Water fast 2013 Day 1

Day 1 of my water fast. 

Bloated belly. I JUST woke up, haven't consumed a thing..... My back aches, body is tight, belly protruding. Ready to figure this thing out!!! :) 

Let the water flow!!! 

Woke up and did a spit test I saw in Dr. Oz this morning. I think it's positive for yeast overgrowth, confirming my suspicion of possible candida overgrowth in my intestines causing the sever bloating. So instructions are to wake up, not eat or drink anythi and spit in a cup of water and wait 15-30 minutes and come back and look at it. 

The spit is suppose to sit on the surface from my understanding. As you see here mine is making these thick strings. That's the yeast. 

Here you can see globs on the bottom too! Eewww, nasty! 

After I did this I drank 24 oz of water and consumed 2 cups of coffee. 

I remembered I had some Dr. Schultze formula #2 in the cupboard, which I bought a couple months ago to clear this up and didn't get to the secon phase because my body wasn't ready. It is now & I believe will help clear out the crud in my intestinal lining. 

I took 5 and have been drinking heaps of water per the instructions, not to mention that's all I'm consuming, minus the two cups of coffee this morning. Interested about learning more about Dr. Schultze products? You can check out the rest of his intestinal line up or other products at https://www.herbdoc.com/index.php/Our_Products/Digestive-&-Elimination

I didn't mind missing lunch and my appetite has been down lately. I drank water :) 

When playing outside with my boys after lunch (it was HOT), Will asked for OJ Popsicles, that was so hard not to have one, it's liquid and sweet and cold, but nope, I want to do this. Water for me! 

I started feeling hungry this aft and tired (which isn't new), so I made some coffee again, 2 cups. 

I was struggling for energy and I've gotta take this a day at a time. I had 5 hard boiled egg whites tonight at dinner.My health to be there for my boys is more important than sticking to a fast. My purpose for this fast too is to reduce my bloat. I don't think 5 hard boiled egg whites are going to ruin me and I'm going to continue to fast and eat when I feel necessary. I guess I'm not fasting anymore but will continue to water fast & eat lightly. I'm going to try and stay away from all sugars, processed especially, but  natural as well. 

Bloat be gone!

A gal suggested I try water fasting to give my body a break and give it a chance to clean out things on it's own. While I'd like I say I'm excited about this because the idea of having my flat abs back would be nice, I'm not!!! I like food, I like juicing, I like to eat. I have heard of 3 day fasts, 7 day fasts, 21 day fasts and 40 day fasts most commonly, but I'm not looking forward to any of the above much less a one day fast. Did I mention I'm not looking forward to this? Seriously though, I'm positive about this and know that fasting can be beneficial. I don't care about weight loss at this point; although, I know I have gained weight recently as a lot of my clothes aren't fitting. But my body right now is mystery (according to my gp & endocrinologist). I contacted Beachbody about a month ago to see if they'd want to sponsor me to do a 30 day Shakeology cleanse. I got the generic automated email saying they'd respond within 24-72hrs and heard within that time frame that my question was being passed up higher in the corporation. But, no word from them. I figured they wouldn't buy into it anyways, probably too much legal liability. I understand. That led me to trying my juicing experiments the last couple weeks which have been great and I feel have helped a little but I STILL surprisingly enough have this bloating going on!!! 

One thing I'm allowing besides water is coffee. Hahaha there's probably reasons I shouldn't have it, but it's the one thing that will get me through the day with some pep in my step and I need all the pep I can get with my very active boys. So besides coffee, a little almond milk, and coffee syrup, and potentially creamer as I know I don't have enough coffee syrup to last me till grocery shopping on Sunday, that's what I plan to do. Most of the lovely fresh fruit and veggies I have for juicing will go towards snacks for the boys or will be frozen I use in future meals/recipes.

I'm in prep mode and I like having a plan!!  

I'm not sure how long I'll do this. I'm thinking anywhere from a day to a few days and I'll assess then. 

I don't recommend this if you're having random bloating because there can be many causes and while I believe something from my diet could be a contributor, I also don't leave out the possibility of it having nothing to do with my diet and it could be all my body that's going to do what it wants regardless of what I eat. I am simply sharing my life and my experience with you. This is not a post suggesting it for anyone. Some people have the potential to pass out or suffer more from not knowing what they are doing when fasting or medications being taken. So please advise a doctor, naturopath, dietician, or read up on fasting. I suggest Joel Fuhrman as a place to start reading and learning about  fasting and eating for health. 

