10 day juice fast: day 6, 7 & 8

sorry guys, i am house sitting this week and didn't manage to get to my lap top for a few days to write so here's day 6, 7 and 8.

DAY 6

i made the most delicious juice ever! it was so good i did the exact same recipe for my dinner juice. it was made of:

3 carrots
3 celery sticks
1 apple
1 orange
huge chunk ginger
2-3 pineapple slices

i also made a large glass of delicious "spa water". all i did was put in some lemon and cherries. there's endless combinations. i want to try lavender and lemon, for example. here's a bunch of recipes.

today i was feelin' pretty tired. just out of energy. i couldn't run or go up a set of stairs without losing my breath and feeling slightly light-headed. looks like it's perfect timing for this kind of detox because my juice fast ends in 3 days! i am SO EXCITED to eat. all i want is raw food. raw salad, sushi, pasta, soup, smoothies. i also can't wait to eat a banana with some kind of nut butter. and just like... a date. i know it's all gonna taste amazing because my taste buds have been recharged and sensitized.

DAY 7

my juices today were watermelon-themed :) mmm, so refreshing.

juice #1:
2 cups watermelon
1 orange
chunk of ginger
1/2 cucumber
3 sticks of celery
1 cup grapes
1 cup strawberries

 look - it's glowing!

juice #2: sorry i didn't take any pics - i slurped it up in the backyard and forgot my camera.
1 cup watermelon
1 grapefruit
1 orange
chunk of ginger
1 cup strawbrries
3 carrots

i'm really looking forward to getting back to solid food and making delicious raw recipes for me and my loved ones. this is the kind of excitement i experienced when i first got into raw food (almost 2 years ago!) but to be honest - i had lost this kind of passion last year.

don't get me wrong, i never stopped loving raw food and the philosophy behind behind the lifestyle. but i gradually let myself become disconnected from that initial enthusiasm. and i was really depressed that i couldn't reconnect with it. slowly i lost my connection when i meditated, and eventually i couldn't find much passion in anything - even though i understood how much i continued to love the people and events happening around me.

this is why i wanted to challenge myself through a juice fast, then a 21 day water fast. i was hoping to regain that original passion and reconnect with what i know is important to me - my soul and it's relationship with the universe! yes, that includes food. food sustains us.

here's the good news. initially i was just incorporating this juice fast as a prequel to the mega water fast, and because i wanted to participate in "cleanse america" (even though i'm in canada); but through these past 7 days - and i'm sure these last 3 - i have already gained from the juice fast what i was hoping to gain from the water fast! plus... mom and dad still aren't very keen on me not eating for 3 weeks. understandable.
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i have decided to conquer the water fast at a later date. i will certainly be doing it at some point. but it doesn't need to be - and i don't feel it should be - right now.

in these last 3 days i plan to do a lot of resting and meditating, finalizing my thoughts and cementing my renewed excitement and refreshed passion for life. i am so happy to be here, surrounded by my family and friends, living in a beautiful home and city, able to make my dreams come true, and having the best food in the world every day! well... for the next 3 days, it'll be juice. i am not ashamed to say that i can't freaking wait to eat salad. looooooooooooord.

further reading: here's the "diary" of Skinny Bitch co-author Rory Freedman when she did a 7 day juice fast. i love how honest she is.

DAY 8

alright. day 8! i have renewed love for this juice fast. food can wait; the time will pass. it's a gorgeous, sunny day and i intend to take advantage of it. i think i'll do a facial steam with rose water then lay in the yard. i'm seeing some friends later and i'm excited to talk and spend time with them. i've been getting so many amazing emails and comments from my readers! I LOVE YOU ALL! the fact that i can help change people's lives means so much to me, and it's the main reason i'm here.

you guys inspire me. you're changing my life!

my first juice today was delicious and made of: 

4 carrots

3 celery sticks

huge chunk of ginger

1 apple

1 orange

1 tomato

1 bell pepper

1 kiwi

i think it looks like a work of art. i'm actually gonna get some of these photos printed really big on a canvas because i like them so much. literally, photos full of life! i'll be making the same juice for dinner. i will probably have some herbal tea with lemon later as well.

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i need to share this with you: crunchy betty. the link i give is for cleaning your face but she has excellent posts about how to naturally keep your hair, skin and body beautiful, vibrant and glowing. she's also hilarious.  

