Juicing Detox: Day 3

When day 3 arrived, I realized I needed to approach this juicing detox differently. And when I say this I mean I had to dig a little deeper and look past the hunger pains, thoughts of cheeseburgers, and perhaps throwing in some true self discovery. For breakfast I put together all of the prettiest yellow colored fruits in my fridge, just to see what type of blend I would conjure up. Lemons, pineapples, oranges, peaches and then I decided on a splash of kiwi for color. It was so good.

I thought wow, I could definitely juice in the morning. And then it hit me.  I could not simply juice fruits all day long. All though fruit is indeed healthy, and it is all natural sugar, I still need a little salt intake to balance out my body. I was not too thrilled about juicing vegetables, especially since I really had not been forcing myself to make any. Not to mention, I only eat peas, asparagus and green beans when it comes to solid vegetables. So why would I be more excited about juicing others? So I played around with the juicer. I threw in some carrots, kale, spinach, onion, bell pepper and celery. I have to be careful when I am juicing though, because the device itself is so quick and easy, you can easily find yourself having fun and getting very carried away and you might accidently add too much jalapeño and the entire taste of your juice is overpowered by that one pepper.

By the time that juice was finished, I took a sip and found myself putting the mason jar back down and shook my head as I thought of a better way to approach this. I said to myself, ‘do I normally eat cold or room temperature veggies, or do I steam/heat them up?’ DING! That was it! I would take this fresh juice and heat it on my stove as though it were a soup. This would make drinking it a lot easier. So I heated this concoction on the stove and tried to drink it once it cooled down a bit. It was MUCH better. But if you ask me, it still smelled unkind and so like a shot of alcohol, I said “Cheers” and took it all down. Afterwards I immediately grabbed a bottle of water as if it were my alcoholic chaser just to flush the vegetable juice down and get the taste of pure greens out of my mouth. 

Later on in the day I decided to take myself to the swimming pool in my apartment complex. I had just drank 12oz of juice, so I headed downstairs with my towel, my medication music station on Pandora blasting through my headphones and just really took some time to pray to baby Jesus while I waded in the water. I just focused on clearing my mind and really accepting this challenge.  I did not want to go through this detox where I would always be thinking, is it day 10 yet? It is only day 3?? While the relaxation and water against my skin felt amazing, my meditation did not last long as my Iphone began to warn me that it was dying. That is not to say that I could not meditate without music, but with Georgia heat and the sun beaming down upon you, not even frosty the snow man could withstand the heat and still have a dripping smile on his face. That is just not real life in the south. And by the time I got ready for bed and felt like I wanted a snack, I thought ‘no, THIS is not real life. You know you want to walk in that kitchen and get a cookie.” But I fought against it. This determined woman was going to keep her self IN bed and pretend that that cookie, was something I would just have to see in my dreams. On to day 4...

Juicing Detox: Day 2

It is truly not in my character to wake up to a brand new day and feel angry. I think this proved to me that hunger is REAL and that it can certainly be like an angry monster. My body is empty. And my mind has been trying to process all of this. Today after I shook off the fact that I could not go to the kitchen and cook up some delicious cheese eggs, a waffle and some fresh mango, I felt like a 5 year old. I was frustrated as I brushed my teeth . I thought, this shows me just how much we look forward to food and how it truly affects the way that we feel. I decided to have apple, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, pineapple and pear. Talk about delicious. But I had to turn this juice in front of me into a mind over matter meal. Remembering that day 1, 2 and 3 are indeed the hardest of all detoxing days. I told myself, if you made it through one, you can do two.

Day 2 has proven to be THE hardest for me. I drank a total of six 12 oz. juices and I knew I would add another to that by day 3. I tried to keep myself occupied during the day. On a Sunday I usually head to church and then traditionally my friends and I have brunch. We eat, we laugh and feel the true buzz of an amazing mimosa if we deem it necessary.

It is the ultimate satisfaction.

Instead I had my juice, and went to church. During the service I was doing alright at first. Really enjoying the choir and preparing myself to be filled with a few good words. For some reason this Sunday the pastor decided to start talking about cornbread, candied yams, fried chicken, collard greens…(sometimes I forget I live further south now so this type of talk is typical.) I did not mind his idea of hearing about food but when I remembered how all of that tasted, I began to truly yearn for it. I kept thinking WHY am I DOING THIS TO MYSELF. But truthfully, I am doing exactly what my body needs. Filling it with nutrients and all of the things my body does not see on a regular basis.

