Once again, catch ups- Days 20 and 21

At some point I will go through a week without missing one night of blogging! But for now, I guess I am still getting myself into the new rhythm of juice feasting and all the changes and transformations that come along with it. 

So on day 20 I had an amazing amount of energy. I went all day without getting tired... and to top it off, it was quite a busy day too! I went shopping with my sister (Grace) and mom (Beth) for Gracie's 8th grade dance. We had some last minute gathering to do and I really wanted to come along but was slightly worried about my energy levels. So we left for home with not only a success in shopping (a wonderful outfit for my little sister), but also with a good amount of energy. I even managed to go to the grocery store as well as our annual food co-op meeting without crashing from no energy! It felt so great to have my energy back for a day!

Yesterday, day 21 was also exciting because it was three weeks of juicing mark! Although I didn't have as much energy, me and my mom had quite an adventure. Towards the end of the day (late afternoon), we headed out to do some errands. We had to make a stop at a local health food store for some things that our Co-op doesn't carry, we had to drop off some very over-due books at the library, and pick up our greens as well as some organic hair supplies at our food co-op. As we were walking out of Champlion's (the health food shop) it started sprinkling and by the time we reached he library it was full on pouring. We sat in the car hoping it would clear up, but it got heavier and heavier, now coming down in sheets, and even HAILED for about 10 minutes. (What is going on?! It is mid June!) At which point, my sister called and said the power was out at home. Anyway, we ended up having to pick up our greens at the Co-op and actually go and make our evening juices at a friends house (who is also feasting). When we got home, at nearly 9:30 (we stayed and had multiple cups of tea), the power was still out. Apparently several lines had fallen into the road only three doors down, and the power didn't come back on till 3 o'clock in the morning! It was quite the adventure... I love black outs. Though it did teach me to always make ALL my juices right in the morning to avoid situations like these! 

Joy, peace and love! (:

Claire

Catching up for days 17, 18, and 19

So I missed blogging about days 17, 18, AND 19! I was really busy. But to quickly summarize. I have had quite a bit of energy the last few days, with the exception of day 19 (I didn't get nearly enough sleep). But day 19 was also very productive considering the fact that I was low in energy. I got up early, juiced early, had 3  lovely juices throughout the day, did yoga in the morning, took a walk in the late afternoon, and got to bed a very nice hour. I'm really determined to get exercise into my daily routine as it is know to be one of the most, if not the most, important aspect in a healthy live style! 

I will be back later today to recap today in it's entirety. 

With peace, 

Claire

Day 16

Day 16 is here! And juice feasting dedicated it to the different benifits and importance of walking. For example, walking speeds up digestion, which I did not know! There is so much info on David and Katrina's website and I am learning so much as I make this juice feasting transformation! It is so exciting!

I am looking forward to reading the section the website about traveling in the raw. I'm going away this summer and have been wondering how to make it easiest on myself but still stay raw... especially while camping! I am also really excited to start yoga because I finally placed the order for new yoga DVDs (with Shiva Rae)!

I'm making this post quick because I am trying to get to bed early! But to sum up today, I felt great and continued to thoroughly enjoy my juices. I wasn't to hungry, but drank three juices anyways, two of which were green and nutrient packed. I also did a food tasting at the local food coop to get my working member hours in. I prepared a raw nut dip which everyone loved, and thoroughly enjoyed educating people about raw food and them being excited to eat something raw, sometimes for the first time ever. I also made a green drink and shared that, which not everyone loved, but I did go through a quart of it... I was surprised at how many people did really love it! Again, it's so fun to see people excited and enjoying truly healthy and life giving food!

Peace and love,

Claire

Day 15!

I'm excited to be starting my third week of the Juice Feast! It is going fantastically so far! (:
Today, my energy wasn't fantastic, but I'm really starting to get into life as a juice feaster. I love getting up to make all my juices and then being set for the rest of the day as for things to eat goes. I still need to incorporate my daily walk, but the weather here has been rainy and cool; as soon as the sun comes out, I'm heading outside! I also need to get my yoga in, I miss it so much! But, the VCR player is broken and my mom and I have yet to get around to order the DVDs. Also, I am really excited about getting a juice feasting consultant soon!

I have had two delicious juices so far today and one is sitting in my fridge waiting to be gulped down. I thoroughly enjoyed my first two juice meals... I've started to truly love the green juices, and look forward to each one immensely. Today's juices so far have been a spinach, celery, apple concoction, and a celery, orange, pineapple juice; both of which are on the top of my list as delicious juicy juices go!

Day 14!

Ahh, it feels so good to finally start blogging about my Juice Feasting. As I said in my post from earlier this afternoon, today marks Day 14 on my first Juice Feast!, therefore I thought it was appropriate to start my belated blogging. Yay for two weeks of living on nothing but juicy juices! (:

When we (my mom and I) started thinking about doing this feast, we were wondering how in the world were we going to get all these greens (about 2 lbs of greens a day for each of us). We kept saying to each other that things will come to us if we put it out to the universe. My mom, a massage therapist, had the genius idea to barter with friends of ours who are organic farmers, greens each week for massages. They were more than welcome to help us out, and we now have freshly picked greens coming to us three times a week! What a manifestation!

Once the problem of greens was figured out, we started our feast! I have been loving drinking only juice. My body definitely needed a break from food, and it has not been nearly as difficult as I though it would be. I am so inspired each morning! I have found that the hardest part of the day for me is dinner time, when my dad and sister are eating at the table. I miss the family dinner's each night and preparing the Raw foods; it was a time to come together and catch up on everyone's day. But, I feel confident that as I get further and further into this feast I will be able to sit with them as they eat without completely torturing my senses.

