Day 49 - Cleanse the mind

I should be in bed by now but I got distracted by the great video Katrina and David Rainoshek posted on globaljuicefeast.com today. I'm coming to a lot of realizations lately. My mind is being opened to a lot of new ideas and I'm coming to conclusions that I don't think I would have found had it not been for this juice feast.

I'm realizing that, while I've been making this effort to cleanse my body.... I also need to take that same amount of effort to cleanse my mind. Now, this may sound pretty fruity, especially coming from a staunch atheist but in all honesty... if plants die from heavy metal music and thrive when classical music is played, I think it's safe to assume that our minds, which are much more complex things, respond negatively to negative things. I think Yoga is helping me with this but I want to do some more work in this department.

I had a big chat with my mom today and came clean about her behavior affecting me negatively. I've asked her to be supportive and the rest of our interactions were actually really positive. I think I may have gotten through to her! I'm so much more assertive lately; at work, with my family, with friends.... That's SO not me; I normally just 'bend over and take it' and then bitch about it. But you know what, I've surprised myself at how straightforward I've been with people lately. My body is detoxing and so is my mind.

I'm playing some nice soothing Mazzy Star right now.... I love her music... it makes me feel very serene. :)

In other random news, my NYC plans are shaping up beautifully. I'm planning on taking a nice little 'raw retreat' at the end of April (post-juice feasting treat) and going to sample all sorts of goodies from raw restaurants in NYC. Also, I want to meet all these really inspirational people I had the pleasure to feast with! :) My sister drives down to NJ every few weeks to visit her boyfriend and so I'm going to hop in for the ride and then make my way to NYC. Fun fun!! :)

Today I had:

1.25L celery/collard greens/parsley+kelp+E3live+Spirulina+Himalayan salt
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L grannysmith apple/kiwi
1.00L cantaloupe juice
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.25L grapefruit/apple/spinach/cilantro (YUM! this reminded me of Sarma's cilantro smoothie that I used to make every morning)
500ml water+chanca piedra
1tbsp bee pollen+honey
lots of honey today (I won't buy anymore when the jar runs out... it's a convenience thing more than a craving thing at this point!)

Today I also did:

35 minutes yoga
crunches
my own homemade msm lotion
acupeds!
Self hypnosis for psoriasis healing (mp3 file while I sleep)

For those who are wondering, I woke up to find out my acupeds were REALLY dark brown. yuck! A really weird thing happened though; totally forgot to take probiotics and enzymes today but I wasn't gassy at all... I'm normally always bloated to some extent.... I wonder if the acupeds did that?? :) Hey I'm happy! :)

I'm also FINALLY starting to crave more greens.... this is awesome! It's about damn time! LOL

- Ben (still trying to attain nirvana)

Day 38 - Yoga Mania!

(late posting… backdated for blogging accuracy…sorry for the delay!)

Today was pretty uneventful. The good news is, I started taking the probiotics as directed by David and Katrina and my tummy is feeling much better already. I was getting pretty sick of feeling like a hot air balloon all the time. I went back to Aylmer today for another fun filled day of kiosk fun. It was another ‘parade of food’ during lunch time. It occurred to me that on day 2 or 3 (I think) of juice feasting, I was at the exact same hotel watching the exact same parade of food. I was ready to hulk out back then, but this time… it all seemed quite weird to me. It was also funny to see other kiosk people being really concerned at the fact that I wasn’t eating. They said things like “you don’t have to be shy eh? You can go eat something!” I told them I packed my own lunch and I was fine.

Seeing as I wasn’t bloated when I got home, I decided to go to Yoga. I decided to take the Kundalini class, thinking it would be like the Namaste yoga show. Nope! It was pretty much all floor and breathwork and heavily based on meditation, mantras and chanting. It was all a bit too much; the chanting especially. I found out later that I should really take a Hatha yoga class or a Vinuyasha class. Something to keep in mind for next time. I’m not entirely sure if I’ll go back to yoga class; I found it really distracting to be aware of other people around me. I find I’m more ‘focused and meditative’ when I’m doing yoga at home, alone. Also, I’m starting to think I’d like to save that money I’d hypothetically be spending for yoga classes and buy a rebounder. I’m going to check my finances and figure out what to do about that.

