And just like that....

I'm so done.  I know just yesterday I was planning to stay on the liquids only for longer, but it wasn't meant to be. The change in weather was a total bummer. I stayed close to home researching places to go for my vacation.  This included restaurants.  In retrospect, looking at food having not eaten in 8 days was probably not my best bet.  This morning I made my morning smoothie, took one sip and knew I was done.

Overall, I feel pretty good about lasting so long.  I'll probably do it again.    Today I went to the grocery store for one thing, instead I loaded up my cart. After a few words with myself I put a bunch of stuff back and got the hell outta there.

day 7

Yes. It's already day seven.  The last thing I ate was a banana 7 days ago.  That sounds crazy. I seriously cannot believe I made it so far, and that it was so easy.  If it weren't for my upcoming trip to Hong Kong, I think I would stay on the liquids for longer.  I feel great overall.  I had one scary moment when I hadn't drank very much because I got busy at work.  I realized I wasn't feeling right, and then I realized I was going to faint.  Lucky for me I didn't, and 5 minutes after I drank some juice I was fine.  My plan has been to do about another week before I start transitioning back to food.  Maybe that'll change.


Now I'm looking up what my food options are while I travel.  I have never travelled internationally while juggling my dietary restrictions.  It was on my last trip to Hong Kong that I felt so ill that I finally realized that I really truly had a problem with gluten.  The thought of trying to explain gluten to a waiter can be hard enough at home, let alone overseas.  Reading packages for ingredients could also be a challenge.  I'm telling you, sticking with plain ole fruits and veg is so much more simple.  However, one pretty big downside is that I will completly miss out on the local foods.  Is real pad thai in Thailand worth the risk of getting sick?

Here we are day three!

Yes, it's day three already.  I'm doing a liquids only cleanse.  Fresh juices, smoothies, water, tea and coffee.  Technically, coffee should not be included, but I decided that since I'm already doing a modified cleanse, I would be a little more flexible.  Since I have no intention of giving up coffee,why go through the caffeine withdrawals?  A more traditional cleanse would be juice and water only.  For me, that's too hardcore, and I don't think I'd be able to maintain that.

What's the point?  Why am I doing this?  Basically, juices and smoothies are clean (no fats, no processed junk) and all blended up, so the body can digest it really fast, and with less energy.  It takes a lot of energy to breakdown food, especially meat.  A big percentage of the smoothies and juices are absorbed at the first part of the intestines.  A small amount still goes through the intestinal track.  With nothing really coming in, the intestines can clear out anything that has been hanging around.  The end result should be more efficient digestion and better absorption of nutrients.  Plus a little weight loss as the body uses up fat stores to compensate for the low fat intake.  And, I just wanted to see if I could do it.  And I was struggling with the 80/10/10 fat intake, this should make it easier to stick to since my current carb/protein/fat ratio is about 90/5/5.

I'll be honest, I had my doubts that I would have the will power to last 24 hours. I thought I would cave in and gorge on hummus by the end of the day.  During the day has been easy, the evenings are always my biggest challenge.  I usually crave fat at night.  But last night it was popcorn.  Instead I had a banana, date, spinach smoothie with a splash of almond milk and about a cup of coconut water to get it blending.  That did the trick.  It sounds disgusting, but I swear you cannot taste the spinach at all, and there was 2 or 3 cups of it.  It tastes like.... caramel and bananas.  I also had a bit of tummy upset over the last 2 days, but that's to be expected on a cleanse.  I think it was caused by a pumpkin smoothie, as soon as I drank it, it did not sit well.  Bad food  combining?  Typically, day three is the most difficulty day and if you can make it to day four, it's all gravy.  I started the day off feeling great, so I'm hopeful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday night was Thanksgiving dinner.  Over and done with.  I gotta say, holiday dinners have lost their appeal for me.  I think I use to associate those sorts of dinners with eating a lot and eating foods that were a treat.  It's been a long time since I've eatten most of those treats, not so much because of the raw vegan diet, but more because of having to eat gluten free.  Like Nanaimo bars, butter tarts and stuffing, those were my favorites.  The vast majority of treats I really used to love, I can't have anymore or their gluten free substitues just aren't that great.  As I was watching people load up their second helpings, I was remembering myself eating like that, and how sick I used feel afterwards.  Not only from he gluten, but also just from the quantity.  I guess I'm thankful that I don't tend to binge anymore. 

Last night also marked something.  It marked the last time I will be wearing my skinny dress pants.  I have worn them a lot in the last week or two because I knew the end was near.  Last year I stopped wearing them because they were too tight.  Now I won't be wearing them again because they are too big.  I contemplated moving the buttons over, but the legs and butt are too baggy.  So good bye 14, 13, 12 and 11.  Hello size 10.

The rest of the day is spent doing things around the house, I have started making Christmas presents.  I have got some good ones that I have made for myself first and given a good test run.  I have had a busy couple of weeks because I have taken a lot of new things on.  I have enrolled with a mentor at work, and have been accepted for a pilot project at work, I joined a women's wellness coffee discussion group and started physio twice a week in addition to massage therapy.  The end result has been that I have something going on after work nearly every day of the week, so this weekend I'm catching up on some things at home.

This morning I realized that sometime in the last few weeks was my one year anniversary of being raw.  It started out as just a trial, and I felt so good, I saw no reason to stop.  It was so simple, and I thought it would be super difficult.  I have been thinking about doing a juice/smoothie cleanse for a bit.  While I was toying with the idea, I was watching youtube videos of the people I follow.  I was a few days behind, so I had a bit of catching up to do.  Turns out today is the start of a juice/smoothie cleanse.  Seems serendipidous, so I have decided to join.  I have no real goal for how long I'll be on the cleanse, the online cleanse is for 30 days, but I know that I have to stop about a week before I leave on vacation.  So at most 2 weeks.  But I may have no will power and will stop long before that.  Wish me luck, if I stick with it, I'll blog about it.