Leading up to the big day...

Thursday, February 14th

T minus 28.5 hours and counting....

In a little more than a day, myself along with three other friends will be going on a journey - A juice journey.. Journey of juice?  Yes it all sounds like hippie crap!!!  Hopefully it will lead us all to increased health and a better sense of well being.  At precisely 12 am on 16-FEB I'll be going cold turkey, giving up a lifestyle which has led me to where I am now.  32 years old, overweight, with high blood pressure and general malaise about most of the things I do!

Today is Valentine's Day and as my wife and I enjoyed our traditional fillet mignon (and tomorrow yellow cake with chocolate frosting!!!) I found myself feeling excited, yet nervous about this trip I'm about to take.  I'm struggling to embrace the feelings of hope while facing the horror of not being able to enjoy a single piece of solid food for the next however many days I can go with this...

I will be using this blog to document the experiences this journey of consuming nothing but juiced fruits and vegetables takes me on, no matter how insane my thoughts may become! The goal Tanya, Sarah, Nick and I are shooting for is 5 days, however I'm hoping once I get through the detox phase everyone seems to experience with this type of fast, I'll be able to make it to 10.  If all goes well I will push it for another 20 and from then who knows!

First things first... Get through Day 1

More to come on Saturday!

Day 1

Saturday - February 16th

7:45 AM

Today is the big day!

I've just woken up and already I'm pissed off.. The frame of my glasses decided to break so now I have to go to the eyeglass store to see if they can be repaired and if not, buy new ones... Not a good way to start this new fast!

Irrespective of that, I said goodbye to real food in one of the best possible ways, having two crab cakes from our favorite seafood restaurant and ending it all with cake my wife made for my Valentine's day present.

As for the fast, the juicer came in on Friday and it's all setup and ready to go.  I was planning on going to the store each morning to get ingredients that should take me through the day.  I'll record notes on how much of each ingredient I bought and how much juice it yielded so by the time I go back to work on Tuesday I'll have a good idea of what I need to make and when.

Did I mention I'm really pissed off about these broken eye glasses?

Anyway - rather than create a new post for each observation, I'm going to create a chronological daily log with timestamp'd updates to record my experiences.
Check back later....

8:15 PM

So I made it through the first day!  It's a bitter sweet finale as I found out that one of the people in the group was suffering some severe ill effects from the juicing and has decided to go back to regular foods (although modified to keep supporting the rest of us).

As for me, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I've been dealing with a mild headache for most of the day and my energy levels in general are lower.  I've also noticed I'm much more sensitive to the cold weather.  That could have to do with me shaving my head practically bald!

The juices I made yesterday all consisted of apples, cucumbers, celery stalks, kale and lemon.  It has some good flavor and it's definitely a recipe I will be keeping around during this journey.  I read on a few other sites that it's good to keep a consistent recipe for the first few days so I think that's what I'll do (may swap out green apples for pears tomorrow) for the next few days then look at integrating new recipes next week.

Recipe:  2 apples, 4 celery stalks, 4 kale leafs, 1 cucumber, 1/2 lemon

I'm REALLY tired right now so I'm going to go crash and report back tomorrow morning!

Day 2

Sunday, February 17th

8:31 AM

So I made it through the night and reached my first new day post juicing.  I ended up crashing around 8:30 last night and save for a couple times I had to get up to pee, I slept very well!  I experienced a few vivid dreams throughout the night, the kind of dreams that you still remember an hour or so after you wake up.

Surprisingly, I feel pretty good this morning!  A lot better than I thought I would.  I'm still nursing a mild headache but overall my mood and energy levels are all pretty good.   We'll see how long that holds up throughout the day!

My wife sleeps in till 9 or so so I can't make juice from the Breville.  Shopper's saves the day!  They have the 64oz containers of Naked juices for 5 bucks!  Got a bottle of green machine which I'll be using at work and for mornings on the weekend.  So I've had my juice, water and multi-vitamin.  We'll see what the day brings and I'll report back later on today.

3:26 PM

So far so good today.  The headache I've had since yesterday is almost gone.  Feeling somewhat lethargic and definitely more receptive to the cold!  About an hour after each juice drink I'll start to feel the hunger pangs.  They'll last for however long it is until I drink the next juice.  Just about everything sucks right now, watching TV, getting on the computer, laying around doing nothing... The thought of having any kind of food is making me go nuts!

