Veggie Juice Anyone?

So, inspired by Rob's uncle and aunt - Ted and Sheila, we decided to do a 21 day cycle for cleansing and good health. This means an 8 day fresh veggie/fruit juice fast, 3 days raw food, 10 days 75% raw and 25% grains, beans, etc. (no meat). Here's a little synopsis of our fast. Day 1 - Both of us felt pretty good, normal fast but with juice. Thoughts: "We can totally do this!" Day 2 - Rob: awful, tired, yucky, canker sores. "I think my body's detoxing. Something's definitely happening." Jami: actually pretty good other than a bit tired. "This isn't as bad as I thought." Day 3 - Rob: good, had energy. "Maybe I can do this." Jami - woke up feeling like I might pass out, nauseous, headache, seriously all I could think about was food. While reading The 3 Little Pigs to Livvy, started to salivate thinking about ham and bacon. Passed In-n-Out with the kiddies. "No one would know. I could pull over, gorge myself, keep on going." "This is crazy, what the heck are we doing?" Not a great day, definitely detoxing. Day 4 - Rob: not great, tired and a little foggy. Jami - much better than day 3, stopped craving food, more energy, nausea gone, shocked that I could go 4 days without eating solid food. Day 5 - Both of us felt pretty good. An anonymous friend dropped off some fresh grape juice. Mmmm so good.
Day 6 - Rob: great, more energy, clearer mind. "I might want to do the 21 day fast!"
Jami: body feels good, happy to be losing weight, nearly gagged on the veggie juice, planning for healthy meals and cooking for Livvy, food on mind a lot. "No way am I doing the 21 day fast. So ready to not drink veggie juice anymore!" "Glad I'm doing this because I cleaned all the junk food out of our house and am planning to cook much healthier from now on." "Raw food sounds soooo good to me, which it has never done before!!"
Day 7 - Good for both. Rob - sinus pressure still buggin'! Jami - I miss food, but I'm okay.
Day 8 - The end is near, so ready to eat. Jami had plans for exactly what to eat to break our fast - raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, Mmmmmm.
Here's an idea of what we drank. Carrot, celery, apple, strawberry juice, and once in a while a bit of coconut milk for a nutty creaminess. Best thing - fresh apple juice heated up with a little cinnamon. This was all done by Rob's juicer that he got from Grandma Cooper.


Rob has struggled a lot with allergies (a family curse) and so has eaten really healthy and tried lots of different diets to try and get rid of them. He doesn't mind these nasty concoctions, just look at that smile:)


Mmm. Drink it down.


I, on the other hand, am not used to yucky concoctions, though I do eat and cook pretty healthy (healthily?) and have come a long way from eating mostly processed foods like corn dogs and tater tots, (still love them, by the way).


We have now done the 3 days raw food only and are on the 10 days of 75% raw, 25% other, but no meat. I am actually learning to cook vegetarian meals and they're delicious! For a long time I've wanted to cook with less meat. Now that we can eat again, any food sounds good, so it's easier to load up on the healthy stuff and it tastes wonderful! We've eaten so many fruit and green salads with cottage cheese and I think I'm addicted! It's definitely more expensive to eat like this, but so worth it. We're also eating with "Hara hachi bu" in mind. This is a Japanese phrase that means "eat til' you're 80% full." I didn't really know what that meant, so I've just been trying to stop after the first helping and pay attention to how I feel. Rob's a pro at this.

We went to Park City during our 3 days of raw foods and visited our favorite grocery store - Whole Foods. It's so pricey but the minute you walk in you just feel healthier and like you're saving the planet somehow, it's weird. So we gorged ourselves on the salad bar and of course, cottage cheese. Also, have you ever tried chocolate almond milk? Good stuff. On the whole, we'd have to say this was definitely worth it in so many ways. Weight loss, feel better generally, eating much healthier (trying to pass that on to Olivia - though salad hasn't meshed with her yet - she's got the chewing down, just not the swallowing - it usually ends up back in her bowl:( ).