The Juice Fast: Let’s Talk About Day 3

I don’t know about you, juicies, but I find Day 3 to be an absolute bear. If I make it through, I’m usually good for a few days, but Ho-Lee-Cow getting through feels like it will take an eternity!  I find my head full of craziness and cravings. Oh the cravings. It was terrible. I mean, obviously not unbearable, because I’m sitting here on Day 4, but it was bad.

 

This whole fast has been bad so far for the crazies and the desire to just eat. EAT!!!!! I have been eating plant based for a couple of weeks, so restaurants haven’t been in the equation for a while. And… I miss them. I love eating in restaurants. Which is why my ass is huge. I am the only person in my house that cooks, so restaurants feel like a luxury to me. Someone else cooks, I get EXACTLY what I want. It’s amazing. Plus, no dishes. No cleaning. I wish I could eat every meal at restaurants.

 

And… I used to. Not every, but a lot.

 

Restaurant food is horrible for your health and wallet, though. Ultimately, while the RA an prednisone make losing weight hard and gaining weight easy, I can honestly tell you it was eating in restaurants that got me here. A few years ago when my income jumped up suddenly the hubs and I started eating out a lot (we could afford it and it got us out of the house…). That is exactly when both of our weights started going up.

 

Anyway, Day 3 for me was all about wanting restaurant food. Any restaurant food. Preferably a Chicago Dog from Sonic and Fries from Rally’s. But, any ol’ restaurant food would do. I did resist. It was hard. But around 11pm I swear to you I could SMELL the meal I wanted. As if the bag was sitting on my table. Literally, I could smell it.

 

Which makes me wonder how much stuff is sitting around in our fat cells? Was I craving that exact meal because it was one of the last meat meals I ate and the toxins from it were coming out? Will other meals start detoxing the same way? (I hope not! Yesterday was brutal.) I seriously think the preservatives in the processed and junk foods are stored up in our cells and we can’t get to health until they get out.

 

On the RA front, I’m feeling a little better, but not much. I think I overdid it yesterday.

 

But, am down 11.8 pounds.

Does It Matter

There are pre-fast leftovers in my fridge. There are fresh peanut butter/chocolate chip cookies on my counter. There are crackers in my cupboard. And… there are chili-cheese coneys at Dairy Queen.

I want them. All of them.

I want to feel full, and comforted. I want to chew. I want that emotional release that comes with eating a meal that you really want. You know that feeling of “ahhh! that was good.”

Which would be part of the reason I’m so fat to begin with… I’ve always chosen the “ahh” of food over the “ahh” of slipping into smaller clothes. Obviously, the “ahh” of food is much more immediate. Who doesn’t love a little instant gratification? I know I do…

So, today I spent all morning cleaning the kitchen, then playing with the kids outside and I let myself go too long without juicing. When I came back in I really wanted to just eat leftovers and crackers (I love pretty much any kind of dip-able leftovers with club crackers). I even almost convinced myself to go ahead and have them, call this day a bust and start over tomorrow. Or not. My logic?

Why does it even matter? I’ve always been fat, I always will be fat. I’m going to fail eventually anyway, might as well be my choice.How do I even know this will help with the pain and energy and RA? Who cares?

Ouch! Turns out I’m pretty negative when I’m hungry. So, I made a deal with myself. I’d have a juice, and if I still felt like being a petulant child when my blood sugar wasn’t in the toilet, I’d give in.

While I was drinking my juice (a delicious Asian inspired carrot concoction) I had an epiphany. It doesn’t really matter. If I want to stay the same as I’ve always been, I can make the same choices I always have. If I want to make a change, then I’ll have to make different choices. Not just now, but forever. It doesn’t really matter. The choices I make today will shape my tomorrow, but I have complete freedom to make whatever decision I want. One carrot juice isn’t going to save me any more than one coney dog is going to kill me. It’s all about the pattern of choices. So this one day doesn’t matter. This one choice, isn’t important. But, pile it up with a couple hundred of its friends and there’s what’s important.

Needless to say, I did not go ahead and eat my stir fry with crackers. I didn’t drive down the street and get a coney dog. I had my (delicious) carrot juice and several glasses of water. I’m still hungry. I still want to eat. I still half feel like giving up. But, I have one more good decision behind me. It needs some friends to help build some momentum. I think I’ll get there. I feel like today will end just fine and tomorrow, too. Maybe in a few days it won’t feel like such a struggle…

So Far, So Good

I’m trying it again, folks. It may be Day One everyday for the next month. Or not. But, I’m going to keep trying. Because I need this. This time it IS about losing weight and it IS about detox. This time it’s about feeling better and I won’t feel better without losing weight and detoxing. So, I’m really hoping to build some momentum and kick off a nice long fast, but however this thing goes down I’m going to stick to it.

 

So far today I’ve had three juices. Well, I only got half of the first two. My niece LOVES the fresh juice. I started with an Apple/Cantaloupe juice. It was pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of cantaloupe, but it’s a great source of vitamins A and C (and it was on sale this week…). After my niece downed most of that one I made a nice Apple/Orange. If you haven’t tried Apple/Orange, I’m going to have to encourage you to give that one a go. I love it. I use 2 of each and it makes a delicious juice.

 

The best juice so far, though, was the watermelon juice. Just watermelon. It was our first one of the season and Oh.My.Stars it was delicious. The littles devoured their cubes and I drank down two big glasses of juice.

 

I’m feeling hungry right now, so I’m thinking about taking another stab at salsa juice. The one I did yesterday was not so good, but I have a tomato craving (and tomatoes were on sale this week…).

 

I don’t yet know how often I’ll be checking in, but one of my accountability plans is to blog when I want to eat. So, you may be hearing from me A LOT in the next few days.