Saturday, January 31, 2015

Feast or Famine?

In case you're wondering what's up here on this day, so cold one's breath hangs in the air, I'm doing a one-day juice cleanse. Not so intuitive, the mid-winter juice cleanse, but you know how I love good marketing - and cold-pressed juice, not to mention that I really am on a mission to hydrate and diminish inflammation simultaneously.

Nothing like a day of juice, I say, to make you realize how little you actually need to eat and how much you'd prefer to be doing just that.

I'm doing Greenhouse Juice's Gentle Cleanse aka the cleanse for wusses. I'm ok with that. It's approximately 3 litres of juices (vegetable, fruit, nut) of numerous varieties, designed to assist health in numerous ways, all of which (so far) are delicious. (OK, the E3 shot was sort of ugh, but it was small.)

An undeniably terrific element of this exercise is that I had the super-heavy bottles delivered directly to my door yesterday afternoon. Not only does Greenhouse schedule delivery within a 3 hour window (one of which is 4:30 am -7:30 am), the delivery person sent me a photo of my juice in an adorable made-to-measure box, sitting on the porch, to confirm delivery. This operation kills me! Fortunately Scott was home within an hour of this or my poor juice would have frozen solid. Furthermore, and you know how I grudge shipping costs, delivery is free when you spend 69 bucks or more. Spending 70 bucks for 3 litres of juice might seem high on drugs, but you have to consider that 3 lbs of produce goes into making half a litre. Sure, a couple of the juices are glorified "water", but people, it's spa and this is Toronto and the place operates out of Rosedale. What do you expect?

I even got some stand-by juices, in case I freak out about volume. But then I drank them last night, in a pre-juicing consumption frenzy. The fast, people, it's a mind-fuck.

I opted to do this on a Saturday because I didn't want to be preoccupied in any way during the week but, man, I wish I had something more with which to occupy myself right now. Sure, I've spent a few hours making potions and, next up, some body work. But I may just have to pick up my knitting needles (sleeping since November, to give my muscles a rest) to keep my hands occupied.

So, please, keep me motivated. Have you ever done a juice cleanse? Did it mess with your mind? Have you done this juice cleanse? Thoughts about Greenhouse specifically? Do you think it's weak to think about food when you've got a constant supply of juice to contend with? Do you think it's insane to do a juice cleanse in the first place? Really, let's talk.

8 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! And no comments to support you through this … hope you survived the day :)
    I can be of no help, being in Vancouver, where it was sunny all day … but I have heard that Spring is the correct season for juice cleanses - and that winter is more of a root vegetable soup based season for nourishment …

    As for me, I spent the evening researching Seattle restaurants for a birthday roadtrip next weekend. Hmmmm - perhaps that was actually less than helpful ;P

    I'm sure you also have some glorious tea stash to supplement your liquid intake ...

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    1. I know! This is obviously not a topic that resonates :-) And I did drink all the tea on the planet. Gotta say, it's an interesting thing, to fast. (See next post on my after-thoughts.) Not doing it again before spring. Winter is totally the wrong time.

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  2. No comments? I can't believe it. ;-)

    I have done fasts with just water a couple of times, including 3x 3 days and 1x 5 days. Intense, and interesting. As someone with inflammatory whatnots, though, it really did help after the initial flare-ups that come from . . . not sure what, interruption of the norm.

    All that said, I would not do water fasts again. I like "cleanses" where I reduce food to whole foods that are not difficult to digest nor inflammatory for some days, and gradually reintroducing the usual stuff. Often when I do this, the karma from the baddies is so obvious that I'll go months without sugar or refined flour afterwards . . . until it gradually sneaks back in. But I don't worry about that: there's only so much I'm willing to do ALL the time. :-)

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    1. I know! Everyone was out eating. I can't believe that you have done it just with water. I had 3000 ml of combo of juice and nut milks and I would change up the ratio substantively (more nut milk - I need the fat) next time I try this. Like in a while. Not soon.

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  3. Just can't, quite honestly. Not big on the food fads, although I'd probably be willing to give it a try, just for experimentation's sake and the (spurious?) hope of a pound or two lost, a bit more zip, IF I lived somewhere that it was this easy, if expensive. It all seems a bit precious to me, if I'm honest . . . But if it helps you feel better, given what you've been through health-wise over the last year or two, go for it! I'll fast vicariously. . . ;-)

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    1. Look, I can't believe I tried it. I, of all people... At least you live in the land of fitness and health nuts :-) Gotta say, in no way did I try it on the basis of weight loss. I can't see a universe in which that would work cuz it slows down your metabolism, at least if you do it for a longer period of time.

      It's TOTALLY precious, ridiculously urban and yet, I feel like I went on a safari with my body. Stay tuned for my thoughts on the process.

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  4. I hear ya. I thought it would be good to try the 2 days a week fast, but honestly, it seemed like all I could think about was food! When I'm actually busy though, it's not uncommon for me to skip meals--during harvest I'll maybe only eat once a day because I'm so busy! And maybe because I'm hot and sweaty...

    I don't know how anyone could afford to do that on a semi-regular basis though. The price you quoted is more than I spend per week to feed a family of 4! :-O

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    1. It's absurdly expensive. I think, if one wants to do this regularly (and I can't say I'd fall into that category), purchasing a good juicer is the way to go.

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