The Juice Fast Journal

Before Day 1.

That morning, I drank about 1.5 liters of water. Then about 10-15 minutes later, I drank calamansi water. Then after an hour I drank a green smoothie. For lunch I ate steamed salmon and steamed toge (mongo bean sprouts), no oil, no salt, no pepper. Drank lots and lots of water in between. For merienda, I had a banana-strawberry-kangkong smoothie, no water. I think it was about 12 saba bananas, and maybe 2 kilos of strawberries, with the sepals on (that's what you call those green leafy-looking things on the berries right? Oops, I hope my botany teacher isn't reading this!) and the leaves of a whole bunch of kangkong. No water in the actual smoothie. Drank water thirty minutes later. For dinner, I planned to put two watermelons in a blender, but after the first watermelon I felt full!  (Maybe it's the fiber from the seeds? I don't throw the seeds out; I let the blender crush them. Don't do this if you are using a regular blender, k? I use a 2-horse power blender)  Anyway, I think I'll eat this other melon for breakfast when I begin breaking the fast. Before bedtime, I took some tea to cleanse the digestive system so that the nutrients from the juice for the upcoming week would be more easily absorbed. I put my blender and rice cooker away!
I slept at 10.

Day 1.

I woke up my usual time, around 6, but I didn't get up until 6:30 :) 

Pre-breakfast: 
I didn't notice if I was feeling sluggish. 
 No cravings. Although I did make mental notes on where I wanted to eat and what food to order after the fast :)
I took the elevator going up to my floor for a change. (I think I won't take the stairs going up this week to conserve energy. Oops, I did it going to the gym/badminton court around noon.Nope I didn't exercise. I went up without my gear just to say hi to the folks and take this photo as a spectator. :) But it was just one flight in between. . I didn't feel deprived watching them play. I was thinking about something for Saturday. 

Woot! I received a barrage of prayer requests. Whoa. How do I pray for them all? 
All in all, I drank 6 bottles of juice spaced approximately 2.5 hours from each other, with lots of water in between. Some of the juice I'm drinking isn't organic. I have a feeling the apples are from China. But oh well. It has some nutritional value still. I thought about cashew nut milk someone gave me for free, but I was thinking there would be solids in it. And I want this to be a completely solid-free juice fast. I'm thinking of freezing it to make ice cream after the fast. I could use the vanilla bean I got in Silang, Cavite and the rest of the saba that's almost ripe. Maybe a few cacao nibs. Hmmm hmmm hmm. Oooh yum. Sige :) Anobayan??!!!! I am not supposed to be thinking of food.
Went to PW at 7pm, chatted a bit with folks, but I didn't feel like hanging out so I could get home early and sleep early. I wrote some reflections.Then went to bed.
I wasn't hungry on Day 1! Even though people were talking about food and how much they miss it. I also felt alert. Uh-mazing.

Day 2

I woke up earlier today. Around 4am :) I beat the alarm by 2 hours! I drank .650 l of water, then about an hour later, I drank calamansi water with a bit of probiotics made from honey.
Morning exercise: Sit-ups
A thought I had on my way to work: I think I need to gargle or brush after drinking so I don't stain my teeth with the juice, especially the beet-pineapple juice :)
I wrote only one thing on my agenda for the day. :) Which I finished only half of!
9:23. I am a little hungry. Time for more juice. I am supposed to sip the juice slowly, I think, to let it predigest in my mouth. But oh my. I was gulping down a lot of juice. Hungry hungry.
I'm a little sleepy.
I wanted to hang out after prayer watch, but after a 30-minute meeting I decided go. 
Slept at 9:30pm :) Yay!

Day 3

I beat the alarm, but only by a few minutes. I drank a cup of calamansi water. Then I drank another .650 liters of water with a bit of probitics. (Yesterday, the calamansi-honey probiotic concoction didn't taste too good, so I drank the calamansi and probiotics apart from each other)
I am not feeling as alert as I was on Days 1 and 2. I even sent a text to someone it wasn't meant for :P
I have a windburn on my upper lip. I think tomorrow I should use a straw. 
I'm going online later to check prayer watch live stream. Then sleeping right away.
I am trusting in God for supernatural strength on Saturday. :)
I'm also a little cold.
Checked in with an accountability partner who is also struggling. 
I tell myself to smile intentionally.
On the upside: I was at a meeting and someone told me I looked younger. :) Someone brought green juice to the meeting and offered me some. Another person said, if I drank that I'd start looking like an infant. :) :) :)
I wasn't sure I could make it to PW tonight. I even told someone I'd just catch it on livestream, but I was in Makati in 30 minutes! I was only 3 minutes late. Oh yez! Caught up with my former dgroup leader :) She's the reason I made it to the first ever Volunteers Party in 2011 :) Love it :)
Ugh! I have a zit near my nose. It hasn't erupted but I know it's about to. Oh please, please, don't let it come out on Saturday! 
I felt more alert in the evening. Weird.This time I wanted to hang out and 'visit' after PW. As in. But I left right away. Slept at 9:30.

