I'm Trying

Today has been a good day food wise - but as far as productivity goes it has been slow. I have sat in front of a computer all day trying to get something done but mostly I have emailed, facebooked, watched videos, Wooted and generally goofed off.

One thing I have done is try and make some Live Bread. I followed a recipe from here: http://www.therawchef.blogs.com I made a half batch because I do not have a fancy dehydrator - just an old round one. I bet you can hear my mind thinking of ways to get a new one.

I made the dough and then put it on a tray - it has a fruit roll sheet in it. A plastic shelf that is not perforated so the bread can “cook” without dripping through the dehydrator. After 2 hours I was supposed to flip the bread out of the dryer and “cook” the other side. Well, that didn’t work so good. I ended up attempting to flip it but mainly ended up with a mess that I re-spread on the sheet. It’s still drying and we shall see. After a bit more research I think I need to get some parchment paper until I find the funds for a new dehydrator. Going raw seems to be a bit of an expense over time.

RAW power!

It sounds like a wrestling thing - I'm going Raw. It sounds like a meat thing too. But really it's the furthest thing away from wrestling and meat. It's much more about living. Today was my first day as a raw food vegan. Although there is an * to today. I did eat some nuts from a can this morning - but only because there was nothing else (yeah right) to eat.

I started today with an apple/beet/carrot/ginger juice. Some nuts (from a can) and a apple. Lunch was an apple/beet/greens juice and a raw pizza from the Whole Wheatery. I picked up a Raw recipe book and some raw nuts (almonds, cashews and walnuts). Dinner was a head of romaine with carrots and broccoli. For a dressing I did 1 part hemp oil, one part olive oil, one part apple cider vinegar plus some Braggs, stone ground mustard and some Italian spices. I need to get fresh herbs and a few more staples in. But I have not succumbed like I did the night before when I ate an entire pizza. I woke up this morning with a junk food hang over.

I will continue to juice - but I am transitioning into a raw - "living foods" diet now. What I don't want to do is go overboard and just jump right back into all my bad habits. I hope to continue to lose weight and hopefully will build up energy too. We shall see.

Now What?

Well - it happened again. Relapse. A dark trip back to the center of my food addictions. Or more simply put - a binge. It started with one nacho chip and it was all downhill from there. I became a junk food eating machine. I sit here now with heart burn and a deflated ego wondering what tomorrow will bring.

What I hope is that I'll be able to get right back on the juicefeast horse. But I am also rethinking my eating habits. It just seems way too much of an all or nothing struggle right now. And I would rather it would be a smother transition to a mostly Raw food experience. So...

Here's my plan de jour: I'm going to juice - until I feel that overwhelming need for chewing rear its ugly face again - and then I'm going to eat raw foods. I'd rather bounce back and forth between raw and juice than juice and tons of crap. So now I'm on a mission - I'm going to start looking for Raw food sites out there with recipes, support etc. My goal is to continue down this road I have started on and to stop getting off and doing this binge thing. We'll see.

A Vegan Life

For the past 20 years I have been a vegetarian. I started in February 1989 and by July of that year I was a complete vegan (no animal products at all - meaning no meat, dairy, eggs, leather, honey). At first I ate really well. Mostly fresh veggies and fruits. But over time I found all the vegan junk foods. Yes, a diet Dr.Pepper and a bag of chips is vegan on paper - but in the spirit of the vegan life style it really isn't. I slowly over the past 20 years feel into the "convenience food" trap. If it was quick and "vegan" I would eat it. And if it was a chocolate chip cookie - I'd eat it even if it wasn't vegan. I was vegan on the outside and crap on the inside (literary it seems).

Now I'm juice feasting - 100% vegan - 100% raw vegan. And my goal is to reboot my eating habits. I don't know if I will make my 60 day goal - I don't know if I will be 100% Raw when I finish - but what I hope is that when I am done with the feast I will be a much better eater than I am now.

