Tuesday, May 31, 2011

My 60 day juice fast! Rebooting MY life!

After reading "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead", I decided to "Join the Reboot". My undertstanding is that there are no strict rules to their plan, so I'm going to follow their suggestions and modify only slightly to accomodate my crazy/hectic schedule and busy jobs on the road. I decided on a blog due to my poor memory! If someone asks me how I did it and what I ate, I'll at least have some inkling of what to tell them! I'll try to log food and thoughts for each day. Wish me luck! 



Step One of Prep: 

I placed the order for the Breville Juicer.  I decided on the juice fountain that is also sold on the "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" website.  Luckily, Overstock.com had it for just over $80 with free shipping.

I also ordered two different juicing books.  At first I thought I'd save the money and pick up a book or two at the library.  Then I pictured me juicing with the recipe book nearby and could picture the splatters and mess getting on the book.  Also, I like to write notes in my books for future reference.  This is especially helpful due to my very, very bad memory.  (Hey- maybe this juicefast will help that, too!)

What led me to order?  
The fact that I, too am fat, sick and heading for an early grave if I don't do something about it. 

I didn't always have a weight problem.  In fact -- I never had a "weight problem" until I went on steroids due to my Ulcerative Colitis.  The colitis is an issue within itself.  I won't go into detail here, but let's just say I have good days and bad days.  I don't always know what kind of a day it's going to be until it gets here.  Luckily, my colitis has been "less active" over the last few months.  To measure it on a scale of 0 to 100 (with 100 being no issues and 0 with the worst issues), I'd say I'm at a solid 80% right now.  I've been as bad as 25% -- which means it could have been worse --but it was really pretty bad.  So, I can live with 80% -- but strive for 100% -- meaning symptom free with NO issues.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this 60 day juice fast gets me up to that 100%.  In fact, I'm kind of counting on it!

I've learned a lot about food recently.  Through watching what I eat and see the "results" of the intake, I've been able to find a lot of "trigger foods" that cause issues with the colitis.  I can't touch colby cheese, but I'm fine with cheddar, mozz. and most other cheeses.  I also have to steer clear of high fiber foods.  If I eat a whole apple, it will bother me.  Same with a pear.  That's why I think the juicing will benefit me, as it removes the fiber and only leaves the liquid.

The Reboot:

The website for the reboot helps you through a 15 day cycle of plant based foods (5 days), juicing (5 days) and foods again (5 days).  I'm forgoing that plan due to the fiber issue.

Here's my plan for the 60 day juice fast: 

1.  Pick a start date for the 60 day juice fast.  Since I'm waiting for the juicer and books to arrive, I think a target date of June 12th.  That's a Sunday, so I have time to prep everything that day with no excuses.

2.  Before I start, I'll wean off of caffeine -- considering that once again I have succummed to the lure of Diet Mountain Dew!  I really need to break that habit, as no good comes from it.

3.  I'll juice for breakfast or lunch every day as soon as the juicer arrives.  This will help me transition off of "regular food".