Beyond Willpower

Well, the ticker is finally moving in a downward trend and staying there. I've lost 3 lbs this week. I've been eating 1500 cals, doing 30 mins on the bike a night (would like to do 30 in the morning too. will do that tomorrow) and drinking water, green tea, and fresh juice. at the moment I'm drinking some pineapple, kale and spinach juice. It was so overwhelmingly sweet that after two stems of kale I added about 2 or 3 handfulls of spinach and it's perfect. Mmmmm. :) Trying to get more dark leafy greens in. So last year for me, was about weight loss. Now that I think I understand the whole weight loss process (whether I follow it all the time is another story altogether) I think this year the focus is going to be on whole foods and health. I do eat vegan (except recently I did slip up and have dairy a few times when eating out, but not since being back on plan.) and I do generally eat whole foods. BUT....not enough. I feel like more veggies could work their way into m...

10 Random thoughts on juicing 1.) If you are juicing enough greens you will get about 10 grams of protein per 16 oz cup. 2.) I've been juicing oanges and strawberries and blending them in the ninja with a frozen banana and some flax meal for added fiber and protein. 3.) My juicer is a breville je900 , I love it and suggest breville if you chose to get a juicer 4.) Joey is having some problems drinking the mostly veggie juices. I've been experimenting and have found two that I REALLY like. One has tons o' veggies and a bit of spicy V8 thrown in because I hate tomatoes so I won't juice them, but they are 'ok' (tolerable) in V8. I also REALLY like cucumber celery juice with a smidge of salt. Adding salt to any veggie based juice is going to up it's 'salad' flavor. ;) Also, joey is juicing mostly fruit early and then eating raw veggies at night for dinner this way he's not eating a ton of sugar and skimping on veggies. He just hates them juiced. 5....

Well, today was the easiest day I've had so far. Hunger is becoming a non-issue, no headaches or fatigue at all, not even a little. My shoulders hurt less than they have recently, which is good. Was having a bit of a fibro flare for a week or so there. Joey is doing well too. So as of this morning I weighed 221, down 7 lbs in 5 days. Joey is down 8 lbs. Go us! Now that I'm through the worst of it I might stop blogging daily about it and only blog if things of note happen while fasting. I am going to post some tips tomorrow though, so for anyone interested in juice fasting keep an eye out and be sure to click 'follow' over there on the right. Although I am not pining for food, I do miss the actual act of cooking, although I don't miss the act of doing dishes. ;)

I must say today was the most difficult day, and it was barely difficult. I'm having tomato sauce cravings, I must be missing some tomatoey nutrient so I'm adding some v8 to my juice (I hate tomatoes, and I know v8 is tomatoes but it seems less gross. Although still a bit gross. ;) Anyhow, twice today I felt super nauseous and sick and tired and both times it hit seemingly out of the blue. It didn't exactly build up to crazy nausea, it just WAS. I had gone too long without drinking my juice twice, I'm trying to juice 5 times a day, it seems if I do less or spread it out too far I feel like crap. I did take a 30 min nap today, which I hadn't needed to nap the last two days but I was just physically unable to keep my eyes open. I feel like I just need to keep on top of staying within proper nutritional ranges, which means 5 juices, and plenty of veggie juice at night, mostly fruit earlier in the day (don't want to sleep on a bunch of sugar.) My progress so...

Well, day 2 was actually easy. I was shocked. I had a juice for breakfast, all fruit, then a fruit/veggie for lunch and then a fruit/veggie for a snack, came home from work/movie date with a friend and had a mostly veggie juice, then for dinner had a smoothie. I was a bit hungry so I mixed fruit juice with a frozen banana and added some ground flax meal. Now I feel fine. So far no headaches or fatigue, I'm thinking it's because I already eat pretty healthy so I'm not really having horrible detox effects.  We shall see how tomorrow goes. Joey seems to be doing fine. his caffeine withdrawal headache is gone so that's a plus, but he does feel kind of crappy overall. Hopefully in a day or two he'll start feeling better. I'm also taking a high potency multi and lots of vitamin c, as this juicing book I have recommended, and also my usual b12. I feel good. :)

Well, today was the first day of our juice fast. Bf is having caffeine withdrawals. I'm fine so far, I've had a little hunger, but nothing I can't handle. Some juices I've tried: pomegranate cranberry strawberry, orange, banana smoothie cucumber watermellon celery with a touch of salt We went grocery shopping early this afternoon, we spent about 100$ on fruits and veggies and got an entire grocery cart full! We're hoping to do this for 10 days, if it goes well we will stretch it out a bit. I don't have a headache yet and I feel okay, I'm actually pretty surprised at how good I feel. I imagine tomorrow might be a touch worse, but maybe my detox won't be too bad since I already eat very healthy as it is. It's not like I'm detoxing from mcdonalds. :P I hope this kick-starts my weight loss which has been stuck for soooooo long. I am ready for bed!

So, bf and I are going to do a (hopefully) 10 day juice fast. I'll be posting here my experiences throughout each day. We are on our way to buy fruit now. If he will ever wake up. Fat, sick and nearly dead was so inspiring! My IBS is bothering me, I'm hoping that this helps. I have a breville  (<<<review!) and can't wait to get the day going. Will write more later!

I got my juicer today!  and I made deliciousness! Until I get more supplies tomorrow I just threw whatever I had in the house into it. this was apple, orange and strawberry. Fruit juices are a bit high calorie, so I'm going to mix them with low cal veggies starting tomorrow.  My review: Breville JE900 Juice Extractor After reading reviews for a few hours....okay, a few days! I decided on the Breville JE900, it was on sale, had free shipping, and was one of the highest rated not just on amazon, but on juicer review websites as well. So far I love it, it's fast, it's fairly simple to put together once you read the directions. (I had some stuff on upside down at first. But I'm also ridiculous.) The directions are pics with instructions so it's easy to get together. It juices fast, but let me warn you, to quote my boyfriend joey, "It sounds like a jet engine", which it does. I live in an apartment with a baby downstairs and there is no way they would ...

So, the other day I decided to buy a juicer. I read reviews for hours looking for the best quality for a reasonable price. I also read a bunch of FAQ's about the benefits of juicing, and I found this article on juicing for weight loss today that sounds promising:  Juicing for weight loss Anyhow, this is the juicer I decided on: Breville JE900 Juice Fountain Professional Juice Extractor I'm very interested in this, and I hope it works out, I'm trying to get more raw foods in my diet and I hope this helps.  Do any of you juice? What kind of juicer do you have and do you like it?  What have your experiences been with juicing and your health?