Day 6 - Over the Hump Daaaay!!

Greg and I are at day 6 - DAY 6!!!!   He's talking like going 21 days now.  NOPE, not me!  I will add one meal on day 11.  Oh cannot wait!!  I'm looking forward to Organic Life Coffee House and having Joanne's amazing Lentil soup.  I can taste it now....  mmmmm

I have never felt comfortable making my way around a produce stand, most times in the grocery store I would skip the produce section altogether.  Today, I cannot wait to go to my favorite stand.  There is an organic produce stand just a mile away and while we don't always buy organic, at least there are options.  I've become so comfortable and the guy is getting to know us.  Love it.  Bella is really enjoying our new way of eating.  She has always loved these foods whole but I haven't been as much of an encouragement because I never ate them.  Every day she is having salads and she is getting better and better at creating them herself.

I dealt with more emotions today.  I feel like I'm in a break up.  It's hard to explain.  I feel like I'm missing out on something.  I have no plans in going back to my old way of life.  This feels so much better.  But I battle the demons in my mind.  Thank God I have Romans 12:2 to lean on, "do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind".

Amen!

Day 5 - Juice Fast Update

Today we have felt pretty incredible.  It is so surprising to me how simple this has actually been.  It hasn't necessarily been "easy", but it's been simple.  I know in my own power I could not do this.  It has truly been the strength from The Lord and prayers that have made this even possible.  I don't eat this stuff whole...EVER.  Well, bananas, I like bananas.  Haha!

That has been one of the most challenging aspects of the fast - is that I don't eat this stuff normally.  The other has been the emotional tie I have had to the food and I find myself battling feelings of sadness, as if I am breaking up with someone.  The relationship I have had with food most of my life has been completely toxic.  I have run to food for my source of peace and comfort.  I have run to food for my escape.  The food has been my drug for so long.  Greg has reminded me many times that it's not "the food".  Food is just the symptom. So I dig a little deeper and some more work has to be done.  I am starting to run to God first.  That is really what this fast is all about.  It's about running to God and craving HIM more, not the food.  These past 5 days food has only been our fuel.  That is all.  Food has lost it's power on me.  HE is strong in my weakness and I am made whole.  It's been an incredible 5 days.

Many have asked about our fast.  And we love all the pictures of others juicing now.  I get random texts throughout the day and ones pop up on facebook.  Love it.  I would like to think that we have helped encourage you and in turn you are continuing to encourage us.  Thank you!

I truly believe the first step if you are considering a juice fast, is to watch Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and Hungry for Change.  These two movies are lifelines and should be played out on network t.v.  For now you can watch them on Netflix or Youtube.

A website that I refer to often is All About Juicing.  This is another place to start.

Day 4 Recipe

Here's the concoction of what we drank in the Day 4 video:

4 Carrots
4 Celery
1 Cucumber
Bunches of Kale
Knob of Ginger
3 Apples
1 Lemon

Day 4 - where's day 3?

We will have to re-visit day 3.  Day 3 was a bit rough.  Lots of emotions for me and Greg had a ton of aches and pains.  It's amazing how our body reacts to detoxing from the processed foods and sugars in the body.  Clearly, it's not good for you, ya think?  I will come back and write on my Day 3 another time.  Here is a quick video update of Greg and I.  It did cut us off at the end.  Our video skills are not perfected yet on this journey  ha!

Thank you so much for all of the encouragement and support.

With God ALL things are possible!!

Day 2 - Energy

Day 2......zzzz  Oh wait, ok, I'm up again.  Seriously don't know how I'm going to get through this post without falling asleep.  We have zero energy.  It's not like a dirty low energy like you get at 3pm everyday kind of crash, it's a slow moving, don't want to talk or do anything kind of thing.

Yesterday we juiced 4 carrots, 2 fuji apples and a handful of parsley.  YUMMY!!!  Bella and Jackson loved it too and they were excited to have another this morning.  Today we did the carrots, but I added 2 oranges instead of the apples.  The kids didn't like it as much.  I love that they are so excited about it and want to participate.  This truly is going to change our family.  Now, just need to get Gavin trying it.

