(1) Five Day Juice and (2) Eating Lifestyle Changes

A big thank you to everyone who has participated in my survey so far! It is awesome to see so many responses but we would really love to see even more. There are a few of you who took the survey but didn’t comment or email to let me know. Without your name, I can’t announce you as the winner so you might not be eligible. Please let me know if you took the survey but didn’t tell me yet!

And if you didn’t take the survey yet, what are you waiting for?

Next week is going to be a major week for me nutritionally. You might remember that I did the Blueprint Cleanse a few months ago. I ate no solid foods for three days and I felt great. However, while I love green juice, I did not love BPC’s green juice recipe. I narrowed down the culprit to romaine. As a result, I was unable to finish my 6 allotted juices each day and missed out on essential nutrition.

Once the cleanse was over, I felt pretty good for a few months. Recently, it all turned around and I haven’t been doing so well. I decided to do another juice fast and give my digestive system a little break and allow my body to heal. I decided to go big this time and will be partaking in a 5 day juice fast with Organic Avenue, the 5 Day Love Deep. Organic Avenue is an amazing raw/vegan store in Manhattan. Last summer, my friend Jonathan took me in there on our way to brunch and I literally fell in love. While I wanted to try everything, we were about to eat, so we shared what I believe was a delicious mint chip smoothie and I vowed to return.

But there was a little problem with that. Organic Avenue is far! The location I went to (they now have another in the west village) was on the lower east side – not near home and not near work. It simply was not convenient for me to go there. But I did take and save their information about their cleanses, so when I decided to lay off the foods for a few days and wanted a different experience than BPC, I decided to speak to Organic Avenue.

I must say, they are so nice there! While I wanted to do another 3 day cleanse (I mean, really, no food for 3 days is long enough for me) Organic Avenue explained that, especially given my GI problems, the 5 day would be much more beneficial. And then they threw in a little discount. They are awesome. I consulted with a professional and got the go-ahead. And so, on Monday, I will embark on a feat so unlike me that you might not recognize me. I will commit to eating no solid food for 5 days. I will write a recap every day and post it here.

Here is a sample menu of one full day:

L.O.V.E. #1. Energy elixir: e3/H20

L.O.V.E. #2. Fresh squeezed orange/grapefruit juice

L.O.V.E. #3. Veggie vibe

L.O.V.E. #4. Masters tonic

L.O.V.E. #5. Cucumber basil soup

L.O.V.E. #6. Green vibe

L.O.V.E. #7. Coconut water

While I will miss the BPC’s amazing cashew milk, I am excited for the cucumber basil soup here. And from what I have heard from my friend Cassie, their juice is, and I quote, “magical.” Although their green juice does contain romaine, the all green juice only seems to appear on the menu once each day. I can handle that. It was 4 a day that I could not stomach.

The juices will be made fresh each day, arriving at my door between 6 am and 8 am each morning! I also plan to drink plenty of hot herbal tea to warm myself up and keep myself full and happy.

I want to mention a few important points here:

• I am not doing this fast to lose weight. I am doing this because my GI problems have gotten out of control once again, and I am looking to give my body a rest, get myself back on track, and return to solid foods with a healthier outlook (more on that soon)
• I don’t believe juice fasts should be used as a long-term weight loss tool because as soon as it is over and you eat a solid meal, the pounds will come right back.
• If you are considering a juice fast, I urge you to check with your doctor or nutritionist or health counselor. If you’d like to make an appointment with a fantastic food coach, I highly recommend Gena. If you start a juice fast blindly, you might experience a slew of problems, such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, lightheadedness. It is crucial to get professional advice first. I get most of my advice from Cassie and I also speak to Gena.
• If you are considering a juice fast to lose weight, like I said, it won’t be a loss you can keep off. If you are considering a juice fast to jumpstart you into a healthier lifestyle, and that healthier lifestyle results in your weight loss, that is wonderful! But again, please check with a professional first.

I don’t want to go right back to feeling awful after next week is complete. My mind has been turning recently and I have already made some decisions that I started on, but I believe will have more of an impact after the fast. This is something I never thought I would do, but things change and people change and I made the decision to stop eating meat. I had already limited my meat consumption to only that which I can be sure was raised sustainably, but recently I realized that meat in general is not at all appetizing to me. The times I have eaten meat lately, I didn’t enjoy it very much. I also didn’t feel great after. Not belly pain or anything, just overall blah.

And not only has it not been appetizing, I sometimes feel outward revulsion. I couldn’t figure out why and finally I realized I just am not enticed by meat anymore.

For now, I will call myself a pescatarian. Overall, fish has not been appealing to me anymore either (says the girl who can’t really eat vegetables — so what’s left!). But I would like to want to eat fish and therefore I will not prohibit them. I would especially like to up my intake of wild salmon. For now, I can’t.  I do believe these aversions are my body’s way of telling me something. I’d better listen.

I do want to add that eating meat from animals raised on sustainable farms has many health benefits and is, from what I have read, ecologically essential. Eating meat from factory farms or CAFOs is not cool. If you want meat, I cannot stress enough the importance of sustainably raised chicken, beef, pork, etc. Know where your food is coming from.

Additionally, I plan to drastically cut down on my dairy consumption. I won’t be actively putting cheese on or in things anymore, except for goat. Goat can stay. I won’t be putting cow’s milk in my cereal. But I will have dairy when my restaurant options are limited or when it is an ingredient in something I really want or when a pizza materializes in front of me.  I do NOT think dairy is bad, I believe it has many health benefits in its raw form. I would just like to see how I do without as much of it after this fast. I think it might be good for me. I think I will feel cleaner. I do plan to continue eating fresh, farmers market sustainable eggs.They are my favorite food to make and they make me happy.

Another change I will make after the cleanse is to have juice and only juice for breakfast. I had been having juice first and then a larger meal a little later, thinking this was the only way I could be full until an appropriate lunch time. I realized after spending a few days juicing until dinner that just a second juice in the morning will keep me full straight until lunch. If you think about it, two 16oz juices are a LOT of vegetables. It’s very easy for me to make one juice at home and buy another when I get near work, so that is what I have been doing and plan to keep doing. Another thing I hope to do more is juicing until dinner, until I can better figure out how to work cooked vegetables in.

Speaking of vegetables, I have been eating cooked vegetables lately but my stomach hasn’t been thrilled with it. I crave vegetables and I need their health benefits and I am hoping that after the cleanse my body will be better able to cope with their fibrous ways. I hope.

And clean food can be so much fun. I made Gena’s banana soft serve twice last week and I am officially in love. Her recipe calls for a food processor, but after I discovered both of mine to be in heaven, I made it in the blender and it came out perfect. Use the “stir” setting in the end to fluff it up. Less dairy ice cream for me, more banana soft serve.

Photo from and recipe on Choosing Raw:

So that is that. Some big lifestyle changes but I felt really relieved once this decision hit me in the head and I spoke it out loud to the boy. I am excited to update you all each day this week on my Organic Avenue fast. I am nervous (no food‽ 5 days‽) and also excited. And looking forward to feeling better.