Lately, when I get a juice at the local juice bar I read the Raw cookbooks (or would that be uncookbook?). I think I could live well as a raw fooder. We shall see.

A Tough Day

Today was a tough day. I just had a hankering for some food. And not a specific food - just some food. And it's not because I am hungry. I just miss eating what I used to eat. However I hope this will pass. I think it's just my mind playing tricks on me. Right now as I sit here I realize that I am not hungry at all. I've had 4 quarts of juice and 48 oz. of master cleanse (I have to come up with a better name for that.) Tomorrow will be better. I think it may be from stress. This is the end of the quarter and I have a lot to do by next Monday. But if I make it through until Friday I'll have 30 days on the feast. So I'll be half-way through what I want to accomplish.

My real goal is to re-boot my eating habits. I was actually thinking today of trying to go Raw 6 days a week and then have one day a week where I indulge in what ever I feel like. I need to leave that door open in my mind - otherwise I may feel deprived.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Hiking and Juicing

What an interesting day today.

First: I was all worried about what to bring on my hike today. I wanted to make sure I had enough fuel for the trek. I had planned to drink 2 quarts of juice in the early morning and then bring some agave nectar for a quick pick me up.

Well during the night the power went out. It was still not on when it was time to leave for the hike so I had some lemon/cayenne/agave and packed the last of my agave in a small tupperware and went hiking. I kept waiting for the bonk but it never came. We hiked about 6 miles (maybe more like 5.5) in the cold and extreme wind and I never once felt like I was going to bonk (depletion of glycogen and blood sugar while exercising. Symptoms include a dramatic reduction in performance and feeling disoriented and weak) . I was super surprised that I was able to hike at a reasonable pace and never felt like I was losing strength or energy. When I got home the power was on again. However, the power had not really gone out - we had been pranked, some kid(s) had turned off the power during the night as a prank. It took my wife calling the electric company to figure this out. And now we have a lock on our electrical box. The upshot is that I did not "eat" until almost 1:30 today and still felt fine.

The other interesting thing about the feast is the amount of garbage that I'm not making. I try to recycle the plastic bags that the produce comes in and am really trying to use cloth shopping bags when I do grocery shop. And today I got a box of produce from my friend Adam who is buying in bulk from our local market. We save about 10% this way and that also cuts down on garbage. I also bring the pulp to a friend at work that composts it . My carbon foot print is much smaller that it used to be.

22 days

I know - I said I wasn't counting, but my wife asked me this morning how many days and so I looked at the calendar. I figured it this way - Feb 16 - March 12 = 25 days - 3 days of eating = 22 days. So St. Patrick's Day will be 30 days. I'll be sure and drink something green : ).

This morning I had watermelon juice. It wasn't that good but I think it was a bad watermelon - it looked like the meat had maybe froze at some point. I wasn't too keen on drinking it but I did anyway. Still standing so far. I also had a home made V-8 - celery/tomato/carrot/spinach with some Himalayan salt. I ended up with 64 oz. of it so it's the main drink for today. I had to get up early because I had an appointment in Shafter (a little over an hour away). So I just made some quick juice. But then the appointment cancelled. Now I have 32 oz. of home made V-8 already made. I will just make the rest of the days juice later.

I went on "The Daily Plate" at Livestrong today to figure out my calorie intake each day. As near as I can figure it's around 1800 cal. per day. The juices give me a little over 1200 but the agave boosts that by 360 calories each 1/4 cup. (I have one or two servings that size a day). It's less than I expected. I've been telling everyone not to worry because I'm getting 2000 calories a day. 1800 is less but not extremely less. My weight has stabilized for now (I am losing size - I now can wear 36 inch pants comfortably - I started with tight 38s). My health is okay - I still have a raspy throat - but other than that everything feels fine.

I do have amazing dreams that I feel very involved in. Most I do not remember but those I do are quite vivid. I feel like I am sleeping much deeper too.

Over all I am amazed I am still doing this - if I drink my juice in a timely manner I'm rarely hungry. The nice thing is if I do get hunger pangs I just drink some water, or the lemon concoction or I have some juice - problem fixed.