Here's some honesty, Gavin and I have the same horrible eating habits.  I don't eat salad or any cold salad type food.  The only fruit I like are bananas.  Nope, don't like strawberries, nope, not pears....only bananas.  Now, I will have all those fruits blended in a smoothie.  Love them all blended.  And I like most veggies cooked - very cooked.  So juicing...juicing seems like the perfect fit for someone like me right?  Actually it is.  It has been difficult to take the first sips but then I suck them down and overall there is a somewhat nice flavor.  Greg however, likes the taste of carrots and apples so he savors and drinks his slow.  

Day 1 - Resurrection

Oh here we are again, little blog of mine!  It seems the last time I posted I was strong into going gluten free.  And yes that has continued; however, the slipping and sliding was pretty much back to normal.  I cut out those foods back in April because of an intolerance and after going two months completely gluten free I was still at the same weight.  I always said that I wasn't doing it for weight loss, but to be healthy, and that was true; however, after two months I was a little discouraged having not lost any weight.  What I DID learn is that you can be gluten free and still eat high calories.  And anyone that knows me well, knows, that I will try and work any system and plan to my rebellious benefit.

So here we are today, and Greg and I have started our juice fast.  Three weeks of planning and praying went into this very moment.  And the morning came and I was completely overwhelmed.  I was excited, for sure!  But I was a little overwhelemed because I am not a very organized person.  I was so excited to get to the actual juicing that I didn't bring all the food out at ounce.  Thank goodness I cleaned it all last night.

We started with 3 red apples and 1 lemon.  This was to get the kids introduced to it.  Jackson really liked it, Bella did not and Gavin didn't try it.  So then we did 3 apples and Bella was good to go.  She really enjoyed it.

For Greg we made the Mean Green Juice from the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead".

4 celery stalks
1 cucumber
3 green apples
ginger
lemon
kale

Guess what?  I forgot the kale in his juice this morning.  So add kale to that, about 6-7 leaves or a few handfuls if it's cut up.

Here is Greg's reaction to his first sip.  He was pretending to be Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild.

I took a sip.  I didn't like it at first.  But I don't normally like one single thing that was in the juice.  On second sip it was better.  I didn't make myself one because I decided to finish what Bella and Jackson didn't finish of their apple juices.  Greg thinks I was just trying to get out of having that mean green juice, but really, I didn't want to waste theirs....no, really, it's true!  ha!

I titled this post Day 1 - Resurrection -  because what came to mind first thing today was "we are alive in Christ".  Because of Christ and the Resurrection, I can do all things and all things are NOT impossible.

"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me"  Philippians 4:13.

I will post here each day and evening.  Pray for us and send us your encouragement, this is a huge opportunity for growth with our Lord and growth in our health.  We MUST take control of our health, so the "health" care system doesn't have to!

Change - nobody likes it

The family has not adjusted too well to going natural and clean in the kitchen.  They had a fit when I dumped the pantry of pretty much everything in a box or if I couldn't pronounce the ingredients.

I know Greg wants me healthy and feeling better and losing weight but his attitude about the type of food we have to eat isn't very excited about it.  I know it's an adjustment for all of us and it's hard, really hard.

I put some crappy food in my body yesterday.  Due to very poor planning on my part I was at a birthday party with processed food galore.  There was no way out.  I gave in to hotdogs (no bun), chips, canned chili and baked beans.  None of it tasted good and I immediately was in the bathroom.  I did not have any cupcakes or sugar - thank God.

Today my tummy has been churning a lot and I've been trying to figure out what I had that wasn't good.  Probably the cream of mushroom soup I used in the chicken.  I want that out of the house too and I know it's not a good choice, but I did it anyways.  Paying the price now.

How many times have I asked Greg or someone with me to remind me how I'm feeling at this moment so I never eat X again?  I've said that more times than I can count.  This little blog needs to be my reminder too.