[Blog] Juice Feast Planning

My Omega juicer finally arrived. I've wanted to get one for at least six months. The model makes juice efficiently. It does have many parts but I don't find cleaning it too bad. My only complaint is that the feed chute is very small so that I have to cut everything up super tiny before putting it in. It's been my long-term plan to start a juice feast shortly after acquiring a juicer.

The plan, thus far, is to go thirty-days on nothing but fresh juice with a couple minor exceptions. The exceptions are: durian, melons and grapefruits. The reason being that these are all fruits, they digest fairly quickly, and if I don't chew anything at all I might go completely crazy. I'm already experiencing detoxification symptoms from all the vegetable juice I've been drinking since it arrived a few days ago.

 I've juiced dandelions from the garden, kale, collards, assorted herbs, apples, pineapple, oranges, lemons, watermelon, carrots (and their leafy green tops), a strange squash called chayote, etc. I've blended my juices in the blender with mangoes, bananas and home-made coconut kefir. I've blended vegetable juice in my food processor with apple chunks and oats as well.

 I love all the new options this opens up. It's amazing how much juice comes out of a water-melon rind! My detoxification symptoms have mostly consisted of moodiness (which my husband has been experiencing since beginning the juice as well), but I have also experienced some dizziness, fatigue and stomach upset. I know this has to be due to detoxification because I have not experienced these symptoms in a very long time, especially not all in quick succession.

 I have not noticed any positive results from the juicing yet, except for new and interesting flavors, but it's only been a few days and I've already been a raw vegan for nearly a year now, and I've been off the S. A. D. five years now. (Standard American Diet.)

 That first step is the biggest one: getting off of refined sugars. I don't expect I'll ever feel as dramatic of a change in my health from anything else I ever decide to do. But we'll see what thirty days of juice, juice, smoothie, juice, juice, a little melon, and more juice does for me.

 I expect to begin within a week. In other news: my edible garden progress is moving along. I've planted sunflowers near the already existing dafodills and tulips. I've been preparing the ground for the past week to build a natural stone-planter for vegetables and the ground is almost ready to start arranging stones. I'm going to have a smoothie and head out to the garden now.

 ~ Raederle