Day 28

I made it!!!! whooo hooo!!! Today is my last day of taking herbs and the shake, but I will continue to take the MoFlora until the jar is gone.

For breakfast I had eggs benedict with no sauce and no butter and no ham, just spinach, tomato and avocado. It felt good to have some animal protein, even if it was just eggs. Although shortly after I felt really tired.

I had a super light lunch of edamame and watermelon, and then for dinner I had a salad from Lazy Acres with tofu, carrots, hearts of palm, artichokes and garlic. Yum. Oh yeah, and some more edamame. I love it.

Okay, so here are some eating habits I've learned on this cleanse, which I intend to keep, even though they aren't all that fun.

1) Eat only when hungry, not because it's "lunch time" by anybody else's standards.
2) Eat only when hungry, not when stressed, distracted or bored, or because the food's there in front of you.
3) Chew throughly; it takes more time, and you process food better that way.
4) Only order something with cheese if the cheese will absolutely make the dish. For example, a normal salad does not need cheese to taste good (you can request no cheese added), but a salad which boasts cheese as a main character would suck without it (i.e. Greek salad, caprese), so go for it. Same thing goes for other fattening condiments like sour cream.
4) Water, water, water
5) The biggest portion of your meal should be from veggies and fruit. Eating only veggies/fruit for a month really showed me that I CAN be full from just vegetables. Pasta, meat, bread, and cheese should really just be a garnish to the meal. (This is a not fun one!)
6) Stop when full. Don't just continue eating because it tastes good. Throw the rest away (or wrap it up for later) before you have time to reconsider. This goes back to eating when distracted.
7) Sweets in moderation, try to soothe a sweet tooth with fruit first. (This is my biggest challenge by the way... if you know me at all you know I CRAVE cupcakes...)
8) Alcohol almost never. I really didn't miss it one bit over the month. In fact I liked having an excuse as to why I WASN'T drinking. Plus I don't mind being the designated driver.

I'm sure I'll think of more things I've learned.

The jury is still out on whether I'll go back to coffee or not. Maybe I'll wait until the winter, when the warm cup in my hands will more comforting then it is in the middle of the summer. I have to have some sort of vice!!

Okay, so the burning question. Would I do this cleanse again? Hmmm. I'm not going to lie, it was extremely challenging for me at some points. If I were going to do it again I would definitely start to wean off caffiene a week or so before starting. That was by far the worst part. I feel like my body is at the weight that it is designed to be at, because really I don't look that much different. I feel great, I feel like I accomplished something big. I challenged myself, and proved to myself when I put my mind to something I can do it. I would say my skin is clear but I woke up this morning with two blemishes on my face, which is a bummer.

Also if I were to do it again I would try to not be as busy during the month. I would try to not go out of town (it's really hard being away from home while juicing especially). When I started the cleanse I pictured taking way better care of myself than I actually did... I envisioned doing yoga every night, meditating, reading quietly, etc. Instead I only did yoga three times in the whole month, and two out of the four weekends I was in Albuquerque, staying up super late while dancing the night away. Not exactly nurturing and relaxing!

So Ejuva gives you enough product to last a long time (I still have an unopened can of Combi) so I am planning on doing a two week mini-cleanse in October to keep myself on track. I will have to order more MoFlora though, because that will be gone.

Okay so there you go! If anyone has any questions feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

xo xo

Day 27

So I started transitioning off the cleanse... Ejuva says to take the herbs/combi once in the morning, and then just the herbs at night. After every meal you are supposed to also take the Moflora (probiotics). I'm assuming to replenish the good bacteria in my intestines.

So I drank juice in the morning, and for lunch I had a salad with grilled tofu and mushrooms with avocado and tomato. When I got home late from work I had some vegetable soup, with some watermelon after.

Tomorrow is the last day, and I'm really happy. I've lost 8.5 pounds, and am wearing the smallest jeans I own! Yay! But more than that, I've really learned some healthier eating habits. I'm going to try and limit processed food, and try to eat fresh, raw, organic fruit and veggies.

Last day tomorrow!!!!

xo xo

Day 26

So today was the last official day of cleansing (I'm taking the next two days to transition off the cleanse before getting back to normal eating.) I juiced a ton of fruit in the morning: peaches, pineapple, spinach, cucumber and oranges. I took my herbs/shake and drank a big juice after working out.

Throughout the day I just juiced, plus has some veggie broth I had saved from last week. I did all this in preparation for... *insert danger looming sound byte* the enema. I really psyched myself out about it.

When I got home from work I thoroughly read the instructions provided by Ejuva on how to do one. I was super scared and almost chickened out several times. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I did it three times until the water came out completely clean. It was definitely a strange feeling, having all this water inside your gut, and then you hold it for as long as you can until you have to run to the toilet. Not my sexiest moment, that's for sure. ha ha

Later in the evening I had a light dinner of boiled veggies (leftover from the broth I made last week) and some watermelon and sliced peaches (with honey).

The next two days will be transition into a normal diet, and I will start to wean off the herbs/shakes. I probably won't add in dairy or meat for several days. It will be nice to not have to take the herbs and shakes anymore, I got real sick of it.

