Love and Friendship

Changed the theme of my blog again today!  This one is called Koi, which is a fish that represents Love and Friendship.  Two of my favorite things.

Enjoy and more posts coming soon!

I’m not hungry, but I want to eat…

That’s how I feel at the moment.  I miss the smell of it and the taste.  And I miss chewing.  But surprisingly, I’m not that hungry.

I’m on Juice #3 of Day 4.  Yesterday was my first day of all juice and I was pretty miserable yesterday.  It didn’t help that one of the other cleansers in my office and major foodie, (he hangs with Mario, for god’s sake) made me sit in front of the computer with him looking at food web sites and new restaurant openings for an hour.  After that I spent the next hours booking myself for food dates.  Shake Shack on Sunday with B, S and S.  Soon Dobu on Tuesday night with M, S, G, and A.  Chicken Wings at Cercle Rouge with A on Wednesday.   Everyone in the office seemed to have had delicious lunches yesterday… mac and cheese, sushi, Baba Ganoush, and I could smell it!  I’m not sure if it was the cleanse or just because I’m starving but my sense of smell was heightened.  I was pretty miserable.

I was certain I was gonna cave when I went home last night.  But, I excercised will power.  Instead, I drank my Cashew Nut Milk right when I got home (skipped the last green juice yesterday).  I took Sammy out to the park for an hour to spend time with her then went home and had some water.  After that, I went to bed… at 8.  And slept until this morning at 7 AM.  My dreams were crazy last night.  I don’t usually remember my dreams, but I had nightmares, and I woke up feeling sort of upset and sick.  And hungry and dehydrated.

So I had some hot water with lemon.  Drank the cashew nut milk that is for tomorrow night this morning and all of a sudden felt better.   Then I weighed myself and realized I also lost another pound so that’s 4.5 total.

The past few days have been a roller coaster.  It’s Friday now, Day 4 and the other 3 cleansers in my office and I are so happy to be finishing soon.  (Actually, one finished yesterday, one finishes tonight, and 2 of us finish tomorrow)!!   This hasn’t really disrupted my life that much, besides last night when I passed out so early because of lack of energy and I was so hungry.  Besides that, I’ve been able to go out with friends (drink Pellegrino instead of alcohol) and work. No intense exercising though.   I only cheated once with ½ an avocado on Day 2 and the rest of the time I felt pretty satiated.

Other results/side effects that I’ve had:

-          Dry mouth

-          No, um, “movements”

-          Lots of peeing

-          Feeling of utter euphoria

-          Feeling of utter hunger

-          Weight loss

-          Clearer skin

Things I’ve learned this week:

-          Your stomach only carries 1/5 of a cup when empty but can expand to 8 cups!

-          You should poo every time you eat (i.e. if you eat 3 x’s a day, you should go 3 x’s a day)

-          I really like fresh juices

-          There are yummy vegan and raw recipes and I crave these more right now than I do a glass of wine or meat or carbs

I have 1.5 days of juice left but am thinking of spreading these out until Sunday morning.  I have plans to go out with friends the next couple of days and would like to eat with them so am thinking of some light salads or fruit during these meals.

I’ll write a wrap up at the end of the weekend when this is all over.  And of course, after the last colonic

High-Energy

That is how I describe my mood the past two days I’ve been on the Blueprint Cleanse.

I’m on my second day of JTD (Juice Til Dinner) and starting tomorrow, Day 3, I’ll be on juices only for 3 days.  Starting the cleanse yesterday wasn’t too bad.  I tried to be good and follow the guidelines BPC sends you to prepare you for cleansing.  I cut out meat and stuck with fish for 3 days before I started.  I incorporated a lot more salads and vegetables at every meal.  The one thing I didn’t do was cut out the coffee, sugar, and alcohol until yesterday.

Day 1 went by fast.  I had my first green juice around 9 AM, followed by the PAM (pineapple, apple, mint) yum, around 11 AM.  I consumed juice #3 (another green juice) around 1 PM and #4 (the spicy lemonade, also yum) at 2:30.  At 4 PM, I had the snack.  Seriously, the PAM, spicy lemonade, and snack bars were so good.

After I had the snack, I was either on a crazy sugar high or was really feeling the benefits of the cleanse, because I felt so loopy and giddy, it was unreal.  Normally at this time, I want a salty snack or a coffee because I’m falling aslweep.  By the time I got home last night, I was pretty hungry though.  So I had the delish, raw, vegan meal BPC provided, spacing out each “course” and starting around six pm.  Surprisingly, I felt really full and satisfied pretty much all day.  I felt sort of burpy, but not really gassy most of the day and didn’t go #2 at all on Day 1.

I woke up early this morning and my tummy felt flatter even though I hadn’t gone #2 yet or even had the urge to.  I weighed myself and it seems I lost 1.5 lbs.  Nice.  I drank some green tea and rushed out of the house for an 8 AM appointment for a colonic.  When I got there, I was starving.  After a few sips of the # 1 green juice, I felt better and all hunger went away.

I was really nervous for the colonic, since I’ve never had one before.  Apparently, colon therapy is good for you and helps you to remove toxins or parasites.  It can aid in treatments for various diseases.  Also, only about 10% of Americans have normal colons (according to autopys) and colonics help to promote normalcy if you have any digestive problems at all. Also, colonics are recommended in general if you are partaking in any cleanse.  It helps to get rid of the bad and frees up room inside for digestion of all the yummy juices and raw foods we’re eating on the cleanse.

A colonic, for you newbies, is basically, where a technician or a doctor inserts a plastic tube about 1/2 an inch up your behind.  The tube has 2 branches.  One for flushing with water and one for releasing.  Basically, water is flowing in and out of your behind constantly, for about 40 minutes.  My tech, Doris was great and despite the whole experience being extremely uncomfortable, it never hurt.  <ok, if you are my friend and/or you don’t want to hear about (my) poop, then you should probably stop reading now>.   It was nuts!  It seemed like I was literally going to the bathroom or felt like I was going for 40 minutes straight, there was so much pressure.  The other thing is because she knows where the colon is shaped under my belly, she’d rub different spots to expel gas or to keep things moving along when the colon turns inside.  The whole experience ended with a massive pile of bile (from drinking alcohol) and other waste getting massaged/flushed out of me… pretty nasty.  When you’re done, they direct you to the bathroom where you sort of sit on the toilet and it all comes rushing out.  Almost like explosive diarrea.

After I was done, I was afraid I’d lose it (literally) on the subway on the way to work but I was fine.  The best thing is my tummy felt lighter and less bloated all day.  I pretty much felt amazing all day.  And as twisted as this sounds, I’m looking forward to my second colonic on Monday, to flush out everything as I finish the cleanse.

So now I’m home.  I weighed myself again when I got home and it appears I lost 2 more lbs since this morning.  I must have had 2 lbs of poop come out today

And tonight is my last day of the “food” before I start 3 days of cleansing juice only.  I do have to admit I cheated tonight and ate 1/2 an avocado when I got home (one of the BPC’s cheat foods).  I was pretty hungry when I got off the subway and I figured this is my last day of eating so I might as well go balls out.

So far, I have no regrets at all about starting this thing.  If I feel half as great on Saturday as I do today, then it will all be worth it.