Breakthrough! Day 5, most of 6 & 7 :-)

Day 5 was spent at Mom Cagle's 80th birthday party held at Ryan's Buffet. They have a terrific salad bar and a few other (non-raw) things I like, so I wondered how my mason jar filled with juice (pineapple, nectarine, celery, cucumber, romaine, and carrot...I think that's it) would fare next to everyone else's plates of food. Honestly, it was really no big deal. I didn't feel 'left out' because everyone was so focused on mom and enjoying each other...I just drank my juice and made a couple more trips to the bathroom than usual. I did notice that I drank more at 'one' (2+ hour) sitting than I normally would. Telling that even when we're consuming different and healthy items we still feel the urge to eat/drink while socializing more than we would alone-or even at home during a normal family meal.

Day 6 I didn't have much of an appetite for anything...but by evening my body just felt like it needed something solid. I believe it's because I didn't continue with the salt water flush/detox tea past Saturday (consequently NOTHING has been going on elimination wise)...because I ran out of my Smooth Move tea :( So I decided to stop the juice fast (for now, anyway) since my initial goal was to get rid of some cravings and jump start my weight loss; 10 pounds in less than 2 weeks...pretty good start. I ate 2 pears lastnight, and a bite of raw almond butter.

Day 7 I still don't have much of an appetite. When I was getting the boys fed and out the door at 3am this morning I was a tad hungry and ate 7 almonds (soaked, salted and dehydrated) before going back to bed for a bit. I didn't juice (or eat anything) until around noon, though.

Well, Sara is home from school today not feeling well and asked me to heat up some of leftovers from the other night: green bean (aka 'exploding') casserole & garlic smashed potatoes. I felt trouble when I put them in the dish. When I stirred them mid-heating, I nibbled a green bean. Then a bite of potatoes. And it got to the point that I was getting ready to heat the rest of the potatoes and devour the rest! No milk in them, just some smart balance, garlic, fresh parsley, and Real salt. I took another bite of the pre-heated potatoes and they weren't nearly as good as Sara's were (after adding extra salt and spread) and I realized that what I was actually craving was the oil and salt (and garlic) that were ON the potatoes. So I put them back in the fridge (why doesn't refrigerator have a 'D' in it, too?!?) and cut up a roma tomato, part of an english cucumber, squished a garlic over them and drizzled some olive oil. Finished with a little salt & fresh ground pepper and YUM! So I cheated a little today on all raw (supposed to be transitioning, anyway...I'm not good at that though) but I learned a huge lesson.

For a long time now I have been quietly critiqueing the SAD foods I eat and (think that I) love, and realizing that when I really break down the flavors, textures and tastes there are only certain parts of them that are truly tasty-and most can be replicated on a much tastier level in RAW form. I'm sure I could have made something similar to smashed potatoes in raw form, but I had to fill the true craving immediately. Now my tummy is a little upset...probably from my sampling of SAD foods along with my first real fat consumption in about a week. I still plan to do a lot of smoothies and juicing on my health journey; just taking a break to do more smoothies and salads than juicing for awhile.

My goal is to get back to 100% raw and healthy lifestyle, especially after reading an excerpt from Beautiful on Raw this morning about the difference between high-raw and 100% raw (based on her husband's experience and 'samplings')...it's really a pretty huge difference in how we look and feel, overall. I've seen Tonya in person twice recently, and I promise those photographs are NOT airbrushed! She looks amazing, and so much better than she did in her 30's...and she's in her 50's. I'm not getting any younger, and though I've been told I look at least 10 years younger than I am (give or take, depending on the day etc) I know I can look so much better when I'm 100% raw vegan. It really is true "you are what you eat". I want to eat fresh, vibrant foods because I know that when I do I am a fresh, vibrant me :-)