Another Good Day

I noticed I'm not counting the days anymore. I figure if I can make it to the 19th I'll have 30 days of feasting (that counts the three day binge too). It is becoming such a routine now. Get up, make juice, live my day and drink the juice. Today I wore pants and a shirt that have not fit for several years - that felt really good. And they were comfortable (not all tight and stretchy.)

I also find that I am not that thirsty in the morning. Today I didn't even drink my first juice until almost 9. It was made and ready but I just finished my lemon/water/cayenne/MSM/salt drink and that was enough. I wasn't hungry at all.

I did go out and eat today. I went to the Whole Wheatery and had 32oz. "Get Smart" (Carrots/kale/spinach/parsley/ginger) juice and a double shot of wheat grass. I sat at a little table at the juice bar while they made it and read Raw recipe books. It felt pretty good. I think I will make it a once a week event.

I went to buy my veggies for tomorrow and the store was closed. The good store. The one that has quite a selection of organic veggies and fruit. Ended up at the other store in town. Pretty slim pickings. I bought some non-organic kale and organic pre-washed spinach (on sale!) and one bag of the celery hearts. Why do growers think that people who like organic produce want just the hearts of celery? I much prefer the whole head. I have enough to get me started in the morning but I might have to juice twice tomorrow. At the not-so-good store they said the power was going to be turned off in town and that's why the other store was closed. Well the power hasn't gone off yet (or else my neighborhood was unaffected.

There is one draw back to this juice feast - and weight loss. I am cold all the time lately. I sleep with extra blankets and am still cold. I ma such a wimp. My hands are freezing right now. I'm hoping this is a stage and that I will warm up soon. Lately the only place I feel war is in my car with the heat way up.

Preparations

Yesterday was a great day. No headache. Lots of energy. Good juices. I ma slowly eliminating everything from my celery juice except celery. Just a little bit of apple. and maybe one carrot. The carrot mainly helps push the pulp through the juicer. Which brings up my juice method.

I use a Champion juicer - mainly because that is what I have and what I don't have is the $600 for a Vita-mix. I start with celery - mainly because the celery is very fibrous and the long strands can clog the juicer after a bit. Apple and carrot will kind of cleanse it but I always end up doing a quick clean out before I start the next veggie. I pre-chop up all my leafy greens before putting them through the hopper. This makes it a lot easier. After the greens I'll do carrots and what ever apples I have left over. Generally I do one whole head of celery, 2 lbs. of green leafys, 6 apples, an inch or so of ginger, a 5lbs. of carrots. I strain everything through a wire strainer. I also will run the pulp through a second time to get that little bit extra.

I think I have the going away problem fixed for now. Yesterday I went to Target and bought a Juiceman Jr. - it's more self contained than the Champion. It has a separate container for the pulp and for the juice. I figure I'll be able to juice in my hotel room. I'm bring about a days worth of veggies with me so all I'll need is to find either more veggies in Palm Springs (can you say Farmers Market?) or find a place that will juice for me. We shall see. If this works it will take a great deal of apprehension away from me when it comes to traveling.

Back in the Saddle

Today went really well. The morning started with celery/apple juice and then a kale/spinach/apple chaser. I was able to make all four quarts before work which really makes the day run smooth. I save my apple/carrot juice for last - it's like desert to me.

One of the things I'm not doing now that I juice is snack all night long. I n fact I really don't hang out in the kitchen much at all after my daily juice is made. There's no reason to. I am not wandering around looking in every cabinet - looking for that special unknown food that will satiate all my cravings. Because I don't really have any cravings. It's just me and the juice.