10 day juice fast: day 5

so far i'm feeling alright today. i slept for like 12 hours last night without waking up... i arose at 2 PM and couldn't believe the time. i'm house and dog sitting for friends this week, beginning today, so i promptly ran over there and walked the puppies.

actually, i should say ran.

i started feeling pretty light-headed and knew i needed to make some juice fast. it was made of:

2 slices pinapple
chunk of ginger
4 carrots
1 apple
1 orange
1 grapefruit
huge handful of kale
handful of strawberries
1 kiwi

yummmmm. i needed sugar. 

then i did some stuff on the computer and off i went to get groceries. i ran out of cucumber, bell peppers, tomatoes and celery the second day of the juice fast, so it was nice to finally buy some. i think i'll make some more juice soon because i'm feeling pretty tired. i walked to the grocery store as well. i probably just haven't gotten enough calories today.

*passing of time* i just had my juice for dinner and i still feel pretty tired. i thought maybe it was just because my blood sugar was low or something but i didn't even want to drink or eat anything. i left most of juice in the fridge. maybe i'll drink it later. i think i'm gonna watch some movies tonight then go to bed early. maybe this is finally some signs of detox?

anyway - my second juice was:

1 cup of strawberries
1 kiwi
3 sticks celery
1 grapefruit
1 orange
1/2 field cucumber
1 tomato
chunk ginger
1 apple

here's a good post about the benefits of juice fasting that i think is fairly accurate, intuitive and thorough.

and this is a PDF file that i also think is informative, about the same topic.

finally this is a review-type post about a new raw food book called "raw and beyond" by Victoria Boutenko, Elaina Love, and Chad Sarno (all well known and respected raw food proponents). the thing that is different about this book is that it talks about why an 80% raw diet is ideal, instead of a 100% raw food diet. the authors all used to praise and follow a totally raw diet, but now they have come to have a new opinion. i might have to agree.

when you first go raw, you feel amazing and might never want to eat cooked food again. you begin to strive to reach and keep that 100%. but as many of us have learned - 100% might not be best. i suggest reading the book to learn more. i'm going to as soon as it hits my library. having said all that - a mainly raw diet, with some lightly cooked whole plant foods is pretty much fool-proof for everyone.

moustache magazine + water fast

hello, lovelies. i'm sorry i don't have much to share today in the way of recipes. but i do have an interview on a trendy australian website/magazine! it was really fun to do, and the girl who interviewed me is super cool.

check it out, if you want to! here's the link.

otherwise, i'm just gonna ramble about my upcoming cleanse and water fast. feel free to escape now. 

from wednesday, june 20th to friday, 29th i will on a 100% raw cleanse, having mostly liquids. i think i'll be consuming a lot of green juice and smoothies, as well as some fruit and veggie juice. i'll drink tea, water and raw nut milks too. why those 10 days? well, i've been wanting to go on a serious cleanse for a while and the other day i happened upon this site called cleanse america. if click the link - you will see it's a nation-wide raw food/liquid cleanse that 1,000,000 americans are participating in...

how rawsome is that!?

i know i don't live in america, but hey - why not support the cause! everyone could use a cleanse, not just our friends in the states. it's also perfect because if you read my blog regularly, you'll know i've been set on a 21-day water fast for quite some time now. before i begin, i know i'll have to go on a mostly liquid diet for a few days so i will be doing my fast after this cleanse. 

in other words - my fast will begin on the 30th of june!

i'm so excited. i know it will be freaking hard, and by the 5th day i'll probably want to give up, but i need this. i have been less connected to my spirit and my passion for raw food lately. i am looking at this as a major challenge that will put me in an extreme situation and hopefully allow my to see my priorities more clearly than i have been recently.

as i've said, i know my parents don't think it's the greatest idea. but i'm not an idiot (most of the time) and if anything gets too intense or serious i will stop. i'm not worried though. the human body is an incredible, magical machine and it can survive a whole lot of crap. 

people might think it's unhealthy and crazy to abstain from food for 21 days. well i think it's crazy that so many people stuff themselves with junk food relentlessly every day. it seems cleanse america has the same opinion and that's why they're doing what they're doing. it's time to take back our fitness, because as i've said before - we now have the capability to have the most healthful lifestyle and diet ever. ever! let's take advantage of this and thrive as human beings. 

we don't need to suffer from cancer, diabetes, heart diease, obesity, stroke, and other chronic illnesses that cause us and everyone we care about pain and money. 
let's listen to hippocrates: "let they food be thy medicine and they medicine be thy food".

health is our wealth.

here's some related links that i found. you might like 'em. you might not.

a reliable site with thought-provoking articles.
go veg and protect yourself from modern lifestyle disease.
plant-based diet to beat lifestyle diseases!