Day 26 - Juicing through a busy lifestyle

Let's face it! Some of us have very busy lives, and I'm no exception. This week, especially, has been incredibly busy. I don't believe I've mentioned it before, but I work in marketing for the federal government and as such, I am in charge of outreach activities for my department. This week, I've had 2 days 'off site' where I've hosted a kiosk at a hotel at the other end of the city. I also had another day where I've had to go set up a banner in Quebec, and make my way back to work...only to later go back to tear it down and then make my way to an internal conference at another location. Today I worked at my office in the AM and later went to 'the other side' (Hull, Quebec) to gather data on how our department's call centre works.

That's 5 work locations in 5 days. Some days, I had to be there for 7am!

How does one handle these situations? Here's Ben's top 5 tips to busy feasting!

5) Plan ahead. It's cliche, I know... but if you know you have a long day ahead, don't forget to bring extra juice! Especially if you're in a remote area with no juice bar in sight. You don't want to have to resort to pasteurized stuff! If you know you're not a morning person (juice feasting will solve that, eventually!) make your juices the night before. I've often woken up at 4am to make juices! You can do it! :)

4) Go hunting...for fridges! Okay, so you're not in your usual safe haven that is your office... that doesn't mean there isn't a fridge somewhere! Most office have fridges in a hidden corner; ask around! Put those mason jars back into a cool area so that they don't spoil.

3) Pack some ice packs! I'm lucky in that department; I inherit, from my uncle, all the ice packs used to transport medical supplies. To prevent cross-contamination, they don't use them twice. It's a waste because, they're perfectly safe to reuse and they stay cold for 24 hours. That being said, if you don't have an uncle in a medical field, go to your local department store and stock up on ice packs! Make sure you always have some handy for days where you might be traveling a lot. They'll keep your juices icy cold!

2) Coconut water to go; It's the easiest and fastest juice to make. I rely heavily on coconut water for mornings where I'm late or just really slow. Pop two of those open and boom! You've got almost 1L of 'juice'! Add some E3live to it to make it even more nourishing!

1) Don't underestimate the power of the rollie. As a former flight attendant, I can tell you that rollies are incredibly useful things. You can easily pack 4 mason jars full of juice into them, a few ice packs and a few towels (to avoid clinking noises and to 'insulate' the rollie). It makes carrying 4L+ of juice a breeze! Much better than subluxating your spine from carrying them around in a shoulderbag or briefcase. Don't forget the flight attendant walk!

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Very quick other random news; I got a call today about an interview with another department in the federal government. It's a job with less responsibilities but it would be DIRECTLY through the government. Right now, I work through an agency... it's a lot like being pimped; the government pays the agency, the agency takes a cut and pays me. If I get this job, I'll be making much more money, have benefits and will be doing less work. This also means, I'll be able to quit my weekend job! So... send lots of happy Buddha energy my way, please! :)

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Back to juicing! Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.00L celery+collard greens+cilantro+E3live+kelp
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
1.25L Pineapple juice
1.00L Butternut/orange/pear/date/cinnamon juice! (even tastier with 2 oranges!)
1.25L Coconut water+E3Live
1.00L Apple/Kale

Today I also did:
Skin brushing
45 min evening yoga

5.5L of juice again! I'm totally rocking! Well...except for forgetting to take my fats! eep! I still have no idea if my hemp oil is still good (see yesterday's post). Any ideas?

- Ben

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 7 - Puberty all over again

As someone who rarely gets any blemishes, I'm kind of pissed right now. I've got one the size of Jupiter! Wow... I guess my body is getting rid of some nasty stuff.

On the psoriasis topic, my chest area and forehead are showing signs of improvement already. This is encouraging.

Well... this marks the end of week 1! I have some goals for week 2:

- MUST do yoga everyday. I have no excuse this week... I don't think I'll be doing overtime and I won't be too tired from detox symptoms.
- MUST remember to take my hemp oil and other supplements. I'm going to print out the daily journal page from juicefeasting.com. This should help! :)
- MUST hit the gallon mark this week

Today I had:

- 1L water+msm+lemon
- 1L celery/green chard+E3live
- 500 ml granny smith apple/kiwi
- 500 ml coconut water

The apple/kiwi juice was especially yummy. Marks and Spencer used to have a version of this that I used to drink all the time when I was a flight attendant in the UK. Lucky me! I found some organic kiwis this week... Expensive though, 3$ for about 6 or 7.

I went all over town to shop for organic fruits and veggies yesterday. I got TONS of stuff. Especially coconuts... tons of those too! I finally managed to get some young coconuts. Looking forward to trying those. I'm also happy I found some organic beets! That means that this week, the only things I'm drinking that are not organic are the melons, papaya and coconuts. For those who are wondering, I'm spending about 150$/week right now on the juice feast for fruits/veggies. This does not take into account the supplements which were bought prior to the juice feast.

I think this is all I have to report for today :)

- Ben