For the first week, I was not the happiest, which I feel confident had nothing to do with not eating, but instead, because I was once again bound to the couch. I am sure that I was detoxing, but I also got hit with a virus, caught from my sister. The combination was hard for me because the feeling was oh-so familiar... I thought I had finally escaped the circle of ups and downs that I had been traveling in for the past six months.

For the first week my mom and I were using a Green Star Juicer, which is a fantastic juicer, but was taking up way to much of my mom's time and my energy, (causing a little to much stress). We had finally decided to just go for it and buy the Vita-mix, despite the cost. And then, another one of our desires manifested itself! My mom's friend Lori (who is the one who introduced us to juice feasting and is doing the feast along with us), told my mom she was buying a new Vita-mix and we were free to borrow hers for as long as we liked! I was so excited when I tried it out, and was able to make a juice in a matter of 15 minutes. The time difference was incredible! If any of you are doing a juice feast and do not have a Vita-mix yet, I highly encourage you to get one! It takes a huge amount off of the time you spend in the kitchen each morning preparing your juices for the day. Not to mention, the blenders are SO much easier to clean!!

So as the blender came to us, week two became so much easier and therefore much much more fun and I was inspired once again! I've been having a blast making different concoctions of juices. My favorite one is Pineapple and Orange, yummmm. Followed by green grapes, celery, cucumber and green apples. And of course, my lovely green juices are just as tasty!... Spinach, butter crunch or romain lettuce, 1/3 of a head of celery, and a red apple. You can just feel the juice doing its healing job!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday I was bursting with energy. And on Sunday I had my first experience of drinking juice at a social gathering, this one was a baby shower. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to be eating only juice, when everyone around you was eating plates full of pasta, salads, cookies, cakes, and dinner rolls.

I have actually found that I am not to interested in food overall. I don't get to hungry either. When I get cravings for the weirdest food (such as a turkey sandwich, which I would never dream of eating before starting the feast), I know it's time to drink another juice.

I have not gotten into a daily routine of exercise, mainly because I have been so tired and have just recently began to feel better... though today I once again feel exhausted.

Not only do I really enjoy drinking only juice, but, I have also lost around 8.5 lbs! And of course, the loss of extra weight always feels wonderful!

I am looking forward to the days ahead! And I am so inspired to make this life transformation despite the ups and downs in my energy. Thank you David and Katrina for all your inspiration!

With love and peace,

Claire

Ps. I do not forsee most of my post being this long! I just had two weeks of thoughts to get down. Thank you for reading!

Health Endeavors: The ups and downs of the Winter and Spring of 2009

Hello All!
As you can see I have been posting my Raw Food creations, but have not said much about myself. Today marks week 2 of my first ever Juice Feast, and from here on out I going to document my way through this 30, 60, or 92 day adventure! To learn more about what a juice feast is, how to experience it yourself, and visit the lovely website created by David and Katrina Rainoshek, click here.

So, my first documentation on the Feast starts here, with the background of why and how I started my health endeavors.

Although my family has always been focused on health and has forever done most of their shopping at the local food coop, I have never had much inspiration to eat as healthy as possible. In the Fall of 2007 I became a vegetarian after having seen a video a friend shared with me about the horrendous treatment animals received before being slaughtered. Although I no longer ate meat, my diet was by no means what I would call healthy. I continually ignored by bodies messages when I ate dairy and was surely not getting enough veggies, protein and other vitamins. Again ignoring messages, this time from my mom about eating healthier, I continued to eat like an average teenager with the exception of not much junk food. Not until nearly six months later, April of 2008, did I truly start to consider what eating healthy really meant.

Joined and inspired by my mom, I went vegan; cooking healthy was finally inspiring! I continued with my healthy habits throughout the summer, but once my Junior year of high school started, my good eating habits began slowly falling away. I ate more and more carbs and was most definitely not getting enough greens! Although, the daily family dinners were always healthy, my breakfast and lunch often consisted of a piece of fruit, a piece of toast, cereal, a waffle, a granola bar or PB&J on whole wheat bread. I had become so wrapped up in school- between the friends, school work, and many after school activities I was involved in, not much thought went into the actual nutrients that my food held.

After becoming quite sick in January of 2009, all of the above came to a screeching halt. I was missing more and more school, and no one could tell me what was going on.... my diet once again was nothing to boast about. I felt nauseous all the time and went to my comfort foods, carbs, which were also the only thing that didn't make me feel even more sick (that is, more sick in the moment). Now looking back, I am not sure what I was thinking when I was eating nothing but carbs and a piece of fruit now and then. I spent my time on the couch, and had no energy to do anything. The actual thought of putting my bodies energy into healing myself was draining.

Not until April, did I realize that taking supplements my nautropath gave me would, not alone, do the trick of getting me better, finally I started to act...(I also couldn't handle the couch or watching TV for one more minute... reading was even difficult)! It was then that I started with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) with an amazing practitioner, Monika Benoit, whom I highly recommend! (Her website is www.healingwithmonika.com). Around this same time, I plunged into the life transformation of being a 100% Raw Foodist. The combination of live foods and EFT finally had me feeling better. But, I continued to go up and down in the energy levels... the month of May was not my best.

This is when one of my mom's friend, who is also struggling with health challenges discovered Juicefeasting.com! My mom was inspired and passed that inspiration on to me! Together we started our first ever Juice Feast!! Now both me and my mom are enjoying the wonderful world of juicy juices! Week 2, here we come!

With love and peace,

Claire