By the time church was over I just wanted something to stop the hunger. So I headed to Whole Foods . I already get this nostalgia type of feeling when I walk into this store for anything. Everything is so fresh, organic, new, and delicious. I headed over to get my juice and as I stood in line waiting I just took in every single thing going on around me. No, not the people, but the food. The woman stuffing her mouth with the free samples of bread, the little boy at the hot bar telling his mom he wanted a piece of cake. Even the fruit looked as if God himself had placed each and every one from the garden of Eden, on those stands. When the lady handed me my juice I just pretended everything around me was a blur. My mission was to get my juice and get out. It is amazing how temptation can be all around you. And it is up to you to be strong and do what it takes to withstand it.



I would say for a good part of the afternoon my face stayed scrunched up like an old lady. My friends laughed at me but they also understood. One told me, ‘day 2 is not easy, but once you get past day 3 you will feel better.’ Talk about having some faith in this process. I agreed with them and pressed on with my day. By the time night fell I was starving for juice because I had gone too long without making another one. In attempts to find another Whole Foods, since I was not home, I found myself made the wrong turn while driving 3 times, and I could not remember where I parked for the life of me. I felt like a special child. At that point that is when you realize detoxing truly is a shock to your body. During the year I was eating healthy but still not giving my body all the nutrients it needs from fruits and vegetables. You have to train your body in order for it to run the way you want it to. Juiced veggies and fruit is now like healing water. When I am hungry it is a relief to my body, instantly.

This detox is teaching me a lot. And perhaps that is its true purpose. That does not mean I would not have a food orgasm from eating a piece of cheesecake if it were placed in front of me right now. It just means I am learning to truly slow myself down, treat ME the way I should be treated in the form of being more healthy and learning that any change is truly up to us. Having the will power to keep doing whatever it is that you are doing, no matter what the distractions around you may be.

During this detox I find myself saying ‘Jesus be a fence’ when I see food. It is helping. But I sure hope that by the end of this detox Jesus has that fence door wide open, so that I can run to the nearest food item I can find.

And I just know it will taste GOOD.

Juicing Detox: Day 1

Last night I had a dream that I was at a family reunion and everyone kept passing around buttered bread and turkey legs. In the midst of all of that passing, I myself felt like passing out when I realized I could not have any of it. Talk about mind over MATTER, my mind was literally wrapping it self around the idea that day 1 of my juicing detox was officially HERE.

I have never in my LIFE opened my eyes after a long nights rest and thought, “Damn I want a cheeseburger.” But today, it is exactly what I was craving. Instead, it was off to juice land. I headed on over to a smoothie place near my apartment that makes fresh juices. It seemed as though on my drive over I immediately began to feel a bit of envy toward the people sitting on the patio of Panera. Eating their little pastries and drinking their hot brown coffee just the way I like mine. I knew that this feeling towards these strangers was a result of me being able to see myself doing the exact same thing. And I knew just how good it felt.

When I walked in to get my first juice, the guy said to me, ‘Acai fit shake right?’ and as I began to smile like the Cheshire cat reality was right their to remind me that my duty was to walk into this place and say, ‘Not today. Let me get apple, kale, carrots and strawberries juiced, please.’ He looked at me in dismay and I just blurted out, "I’m detoxing.” since I figured he was wondering what was up with the sudden change. Or perhaps I was saying it to remind myself of my new life for the next, how ever so many days.

It was not as exciting this visit when he called my name to let me know my order was up. This showed me in this moment just how much food caters to our feelings.

The first juice of the day was actually pretty good. It was cold, fresh and tasty. Something I felt in my mind as I was drinking it, would taste amazing after a chicken biscuit from chick fil-la. It is amazing how loud the fat kid inside of you becomes when she is not fully satisfied. Its unstoppable. Like a bully almost. Now, I am slender, fit and I eat healthy for the most part, so don’t get me wrong in that department. But I believe everyone has an inner fat kid. And mine is the twin of little Debbie. I have THE worst sweet tooth in the world, and I think bread and cheese was Gods way of truly blessing his children. Needless to say, this detox is much needed.


Before my second juice of the day, I took a trip to the international farmers market in Georgia. I had never been to this market prior to this juicing journey and I can not explain the chaos that went on inside of my body as I walked inside. There was food EVERY WHERE. My roommate decided to come along to join me in the hunt for fruits and veggies, since she has done this detox before. I guess it was a good thing because the more she steered the cart the more my eyes steered toward the fresh coffee stand, the pastry window that looked like every single item tasted the way it looked, DELICIOUS. I kept thinking Jesus be a FENCE! And in a sense He was. The market was so crowded. People pushing and shoving, waiting in line with their carts just to go down the spinach isle.

