Juice Fast

So last week I blogged about my Urticaria. After talking things over with Luis, doing some planning, and enjoying our last meal (Thanksgiving Feast) we started a juice fast last Friday. It was actually Luis's idea and although losing some weight would be nice, our main goals are to hopefully clear up some long-standing health problems we both have: Urticaria for me, sleep apnea/snoring for him. We could both go to the doctor and ask for some prescription and start loading ourselves down with meds to address these problems, but we both have very anti-med opinions and we try to avoid medication unless it is for life-saving purposes. We feel like pharmaceuticals are a slippery slope that we don't want to step on to at this point in our lives.
I already had a juicer from my attempt at eating clean two years ago. I did really well and juiced a ton for like a month, but then got distracted with work stress and reverted to my old habits, and put the juicer in storage.
It was scary at first; I didn't want to fail and I didn't want to be hungry all the time. Doing this with a partner, however, has made a lot of difference, and the fact that my spouse is on board helps a ton because I don't have to worry about the temptation of cooking for him at night.
The first two days were awful. I wasn't hungry but let's just say that fruits and veggies aren't my favorite and I had some serious food DT's. The second day was the worst. I had a non-stop migraine and I couldn't muster up the will to live, let alone the energy to get out of bed. I almost caved a dozen times, but thankfully it was a weekend and I had some leisure to just stay in bed most of the day. By the third day the migraines had died down and I had no problem getting up in the morning. By the fourth day the pep was back in my step and I decided to do the impossible: stop drinking caffeine.
Diet Coke has been my dark addiction for 12 years now. I used it to get through 4 am shifts cleaning the Eyering Science Center, late night study groups, and all-day classes. It got me through my student teaching when I had to wake up at 5 every morning, work until 4, drive home in rush-hour traffic, plan my lessons, and spend quality time with my new husband. It got me through the depressing first years of our marriage when I found out I was infertile and couldn't even drag myself out of bed some days. It got me through the intense physical labor of my job at the Vocational Center. It's what pulls me through the days teaching. It has become my secret weapon in an arsenal of tricks I use to juggle work, callings, full-time parenting on the weekends, housework, and my love life. And I've decided I'm giving it up.
I figure, what's the point of doing this juice fast if I'm still going to flood my body with toxic chemicals all day long every day? How can I cleanse my system and heal some of my health problems if I'm nursing a Coke can for most of my waking hours?
Well, it's been about a week now and to my surprise, I'm doing okay. I haven't cheated on my juice fast, and I've been completely caffeine free since Tuesday, with one exception yesterday. I am doing pretty well energy-wise, all things considered. I haven't noticed an improvement with the urticaria so far, but I've lost 5 pounds. I've learned some things about myself, my eating habits, and I've increased my tolerance for vegetables. Luis refuses to weigh himself until he's done so I don't know if he's lost any weight, but he's stopped snoring for the first time in 10 years and he's brimming with energy that he's never had before.
I'll check back in periodically to let you know how the juice fast is going, but for now my plan is to juice fast until Christmas, take a short break (to enjoy Christmas and to make sure I'm not building up a resistance to a lower calorie diet), and then go for another 3 weeks until my 30th birthday. That would be a very nice birthday present, I think- starting the next decade of my life with better health.