Day 7 - FAQ

It’s been a week of juicing. So, how is it going? Depends on the day!

The most common questions I get asked are:

Aren’t you hungry? I’d be hungry, I couldn’t do it! Well, duuuuh! I’m not eating… I’m only drinking. So yes, I am hungry! Well, sometimes more than others. I’ve gotten used to that hungry feeling. It’s opened my eyes a little bit: It’s okay to be hungry; I don’t have to eat every 5 minutes. It’s not easy to go from someone who feeds her feelings to someone who doesn’t eat. At. All.

Is it unbearable? No. It’s teaching me that I am stronger than I think I am. Being at home for long periods of time (snow days) is harder.

Why are you doing this? Are you losing a lot of weight? Well, I have a few reasons. I’m trying to reboot and cleanse my body of any toxins and crap I’ve been ingesting the last month or two. I also figured I can reboot my brain from what it thinks it wants and the foods I’m addicted to.  I thought this would be a nice transition to going fully plant-based. And no, I’m not doing this to lose weight, while people do use a reboot like this to jumpstart a weight loss it’s not my goal. If you do it for 30 days or more you will likely lose enough weight that it may not come back when you start eating normal again. I am, however, realistic. I know that there is a good chance I will gain everything I lose when I eat normal again. To date, I’ve lost about 10 pounds in the last 7 days.

I mentioned in previous posts about the documentary Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead and I heard a lot in there that I liked. If you read the John Cross’ blog (the creator of the documentary) on why you should reboot, he says,

“The goal is to help you break a cycle of an unhealthy lifestyle and simply enhance the quality of your diet by increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables.”

He also says you’ll lose weight, flatten your belly, your skin glows, you think clearer, you start to naturally release disease, and you become all around happier. (check out this link for more bonuses with explainations from another source.)

My take on the above: Yes, I’ve lost quite a bit of weight, about a pound a day. Other than the occasional zit (at my age??) I have good skin. I have ADHD, so I can’t imagine ever thinking clearly. I have no diseases. I’m always happy… but I will say that every morning I go to work with a juice I am more chipper than usual. I’m bubbly, bouncy; I just want to bounce off the walls! It’s great. Unless you’re around me and not a morning person… then you just think I’m too much!

How long are you doing this for, you crazy person?! 10 Days! Before I started, I thought to myself I will do 10, but I’d like to do 21 days if I can, but I’ve decided 10 days is just fine. After 10 days (Wednesday) I will add some vegetables into my diet, possibly in the form of a salad, for two or three days at dinner time. My reasoning to this is two fold: 1) Whenever you do a cleanse, you have to slowly reintroduce food back into your diet in order to not get sick, 2) I won’t have time during the week to plan meals and I need to make sure I have time to plan in order to be successful.

If you’re planning a cleanse/detox/reboot, you have to make sure you do your research and think realistically about what you can and will do. You can do a reboot and still eat some fruits and vegetables. I know myself, I don’t like to do things half way and when I put something in my mind, I do it.  That being said, while making my juices last night I cut a small, nickel sized piece of cucumber and slowly savored it. I didn’t feel guilty about it either.

I don’t mind when people have questions, my juices have started a lot of conversations at work, which is fun. My students’ most common question: “Are you drinking peanut butter?” No guys… its just carrots! Orange and green makes peanut buttery colors!

I had some obstacles this week. I went to a girls night at my friend Lisas’ and there was a great spread of food including dips, cheese, man n cheese, cheese, cannoli’s and cheese. Did I mention there was cheese? I brought with me my juice and seltzer so I wouldn’t go hungry! I smelled the foods, which does make me sort of want it but I love food, so smelling was enough - but I didn’t eat anything! It felt like a triumph!

I have one little trick that has helped me throughout this last week: drinking seltzer water. I’ve become obsessed with the Polar Ruby Red Grapefruit seltzer, it is so refreshing and delicious! I’m not sure if it’s all in my head or not, but I think the bubbles fill me in some way. I do drink a lot of tap water, but I supplement with seltzer when I’m feeling hungry sooner than I’m ready for a “meal.”

Are you considering juicing? Have you been a juicer for years? What advice do you have? Leave a comment below!