So I had no choice but to get what I came for, and leave.

I was impressed with how much money I saved getting all this overly healthy food.  My entire cart was almost filled to the top and my receipt read $67.10. Not bad right?  I thought, maybe this detox won’t be so bad after all.

The remainder of my day was truly a struggle unlike any other. I began to clean up the apartment just to get my mind off of food. I went out with friends and I felt like a crack head when I saw someone walking by with french fries. Or how about the kid I saw who threw away the other half of his pizza. I felt like going over and yelling, ‘WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU! JUST THROWING AWAY GOOD PIZZA LIKE THAT!'

Thank God for the support of good friends.

I realized in all of these moments of anger, being annoyed, hungry, agitated that there are so many people in this world who can not afford three meals a day, if any. What is their world like? Am I now feeling apart of that? And if so---God bless the homeless and underfed. Because I truly can not imagine not having anything, at all.

Around 5pm I began to sing and rap about food while I waited for my friends. I thought maybe I was becoming delusional but then again, my inner fat child. I did not want juice and my thoughts of water was that it should only be use for boats to float on. I did not want any of it. I wanted---a burger from 5 guys. I wanted---some oodles and noodles in the orange pack and I do not even eat that shit because it is terrible for you. But I knew it would taste amazing. When true hunger strikes, you will take whatever, wherever, however you can get it to silence. But I knew my “whatever” was waiting at home. Spinach, kale, onion, garlic, bell pepper. This time I heated it on the stove, pretending it was a soup. But it sure did not taste like soup. Where was the salt? What do you mean I can not add any? I felt like I wanted this day to be over so day 2 could already be here.

Needless to say I treated myself to one more juice after my “dinner”.  Mango, kiwi, strawberry, apple, pear. It was delicious. But I realized it did not go as well with my Netflix movie like a bag of popcorn would. So I just sucked it down and turned in early.

The Green Light

I wish I was talking about the movie Juice, perhaps at that point I would be a bit more interested in sharing with you my journey of "growing up in the hood". But in this case, we are visiting an entirely different subject.

I have decided to take on an entirely new realm of being "healthy". Welcome to the world of fruit and vegetable juicing, also known as, detoxing. A good friend of mine actually introduced me to juicing when I moved to Atlanta earlier this year. I caught her just in time to see what actually goes on during a 10-day juice detox.

For 10 days my friend used a hi-powered juicer to turn fresh fruits and vegetables into liquid form. During those 10 days, she could not have any solid food what-so-ever. Even the pulp remains from orange juice were not permitted to enter her digestive track. I felt as though this were some type of 'get slim fast' diet or perhaps a smart way to save on buying groceries. Everyday I would see my friend and she was as happy as a lark. I could not wrap my mind around the fact that she was only drinking juice from morning until bedtime and had a smile on her face. I thought perhaps she had slipped a few mickeys in her morning blend, but if not, the effect of juicing had to be giving back something good. She let me sample a few of her juices throughout the 10 days. I must say that they did not taste as bad as I thought they would. But why would they?

 

Once my friend arrived at her 10th day of juicing, she had lost 12 lbs. I was amazed at how a transformation such as this could happen in such a short period of time. She reminded me that just because she was not eating did not mean she was not giving her body the nutrients that it needed to function. She took away all of the sugary and processed foods that were sticking and becoming apart of her body. That is when it clicked for me, and it just made sense.

She invited me to her juicing seminar a few months later, since I was interested in possibly juicing. This seminar was more than informative, it was persuasive and impressive. Not only did I enjoy the presentation itself, but I got the raw facts about the benefits of juicing. It is crazy how ignorant we can be about the foods that we intake and why pharmaceutical companies are so rich. I mean think about it. You try to eat healthy, for some this eating habit will last longer than others, but for most we still ingest high amounts of processed food. Those foods are slowly damaging our bodies and when something eventually becomes so damaged its becomes evident by how we feel, we want to fix it. This is where medicines come into play, and we pull out a pocket full of money just to some how 'get healed'. Oh but we have a lot to learn, dont we?

I suppose I should blame my tongue for giving me the green light on this detox. If all the fruits and vegetables juices tasted worse, I would have easily declined. But I always find myself loving a challenge, and this notion of mind over matter would truly prove itself to be true, to me, if I could get through juicing for the next 10 days.