Juice Fast Day One: Ginger is Ick, I’m Hungry and Clean Up Not So Bad

This post will probably be a bit all over the place because I’m feeling a bit foggy in the brain. Not unexpected with a juice fast.

So yes, I’m juice fasting for ten days! Today is my first day. Yesterday I went to the grocery store and bought an insane amount of fresh fruits and vegetables to get me through three or four days. I woke up this morning and got to it.

After Cora died, I gained an absurd amount of weight. Like 80 or 90 pounds in a little over a year. I wasn’t able to cook. I didn’t trust myself to not burn something or to not cut myself. I frankly didn’t have the energy either. We survived off of convenience foods and fast foods. I’m not beating myself up for that. We did what we could to get by. Years one and two were so hard. Year three has been hard, but in a different way. I’m functioning better.

Why a Juice Fast?

It’s time to start healing my whole body and mind. I’ve thought about a juice fast for a while. Then last week I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Basically in the film the guy goes on a 60 day juice fast and loses like 60 pounds or something ridiculous. Most importantly, his health becomes infinitely better. It really started the wheels turning in my head.

I’m not completely sold. I’m a born skeptic, and have looked at the anti-juice fasting commentary. However, I’ve got nothing to lose (except some weight and health issues–hopefully).

I’m fasting to lose weight, but also to check in to see where and why I’m using food. Whenever I get the urge to eat, I’m thinking about it. Am I really hungry? Am I bored? Am I sad?

It worked because the next ten days aren’t jammed pack. I’ve been able to clear my calendar well so I can focus on this. It’s part of my healing.

Juice Fast Recipes

You might be curious about what sort of juices I’m drinking. This morning, I had carrot, apple and ginger. I just juiced those three ingredients. More on my thoughts about the ginger further in the post. I got the recipe from the Join the Reboot website. However, my husband and I have had carrot-apple juice before.

I had a commercial Odwalla juice for a snack. I’m making three juices a day and having one pre-made. The Odwalla has lots of fruits, which I actually need to tone down (sad face, fruit juice is good, veggie juice is… tolerable).

For my next juice, I had Gazpacho juice, also based on the Join the Reboot website. For it, I juiced:

All chopped up and ready to juice.

4 plum tomatoes

2 celery stalks

1 green pepper (it calls for red, which the store didn’t have)

2 cups parsley

1 cucumber

1 red onion

A splash of lime juice (forgot to buy fresh limes)

Random thoughts from my first day juicing

•  Ginger is totally and completely juice. The carrot-apple-ginger juice I made was completely overwhelmed by the juice ginger. I forced three fourths of it down my throat and threw the rest down the sink. Totally ick! I’ve never worked with ginger before, and won’t be again during the fast.
• I dreaded clean up. Juicers are so messy. I decided to tackle it while everything was fresh. I put my fresh juice in the freezer for a few moments to let it chill and then I cleaned up right away. Since nothing had time to dry and crust over, it wasn’t so bad.
• Yes, I’m hungry! The hunger comes and goes.
• My husband went to McDonald’s for dinner, and although I made the switch to an all-plant, non processed diet and haven’t looked back, in my hunger I had a moment of really, really wanting some fries. Instead I jumped in the shower while he ate.
• From what I’ve read, many people feel yucky on the second day. I’m starting to get a headache (could be from the whole not eating thing), but feel alright tonight.