Day 93 - I ate the prunes!!! :)

A full write up of today's events will follow but I couldn't wait to post this. :)



The video (sorry it's poor quality) I took on Day 1 can be found here :) Can you see the difference? :)

PRUNES!!! :)

- Ben

Day 92 - Last juicy day

"Life is flowing. It is a river, a constant flux.

People think of themselves as static. Only things are static, only death is unchanging ~ life is constantly changing. More life ~ and more change. Abundant life ~ and there is tremendous change each moment."

Osho

Well that sums it up. I got this in my inbox this morning and I think it was incredibly appropriate given the momentous day that is today. Not much to report, honestly. I had an aversion to green juice, still, today so I started off the day with watermelon juice and had green juice later in the afternoon. At least I got some green juice, right? I biked over to the health food store to pick up some probiotics and a few more juicy ingredients to keep me going this week. I think I might be going shopping for groceries everyday this week because of how daunting this whole feast breaking thing is. I really need to sit down today and plan out what I'm going to be eating over the next week. This seems so anal retentive for someone who likes to be spontaneous in the kitchen. Sigh. :)

Oh! Actually I do have one weird thing to report. While at work, after drinking some watermelon juice... I got some really intense stabbing pains in my stomach, much like the ones I had on days 2-3-4. I have no idea how or why this happened because I haven't had these pains since then. I wasn't too concerned though. I was kind of humbled by the pain because I took it as a sign that my body had come 'full circle' and was ready for the next phase. The pains passed after 15 minutes which was nice! :)

I got home and had TONS of energy. I found myself doing a lot of cleaning. I felt really motivated. I think it's because I felt so rested from having a weekend off. I remember hearing someone say that motivation is like a gas tank and the more you work yourself hard, the less you have any motivation for other things... and that people who are well rested and take more time for themselves can gradually rebuild their motivation 'tank' and feel more motivated to accomplish the things that are important to them. It's interesting how I could have the perseverance to only drink juice for 92 days, get up at 5AM to make juice every morning
and work two jobs throughout this experience... but yet I have no motivation to take out the trash when I get home. LOL. I'm just hoping that I'll have MORE free time now that I'm not juice feasting. I'd like to continue getting up early but do half an hour of yoga instead of 2 hours of juicing.

After that cleaning-spree I pretty much vegged for the rest of the night. I ended up passing out on the couch and waking up around midnight. That hasn't happened to me in ages. This is something that used to happen ALL the time pre-juice feast. My friends and I
used to joke that I was narcoleptic. I would sleep on the couch at LEAST 50% of the time. Juice feasting really seems to have cured much of the fatigue I was experiencing, but more importantly... it seems to have helped with this weird narcolepsy I was experiencing. When I feel sleepy now, I just go to bed.

Anyway. Today (on this momentous day) I had:

3.25L watermelon juice
1.5L pineapple/blood orange
1.25L celery/black kale/cilantro/parsley+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
2L grapefruit/blood orange/acai

8 litres on this last juicy day! :)

Today I did:

Skin brushing
Zapper (someone asked me where I got this.... I got it at: www.worldwithoutparasites.com
8KM bike ride (5 miles)

Well that's all :) Prunes are soaking as we speak! :)

I'm making a wee video tomorrow so if anyone has any questions you'd like to hear me answer on video, now is the time :)

Oops! I almost forgot to mention. I had an TREMENDOUS amount of encouraging and poignant comments from A LOT of people yesterday on blogger, facebook, msn, etc. I've had comments from people who have been reading this blog all along who have never commented before (thanks for finally saying hello!), people with whom I've had the pleasure of sharing this juicy journey (love you guys!) and some of my real life friends that I was worried just wouldn't 'get it'. Who can blame them right? It does sound a bit crazy at first. Even my coworkers were happy about it!! It's kinda funny too because they were really concerned when I first started this.

Anyway... all that to say, I really appreciate all the comments from all my readers and I plan to keep on blogging so I hope you keep on reading! :) It was really heartwarming to get all these comments yesterday and I thank each and every one of you. :)

- Ben

I just woke up on Day 92...