*A sidenote: A coworker's dog started drinking green juice and the mange went away. Hmmm.... Vaughn??? Sydney???

Day 4

I beat the alarm again! This time I woke up at 5. Drank .5 l water. Did some crunches without weights. After 30 minutes I drank .650 liters water with 4 calamansi. Then I drank another 1.5 liters of water with liquid honey probiotics. Got to work at 7:35!  I took the escalator but I didn't climb. I just let it bring me to my floor. :) First time in 2012 and in a while :)
Windburn is gone. Zit looks unsure if it wants to come out or not though. Urgggh.
I noticed my lack of alertness yesterday in a draft I wrote in email. So funny when you are not 100% :)
This morning though, I feel more alert, and I thoroughly enjoyed Quiet Time. Looking forward to PW later :)


Day 5

I took a birthday leave from work. The problem with not juice fasting at work and doing errands (I went to LTO to renew my license and did some errands for tomorrow's outreach) is the absence of the water cooler. The physician at LTO said my blood pressure was pretty good. I think it went up a bit though when this lady cut me in the line. Urgh. Why do I let things like this get to me? I should be able to let it go. I look healthy in my new license picture. The zit is still there and it is red, though :(  I think I felt dehydrated by the end of the day, even though I was drinking only liquid. So I just drank lots of water in the evening.

Day 6

Outreach day! I'm not hungry. Just super excited. I drank juice and lots of water while waiting for others to arrive, but I don't think I drank enough water, at the outreach. Zit is still there, but it is smaller. 
Sooo tired, but feeling uber blessed. I missed PW tonight. I'll catch the youtube video tomorrow. Lots to share. Next time na lang. I slept at 10 but it felt like 11.

You can't see the zit in this pic. Yay. 

Day 7

I drank calamansi water. Then .650 l of water. I drank some juice for breakfast and some more water. For lunch, I ate out with family. Mixed reviews about the weight. My sister said I looked the same. My brother-in-law said he thinks I got thinner. I feel thinner, but no one else has said anything really. I ordered a Salad ala Judy Ann (no dressing), then for a main I had a large brown rice risotto (no oil and butter) and Salad ala Fr. JG Bernas SJ (no dressing, no cheese) And for dessert I had another brown rice risotto. Regular. Drank water in between. For a snack, I ate 6 whole pieces of saba. I drank two bottles of juice, .650 liters each, before dinner. I think I'll drink more juice a little later. Tomorrow, I'm back to drinking green smoothies for breakfast :) Yay!

Some observations : 

I noticed that I did get a lot of brainstorms this week, but they were big picture brainstorms. I wasn't very detail-oriented, and in fact, I sent a couple of emails/texts to the wrong people and in some emails, the wrong attachments. There's a reason why we are discouraged to not plan anything or make major decisions during a fast! I won't plan any events during the week when I do a juice-only fast next year. My bad for 2012. But lesson learned.

What say we do a juice fast one day a week every week in 2012? :)

The Juice Fast Journal

Juice-only Fasting : Can a Skinny Person Do It?

Can a skinny person go on a juice-only fast?

Most literature out there seems to say 'yes', although I ran across a few that say 'no', especially if one has anemia or eating disorders.

For the studies that say 'yes', it is counterintuitive and surprising to read that a thin person can actually gain weight after a fast!

I have several contacts in Raw Food in the Philippines (most were overweight and one who was skinny) who have gone through juice-only fasts and came out healthier in the end. Very interesting eh? :)

I am going to a do a juice-only fast for a week beginning tomorrow. I am 5'1 1/2, 104 lbs. Skinny :) I'll let you know how it goes :)

For exercise, I will stop going to the gym and badminton courts and just take walks and do simple stretches for my back.