Here's a photo of me two days ago. I like it all but the gut. I'm not even going to take my weight because as I mentioned before I don't care about weight. When I was at my healthiest this past December I didn't care about weight then and even though I'm 20lbs more now, I don't care about weight. I go by how my clothes fit. 

This is semi-embarrassing to put out there to the world but at the same time if you came I my front door this is how I'd look! I eat clean, exercise and sleep well. This doesn't add up. 

What to do with all that pulp?

As I have been on my juicing journey here the last we weeks I can't help but feel bad for throwing away all the pulp from the fruits and veggies. In this case I saved just the carrot pulp to make some tasty crackers. I have read some great recipes from burgers to muffins, but this cracker idea caught my eye or shall I say taste buds. Since struggling with bloating lately, my intake has been small of just about everything as my stomach fills up quickly. So these turned out nice and light and were a great hit with the boys too! Will helped me make them while Ben washed up the juicer from the carrot juicing process. I enjoy time in the kitchen with my babes so much!!! The recipe to follow.

My water boy :)

Freshly squeezed lemon

Braggs liquid aminos

A little taste test :)

Haha, so fun :) Thank you God for JOY! 

Carrot pulp, lemon, liquid aminos, (not shown 1/2 cup flaxseed meal being added. William sampled that as well! Hehe)

Flattened on parchment paper, scored and put into the oven.

All done, I  started to break them up a little bit.

The finished product. Mmm crunchy and soooo good!

Ingredients: 

3 cups carrot pulp

The juice of one lemon

1 T Braggs liquid aminos

1/2 cup Bobs Red Mill Flaxseed meal

(Additional water can be added for a softer cracker -- I made these to be crunchy)

Directions: preheat oven to 170 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Line tray with parchment paper, flatten pulp mixture and score. Put in oven for 5 hours. 

Enjoy!!! 

You could use any pulp mixture with these, I wanted these to be solely carrots. Additional add-ins could be chia seeds, sunflower seeds, and whatever else your brilliant mind can think of! Please feel free to comment and leave suggestions below! I'd love to hear what your thoughts are! 

Day 5 Juicing

1 Liter water upon rising 

Morning boost: coffee 

Breakfast: 

3 Granny Smith apples 

1 bunch kale 

Lunch: 1 scoop tropical strawberry Shakeology

1 scoop ON's Gold Standard protein

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1 banana

5 strawberries 

Dinner: 

1/2 pineapple

2 green apples

5 carrots 

Late night snack pb2:)

I will continue juicing & smoothies next week, this has been a great week& my belly bloat has gone down significantly! This is my final day of reporting my juicing experience. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!  :)

Juicing Day 4

I was hungry last night like 2am, so I got up to mush a banana & drink some water. 

1 liter water this morning followed by 1 cup of coffee, follow by breakfast. 

Breakfast

5 carrots

1 grapefruit 

2 cups spinach 

1/2 pineapple 

I had two eager helpers this time too! :)

There's my beautiful breakfast!!! Mmmm it was soooo good! 

Cleaning is fun too!!

Lunch

2 cups kale 

2 cups Simply Orange Orange juice 

BLENDED 5 minutes 

Pour over ice 

Warning: kind of chunky! :)

Afternoon boost: coffee 

At dinner: 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar & 8 oz acai berry juice

My dinner: yoplait strawberry banana yogurt smoothie w/2 cups almond milk, 1/2 cup added frozen mixed berries, & 2 bananas (I'm hoping all the extras will fill me up enough to sustain me through the night where I won't wake up hungry in the wee hours of the morning).

Forgot to take a picture of my lovely creation. Ah well, there's always tomorrow! :) 

Late night, can't sleep, hungry snack: 1 banana mushed 

Juicing Day 3

Excited because I'm starting to feel a little lighter. I started this journey at 143.2 and I've been in a stead weight gain the past few months despite working out and clean eating, it just keeps creeping up. My diet hasn't been perfect but it hasn't been terrible. I know my digestion was off, the bloating and weight gain and pain are my main motivators to continue doing this everyday. Haha, I say everyday and I'm on day 3! I was restless last night at bedtime! I was tired but couldn't get comfortable. This has been me for a while now and it's where I would have gone downstairs in the past to have a snack, but it would have been an emotionally fueled snack, aka not needed as well as one regretted the next morning! I turned on some Joyce Meyer and poured out my heart to God and started a new habit, which is hard but is for my best benefit and I am proud of! 

