Day 57 - Self love

I think the most amazing thing about juice feasting is the sense of inner peace I am feeling lately. Who knew drinking juices could do that to you. I’m watching less TV, not smoking anymore, I *want* to exercise and do yoga… and I’ve turned into my body in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. I’m communicating with my body like it is a very assertive child that I am taking care of…. I’m receptive to its needs.

I don’t think this inner journey is over by any means. One of the things I want to work on is letting go of feelings of guilt. Guilt is not only unhealthy; it also creates an acidic environment in the body. I need to stop feeling guilty for things. The first thing I need to stop feeling guilty for is forgetting to take supplements and exercising. It’s no big deal. No need for guilt; it won’t change the past. Instead, I just need to focus on doing better tomorrow. That’s it.

I don’t know if juice feasting and this community of juice feasters (that I’ve become so close to) has become a substitute for this but… I no longer feel the overwhelming urge to have a boyfriend. This is MAJOR. I’ve been a little obsessed with this (in a very Ally McBeal-kinda way) for some time. I’m actually feeling really content with being single right now; being with myself and taking care of myself isn’t so bad. I am really starting to love myself, truly and deeply and I think this is the major key to this change; I don’t feel like I need someone else’s love to make me feel worthy of being loved. My own self-love is enough.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/green chard/parsley+kelp+Himalayan salt+E3live
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/blackberry (yum!)
500ml water+chanca piedra
1.5L green apple/kiwi
750ml apple/spinach/ginger+E3live+Spirulina+Himalayan salt
1Tbsp bee pollen/honey
2Tbsp honey/royal jelly
1tbsp hemp oil+2 Tbsp lemon juice (shot glass style, went down easier)
Enzymes

Today I also did

Acupeds (targeted kidneys)
Zapper (all day)
10 min rebounder
1 hour nap
Slept from 8PM to 5:30PM
Took the day off (felt really REALLY tired and dizzy this morning… said “fuck it!”) Oops… so much for not swearing! :PHousecleaning!

I’m a bit worried that according to David’s instructions (based on some videos and comments of his I read), I should have ended my juice feast about 2 or 3 weeks ago… (based on my current weight and hunger) but then again, I have a major dis-ease that I’m fighting so I think going forward with the full 92 days isn’t a bad idea. My weight has honestly stabilized… I haven’t lost any weight in more than a week. I’m at a stable 142lbs and it won’t budge. I am craving raw foods like crazy though… but I don’t think it’s a real hunger… I think it’s a curiosity… I can’t wait to get back in the kitchen and be creative with foods.

Anyway that’s it for now :)

- Ben

Day 55 - Experimentation

"Much of Locke's work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism. This opposition is both on the level of the individual person and on the level of institutions such as government and church. For the individual, Locke wants each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the opinion of authorities or be subject to superstition. He wants us to proportion assent to propositions to the evidence for them. On the level of institutions it becomes important to distinguish the legitimate from the illegitimate functions of institutions and to make the corresponding distinction for the uses of force by these institutions. The positive side of Locke's anti-authoritarianism is that he believes that using reason to try to grasp the truth, and determining the legitimate functions of institutions will optimize human flourishing for the individual and society both in respect to its material and spiritual welfare. This in turn, amounts to following natural law and the fulfillment of the divine purpose for humanity."

- Uzgalis, William, "John Locke," The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Online Edition)

Day 60 is approaching and I'll almost be 2/3rds of the way done with juice feasting. Day 60 is monumental for me. I held off buying the parasite cleanse stuff until just recently because deep down I wasn't really sure if I'd make it there. If I can make it to day 60, there's no doubt I'll be going all the way to do 92. That is to say, unless health issues arose, in which case I would take the appropriate action based on my body's needs.

Philip posted a really inspiring video today and it really got me thinking about a lot of different things. It really got me thinking about empiricism and how far our society has moved away from the empirical experience. We read and read about nutrition and health and ingest all this authoritative information from 'those who know' and have completely forgotten about the most basic element of human experience; the empirical experience.

Juice feasting works because my SENSES tell me it does. I don't need scientific data to back this up. I don't need proof of the existence of toxins. Doctors claim psoriasis to be a "chronic disease" or even going further and calling it an autoimmune disease. They claim there is no cure, only treatments. They claim there is no link between diet and the disease. They also claim much of the concept of "detoxing" is largely unfounded. Well... my personal empirical evidence would sure like to disprove that. I hope I'll see the definition of psoriasis changed to "a temporary but reversible state of high-toxicity" in my lifetime.

Philip's video also prompted me to rethink a lot of what I've been doing so far while juice feasting. This is actually a perfect time for me to look back on my experience juice feasting thus far and ensure that the remaining days are even better. I need to learn from my mistakes. The first 2 weeks of juice feasting was spent trying to get 4 litres in everyday and struggling with juices that gave me incredible stabbing pains in my stomach. I overcame those challenges only to start dealing with a lot of bizarre aches and pains that showed up. Now... things are generally pretty good. It's time to step up my game. Here are my mid-feast resolutions from this point foward:

• Go to bed earlier: seriously kiddos... I'm going to bed at 7 or 8PM from now on! I *NEED* more sleep. I can feel it. To hold me accountable for this, from this point forward, I will be logging the amount of sleep I get.
  
• Get up earlier (3:30AM/4AM): mornings are a pain in the ass lately. Juicing takes a lot of time... and I constantly feel rushed as a result. If I get up earlier, maybe I'll be able to find time for some morning yoga or rebounding or enemas.
  