A full post of today's events will follow (later tonight) but... I just woke up and had to do a happy dance because it's day 92 and I FREAKIN' DID IT!!! :)

You know.... back in October, I had no idea if I would have the willpower to drink juice and ONLY juice for a full 92 days. Giving up solid food for that length of time is something absolutely extraordinary. As much as I've 'bitched' about wanting to binge on pesto for the last three months.... I'm truly happy I've done this.

Anyway that's all for now :) I just woke up today and felt like I had crossed the finish line and had to do a wee post to celebrate. I've gotta get in the kitchen and make some juice now! :)

- Ben

PS: Tomorrow... at this time.... I'll be SOAKING PRUNES!!! Whahahaha! Pruuuuuuuuunes! :)

Day 91 - The only greens I want are in salad form

I've been a bad juice feaster today and I could care less. It's almost over! LOL. I didn't want any green juice today so I figured "hell... why not?" So I just drank a lot of kiwi-apple juice and watermelon juice. That's it! I really want some greens... but I want them in salad form.

I think the hard part about feast-breaking will be waiting to have some salads! LOL. I guess there was so much emphasis on day 92... well really.... I don't see myself feeling "free" until salad day.

It's funny. I feel a bit bi-polar sometimes when it comes to juice feasting. I really enjoy it... but sometimes I really hate it too! *giggles* Today was a "I can't wait to be done with this" day.

I want shitake mushrooms!

I took a look at my 'before pictures' today (which I haven't looked at since I took them on day 1) and noticed A LOT of changes. I think I'll post a few pictures after all. I really wish my chest had healed more though... but that's what Phase II is for. :)

Today I had:

1.25ml water+msm+lemon
5.5L watermelon
3L apple/kiwi
2Tbsp bee pollen

Tomorrow's the last juicy day!!! :)

- Ben

Day 90 - Bedroom Bliss

It's day 90 and juice feasting truly is coming to a close. As most of you know, this has been my second weekend off since August of last year. I decided today would be a mandatory "stay in bed all day" day. Pure utter bliss!

I made juice, went back to bed and only got up to get mason jars out of the fridge and to go pee! :P I flipped through all those cookbooks I got and somehow didn't get madly hungry. My favorite cookbook by far is "Raw" by Charlie Trotter. I cannot believe how beautiful this cookbook is. I have to admit... the recipes are daunting and this is definitely not your 'tuesday dinner' type of cookbook. It's beyond five star 'cooking' in my opinion. But that's the kinda thing I like ;) Beautiful. I think this cookbook will live on my coffee table. :)

My second favorite so far is Ani's cookbook mainly because there are tons of recipes without nightshades. I find so many raw recipes have tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes and peppers as main ingredients. It makes it really hard when you're trying to avoid those ingredients.

Totally happy with my purchases. Holy shit though... "Conscious eating" is the size of a bible! (actually... I think bigger than a bible!).

I watched "Crazy Sexy Cancer" today and it was really inspiring. :)

I think maybe something I'll need to do when I start eating again is plan out all my meals a week ahead of time. I need to make a little calendar and write out everything I'm going to eat. I think this will help me stay on track with an alkaline diet and also ensure I don't waste any produce. I'm kind of "getting" what people who have stopped juice feasting are talking about when they mention how they find it overwhelming and confusing choosing what to eat. I think the 'calendar' will help with that :)

....Did I mention how awesome it was to stay in bed all day? :)

Today I had:

1.25L water+lemon+msm
1.25L celery/kale/spinach/dandelion+E3live+Hsalt+kelp
2.5L watermelon juice
3L apple/kiwi
2Tbsp bee pollen

Today I did:

MSM lotion
Stay in bed all day
Inspirational DVD
Napping
(I really need to start exercising again! Le sigh!)

Okay... totally random but... I just got the SWEETEST comment on facebook from my friend and former colleague (from my old flight attendant days) Robyn:

So Mister Ben, I have been reading up on what you have been accomplishing and have been reading your blog and I have to say that I am very impressed. But I guess I always knew that when you said you were going to do something you did and you did it well. CONGRATS!

