Day 74 - Headache from hell

I don't know if it's psychosomatic but I had the worst headache today. It started the minute I walked into work. To start with, I didn't want to be there. I totally got fucked over yesterday with this whole term job thing. Arghh! This headache was pounding into my temples. Everyone kept offering me aspirin. Are you nuts? Aspirin on a juice feast is like offering heroin to the Buddha! Sigh. It finally dawned on me (2 hours later) to apply pressure to the LV3 pressure points to try and get rid of this headache. That would work... but the headache would come roaring back. I wonder if it had anything to do with the intestinal drawing formula I took last night? Is this detox? Is it a cold? What is this!?

I totally would have gone home... but there was no way in hell that was going to happen. I had a ton of regional bulletins to finish and I had to draft a marketing strategy for a conference we're holding at the end of April. I basically worked through lunch because 1) I wasn't hungry... actually by that point, I still had not had any juice... my body didn't wanna hear it (so I just had water) and 2) I didn't know when I'd be done the damn stuff.

By 1PM or so I decided I wanted juice... but I didn't want my morning green juice at all. I wanted my happy pineapple juice. I felt a bit better after that. I had some watermelon juice shortly after. I ended up finishing all the work I had to do early so I decided "I worked through lunch, I'm leaving an hour early". As I was leaving I ran into a coworker I barely ever see; she asked me how my test went and I told her I never did get to do the test...she told me they were holding another test for the position I was offered (later retracted). I ran to my manager's office to tell her this... she ran to my director's office. The door was shut, phone calls were made. They fought tooth and nail for me but there was no way I would be allowed to write that test. Don't you hate red tape and bureaucracy? Anyway, in the end... I was assured that I have a job for the next 8 months nonetheless.

I went to do 'mega groceries' (and sorry to say Lisa, but I got some more organic grapes on sale!) and bought tons of yummy food.

I got home and decided I was sick of working at the hotel. So I sent my letter of resignation! LOL. I think this will do me good. The body wasn't designed to work 7 days a week... or change its body-clock once/week for that matter. My last day is April 6th. It will be nice to have weekends again. :) I mean, my first two weekends off will be consumed by that class I'm teaching... but afterwards... I want lots of "stay in bed ALL WEEKEND" weekends. I think I need to make up for lost sleep.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.5L Pineapple/orange/blackberry
2.75L Watermelon juice
1.25L Black kale/parsley+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
2Tbsp bee pollen+agave
10 Parasite pills

Today I also did:

(Frig! I forgot to skin brush today!)
Zapper all day
Acupeds (target:colon)
(That spot on my nose is going away, finally!)

That's all!

- Ben

Day 62 - I want pickles!

I know it's nuts... but I want pickles... especially sauerkraut. I've been looking at youtube videos on how to make your own.... but I notice Matt has this thing called a 'perfect pickler' on his website for sale. Has anyone used this? Is it worth it? :) I can't wait to have some sauerkraut!

I was TOTALLY knackered today. I barely made it out of my hotel overnight shift alive. I had a government exam (for a gov job...same level as what I was offered) today and I honestly just no-showed. There was no way. I was just too tired. It's what my body wanted. I spent most of the day in bed... the times I wasn't in bed, I was making juice. I can't believe I managed to get over 4L in today!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/dandelions greens+kelp+E3live+H salt
( I have to admit, I feel like a witch when I make my green juice "a few frog legs here, eye of newt here....") LOL
1.5L grape/strawberry/blood orange
1.25L green apple/alfalfa sprouts/kiwis
1.5L watermelon juice
1Tbsp bee pollen/agave
1Tbsp honey
1tsp coconut oil/honey (I had one teaspoon of this and my body wouldn't hear of it...did not want to deal with the oils today AT ALL)

Today I also did:

Ummm.... nothing? Lots of R&R... I listened to my body and I'm proud of myself! :) But I seriously need to do yoga...

Sleep: (don't forget, I worked overnight) 10am to 1:30PM and 6:00PM to 9:00PM
TV: I cheated today and watched some TIVO'd house and paranormal state.

I have a feeling tomorrow will also be an R&R "totally knackered" day. I can't wait to quit my weekend job and stop working 7 days/week.... one more month... one more month...

- Ben

Day 41 - Bouncy!