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/collar greens/parlsey+spirulina+kelp
500ml Echinacea tea1.25L watermelon juice
1.25L pineapple/blueberry1L coconut water
1L red gala apple/pineapple/strawberry (YUM!)1L granny smith apple/kale750ml cat’s claw tea

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
1 hour kundalini yoga
30 minutes meditation

That apple/pineapple/strawberry juice was amazing! It made me so happy… plus it gave me tons of yoga energy!

That’s it for me!

- Ben

Day 37 - Super juicy powers!

Yes, while I wasn't wearing my superman underwear today (don't laugh, I do own this exact pair!) I did have quite a super hero day. I woke up at 3AM to make juice. That's right, 3AM. I had to be in Aylmer (about a 30 min cab ride away) by 7:00AM to set up my kiosk. So I made my juices and then realized I had a lot of free time. So I did a sun saluation followed by 30 minutes of various asanas. Then... I realized I had 'morning brain' because I really didn't have all that free time to do yoga and I had to be out the door in 30 minutes. I did it ! :) With all my juices packed away in my rollie, of course! :)

The kiosk day was uneventful. I got home and I *really* wanted to go to a yoga centre near my place for an hour and a half of yoga. Unfortunately I was so bloated I figured that wouldn't be a good idea. I did 10 minutes of asanas designed to help relieve gas... and there was still some trapped. I ended up doing a pure water enema which, surprisingly enough (after having a colonic the day before) made me eliminate quite a lot of stuff. I couldn't believe it. And I knew that was only part of it. So I grabbed the big guns: cat's claw tea! That stuff just gets all the nasties out! I felt SOOO much better after my cat's claw enema. I got rid of it all; some more impacted stuff plus all that gas.

I decided that, seeing as I wasn't going to yoga, I would go for a run. Yes, I went running into a snow storm! hahaha. The weather wasn't all that cold, but it was windy and snowing. It was nice! :) I ran to the book store and picked up a copy of "Crazy sexy cancer tips" and then I went to the health food store to pick up some agave nectar, organic strawberries and some all natural dishwashing soap. When I got in, the salesguy said "I was thinking about you today! Some girl came in and she was buying all this stuff and I thought of you and asked her "Are you juicing??". Yes! It seems I had just missed a fellow juice feaster mere moments ago! Hahaha! :) I'm curious to find out who it was but I have my theory. :)

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This brings me to my other subject: Listen up, Ottawa peeps!!:

We're 3 people on the Ottawa group on the Global Juice Feast website. I know I've gotten comments from Ramona who's in Ottawa... Ramona! Please join the Global Juice Feast website; it's awesome... and join the Ottawa group! :)

I just got a comment yesterday from an anonymous user in Ottawa. Please also join the Global Juice Feast 2008 website. I think it's a good idea for us to share Ottawa-specific information amongst each other. There is a link to the site on the right column. To answer that anonymous person's question, I get my colonics at the Natural Health Outreach clinic (it's near Hog's back and Prince of Wales Dr). Helga has been administering colonics since 1994. She has VERY competitive rates and has the option of stainless steel or disposable inserts. I've been going to see her for quite some time. She's amazing. If you do go see her, please mention that you've heard of her through me. I don't make commission or anything, but I'd like her to know I'm sending clients her way since she's such a nice lady.

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To conclude my "super hero day" story... I stopped by a natural health product store on my way home and bought some probiotics to help with the gas. I checked with David and Katrina Rainoshek and they agreed it would be a good idea for me to take some at this point because of all the bloating. I picked up an 8-strain formula by Udo. I also found out that same store offers ionic foot baths! For DIRT CHEAP! $30 a session! :) They also have acuped foot pads for 35$ for a box of 12. This is an amazing deal. I'm pretty broke right now from all the massages, chiro adjustments, the colonic and other stuff.... but in a few weeks I'll be going to get an ionic foot bath plus some acupeds to speed up the detox process.