It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician. ~Meryl Streep

Juice Fast~Day 4

I feel SOOO much better today than I did yesterday! I'm down 8 pounds since I started the fast, and have way more energy (though I'm yawning a bit right now...time for more juice, perhaps?) I had a lot of energy at 3:15 this morning when I got up to fix Bill & Taylor breakfast and get them on the road. I even contemplated staying up (though we hadn't gone to sleep until midnight-thirty!) I went back to bed at 5am, though. It just feels strange to be puttering around the house that early. I need to get over that...but I haven't yet. I felt much more groggy when I got up the second time, though. We overslept for church-woke up at 10 and should have been walking out the door by then. Ooops. Weather is strange this weekend, though (storm and tornado warnings) so I was debating whether we should leave the house, anyway.
I talked to Dad & Nonny this morning for over 2 hours about the juice fast, the book Quantum Touch I'm reading post Reiki level 1 training, and what I want to be when I 'grow up'. Luckily I had my bluetooth, so I was able to do a lot of chores while we were talking :-)
I waited until our conversation was over so that I could do oil pulling before I drank any juice. I can feel myself detoxing thru my tongue (thick coating...just feels strange and I have to brush multiple times throughout the day). Nonny said that her gum disease is completely 100% better since she started oil pulling after I told them about it 6 months ago. Amazing! We also talked about how and what to discuss with Bill and my teenage daughters regarding sex. We'll save that for a later post, though.
It's mid-afternoon and I'm going to get back to some chores, and maybe do some yoga. My body feels like it really wants to do some good stretching and moving. I'm not hungry today at all, really, and wasn't hungry yesterday, either. Yay :)

The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around.... Throughout history, "tender loving care" has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing. ~Larry Dossey

Juice Fast~Day 3

I didn't post yesterday because day 3...sucked. I didn't sleep well the night before and was up early (7am Saturday at Sam's? Nobody should be there at that time!) to get new tires. I wanted to do the salt water flush (which requires several hours of mandatory home time) so I had to wait until I got home. I did the salt water flush-which wasn't as 'bad' as I'd expected, but I was pretty fatigued all afternoon. After a good bit of tropical fruit juice and some veggie juice, my energy picked back up and by evening I was feeling much better. I didn't get around to posting, though, because I had to take care of my boys when they returned from a very long and difficult day of working. My biggest challenge was Sara's grilled portobella mushrooms...I really kinda wanted to try some. I dipped my finger in the marinade because she was concerned about how it turned out (it was fine once cooked), but that was the extent of my 'cheat'. My day (and the boy's day) ended up MUCH better than it started : )

The greatest wealth is health. ~Virgil

Juice Fast~Day 2

I just lost my entire post trying to fix a spelling error. It's late, so this attempt will be short only because I don't want to skip a day :-/ Keeps me accountable, I suppose.
Today was easier than yesterday-I wasn't nearly as hungry :-) My energy was low this evening because my tummy has been upset and I have a white coating on my tongue...seems I'm detoxing pretty quickly! Didn't expect to have symptoms on day 2. I slept HARD last night, but got up at 3:30am (after 3 hours of sleep) to get the boys off to work (made them eggs and wheat waffles) and was downright perky! I did go back to bed after they left for a few hours, and slept hard again.
I had a small amout of the leftover fruit juice from yesterday for breakfast, and then some Bloody Mary juice of tomato, celery, garlic and spinach (needed some greens) for 'linner'. I was craving some grapes a couple hours later and made some fruit juice of black grapes, apple, kiwi, nectarine and orange which was YUMMY. That was my first all fruit juice, and after that was when the aliens started making noises in my belly. Maybe I won't do all fruit again for awhile...
I'm down about 6 pounds in a week (I was juicing along with food from Sun-Thurs) and have a lot of energy and focus (up until tonight). I'm going to try a salt water flush in the morning-it's supposed to speed up the detox process. Wish me luck! 