Yep! This kid is the newest juice feaster to own a rebounder. There's a store in the city's west end selling Needaks for really cheap; 199$ for a non-folding model, 229$ for a folding model. Needless to say, in a small apartment, the folding option comes in handy....especially with my minimalist penchant for interior design. This thing even has a carrying case and slides right under my designer couch! :) Whooo hoo! I looooooves it! I looooooves it! :)

Today was not-so mega grocery day; we've decided to move mega grocery day to Thursday evenings. Maybe this will be better; I know a few stores get some produce in on that day. I couldn't find organic pineapples anywhere in this city today (well rainbow foods had organic pineapples the size of my fist for sale... hardly worth the price!). Organic greens were dirt cheap at Herb & Spice this week! Spinach bunches were going for 2$! :) Mmmmm... spinach! :) Black kale (which normally goes for $3.99) was going for $2.49!

I didn't drink much juice today because of the overnight thing/napping during the day. I was supposed to get in 4L but I slept through my alarm. I had to choose between taking a shower and making juice... shower won! I'd rather be starving than stinky! :P I'm a bit nervous about how tonight is going to go... hopefully if I drink a lot of water I won't feel hungry (and if I abstain from looking at raw cooking blogs lol). In case you're wondering, I also missed my daily water/msm combo for the FIRST TIME since I began JFing... I know! It's very sad... I just couldn't be bothered this morning when I got home from the hotel; I was sooooo hungry!

Today I had:

500ml water+slippery elm
1L celery/kale+kelp
1.25L granny smith apple/kiwi
1.00L cantaloupe juice+hemp oil (shot glass + chaser LOL)
1L cat's claw tea and/or American saffron tea (throughout the night, I hope)
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave
6 probiotic caps

Today I also did:

30 minutes on the rebounder
(was running late, no time for skin brushing or anything!)

I was on globaljuicefeast.com today and I realized how much we're all so blessed to have this innate kinship with other juice feasters throughout this process. I think, without the company and support of fellow juice feasters in the blogging world or the globaljuicefeast.com website, this would be quite a solitary journey. I don't feel alone at all in this, and it's all because of you guys. So thanks a lot :) If I had a mason jar of green juice with me right now, I'd raise it and toast to you guys ! :) Big hugs! :)

This reminds me, if you haven't joined globaljuicefeast.com yet, get your juicy butt in gear and do it now! :)

- Ben

Day 40 - Confessions of a juice feasting shopaholic

I've been doing way too much online shopping lately. So far today I've purchased:

• Healthforce Parasite formula (day 60 is coming soon!)
• Healthforce intestinal movement formula
• Healthforce intestinal drawing formula
• "Total leaky gut" formula
• Terminator Zapper (Thanks Suki for letting me know where to buy it!)

• Tomorrow... I may possibly buy a needak rebounder...

The office of healing is one hell of an expensive office! LOL. I'm worth it though right? Plus all this shopping is cheering me up.... I've decided no more yoga classes for a while. I think I do better at home and it will be less expensive AND cut down on travel time which means I'll have more time to do other stuff. So that's it; I've compromised by swapping regular yoga classes for a rebounder.

I can't believe it's day 40 and my chanca piedra isn't here yet. I'm kind of annoyed at this. I ordered it a while ago... uuurrrgh! I should have just gone with the capsules I had found in the health food stores here. I really wanted to get the tincture though.

I hope all this other stuff gets here soon. I feel like a druggy at work lately; popping pills left right and centre (probiotics and enzymes mostly)... I can't imagine when it will come the time to take all the healthforce products and the parasite formula... I'm going to wait until AFTER the parasite formula to start taking the total leaky gut formula though. Detox first, repair after...right? :)

I was drinking my coconut water at work today and my senior director asked "how long has this been going on now??" and I said "40 days" to which he replied "so... it's almost over?". I said; "yea... in 52 days".

"You're nuts!"

