Progress!

So this week, I've been doing alot of high intensity training which ended up just me being really sweating in my uniform for the majority of the day and being extremely tired BUT, I'm writing this just to show you the progress I've made so far!

SO, here is the before picture I took of my face right before I started the juicing (no make up). So for all of you that thought my skin was fine...YOU ARE WRONG! I just like to think I do a good job of putting on make up. Embarrassing as it is to put this up, you all should be able to see the differences and how this might work for you if there is nothing in the world that can make your face better. I find this to be a huge bother and it is a big self-esteem thing when you have to spend a while on your face to cover it up and make it look somewhat decent.

 

 

 

 

Look how sad I am....

And this is the after picture!

Happy face!

Again, with no make up (except the eyes) and look how much clearer my face is. I still have a couple of red spots no thanks to the equipment I had to wear for the past week that clogged up all the sweat around my face. But there are no humongous red spots all over and it doesn't look like the frickin' Appalachian Mountain range going across the lower half of my face. I'm pretty confident if I keep up with the juicing, I will have flawless skin in no time!

Splurge and Choices

I've been a horrible blogger and haven't posted anything for a few days now! But all is well besides dealing with work and losing my wallet with all of my IDs, yikes! So what I wanted to talk about for a while was the idea of treating yourself every once in a while. Yes, you can do it. Simple as that. And the weird thing is that my body and mind actually feels guilty doing it. The other day I went out with a group of girls to dinner and got a nice grass feed burger with all the veggie toppings. About a couple hours after, I felt the need to juice to flush out the 'stuff' that I had just ate. Granted I only did the juice fast for 3 days and then started to add some food into my diet, but nothing like a huge burger for dinner. I was so used to juicing and enjoy the nutrients I was getting that I couldn't even enjoy a burger like I used to! I think I'm going to take some of the recipes off of Joe's website and incorporating that into my diet just so I can actually enjoy a meal and not just juicing and eating seeds like a bird.

Another topic that was brought but by a SFC in my class that I was in for the past two weeks. He seemed interested in the things I was talking about when it came to my juicing. I always brought in my juices to class and he always had something new to ask. In a way, I liked that he was interested and kept asking questions. I did make some recommendations about things he could to if he ever decided to go the juicing route. And the last thing I talked to him about was the difference between the people that are enthusiastic about a diet that works for them and people that try and force their diet on others.

I believe that everything you do is based on a choice that you make. If someone if fat, they chose to go down that route and not be healthy, but they always have the choice to turn that around and lose weight to be healthy again. For me, I never pushed this diet on anyone. I had talked about it occasionally before I started the fast but the only reason people were interested was because of the juice itself. They wanted to know why I would do such a crazy thing and with that spurred a conversation. There are those out there that swear by a diet and then try and tell others that they need to do it. Honestly, if someone is happy with being overweight (which I have yet to hear) or enjoys eating the foods that they do, then leave them be. A lot of people have the mindset that we have one life to live and that we might as well enjoy it instead of worrying about what we eat. Yes, I totally agree. And that is why I don't try and push anything on anyone. I'm doing an experiment on ME. I wanted to see how this fast would work on ME. And if people are noticing that there is a difference in how I look because of what I did and they are interested, that  is a choice THEY are making to dig deeper and find out whats going on. So far I am liking the experiment and enjoying the benefits I'm getting from it. If people don't want to sit there a drink juice 5 times a day then don't! No one is forcing you to. If you want to live healthier, try and make you diet doable so that you are not depriving your body. Slowly ween off of the foods that you know are bad. There is always a good place to start, but never shock your body into a fast or diet that you haven't prepped for.


I know I've said it before and I'll always say it again, and even as part of my little mantra. YOU make the choices in life in what you want to do. Set your mind to it and it will be done. No one else can make you do the things you do with your life. It's all about YOU!

Day 6: Never Forget... 9/11

Never Forget!! 9/11

Thanks for checking out the blog today. Gonna make this a short one.

For breakfast I reverted back to my favorite drink of 4 carrots, 2 green apples, and a lemon. They just taste so good together!! Lunch was the Garden Variety from Joe's Website and for dinner I got a little creative! I just took all the things green in my fridge and made a fantastic drink!

"Everything Green"
1 Green pepper
1 Cucumber
1 large handful of spinach
4 leaves of kale
1 green apple
1 handful of parsley

The green pepper was surprisingly good and gave it a nice kick.