Also found out that we lost another from the group so now it's just Tanya and I doing the juice fast.  We're the ones that need it the most so it's good that we're both still doing it.

I modified the juice recipe somewhat for today.

Recipe: 1 cucumber, 2 celery stalks, 4 kale leaves, 2 large carrots, 1/2 lemon, 1 pear

This recipe yielded about 25 ounces of juice.  Two of those plus my green machine breakfast and I'm at about 60 ounces for the day.  I'm going to try to wait till 6 and then make another Breville juice for dinner.  Might go to the grocery store and get a Naked fruit smoothie as a "dessert".  I'll check back in before bed.

Day 3

Monday, February 18th

11:41 AM

I've made it through a second day!  The hunger pangs I experienced as I went to sleep didn't carry over to the morning and I woke up feeling a little refreshed.  Today is a holiday so my wife was sleeping in again.  I had a 12oz glass of Naked Green Machine and a Men's Health multi-vitamin for breakfast and for lunch I had a 25oz glass of the modified green drink.  This time I juiced the lemon by hand before juicing any of the greens in the Breville and it turned out ok!  It ended up tasting like an earthy lemonade; something you'd drink in the spring/summer with some rum in it!

As for today my mood is a little more upbeat.  My desire for real foods has diminished a little, but certainly not gone.  As I write this my wife is heating up a salisbury steak with mac & cheese Lean Cuisine and it smells AMAZING!  Who would have thought three days without food would make Lean Cuisine so appealing??  My stomach is grumbling now just thinking about it.  It's all about willpower though!  I got to where I am without it, and now I'm going to get to where I'm going with it!!

My energy levels are pretty high, but I'm still very sensitive to the cold.  I went out yesterday for about 10 minutes and I was absolutely freezing!  I don't think I'll be doing any outdoor exercises for a while.  Another fantastic side effect has been my breath... Since about this time yesterday, I've been experiencing this whitish/yellowish film on the top of my tongue which leaves me with some pretty bad breath and doesn't help the taste of water which I've been drinking a lot more of.  I went out to the store and bought multiple bottles of Listerine mouth wash to have at home and when I'm at the office.  Speaking of which, tomorrow will be the first day back to work since starting this fast.  I'm NOT looking forward to it!  

Day 4

Tuesday, February 19th

10:05 PM

NOT a good night tonight!  Right now I'm feeling flu like symptoms which are either A from the juice fast or B from the actual flu, which given the time of year is a distinct possibility.

When I woke up this morning at 5 am I was actually feeling a lot better than I thought I should.  I showered, got dressed for work and went down to the kitchen to make my breakfast/mid-morning snack juice.  Today was another modification of the green juice I had been making only this morning I wanted to get some extra juice out of it so I would have enough for two meals so I threw in a tomato and an extra pear.  I ended up getting about 32oz of juice which was just perfect for two meals.

I threw back breakfast w/ a multi-vitamin and almost immediately I started to feel nauseous.  By the time I got to the office around 6:30 the combination of nausea plus the metalic vile taste in my mouth thanks to the detox nearly sent me over the edge!  It took a lot to compose myself and get settled in at my desk.  I immediately filled my big 64oz jug with water and proceeded to sip on that for the next couple of hours.  As 8:30 approached my nausea was just about gone and my stomach started to grumble and ache so I decided to motor through the other 16oz (no way I'm going to waste vital food)!  I didn't have an adverse reaction to the second round and actually felt myself filling gaining some additional energy after 10 minutes or so..  I felt more alert and focused at whatever tasks I was trying to accomplish.. Quite a good feeling actually.  I spent some time talking to other people in the office who were also motivated by the results people experienced on juice fasts.  It was a good morning!