So far I have juiced the following:
Celery
Carrots
Kale
Red leaf lettuce
Romaine (not so good)
Apples (Ambrosias are the best so far)
Spinach
Rhubarb
Parsley
Wheat Grass
Ginger
Cucumber
Beet
Oranges
Lemons
Pineapple

Thinking about juicing : pear, cilantro, dandelions

I haven't had a really undrinkable juice although the romaine did have its moments. My favorites so far are pineapple/orange/carrot and I really do like the spinach/kale/apple too. The hemp oil does not seem to effect (affect?) the taste much - in fact it makes the juice a little slippery and easy to drink.

I did get a little bit of a headache today drinking the master cleanse (lemon/agave/cayenne pepper and MSM) but it might have been a brain freeze. I'll see how I feel tomorrow. I think I'm still working through the effects of my food binge and it make take all week to get back to where I was. (just in time to go out of town again).

Ahhhh Much Better (new day one)

It's good to be back. Good to be juicing again. My body had a bit of a rough time the past 36 hours but the upside is I do feel on the mend. Monday morning, I did my morning routine and got back on the juice wagon. It really does feel right. I know I will have to be much better planned and ready for the unexpected when I travel. I have three more weekends away at conferences coming up through the end of April. But it can be done if I plan it all right. It does appear that palm Springs has sufficient juicing opportunities (but I thought that about Anaheim). I will be making phone calls in the next few days just to make sure.

I keep forgetting to thank Adam for giving me the idea to re-juice the pulp. I get close to an extra half quart doing that. Thanks for the tip.

So this ends my new day 1 - I have a stronger resolve. Used 1.5 Tbl spoons of hemp oil in the mornings juice. Feeling pretty good.

Weight 195 (already 193 this am) - but wow, what a lot I ate in only three short days.

Relapse (arrrggghhhh)

On Thursday everything was going fine. I discovered something about my juicing and felt like I had a minor break through. I made my juices a bit different. Instead of a celery/lettuce/parsley/ginger/apple/carrot/spinach juice I broke them up into smaller numbers of ingredients. Celery/apple - which is sweet and salty. Lettuce/apple/carrot - green and sweet. Apple/carrot/ginger - sweet and spicy. I made my four quarts and was ready for the day.

We (V. and I) left for Anaheim Thursday night from Bakersfield. I had a campus meeting and so we took the Grapevine to the LA basin. I kept one quart to drink that night. I had researched juice places down that way and thought I had everything covered.

Friday we had a meeting with a priest/write friend of V's at 7am - we met at the Starbucks. I had anticipated the meeting and drank some hot tea (Calm) and was fine. V took off after that for a session at the conference that we were at and I headed to Cancun Juice for some fresh juice. They had several options and I picked two - one a tomato concoction tom/carrot/celery/beet/spinach/cucumber/parsley and lime - it was good and red and tasted like v-8. The other was called the Popeye (spinach/orange/pineapple/banana and more spinach. It was rather foamy and even though I asked the not to put a banana in - it tasted like it had banana. it was also surprisingly thick but I didn't think anything of it until later. I think I was a bit unsure mainly because there was a language barrier between me and the order person - I wasn't sure exactly what I was getting.

Later in the day I started worrying that the tom juice might have had some caned juice in it and my mind wouldn't let that go. Plus I could tell V was disappointed that we wouldn't be eating out together because I'm doing this juice thing and she isn't. The kids were also going to be around and they were excited about going out to eat. Around 6pm I took V with me to the Cancun place to get 2 more quarts of juice. I had her ask if all the veggies were fresh and they insisted they were (they are) . So we sat as they made my next two quarts of juice. But then I saw why the morning's juice was a bit thick. Some of the veggies (mostly the carrots and apples) they put through a juicer - the rest they blended in a blend-tek blender. So I was getting everything - fiber and all. It threw me for a loop. I was more than what I was supposed to be drinking. And unfortunately I spun out a bit. The only other juice place near where we were staying (that I had found) was a Robecks - but it was closed for a few months for some unknown reason. There was a Jamba at Downtown Disney but I was not excited about drinking a gallon of carrot juice a day.

