Juice Fast Reboot - Day 1

July 14, 2013

We just made our juices for breakfast and lunch. Lunch is going in a cooler for after church. 

As I was drinking my hot lemon-ginger water this morning I was feeling nauseous.  Sick.to.my.stomach. and what I would have, before, labeled as hunger. 

Then I tasted my first juice for breakfast. 

Blech. 

My stomach was altogether unhappy with me.

David added some crushed ice. 

I ironed my shirt for church.

I just sat down to finish my juice and I feel amazing relief! I'm not sure what is happening in my body, but the juice tastes better iced and I feel better now that it's 3/4 gone. ;)

Be back later for more updates from our first day!

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The Mean Green juice for lunch was horrid.  It was SO hard to get it down.  When I had to drink it again at dinner, I just couldn't finish it.  My stomach was not going to hold it in any longer. I am going to need some other recipe to get that stuff down.

I was feeling really icky just after my dinner juice.  I ended up in the bathroom with my first cleaning out.  It took until this evening for me to feel a little better.  I wasn't sure I was going to like the next juice, Peach Delight, but it really is refreshing.

The thing is, there is this taste with juicing. I can't explain it, but I remember it from YEARS ago when I tried a carrot juice someone made for me. It's distinct.  It's earthy.  And, well, I don't really like it.  In fact, I can even smell it in my house now. *shiver*

I've been adding crushed ice to my juices. They are much more palatable when they've been chilled. The Peach Delight had that *taste* when I first tried it, but now that the ice is chilled it, it's much more enjoyable.

I am burping Juice and, well, that's isn't so delightful.  ;)

In other news, my weigh-in tonight had me down another pound. :)  Yippee! 

Got in 25 minutes on the Wii and a Body Test this afternoon.  I'm feeling a little overwhelmed today and craving some quiet, alone time.  I escaped to my room with my juice and water bottle in hopes I'll get it.   I'm finding that I am feeling really thirsty today. That surprises me, because I thought maybe I'd want less water with drinking the juice and coconut water. (which is also gross!)  But, I'm being told that keeping my water up is important to avoid developing kidney stones while juicing. 

Water is is!!

Daniel Fast - Day Eight

June 17, 2013

Day Eight

Great day!

I'm on my own with seven of the children and we had a great day.  We got up on time, chores and breakfast were a little late, but overall it was a good start. We headed out for a couple of hours worth of gardening, transplanting flowers around the house. It was great. Felt good knowing I started the day with some productive activity.

Schooling, shopping, choring, all sorts of things got done today.  I felt upbeat and happy to be with my children.  The food thing isn't really bothering me much aside from just deciding what we will eat. I do feel like it's getting costly to feed all these people and stick with the diet.  I'm going to start using up our eggs for the little girls and save the nuts and seeds for the rest of us.  Two more days and Benj gets to move over to the modified fast. He's excited. ;)

I started reading the book, Eat to Live: The End of Diabetes.  I actually picked it up a couple of weeks ago and wasn't impressed. I sat down with it again today and am drawn in.  I'm reading his description of toxic hunger versus real hunger. Were I not on this fast, I think I would have just blown off his writing. Now that I'm experiencing what he's talking about, it holds a little more weight with me.  I don't want to be seeking out a man's way of diet right now, but I am intrigued with his ideas and what I'm learning about why my body is reacting the way it is right now. 

Still having pain in my ankle that I injured 8 years ago. It's been bothering me a lot lately, though I haven't damaged it again.  Otherwise I'm doing well. Joint pain, muscle aches, cramping, head aches, those are all gone.  I still have some tinges of lower back pain, but that is fading. 

Water is finally satisfying to me again.  I wasn't drinking much water at all because it was so bland. Now that I'm getting over my coffee fix and diet soda binges, it's refreshing again. I love feeling it's goodness and knowing that my body is healing with every swallow.

Looked at some old pictures with the children tonight.  Don't know if that was a good idea or not. So much time gone by in a flash.  My whole life I've disliked what I've seen in photos. So sad. Praying the Lord releases me of my preoccupation with my self and my image and enables me to walk in the freedom of sanctification, growing stronger and closer to Him.

OH!  I was in bed by 9:30pm last night!! That's another issue I need to work on. I stay up WAY too late.

Daniel Fast - Day Seven

June 16, 2013

Amazing day.

The sermon preached today was excellent, as usual. So fitting, though, with our fast and all I'm learning.  Even better, my 11yo son was fully engaged for the first time ever in the preaching. I watched him leaning forward, fully intent on every words spoken.

Then, after the sermon, I watched and listened as he approached our pastor to thank him for preaching on the person of Samuel. He told him how much it meant to him, how he relates to the message of obedience in his life, how he longs to obey and do better at home.  Preacher Gabe was fully of reassurance, courage, and hope for my boy.  Oh, how my heart wanted to dance!!!

I came home and had several great conversations with him.  For one of the first times ever, I cannot wait to wake up to a Monday morning because I get to work with my wonderful boy!!  Thank you, Lord!  Thank you for helping me tune out the wrong voices so I can tune in to the right ones.  I am so very grateful.

We had lunch with David's parents to celebrate Father's Day.  My sister in law was gracious and generous in preparing many foods that fit our Daniel Fast. They have done the fast before, so she knew the ropes.  Such a blessing.

