Days 11 & 12 - The Joys of Feasting & Fasting

It's hard to be believe I am at the end of Day 12.  Days and meals are pretty much falling into a standard routine - I start and end each day with two cups of warm lemon and cinnamon tea, then green juice for breakfast, a veggie broth soup or smoothie for lunch, a fruit-based drink mid-afternoon, and another veggie broth soup or smoothie for supper.  I can tell my stomach has shrunk - about two cups of liquids is about all it takes to get me to full point.  Since I am off-duty this week, I did weigh myself this weekend (I keep the scale at the off-duty house, so I don't obsess over weighing myself at the main house - something I've struggled with in the past.).  I've lost a tad over three pounds over the last five days, so I'm continuing to stay on the same weight loss track of a little over half a pound a day.

At this point of the game, I'm starting to think and pray about the best way to break the fast without going off the deep-end!  This is the area I've always struggled with and truly, what I've found is that breaking the fast is the hardest part of the journey.  It will be five-to-six day journey to break the fast and hopefully, I'll be able to keep up my new and healthy eating habits.

This week, I've also adding back in more exercise besides walking.  Tonight, I walked a mile, interval jogged/walked two miles, and then walked a fourth with very little problems.  No weight-training at all (not advisable during fasting), but I want to get back in the habit of regular exercise, so walking, jogging, and yoga is what it is going to be for the next two weeks.  Truth be told?  Tonight's hour of exercise was wonderful.  Upbeat praise and worship music blasting and a great time of communion with Him while enjoying the twilight and sounds of crickets and frogs while disciplining my body.  For the first time in a long time, fellowship with God and prayer is coming and flowing all day long.  In and out, just like breathing or a heartbeat.

In that, I am content.

Days 9 & 10 - Gearing Up to Halfway!

It is hard to believe that I'm pressing up on the halfway point on this season of fasting.  Truth be told, I let pride get to my head a bit after I finished the first week; yesterday and the first part of today were very hard.  Pride and a.s I look back, I know I was drinking enough, either - neither of which made a hard, long, stressful day any better. 

Due to the fast, I am cold all the time, and have been avoiding juices (cold) and favoring hot soups, broths, and teas (hot).  However, the juices have more nutrients and so today, I've tried to me proactive in getting the juices in my system.  For supper tonight, I even got creative with fruit - sauteed peaches and raspberries in cinnamon and coconut oil, then threw them in the blender with some vanilla and a bit of almond butter.  My word, it was delicious!  I ate every single bite with a spoon and savored it.  After supper I got the best rest (I'm not calling it a nap, because I didn't sleep); just stretch out on the bed on top of the overs, pulled my throw over me, and just "was" with God for a bit - a time of mental praise and prayer.  Warm covers on a soft bed with a full and warm belly - I was very content.  But it made me sad - how many people tonight went to bed with empty stomachs?  No roof over their heads, let along warm blankets and beds?  Children?  Mothers?  Families?  Today was a huge reminder of how blessed I really am.

A nice touch this weekend is that Jonathan is juicing with me this weekend - yay!  Makes this four-day off shift more pleasurable.  Pray for the both of us tomorrow, as Jonathan leads our church's Awana training, and I am prepping lunch for everyone.  I will have juices with me, but I still anticipate it to be a bit difficult.  In light of that, I'm off to bed; busy day tomorrow!

Day 8 of Feasting & Fasting

It's hard to believe I've been on this journey for a week now and 1/3 of the way through this season.  In so many ways, life feels so normal - the back-to-school run-a-round, cleaning and organizing of the house, lesson planning for our first year of homeschooling.  Yet in so many ways, it's been very different - I feel like a huge part of my heart is waking up again.  A yearning for God, a yearning to read and study and learn... in reality a learning to find ME again, if that makes any sense.  As a wife, a mom, a minister's wife, a house-mom, it is very easy to lose your identity, to bury your own loves and dreams for the sake of everyone else.  I feel like this hibernation stage is coming to an end and I love it.  I'm excited to share it, too - I don't know who is more exciting about learning and learning to learn this year, me or Emily!  Jonathan and I are studying a book together for the first time in a very long time and I've missed that with him.

In the meantime, I continue to deal with some of the unpleasant side effects of a body in healing mode.  I've popped up a cold sore, have digestional upset from time-to-time, am forgetful, get tired a bit more easily, and sometimes get annoyed more quickly that I usually would.  But other things are great - my sense of smell is sharpened (I can smell every flower and crape myrtle in bloom), my ingrown toenail is healing, and a nagging pain in my lower abdomen at an incision site that I've had since my appendix and gallbladder were removed is completely gone.

Truthfully, it's been a bit harder day today than the last couple, though I'm not sure why.  More irritable, rougher food cravings (though I did a lot of cooking for the house today), I've been cold all day, and when I got home from church, I was really craving salt, so I drank two mugs of warmed broth, and that seemed to help.  It's also 10:30 and I'm WIDE awake - sleep isn't coming any time soon.  I guess that is my payback for an 8 hour night last night!  So I'm off to work on lesson plans for next week... and maybe watch a new episode of Continuum on Netflix.  ;)

First Week Accomplished!

Sorry for Day 7's post happening this morning, not last night.  I'd been fighting a headache with my residual toothache all day and was FREEZING cold, so I curled up into bed in a light sweatshirt, socks, and an extra blanket over the comforter and went to sleep.  Slept great, too - first 8 hours in a VERY long time.

Even though this juice feasting and fasting is NOT centered around weight loss, I did do a weight and measurement check-in after seven days of just liquids.  The results?

