Juice Fast - Day 2

Last night was rough.  I had trouble sleeping because my legs and feet hurt so much. I think the herbs and spices that I added to last night's "dinner" gave me acid reflux.  Maybe that's why the other juice fasting recipes don't include them?

(Side Note About Acid Reflux: Every time I make Indian food for dinner I've had no acid reflux at all.  There's something about the combination of the spices that seems to aid in digestion.  I'm studying this and will later write about my findings.)

In spite of that, today I feel pretty energetic.

BREAKFAST
3 carrots, 1 stalk kale, 1 chayote, 1 pear, 1 apple, a heavy sprinkle of cinnamon
This looked like ditch water but tasted really good! Even Butterfly said it tasted drinkable. Amazing.

I've lost 3 pounds since yesterday. The amount of fruits and vegetables that I'm ingesting look like a mountain of food but is probably much lower in calories than the meals and snacks (cookies, brownies, cakes, fruit breads, etc.) that I typically eat (I don't eat snacks all the time. Really.)  I make almost all of our food from scratch but the calories still add up.  Our meals are going to have to become healthier for us to all benefit from this experiment of mine.

Today we're going into Chinatown to get fresh mangoes, bok choy, and bananas.  I love Chinatown.  I love the fresh produce, the crowds of local shoppers, the unfamiliar foods, and the challenge of leaving knowing more than I did when arriving. I'm looking forward to adding mangoes to my juices!

I'm still obsessing about food.  Maybe that's a good thing.  As I pay more attention to what the rest of the family is eating while I drink my juice, I realize that we are NOT getting enough fruits and vegetables. The USDA guidelines have changed to include 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day and I (like most Americans) have not bothered to change our eating habits to get healthier.  I think that cooking from scratch is a good start in having a healthier diet. After all, I know there are no additives or preservatives in most of what we are eating (gotta rethink the bacon thing) and I try to be very conscious of GMO foods (vegetable oil is a problem) but now I need to consciously add the fruits, vegetables, and fermented foods to our diet, too.

Juice Fast Recipes was kind enough to remind me to drink enough water while I'm fasting. So now I'm adding a glass of water for every glass of juice I drink. That will give me about 8 glasses of water, I think.

LUNCH
We were in Chinatown and I wasn't hungry, so I just drank water.

Chinatown was cool.  We brought back baby bok choy, bananas, mangoes, parsley, and beautiful bunches of kale. We saw the most beautiful and unusual greens while there; pepper plant greens, edible chrysanthemums, and  bean shoots (not sprouts). We'll go back later to pick some of those up to use in stir fries and chicken stew.  We also saw piles of banana flower buds.  I'm going to find out how to cook that so I can bring it home on the next trip into town.

DINNER
Family is eating leftovers: Indian eggplants and tomatoes, refried beans, rice, kalua pig, and broccoli salad
I'm drinking: 1 stalk kale, 1 baby bok choy, a handful of parsley, a handful of alfalfa sprouts, 1 mango, 1 banana, 1 Granny Smith apple, and a liberal shaking of cinnamon. I can't really taste the mango (so sad) and the banana is a strong flavor.  It's not bad.  If I'm still hungry later I'm going to juice 1 mango all by itself.

I'm beginning to get a headache.  I'm not sure if that's some detox going on or the result of hiking all over Chinatown and up in the Manoa hills near Lyon Arboritum. I'm also hungry for chewable food.  I'm not stomach hungry, I'm head hungry.  My tummy says it's plenty satisfied but my mind is playing nasty tricks on me saying, "I want sugar, I want rice, I want kalua pig, I want broccoli salad, I want to chew something!"

Tomorrow WILL be better. Right?