Dessert was another experiment:

1/4 pineapple
1/4 watermelon
1 handful of strawberries
4 leaves of kale
1 handful of raspberries

Again, you can't go wrong with a bunch of fruit mixed together!!

The Effects

My face is officially smooth! The only thing I'm patiently waiting for is the red spots to go away. It's trying to heal itself and I'm doing a much better of leaving it alone. Hopefully by the weekend the red color will go away!! During the day it is surprising how much energy I have. I am able to sit in the most boring class known to man and not even nod off (unlike some of my other classmates who struggle within the first hour haha). My weight is fluctuating between 133-135 during the day. I am definitely noticing a difference in the size of my waist and can fit into some dresses that I struggled with before!!

Eating vs Juicing

A friend brought up a great question.

"Why can't you just eat the fruits and veggies instead of juicing them?"

And in all honesty, that is a very good question. Think of it this way. Do you know how many carrots it takes to make a pint of juice? I'd say in the neighborhood of around 1 to 1 1/2 pounds. That's A LOT of carrots to eat at one sitting. Then there's the question of your chewing the carrots down to a pulp so then your digestive system can turn it into juice in order to digest it. Even if your digestive system was in real good shape you still only get a very small percentage on the nutrients that are available in that vegetable.

When you juice, you've already done probably 75% of the work done in digesting the whole vegetable since your body has to turn it into juice to begin with in order to extract the available nutrients. So you're getting a much muuuuuch greater portion of the available nutrients in a much more assimilable form. So in reality while you have an initial investment in the juicer you are saving money compared to the nutrition you get from juices versus the amount of whole vegetables you'd have to consume to get the same nutritional benefits of juicing. I drink 2 pints a day of a juice mixes consisting of carrots, celery, beets, parsley, kale, cucumbers, and green apples each day. I would say that I would probably have to eat close to 15 to 20 lbs of vegetables a day to maaaaaybe even begin approaching getting the same nutritional value. It really is amazing.

So in other words, it's all about digesting and how much our stomach can really take in order to get the full amount of nutrients that a juicer can provide. Don't get me wrong, eating the fruits and vegetables RAW still has other benefits that a juicer might not be able to provide like the fiber we are missing out. (Which is why I drink the kale cuz that does the job for me). So don't think that you HAVE to go out a buy a juicer to get the nutrients you need. Just start with little changes like taking about store bought juice and having an apple or a handful grapes instead. 

Remember, this is a choice that only you can make and this blog isn't here to tell you what right or wrong is. I'm simply putting out some information that most people probably don't know!

Day 5

Starting Weight: 136.2

Today starts off very slow as I get off Staff Duty and go straight back into this class. (For those of you that aren't military, staff duty is simply sitting at the HQ desk all night with couple other soldiers and not really getting any sleep. And yes, to all you other LTs out there, I actually stay and not go home lol).

The Menu

So far I juiced breakfast, lunch and my afternoon snack. Breakfast is Wrath of the Grapes which is:
30 grapes
1 pear
1 lime
2 cucumbers

For lunch I made "Dracula's Delight"
2 Beets
2 Carrots
6 Strawberries
6 Leaves of kale

I had A LOT of extra Wrath of the Grapes so I decided that I would use that as my afternoon snack as well. I packed another small bag of the Organic Pumpkin seeds as a small filler when we have our short breaks every hour. (I can't express how good these taste, then again, I LOVE pumpkin seeds). *Note: You should only eat about a cup a day, maybe even less because pumpkin seeds naturally have a lot of calories and saturated fat (which is ok in small amounts).

Dinner was "Half 'n' half" which consisted of
2 Celery Stalks
8 Strawberries
6 Leaves of Kale
1 apple
I am really starting to love these drinks!!  I'm starting to get really creative and making sure that lunch and dinner consists of the 80/20 ratio of veggies/fruit. I make sure to balance out fruit and veggies for bfast and afternoon snack, and then go fruit heavy for dessert!!

The Effects

It is official. The small bumps on my face have disappeared and is replaced with the much smoother and firmer skin that started around my eyes and forehead. I'm just waiting for the big red spots to quickly heal up so I don't have as much scarring anymore from my damn picking! LEGO!