Basically my defenses came down and we all V and I and the kids (well 3 of the 4) ended up at the Cheesecake factory and I had guacamole and some fried avocado egg rolls (although I could not finish them). My goal was to find somewhere else that night and be ready in the morning.

Saturday I started with 32oz of master cleanse (water/lemon juice/cayenne pepper and MSM) - went to my first session and then walked down to the Jamba (much further than I thought it would be) had 32 oz of pure carrot juice and a 2oz shot of wheat grass. Later that day drove over to a "Juice it Up" - it had on it's menu some variety. Unfortunately it was closed like the Robecks. It's starting to feel like a conspiracy. That night I end up eating sushi and then a vegan burger at the Rain forrest Cafe (another oxymoron in its self). My self -esteem is lower than low and my body is screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!!!"

Of course I don't listen and Sunday (today) I eat two muffins of unknown content and origin and then proceed to eat every evil food I can find. I'm like on some kind of scavenger hunt to eat any crappy food I can find: Pringles, white rice with teriyaki stir-fry, chocolate in many forms, store bough chocolate chip cookies, M and Ms (not- vegan) and many other horrors. My digestive system has given up and moved to another state and left no forwarding address. As I write this my mouth swims with the juices of Cadberry mini-eggs that i found hidden in a kitchen cabinet. I figure after tonight I'm going back to the juice and might as well lose all self respect tonight while I can.

To say I am disappointed in myself would be an understatement. I am bummed and depressed and a little bit defiant. I'm on sugar high and waiting to crash. And I look forward to starting back on the feast in the morning.

If there are any lessons that I have learned - they are these:

1. I have definite food issues. Even after 11 days of feasting it did not take much to get right back to bad habits
2. I did feel better on the feast that I realized (I feel like crap right now)
3. I didn't go back to caffeine which is the only blessing of this whole ordeal
4. My resolve is renewed tonight - I hope it is the same in the morning
5. We live in a culture that encourages us to eat horrifically

I have my veggies for the morning. I am preparing for next weekend when I'll be in Palm Springs - either I will have a juice source or I'm bring the juicer with me.

Wish me luck.

Day 8

I'm blogging at night now. There's just too much to do in the morning. Preparing juice takes a solid hour now. Today - 2 heads of red leaf lettuce, 5 lbs carrots, one head celery, 6 apples, 1/2 cuke, parsley, ginger and that was about it. Yielded 4 quarts of juice. 3 mostly green and a carrot apple ginger kicker for the evening. I really didn't feel hungry all day.

I did get caught at work with the green juice - my bad. Now everyone really thinks I'm off my rocker. It really isn't normal for people to only drink juice for sustenance. But I am - and right now I feel pretty good.

I have a morning routine down - did figure out that there really needs to be a specific order to it. The enema should come after the morning constitution probably. No one really wants details. No mess - just some real quick moves on my part. I keep thinking of that scene in "The Right Stuff" (sorry no hot link to the right IMDB page) where Scott Glenn gets his in the hospital. Yikes!

One thing that is taking a while to get use to is how the inside of my mouth feels. The teeth do feel a bit fuzzy at times - I brush them a lot to rid them of the feeling. And there is a pseudo hint of a metallic taste. Not really noticeable until I think about it - not disgusting or even distasteful - just this presence of a minor/mild/ almost non- existent taste. I am hoping it passes.

I am nervous about this weekend - 3 full days away from my juicer. I'm hoping I will be able to find a good place to "eat" at during y time down south. I am not sure if I'll be able to blog much either - but will make the best attempt I can.

Week 2 Day 1 The Hero's Journey continues

"The Hero's Journey" - not my words, this is what David Rain calls it, this juice feasting thing. He says that it will bring all sorts of awakenings - spiritual and synergistic and other words I can not remember. He says all this as I'm driving in my car listening to his spiel. He says all sorts of random but amazingly consequential things will happen. And then a truck passes me with these words boldly painted on its tail gate "Hero's Plumbing" which just about says it all. I smile. It's much more plumbing than the hero thing.

