3 day Juice Fast: Day 1

Let me start this by telling you all about my eating habits. I have always worked to be a healthy eater. I LOVE French fries and anything with sugar in it, but I have managed to get those impulses under control and try (for the most part) to eat a very balanced and healthy diet. I know that food is first and foremost fuel for my body.

The result is that I have managed to keep my weight very steady over the last 10 years. I’ve been 5’10 ½” since I was 14, and I’ve weighed roughly the same since then. I’m not saying I strive to be the size of a 14 year old, or that you should, but that at 14 I was quite fully grown.

My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a house where meat, mayonnaise, and potatoes ran supreme and vegetables were always optional (or fried in butter). Since we’ve gotten married, some changes have been made to his diet: the whole milk has become skim or 1%, the meat has been cut down to just a few days a week, the white bread has become wheat, and the vegetables are no longer optional (we have to have some with every meal). Aren’t I a mean wife??? The mayonnaise is still a part of our lives, but I will say it plays less of a role now than it used to. I also sometimes splurge and surprise him with 2% milk.

But still, I am not always as healthy as I want to be. I eat A LOT of sugar still. Too much. And my time living in Brazil made me a salt fiend. I also have had too many situations where French fries were available in recent weeks. Overall, I’ve felt my habits start to slip since I had my spinal fluid leak in December. I lost 10 pounds while I was dealing with that, and as a result I gave myself permission to eat anything and everything for the next few months to gain it back. Mission accomplished, I’ve gained it back…. and a pound or two more.

I’ve also not whipped myself back into shape and have continued eating anything I want. That’s not good! It has to do with being healthy, eating food that is fuel for my body… but the French fries and sugar are so good!

So my husband suggested that we go on a juice fast for a few days. I heard that a week on a juice fast is a good idea, but honestly I don’t want to lose weight, and neither does my husband. I just want to use this as an opportunity to reset my habits, purge the gross things I’ve been eating out of my body, and get myself back under control. People often go on juice fasts to lose a bunch of weight really fast, or deal with health issues, etc. But I think those issues are best solved in the long term with a healthy diet and lifestyle. A juice fast is good in the short term to kick-start those healthy lifestyle habits.

Let me also tell you, I eat very often. I eat right when I wake up and then every 2  hours or so until about 7pm. My coworkers make fun of me often because I am constantly eating. But that is the best way to keep my metabolism going, and I’m hungry often. So needless to say, I’ve never done a juice fast before and it sounds like a sort of horrific torture for me due to my usual eating schedule. But, I've decided it was the best way to get my healthy eating habits and lifestyle kick-started, so I agreed with my husband to do it.

So we borrowed my mom’s very nice Breville juicer last weekend when we visited her and spent the week looking up the best juice fast techniques and recipes. We decided we will be fasting today, Friday the 29^th, through Sunday the 1^st. So we will be doing a 3 day fast.

I have never done anything like this before and am honestly a little scared that I can’t do it! But I love a good challenge (and enough of my coworkers have teased me about it), so now I know I have to succeed in going “solid-free” for the next few days.

So last night I made all the juice to last me and my husband until this evening. I tried some interesting recipes and some turned out alright. One smelled just like a yummy Italian dish. One smelled like a nice Hawaiian drink. But then one, which was supposed to be my husband’s morning snack, turned out this gross brown sludge-color and didn’t smell too great. He just texted me to inform me it tasted like feet.

I looked up some more ideas for the rest of the weekend and am excited to get this underway. No sugar (except for the natural sugar in fruit, but we're even limiting that), no gluten, no salt, no meat, no oil…. Ah this sounds horrible!

So far I feel ok. I've been awake for 3 hours so far and drank a yummy morning juice of grapefruit, pineapple, and oranges. I also added a banana to it to curb the acid. But then 30 minutes after drinking it my stomach started getting mad at me. It wanted solid food and it wanted it NOW. But I didn't give in. The hunger pangs went away a little bit ago, when my stomach finally realized I'm serious and it's not getting any oatmeal or toast. Now I'm sipping on another juice to keep my energy high. I actually feel pretty good!

I'll keep you updated:)

Mid-Afternoon Update:
I have been awake for about 9 hours and have been juice fasting all that time. First of all, I am very surprised that my body isn't putting up more of a fight. In fact, I haven't really been super hungry since those first pangs in the morning. This is especially surprising because I often say I would be the first person to go in a famine. I just need to eat often! And juice is not very filling. But I've been surprised at how this nutrient-rich juice actually keeps me pretty full.

I had a green juice for lunch and it was not the most pleasant, but it was surprisingly filing. My husband is actually out golfing right now and it's 100+ degrees outside. I was nervous about it, especially since he hasn't had solid food all day. He said "don't worry, I'm extremely hydrated". So we will see what happens.