Day 4

I made it guys! I made it through the 3 day fast and I even decided to keep going! But I added just a little bit of food into my diet such as pumpkin seeds and chia seeds. Still trying to hold on to the juicing part as my main meals.

I had the "Classic V8" which consisted of 5 carrots, 2 tomoatoes, and an orange. Pretty tasty if you ask me! Since I am still sitting in the class for the next week, I packed some organic pumpkin seeds sprinkled with Celtic salt.

 

These are great because they are Gluten Free, Wheat Free, and Nut Free (for all of you out there that might have allergies to the oils they usually mix seeds with). Im such a big fan of pumpkin seeds and they are packed with tons of magnesium (which we don't get enough of), act as an anti-inflammatory, lower cholesterol, and improve bladder function!

 

For lunch I had the Garden Variety leftovers but replaced the cucumbers with carrots. I had Hawaiian Punch as an afternoon snack again since there was so much!!

 

Sitting through this class seriously zaps all my energy but I managed to hang in there thanks to these juices.

 

The effects:

 

I can definitely tell that the smaller bumps that I had on my face are going away. I do have a tendency to pick the ones I feel just need a good popping so those still lingered around. I must refrain from touching them!! My face feels so soft and soft around my forehead and under my eyes that I can't stop touching them. I can't wait for it to spread all over my face once the disease is gone. =)

Day 3!

Day 3
Sunday August 8, 2013
Starting Weight: 137

Last day of the fast! I can't wait to start nibbling on some food!! I woke up again with tons of energy and wasn't dragging myself around the apartment like I usually do. I started off breakfast with some carrots, apples, and a piece of ginger. I spent most of the day occupying my mind with cleaning and researching other recipes for the juicer. I made the green lemonade again for lunch (It is starting to grow on me). I have noticed that I am losing quite a bit of weight but I can only imagine that it is water weight that I've been trying to get rid of for some time now. My face still looks the same but the redness has gone down significantly.

I made a new drink called "Hawaiian Punch" as my afternoon snack and it was delicious! It consisted of 1 Mango, 1/2 a pineapple, 6 leaves of kale, and a couple handfuls of spinach and strawberries. This also yeilded alot of juice which I will definitely save for later!!

Dinner was a modified version of garden variety where I just switched out the cucumbers (because I ran out) and added carrots instead. For dessert I finally tried the Red, White, and Blue (&Green) juice. That consisted 1/4 watermelon, 2 handfuls of blueberries, and 4 leaves of kale.

I think I might continue the juicing to see how it affects my complexion but still try to eat a little bit of food.

Just some random tidbits

I thought of a couple things that might help and improve your juicing experience. 

**I will continually update this blog whenever I think of something new so tune in and I'll make sure to post on Facebook as well!!**

- First and foremost...THIS IS A FAST. So that means you cannot eat. Not even a nibble of an apple or what some cooks like to do, is eat the left overs of the veggies and fruit that we cut. Just because you grabbed a handful of blueberries and there are still some left, don't eat them! Just throw it all into the juicer. It might sound menial but its all about discipline and if you can stop yourself from eating small (even though healthy) things, then you have a better chance of stopping yourself from eating the bad things and just thinking that," It's only one bite.."

- Prep, prep, prep, prep PREP!!!! I already stated this in the Prepping Blog but this is serious!! If you really want the fast to work for you, you need to prep your body for it! Start of gradually when cutting out foods and drinks. It takes time for your body to go through the withdrawals. If not, you will struggle with it and will have a harder time trying to say NO to food. If it is things like coffee, it is going to take time to get your body out of the habit of drinking it. Make sure you give yourself enough prep time before you juice.  

-It's nice to have a support group. My mom is a big advocate of this and always there for support. Reaching out to co-workers or friends that seem interested is another big help. The more you can talk about your fast and how well its working will actually help you stay on track.

- If you have leftovers because what you juiced yielded so much, make sure you get an air tight bottle or container to store it in. Remember that if it is left open, the oxidation process will occur rendering the juice useless.

-  Have a little mantra or pictures of your self at time when you looked best. Leaving these up on your mirror or some place that you frequent will help remind you and coach you along to get you through the fast. The mantra or just a little pep talk will do wonders when you come across the temptation of wanting to eat. Set an alarm on your phone if you forget as a constant reminder. I use it help me remember to keep drinking water!!

