Full Juice Ahead

The wellness visit with my Doctor was smooth and easy. Though she didn’t see the need for my doing such an extended fast, she was in general unconcerned with my doing a juice fast since I’m young and healthy. After talking to her, I visited the website for Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (FS&ND) to look further into the 60 day reboot. Joe Cross has developed an incredible support system to help other people travel the journey he documented, an amazing resource for anyone starting a fast complete with wonderful recipes for anyone who likes to juice. After reading more information on juice fasts, it’s been a long time since I’ve done one, I started mine.

I’m now on day three. Day one was brutally intense. Last week was full of quick food, stress eating, and preservatives. A family crisis had me constantly on the go with little time or energy for food prep. My body was so full of toxins that switching to full time juicing brought on a vicious detox headache. I rested most of the day. I had no energy for anything. Finally I decided to follow advice I had seen on Joe Cross’s site, and I allowed myself a small, healthy meal. Committing to a juice fast is difficult enough. Since I have no pressing health emergency, I decided not to make the transition from eating to fasting more painful than necessary.

The past two days, each with small meals added into my fast, have been much easier. I’m following the suggested five day intro, and, based on what my body has already shown me, trusting that tomorrow and the next day will continue to ease my transition into a full blown fast. I’ve also decided to adjust my fast in other ways. FS&ND suggests planning on a 15 day fast and allowing how you feel on day 15 to determine whether continuing further is the right choice for you.

Somehow, I’d not only forgotten the benefit of a gradual lead into fasting, I’d also forgotten the energy required to continue pursuing a new enterprise. Since I’m in the process of building a business, I’ll be taking my commitment and energy levels into consideration as well. I see little point in improving my health, since it’s already good, at the expense of the rest of my life.

But already I’m happy with the movement I’m creating through this new undertaking. I’ve shed the 10lbs I added to my body by stress eating last week, my energy level is currently only slightly lower than normal, and my motivation is rising. I’m excited to see what other changes this will bring, and I’m still hoping to reboot myself out of the habits I’d rather not have.