One thing: I pee a lot. About 12 times a day at least. Which is supposedly normal. Once an hour. And at least twice during the night. It's like a pregnant women or something (apologizes to anyone who has been pregnant). I am becoming re-hydrated apparently. My steady diet of soda actually was dehydrating and my new regimen is repairing all that damage. My skin actually felt better today - smoother and healthier. It was noticeable the difference.

Today's juices:

Spinach, red leaf lettuce, parsley, celery, wheat grass, apple, carrot x 2
Carrot, apple, ginger x 1
Carrot with a shot of wheat grass x 1

Today's weight: 191 a total loss of 9 pounds last week. I'm sure it will slow down this week.

Day 6

Almost a whole week on the fast - and time has flown by. Really. I kind of have a rhythm down now although the weekend does throw things a bit into turmoil. Mainly because I really like sleeping in. Weekdays - up at 7 and juicing by eight. Saturday - up by 8:30 - quick juice because then we had to go get our taxes done. The good news - we owe less than $1000 in taxes. That was a lot less than I expected.

Then we went to the movies. This required me to have juice made in advance and to bring for the evening. We saw "The Reader" first - it is still renting space in my head. A multi-layered film and that Kate Winslet is pretty frickin awesome. Then off to the drug store to find an enema kit - this time I was successful. Fortunately we were out of town so I didn't have to use the slick ruse I had developed to save myself embarrassment. I figured I'd buy a "Ha! You're turning 50" card to give the impression that it was all a gag gift. Slick huh? Kind of like buying condoms in the old days - it was good of "American Graffiti" to show me how. After that we saw Frost/Nixon which lead to a long discussion on the car ride home about Ron Howard movies. Another great film from him.

So this morning I used above mentioned contraption - 2 things: one, it was not as weird as I thought it would be and 2: It was as weird as I thought it would be. Plus - it sure took a lot longer coming out than going in. And that's that. I do feel better today. The David Rain interview said that doing an enema a day for the first couple of weeks would be very beneficial and eliminate headaches and sluggishness. Today I would have to agree - it might be a placebo effect - but that's okay by me.

Tomorrow (Monday) starts a new week. I'll weigh in and continue the feast. I'm not feeling enormously different yet - but I am feeling the benefits of no caffeine, no junk food, no diet soda and lots of liquid veggies.

Day 5 (and the morning of 6)

Have to start out with the delicious drink I had this morning: pineapple, orange and carrot - like liquid candy. Normally I would have a green juice but we are getting our taxes done today and I'm nervous that we will owe more than we have available to pay. So I thought I'd treat myself this morning instead of the usual. It was well worth it. Besides - this is a feast not a fast - I definitely feasted this morning.

I's been 5 days since I've chewed anything and it does feel weird. I haven't had any gum which I chewed a lot of - and nothing solid at all. The other day after juicing as I was cleaning up I found a slice of apple that I had neglected to run through the juicer. I panicked - the juicer was all cleaned and put away and I had this apple bit in my hand. I think I contemplated that apple piece for about a minute before I finally put it down the sink disposal.

I'm feeling okay - I've been listening to the David Rain tapes (actually CD to MP3 on my iPod) and am coming to the conclusion that I will need to do the big "E" in order for things to move out better - to get the full effect of the cleansing aspect of the feast. Found out where to get one (hopefully) an maybe tomorrow will be the day.

I did have all 4 quarts (day 5) and a quart of lemon/cayenne/agave/msm too. I didn't have any caffeine yesterday and am feeling the effects of that withdrawal for the moment. I now that the beginning is going to be rougher because it's the farthest I have to go from my baseline. As my body adjusts to the feast I am hoping (assured by others) that I will start to feel a lot better. We'll see. I'm committed to doing 60 days but if somewhere along the line I feel I can do the full 92 I will go for it.