Fast forward 5 hours (and a lunch courtesy of Naked's Green Machine) and I started feeling the first "flu" symptoms of the day.  It started in my legs, particularly around both knee joints.  Most of my leg muscles and knee joints felt like I had worked them out for hours on end!  It was crazy.  Walking around became more difficult and as time wore on I found myself losing more and more energy!  It was hard to concentrate on anything.  I was overwhelmed by the sensation of needing to go home.  I put in my typical 9 hours for the day but had to make a quick stop at 7-11 to get a snack.  No i didn't cheat!  They sell Naked Juice there!  I felt like I needed a jolt to my system so I got a strawberry/banana drink.  Not too bad taste wise and I think it has the least amount of sugar when compared to the other pure fruit varieties.

I made it home and ended up crashing on the couch.. My flu like symptoms came in waves... The muscle aches in my leg spread towards my head.  There was a constant pressure, almost like a sinus headache and then it felt like I had a fever.  I rode it out on the couch until 6:30 or so then decided I needed to get up and make another juice so I went back to to the mean green formula only I added some extra kale and only used half of a pear since I had the fruit drink earlier in the afternoon.  I ended up juicing maybe another 16 oz and was able to get it all down at my normal pace with no ill effects.

The flu like symptoms persisted, I felt cold all over so I wrapped myself in an afghan blanket and tried not to focus on these negative feelings (I really hope I don't have the actual flu, that would totally suck!)  At 9:30 or so I wanted to have a little dessert so I took a couple sips from a Naked Mango fruit drink and chased it with more water.  All said I probably had about 72oz of juice and 80oz of water today.

By 10:00 I started to feel a little better.  As I walked upstairs to the office to type up my daily blog entry I felt my head was clearing somewhat and the aches I had been experiencing for the last 8 hours lessened a little.  I'm still not out of the woods yet, but I think I'm getting there.  I hope it all clears up while I'm sleeping tonight.

NOTE TO SELF:  NEVER GO COLD TURKEY ON A JUICE FAST EVER AGAIN!

Day 5

Wednesday, February 20th

10:15 PM

 Day 5 started off slow but ended on a very positive note! I sort of cheated in the morning and had a 15oz cup of green machine instead of my normal mix. I was feeling too tired and lazy to make my own.. Anyhow I got through the day with only a few issues. My office mate loves to break my balls over just about everything so he's taking every opportunity to tease me over this fast. He got some Thai food from the cafeteria at lunch time and taunted me with it for a goood 10 minutes. He's lucky he didn't end up wearing it! Other than the lunch incident I got through the rest of the day! Compared to yesterday, I had 100 times more energy in the afternoon. After work my juice fasting partner, Tanya, and I went to the local organic market to restock on our ingredients. I ended up getting some kale, celery, ginger and lettuce. I made my mostly organic mean green juice and I think I could tell the difference in quality! Oh and I also bought some chia seeds to boost my protein intake. So tonight I'm going to sleeping feeling SO much better than I did last night. Maybe I'm finally getting over the detox phase! While I'm not weighing myself at the moment (don't want to set expectations), I HAVE lost 2 holes on my belt so the juicing is definitely working!!

Day 6

Thursday, February 21st

9:25 PM

Tonight wraps up day 6.  I'd have to say it was a so-so day for me.  I still didn't feel very refreshed and energized when I woke up this morning even though I slept pretty well.  I'm still having crazy dreams at night!  Supposedly crazy vivid dreams can result from detoxing while you're sleeping.  In any case, last night's dream involved two of the people who were juicing with me and some random stranger who was trying to steal their kid.  In an attempt to save their kid I was trying to get one of my co-workers (a guy who I rarely work with) to try to sneak into my house to get my gun!  Bananas!  Since I started juicing, I've had 3 extremely vivid dreams which I recall with great detail days later.  I haven't had dreams like this in a long long time.

Anyway - as for today I once again went with the Green Machine juice for my breakfast, snack and lunch.  I'm able to go for 3-4 hours in between meals without feeling tortured.  I also upped my water intake, probably getting 60oz total for the morning and early afternoon.  I found this lemon herbal tea that Tanya gave me really helped calm my stomach down in the mid to late afternoon push so I had another cup of that at 2 and that pretty much tied me over till dinner. 

