The Sleeping Monster

Hi everyone,
Here is an audio update on where I am regarding my journey back to food. You can listen to it on my Utterz player on the right or you can find it here. I would love any feedback you have.

xoMichellexo

Feast Breaking Day 6

Photo by Spitfirelas' on Flickr

I have been so busy that I haven't been on the computer at all. I spent the whole day working the fundraiser garage sale and then to my son's baseball game and shopping and then home to collapse in bed. It was a long day.

I have been thrilled with eating. I am adjusting to bringing food with me instead of juice and I am definitely getting the hang of it. It is so exciting to reintroduce myself to foods again, especially things I was missing while juicing. I am so content with the flavors and the textures of the food. Pure joy!

Today I had:
Orange, pineapple, celery, spinach smoothie - I am still getting used to the smoothies after juicing. I am not entirely in love with them yet. I think adding a 1/2 of a banana will help immensely.

Massaged rapini with olive oil, garlic, red onion, sun dried tomatoes, tomatoes, avocado - OMG!!! This was absolute heaven. I love broccoli rabe so much and this is divine. I brought it with me to the garage sale and was in the garage eating it when one of the women said, "What is that smell?" Ha ha, I went out and ate it so the smell didn't overpower everyone. They all said it smelled good though. It was so good.

Strawberry spinach salad with avocado and strawberry dressing- This was a little blah. I never made the dressing before and it was kind of boring. I didn't have a lot of time to play around with it because I was running out the door. I will definitely work on it though because it has potential.

I have been pretty full. My stomach can't hold as much as it used to so I don't really feel like eating much in between meals. In fact, I still have some prunes left over that I brought with me to have as a snack but I wasn't hungry for them.

I have noticed quite a bit of energy drop since breaking the feast. It seems that by about 8:00 I am spent. I also had some strange pain in my back. It is in the same place as my gallbladder pains in the past so I am thinking it is that. I was a bit worried last night that it was going to get worse and go into a full fledged gallbladder attack but it didn't. All of the sudden the pain just melted away. Yay!

I did a final weigh in and I am down to 137.5. That makes the total weight loss 36 pounds. I am very happy with that. I hope to continue to lose weight and shift it around. I would like some more muscle and a little less flab. That is for stage 2!

I have found that planning ahead is really helping me with my busy life and with going back into eating food again. I have been thinking about 1 day in advance for some things and 1 meal ahead for others. I made the rapini the night before so it had time to marinate. It feels very similar to the juicing because I really can have the whole day's food ready each morning. Fabulous.

I am having some terrible breath though. I can taste the garlic and onions in my mouth for HOURS! I don't even want to talk to anyone in case the have to breath my breath. :o) I read on Raw Food Talk that putting mint in your drinking water and liquid chlorophyll helps with this. I think I might try both of them. At one point it seemed almost like the taste was pure chemical. I actually asked my husband if he could smell it? It smelled a bit like spray paint of something. Of course he said no so it may have been a bit of detox on my part. How cool is that. I am detoxing while eating food. Must be all that garlic and greens!

I have decided that I am going to stop my daily posts here on this blog and switch back to my original blog. I created this one strictly for juice feasting so I don't want to start posting about raw food etc. If I have anything interesting about juice feasting I will continue to post it here but most of my posts will now be at Michelle's Raw Adventure. I hope you will join me there!

Feast Breaking Day 5

Photo by Jiggs on Flickr

I really wish I had a camera. I tried to take a picture of my salad with my phone today but it was a crap picture. I got a new camera for Christmas and I dropped it in January on vacation and it broke. Ugh. I would by a new one but I spend all my money on supplements and food :o)

My salad was AMAZING!!! I was so in love with it. I made some guacamole and used it as a dressing on my lettuce and I made salsa and put it on top. I put a few sliced olives on top and viola, deliciouso!!! I ended up not being able to eat as much as I thought so I ate the rest at dinner time. I was very satisfied and happy.

I had my favorite green juice for breakfast, spinach, celery and orange. I got in a 1/2 lb spinach and a half head of celery so I was feeling pretty good about that. I don't think I got a full pound of greens in though. I definitely think that I am going to need to do 2 liquid things a day to get that much in. I will have to have a smoothie, juice or soup otherwise it will be very difficult to get a full pound, even with a half pound in one drink. I could probably have a smaller juice for a midday snack and I would be fine.