I know at least three other people doing the same thing and we will check in with each other daily.

You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. (Prov 27:17, The Message)

Here are a few before pics:



No running...

No badminton, no gym... (sniff, sniff)

No late night socializing...

Just energy conservation, devoted to things that are Most Important.

An update soon!

Juice-only Fasting : Can a Skinny Person Do It?

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #12: Rawkin' Anniversaries

rawkin' choc-lit cake

(Sergei Boutenko's recipe from 12 Steps to Raw Foods by Victoria Boutenko)

I celebrated my first raw anniversary to rawkin' results, health-wise! ( a while back, I'll admit - I just haven't gotten around to blogging about it, 'til now ) Thanks to Jhoey of Pinoy Organics who asked about the garden  prompting me to blog about it as well as my raw journey the past year. So here goes:

Thank God for helping me discover strength and added health benefits through raw foods!

* I don't have dry, blood-shot eyes anymore (goodbye, artificial tears!)

* I have loads of energy (I signed up for my first badminton tournament ever - I never could before because I always ran out of steam before I could complete the requisite three games; I ran in a race, I am able to go to the gym daily, as well as do 2 15-minute walks a day and I can take the stairs everywhere, even carrying all my abubuts - gigantic lunch bag, purse, badminton bag, water bottle)

*Update: From August-December 2010 I had 2 migraines. January-October 30 2011 I also had only 2 migraines. Compare this to pre-2010 when I had migraines constantly. I also can now survive a migraine without taking prescription medicines. 

* I still have a few health issues - maybe I'll blog about them, maybe I won't. I'm still deciding.

Thank God for the nice hobby that was brought about by an excess of compost material! Since I had so much of it, I planned to just fertilize the garden naturally, but soon the soil just seemed to brim with life and gardening just came naturally. I love how now, a year later:

* Our garden is a few degrees cooler

* I got my dad to get interested in gardening as well!

* I have fun remembering all the pesticide-free goodies from the garden I got to enjoy: chesa, avocado leaf tea, mustasa, malunggay, Philippine mangoes, piko mangoes, atis, bayabas, buko, and aloe vera. 

* I am part of a Philippine-based raw food support group.

* I am able to assert myself at restaurants

* I am still in awe of the simple joys of getting my hands in the soil to create little grooves for seeds to nestle in, and a garden season later,smelling freshly picked produce

Best of all, I love how gardening itself reminds me of God's hands-on work. He spoke everything else into existence but He man by hand. And even though I often make mistakes - I've caused weeds to die (!),  I've forgotten to water plants at times - He never does. He knows just what each plant needs.

Apart from the Vine, no branch can bear fruit. 

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #12: Rawkin' Anniversaries

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #11: Semi-tree ripened, pesticide-free bananas

yummy!

murado, red variety 

Aren't these great? I have a co-worker whose housemate came from Romblon who got these bananas for free. For free! According to her, the people from her housemate's hometown usually prefer fast food to fresh, free fruit. Wow, would I like to trade places with one of them! 

They sure were a nice break from my regular supply of organic, but picked-unripe-from-the-tree saba, lagkitan and lakatan!  So much sweeter and creamier too, with a different texture. Ooooh, how I loved them!

This got me thinking - how many of the banana varieties from the Philippines have I actually tried? There are about 7,107 islands in my country but so far, I am embarrassed to admit I have only tried Senorita, lakatan, lagkitan, saba, and those perfect-looking, spotless mutant bananas from the supermarket. 

One of my favorite teachers, Bartholomew J. Laihiff, SJ challenged my history class to prioritize exploring  the Philippines over venturing out of the country. I realize it is not too late to do this. And when I do, I think I will try to check out wild bananas instead of those pretty lakatans sold at road side fruit stands.  (Aside from bananas, there are also a lot more mango varieties to be discovered.  And I'm not even talking about hybrids. I was speaking with a farmer from Nueva Ecija and they have red mangoes.)

What varieties of mangoes/bananas do you have in your hometown? What should I be looking out for? Kontactr me!

Now, if I can only find banana-type pushpins for my Philippine map!

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #11: Semi-tree ripened, pesticide-free bananas

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #10: Famous Fruitarians

Steve Jobs used to be a raw foodist. A fruitarian, to be precise.

Legend has it that he was trying to beat a deadline to come up with a name for his new company, and threatened to call it Apple when they couldn't think of one in time.