As far as dinner went, I guess you could say I ate out! We were able to finagle office managers to allow us to bring in a juicer to the office (with some stipulations) so since I had to stay late Tanya and I decided we'd juice dinner at the office.  Tonight's meal was a veggie base of chard (weird ass leaf), cucumber, parsley and spinach with a half lemon, one pear and a handful of grapes to add some sweet flavors.  Today was the first day where I observed the different approach to this fast... Tanya likes to nurse the juice over the course of 20-30 minutes while I take down 10oz at a shot.  She was running late so she ended up having to chug most of her juice which did not go over well for her at all.  I'll leave out the TMI details, but needless to say she won't be doing that anymore.  Another guy who I work with was in the break room with us and seemed really interested in what we were doing so we offered him some of the juice.  He took a couple of sips and did his best to school his face and give us a positive reaction but I could tell he was full of shit!  It definitely takes serious willpower, and a rotgut stomach to boot to survive this fast.  After I got home I took a couple of swigs from my Mango Naked juice to keep that psychological feeling of having a dessert going along.  

Overall I'd have to say my energy levels were above average and consistent throughout the day.  The negative side effects from the detox seem to be lessening each day.  The headache is non-existent and the fantastic 'detox film' that had been coating the inside of my mouth for 5 days is going away too!  The only thing I haven't been able to shake is the desire to eat real food.  Today it was pretty bad!  It started off with my co-worker bringing in BBQ ribs and rice into the office for lunch, then I had to sit there in a meeting with him not more than 4 feet away chowing down on them.  It sort of just spiraled from there.  I kept thinking about all the different foods I wanted to eat.  There were times where I would be thinking about what I was going to have for dinner only to realize I knew what awaited me and the soul crushing feelings I experienced during the first few days of the fast returned; but only for a brief time.  I have a feeling it's going to get harder before it gets easier for me in this particular area..

What I wouldn't give for a tasteless Subway sub right this second!!  Must resist...  

More tomorrow...

Day 7

Friday, February 22nd

10:28 PM

Easy does it....  Today was crazy day.  It started from the second I woke up and saw there were calls from the office.  I barely had enough time to shower, get dressed and grab a big jug of green machine before heading into work.  I got to the office a little before 6, had a glass of juice, and started to work.  Over the next  few hours I had a couple of herbal teas and before I knew it it was 11:00 and time for another green machine.  Then, in almost a blink of an eye it was 2:30 and my day was winding down... I don't know if it's the juice or the issues I was dealing with, but I can't remember a day passing by so quickly!  I left work around 4 but I felt like I only worked two hours.  I had tons of energy and focus leftover from the day.

I got home and made my own juice around 5 with a cup of chia seeds mixed with water for added protein.  For those who've never had chia seeds (yes, the same seeds you plant on a clay face "chi chi chi chia!"), when you leave them in water for 10+ minutes they form a gel like substance which helps with your digestive tract and on a juice fast you definitely want to make sure you're keeping things going down there so it's good to consume the chia seeds this way.  The only downside to it is it looks and feels like something Slimer from Ghostbusters shat out of its ethereal ass!  If you have an issue with textures, you'll definitely have a hard time keeping these down.

The fast is definitely working though.. While I'm not weighing myself until I get to the midway point in the biggest loser competition I'm in, I continue to notice improvements to my overall health.  I'm still losing inches around my waistline and might be ready to take another hole off the belt in a day or so...

Overall my mood is good and I'm still feeling pretty energized.  Normally by this time on a Friday I would be passing out from the grind a long week but I feel like I could keep going for a couple of hours with no problem.  Not bad for living on nothing but juice!

On a side note, I did find it more difficult to drink my homemade juice.  I may have to start looking at other recipes tomorrow.  I still have 3 weeks to go and I can't afford to have some sort of involuntary rejection to the green juices!

Second side note, I had 2 distinct dreams which while not as vivid, were still sharp enough for me to remember almost 24 hours later.  The first dream was me driving with one of my uncles, I think towards Canada.  We were driving through a severe storm and as we were crossing a bridge a series of tornado's started to touch down all around us.. The next one involved Tanya running some kind of seminar and it was filled with a bunch of my co-workers from both my current and previous jobs!  Lately I've been able to recall details of these "juice dreams" as I would an experience in real life... Maybe the juice is making me crazy!  Either way, I'm curious to find out what dreams I'll have tonight!