- If you are trying to lose weight on the fast, remember to exercise! Drinking the juice isn't a magic potion. You still have to work at achieving the body that you want.

-Watch the documentaries Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead by Joe Cross and Hungry For Change (probably the best eye opener). They really inspired me to get this juicing thing going and to start living healthier. 

Day 2

Day 2
Saturday August 7, 2013
Starting weight: 138

It's finally the weekend! I wake up excited to try the next few things on the menu and whip up the Sunrise juice from Joe's Website. Another great tasting drink that I actually chugged because it tasted so good. I had leftovers of the Garden Variety and had that for lunch. Lunch time was pretty tough because I had to go to Austin for an appointment and let me tell you. There are SO many great things to eat down there. Not to mention there is a Starbucks posted at every exit so when you drive down the highway, all you can do is drool. Well, that's where the water came in and said, "NO." Thanks water, I owe you one.

For the snack in the afternoon, I made the Watermelon Crush. Ooooohhhhh man this was a winner. Since watermelon is straight water to begin with, I had a lot of left overs with this one. And it had basil which reminded me of a delicious drink that I had poolside of the Aria hotel in Vegas. Absolutely fantastic! For dinner I made the infamous Joe's Mean Green. This one tasted alot better than the Green Lemonade and thoroughly enjoyed it. And now for my favorite part, dessert!! I decided to go with the Purple Passion and this has topped everything so far. I plan to make this a daily dessert once the fast is over! 

You're probably wondering how I got by with drinking juice on a Saturday when there are so many awesome things to do. Well, honestly, I spent most of my time creating and writing this blog for all the people out there that are interested in how this fast is going. Plus, staying at home prevents me from going out and wanting to eat all the deliciousness out there so I dedicated one weekend to focus on my fast.

Energy levels are still very high, I've noticed that my face seems a littler tighter and firmer. No dark circles under my eyes. Still have the acne but I don't expect it to be an over night thing. So far so good!

Day 1!

Day 1 
Friday August 6, 2013
Starting weight: 142

Mentally Prep

This might sound a little weird but I talked to myself the first day while going through the fast. When I woke up in the morning, I said a little prayer asking for strength to get through this, and I continually had my inner coach talk to me. There were so many times I smelled something sooooo wonderful I just wanted to give in and eat. But I thought about the outcome of the fast and how it could help me. Coach then popped in my head and said that I was better than that and it was only for 3 days. If an overweight guy can do this for 60 days, I sure as hell can do it for 3. 

The Menu

I had already juiced my breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack with my Mondial Slow Juicer (Masticating). I followed the 3-Day Plan from Rebooting With Joe's website and made carrot-apple-lemon for breakfast, green lemonade for lunch, and un-beet-able for the afternoon snack. Carrot Apple Lemon was DELICIOUS. I'm not a fan of eating raw carrots but mixed with the green apples and the lemon, my God it was so good!. Green lemonade was definitely not bad at all. It smelled like a salad and I could really taste the cucumbers and celery. Un-beet-able took so getting used to. The beet part of it wasn't bad but the ginger was a little heavy (maybe add less). For dinner, I made Garden Variety which yielded TONS of juice. I had an entire 24 oz left over!! For dessert, I made the Peach Pear Delight. Adding the cinnamon was definitely a treat and since it was mostly fruit, this was by far my favorite out of all of them.

So, how did I feel?

Taken from Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead

I was a little worried that I was going to starve since I was just drinking juice. But if you think about it, you are "eating" 5 carrots, 2 apples, 1 lemon or 6 leaves of kale, 3 handfuls of spinach, 2 cucumbers, 2 celery stalks, 2 apples, etc. There is no way that I could eat all of that in one sitting. I might be able to much on half a cucumber and call it a day. The juices itself filled me up and I continually drank water throughout the day to make myself full. It was hard sitting in a classroom where people are snacking on chips and candy. The worst was meeting up with some friends after work at bar where they had popcorn, chicken wings, meatballs, and of course beer. I would always fill up my plate with the little nibblies and chow down so I could make room for seconds (or thirds). But I sat there with my juice, got some criticism from some of the people there, but I stuck it out and kept with my fast. I didn't have any headaches and I didn't feel starved.I actually had A LOT of energy right around that 2 o' clock lull where lunch would finally kick in with food coma and all you want to do is take a nap. People were drinking Monsters and coffee just to stay awake but I was sitting there like a wide-eyed, bushy tail rabbit that was just waiting for the day to end. =)

Other than that, Day 1 went extremely well!!

