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OT - Juice Cleanse

Shaman29's picture

Oh my Holy Cow.

To support my DH, I joined my husband on his 15 day juice cleanse. I realize this makes me insane beyond all measure. I had food dreams the last two nights. Who the hell dreams about food? I never think about food unless it's "Hmmmmmm....what should I make for lunch/dinner today?"

I was told the first three days are the worst, then you enter some sort of schizophrenic-like state where the voices tell you all is right with the world. Or is that a Zen-like state? Or a Boston Market state where the voices tell me I can have all the chicken and greens I want? As long as the voices don't instruct me to eat my own fingers, I should be fine.

Tomorrow is day 4 and I hope to hell I don't wake up to a half eaten pillow. Or worse, my husband wakes up missing a few fingers.

Comments

Shaman29's picture

Honestly....I'm a little cranky today.

Saturday was tough because we had to go to a memorial for a friend and my Uncle was still in the hospital unresponsive after heart surgery (he woke up yesterday, YAY!). So I was a bit emotional.

Sunday was good. It was beautiful outside and we took a long drive in the valley and mountains. Got some great photos. Had a juice picnic in a park. Smile

But today....I'm wearing my cranky pants and trying not to snarl at people when they say such rude things as "Good Morning!" and "Beautiful day out, isnt' it?"

Today is day three and from everything I've read and what the very nice lady who checked us out at Whole Foods said (and easily figured out we were juicing), I'll be fine once I get through the first three days.

I had roast chicken, grilled prawns, crunchy salad with my yogurt dressing, collard greens, dark chocolate brownies (made with coconut flour cause I'm mostly GF) and red wine dreams. Blum 3

Shaman29's picture

Thank you for the encouragement! I really need it right now.

My DH got a huge wake up call at the DR's office a week ago. BP was 160/100 and he's at least 70lbs overweight.

DH battled SAD over the winter and it didn't go away. I encouraged him to seek professional help. We have a fairly healthy diet but what I didn't know is that he was eating fast food at lunch and then falling asleep in his car until he had to go back to his desk.

Which explained his weight gain over the last few months despite the vegetable and lean protein, limited grain meals we generally eat.

I could stand to lose some weight and add more veggies to my diet anyway. It also wouldn't kill me to not have wine a few nights a week for two weeks either.

I have to limit my raw cruciferous veggies, as I am hypothyroid. So we've been substituting those with spinach, collard greens, beet greens and swiss chard. And adding kale and cabbage here and there.

I've found some great recipes and I've been making smoothies (sans protein) in the AM and before bed so I'm not feeling overly hungry.

Shaman29's picture

LOL!!!! I just snorted my tea out of my nose. Thank you for the laugh. I really needed it.

I had to do the same. Adding a banana and ice to the juice and making a smoothing helps. I'm also supplementing with Naked Juice blends as well as our own juice blends. I'm not going to lie, it was difficult to not pick up the chocolate/banana smoothie.

I did sleep a little bit better last night. I suffer from chronic insomnia and gave up caffeine about 18 months ago. Giving up coffee was tough, but I found a good substitute (Teeccino) which allows me to have my hot beverage ritual in the morning, with the caffeine. I'm off of it this week, because I used half & half and dairy is a no-no until we're done with the cleanse.

Speaking of sweet potato, there is a recipe that calls for it and it looked okay. But with what you just said about sweet potato....we'll have to have a back up plan, just in case. Wink

We did a tomato based juice for dinner last night, poured it into the blender, added 1 avocado, dash of Tabasco and made a smoothie. It was wonderful. This is the recipe using the sweet potato. I'll let you know how it goes.

1 lg Sweet Potato
1 med Carrot
1 Red Bell Pepper
2 lg Red Beets
2 Golden Delicious Apples
1 Orange (optional)

B22S22's picture

Shaman - I went on a low carb diet the beginning of January and for the first two weeks or so I had dreams about BREAD. The one that tended to repeat itself was me sitting at Texas Roadhouse with baskets and baskets of their warm buttery dinner rolls sitting in front of me. I'm not joking!!

I can now say I've gotten over a lot of the craving, but shoot I was such a carb junkie it wasn't even funny. Within the first 7 days of cutting them out (breads and pasta were the worst culprits in my lifestyle) I had lost 8 lbs.