The groundwork of all happiness is health.
James Leigh Hunt

Juice Fast~Day 1

I finally started the juice fast I've been putting off for weeks now. I have a lot of energy, am only mildly hungry at times-except when I smell things like PIZZA :-( As I type I'm sipping a wine glass of beet, apple, cucumber, rainbow kale, and carrot juice (it even looks a little like wine except for the schmutz that sticks to the sides of the glass.) It's actually quite tasty, but I'm going to take a few days off of the beet juice. Not my favorite! 
To my earlier glass, I added spinach, ginger and lemon juice-could BARELY chug it with a chaser of regular juice. I know it's really good for me, but I just can't do it.  Thankfully I've figured out that when I want to experiment, I start with a base (that I know I like) and add the new ingredient(s) to a shot glass of it instead of ruining an entire batch (which I did my best to consume, anyway, because I don't want to waste my fresh organic fare no matter how disgusting!) 
I made a Sam's Club pizza for my girls dinner and was so proud of myself for leaving there without caving for a slice...which was a huge mistake because I really wanted to do a face plant into the pizza as I was taking it out of the oven (ouch!) So far I have managed to stick to my juice-thanks to a blog I found about another Amy who just finished a 10 day juice fast after watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead-which was my inspiration, too :-) 
The other juice I had today was a gazpacho juice of green, red & orange pepper, tiny bit of onion, 3 cloves garlic, lots of red & yellow roma tomatoes, and a splash of ACV with a pinch of Real salt. Not sure I should be adding those, but I have been drinking a lot of water so I do take a little real or celtic sea salt throughout the day to balance my electrolytes. I have a slight headache, but since I spent my day trying to find tires for my 2001 Civic ($375 seems like our best value! Jeez...) I would probably have a bit of a headache, anyway. 
What surprises me is that I 'quit' coffee a couple of weeks ago (knew better than to quit in conjunction with the juice fast) and I still had so much energy throughout the day despite nothing but water from 10am-3pm. Note to self: don't leave the house on a quest for anything-especially tires-without emergency juice. In my defense, I left planning to purchase a 'good' used set for $195 installed. Plenty of tread, but cracked sidewalls :-( Ergo my 'plan' changed without my consent-as usually happens on quests, right? 
I have been juicing for 4 days in addition to eating (mostly) healthy foods, and have lost about 5 pounds. I know my body wants to detox, though, so I'm going to (not?) bite the bullet and juice at least 5 days exclusively-maybe 10 or longer, depending on how I feel. I'm still 50 pounds too heavy from my days at Brilliant Bean and the subsequent broken ankle and depression from that quest not working out the way I had planned. (Theme?) 
I'm hoping this juice fast will provide some clarity on my quest to figure out at age 38 'What (do I want to be when I grow up) now?' Reiki level 1 blog to come...

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.
Mark Twain

PARAPROSDOKIAN (No, I can't pronounce it, but I know what it is! Sort of.)

So, I'm new at this and I'm also kind of lazy and I have so many things to share that I don't know where to start and I just got this fabulous email forward which I don't usually enjoy or even read but this was really really good so I decided to share it here! Enjoy :)

A “paraprosdokian” is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes producing an anticlimax. For this reason, it is popular among geniuses, comedians and satirists. 

~  I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way, so I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

~  Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

~ The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's still on the list.

~  If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

~  We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

~  War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

~  Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

~  Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't. 

~  To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

~  A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

~  Dolphins are so smart that within a few weeks of captivity, they can train people to stand on the very edge of the pool and throw them fish.

~  I thought I wanted a career; turns out I just wanted pay checks.

~  A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.

~  Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "In an emergency, notify:" I put "DOCTOR".

~  I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

~  Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but checks when you say the paint is wet?

~  Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 51 for Miss America?

~  A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

~  You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

~  The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

~  Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

~  A diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

~  Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

~  I discovered I scream the same way whether I'm about to be devoured by a great white shark or if a piece of seaweed touches my foot.

~  I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not sure.

~  I always take life with a grain of salt, plus a slice of lemon and a shot of tequila.

~  You're never too old to learn something stupid.

~  To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.*

~  Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

~  A bus is a vehicle that runs twice as fast when you are after it as when you are in it.

~  Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

* What I did this weekend when I decided to make my goal to finish reading a most awesome blog instead of my usual goal of doing chores and organizing and taking care of my family and I only have 2 posts left to read and then I WIN!!! Yay me :)



Procrastination at it's best...

Newest favorite unproductive activity...

Read this, and you will see pretty much what my day has consisted of. I've staged my own intervention (after finishing all of the 'Best of' stories); I haven't laughed so much by myself since-well, that's for another time ;-) Now, to actually tend to some grown-up responsibilites before my day is completely gone.

CAUTION!!! Disclaimer: DO NOT follow link unless you have nothing urgent to do. For quite awhile...


"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."  ~e.e. cummings