Prepping for the fast

Alright! So now that all the of the scientific and boring stuff is out of the way, I can talk about how I prepped for the fast. People might think that its not a big deal and that they can start a diet the next day without any issue.

What people don't realize is that it is extremely hard to just drop all the food that you once were eating and to tell your body that this is what you are going to do for the next couple of days. But if you gradually change the way that you eat, your body won't feel so "upset" once the dieting process starts.

For starters, I cut out coffee. I used to drink about 4 cups of coffee with cream and sugar everyday. I needed that little pick me up in the mornings, hoping it would carry over into the afternoon. Every once in a while I might have a cup on Saturday morning with breakfast but I stopped drinking it everyday. I started that about a couple months ago and let me tell you. It sucked! I had the worst caffeine withdrawals and just felt like I wanted to die. But after about a week, the headaches went away and I could actually sleep better at night.

The next thing I did was limit the amount of sugar I was ingesting. I made sure that I was taking the recommended maximum amount of sugar (sometimes less), which is 20g of sugar for women and 25g for men, daily . If you do the simple math, there is 4 calories per 1g of sugar. So when you look at the food labels, you want to think about how many grams of sugar you are taking per serving (I always forget that some have multiple servings). 

With that, I lowered my daily calorie intake to 1200-1500 a day. The type of lifestyle I live is pretty active and you would think that I would need more to sustain myself. Luckily I was thrown into a 2 week class that required me to sit at a computer from 9-5 with an hour lunch break. Remember what I said about people having access to too much food and not giving themselves the time to work it off? If we take 3000-5000 calories a day and then sit in a classroom with no exercise, we are allowing our body to store tons of fat and we wonder why we cant lose weight. The amount of calories I was taking was enough to fit that low-exercise routine without starving myself.  

Last but not least, water. I HATE drinking water. I love drinking juice and the occasional soda. I would maybe have 16 oz A DAY. Sounds horrible right? Well I started to force myself to drink a liter or more of water a day. I needed to start flushing out the toxins in my body as well as hydrating. After a week or so, my body was used to the amount of water I was taking and actually craved more!

If you go to Reboot With Joe's Website and scroll down to the "Getting Ready" portion, you can see some of the things you need to do to help make the rebooting process a little easier. I didn't hit much of the topics on there such as reduce meat or dairy intake, but I tried to do the other things that seemed a little easier .

The Juicer

With the wide variety of juicers on the market today – centrifugal, slow juicer, twin-gear (to name a few) – it can be challenging to decide which one is best for you. Before purchasing your juicer, whether it’s your first one or you are looking for an upgrade.

Some types of juicers:

Centrifugal juicers
Perfect for

• Anyone new to juicing
• Making juices quickly
• Budget shoppers

Pros

• Easy to use
• Juices quickly
• Inexpensive

Cons

• Depending on brand/model, juice may get foamy and thus oxidize more rapidly
• Some leafy greens can be a little harder to juice
• Cannot juice wheatgrass, sprouts, or nuts

Masticating Juicers
Perfect for

• People with a moderate-high budget for a juicer
• People who juice frequently

Pros

• High juice yield and less pulp
• Generates less foam so juices oxidize slower
• Can juice most fruits and vegetables including wheatgrass, cranberries and even nuts
• Versatile; depending on model and brand, some can be used to make baby foods, pates, sauces, nut butters, banana ice creams and fruit sorbets

Cons

• Usually have many more parts to clean than a Centrifugal Juicer
• Longer prep time – shoots tend to be smaller requiring cutting fruit and vegetables into smaller pieces.
• More costly than Centrifugal Juicers

Twin Gear
Perfect For

• If have you the funds and are willing to splurge
• Someone who wants a top-of-the-line juicer
• People who frequently drink a large quantity of juice

Pros

• Low oxidation of the juice to preserve optimum nutritional value
• Efficient at juicing greens
• Can be used for other functions besides juice, depending on brand and model

Cons

• Expensive
• More parts to clean and a little trickier to put back together after cleaning
• Requires some strength to juice firmer produce 

 ----------------This is where the nerdiness and love of science comes into play -----------------

Some things to keep in mind. Centrifugal juicers tend to allow heat and oxidation into the juicing process. Oxidation is commonly seen when leaving an apple core exposed to air for a long time. An apple left out too long will eventually turn brown. This color change is caused by the oxygen in the air reacting with compounds in the apple (specifically, polyphenol oxidase enzymes and phenolic compounds), which then react with amino acids and proteins to produce the unwanted brown color.

