Days 10, 11, & wrapping up the 12th

It must be something about drawing to the close of the detox that is causing me to obsess about food. Or maybe it's the fact that I haven't done any real cooking in my kitchen in almost 2 weeks that's driving me crazy. Sure, I've been experimenting with my evening soup, but there's only so much you can do with it. It's not the same as my normal process of scribbling down notes and flavor points I want to try together, hashing together a recipe, etc. Even though I won't be doing any real cooking for a few more days, I've already been making my list of what I'm going to make as soon as I can eat.

My father decided to wrap up the detox a bit early. The original idea was to do the detox 21 days and then start the "ramp up" portion, where you slowly add the food groups back into your diet over the course of a week. Since he's on sabbatical, he will be doing quite a bit of traveling towards the end of the month, which will make it hard to maintain his regimen. So we've decided to start our ramp up on the 15th day, which if done correctly, should take us up to the full 21 days. (To be honest, I'm not sure I'm going to make it the full week - I've been craving some serious solid food)

I've been feeling really good. Although the routine is a tad monotonous at times, it really does help to break up my days, especially if I'm working. I also feel really good and haven't had any headaches or irritability that normally comes from detoxing.

For those who were curious about the weight loss, my father is up to 18 pounds lost, which he was very excited about. Good for him! I am up to(or should I say down) 13 pounds, which is actually pretty cool. I'm be satisfied if I dropped another 3 or 5, but I'm good with where I'm at.

All in all, I think the detox has been very successful. Although I can't be technical about the amount of toxins I have left in my body or those that I lost, I can say that I feel pretty darn amazing. I have energy, I'm sleeping very well at night, and overall feel pretty spiff. I could definitely see doing this routine once every 6 months or so (although perhaps not for the full 21 days) just to give my body a break.

BTW, this detox was based on the book "21 Pounds in 21 Days." It's gotten some mixed reviews, but i thought it was a fairly good detox diet. I do agree with some of the criticisms in that most of the book is testimonials and not solid information and buying the kit is more expensive than just buying what you need at your natural food store. But overall, I was very satisfied with it and plan on doing it again in the future.

I'll be back later this week with reports of the Ramp Up.

Days 8 & 9 - the Revision

I'm happy to say I'm still feeling quite fantastic on this whole little detox thing. Although I've still got the same cravings, I'm feeling quite lovely.

And - we're starting our "ramp up" on Wednesday, which is where you finish out the detox by adding certain foods every day so you don't throw your body into shock by going straight back to regular foods. I believe fresh vegetables in their natural state (aka. salad) are on the docket for Wednesday, although I'm still trying to remind myself that fresh vegetables does not equal nachos, which I've had a very intense craving for lately.

A funny story - I was at Walmart a few weeks ago, before the detox, and was just buying some vegetables. I didn't have a large order, only about 6 or 7 bags of different produce, which I placed on the belt. There was a little 7 or 8 year old boy in front of me with his mother who was eyeing my purchases for awhile before he leaned into his mother and whispered, "Why does she have all of those vegetables??" His mother, turned and looked at my order, looked at me, and then turned back to her son and with a dead-serious voice said, "Because that's what weird people eat." I almost started giggling because it was so odd, but at the same time sad that buying vegetables anymore constitutes "weird behavior."

And now it's time to go start warming up "dinner."

Soon, you shall be lunch...

Isn't this beautiful lunchtime goodness??



Unfortunately, the post-juicer shot isn't nearly as gorgeous...

Days 4, 5, & a touch of 6

Allegedly, there was an incident on Saturday that involved a moment of weakness and 4 tortilla chips. Allegedly. If it did actually happen, I'm sure I would probably have felt pretty guilty (and had a slight stomach ache) for the remainder of the day. But I would have also have been reassured that I am 100% human.

Actually, despite that "alleged" incident, I'm feeling pretty incredible. Honestly. I think I got my 1 cheat out of the way and I'm not really tempted by anything. I haven't felt hungry or irritable, and to be honest, I've got some pretty good energy going. I'm also sleeping pretty fantastically at night.

I spent part of the weekend with my parents, and it was nice to have someone on the same "every-2-hour" schedule as myself. I did juice lunch for both my father and I, although I'm still having a hard time getting him to actually like the taste of veggie juice. I think since I've tried so many bad ones, and since I've been juicing at least once or twice a day for the past couple of weeks, I've gotten used to it, and have actually come to enjoy it. For the most part. I'm still using the same basic formula that I posted a few days ago, but I often will toss in whatever else sounds good, such as fresh broccoli or a beet.

