't smelled anything in a couple of years! (It was kinda cool cuz she didn't mind cleaning the litter box;o) Just kidding. Also she is off of all allergy meds and acid reflux meds with no symptoms. 

I can't even express the difference in the way I feel physically, mentally and emotionally. I am me again. Hello girl, haven't seen you in YEARS. How the heck are ya? 

Answer; I'm Fan Freaking Tastic! I know I will lose a LOT of weight. I know people will start to see the changes and comment about how great I'm looking, how much weight I've lost etc. But I am telling you in all sincerity that even if I never lost another pound, I would continue to juice veggies and fruit for the rest of my life. I am no longer on a rapid decline to my death at the age of 51. I am 100% back among the living. 

IN OTHER NEWS: My hubby was home for the weekend for the first time in 3 weeks. First time home since we started juicing. The first morning I was standing in the kitchen showing him how to make the juice and I noticed he was just kinda staring and shaking his head. I said, "What?" He said, "I'm looking at you and I still can't believe it." I said, "Twenty pounds doesn't show that much at my weight but thanks." He said, "No. I mean, you're still standing there. You're standing there and doing stuff and talking and not holding the counter and nearly in tears. I'm seeing it but I still can't believe the change!" Have I mentioned what a sweet man my hubby is. Never criticizes me. Always supportive. He said the same thing several times through the weekend. Just couldn't get over it. 

So hubby wants to lose 30 or 40 lbs and make sure his blood pressure is normal for his physical in November so I sent my juicer on the road with him. Three days and he has lost 8 lbs, no caffeine headache as of today and feeling great. He is modified juicing, meaning he has a big salad for lunch. How awesome is that? 

But Natalie, your juicer? Well, I went back to the liquidation place where I got my Hamilton Beach juicer. No more of my kind. So I spent $20 more and got a fusion juicer. Oh my gosh I love it!! It is super quiet and produces way more juice then the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth I had. I'm still saving up for the Omega juicer but until then this one is pretty dang awesome. I also saw a Cuisine Art food processor for $50 that I will go back for on payday if it is still there. I LOVE liquidation outlets:) 

That's it for today. I have boxes to go through and floors to clean and energy to burn! Have you had your juice today?

Two Week Results from Friday, September 06, 2013

Our official 2 week totals are: 

Me 20.5 lbs gone 
Gini 21 lbs gone 
Harmoni 23 lbs gone 



I am feeling more and more at ease and comfortable with this as a new lifestyle. Not straight juicing permanently or anything but definitely healthy whole-foods, plant based diet. Not straight Vegan but I am so over poisonous, processed JUNK posing as food. The other day when we ate, (can't remember if I posted about it but we were left without anything to juice one day - lesson learned - plan better!) it was quite obvious that our taste buds have already changed. We can actually taste food again and even though we were only eating fresh fruits, veggies and some boiled eggs and a bit skinless chicken breast boiled in broth, our taste buds have changed dramatically. We didn't need to add a bunch of salt or sugar for things to taste "right." And it took a WHOLE lot less to fill us up. 

We have all heard the statistics about losing the weight too fast makes it more likely that you will put it right back on but I have come to believe that putting the weight back on has a whole lot more to do with what you eat after you "finish your diet" than what you ate while you were "dieting" or how fast you lost it. I am not on a diet. I am retraining my body to a different way of eating. I'm reminding my body (and my body is reminding me!) that it is perfectly capable of healing itself and functioning beautifully as long as I give it the nutrients it needs. 

Did I mention that my blood pressure is now normal WITHOUT MEDICATION? That's in two weeks, folks. Two weeks. Doctor says keep checking it daily and take a pill if it goes up but so far it hasn't gone up in 5 days. And I haven't had to take pain reliever upon waking for almost a week. That's after a couple of years of waking up in terrible pain every single day. I haven't taken a pain pill of any kind in a week. So let the naysayers say what they will. I know when my body is singing. And me? I'm just gonna keep singing along.

Day 11: Happy Labor Day! from Monday, September 02, 2013

I have Alabama's Working Man song running through my head. Props to the working men and women like my hard-working hubby, Robert. 

We are still juicing strong here:) In fact, my oldest daughter has decided to add a juice every day for all those nutrients while she is pregnant and nursing and then after to do a juice fast/reboot to get the baby weight off. She usually has a pretty hard time getting back to pre-baby weight so hopefully this will get her back in top running condition much faster. 

I am starting to see the change already in my girls. Their tummies are a little trimmer plus, they both have battles with acne and their faces are really clearing up. I am much stronger today so the MG is slinking back to it's little cave. Hopefully, before all is said and done, I will convince it to slink off into the twilight, convinced it can no longer live in such a healthy body as mine:) 

I have noticed something extraordinary. For the first time ever, I don't have cravings. I, like most anyone who is over 300 lbs, have been on many diets. Some fill you up better than others but NONE ever made the craving for certain foods go away. Not that I can't think and remember how much I enjoyed nachos or mac n cheese or whatever but I don't CRAVE them. When I see them on tv or think about them, I can easily turn my mind to something else and move on. I have a couple of theories about that. Just theories, mind you;o) 
1) Maybe when we just absolutely flood our body with what it actually NEEDS and only what it NEEDS, we stop craving junk. 
2) Maybe doing this and seeing the effect it has and that we actually ENJOY it, gives us a more certain knowledge than we've ever had before that we CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING. I've thought I could. I've told myself I could. I don't think I ever really KNEW I could. For real. 

For anyone who is curious I thought I would post a couple of my juice recipes. I don't make exactly the same juice twice. So many veggies, so little time. LOL and I don't juice for the beautiful green or orange or red or purple color. There are plenty of beautiful recipes on rebootwithjoe if you are interested in that. Most of the time, my juice comes out kinda brown cuz I mix colors but I am more interested in flavor, cost and using what I have on hand. So... 

Breakfast Day 11 
4 apples 
2 cucumber 
1/4 med watermelon 
1 lg mango 
6 strawberries 

Lunch Day 11 
2 cucumbers 
2 green apples 
1 large bunch spinach 
4 lg leaves romaine 
4 stalks celery 
4 radishes 
1 clove garlic 

I use a lot of cucumbers. Some things give more juice than others and some things have a stronger flavor than others. Cucumbers make a lot of juice and are mild in flavor so it can be added to almost any juice to give more volume and a milder flavor. 

I haven't decided on our dinner juice yet but I know it will be tomato based.