A cold pressed juicer does better on both accounts because it avoids the oxidation reactions caused by fast moving centrifugal juicers. The fast moving blades do two things: 1) they move quickly thus ‘stirring’ more oxygen into your juice, 2) they heat things up. Heat causes chemical reactions to occur faster, and more oxygen can mean more oxidation reactions. As the blades cut up your produce, the cell walls of your fruits and vegetables are exposed and the nutrients within them can get oxidized. Vitamins A, C, and E are all molecules that can react with and be broken down by oxygen.

What makes this better than any other diet?

Great question! It doesn't make it better than other diets, but there are some things you should know and keep in mind next time you head to the grocery store.

A lot of people think that diets such as NutriSystem or Weight Watchers is going to get them to lose those pounds while still eating "great" food. Then you have the Paleo-munchers out there that believe we should eat what our ancestors ate (meat, fish, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and healthful oils) and cut out all the grains and processed food. Then there are people that skipping meals to compensate for the huge, greasy burger you had for lunch will help attribute to weight loss. Well for starters, skipping meals will do you no good. You should have 5 balanced and well portioned meals as well as light snacking between meals that consist of fruits and vegetables. Second, NutriSystem and Weight Watchers (or any other dieting program) will provide LESS CALORIES but will not provide the NUTRIENTS to the body. So when you lose a bunch of weight, you tend to go back to eating the foods that you used to eat, maybe in smaller portions, but you see how all the weight comes back and the money was not well spent. 


People on the Paleo diet are probably the closest ones headed in the right direction but there are some set backs. Those who take the Paleo diet seriously will cut out all processed animal products and pretty much any food that was grown from the earth. But there are those out there that think eating 10 pieces of bacon and a salad drizzled with dressing is following the diet. The only issue with Paleo is that you can still cook. Yes, I said cook. "Well, whats wrong with cooking? We can't have raw meat and it makes everything taste great." Yes, I understand that. But what I'm focusing on is the healthy stuff (fruits and veggies) we're supposed to be eating and not so much the animal products. Cooking affects the nutritional value of vegetables. When you boil veggies, for example, the nutrients leach out into the cooking water. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you plan to consume the liquid, such as a broth or pasta sauce. Yet how long you cook vegetables -- and at what temperature -- also plays a role in just how many vitamins and minerals you're losing. Cooking veggies for a long period of time, or at a high temperature, can destroy the nutrients, including those in the liquid. This plays a big part when juicing and I make reference to it in my blog about the juicer. 

The reason why juicing is so healthy is because you are replacing the 60% processed food and 30% animal products with 100% fruits and vegetables.

Not only that, juicing doesn't incorporate heat into the equation which allows us to get all the micro-nutrients that is usually cooked off. Juicing offers many life-enhancing health benefits including a faster, more efficient way to absorb immune boosting nutrients naturally found in fruits and vegetables.  It provides a way to access digestive enzymes typically locked away in the fiber matrix of whole fruits and vegetables.  Most commercial juices are processed and lacking in nutrition while freshly juiced fruits and vegetables are loaded with an abundance of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. BUT it does depend on the type of juicer that you get because some still generate heat and oxygen which renders the juice useless. I will go into more detail when I talk about the juicers.


SO to all you Paleo dieters, don't get butt hurt because I said that it wasn't as healthy as juicing. I plan on leading that kind of lifestyle once I am off my juice fast because I still love meat and would like to enjoy a steak every now and then. 

There is a bit of History in the matter

For all you GoT fans out there... =)

Yes yes...There is quite a bit of science and history that goes into the art of juicing fruits and vegetables. I did my research, and it was mentioned in the documentaries as well, that we human beings suck at being healthy. We have strayed way far away from what our ancestors used to eat and how they managed their eating habits. See, back then, they didn't have the luxuries that we do now. No heated or air conditioned homes, cars to go to the grocery store. They had to deal with the winter, which rarely yielded any fruits or vegetables, and summer, that was usually followed by famine. Before these seasons, they would eat lots of food that was available to them so the body could store fat just in case a famine showed up or winter was extra long. They never really gained any excess weight because they had to continually move and hunt for their next meal which burned a lot of calories and fat. 

