Juice fasting contined…
As mentioned in yesterdays’ post, the story goes on as follows:
– Vazaki sends you 5 juices of your choice per day as long as they agree with the following:
- 1 almond milk in the morning
- 1 fruit or vegetable juice for a snack
- 1 vegetable juice or soup for lunch
- 1 vegetable juice at night
– The plan is to consume a maximum of 2 fruit juices per day (so that your insulin levels don’t sky rocket), 3 or 2 vegetable juices and 1 soup. I try to avoid fructose, so I chose to consume one fruit juice per day, as even vegetable juices include fruits. For this reason, vegetable juices are sweeter and more enjoyable than what you’d think. It’s good to consume them according to your planned schedule.
– In between meals and juices, you can have loads of herbal drinks and tea but no coffee. Alcoholic drinks, soft drinks etc.
– It’s always good to consume water as your fibre intake is reduced to improve intestine operation
– During the fast, try to avoid intense workouts and choose a mild type of exercise instead (e.g. a walk, mild yoga etc.)
My first day of fasting was wonderful. To begin with, my day started off with a delicious “Golden Mylk” which essentially was almond milk with turmeric, ginger and honey, the best “medicine” for the immune system. I also trained and run 3 kilometres, as I had plenty of carbohydrates to burn from all the food I consumed on previous days. My snack when I came home was an incredible beetroot juice (the “Purple Detox II” on the menu), which was so rejuvenating and fruity that all the hunger I was feeling disappeared. All is well! No feelings of hunger (I must admit, I’m one of those people who need to eat right away when they feel hungry, otherwise you wouldn’t want to be near me!). My lunch was a wonderful veloute pumpkin soup. This hot soup was a pleasant break from cold juices, considering how cold it is outside. The soup was so rich and satiating that it’s hard to believe you’re on a fast while having it. I confess that I was feeling somewhat hungry around 5:30, but that’s when I grabbed my afternoon juice: Named as “With Popeye’s Strength”, fully green with a lot of spinach, pineapple, apple and lemon. It was seductively sweet and tasty considering it’s a green juice, and it surely gave me the energy I needed! I visited my friends during the night, and while they were having souvlakia, I had my Vazaki. It sounds worse than it actually was, as my evening juice (the “8 amino acids” with apple, cucumber, spinach, avocado and parsley) was so satiating and tasty (and probable the best of the day) that I wasn’t jealous of my friends (I cross my heart saying that). I got in bed feeling satiated and slept like a baby, and I won’t hide the fact that I wasn’t feeling like this during my previous juice fast… I was very hungry, and there’s nothing worse than going to bed on an empty stomach and not being able to sleep because of its grumbling sounds.
Based on my previous experience, the most difficult day is the second one since during the first day you’re busy burning excess energy and food. The second day is when you essentially start living on juices and your body adjusts on this new diet. In contrast with what happened the previous time, everything went smoothly this time, and the fact that I spent most of my day on my couch working on an assignment for work helped me. If I was busy running around at work, things would have been different. My day started with a tasty almond milk with cacao, banana and honey. I even heated it so it was honestly the “fuel” my body needed to power up. My snack was a juice called “cinnamon and balance” with carrot, apple, pepper root, cinnamon and orange: it simultaneously fruity and spicy as cinnamon and pepper root leave a light burning sensation on your tongue following the sweet taste of orange and carrot. After two or three yogi tea, I had pumpkin soup for lunch – not even bothered that it was the same I had the day before as it was fantastic. A small wave of hunger hit me again in the afternoon, but “TOG” juice with apple and carrot rejuvenated me! Tonight is probably going to be difficult as we are invited to a bar by Yiannis. I had the incredible “Green Detox” juice before we went out; it had spinach, kale, cucumber, parsley, lemon, celery and cabbage in it. With kale’s light bitterness and the lemon’s sour taste, you truly feel like you’re consuming something good for your body. I only had water during the night, and it seemed harder to me at first than what it actually was. The amount of energy I had when we came home at 2 impressed me considering I was dancing throughout the night!
In total, my two-day experience is as follows: The hunger was way less than I expected (especially during the afternoon). I had a lot of energy and felt well (not really on a busy week, though). You consume so many tastes and colours that in no way you will ever feel like you’re deprived. I had countless of yogi teas and water in between to deceive the hunger. Paradoxically, none of the usual side effects I get after a juice fast occurred (headaches, dizziness, muscle pains etc.).