LOL. Well maybe it seems that way to 'normal people' but I'm quite enjoying touching my legs at night and feeling only smooth skin. From a visual point of view, you can still tell where the lesions were... but it feels very smooth now. There still is a lot more healing that needs to happen on my arms and torso though... so I'm just going to have to keep going with the healing. We apparently get a whole new set of skin every 28 days.... so maybe by the time JFing is over, 2 new sets of skin from now, I'll have beautiful flawless psoriasis-free skin. Keep your fingers crossed! :)

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm bark
1.25ml water+msm+lemon
1.25ml celery/collard greens+spirulina+kelp
1.25ml pineapple/blood orange (yum yum!!)
1.25ml pineapple/apple/blood orange/carrot (yum yum yum!!)
1L coconut water
1L apple/black kale
500ml American Saffron tea
1L cat's claw tea (throughout the night shift, I'm hoping)
1Tbsp bee pollen+agave nectar
6 Probiotic caps
6 Full spectrum enzymes caps

Today I also did:

Skin Brushing
No exercise today....but I got a good nap before coming to work at the hotel :)
"Very satisfactory crap"

**Poop report... you've been warned!**
...Yea... to quote Carrie, today I had a most "satisfactory crap". I stood there, baffled as to how this was possible... but I had a 'normal person' bowel movement today... Actually... I had a 'vegan person bowel movement' (which are typically larger than normal people bowel movements and flow out faster). I just had a colonic like... 4 days ago!?!!? Where did this come from??!?!?! I haven't had anything solid to eat in 40 days and I haven't had a BM this size in over a month! Am I sleep-eating? LOL... I could just see myself making artichoke-almond pesto in my sleep and eating it over spelt noodles! Hahahhaa! :)

- Ben

Day 35 - Namaste.

Namaste: a greeting which reminds us that our highest potential lies in the realm of no ego. Let us meet in that place.

- Namaste TV

I have been having so much fun doing yoga today. I don't know why I stopped doing it for so many years. I especially love doing it to Namaste TV show. It's very challenging and calming. The show is also so well done; the sceneries are breathtaking! My forward folds are improving day by day! :)

I basically slept most of the day away today; working overnights on weekends has a way of catching up with me. Total zombie day. I've been spending a lot of time reading raw blogs. I can't wait to get started on my raw cooking adventure! I'm so psyched! I also know that I have a newfound patience and love for myself; one that will be more forgiving if I have a piece of cooked food here and there. I'm going to look at it as an opportunity to slowly evolve into being 100% raw. My mistake in the past was to think about it as an "all or nothing" thing. I caved and had cooked butternut squash (not the most unhealthful cooked food one can have, really!) and then gave up on raw altogether. Not this time :)

I've also been thinking about "feast breaking". I can't think of a very 'zen' place in Ottawa to do this... (any suggestions?). I was thinking the Montreal biodome would be a great spot. The zen garden at the Montreal botanical garden will probably still be closed given mid April will still be really cold. :( I also think spending a week in NYC would be AWESOME... I'd love to go to Sarma's restaurant.... but it would suck to go and only be able to eat prunes LOL! Maybe this is best saved for post-feast breaking. If anyone has good ideas about nice spots to break my juice feast (on day 92), please let me know. :) Ottawa or Montreal options preferred! :)

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/watercress+E3live+kelp
750ml blood orange juice
750ml 'summery juice' (see previous post)
250ml American saffron tea
1tbsp bee pollen
1tbsp coconut oil

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Mini-enema (bulb)
1 hour of yoga
msm lotion

That's all for me! Colonic tomorrow! Can't wait! :) I leave you with this intro to the Namaste episode that I've been doing for the last few days.



Isn't it so beautiful and calming? It's only missing cute yoga boys! :)

- Ben

Day 34 - The teenage years

Today was mega-groceries day again. If it weren't for the fact that the way I buy groceries whilst juice feasting is exceptionally planned out, I would move mega groceries day to another day. I'll have to explore that option.

Saturday mornings at 8am, my mom or dad picks me up with their car so I can venture out for mega groceries. I don't have a car... so it would have practically impossible to do a week's worth of groceries on the bus. When my dad comes, it's awesome. My dad is the calm and relaxed one. When my mom comes.... Well today was a 'mom' day and it didn't go so well. My mom is the most nervous and stressed out person you will ever meet. Driving in the city stressed her out... on a Saturday. She CONSTANTLY second guesses everything I do (or in this case, purchase). She CONSTANTLY gives advice on what I "should" do.... She can be frustrating to be around. I know that it stems from a good place, a place of caring... but after working an overnight shift, being sleep-deprived and grumpy... it's aggravating. We got on each other's nerves a lot today. I could feel my skin reacting to her negativity. I've tried, in the past, to explain how her stressful nature stresses me out, and impedes my ability to heal my psoriasis.... She just doesn't get it.