I have to admit that my energy level is way down. I can feel that my body is having a hard time adjusting to the food. I am having an underlying heartburn that I am hoping will stabilize over the next week or so. I have been so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. In fact, I can't wait to crawl in bed again tonight. I know it doesn't make for exciting blogging but oh well. Such is life.

Feast Breaking Day 4

Photo by Hellfire8888 on Flickr

Feast breaking seems to be going better today. My stomach seems to be feeling a bit better even though I am eating the same things as yesterday. Today I had:

3/4 quart orange, pineapple, spinach smoothie
Strawberries
Orange
Prunes
1 quart romaine, celery, tomato, garlic, onion kelp juice

I am not sure I really like smoothies anymore. They may be a bit too thick for me after all the days of juice. I really did not enjoy it as much as I remember enjoying them before the juice feast. I think I would much prefer a light juice.

Today was a rather lazy day. I took it easy, read a little, watched tv. Went to the park with my son and some neighbor friends, and went to my son's baseball game. I made dinner for my kids tonight too. My husband had already cooked the chicken breasts ahead so I made baked potatoes and a big salad. My teenagers decided they wanted their chicken warmed up and mixed in with their salad. I am getting the raw foods into them.

My younger two children ate at a friends house and they had bratwursts with maple syrup. Eeew, that is so gross. I couldn't believe it. I mean what are you supposed to do when someone is kind enough to watch your kids for you but feeds them like that? Oh well, I gave my kids chicken so I guess there isn't too much difference.

I am soooo excited about salad day tomorrow. I went to the store and bought tomatoes, onion, lime, and cilantro. I have avocados that are perfectly ripe so guacamole will be on the menu. It is amazing how much I am anticipating this salad. I hope it is as good as I am building it up to be. I told my husband that if I wasn't talking with David everyday that I would have just gone ahead and had the salad tonight but I am trying to be good and follow the rules so I am sticking it out. I guess it is good to have someone keep us on the straight and narrow.

I can see that I am feeling a bit hyped up and obsessive about food. I am hoping it is a temporary thing that is happening while I adjust. I am thinking that as soon as I am able to eat regularly again this obsession will dissipate. If not, I will have to do some work on it.

I am sooo tired that I can't wait to collapse in my bed. Nighty night.

Hot Guys

So Hanlie made a post about the most handsome guys and I thought I would play along. I was really surprised at how hard this was for me. Once I got past my number one heart throb I was pretty clueless. I really struggled and honestly could only come up with 4 and then the last one popped into my head at the last minute. I spent a long time on this which is crazy but anyway, here they are in order of my excitement. :o)

Number 1 - Brad Pitt
He is it for me. When I told my husband I was making this post and he asked, "Who did you pick besides Brad Pitt?" I have always had a thing for him. I only like him clean cut though. I am not a fan of him when he is long haired and scraggly.

Number 2 - Matthew Mcconaughey
Come on, he is a sexy guy's guy and I love it. He has a sparkle in his eye and a little devilish about him that is irresistible.
Number 3 - Colin Farrel
He is my bad boy pick. I have always had a thing for the proverbial bad boy and he does it for me in that department.
Number 4- Patrick Dempsey
Here is a guy that has gotten better looking with age. He was cute when we were young but now he is hot.
Number 5 - Johhny Rzeznik
I know, another bad boy look. What can I say? I remember being with some friends on a trip years ago and one of his videos came up and I said something about how cute he was and my friend said, "He's too dirty for me." Ha ha, I guess I must like dirty.

Feast Breaking Day 3

For my first meal that wasn't prunes I decided to go with a big bowl of strawberries. OMG they were divine! I can't even tell you the flavor burst that happened in my mouth. It was like fireworks going off. I closed my eyes and started mmmmmming away, enjoying every bite. Pure heaven.

Breaking this juice feast has been a series of ups and downs for me so far. It seems strange to be eating just fruit but oh so enjoyable and then I have to remember to get my juice in or a smoothie. I feel like I am spinning a bit and it is strange. The last 83 days before this there was a routine. I knew I was going to be having...well, juice. That's it. I didn't have to think too much about it. It was juice, juice, juice. I am looking forward to getting settled in a routine after breaking this feast so that it becomes a bit easier.

