How Not to Get Bored on a Juice Fast

There's something wonderful that I discovered today when I was juice fasting.  In the past I would always start my day with a concoction of veggies.  Greens, apples, carrots, cabbage, beets, cucumber, celery, sweet potatoes, zucchini, ginger, just whatever I had on hand.  Now, there's nothing wrong with this combination, it always tasted great and I felt like I'm getting a variety of nutrients.  My second juice of the day was always the same though.  Needless to say, I would get really bored drinking the same juice over and over.  So I decided to just try a few ingredients this time.  I've seen lots of recipes for juices with just 3-5 ingredients, but I just never tried them.  First I juiced some honeydew melon, watermelon and an apple.  It was yummy!  Then I juiced 3 stalks of celery, 1/2 a cucumber, 1 apple, and 2 leaves of Chinese cabbage. It was so goo!

What did I learn? Vary your juices each time you juice or you'll get bored to death and not want to stay on your juice fast! My taste buds got to experience different fruits and veggies, not just everything in the kitchen thrown together. There are so many wonderful fruits and veggies to experience, why just stick with the same ones? I feel like I'll be better able to stay on the fast for a longer period of time, just with varying the juice I make. It was definitely a valuable lesson to learn.

New Breville Juicer, much better than my old one!

I'm so excited!  I bought a "new to me" juicer on Craigslist.  It's a Breville Juice Fountain Multi-speed juicer. It retails for $200 and I got it for $100.  I have been wanting a new juicer for along time now.  I already have a Breville juicer, but it's the inexpensive compact model.  It fits nicely on a small counter, but it's a pain to clean because of the cylinder design.  Also, I have to stop making juice once the pulp collector fills up or I have to dismantle the whole juicer just to make more juice.  It's much nosier than my new one.

The newer model is so easy to clean.  I can put a plastic bag in the pulp collector and just throw the bag away when I am done, no need to wash it.  It's so quiet.  It has 5 speeds to help juice different types of fruit and vegetables. The juice holder is also so much bigger. Love, love it!

I highly recommend spending a little more on a quality juicer and not get the least expensive model.  It will save you so much time and trouble and be well worth it.

Healing My Body with Juice Fasting

I'm back on a juice fast again.  I was doing pretty well eating just raw food, I'd say that I was eating about 75% raw, that's pretty good, but I was still having a lot of pain from my bladder disease.  I was so worn out from being in pain day after day, that I decided to go back on a juice fast again.  I find that whenever I juice fast, the pain stops!  Weird, huh? I think there must be something wrong with my colon or digestive system. I continually have cramps also!  So this time I hope to stay on the juice fast for several weeks to let my body detox and heal itself.  It's been two days of juice fasting and my pain has already diminished.  Today was much better than yesterday.  I'll post my progress.

Eight Days of Pain, Didn't Do Well, But I'm Not Giving Up!

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written in my blog.  Why, probably because I haven’t been doing very well.  I ended my juice fast on day 12.  I was fine with that, I felt like it was time to move on and start learning how to eat “raw”.  I was doing fine and eating all raw for 4 days start and then it hit me!  I started having terrible pain in my bladder (from my IC disease).  I didn’t even have my pills with me.  I never leave the house without my pills (ibuprofen and Vicoden), but I honestly thought I was healed and that I wouldn’t need them anymore, apparently not.  I’m okay with that. I guess it’s just not God’s timing yet for me to be healed.  I’m thinking that the pain started because I had made a Jicama salad sprinkled with lime juice and dressing made with orange juice.  I’m not supposed to be eating any citrus, but again, I thought I would be fine.  I continued to have pain everyday for 8 days start.  I had to take my pills all day long! Plus I wasn’t sleeping well at night.  I was depressed and not eating as well as I should have of. I was still eating about 50% raw, but when I’m depressed and in pain, I want comfort food. So I was eating cooked food. Then of course I don’t lose weight and wonder why? Duh! Because I can’t eat cooked foods; noodles, rice and other stuff and expect to lose weight.

I’m doing much better now.  I had a couple of days with no pain, a good night’s sleep and I’m feeling much better.  I talked to my daughter and she encouraged me and told me it would take time for me to learn to eat all raw. She’s right.  It won’t happen for me overnight. 

I threw out all of my nuts and seeds and the cocoa/coconut fudge I had made.  I realized that I was eating way too many calories with these foods and that they would have to go for now until I lost all of the weight that I wanted.  Then I can re introduce them into my diet a little at a time.

Conclusion, I'm not giving up! I'm going to continue eating raw every meal that I can and take each day and each meal, one at a time, with God's help! 

I can do nothing apart from Him.

In the past I would always say, “I know "I" can do this” and this time is going to be different."  But each time, eventually after some time, I would fall back into my old eating habits.  Notice the “I” in the statement above.  I never realized how much I was relying on my own willpower and strength. This time I know that I can't do it without His help! I will not be able to stay on this diet (lifestyle change) without Him.  I can do nothing apart from Him. (John 15:15) I think God allowed me to fail all of those previous times just to show me that I need to rely on Him and not my own strength. 

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalms 121:2

 

In the beginning...it was not so.

In the beginning, God created a perfect world and a beautiful garden of food for us.  But through the first sin of Eve, then Adam, eating the apple that they were forbidden to eat, corruption came into the world. Today, through greed and the love of money, man  has corrupted our food supply with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, antibiotics, hormones, artificial flavors and colorings, dyes, preservatives, msg and hundreds of other chemicals that I can’t even begin to name. Our food supply is now but a mere shadow of what it once was.  This was not God’s original plan.

We’ve gotten so far away from God’s original design of food for us that no wonder we are full of sickness, disease and are prematurely dying.  

So let’s get back to Gods original plan for us, instead of man’s, and eat what he created; namely fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and beans.You will thank yourself and God when you see the dramatic change in your health, appearance and weight!

For those of you that love meat, cheese and eggs. God did allow us to eat animals after the flood.  If you choose to eat these foods, please make sure the animals were ethically raised in humane conditions and that the animals are hormone, antibiotic free and organic. Eggs and chickens should be free-range and your beef should be grass-fed.

God told me He is going to heal me!

My husband and I went to a new church this last Sunday and there was a guest speaker.  At the end of the service he asked everyone who needed healing to come up front.  I of course went up front to get prayed for. He was asking everyone else what they needed healing for and then he proceeded to pray for them.  When he got to me he asked me my name and I told him.  He said to me, "God says He will"! Then he said, "I don't know what you are asking God for, but he says to you, I will"!  I immediately knew that the Lord was speaking to me and that He was going to heal me! 

I have interstitial cystitis (inflammation of the bladder) and there's no cure. I've been praying ever since day for healing, but nothing yet. I have just been trusting in God, knowing that He created my body and He has a plan and purpose for this situation.  But now, praise God, I am going to be healed!

God did not heal me instantly, but I believe He is using this juice fast and change in diet and lifestyle to change me, challenge me and bring about my ultimate healing.  I'm excited for what waits in the days ahead!