JF Day 4

Went and saw Milk last night - a powerful movie. At times quite unsettling. It is always interesting to me how in times of crisis there always seems to be someone who will step up to the plate. I thought about so many of my friends and what they must have had to go through (and may still be going through) in order to live their lives in fulfilling ways. Isn't it just human nature to want to be loved and accepted for who you are? If you haven't - go see the movie or rent it when it comes out.

But enough about heavy stuff - let's talk light. I snuck on the scale today and have lost 6 lbs. already. I imagine that is normal when one goes to a purely liquid diet. But I also feel much lighter too. I still have a minor headache at least once during the day - but it is getting smaller and I am feeling better. My fear is that I will have a "fasting crisis" which is supposed to be avoided by drinking the gallon of juice a day. Last night we got home late so I did the lemon juice/cayenne/agave mixture for my last quart.

Overall I am feeling fine. The literature warned me that my blood pressure would lower a bit at first and to be careful standing up too fast. I have felt that a little bit but nothing that I haven't felt before. I may try the hot/cold shower this morning which is supposed to stimulate the lymphatic system.

I did attempt to buy an enema kit yesterday but Walgreens did not have one. I'm not sure where to look next. Still very apprehensive about this aspect of the feast but we will see. I promise no details if this ever happens.

I am concerned about next weekend when I'll be in Anaheim Thursday - Sunday. I'll be lookig for juice places and hoping it won't be too bad. I'll bring lemons etc. but may have to fall back on Jamba carrot juice. We'll see.

Juicefeast day 3

The nice part about this experience so far is I know exactly what I'm going to do for food each day. I wake up - I juice for the day - I go to work, bring my juice and thats it. Not a lot of thinking about where I'm going to have lunch or what snack can I eat from the snack machine etc. There is one place near where I work where I can get fresh made juice and that pretty much is my option.

Today I feel pretty good (and by today I really mean yesterday since I keep writing these the morning after.) I have had a slight headache but am chalking that up to moderate caffeine withdrawal. I'm having tea in the morning but hope to wean myself off that soon.

I only had 3 quarts yesterday - but feel fine. My goal is still to have at least 4 quarts everyday. I tend to have 1 in the morning, one for lunch and one around 4 and then one once I get home. I'm hoping to try the lemon juice and cayenne pepper drink using agave rather than honey. Unfortunately the bulk cayenne pepper didn't make from my basket to the counter last night. So I'll try again today.

I started listening to the audiobook/interview with David Rain - his site is http://www.juicefeasting.com/ - I'm also reading Angela Stokes's book "The Juice Feasters Handbook" - this has been the most beneficial to me so far besides having someone that is also doing the feast about 30 days ahead of me.

About enemas - sorry haven't gone that far yet. I don't know if the idea is putting me off or that I'm just afraid to go buy the materials needed to preform one. I may break soon because I am getting pretty in to this right now and am feeling like I really want to do this right. Yeah --- we'll see.

Day 2

Never drink beet juice near carpet! That was a mess and it took toxins to get the stain out. Yikes! Had a awful juice this morning. Garlic is not the best flavor enhancer for 32 oz of juice. I think I might have it in a more concentrated amount next time. I need to find the best place (both price wise and organic wise) to get my juice materials.

I have also been starting the morning with 24oz. of fresh water and then waiting at least 45 minutes before I juice. I read somewhere that this in its self can be cleansing. We'll see.

Day 1 Juice Feast

This is actually day 2 in the morning. I started the fast yesterday. Had 4 quarts of juice. Mainly carrot, kale, spinach, apple, celery, ginger, sprout juice. Found I need to make 3 quarts in the morning. One for breakfast , one for lunch, and one for before teaching. I peed about 50 times. I also drank 2 liters + fresh water. My goal is to get up and have about 24 oz. water and then nothing for at least 45 minutes - then juice. I am drinking caffeinated tea (a no no) - just not ready for the withdrawal symptoms. Although I did get a nice headache yesterday.

Here are my stats:
Waist - 42.5
Neck - 16.5
Chest - 44
Biceps - 13
Hips - 43
Weight - 200 (on the marginal scale) probably more like 206