Last week I completed a 5 day juice fast. My purpose in doing this was to be more conscious of what foods were going into my body. I have tried fasts before and usually (not always) give up at the end of the second day because I am so consumed by hunger. This time was different. I decided to take it one day at a time. I would finish one day and if I felt like I could keep going another day, I would. The first two days were the hardest. Michael helped me get through these days by fasting with me. We pretty much just stayed away from food and kept busy. Day three was a breeze. I didn't even want food. I had great energy and I just felt really good. Day four was great until the evening. I really wanted to eat, but the desire to hold out for one more day was greater than my desire for food. The fifth day, all I could think about was protein. I was craving chicken and nuts. My favorite craving was for Lunchables... I don't know when the last time I had Lunchables was, maybe fifth grade, but the meat and cheese were very alluring.
So the juice fast was comprised of fresh vegetable and fruit juice that I would put through my juicer when it was time for a "meal." My favorite juice was a pineapple-orange-strawberry mix and the worst was anything with celery. I took a picture of all the fruits/veggies before I started the fast. This amount of food only lasted me three days. I had to go back for more on the morning of the fourth day.
My greatest reward from this fast is that I haven't had a single headache since I started. I usually get really bad headaches 4-5 days out of the week. I had no refined sugar for over a week and limited amounts since then. I don't know for sure, but I think it was sugar giving me the headaches. I am also more conscious of what I put in my body. Portion sizes have decreased significantly as I listen to my body telling me when to stop. I've also had a desire to eat much healthier foods. I'm glad I did this and I'm glad it's over.
4 comments:
Nat,
That's interesting....And cool that the headaches are gone. It's so true, a lot of times we don't even realize how much junk we are putting into our bodies until we take a step back and really learn to listen to what our body needs. And all that fruit looks YUMMY!!! Question--why juice instead of just eating the fruit???
Rusty and I are taking the kids up to Golden Gate State park this weekend to go snowshoeing. We are going to stay in a little cabin overnight. Rusty and I used to love to snowshoe when we were dating, so we are excited to get to do it again. But, sleeping in a little cabin where the bathroom is 500 yards away could get interesting with little ones.....
love ya!
wow... you are hard core! I wish I had the will to do something like that... your amazing and crazy at the same time! Crazy in a good way.
nat, we'll have to talk cleanses/fasts this sunday for sure!
You didn't tell me you had a blog, Natalie. But I found you, because my stat counter is smart.
This sounds interesting. Sounds better than my experiment with swallowing olive oil to lose weight. (Guess what, that didn't work! Surprised?)
Now I'm just trying not to eat too many Cadbury's Cream Eggs.
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