• Drink down the hemp oil! This is my moment of shame... let me come clean here... I HATE hemp oil. I find it tastes really nasty and gives me really gross burps afterwards. I think much of my aversion to hemp oil is as a result of having had juices (in the early days) that gave me stabbing stomach pains that just HAPPENED to have hemp oil. Urgh. If anyone has tricks on how I can get that stuff down more easily, let me know. I don't want to mix it into my juices... I find it makes it too thick. My shot-glass method +chaser is pretty much the most effective thing for me right now.
• Yoga... no more excuses! I need more yoga!
• TV: Allowed on Sundays with no restrictions... during the week + Saturdays... max of 3 hours. I'll be logging this too. I can't be wasting my time with TV when I can barely keep my apartment clean and do laundry. This is ridiculous.
• Swear less... adopt a more positive attitude at work. I like swearing... but I realize that this just adds more negativity to my being.
• Spend money frugally. Start saving 100$ for raw cookbooks, 200$ for a 9 tray dehydrator and 200$ for "raw foods starter groceries".
  
• Get started on the Master To-Do list. I have a binder with blank pages where I want to itemize everything I'd like to do, want to do and need to do. I just have to get started on this. Everything from recipe ideas to art ideas to cleaning stuff to interior design ideas.....

I think those are some good goals. Now that they're here for the world to see, I guess that makes me more accountable for them. Fun fun! These don't take effect until Monday okay? :) Weekends are hard to implement this stuff cause I'm usually so tired from working overnights.

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/parsley/alfalfa sprouts+kelp+E3live+Himalayan salt
1.5L cantaloupe
500ml coconut water
1.5L green apple/kiwi/spinach (yum!)
500ml water+chanca piedra
1tbsp bee pollen+agave
1 tbsp honey/royal jelly mix
1tbsp hemp oil!!
Enzymes

Today I also did:

Sleep... but not enough of it still.
Parasite zapper (all day, except during sleep)

I've been enjoying a lot of really good podcasts on raw foods and raw lifestyle. I'm also still reading a lot of raw recipes. While this may seem like torture, I now realize I'm PREPARING myself for the next step. I'm absorbing every recipe into my head and building this fountain of knowledge of how raw food preparation works so that, when the time comes, I'll have all the tools. I can't wait to start doing a raw recipe blog though.... ! :)

Oh! I also went for an ionic foot bath today. For those of you who are not familiar with ionic foot baths, I'd recommend you read up on it on this website. The idea is that you put your feet in a pure water foot bath. Himalayan salt is added to the bath and this machine basically ionizes the water. Through reverse osmosis, toxins are taken out of the body. The water can turn dark brown or black...sometimes foam or cottage-cheese-like substances form on the surface of the water... seriously, just do a google image search for "ionic foot bath" and look at the stuff that comes up. I was REALLY expecting my foot bath to turn brown (indicative of liver toxicity and smoking habit). Nope! It stayed a really light yellow. I'm actually pretty clean it seems. I'm sure that wouldn't have been the case without all the changes I've made and the 55 days of juice feasting I've done. The light yellow indicates toxins in the kidneys. I'll have to remember to keep taking my chanca piedra. I had a tiny bit of white foam at the top... which indicates that toxins were released from my lymphatic system.

I bought a box of 40 acupeds and will keep doing these for the next little while. Because of the low amount of toxins drawn out, I think I'll wait a month or two before doing the foot bath again. The good news is that ionic foot baths are also very alkalizing and I should see a rapid shift in healing as a result. :) Yay!

That's it for me kiddos.... I'm so tired... can't wait to go home and SLEEP!

- Ben

Day 50 - Meetings meeting meetings

What the hell? I woke up this morning... and I kept hitting snooze. I got up, took off the acupeds (which were crusty brown again but the one I stuck to my side (near my liver) wasn't as brown as before) and started to make juice. I then remembered in a very "oh shit!" moment that there was a 9:00AM meeting today. Who the hell schedules a meeting at 9AM on a Monday? First of all, my bus gets me to work at 9:05. That involves leaving the house at 8:35. I then realized I'd have to leave at 8:15. I made juice in record time today. I had time for skin brushing and everything!

I walked outside only to find out that the entire city was a giant skating rink. The sidewalks were incredibly slippery and there was freezing rain outside. I kept having visions of slipping, falling and all my mason jars of juice breaking, leaving me drenched in a tie-dye mix of various juices.

Luckily I got to work without incident. The first meeting was a giant waste of time but it was an 'all staff meeting'. People across other department that I know by name but never formally work with were there. My morning green juice became a topic of discussion and I even spotted some people writing down the recipe for it! Hilarious!!! :)

After the first meeting I realized today was a 'meeting-a-palooza' day. I had 4 meetings on my schedule. Sigh. By the 2PM meeting I ACTUALLY FELL ASLEEP during the meeting. It was downright embarassing! I have no idea why I got so tired; either fruit juices are finally getting to me and I'm feeling the 'crash' that accompanies them or I was just downright tired of meetings... I also could have gotten more sleep last night!

Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro/parsley+kelp+E3live+Himalayan salt
1.25L green apple/kiwi
1.25L pineapple blueberry
500ml pineapple/green apple/kiwi (I had extra juice from those first two, mixed them together.. .SO GOOD!)
1L coconut water
500ml water+chanca piedra
300ml water+ chanca piedra
probiotics
enzymes
1tbsp bee pollen+honey
few tbsp honey again (sorry!)

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
30 minutes yoga

Yep......... I need some Zzzz! Ttyl fellow juicy people! :)

- Ben ........ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz