After Juice Fast Trials And Tidbits

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I ended my second juice fast. So far, I’ve been holding up well. I’ve maintained my weight and been doing my best to stick to a mostly plant based diet including plenty of green leafy vegetables, more of all kinds of vegetables, fruits, nuts, some lean protein, and little to no simple carbohydrates or dairy. Everything has been going great with a few tidbits, well kind of a big tidbit,  like getting use to change…

Changing my diet, since my juice fast, has been exciting, interesting, enlightening, energizing, satisfying and sometimes an all around pain. Don’t get me wrong, I am really loving my new food choices and menu. Everything is tasty and not bloating me out. But…the kids. They are making it kind of tricky some days. Breakfast and lunch are easy, because the baby has been more than eager to eat what I’m eating. Dinner, however, even being off the juice fast, is continuing to be a challenge.

The kids aren’t always so anxious to try some of the new dishes I’ve been making like the sauteed chicken and bok choy or roasted Brussels sprouts in rice vinegar and olive oil. So, I’ve been making a few side dish back ups to keep their tummies full. It adds more work and planning to my kitchen chores, and it has been a battle to get them to at least try a few things. My extra efforts have not been with out gains though.

Believe it or not, I mean Randy and I were near shocked, our stubborn picky eater, Charlie, in an attempt to hurry and go play, picked finishing all of his broccoli over the few left baked french fries on his plate = amaaaazing! A few months ago, Charlie would freak when he saw the horrible baby green trees on his plate, and then the debate would follow: “Can I skip the broccoli if I eat all of this?” Or, “If I eat 3 bites of broccoli, can I go?”

Change after my juice fast… It’s been fun with a bit of fighting, but worth it. I’ll get use to making new dishes and memorize recipes. Pretty soon, shopping on the outer aisles of the grocery store will be the norm vs. walking every inner aisle to remember what was on the list…and so on and so on. It will take some time and effort on all our part. It won’t be easy, but I can feel the family crossing over to my side… “Join me, my family! Come with Mommy to the healthy side of the food force!” Ohhh did I really just write that? Who cares. I’m leaving it. I love Star Wars.

Then there’s been a few trials. Our family has entered what we call The Season of the Birthdays. From the end of January through the middle of March, we have a birthday to celebrate every 2 weeks. Our Grandson, Little Randy, had his 6th birthday party here at our home just last Saturday. In 2 more weeks will be Big Randy’s birthday, then Charlie’s, then the baby’s… For Randy’s birthday, we will not go all out like we do for the kid’s, but nonetheless, Daddy will have cake. That is for sure, or I could be in trouble, lol. I just don’t know how I’m going to fit cake, into my post juice fast plan.

Funny, for most families, the holiday season is the busiest time of year. But for us, while the holiday season is busy and does aid in the packing on of the poundage, The Season of the Birthdays is even more so busy and fattening. I have to tell you, we also have in February our wedding anniversary, Randy’s parent’s wedding anniversary, Valentine’s Day, and some of our closest friend’s birthdays added to the mix of high caloric dates. It’s like SUPER BUSY, SUPER TEMPTING, FATTY time, lol…. It really is, and it’s really NOT going to be easy to stick to my post juice fast plan.

I mean, what’s the point of doing a juice fast, if I’m going to turn around right after and fill my body with the very junk I worked so hard to rid it of right? Of course right…. Now, I have to come up with a better strategy to politely avoid temptation and over indulging like I did last Saturday at little Randy’s birthday party. I don’t feel like I completely caved, but I did cave more than I wanted too.

We grilled burgers, which I planned to load with raw vegetables and wrap in romaine but…well a bun in hand later is all it took. I did avoid the cheese though, lol… Right. Then…siiiigh… I ate some potato salad, which I used the excuse that “I had to try,” because I had never had this kind before. I did only take a very small portion though. And THEN, of course I had a slice of cake. I used the excuse that I made the cake, therefor I should be able to taste the sweets of my labors, lol. And whats worst, is that, yes, I said “oh sure” to a small scoop of ice cream – ahhhh! Then I washed it all down with lager… Me and Gpa, we be shark slayin mates and do indulge ourselves to a bit of Landshark. GrandMA knows what I’m talking about here, the trials and tidbit mess ups of a juice fast.

My, aren’t I full of excuses. Generally, I try to involve myself in a lot of activities and games at our birthday parties to help balance out some indulgence. But this birthday, I did the grilling, hell, I do allll the grilling. It’s my grill, my present, and I love it, lol… I do like fire! Such love of the flame kept me from being my silly and spastic self, though, so I lost out on my plan for balance.