With the 4 means to get your greens you only have 4 options and one of them is less than appealing to me so I think it might make it even easier for me. Once I figure it all out I should be able to ease into a simple routine for most of my days. The way I am not really looking forward to is green soup. I have never been a fan of the glogginess of green soup. I am going to try again a few times since I have learned with juice feasting that my taste buds can adjust rather quickly and who knows, I might even enjoy it now.

My stomach has been having its own ups and downs the last few days too. It is a mystery as to why certain things cause troubles and others don't. For instance, today I had a bowl of strawberries, no problem. Later I had an orange, no problem. Then I had a smoothie/juice and whoa, my tummy was not enjoying it. You would think that since it was blended I would be fine but no. I also had some more prunes later and some peppermint tea to soothe the stomach.

I pretty much spent the evening on the couch after that smoothie. It was a nice night out but I didn't care. I fell asleep watching TV and couldn't bear to get myself moving. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Only one more day til SALADS!!! I can't wait!

Being "Normal"

Today I was driving down the street and the thought occurred to me that I would probably never be "normal" again. What I mean is that I wouldn't be eating a diet that is considered normal in this culture. I would be somehow different, always on the outskirts of society. I mean let's face it, eating is a big deal in our world.

About 10 years ago my cousin spent 6 months living at the Optimum Health Institute in San Diego. She healed herself from her imbalances she had and then she came home and began eating "normal" again. As far as I know she is still well. On Easter she said something to me that has stuck with me. She said that once you begin eating this way (raw and living) you realize how different you are from everyone else.

So this thought hit me today in the car and I started thinking how unfair that is and how I didn't want to be different. My mind was a swirl of thoughts like, "Why can't I just eat like everyone else?", and "I just want to be normal." And then, a car came up on the left side of me and passed me. I looked over and I saw a young man driving the car with what looked like his mother in the passenger seat. They didn't look horribly heavy or unhealthy but they didn't look that fantastic either...they looked normal. We got to a stoplight and I watched as the young man lifted up a TWO LITRE BOTTLE of some kind of soft drink and started glugging it down.

And then I looked to my right and there was a "normal" looking man taking his last drag from a cigarette and dropping it out the window. I sat there watching it burning as it lie on the running board of his truck. Suddenly visions of all the people I have ever seen in fast food restaurants mindlessly stuffing their faces with dead food popped into my head.

It was in that moment I realized that "normal" is crap! When it comes to health and vitality, if I strive to be like everyone else and fit in with the crowd I may find myself loaded up on multiple drugs, depressed, overweight and still sick. Oh wait, I've been there and done that! I've gone the normal route and it hasn't given me anything I want.

So now I will boldly explore a new route, a new way of living out of the norm. A way that leads to health, vitality, confidence and joy. This way has given me a new outlook on life so I won't let that old voice in my head brainwash me back into the flock of the mindless. Isn't it amazing how the Universe showed me such truth in that split second of doubt? I mean really, how often do you see a guy driving a car chugging a two liter bottle of pop?

Breaking the Feast
Yesterday I posted my video but I didn't really talk about anything else so I am going to do it today. I had 1 1/2 quarts of a green powdered drink before eating my prunes yesterday. I also had a green vegetable juice afterwards. I didn't finish the prunes. They were making me nauseous. I only ate half of them.

I took a cascara sagrada pill later that night since I didn't move anything out on my own. I've taken 2 more today and lo and behold I had some success in that department tonight.

Today I had 2 quarts romaine, leaf lettuce, celery, tomato, garlic and more prunes. I was able to eat almost the entire portion of prunes today and I didn't feel as sick as I did yesterday so that is fabulous! I am having quite a bit of gas and some grumblings in my tummy but I am actually thinking the grumblings is from the cascara sagrada.

I had my hour long yoga class today that was amazing as usual. As I drove home I had the windows down and was enjoying the beautiful warm weather and feeling the sun on me and I was overcome with this sense of complete joy. It was so overwhelming that I began to cry. I was so happy and at peace. I just know that I am on the right path.

OK are you ready for this? Hanlie ate prunes on the same day as me! We didn't talk and we didn't know that the other was planning on doing it. Isn't that amazing? I have often said that we are so much alike in so many ways and I think this is just another way that we are connected across the world. I am so glad we shared this part of our feast together!

So tomorrow is juicy fruit. I am going to try to keep it to berries so I don't have too much sugar. I have a bunch of strawberries and I think I will pop out and get some blueberries or blackberries. I so wish I could just skip ahead to salads. I am dying for a salad. Ha ha, I will get it. Just 2 days away.