To date, I have lost 25+ lbs, and feel great! That's not to say I haven't done some backsliding... about a month ago I was out of town and my son wanted to eat at Steak n Shake... I had a breaded chicken sandwich, fries, AND a milkshake. By later that afternoon I was so sleepy and verging on what I call a "carb coma" I could barely drive the two hours home.

Funny how your brain will make you do some pretty strange things when you're trying to change your eating habits. But I just keep plodding along. Yesterday I pulled a pair of jeans down off the top shelf of my closet. Size 8. Thought I'd try them on for shits and giggles since they hadn't really fit in YEARS. I had about 2 inches of room around the waist! YAY!! It's those moments that keep me focused.

Shaman29's picture

That is wonderful!! I mean about the weight loss and size 8 jeans. Smile Congratulations!

I gave up 85% of my grains about a year ago and bake with coconut or GF flours. I'm glad I'm not the only one having food dreams. That makes me feel a lot better.

The dumb thing is that I do eat healthy foods, but I eat WAY TOO MUCH and don't get enough exercise. It's a matter of retraining myself. I would probably feel a lot less stress if I would get off of my ass. Not to mention get into smaller jeans. Smile

Love51's picture

Hang in there, it is hard and but you can do it!
I used to juice every Sunday, no food all day to clean out my system. For me, it totally works as sometimes I get so sick of juice that I would rather have nothing than to have to drink another juice, that will do the trick.
I love the combo of beets, apple and carrot.

Shaman29's picture

Thank you so much. That's why I did this OT post.

I was cranky this morning and DH said "You can quit if you want."

I don't want to quit, but I want to be able to say things like (not all the time, most of the day I try to remain upbeat and make jokes about juicing a chicken or a steak)....

I'm cranky
I'm hungry
I'd love a roasted turkey leg about now

.....without him telling me to give up. I responded to him that I would do better with encouragement that I can do this, rather than being told to throw in the towel. He said okay, I get it, you're feeling like you can't do this and me telling you to give up isn't helping. You want to do this, so it would be better for me to say things like we'll get through this, just get through the day, you'll be okay. Right?

By Jove I think he got it!

fedup13's picture

I have done several juice cleanses. Just finished one last week. They are BRUTAL!!!!! All you think about is food. But, after just a couple of days, you can already feel it working. You feel better, more energy, more mental clarity, you just feel healthier. Starving, but healthy. I only do 7 days. The most important thing in my opinion is a good quality juicer. They are 100-150, but worth it. Save the pulps too and add to soups, casseroles, meat loaf, etc. It is a way for me to jumpstart my diet. I am able to buckle down and stick to small portions and lower calories after a fast. Eat lots of vegetables and salads before you start one and after it is over or you will shock your system. Certain veggies have a better effect as well. Spinach, beets, apples, kale, are all good for cleaning your liver/lymph nodes and getting all the gunk out plus helping shed weight, esp. spinach. My favorite combo for taste is blueberries, spinach, apple, and cucumber. You will feel pretty bad the first few days, but if you can stick it out, it is worth it. Then, just stick to a low calorie, high fruit/veggie/protein diet and it works. It is not for everyone though that is for sure. The juicer I have, is a Jack Lelane Power Juicer. I am on my second one, in my experience, they are the best.

fedup13's picture

I drink fresh made juice five times a day when I do it. For breakfast, I usually do a carrot, cucumber, beet, ginger, lemon, and spinach. #2 is apple, blueberry, cucumber, #3 is the same as breakfast except add celery. #4 is spinach, kale, pineapple, cucumber #5 is tomato, bell pepper, lime. There are gobs of combos you can find online, but this is the ones I usually do. The cucumbers are a must because of the water content, you would only have like half a cup of juice without them. It takes a lot of produce to get a decent sized glass of juice. You will have a couple of days with low energy, possibly headaches, sluggish feeling, and this is due to your body working overtime ridding itself of toxins, plus, you are going thru carb/soda/sugar/junk withdrawals as well. You dont want to over do the exercise during the fast because it is a time for your body to rest and heal on the inside. Drink about a gallon of water a day. I drink green tea as well.

fedup13's picture

It is really good to do in the summer if you garden. It is good to just drink fresh vegetable juice once a day or so anyway, even if you are not on a fast. Fresh juice has more nutrients and phytochemicals than store bought.