Robyn... you're so SWEET! :) *hugs* It's still very weird for me to think that my 'real life' friends are reading this blog sometimes. Maybe that's because I talk about enemas so much on here ;) Hahaha. Whatever... in the flight attendant world, we ended up talking about our insides lots... stupid cabin pressure made us bloat like 3 month pregnant women! :P

That's all for today! :)

- Ben

Day 89 - My cookbooks are here!

Yesiree Bob! My cookbooks have arrived. Unfortunately, I didn't have a cute delivery guy as pictured above. I got home to a door hanger advising me I had to go pick up my package at the post office. That's a 30lbs box and I have no car! Solution? Bring the box home Africa-style. I balanced that box on top of my head and made my way home. Honestly, it's the easiest way to carry boxes if you have a good sense of balance. It didn't even feel like I was carrying anything at all!


The pile of books is currently precariously balanced on my night-table and I'm in bed. I plan to stay here (in bed) all day tomorrow and flip through all these books. Yay!

Did I mention that... it's midnight right now and I'm not at work? Urgh... It's going to be so nice to have a weekend off and give my body a break from changing its internal clock.

Anyway... I thought I would have some fun tonight before going to bed so I'm stealing Hanlie's little Friday fun thing: The bucket list. It's a bit corny but here's my top 10 things to do before I croak.

1. Visit Easter Island

2. Make my way through a hedge maze (a really big one!)

3. Go eat at Pure Food and Wine (soon!!)

4. Live in Berlin for a year or two

5. Live in Costa Rica (again... but for longer)

6. Get married (hey! It's legal in Canada, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands!)

7. Have flawless skin (soon too!)

8. Study at the Hippocrates Institute and the Living Light Culinary Institute

9. Write my own cookbook (soon!)

10. Eat some PESTO!!!! (hahahaha! Soon too... in a week!)


Well that was fun :)

Now onto business. Today I had:

1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/parsley/dandelion (whoa! too much parsley today!)
2L grape/blood orange/strawberry/acai
3L watermelon
1.75 pineapple/pomegranate/strawberry/blood orange (possibly the tastiest juice yet!)
2 Tbsp bee pollen
Enzymes

Today I did:

Skin brushing
6.5km biking (in the rain!)
1.6km walk

Lots 'o love

- Ben

Day 88 - Nut mylk bag suicide

Well, this morning was interesting. My nut mylk bags decided to commit collective suicide. One of them literally ripped in half (well not literally… but … ripped in quarter isn’t really common parlance). The other one has a giant hole in it. I’ve been double bagging for a while… but there’s no way I could go on with this. I really was hoping I could make it to the end of juice feasting without buying some more nut mylk bags.

Luckily today was mega-groceries day which means my dad drives my non-driver’s-license-carrying-ass around town to get groceries. We made a pit stop so I could go pick up some nut mylk bags at SimplyRaw. Phew! Crisis obverted!

Oh! I also bought PRUNES today. PRUNES! It felt so weird buying them, after all this time. I mean, I used to go to the grocery store and just stare at them. Now I finally get to buy them. Yipee. I also bought some wasabi powder (some natural stuff with no artificial colorants etc). I can’t wait to have some good raw sushi and I definitely needed to invest in some healthy wasabi.

I still have a few things on my shopping list. Essentially, what I bought today was enough to carry me until Wednesday (Prune II day). I plan to go back to the health food store and buy more ‘watery veggies and fruits’ for “fruit I and II day” and stuff for “salad I and II days” later on next week. I definitely need to go buy some probiotics for when I start eating again. I was re-reading feast-breaking in Angela’s ebook and apparently I need to get some stuff to strengthen my colon? Fuck… I thought I was done buying supplements. Sigh. I guess I’ll go look for some Triphala or something on Monday when I go buy some probiotics.

Today I had:
1.25ml water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/spinach/apple+E3live+maca+kelp+Hsalt (NASTY SHIT!)
3.5L watermelon juice
1.75L pineapple/blackberry/blood orange
1.75L red globe grape/blood orange/strawberry/acai
2Tbsp Bee pollen
Enzymes

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
6.5KM biking (4 miles)

Well that’s all for today! :)

- Ben