Get Healthy in the Rain Challenge Update for March 2013
Learning to listen to your body is the best way to get healthy. How's my juicing journey going? FANTASTIC!!!!
Since January 5th when I started Juicing for health which turned into a weight loss adventure I have lost 25 pounds.
I lost 4.5 inches of belly fat ( abdomen), 2.5 inches from my waist and 1 inch from my hips. Those hips sure are stubborn!
We juice for breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch and mid- afternoon snack. Then I most often have a small dinner of either veggies and rice, curry veggie soups, beans and rice or salmon and rice. Sometimes it will be a salad but I am spoiled from juicing now and making a salad takes too long! I'd rather juice my salad!
I started my juicing journey because of my cancer scare which you can read about here. The side effect was that I started to lose weight. I am very overweight and still have a very long way to go before I am at a healthy weight again. This is the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I was never a fat person. No one in my family, my siblings, my parents, my cousins… not one person is fat except for me. And I did not get this fat until I started going through menopause.
One of the goals I was trying to reach to was to do at least one full day of juice fasting and not have any meal. I was scared of doing that for a long time because I was afraid of being hungry. This is a very emotional part of the subconscience mind in regards to hunger pains. Maybe some day I will share that very personal story of why I have a fear of hunger. Today is not that day:).
This past Sunday I chose to make it through the entire day just juicing! I did it! I made it through and the reward was waking up Monday morning having lost another 3.4 pounds!!! So Monday I juiced the entire day too. Tuesday my weight was the same. That is fine. You don't lose weight every day you are juicing. Each person is different.
So I did a total juice fast on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesay of this week. Today I broke my juice fast with a large salad that had wonderful avocado on it.
I am so used to juicing now that my daughter and I have no desire whatsoever to have anything for breakfast other than our freshly made juice. The same goes for lunch and snacks. I do like to eat avocados and fresh garden tomatoes.
My first post about my juicing journey for the Get Healthy challenge is here.
I only miss meat when I smell it. Other than that, Lenn Harley would be proud of me… I am not eating meat. Lenn Harley is a vegetarian in case you did not know that. She is one strong woman too! You would not want to target practice against her! She will beat you! She is a great shooter!
But the best part about this entire juicing journey is that it has really tuned me into what my body needs nutritionwise. When I do try to eat something that is solid food, I listen to my body. I only eat one thing at a time. I listen and feel how my body reacts to each food. Since January 5th we have only had fast food three times. Two of those times I got a horrific headache. The headache was the worst from the McDonalds hamburger. We don't eat cheese in our home at all and we are totally dairy and casein free. I removed most of the bread from the hamburger, still got the headache. It was the chemicals I am sure. The same thing happened when I ate from Wendy's.
The only place surprisingly that did not give me a headache or make me sick was Taco Bell even though they have all kinds of additives to their food. After a baseball game our little guy wanted to eat at Taco Bell. He wanted us to go as a family. I was hungry and did not bring enough juice with me that evening and my will power was not strong enough to not eat along side him. Interesting fact that I learned! I ordered a salad with some black beans and salsa which I had thought was a pretty good choice considering. But it only made me hungrier. I then ordered a soft taco and tore off half of the tortilla. When I went online to find the calories… OH MY!!! The salad had over 550 calories and the soft taco which was actually more filling only had 180 calories. Interesting how what we think might me low in calories is actually more!
My juicing journey has become a lifestyle choice and decision. The energy is amazing! My mind is clear, my muscle pains are all almost gone! My body is feeling light. Exercising is easier.
Everything in life happens for a reason. The cancer scare created the sense of urgency that I needed to go through a natural healing process and the benefit from that scare was a wonderful and empowering journey of juicing.
I encourage you to start juicing if you have weight issues, poor immune system, digestive issues, depression or any nutritional deficiencies.