Starting Weight: 224
Week 1 Weight:  219.4
Difference:  -4.6 pounds

Losing at an average of .65 lbs a day is pretty good on a liquid fast, and I'm fine that it's not more.  Means I'm drinking enough and I'm very happy with that.  I've also lost anywhere from .5 inch to 1 inch all over, which I already knew from the way my clothes have been fitting.  Thank you, sweet Lord, for every pound  and every inch struggled for and lost this week.

However, I was really please to see I was under 220.  220 is pretty much my weight plateau that I bounce around at regularly.  Last time I was in the teens was a year and-a-half ago and I'd really hoping (and yes, I'll admit, praying) I can stay under it for good now.  It is time to get back to ONE-derland (under 200 pounds) again - I haven't been there since 2007.  It's time to get there again!

The Joys of Feasting & Fasting - Day 6

The morning did NOT start well.  Nothing to do with my sleep or stomach, but with my teeth.

Three hours in the dental chair.

Three hours!  For three cavities.

Needless to say, I didn't juice before my appointment to get three cavities filled today, as sometimes Novocaine makes me queasy.  But by noon, my stomach desperately wanted something in it besides salvia and water.  I've never had to have leg-stretch breaks during dental procedures before.  However, my stomach helped distract me from the nerves that would not numb and the last tooth was a labor-style breathing, clenched hands in my lap with nails making my palms bleed, and tears leaking from under my eyelids.  It isn't my dentist - I simply don't numb well, be it my teeth or childbirth.  They kept me as numb as they could!

I survived though, and came home to take pain meds, a nap, and then, make something for lunch.  Guess what I had?  :-)  That's right - I enjoyed another Mexican avocado soup/smoothie.  Had one for supper tonight, too.  I'm wondering if it is the avocado I'm craving or the complex seasoning?

As I'm typing this, I just realized I haven't had any fruit-based juices today, since I normally do those for breakfast, unless pumpkin is counted as a fruit.  I make a dairy-free pumpkin soup today that I really enjoyed, but it would have been better if I could have added a bit of cumin.  Maybe with tomorrow's leftovers for lunch.  And tomorrow - seven days!  I will weigh myself in the morning - though I'm not doing this for weight-loss, I'd still like to keep an eye on.

Arrivederci and happy drinking!

The Joys of Feasting & Fasting - Day 5

Today I learned an important lesson:  listen to your body!

This morning I woke up after a full 5 1/2 hours of sleep (much better than the three or four I've had all week, so I will take 5 1/2 any day!) and where I was not hungry at all, my stomach just felt raw and empty.  I drank my normal morning lemon water and my stomach just felt queasy, and continued to the next couple of hours.  However, I felt like I had to drink something besides water to get through church, so on the drive over, I drank 16 ounces of my standard green veggie and fruit mix. 

Big, big mistake!

Instead of waiting for my stomach to settle before I put juice in it this morning, I missed most of Sunday School and the first part of church.  Yuck.  It was almost three in the afternoon before my stomach gave me permission to drink more than water, and the carrot/orange blend settled very well with no yucky aftereffects.  That's a win in my book!  But lesson learned - I will listen better to my body and what it is telling me.

Thankfully, my hunger pains are starting to go away, which is a big blessing, though I am still battling the occasional food cravings.  Remember last night's Mexican spread?  Well that was today's supper and it smelled so very good as I got this ready for tonight's supper taco bar; my V-8/Vegetable broth blend seemed so bland compared to what I was serving.  But God answered my very humanly (and honestly, selfish) cry of "I want it, dear Lord, but need you to help me be faithful" by giving me a smoothie inspiration.  I don't know why I haven't thought of it before!  I poured my broth blend into the blender, added a generous scoop of guacamole, some pico de gallo, and some additional spices.  Can we say A-M-A-Z-I-N-G????  I think it is the most delicious Mexican soup I have ever made.  I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow!

Keep posted for more tomorrow - I'm coming up on a week very soon!

The Joys of Feasting & Fasting - Day 4

It was truly a harder day today.  I woke up hungry and stayed hungry all... day... long.  Even with nutritious juices and broths, I just couldn't seem to fill the hole in my belly.  The hunger pains should pass in another day or two, but it was truly a rely-on-God type of day.  And get through we did - through a group grilling for lunch, a birthday party this evening, and a full-blown catered Mexican dinner that arrived on our doorstep late this evening (I LOVE Mexican food).  At that point, I had to cry out to Jonathan to deal with the food coming into the house - I just couldn't handle another cookie, cupcake, or burrito on the counter anymore!

As for detox symptoms?  Pretty good today, and I upped my water intake as I felt like I didn't get enough yesterday.  The headache is gone, but a new side effect to me was my calf muscles just aching by seven pm, enough so that I took two Motrin to help get through the evening.  I think I'm going to take a bit of extra magnesium at bedtime tonight to see if that will help (I can't do bananas in my juices - they give me horrid sores in my month).  I also have found my gums being extra sensitive today and am not sure why, so I've been rinsing with salt water a couple of times today.

Right now, my biggest struggle is sleep.  I seriously can't sleep... and I'm freezing!  I was in the bathtub at 1 AM this morning to warm up and try to relax enough to fall asleep.  I'm exhausted, but shifting my body from tiredness to sleep isn't happening very well the past two nights.  Usually taking magnesium at night puts me out, but it hasn't helped at all.

So overall, day four was a struggle - praying that day five will be a wonderful day of worship and focus!