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25ml celery/spinach/parsley+kelp+E3live
1.25ml pineapple/blueberry
1.25ml watermelon
500ml fruity cocktail goodness juice (aka; extra pineapple juice mixed with extra watermelon juice... INTENSE!)
750ml coconut water
1tbsp bee pollen

Today I also did:

Skin brushing (really quick, I was running late!)
10 min sun salutation
30 min yoga
10 min gas-related asanas
2km run
2L pure water enema
2L cat's claw enema

I passed out rather suddenly around 7 or 8pm while cocooned in my bed reading CSCT. The book is phenomenal so far... I was just really pooped! :) Sorry for the long blog entry guys! :)

Crap! one more thing! :)

I awarded a Juice Feaster's award yesterday to Hanlie of Fertile Healthy. Her blog is very inspiring and I suggest you all take some time to visit it and welcome her into our juicy community. :)

- Ben

Day 23 - The ex factor

Isn't this knife holder the neatest thing ever? :)

Is my juice feasting conjuring up some bizarre cosmic effect? I had a kiosk today to host and this guy I dated when I was 17 showed up. I was only 17 and I had high hopes about him at the time... but he broke my heart in a very cowardly way. I was crushed. Such is teenage love!

I think I only recognized him because of his name-tag. It's been 8 years! It was bizarre. It's funny to think that I'm going back 120 days on each day of juice feasting, and that right now I'm almost 18 years old. Coincidence? Regardless, he gave me his card and asked me to call him. I have to say, he is gorgeous. I had a weird feeling about it though... so I went online and found out he's married (to a man, it's legal here)! So ha! I put the card in the trash. Normally I would have felt distraught over running into an ex.... but I think the combination of juice feasting and doing yoga has me feeling very empowered and grounded. I'm focusing on myself right now... and doing what's right for me. I'm single... and I think for the first time in a long while, I can honestly say I'm content with that.

It's like the tree pose in yoga... I'm a well grounded tree... balanced and calm... moving slightly with the winds but cannot be easily toppled over. :)

Speaking of calm; my kiosk was right next to the buffet! A few weeks ago, being subjected to this parade of food would have driven me nuts. Today... I was perplexed and apathetic. I remembered something Angela Stokes once said about reaching a point where you don't quite understand what all these people are doing with all that food. It felt alien to me, watching people eat... If things stay the way they are, I have no doubts I'll reach day 92.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/green chard/parsley+bee pollen+kelp powder+spirulina
1.25L Pineapple/Blackberry
1.00L Apple/Red Cabbage
1.00L Young coconut water/a wee bit of P&B juice that was left over
1.00L Granny Smith Apple/Kale/Daikon
1.00L Water
1tbsp coconut oil
1tbsp hemp oil

I also did:

Skin brushing
20 min morning yoga
40 min evening yoga
20 min meditation

Can I just say... I ROCK!? 5.5 litres of juice, 2 litres of water and 1 hour of exercise. On top of that, I managed to get in all my supplements today! :) *Happy Dance*

I finally got my 2L enema bag in the mail today... so I know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning! yay! I know... who gets excited over enemas? LOL! We juice feasters are an odd bunch. :)

Oh in other news, I was reading on the global juice feasting website (which rocks!) about how to be frugal while juice feasting. It was brought up that paint strainers are cheaper versions of nut mylk bags. I immediately called my dad (who's always in a home depot or canadian tire... aka hardware store) and asked him to pick some up. By the time I got to Katrina's reply about paint strainers being a bit more toxic and not as durable... it was too late! My dad did however, pick up "jelly bags". The packaging says "large reusable bags for straining juice for making jelly". They work AMAZINGLY...dare I say... BETTER than nut mylk bags. The juice comes out FASTER! I was worried that maybe it was letting out more pulp... so I restrained my juice through a nut mylk bag and found maybe 1/4 of a teaspoon worth of pulp. I am a pulp-nazi though... on the juice feast anyway. So maybe I'll just do that.... Strain through the jelly bag first, and second strain through a nut mylk bag... it's faster anyway! :) Did I mention they're 2 for 6$? :)

Okay... sleepy time for Ben! :)

...Z z z z z z z z z z

Day 18 - I *heart* my spine

Today was a good day! The cravings weren't so bad today. I don't really think I had any, actually. I kept drinking juice, and lots of it... and it helped! :)

I got some great advice from David and Katrina Rainoshek on cravings. From now on, I'll try to remember that cravings are fleeting and I shouldn't worry about them too much. I've honestly felt a bit depressed lately, but that's finally lifting. I think, if the "going back 120 days for each day of juice feasting" theory is true, then I'm about 19-20 right now... and that was a rough time for me. Maybe there are some repressed emotions that my body is reliving....

