This is me, it's early morning and I'm a little bleary-eyed, but I promised myself that the pictures of me on the blog wouldn't be improved in any way, by makeup or any kind of enhancement, digital or otherwise. I just took a sneaky peek at my first day's picture, and there is certainly a marked difference in my face - much less puffy today than I was two weeks ago. And I certainly feel a lot better, with way more energy and optimism generally.
So - to the weight - 64.0kg (141lb) - yes, that's a loss over the weekend. Finally.
I had a few interesting developments over the weekend which, in the integrity of sharing this journey, I must write down.
As I posted on Friday, we went away, and ended up in the high Sierra mountains, in a cabin in the woods. With my trusty vita-mix and nut-milk bag it was no problem to make juice for myself, and when the husband decided he simply MUST try the local breakfast joint's hash browns on Saturday morning, it was no bother, and I simply joined him, drank endless cups of green tea and three glasses of the 'house' OJ. Which of course was enormously sweet and wasn't freshly-squeezed. Without any set plans, we went exploring for the day, and I have to admit I hadn't planned ahead far enough, and by about 4pm I'd drunk my prepared green juice which I'd carefully packed, was hungry, and we were a long way from our cabin, enjoying twisting roads lined with magnificent trees and sweeping valley and mountain views.
We found a small general store and I bought some Odwalla spirulina, and drank that, feeling like a complete failure, because a) I know it isn't really juice, it's a smoothie which means it contains fibre - not part of this juicing experience, b)I know it's pasteurised, which means many of the health-giving enzymes and vitamins will have been destroyed, and c)there's no guarantee it's organic.
I then felt bad, because it was DELICIOUS. And I drank quite a lot of it.
On the other hand I thought it wasn't such a bad choice, because it is the greenest of the prepared juices available, the spirulina which had survived the pasteurisation process would at least provide SOME nutrition, and also, it dawned on me that as it contained fibre it would be less calorie-dense than a straight juice. And it was more satisfying because of that bulk.
Saturday night I made a quart of real, proper green juice with celery, cucumber, spinach, romaine and peach.
So, mulling all of this information over, on Sunday morning we packed up, ready for the long drive home, and prepared to explore on the way. In my newly-rebellious state I didn't prepare any juices for myself, but I was armed with a huge bottle of my new best friend, spirulina smoothie.
Rather than drinking quart by quart as I normally do with the juices, I sipped a little smoothie here and there all day, as we stopped at interesting places along the way, walked up trails, photographed wildlife and had a beautiful, peaceful day. When we arrived home I felt great, and drank about a quart over the course of the evening (I had a pretty big supply to get through).
So here I am this morning, having LOST weight over the weekend. So I'm wondering if I should adhere rigidly to a set of rules which I didn't invent (ie 90 days of juice feasting), or if I'm on an individual journey of discovery and innovation?
Here's what I know: Juicing is a wonderful way to cleanse and restore health in a short period of time.
Juice, containing no fibre, is a calorically-dense food. Fruit juice especially, contains high amounts of sugar, and with no fibre to slow its absorption, should be consumed sparingly. Four quarts of juice per day will provide enough calories to live and exercise on, while still clearing and cleansing the body.
Smoothies are like pre-chewed fruits and vegetables. Therefore, the body doesn't have to work as hard to digest them. They are, like juices, a great way to deliver large amounts of greens to the body.
They are less calorically-dense than juices. Because of the fibre they contain, they are also more satisfying, and will activate the stretch receptors in the stomach much sooner than the same quantity of juice. Therefore, four quarts of green smoothie will provide less calories per day than the same quantity of juice (providing it's made of the the same ingredients), and will keep the digestive and elimination systems working, which will presumably slow down the body's repair and restore system, and may not provide enough calories to live and exercise on.
OK, having put it all down I see that perhaps that is why I lost weight over the weekend - maybe I consumed less calories.
As I still have some spirulina smoothie left over (I did get a bit excited and bought several large bottles of it) I think as an experiment I'll continue to drink it (waste not, want not) until it is gone. Should only be a day or so. I'll monitor my weight and state of mind, energy levels and so on. Then I'll return to juicing and see how things go.
It may be that a mix of a good green spirulina or vitamineral green smoothie made by me (not a bought one) in the morning, followed by juices the rest of the day, might be a good thing. It could certainly be a good way to end a prolonged period of juicing, gradually increasing the smoothie and decreasing the juice as solid foods are reintroduced.
Or it may be that I'm simply looking for a cop-out on the juicing. I don't think so, because even if I stay with it until my first major checkpoint of 30 days, that's only 2 weeks-ish away now anyway, and I can certainly stick with it till then.
I'm certainly aware that last week I was craving sweeter juices, which is a worrying development. Too much sugar.
Lots to think about.
No other major points to note, other than my skin seems a bit dry, so I'll be taking some flax oil capsules today.
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