Sigh... it feels good to let that out in the open. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom and I really appreciate the fact that she acted like a taxi for me today but man... take a chill pill! I'm wondering if she was harder to handle today because I'm 15 years old (retracing-wise) right now and am reliving teenage angst/rebellion? ;)

I got home and I took a well deserved nap. I made some REALLY awesome juices AND I did lots of yoga to some episodes of Namaste I had TIVOed. That show isn't easy to follow... but I think I did good today. I want to try doing those episodes again. I like the flow.... and the challenging asanas that I'm not quite familiar with.

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm
1.25L celery/collard greens/parsley
750ml blood orange juice (I think I'll always think of Carrie everytime I see a blood orange from now on! LOL)
750ml Summery juice (see below)
1.00L Grannysmith apple/Spinach
1tbsp Bee pollen+agave
500ml America Saffron tea

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
40 minutes yoga
Napping

Can I just say... for a 'zombie day'... I'm surprised and really proud of myself for getting 4L of juice in... plus all my 'psoriasis superfoods'. :) Yay Ben!

Summery juice

I noticed today that I was missing being innovative and inventive in the kitchen. Suddenly I conjured up this juice. It's very tasty! Tangy yet mellow... :)

1 grapefruit
2 red gala apples
1/4 cantaloupe
1 cup butternut squash (cut into tiny cubes)
2 dates (pitted, finely chopped, soaked for 5 minutes)

Into the vitamix it goes! Strain through nut mylk bag and enjoy! I was going to add a spice but after tasting it, I decided it didn't really need anything. :)

Restez juteux! :)

- Ben

Day 28 - Sleepy time bye bye

Sorry for the delayed posting. I'm backdating this posting for blog accuracy. So just pretend okay? :)

I was super super knackered; mostly from the weekend at the hotel. I went from not being able to sleep before my overnight shift to being zombified and, later, comatose. I got home after my shift a the hotel, drank my water+msm+lemon and went to bed. I woke up at 1PM and started getting ready for my date. First, it was time to make some green juice! I was staaarving and pretty light headed by then (it had been 15 hours since my last juice!).

In case you're wondering, the date went very well and I believe the feeling to be mutual. We went to a cute local coffee shop where I had peppermint tea. Afterwards, we went for a walk around the market. There was a man selling local bee pollen. A nice big jar of unpasteurized local bee pollen for 9$! Sweet deal! We ended up going to the fruit market where I got blood oranges. I've been craving them ever since Carrie mentioned them. 10$ for 10 blood oranges.... it made 1L of juice! I know, I thought it was a very expensive juice to make too. But then I thought, I would have paid this for a cosmopolitan a few years ago so.... I'll just think of this juice as a cosmo! :)

Afterwards we went to Winterlude: an annual festival celebrating winter where people from around the world come to show off their ice sculpture skills as part of a competition. It was nice...except for the fact that I was FREEZING! Side note: my body temperature has been considerably lower these past few weeks!

We retired back to starbucks where I had more peppermint tea to warm up.... that is, after I had some cataloupe juice since I was starving. I know, it's daring to pop a mason jar out in public and start drinking from it.... even more so on a date hahaha!

All that to say, it's possible to be social even whilst juice feasting!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.00L celery/kale+E3live+kelp
500ml cantaloupe juice
1L peppermint tea
1L blood orange juice
1tbsp bee pollen+agave
1tbsp coconut oil

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
40 min of Yoga
2L enema with cat's claw tea (meow!)

Lowest amount of juice in ages! But I was really knackered for most of the day and I was out and about too! Toooootally stole the cat's claw tea enema idea from Carrie. Sorry Carrie, you're that special! People want to emulate you! :)

That enema by the way was intense. I was able to hold it for 10 minutes. I think I eliminates some really old matter because afterwards I was REALLY tired and shivering too. Nonetheless, I still managed to get some yoga in. Tomorrow, it'll be time to try doing pilates again. I need a flat tummy!! :)

- Ben

Day 27 - Too much energy?