He was once a subscriber to Just Eat an Apple, Natures First Law's raw newsletter in the late 90s.

Back when he was an Ashton Kutcher-esque fruitarian

I'm not sure how long he was on an all-fruit regimen but he admitted that sometime later, he became a "garbage can like everyone else" (Got this from Raw Food Controversies, by Frederic Patenaude). In 2004 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but surgery helped remove it. There's speculation about what he has now (which caused him to resign from Apple) and what kind of treatment he is receiving, but I am hoping that he somehow gets into raw again! (Not that it is a panacea,  but it does help!)

* * *

I'll be honest - I wasn't that impressed with Apple products when I started using them. Even though we were five minutes away from Microsoft in Redmond, and a lot of our "clients" were Microsoft millionaires, my "office" computer was a Bondi Blue Mac - it was so cute, but I hated it because it was always getting bogged down. My good friend Tin got her brand new iPod and Mac laptop bundle on a student discount and in less than a year she had to have the laptop serviced. Although some of my friends are more than satisfied with their Macs and wouldn't ever "go back" to other computers. Good for them :D

Bondi Blue Mac-ing in Microsoft country

I do enjoy other Apple products now - I think having a Kindle (not an Apple product) and Evernote (not an Apple product) on an iPod is one of the best things ever to have while waiting for Filipino time events to start :D

And I loooved Toy Story and Monster's Inc. by Steve Job's Pixar Animation.

Stuff Raw Foodists Like #10: Famous Fruitarians

Langka Smoothie

I loooove langka. I especially like in a langka-luya smoothie! (Thanks to Asha Peri for introducing me to do this!). Here is a variation of langka-luya that you can use if you are out of gata :D

Try this recipe and let me know  how you like/don't like it. Reviews welcome!

Ingredients:

1-2 cups fresh carrot juice
2-3 cups langka, seeded
1 T fresh turmeric
1 T fresh ginger

Preparation:

Just blend everything in a high-speed blender. Experiment with putting in big pieces of unjuiced carrot :D

or

For regular blenders - Put in the carrot juice and add the langka pieces little by little. Chop the turmeric and ginger before adding them in.

Langka Smoothie

Mulberry Smoothies

So how did everyone enjoy the long weekend?

I went on an amazing  retreat that I highly recommend. So blessed to have been part of it! Let me know via kontactr if you want to know more about it.

Since other people prepared the food, I wasn't able to eat all raw - had steamed veggies and fish. (Yes, yes, since I am unable to take locally available vitamin B12, I decided to eat raw or steamed fish  - usually salmon - once a week) The first night I ate fried string beans and some sauteed fruit and veggies - I think I ate a little bit of the breading so I started to itch, but praise God nothing other than some redness occurred!

Anyhoo, on to the post...

A few days before leaving for the retreat, I enjoyed a mulberry smoothie - thanks to Monina Carandang of Herbana Farms who graciously offered some freshly picked ones from their tree!

Anti-oxidant Mulberry Green Smoothies

Ingredients:

2 cups locally harvested, fresh organic mulberries
4 ripe bananas (or substitute 3 bananas plus half a cup to one cup other berries for an uber anti-oxidant experience)
1 bunch  kangkong leaves

1 cup of water or 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup ice

(I like my smoothies thicker and I often forego water, but you could try this with water and see if you like it this way)

Preparation:

Blend everything in your trusty high-speed blender!

* * *

I love these mulberries on so many different levels!

They remind me of when a friend from New Zealand took me on my first fruit foraging experience in Washington State.  Blackberries are not a big deal there. They seem to just grow everywhere, even in poor soil.  And no one really minds if you forage.

So a-foraging we went! 

(By the way, the blackberry isn't a real berry. It is a compound fruit. Nerd alert! :P)

* * *

And the fact I went foraging helps me forge some kind of kinship with author Canadian Frederic Patenaude and the many California and Las Vegas raw foodists who have foraged before me. 

* * *

I also love that these mulberries  are cheaper than the blueberries at the health food stores/groceries. 

Contact:
Monina Carandang
0921-664-7027
Salcedo Market, Saturdays

(I don't get discounts for advertising Herbana farms. Monina is the daughter of one my dad's law school brods, but I have been ordering from her for a long time even before I discovered this. I usually get my veggies from her weekly, but I couldn't during the long weekend since I was away.)

Mulberry Smoothies