More tomorrow.

xo xo

Day 23, 24, 25

So I spent the weekend out of town in Albuquerque. On Friday (Day 23) I made it all day without eating, I just had juice and broth, and my herbs/shake. (That was my second day of no solid foods.) On Day 24 I started to feel really bummed about not eating! And when I'd get up from sitting down, I'd get really light headed and dizzy.

So I decided to revert back to eating once a day, which Ejuva endorses. They say if you can't handle the no eating part, go back to the previous week's program. So I thoroughly enjoyed lunch: some homemade rice and beans, with vegan corn tortillas and guacamole. These foods are not alkaline, but I wanted to have some native New Mexican food while I was there. My friend told me the life was brought back to my cheeks once I ate. It seriously was one of the best meals of my life. I couldn't even eat that much, I think my stomach has shrunk, but just allowing myself to eat felt damn good.

The next day I juiced in the morning (brussel sprouts, apple, kale, spinach and carrots), and had a similar lunch (rice and beans, guac). Then when I got home from Abq, I ate some of the veggie broth from last week. The program says to take the herbs/shake 4x per day during fasting, but I found that really challenging, so I did 4x one day and then went back to 3x/day.

Here's what I can tell you so far about this program: I'm frickin over it. I like feeling skinny and healthy, but I'm so over taking those herbs, and over having to go to the bathroom multiple times a day. So I'm thinking I'll just juice again on Day 26, and then revert back to eating once a day until Day 28, when I'll start to add in normal foods.

Ordering things with no cheese and no meat is a hard habit to start, but once the food is on the table I really don't miss the cheese and meat. So I really think I'll start to adopt healthier eating habits when this is all over. That's the goal right?

xo xo

Day 22

I made it with no food today!!! Yay!

I'm just about to do some nighttime yoga before bed, to try and relax and loosen up my lower back. Last night during yoga I was trying to meditate at the end, laying on my back trying to clear my mind, and all of a sudden a delicious tuna melt (on sourdough) popped into my brain. I don't even know when the last time I had a frickin tuna melt was... but anyway it got singed in my brain during yoga. How pathetic!

This morning I juiced a bunch of carrots, pineapple, oranges, apple, cucumbers, and a little kale, and filled up 4 mason jars with juice. I took two to work, and then had one after work. This week you are also supposed to up the dosage of the herbs/shake, and take them four times a day! Whoa! So right now (9:45 pm) I still have one dosage left.

I quickly realized that juice was not going to sustain me. Not necessarily my hunger, but more so, my soul! So on the way home from work I stopped at the store and bought a bunch of veggies (onion, parsnip, celery, carrot, potato, parsley, garlic, and some spices) and made a roasted vegetable broth. First I roasted the veggies for about an hour, and then made a broth with them. I saved the veggies for a salad next week when I can eat again! The broth is good but not salty enough, so I added a little reduced sodium soy sauce and coarse salt. It was very satisfying and soothing.

Tomorrow I leave for Albuquerque, where I will juice at Jordan's house. The next few days are going to be tough, I just know it, but I'm confident I can do this!!

xo xo

PS. According to the scale this morning, I've lost 8 lbs.

Day 21

My last day of eating! I went to Costco and bought a bunch of veggies and fruit to juice over the next 5-7 days (depending on how I feel, I may only fast 5 days).

For lunch I had a big plate of veggies: artichoke, eggplant, snap peas, asparagus, plus some grilled polenta, plus a side salad with avocado. It was a very nice and filling last meal. *tears*

I spend some quiet time at home last night, getting mentally prepared for not eating. I read, I did yoga, watered my plants, stretched and cleaned up my place. Oh, AND, *insert crying sound hear*, I bought an enema kit. I'm scared shitless, pardon the pun. I'm hoping by the end of the fast I'll feel ready and willing to do an enema. Hope hope hope.

Feeling pretty good overall, excited to get through the last week of this thing and start eating real food again.

xo xo

Day 20

So I'm here at work on the evening of Day 20, and I have to say today went way better than yesterday. I got up this morning and had my Nanogreens mixed with almond milk. It's so funny how relative everything is... when I first tried Nanogreens a couple of years ago I could barely get it down, I thought it was so disgusting. But now, it's actually my treat during the day! Mixed with almond milk it is super creamy and soothing. So that's the first thing I put in my stomach. I taught Pilates for two hours, and then went home to juice for the day.

I juiced kale, cucumber, carrots, grapefruit, oranges and an apple, and drank some then and saved some for later in the refrigerator. I did my herbs/combi combo, and headed to work. I'm now at the point where I am going to the bathroom (#2!) 4-5 times a day, which is really trippy considering I'm only eating one meal. That tells me that this may actually be working! I may actually be eliminating old stuff, since I'm not taking in enough to justify pooping five times a day. ha ha.

For lunch I had a salad with avocado, tofu, and tomato, with edamame and a potato, and half hour later I took my herbs/shake again. A couple hours ago I busted out the leftover juice, and sipped on that while I worked. But it's gone now!

I'm getting really nervous about the not eating thing. My goal is to get to 5 days of just juicing, and see how I feel. I'm kicking this cleanse's ass, and I'm proud of myself, so if I peace out on the last two days of starvation it won't be the end of the world.

So yesterday I was madly craving cinnamon/sugar/butter but today I'm dreaming of this:



Just one more day of eating left! Then it's the home stretch!!

xo xo

PS. skin issues are over... my skin is clearer than normal. yay.