We prepped a week's worth of food for David and Joshua tonight. They are going to be away for the week on a job.  I'm hoping everything we sent will keep them well fed and content.

I'm feeling better and better. Still some soreness in my lower back, but even with all the sitting today in the van and at church, I'm doing well.  David bought me some new shoes to wear at home and they feel so great. I'm noticing that I'm carrying myself more confidently. I have more energy. I'm definitely doing better with my temper and not so irritable.  I am THRILLED that I'm making some strong connections with my children right now. THRILLED.  Including the social networking in my fast has been hugely effective in my relationships.

This week being a single parent will be challenging, but I'm looking forward to it in a strange way.  I little more relaxed. A little less stress. A little more time to get things done.  I'm definitely planning to pace myself so I don't wear out quickly.

Got in all my water today. Easy peasy. :)

Day 2 - Vice Busting

January 29 - Day 2

Scripture Affirmation:

The God of hope fills me with joy and peace as I trust in Him.
"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13


Action: Build the habit of having water with you at all time. Determine the amount of water your body needs.

Body weight / 2 = targeted ounces of water per day.

For me, 104oz.

Build the habit of physically serving my husband in a special way. Determine the amount of time I will give to the nightly neck-rub.  15 minutes of focused time. (no baby, computer, tv, reading)

Afternoon Entry:

I didn't read this until now and I should have read it this morning. I got busy with choring and did not have my water bottle with me until almost lunch time. I came downstairs hunting for it and I WAS THIRSTY! I got 20oz down in a flash and have been drinking like that ever since. My body is really craving the water now that it's getting it. I'm at 80oz already today. I had a couple of cups of caffeinated coffee this morning, so I want to be sure to get in a couple extra bottles (20oz) of water, too.

The affirmation above is filled with words that swell my heart. Hope, peace, trust, completely, joy, confident, overflow, power.  These are all words I crave in my life...just like my body is craving this water. I can't get enough of the fact that the Lord holds out HOPE to me in the midst of so many areas in my life that feel like struggles. He offers me peace in the midst of the crazy chaos in my days right now. He calls me to TRUST HIM instead of relying on myself and my own foolish coping hangups. He promises me JOY and PEACE when I simply trust HIM instead of myself. He tells me I will OVERFLOW with CONFIDENT hope and He will show POWER in my life! Oh, how I am desparate to overflow with His goodness rather than my own fears and weaknesses. My God is a God of HOPE and He FILLS me...ME...with His joy and peace as I keep moving forward....trusting HIM.

Evening Entry:
160oz water, less 40 to account for 2 cups of caffeine. :)

Feeling Lost

I'm not even sure what my plan is this week.  Well, I guess my plan is no plan, really.  I have been up each morning at my 5am wake up to pray with my sweet husband and then out for my 1 mile walk, my oldest joining me today.  My sweetie and the boys have been getting in their pt in the mornings too, they even got in a quick swim after their run this morning. It was already that hot at 6am!!!

So, I'm doing pretty well getting back to that part of my routine. I haven't been logging, though, or blogging.  I didn't weigh-in Monday. I was just too scared to see the number. I didn't want to feel down about it, since I do think I worked hard to do well while on vacation. I didn't do well on our weekend of cookouts, however, so Monday I was hiding from the scale. *blush*

I'm still so super tired from our trip. The 1 mile a day is about all I can muster aside from the work of getting our home and hearts back in order.  I even caved on date night tonight and devoured my very own Mocha Chip ice cream.  Sigh.  I guess being tired and worn down weakens my resolve. 

So, for the rest of this week I'll put rest, walks, and more water on my goal list, praying those will strengthen me for making better choices.

Wednesday February 23, 2011 Recovery Mode

Today's Good Things:
Good day for lessons
Did well eating to recover from overeating yesterday
Fun night out mallwalking with the fam
Date with my dd to get hair cuts

Today's Not So Good Things:
Overslept and missed bible time
Still not getting in my 15's

Yesterday was going so well. Then I overate in a big way for dinner. Ended up feeling horrible that night too, and couldn't fall asleep until almost 2am. Blech. Not worth the calories, that's for sure!

Today I've been in Recovery Mode trying to clean out my system and make up for the ground I lost. I did pretty well. Grapefruit for breakfast, large salad for lunch, some dry cereal for an afternoon snack and a 6 inch. sub for dinner. We walked 1.5mile around the mall tonite too. So, I ended the day with 400 calories to spare. Add that to the 100 extra from a couple of days ago and I still have some work to do to break even. It's insane that one meal can undo a whole week's worth of work. Lesson Learned.

I'm still aiming for 1500 per day on calories and that's going well, except for last night. Ahem. Overall, it seems that I can use the 1500 as a good gauge. However, if I add in exercise, I do find I start feeling tired easily and a little weak. So, I will have to be sure to eat back my calories burned and keep watching for any loss of supply as I go.

I'm having a hard time getting in my water these days. I'm not sure why. It was never hard to drink more than my current goal. I was actually thirsty for that much water. But, lately, I just haven't wanted to drink it. I'm either not thirsty or the water just tastes blah. Oh well, it's not the first time I've forced something down because it's good for me. ;-)

I got some great reading done the other day in my book. I'm hopeful I'll have some time tonite to add a bit to my notes here. It all depends on Baby Dear, though. ;-)