i've been on a juice fast for the past week.
this time around i'm not suffering so much. i do get headaches. they're quite frequent but not debilitating and they fade fairly fast. so far i haven't noticed excessively dry skin, which was my major criticism last time, and that started two weeks in. but i feel good in general, with plenty of energy. i've lost some weight, too, we'll see what the scales say in the morning when it will be a full week's worth.
update 25.11.06: i've lost 9 pounds. very, very happy!
update 26.11.06: i think the scales are wrong. they say boo lost 11 pounds in two weeks which is highly unlikely, and i just got weighed again today, for a reality check, and they now say i lost four, not nine, pounds. disappointed after yesterday's euphoria, but that's much more realistic.
one thing i've noticed is that my teeth are a bit sensitive. i've read about this, when you have too much fruit. i'm adding two leaves of 'greens' or a handful of spinach to every juice so i'm quite proud of myself for that. it's not problematic at all this way. if i try to add four or five big green leaves then it tastes horrid and i can't drink it. but last time i barely used greens until nearing the end, so this is a step in the right direction for me.
i wondered if i was feeling better this time round because i don't have as many toxins in my system to get rid of. since my last juice fast - five months ago - i've been off and on raw. although some weeks were almost all cooked and i've had wine, beer, pizza... i've been more raw than not. also i did have a big 100% build up to this one and the previous fast was straight out of my six week illness and its associated medication, so there was a lot more to clean up back then.
it struck me today just how much we overeat. considering how much i've had to 'eat' today, and yes it's mid afternoon and i'm peckish, but i would be even if i'd had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a mid-morning snack and then a big bowl of pasta for lunch at 1 o'clock. i can survive perfectly well on the 2 litres of juice and litre of water that i've had so far today. i'm really no more hungry than a day full of stodgy cooked food. or raw, for that matter, though i generally burn off raw food more slowly than cooked. i worked out how many calories i take in on an average juice fast day and it works out at 700. the UK's dept of health recommend around 1940 calories a day for women. i bet i exceed all other good RDAs and fall below the bad ones. certainly no added salt, sugar or fat has also got to be off the scale in comparison to even my usual daily intake, never mind the rest of the country.
i think this one will be a two-week fast. i had originally wanted to go for three weeks but i'm not convinced i'll cope for that long. nothing to do with finally getting a dehydrator and dying to use it! no, though man am i looking forward to that! it's really a combination of things. i'm bored of thinking about buying veg or prepping veg or washing the juicer already. last time i spent the first two weeks at home, which it much easier. and then there's the work's christmas do. i can't imagine there being anything suitable for a juice faster and it's way too posh for me to turn up with my flask. well, we'll see. perhaps sparkling water in a champagne flute will fool enough people for me to get away with it ;)
why am i on yet another juice fast? well, partly because my good intentions for sticking to my raw regime after the last fast went all a bit wobbly. no, i'm not beating myself up over it, i'm just being honest. i feel really good when i'm 100% raw and i'd like to try to stick to that. that's partly why we've just ordered the dehydrator, so i can have heavier food, a wider range of food and even *shock* slightly warmed food, now that winter makes a salad in the evening possibly the least appealing dinner ever.
