The"Not That Great But Also Not Horrible"juice of tomato, kale, broccoli, and basil, blended with ice and rice protein powder. I consumed this one before the gym yesterday afternoon. |
The rest of day 1 was a little less fun than the morning had been. I'm sure some of that could be attributed to the fun and novelty of juice fasting wearing off a bit and the reality of the withdrawal and detoxing really setting in. I've read an article that sort of disagrees with the idea that our bodies actually 'save up' toxins and that instead, our bodies are actually continually detoxing- it just does so more when you stop taking in toxins and give your body a chance to catch up. Either way, I'm feeling it right now. I've had an on and off headache where I can feel the blood vessels in my temples pulsing, but I think that makes it sound a little worse than it is. I'm really not doing too bad and the headache is about the only thing that's different than ordinary.
One awesome thing: I haven't felt hungry at all, or at least not as much as I would think I should after not eating since yesterday morning. My stomach feels different- not hungry and not upset and I don't feel a void or anything- just different. I think this is a good reminder of how big of a role water plays in whether or not we feel hungry. Sometimes, the truth is that we are, but sometimes if eaten recently, that hunger might be just as well quenched with a glass of water as a nice, juicy, salted, cheesy burger. I really want a burger. Anyway, it helps for resisting food when I know I'm not truly hungry. I'm figuring out that more than actually being hungry, I want the taste of food pretty bad. For instance, if I was eating and you put some real turkey breast (not the nice salty cold meat stuff) in front of me, I probably wouldn't eat it, because I'm not actually hungry. It's the taste of the cracked pepper and lemon, salted cold meat turkey that actually sounds good to me right now- proving that I'm not really hungry. I just want food for it's taste. This is fairly enlightening and I hope to remember this concept once I'm eating real food again. Paired with self-control, I think it will be helpful to remember this.
So on to the rest of the day: After I got home from class, I whipped myself up another juice, this time consisting of grapefruit, oranges, and carrots. It was pretty good. I blended it up with some ice and it was wonderful. Yesterday was my dad's birthday, so my family was going out to eat for lunch (of course, I chose to begin a juice fast on a family holiday). They got their delicious vietnamese food and I got some jasmine tea which turned out to be good since it has low caffeine and I'm not supposed to be having caffeine. I stayed strong despite the spring rolls.
We drove home and I wasn't feelng super hot by then, so I layed down and had a very pleasant nap. When I woke up, I made myself the smoothie pictured above and made my way to the gym. I felt very normal at the gym and afterword, although I did feel a little weak, I wasn't feeling bad by any means. After I had come home, showered and relaxed a little, I made myself another juice (the apple and berries one below). Once Jake got off of work I headed over to hang out with him and then came home. I was pretty tired by that time and my head was sort of throbbing. I was sort of glad about being so tired though because I've been wanting to get to bed earlier and this sort of pushed me to the edge.
Today: Woke up a little too late, but still had time to make a large juice to drink half for breakfast and half for lunch. It's been a quiet day at work and my head hurts a little bit but other than really really wanting a burger, I'm doing alright. I'll keep it posted.
The healthiest (and most unpleasant, but it wasn't that bad) juice I've made so far (pictured in its final form above). |