60 Day Juice Fast

I'm on day 24 of my 60 day juice fast. I thought I'd write a post explaining my reasons for doing this and also to explain what I'm doing.

Why Fast?

My weight started creeping back on because I let old habits slip back in. I did so well on my 30 day Raw Food Challenge at the beginning of the year. Then after that I introduced more cooked foods, started drinking coffee, and found myself eating pastries and cakes again. So its no surprise really that I started gaining most of the weight back that I had lost.

When that happened I started feeling really depressed. I felt like I failed and my failures were out there for everyone to see. I was also really annoyed at myself because I know what path I want to take towards better health, but I had lost control.

I decided that I had enough, my food cravings were ridiculous! I felt like it was controlling me and no matter how much I ate, I still craved more. I was doing a clean out of my cupboards at home and came across a book that I had bought but hadn't read. It's called 'The Juice Fasting Bible' by Dr Sandra Cabot. On the cover it said 'Discover the power of all-juice diets to restore good health, lose weight and increase vitality'. I needed all of that so I started reading. It's a small book so I read it in a night and decided to give it a try. She mentioned that fasting helps to eliminate food cravings because your body is getting a bucketload of nutrients.

I've heard of people like Philip McCluskey doing 60-100 day juice fasts to loose weight and transition to a raw food diet. I wasn't sure if I would be able to last that long though but decided to give it a go. Even if I only did 7 days, I would still be detoxing.

On the first day I felt so sick and extremely tired. I did this on a weekend so that I had time to rest if I needed to. I went to bed early that night. The following morning I didn't feel sick anymore, but my energy levels weren't great. I felt a bit cranky as well. But after that, I was shocked to find that my appetite and food cravings had completely gone. I really started enjoying my juices and looked up a few new recipes to try.

There were a couple of occasions that were difficult, I had a Christmas in July party to attend with the kids that involved a 3 course meal, alcohol, coffee etc. The smells made it really hard, but I drank a big juice before I left and just sipped on a herbal tea. I got through it.

So far I have lost 11.5kg (25lbs) and I have gained a whole heap of energy. I've also noticed that my moods have improved, I'm feeling really optimistic. And most of all, I feel proud of myself for coming this far. Before I started I was deflated and felt like a complete failure. Now I feel like I can make a promise to myself and stick to it. I'm more determined than ever to make it to 60 days.

What I'm doing

I'm drinking 3 juices a day, whatever I feel like. I try to make atleast one of those a green juice so that I'm alkalising. I also make sure that I'm getting a good variety of fruits and vegetables. I drink herbal tea and water throughout the day, peppermint tea is my favourite. I have Senna tea before I go to bed which is a herbal laxative. When you stop eating solid food, the food that’a already in your colon has nothing coming behind to push it out. Food remaining in the colon can putrefy, which, in turn, creates toxins in your body. Not good when your trying to detox!!!

Here's a couple of my recipes

PURPLE JUICE
Slice of Pineapple
1 Green Apple
1/4 Beetroot
2 Stalks Celery
1 Carrot

GREEN JUICE
1/2 Cucumber
2 Stalks Celery
1 Green Apple
Silverbeet & Spinach
1 Lemon (peeled)
Sml Piece of Ginger

VEGGIE JUICE
2 Tomatoes
3 Sticks Celery
3 Baby Parsnips
Sprinkle of Herbamare
Cracked Pepper