Day 8 - I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts!

It's day 8! That means I've made it an entire week! This is getting easier and easier... if you ever juice feast and are about to drop out around day 3-4-5... just try to stick it out! It gets easier!

Today I had:

1L water+msm+lemon
1L celery/kale/parsley+kelp+E3live
1L Cantaloupe (that took an entire cantaloupe)
600ml young coconut water+E3live
600ml Carrot/pear+hemp seed oil
750ml Apple/Spinach
1Tbsp bee pollen

Whoo hoo! I pretty much hit the gallon mark! I need to drink more water though.

Yesterday, after having drank the Carrot/Pear juice... I got SOOO cold at work. I was already wearing three layers and I had to put my winter coat on... I was shivering! I have no idea where those chills came from! Probably because the juice was cold and the office wasn't the warmest... it was also RIDICULOUSLY cold yesterday in Ottawa. -28C with wind chill! Regardless, I think this means I'm not past the detox phase at all. I also got really grumpy and irritated yesterday at some point haha.

I have SO much energy though. It's ridiculous! My energy level is comparable to how I normally function after a coffee.

So I was really happy with the young coconuts! I love the taste and I believe they actually have more water in them than the old coconuts. I think I'll try to buy more of those from now on. The coconut water with E3live was great; I couldn't really taste the E3live. I actually really like the E3live a lot better than the spirulina powder. I think I'll reintroduce the spirulina when my nut milk bags get here and I can start to use the Vitamix... I'll strain, put back in the vitamix and blend again. I find that the powder gets chunky otherwise. yuck!

So yea... apparently coconut water + E3live is suuuuper good for you :) So I'm having that again tomorrow, this time with old coconut water. Mmmm coconuts!

That's it ! :)

- Ben

Day 3 - My true reason for juicing

Today was really great! I had another kiosk to host at a conference today and my rollie and ice pack combo saved the day! No excuses! Anyone can juice feast no matter how busy their lives are. I decided not to do any overtime today and be nice to my body and go home after 8 hours. It's been a looong week!

I got home and discovered I had a comment from David and Katrina Rainoshek of juicefeasting.com! I was very surprised and felt so honored! :) Thank you sooo much Katrina for your tips. I'm very very grateful! I'll admit, I was relying on citrus because of their high juice content... but I'll be more careful with them from now on. It seems mixing the citrus with other juices may have been the cause of my really bad tummy aches yesterday.

Katrina also asked me if I've been doing enemas. Enemas are incredibly important when detoxing: I've been doing an enema in the morning, every morning so far. I usually do them 30 minutes after drinking my MSM-water... a wee bit before starting to drink my morning green juice. After enemas, I go ahead and start skin brushing. After skin brushing comes a nice refreshing shower. I've been doing contrast showers... they aren't so bad anymore! I think I may be building a tolerance to them! :)

Today I felt great!!!
No tummy aches! No chills!.... but I did have this one weird symptom... I woke up and I could smell something really odd. A mixture of sulphur/rancid/basement? I can't describe it. I thought the smell may have been in the kitchen, but then I could smell it everywhere. I thought maybe my skin was releasing something nasty so I showered and made sure to scrub really good.... I could still smell it! I don't know if the smell was confined to my nose or what... but it was odd! I could randomly smell it at different times during the day. Still a wee bit now.

I guess the body does weird things when it detoxes and this is to be expected.

Today I had:

1L Water + 1 tsp MSM and half a lemon
1L Celery/Cilantro/Spinach
1L Mystery melon/Cucumber
60ml Wheatgrass juice (from booster juice)
500ml Carrot/Parsley/Spinach/Celery (from booster juice)
1L Carrot/Spinach/Pear juice with kelp and spirulina
250ml Coconut water (to be drank)

I'm a bit short right now... I was going to drink this beet juice I made but I think there's citrus in there. Based on yesterday's events... I don't want to touch that juice right now.

Tomorrow I want to experiment with my E3Live... I haven't had any yet and Spirulina is seriously grossing me out. Sigh. I'm not easily grossed out! It takes a lot to gross me out. Only Rapini can do that!

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I also came to a decision today that I should "come clean" about why I'm really doing this. I have had severe psoriasis for years. This is my current condition:

50% coverage on forehead
10% coverage under chin/neck
60-75% coverage on arms
10-20% coverage on back
60-75% coverage on chest area
40-50% coverage on legs
Scalp also affected

I have 'before photos' that I'm saving for day 92.

So there you go. I've done it all; steroids, UV treatments, acupuncture, vitamins... Nothing has ever offered much relief. The last regimen I was on was the Pagano diet: a detox regimen specifically for psoriasis sufferers. I did see some improvement but I believe the diet failed for a few reasons:

- I was a flight attendant at the time and subject to many toxins and radiation
- Bizarre sleeping patterns were taxing on the body
- I could easily (but not often) justify "cheating" by eating a lot of alkaline forming foods after.
- I wasn't able to afford regular chiropractic appointments

I'm not at all suggesting the diet is faulty: I absolutely believe that the Pagano diet is designed to cure "leaky gut syndrome" which is (according to Dr Pagano) at the root of psoriasis.

I believe that Juice feasting will essentially do the same thing. By juice feasting I will detoxify my body. My internal organs will benefit from the 'break' of solid foods and focus on healing themselves. Finally, my skin should benefit from all the nutrients and the amazingly hydrating juices I'm feeding my body.

I'm also receiving regular chiropractic adjustments throughout this juice feast and plan on splurging on a few massages, colonics and steam baths. :)

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Phew! Huge entry! :)

- Ben

Day 2 - Major detox symptoms

Hello again!

I believe the detox symptoms are starting. Today I felt the following:

- Chills... hypothermia style!
- Cramping... ouch! poor tummy
- Runny nose (at random and short-lived intervals)
- Nausea
- Headaches
- Fatigue

The weird thing is, these symptoms usually kicked in shortly after having juice... and would subside after drinking water. Hmm! How cool is that?

I had a conference today where I was hosting a kiosk. It was a 7am to 6pm day. If I managed to juice feast on a day like today, then... I'm sure I can juice feast until day 92! I packed up my old flight attendant rollie with tons of ice packs and stuffed my mason jars in there and off I went! Brilliant! Of course, I also packed the rollie with towels to prevent "clink clink" noises and also to provide insulation.

Today I had:

1L Water + juice of half a lemon + 1 tsp MSM
1L Green juice: Celery/Cilantro/Green Chard (Seriously...1LB of green chard!)
1L Pineapple goodness juice: Pineapple/Honeydew/cucumber
1L Beet/grapefruit/ginger/field greens juice (+ hemp seed oil)
1L Water
500ml Chamomile tea
1L Carrot/Spinach juice + spirulina and kelp

The beet juice made my stomach really hurt so I still have a wee bit of that to go. The carrot/spinach juice is waiting for me too. I think I'll make sure to take my enzymes before drinking those. I noticed the enzymes make the tummy happy.

I really want to get some blood oranges... I wonder if I can find some here? Sigh.

Tonight... must force self to do yoga... It's been a looong day and I honestly just want to crawl into bed. Also debating whether or not to take Cascara Sagrada tonight or give it another few days. My tummy just hurts and I want it to stop :)

That's it for me....

- Ben