Day Thirteen

Still going strong.  Plenty of energy.  Alert.  Positive.  I feel great.

On a side note, I'm finding it easier to fall asleep at night.  I'm also finding it easier to wake up in the mornings, which leads me to assume that I must be sleeping better at night.  One thing's for certain: I haven't had any acid reflux, bloating or cramping since I started juicing.  I feel good about this, too.

In fact, I've felt so good lately that today after work, I got on the treadmill and walked for 45 minutes without a problem.  I felt great while I was walking, and I feel even better now.  No trouble with the ankle.  I didn't feel any pain whatsoever.  I'm not going to push it though.  No steep inclines or speed walking.  Just moving for those 45 minutes (on top of the 15 minute walk home from work) made me feel good about getting in some cardio work while on this program.

Juiced up a grapefruit, lemon, orange, kiwi, ginger and a couple cups of strawberries this morning.  It made more juice that I intended and I had to chug it down before work.  I think I had 30+ ounces of fruit juice for breakfast.  Not what I wanted, but it was delicious.  I felt the energy surge all morning.

Because of the super-sized breakfast, I felt I didn't need lunch until about 11 today.  It consisted of 1 Granny Smith apple, 1/2 cucumber, 4 stalks of celery, handful of spinach, handful of kale, 3 carrots, 1 beet, 1/2 lemon, ginger, 1 jalapeno and a 2" wedge of green cabbage.  Made about 32 ounces, which is perfect for my jug.  I drank it over the course of about an hour and a half.  I'm just beginning to feel hungry again.  I'll shower and then get to work on my dinner.

Since I missed yesterday's blog, let me fill you in on the highlights here: made oatmeal for the kids.  They enjoyed the brown sugar and cinnamon I put in it.  I also let them add their own raisins.  I juiced up 5 oranges, the last of the pineapple, lemon and mango and served it up for the kids to have with breakfast.  They liked it.  So did I.  I made a couple of loaves of spiced zucchini-carrot bread.  I had to do something with the zucchini.  I suppose I could have juiced it, but I really wanted the kids to eat it.  I figured I'd have a better chance of that happening if it were in bread rather than cooked and served on a plate.  My daughter loves zucchini bread.  The boys were indifferent.  I guess it was a hit with Tresa.  She raved about it, then promptly called me a saboteur.  I juiced about 6 apples yesterday and made spiced cider on the stove for the kids to have with their PB&J.  I even had some.  Delicious.  Brought back memories.  I also fixed Tresa's treadmill from rocking back and forth and did about 4 loads of laundry.  I can't remember what was in yesterday's lunch or dinner, just that they were variations of the Mean Green recipe.

All in all, things are getting easier.  I'm developing a juicing routine.  The cravings are slowly easing.  I "feel" thinner, even though it's only a relatively small amount of weight that I've lost.  November 23rd (my proposed end date) still feels like an eternity away, but I'm confident that I'll make it.  I read a guy's blog today after he had just completed 60 days of juice fasting.  Over 60 lbs. lost so far, and he's going to continue.  I love reading stories like that.  In about six weeks, people will be reading my success story too.