Morning: 1 liter water, 1 cup of water 

Breakfast: 

5 carrots

1 grapefruit

1/2 pineapple

1 cup spinach 

Oooh yeeeaaaaahh! I could get used to this!!! This is the best yet! Mmmmm! 

Lunch: 

2 cup spinach 

2 mandarin oranges

10 strawberries 

1 banana 

BLENDED

Afternoon boost: coffee

At dinner: 2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar in 8 oz water 

My dinner: 1 strawberry banana yoplait smoothie pack w/2cup spinach,1 cup almond milk, 1 added banana 

Drank it again before I took a pic!!! Oh well, here's my empty cup! :)

Juicing Day 2

Here I go on Day 2, no headache so far but don't feel any major difference otherwise. I am hungry but only because I have the option. I'm downing 1 liter as we speak and plan to make a grapefruit/carrot mixture this morning for breakfast. 

Breakfast: 

1 grapefruit

5 carrots

My helpers!! In go the carrots! Veggies first, then fruit. 

Judge #1 approved. Judge #2 was convinced he did not want to try :)

Lunch:

1 bunch of Kale 6-8 stalks

1/2 pineapple 

Ben didn't like it. Will didn't even try it. It could grow on me. 

Afternoon boost: coffee

Dinner: 

Vegan tropical strawberry Shakeology 

1 cup pineapple

1/2 cup frozen berries 

1 cup almond milk 

1 cup water 

I forgot to take a picture before I drank it all, hehe!! :) 

Juicing Day 1

Today is Day 1. I'm a bit tired this morning. My body aches as it has started to for a couple months now. My lower back, hips, and my guts just feel yucky. Hence why I'm doing this juice fast. I have a headache this morning too. I don't normally get headaches, so this is weird. 

I'm taking this slow and I really want to get in tune with my body, so I'm going to listen to my body as far as how much to juice and when. I would have already made and consumed my Shakeology for breakfast by now and I'm making sure I stay hydrated so I'm getting in 4 cups of water before I have my juice. 

Aaaaaannnd I decided to make up my own recipe for Breakfast. Haha!! I'm not sure what I'm doing or how it'll taste but that kind of makes it fun!!! :) 

1 bunch of romaine lettuce hearts 

1 cups spinach

10 strawberries

2 braburn  apple

1 thumb sized piece of ginger

Note to self: look up nutritional value of ginger & find substitute -- I do not enjoy the taste of ginger! 

Lunch: 

1 1/2 cups spinach

1 bunch of romane hearts 

2 Braeburn apples

1/2 of cucumber 

Ben & Will helped this time!!! 

Prepping the ingredients 

Smelling the cucumber :)

Time to juice! 

Hmmm.... Sample anyone? 

Cucumber apple juice taste testers... 

I think he likes it! 

Big brother's turn....

Not approved!

Ben asked if he could have a little bit more. I decided a straw would be easier and he sipped away! 

And had some more!

And a little bit more! 

Lunchtime!!! 

Not too bad in taste. The cucumber is interesting and fresh. 

I'm certain coffee is a no-no when juice fasting but I had some this afternoon. I feel okay with it. It may not be ideal but I have the rest of my life to juice fast perfectly. I'm learning, having fun, and trying to better myself one good choice at a time.

The more I think about it, the more smoothies may make their way into this journey. We'll see!! 

Dinner:

One package of yoplait strawberry smoothie. Strawberries, yogurt & banana chunks with one added banana. 

So it looks like this is going to be more of a liquid fast than anything. I think the break for my digestion will be awesome and I'd like to do a only juice fast at a later date. Tomorrow is a new day. Looking forward to seeing how I feel. Overall today I was drained. I wasn't once hungry but I think the tiredness and lack of hunger are due to a previous medical issue. Headaches lingered a bit after the coffee this aft, so I don't know if my body was having a caffeine withdrawal this morning or if it was just the juice detox.