I also tried a great recipe for a soup last night. For the evening meal, we do a stripped down version of soup, which is basically nothing but pureed vegetables with some herbs and liquid aminos. Although I've made some pretty decent soups so far, last night's was defintely the best. It was loaded with fresh spinach, kale, fresh ginger and garlic, a touch of onion, and a touch of Asian chili sauce. It was so good, I'm sure a version of it will appear on 28 Cooks at some point in the future.

Thanks for the well-wishing emails and comments. I love to get them! And if you have any questions about the process, feel free to leave them in the comment area or send me an email to 28cooks AT gmail dot com.

Day 3 - Still here

Well, here I am, almost at the end of my third day, and I can honestly say I'm still feeling good. I'm never really hungry, although today I was in a training class at work that sort of jacked up my "every 2 hour meal" schedule. I did have a moment after work where I probably would have held up a convenience store for some sort of salty snack, but I made it through. Oddly enough, drinking a fresh veggie juice seems to cure that craving. I haven't really branched off of my favorite recipe from yesterday, and I'm still enjoying that combination of flavors.

Last night, a few friends of mine wanted to go out for dinner so I ate my little dinner, threw some hot tea in my purse, and went out. Although they had dinners to die for (see also:grilled pizza, topped with tenderloin tips, roasted red peppers, spinach, and truffle cream, or an avocado melt with roasted red peppers, Gruyere cheese, and pesto), I actually wasn't tempted or hungry.

So here's hoping I make it through the weekend just as smoothly.

Day 2 - In the Middle

So here it is, Day Numero Dos, and I have to say I'm still feeling good. I keep waiting for the "Big Detox Crash" that they all talk about, where you are irritable and hungry and tired, but so far I feel good. Despite an intense urge to eat something crunchy and salty, I'm not hungry most of the time and look forward to my every-2-hour "meals."

Actually, for me, being at work during the day is the most ideal. There's a bathroom a few paces away, which is great since I'm going to the bathroom a lot more frequently. Yesterday, since I was out of town all day, I used more public restrooms than I have in the last few months. I also live about a block away from the hospital I work at, so I'm able to go home over my lunch break and make fresh veggie juice. I picked up a pristine juicer at my local Goodwill for $4.97 a few weeks before my fast started and tried a few different recipes. Some were okay but most were not good. Today, I just threw the veggies I had in my crisper into the juicer and it was actually quite tasty. Here's the recipe:

1 tomato
1/2 of a cucumber
1 carrot
1/4 of a lemon, peeled
handful of parsley
1/3 of a green bell pepper
Splash of Tabasco to taste

For those of you know followed me over here from my other website, 28 Cooks, you know i love to have pictures of my finished recipes. However, I've discovered juices do not really photography well or come out looking like anything you'd want to drink.

Hopefully the rest of the day will be smoooooth sailin'........

Day One and Still Alive

Well, here it is at the close of Day One, and amazingly enough, I'm still alive and kicking. Actually, it wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be. *knocks on wood* I did have a headache in the middle of the afternoon, which was probably due to my separation from my longtime companion and steady confidante, Caffeine.

It wasn't too hard keeping to the schedule, which is basically taking in plenty of fluids as well as some sort of protein shake or fresh juice every 2 hours. It was a tad difficult just coordinating it all, as I was out of town and spent the day monkeying around and doing a bit of shopping. It was also a touch hard going to some of my favorite stores, like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, and not doing my normal shopping there.

To answer a few questions I've gotten from either email, comments, or from my coworkers:

A - No, I do not have any control over the ads that are placed on this website from Google. I did give permission to have ads on my site, however I don't pick the ones that show up there. So any sort of colon cleansing/colonic/tar in your gut web pages you click on have nothing to do with me.

B - I should have clarified earlier. I am not only drinking fresh vegetable juices, but am also trying to maintain as balanced a diet as possible. A few times a day, I am drinking some Superfood protein shakes, which are loaded with a lot of the healthy grasses (such as wheatgrass, spirulina, etc) as well as fruits, veggies, and protein. I'm not starving myself, but am trying to only feed my body with whole foods.

And now, onto Day 2. Feel free to ask me any questions about the process in the comments and I'll answer them the next day.

A Midsummer's Cleanse

So I've been kicking around the idea of a detox for a few months now since it's been years since I've done one. Although I eat fairly healthy and consume plenty of veggies and fruits, I do still ingest a fair shair of toxins and unhealthy foods.

My father decided he wanted to do a 21-day juice fast, so I've decided to join him. For the next 21 days, we plan on only consuming fresh fruit and vegetable juices, supplemented with vitamins and plenty of water.

I plan on documenting the process, which will hopefully be a lot smoother than I'm anticipating.

We'll see you tomorrow, which is Day Numero Uno!