In any case, today was a great day! I drank TONS of juice. I also did an enema with the burdock root tea.... I wasn't able to hold it for very long; it made me release a lot of stuff. I can't believe it's 18 days and I'm still having solid BMs.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon (up to 1tbsp of msm)
1.25L celery/red chard/parlsey+kelp+spirulina+msm
1L apple/red cabbage (yum!)
1.25L pineapple/pear
1L young coconut water + left over pineapple juice
1L apple/kale
1tbsp coconut oil

5.5L of juice!!!! Can you believe it!!?!?!! I sure can't! :) I'm so proud of myself. Now if only I could remember to take my hemp oil. I just find it so thick... I might just take it on its own instead of adding it to the juices.

Also! Today I went to the chiropractor for my regular adjustment. I get adjusted every 2 weeks. I used to go a lot more often, but most of my subluxations have been fixed. When I first went to the Chiropractor, I was subluxated in 51 out of 56 possible subluxations. Now, 51 has turned into 7. My chiro asked me how the juice feast was going and I told her it was going pretty well. She was amazed at the changes in my skin and mentioned how radiant my face is and how I'm glowing. :) I noticed that myself, this morning. I am starting to get 'the glow'. :)

Edgar Cayce reported that people with psoriasis usually have subluxations in the specific areas which "upset the coordination of circulation through the kidneys and the liver". I'm happy that my spine is doing a lot better than it was. Not only am I in less pain, I know that my brain is communicating effectively (as the messages pass through my spine) to all parts of my body. This is greatly enhancing my quest for smooth, healthy skin. :)

That's all for today :)

- Ben

PS: Katrina gave me some homework so I'm going to go read the "Positive Diversions" file (Day 5) on juicefeasting.com :) Should help me with the cravings. :)

Day 10 - Sweeeeeeeeet!

It's day 10! And boy, was this ever a good day. I made the BEST juices today. Also, I made it a point to pamper myself a bit. :)

Today I had:

1L water+msm+lemon (up to 2tsp of msm now)
1L celery/cilantro/red chard E3live+kelp
500ml Peppermint tea
1L pineapple/blackberry (Yuuuuuuum!)
500ml coconut water+mystery melon (Mmmmm!)
750ml Orange/Carrot (extra yuuuuuuuum!)
500ml celery/field greens juice (yuuuuck!!!) + hempseed oil
1Tbsp bee pollen

Okay so that last juice was so nasty I was only able to drink half of the 1L I made. Don't make that juice. It's nasty! The other 3 were really good though!!! :) I was worried about the carrot/orange one, after Katrina Rainoshek warned me about mixing citrus with other things... but this was SOOO TASTY and it didn't give me any stomach pains. :) I did have a wee bit of stomach pain earlier in the day, immediately after nibbling on the bee pollen.... This was exactly the same time as yesterday. So... I'm not going to take any bee pollen for a bit and see what happens. Maybe it's taking bee pollen on an empty stomach?

So when I got home, I decided I needed to treat myself. I had stopped by the health food store to pick up organic oatmeal and avocados. No no! I wasn't about to cheat and eat any solid food! I made a facial mask out of avocado, almond oil, oatmeal, aloe gel, veggie glycerin and coconut oil. :) yay! My face needed it; it's been a dry and cold winter so far.

I made a similar mix for my hands... which are SO dry from washing all those veggies. I just... don't want to put anything unnatural on my skin right now.

I'm toying with the idea of making a cream out of coconut oil, msm and almond oil to put on my psoriasis to see if heals faster... maybe I can try it on a few patches? Some areas are already healing nicely... fingers crossed that it all goes away by day 92! :)

- 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