Juice Feast: Final Day

Holy crap...it's over!

I'm drinking a cucmber-cilantro-carrot-coconut water juice while I write this. It's intense, to say the least. I've eaten more cucumbers in this last 9 days than I normally do in the span of 2 months. The cost of eating this way was completely manageable for a short term feast. Since many of the staples are on sale during the holidays, like celery, apples and cucumbers, it was a good time for it. Doubly so since the holidays are also accompanied by immune system destroying "treats" loaded with sugar and flour...it's no wonder they call it the flu season!

I started adding some of the pulp back into my drinks today, and my Christmas feast will consist of two varieties of mango- one of my absolute FAVE fruits! So, we made it to the end of the feast, but we're far from done with our holiday cleanse. Tomorrow we begin mono mealing water rich fruits until digestion is back to normal. Never break your feasts or fasts with heavy cooked foods! Start with orange juice with all the pulp retained, and move on to mono meals of mangoes, grapes, and other water rich fruits. After digestion resumes normally, add back in the bananas and dates! Instead of eating my greens, I am going to continue juicing them in the evening indefinitely. I am able to get in an insane amount of greens, and I like to eat several ounces and sometimes even a pound of them daily. With a green juice, I can be sure to get all the minerals and amino acids I need, even on the days when a green smoothie or a salad doesn't happen for me.

Next week I've got plans to visit The Green Boheme here in Sacramento to finally add some overt fats back into my diet. Interestingly enough, my nutritional scores on Cron-O-Meter showed I got plenty of essential fatty acids from my juice feast. Don't forget that fruits and vegetables contain trace amounts of fat, so it wasn't a fat free challenge, it was an overt-free challenge. I'm looking forward to having a nice raw gourmet dish with some soaked nuts and seeds!

Let's talk about what's changed for me since the beginning of the feast. At the top of my list of improvements is my teeth. I had a tooth that was really starting to hurt, and it gave me trouble on a daily basis. I'm very happy to report that I have felt no pain from the area since the second day of my juice feast, despite consuming plenty of fresh squeezed fruit juices. I've also noticeably lost inches all over my body, especially in my midsection. I've slept very well, and I feel...remineralized. I don't feel as intense of a pull towards greens and vegetables, and while I'm not sick of them by any means, I don't crave them nearly as much. I feel as though I've gotten a good dose of healing overall, and I know I've detoxed plenty. However, I can feel my true appetite breaking through the fog of emotional and habitual hunger, and it's time to start adding whole fruits and vegetables back in. My interest in holiday foods and even cooked vegan foods has diminished drastically. I just want to chew on some romaine, eat some raw tomatoes, and I'm really excited to eventually start eating off of my big bulk order of local organic Bautista dates I've got in the refrigerator.

Also, remember that big pile of unripe bananas? Check this out:

They're waiting for me!