Ahh yes. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing (except pineapple/blackberry juice... that rule doesn't apply there hehe). I work overnights on weekends (midnight to 8am) and I have to say... these shifts have gotten a lot easier to do since I've started juice feasting. I used to have to drink a lot of coffee to make it through the night... not anymore.

When I got home yesterday, it was time for mega groceries. I think I caught a short nap from noon to 4pm and never managed to fall back asleep again. I'm at work now (on day 28) and I'm completely knackered and zombified. I just want to go to beeeeeeeed.

I used to take melatonin, in the pre-JF days, to get me to fall asleep. It's a completely natural sleep aid; the brain already produces that same chemical when it starts to get dark outside.... that's why we get sleepy when it's dark. I've been refraining from using melatonin during the JF... it's tough because I have so much energy... it would be nice to use it to knock me out. Oh well... only 2 more months of juice feasting and hopefully not much longer of having two jobs!

Today I had:

1.5L water+msm+lemon
1L celery/kale+kelp+E3live
1L pineapple/blueberry (yum! Thanks Carrie!)
1L pumpkin pie juice (see previous posts)
1L apple/spinach juice

Today I also did:
Skin brushing
No time for anything else... too tired.

That's it for me! I can't wait to go to beeeeeeeed. Plus! I have a big date tomorrow :) :) Send some good vibes my way! :)

- Ben

Day 6 - Enamored of contrast showers

Day 6 was kind of special in many ways. The intense and short lived hunger fits and acute cravings have, for the most part, disappeared. I believe that I needed a bit of time for my stomach to shrink down. I used to eat such huge portions of food.... I was honestly quite worried about how my overnight shift (at the hotel) would go sans-coffee and sans-solids. I'm happy to report that I had MORE energy than normal. I was actually wired by 8am. It wasn't the artificial coffee-induced kind of wired either.

When I got home, I had my water with msm. Despite not drinking juice in almost 14 hours and being a wee bit hungry, I was able to take my sweet time making my green juice. I really do believe this is because my stomach shrunk. I actually find the 500ml juices really filling now. Which brings me to this:

Today I had:

1L water+msm+lemon
1L Celery/Spinach juice
500ml Pineapple-Apple juice
500ml Grapefruit juice
500ml Kale/Bok Choi+E3Live
1Tbps bee pollen ( I found a trick for this!)


Eeep! I did really badly today in terms of reaching the 1 gallon mark. Again, I think that's because it's the weekend and I'm pretty much zombified every weekend from working overnights. I also need more organic fruits. Tomorrow I'm going shopping for week 2 of juice feasting. Hoping to find tons of coconuts! :)

I also wanted to report that drinking grapefruit juice on its own wasn't conducive to any stomach pains whatsoever! yay! :)

Regarding the bee pollen, I used to take the whole tablespoon in my mouth, chew it down and swallow. The taste could only be described as "what barns smell like". Luckily, last night, I found a trick! Seeing as the tastebuds for sweetness are at the tip of the tongue, I found that taking small amounts (5-10 granules/time) and chewing them with the front teeth actually makes it taste pretty decent! :)

In terms of 'eliminations'... I just wanted to mention that, while I thought most of the detoxing was behind me, weird things started to happen today. Not to gross anyone out but... I was surprised today by my body purging 'mucus'. I'm definitely sticking with the daily enemas for a few more days and then moving to 1 every 2 days. I just ordered an open bag enema kit online... right now all I have is a bulb enema kit and that's not the best tool.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Contrast showers!

It sounds like a weird form of torture, but they're actually not so bad once you get used to them! I think I've reached that point. For those who don't know, contrast showers involve changing the waster temperature from warm to cool at regular intervals while you shower. I actually find this very invigorating.

I usually start with a warm shower and once I've rinsed the shampoo out of my hair, I put the shower on cool and place moisturizer in my hair. This is where I start having fun! When I first started doing these, I would keep all my limbs close to my body, shiver and rotate in the shower like a chicken in a roaster.... Now, I make it a point to loosen up; it makes it less 'painful'. Also, I find dancing through the cool cycle makes it a lot more bearable! I know, it's goofy...but it works and it's really fun!

Contrast showers end on a cool cycle so have a towel handy to warm you up! :) Try them out! They're great for preventing colds, improving lymphatic circulation and enhancing the detoxification process! :)

That's enough ranting for one night :) Schlaf gut!

- Ben