Pre-Juice Fast: Overview & current mindset (Molly)

Hey all. So a bit of explanation: Courtney and I are undertaking a two-week juice fast (similar to what the guy does in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, but not as long because we are not totally insane) as a way to reboot the ol’ system. As Courtney (who is already a nutrition nut) explains, Think of all the years you’ve spent putting toxins in your body; this juice fast is a way to flush them out.

Well, by that definition, I’m approaching 22 years of being addicted to Oreos and Reese’s, so the point hits home. (In all fairness, I did not develop an Oreo addiction until I studied in Spain in 2008 and they were one of the only American snacks I could find.) (I also rationalize by saying that I don’t smoke, don’t drink soda or coffee, and only get seriously schwasty about once a year; compared to those, Oreos seem benign.) (But I digress.)

Two weeks of nothing but fresh fruit and vegetable juice is supposed to stop those toxins, cleanse your system and then start to heal the damage. The advertised benefits are much higher energy levels and the disappearance (or vast reduction) of daily aches and pains, as well as some chronic conditions. We’ve lined up juicers to borrow from friends/coworkers, and are planning on grocery shopping Saturday night to get started on all the produce we’ll need. Court’s got a good list of recipes, and a plan for what specific parts of the body we should target first. We’ll be buying some big Mason jars, so we each can store at least three 16-oz juices a day.

I’ve read that the first day or two brings on the mother of all headaches, which I am not looking forward to. One of my motivations in this is getting rid of my almost-constant headaches, so it seems a bit unfair that I’ll be depriving myself of chocolate croissants and still get that head-in-a-vice feeling. But at least it’s temporary.

Also just realized a couple of days ago that Court and I, in our infinite wisdom, planned this fast to start just two days before Valentine’s Day. Mental forehead smack. Have you tried walking into a grocery store these days?
Candy and chocolates galore! And they’re all on sale! And I swear that Reese’s hearts taste way better than normal Reese’s. It’s bouts to get painful.

This week, we’re slowly weaning ourselves off the bad things: No meat, no sugar, no caffeine or alcohol, no dairy, only whole grains, etc. This is supposed to keep Juice Fast Sunday from being a total shock to the system, but so far it just feels like adding another five days of deprivation to our two-week endeavor. We haven’t even started juicing, and I’m already daydreaming about chocolate chip cookies! Not a good sign.

Anyway. Those are the basics; this blog will be used primarily so we can track our mental and physical progress and keep from going crazy.

And off we go!

— molls