Day 3: February Cleanse

I feel so happy today! First, Penni Shelton’s book “Raw Food Cleanse” has arrived. I’m looking forward to reading it and learning more about raw cooking. So far, I’ have been juice feasting and plan to continue doing that for awhile, maybe even longer than 2 weeks I have originally envisioned. The more I learn about it, the more I want to go all the way to detoxify my body completely and clear my mind.

Also, my 30-day membership at juicefeasting.com has been activated today. Thanks, Katrina! Katrina and David Rainoshek are so inspirational. I’m listening to the videos they have created for every day of the 92-day juice fest and feel so grateful for all the work they have put into collecting and organizing materials on all aspects of juice feasting. It is invaluable and unique information that is even more helpful, because David and Katrina are true practitioners of this method. So, I have learned a lot about juice feasting and its benefits today. I will write a separate post about this in the next few days.

I have finished watching the movie “Food Inc”. I couldn’t finish it in one night, because it was too overwhelming and eye-opening. The movie reveals the secret life of our supermarkets in a powerful  way. I hope everyone of us will watch it early enough in our lives to be able to make changes tin our life styles and adjust the type of food we demand as consumers. As an economist, I can really get the idea that demand drives supply, and the more we buy organic products the more affordable they will become. Watching this movie gave a whole new meaning to my decision to eat raw (which means unprocessed) food. By doing this, we can change the stereotypes about what is a healthy diet and support local organic farmers, thus helping our planet.

Also I watched an interesting video related to the question about what we eat and what we should be eating. It’s interesting how the information that I’m reading, watching, and listening all ties up together. I love when it happens! For me, this is usually a sign that I’m on the right track, I’m in the flow. The video that I mentioned is a Google talk by a Professor of Nutrition at NYU, Marion Nestle. She has written a number of books. This talk is about one of her recent books “What to Eat”. It connects nicely with “Food Inc” movie. Marion Nestle was featured in another “scary” film "Super Size Me" and has been called "one of the nation's smartest and most influential authorities on nutrition and food policy."If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching it, just not when you are eating or drinking your juice.

If you would like to learn more about Marion, please go to her personal website. I downloaded the syllabus for her Nutrition in Food Studies course that seems to be very interesting. I already own one of the books on the reading list, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, and have bought two more books today, including “What to Eat” ($17 including shipping cost). If I’m doing this cleanse, I would like to learn more about nutrition to do it right and to be able to help other people later. As a scientist, I want to learn everything from A to Z, which is not always a good habit.

I could stay and work from home today. Days like this are easier in terms of making and drinking juices. Since the last green juice I made was less tasty than I wanted it to be, I decided to start with a delicious fruit juice in the morning.

I made my juice #1 from:

6 apples

blueberries

6 tangerines
2 peaches

2 lemons

This made about 4 glasses of delicious juice. Now I know that you should start with a green juice.

This juice lasted from 10.00 am till 6.00 pm.

Then I made green juice from the following ingredients:

a bunch of dill

2 large cucumbers

1 green pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 bunch of romaine lettuce

scallion

The red cabbage that you see on this picture didn’t get into my juice because I  could get enough juice without using it.



I got about 4 glasses of very green juice from these vegetables and greens. This is the greenest juice I have made so far, which is probably good for my body. It didn’t taste bad at all, but I wouldn’t say that I’m craving it at this point.

Also next to my green juice you can see Penni Shelton's book that was delivered to my door today. I’m looking forward to reading it. Penni is the one who introduced my to juice feasting and raw food. I think I will always be grateful to her for that.

My knowledge base about juice feasting made a huge leap today. Every day, I will briefly summarize what I have learned about the process, document my personal observations about how my body reacts each day, and list possible adjustments to my routine in the rubric “Quick Lessons and Notes”. It may be useful for someone who is very new to juice feasting like I am.

Quick Lessons and Notes:

1.           It’s better to start and finish your day with a green juice.
2.      I realized that I’m drinking too little juice. I was drinking about 2-2.5 quartz per day (2 liters), while David Rainoshek recommends drinking at least a gallon a day. I’m going to increase the amount of juice I drink per day so that I don’t feel hungry throughout the day. Otherwise, I’m going into a fasting mode, which is not my goal. My weight is only 95 pounds at 5.2”. So, if I want to lose any weigh, then no more than 2-3 pounds in my belly. I do want to gain muscle strength that probably can happen on juice feast if I exercise regularly.
3.      I need to buy supplements recommended on juicefeasting.com tomorrow. David suggests using many supplements, if you are on a tight budget then the three most essential supplements are spirulina, bee pollen, and MSM. You will also be fine with just juice. The supplements are supposed to help you body to get rid of toxins and rebuild. I’ll read more about each recommended product and decide which ones I’m going to use. 
4.            I will introduce skin brushing into my daily routine.
5.       Rinsing your mouth after drinking juice may be a good idea to protect your teeth.  
6.      The most important green produce to use every day in a juice are kale, celery, and cucumbers. Other than that you can add any ingredients you like and aim for larger variety.
7.       I’m running out of vegetables and fruits rather quickly, although I was making less juice per day that I should have. It means I need to take it into account while shopping.
8.      I consider going to a local farmer’s market when I can and look for an affordable and convenient in terms of delivery/pick-up location CSA program. This can potentially save money, but the main factor for me is that these vegetables, greens, and fruits will be locally grown which mean fresher.
9.       I need to take a before picture of myself tomorrow.
10.       Here is a link to the website that has a lot of information on supplements.
11.       Chewing your juice will help digestion and enrich it with enzymes.
12.       Drinking enough water is crucial for diffusion or dilution of toxins, so that they are eliminated without getting absorbed back into the system.
13.       Breathing deep will help to clean the lungs. This will happen naturally during a work-out, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, or pranayama exercise.

This is all for today. I’m drinking peppermint tea before going to bed, and my last note to myself is to try to go to bed earlier, because night time is when the body is doing its most important cleaning and restoring work.