For the next 15 days, Kale is my new Steak

After seeing the film “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead” a few weeks ago, I was inspired. The film is a documentary of the 60 day juicing journey of Joe Cross, in which we see a drastic loss of weight (under doctor’s care), a road to better health, and the story of a man who changes people's lives with this experiment. What grabbed me most is the fact that he, and two others in the film, healed a chronic illness by juicing.

He hooked me. I am juicing.

I have never fasted before in my life. I am an eater. I love food, and since I am still on the scale of “thin” even with my weight gain from the two kids & last 10 years of eating, I have never felt the pressure to diet.

I do have a pretty nasty neurological problem that seems to get worse instead of better. Over the last 3 years I have not slept more than 3 hours at a time, I have tried any alternative medicines that were offered: herbs, acupuncture, massage, weed. When none of those worked, I went to the hospital and tried allopathic treatment. The heavy duty medicine worked for about 2 weeks, then my body said: “Hell no!”, I began having adverse reactions. My body is a mystery of its’ own. Even as a child, if I did get sick, I got REALLY sick in a matter of hours, then a few hours later is was completely gone. This cycle baffled doctors all the way into my adulthood. With that said, treatments can have immediate success, or horrendous adverse reactions.

I did lots of juicer research, and ended up purchasing the Breville Fountain on Amazon (had a coupon and free shipping). There are far more intense models out there that are just amazing. The Champion is made in the USA and owners love it, but it was out of my “spontaneous budget”, so I found the best I could afford.

The possibility of “cleansing” my body with juices intrigues me. The website of Joe Cross offers a REBOOT program as a support, and I will be following their 15 day REBOOT. I will be eating raw foods along with my juice, which makes me happy and calms the snacker deep inside.

My juicer arrived 2 days ago, and we have been experimenting with juice. My kid's favorite so far is the beet, orange, mint, carrot juice - before I add the carrots :). I like them all, but I also LOVE any vegetable and drink weird stuff that makes other people cringe. That brings me to the point of food. People are asking me if I will be able to STAND just having juice. Those that know me are concerned, as they know my love of pasta, bread, a good cheeseburger, CHEESE, raw milk, joghurt...ah...the list goes on, is deep. I don’t drink soda, only eat fast food occasionally, and pretty much eat a healthy, mostly organic diet. The transition will not be drastic for my body. The lack of coffee will be. I have been cutting down my coffee consume over the last week. Coffee is my ritual, and I love the taste. I have found some alternatives for the taste, will try to keep the ritual, and hope the lack of caffiene will not turn me into a bitch.

I have warned friends & family :). I am ready, making my shopping list, and will start officially on Monday morning. As excited as "I" am, I will not post every day of my progress (there are lots of "Juicer Blogs" out there!), but will check in every couple of days. If you are curious how things are going, I will post a public Google doc address where I will journal daily with weight, recipes, yippees & gripes.

If you have any yummy juicing or raw salad recipes for me, please share now. Going to the farmer’s market on Sunday!

Much love,
Heike