What was interesting to me, and I am making mental note to watch for this in the future, is how easy it was for me to make a plate of leftovers for dinner quick that evening. I didn’t have anymore cake or sweets, but it was just too easy and convenient, especially considering how busy the day was and how tired we were, to have a bit more potato salad, a few chips (yes chips) alongside a turkey sandwich. It was like I broke my post juice fast seal or something, sooooo why not? Anyone know what I’m talkin about here?

Then, Sunday came along, and I found that some old cravings were creeping back in, cravings for carbs like bread, chips, and sugar. I hadn’t had any problems with this post juice fast, until Sunday. It was like my body got the taste for it again, and it made it a little hard to reach for the prepared bowl of greens I keep in the refrigerator.

On top of the cravings creeping in, I got blindsided with a cold Saturday night and woke up even sicker Sunday morning = yuck. Soooo, you know how it is when Mom gets sick in the house, lol… At least it’s this way in our house: A LOT of convenience type foods come out of the kitchen. I whined for Randy to make kale soup, lol, but as Randy put it, “I cook with my car!” Lol… Oh I do love my Viking.  I just have to except that he’s not the kitchen/chef type unless it comes to baking. He excels in baking cookies = not so good for sick Mommy and maintaining her juice fast rewards.

Consequently, I was served Progresso chicken noodle, lol… It wasn’t bad, but certainly NOT the kale soup I was hoping for. And, it was an easy, laid back day with no exercise and a few more convenient foods.

THEN…ahhhh, lol, I woke Monday morning feeling a bit better to my surprise, considering how bad I felt Sunday. I thought for sure according  to how sore my throat was the night before, I was in for one hell of a bad cold. I did wake up feeling pretty good, though, and made the kale soup I was hoping for the day before. I was feeling pretty good, enjoying my homemade soup until…….I threw my pelvis out of place. NICE WORK MOMMY! XXXXXX!

Some days, it doesn’t take much. Yesterday, all it took was sitting down on the back of my heels and distributing my weight a bit too far forward and, hello! Ouuuchy-wowa! Fortunately, I’m pretty used to the whole issue of keeping this region of my body together, so, a few stretches (thanks to my physical therapist and yoga) and CLICK, THUNK, I’m back together. The inflammation of the injury that follows is the killer for me though…ey yi yi.

Oddly enough, it’s been 24 hours since I hurt myself, and I have almost no pain. AND, my cold is almost gone. I can breathe, and move around, and pick up the baby (carefully of course), and sit with out pinching. Hmmmm…. It sucks still, because I will lose another few days of exercising, which is going to heed my fitness goals a bit longer. I have to make sure I’m at 100% before  hitting the treadmill or dealing with crunches and other exercises. But still I’m thinking hmmmm…..and in a good way.

I may have made a few, ok maybe a lot, of poor food choices on Saturday, but I’m thinking my past juice fast and current diet is to contribute to my present quick healing process with both my cold and my back. I mean, seriously, whenever a strong cold comes on like that (coughing, sore throat, runny nose and all the other grossness), I’m sure to suffer for at least a week – 2 weeks, always. You know what I’m talking about all along with that annoying, tickling cough when your throat begins to heal… I seem to be just skipping over all that = weird and awesome.

AND even better, I don’t think I’m going to be plagued with any fiery or sensitive inflammation. At least it seems that way so far. After all, I’m still sitting here, up right at my lap top, typing away to all of you for like what seems forever now (sorry so long, lol, I’m on a roll or something today), and my back is not pinching at all. This is great! Maybe, I will be able to get back to working on my fitness plans and goals sooner than I think! How about anybody else? Anyone having similar post juice fast results?

Speaking of going on and on, I have to wrap this up, don’t I, to save you all? Lol… This long winded business, it runs in the family and comes partly from being Polish. I just love to visit and chat and all that comes with it. Good for me, maybe not so much for others, lol…….

Anyway like I said up top, it’s been almost 2 weeks since my juice fast, and I’m hanging in there. I’m sticking to my post juice fast plan as best I can having one day of almost epic failure and am encouraged and eager to stay on the good side of food. I’ve learned, too, that maintenance comes with dedication and work and that indulging can lead to further temptation. I’m going to bookmark both thoughts in the back of my mind and save them when confronted with Randy’s birthday cake in 2 weeks!

If anyone else has had similar juice fast trials and tidbits, while either during OR after, please do share. I’ll take any advise especially on how to shop easier or easy recipes kids will eat! Those are worth more than gold!

Here’s to faster healing, good juicing, and the lighter and good side of food!
May the force be with you,
Amy

Next to come, HEMP for the FUTURE! Lol…
Peace