Snapshot taken from Jim Cross's documentary Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead

Nowadays, there is no need to go hunt for food or save up fat for winter. We sit around all day at work eating the copious amounts of crap that we call food. We have cars that take us to the grocery store where all food is laid out for us to grab and go. Today, people eat 60% processed food, 30% animal products (including dairy), and only 5% vegetables/5% fruit.  So in reality, we are not getting a lot of nutrients or even at all if you live a lifestyle of constantly eating processed food.
 

Where it all began..

Honestly I have no idea where to start because there is so much to tell!!  For starters, whether you know me or not..I LOVE FOOD. I love trying new dishes, love cooking, pretty much anything that has to do with food, I'm all about it. But at the same time, I love all the greasy, sugar laden foods that you can find right around the corner from the apartment or exit off of the highway. And with that, its taken a toll on how I look. Now, don't get me wrong. This isn't a blog about how I need to lose weight. So many people would slap me for even mentioning the idea, so I'm not. The "look" that I am talking about is my face. Ever since I hit the dreaded teenage years when puberty reared its ugly head, I've have acne problems. People might say, "Ohhh, but it could be genetics or maybe you just sleep on your face too much (yes I've had someone tell me that before)."  I had tried all the acne medicine, face washes and creams, pills, pretty much any remedy you can think of. But in reality, it was the foods that I ate and that needed to change.

The only reason I would say that is because in the documentary  Hungry for Change, nutritionists mention that your skin is the LAST place to get nutrients from the foods that we eat. Kris Carr, the director of Crazy Sexy Cancer, talks about how her faced and skin glowed after 10 days of the juice fast. The physicians, food experts, and nutritionists in this film ALL talked about how your skin will react positively to the nutrients that you are bombarding it with. Jason Vale, author of the bestseller "7lbs in 7 days" probably made the best comment about nutrients to the body/skin... "What do you think your body is gonna do? Its not going to reject it at all. Its gonna look and say 'Now I'm on board. Now you're good to me, let me shine for you'."

And the thing was, the food that I was eating, really didn't have any nutrients in them. Shipley's donuts for breakfast on the weekends, a caramel macchiato before work, and the occasional burger or fried chicken for lunch were the things I was putting into my body. The one of the first things mentioned in the Hungry for Change trailer link (above), is that "we are not eating real food anymore. We are eating food-like products. They are adorned or made to look better and smell better so that people are attracted to them."  Which, by the way, is totally true and I'm such a sucker for it all.

The documentary Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead was the one that got me started on the juicing. I was impressed that an overweight, middle aged man could just start drinking juice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and lose an incredible amount of weight but also gain a ton of energy without having to rely on coffee or energy drinks, which a lot of us tend to crave when the day starts to slow down. He looked great and his face was flawless without a hint of "tired in his eyes." In a way, I wanted to be like that. I wanted to have a face that was blemish free and glowed with a natural look. Pretty much I'm tired of wasting unnecessary amounts of money on make-up to cover up all the red and bumps just so I can have somewhat of a normal looking face. A lot of you that have seen me might think or have said," What are you talking about? You look fine. There is nothing wrong with your face." Well, um, have you seen me without make-up on? This is what your face will look like, I promise you....(because I do this every morning I wake up).

So yes, the reasoning behind my juicing is so that I can work towards getting the natural glow and smooth skin so that I don't have to hide behind all the expensive make up. One might say, "Well, why does it matter? Just don't wear make-up and be natural anyways." Half the time its someone with perfect skin telling me this so they really don't have any idea what it means to have the constant red and bumps all over the face. It really is a self-esteem thing and the face is the first thing someone looks at. If what they see is this

 

instead of this

 

then yeah, I'm gonna feel a little self conscious. (And no, I don't think I look like Kate Beckinsale).

Welcome!

Hello all!

So most of you know that I started a little juice fast for three days. I've had a lot of good feedback from people and I've decided that I would write a blog about the juice fast, how I prepped for it, and how well its going!! I hope you guys can tune in everyday and I'll be sure to post of Facebook and Twitter!