As I type I’m enjoying a glass full of spinach, kale, cilantro, parsley, celery, pear, apple and ginger. Two weeks ago I would have run screaming from that glass. I’m not a veggie girl. (Which is sort of why I started this whole thing.)
Things I Learned
• A plant based diet is important to over overall health. I need more plants in my diet. Juicing is an easy way to get them.
• Chlorophyll is important for your body, which is why kale and spinach always made it into my juice. All of my juices were green.
• The hunger goes away. For me the cravings did not. (But there are ways to work on your cravings when you’re not fasting.)
• Your juice should have more veggies than fruit. Resisting the urge to up the fruit in the juice was hard. Fruit tastes better.
• It’s easier to make about two days of juice at once. (Cleaning the juicer isn’t hard, but it’s not fun.)
• Juicing is better if you get friends to join you. It gives you someone to listen to you when you need to whine. (So thanks Mallery and Christy!)
• You can surprise yourself with what juices you like. (I hate carrots and celery but I love them in juice. Who knew?)
• You might cheat. One week in and I felt like I had to eat. I paid for it and felt miserable after I did.
• Breaking the fast is not easy. Your body has gotten used to not eating. You have to take it slow and eat things similar to what you were juicing for a day or two.
• You’re capable of more than you think you are.
Ten days later I’m so glad I did this. My struggles were only in my head, not my body. I craved bad things the entire time. (Which is a testament to my issues with food and not a reflection on the process.) I did feel good during my fast-surprisingly good. I experienced some signs of detox but others I didn’t notice at all. I lost 10 pounds. I’m sure some of that will return as I start to eat. Hopefully most will stay away.
My plans going forward? I hope to juice daily. I’m horrible about skipping breakfast and I think starting the day with juice would be smart. I’d like to stay as close to vegetarian (and vegan if I can swing it) during the week. I plan to save treats and splurges for the weekend, just to keep from overdoing it. Will this stick? It’s hard to say. I hope so. I think so. I did just visit the grocery store without leaving the produce aisle, after all!