Last week I did a three day juice fast, followed by 3 days of a raw food cleanse. I'm not quite sure what made me think of this cleanse, but I was starting to feel really crappy and wanted an instant change. I was going on two months with hardly any exercise, after my leg injury and my surgery; I had a pain in the left side of my stomach that happened immediately after my surgery, but never seemed to work itself out. And I had recently been on a ton of pain killers between anesthesia, post-op, and my car accident. The bloating had finally gone away, but I was still feeling pretty crummy about myself, which wasn't doing any wonders for my motivation or self-esteem. So, after lots of online research, I decided to do a juice fast and finish up the week with a raw food cleanse.
Since I don't own a juicer, I decided to purchase my juice. This turned out to be a little expensive, but I was determined to do this correct, and knew I couldn't trust anything store bought (even Naked juice contains "juice" as some of their ingredients, rather than strictly fruits and vegetables). Shout-out here to 24 Carrots in Chandler, their juices are fresh, organic, and amazing! www.24carrotsjuice.com
The first day was tough. A strict juice cleanse also means that no coffee, alcohol, or caffeine is allowed. I'm an admitted coffee addict so this portion made me the most nervous, including the fear of the ever elusive "Caffeine Withdrawl Headache." Lucky me, Monday afternoon was the only day I had a headache. Yay! This was also the toughest day as I hadn't slept much the night before, so I was dragging, depleted, and a little weak. I ended up going to bed early that night. Day 2 was easier, and day 3 was almost easy. I wasn't even hungry until dinner! I realized then how some people could do a week, or even a month, but I was super excited to bring real food back into my diet. Note: Only one of my 9 juices were all fruit. Each day I had a 100% veggie juice and the rest were veggie/fruit combinations. When I got hungry, more water with lemon, and occasionally decaf herbal tea.
Day 4: Raw food! I continued to have a juice breakfast, but this time I moved up to a smoothie that included raw almond butter. 100% raw for the next 3 days. Oh sweet heaven, I never missed chewing so much! The best part is, I found some really awesome recipes that I will either continue to eat raw, or modify to become a cooked meal.
By Saturday, I had lost 5lbs. Hooray! And I felt it. I found I was actually great without coffee - I had a ton of energy and was feeling amazing. Suddenly I was feeling motivated to get my exercise started again.
Saturday night we celebrated by going out to True Food for local, organic cuisine. Delish.
The only adverse side effect I had the entire week was on Saturday morning. I woke up and initially thought I just stood up too fast, but then realized I was just feeling very light-headed and dizzy. That feeling went on for about 4 hours, but decreased after I had my morning smoothie. I think my body was just ready for real food.
Sunday we went to a BBQ, and I half of my lunch today was cooked (rest was raw). I DEFINITELY feel a difference in my body between Friday and today. And my morning's coffee? I didn't even want it. Huh. Who would have thought that would happen?
So, my game plan:
Breakfast: Continue the smoothie/juice route. Coffee later should I really need/want it. I will miss eggs for breakfast, but have decided to integrate hard boiled eggs as a snack or occasionally in my lunch.
Lunch: Raw lunch. Mostly salad based. Heavy lunches are hard to work after anyway, and I end up feeling fatigued and need caffeine in the afternoon.
Dinner: Fresh, vegetarian/pescetarian meal.
Side note: Got the go ahead from my doctor that I was ready to run again! Buying new running shoes this week and then it's back to business!
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