Juice Fast Update- Day 19

Last night, my husband and I were reading through that amazing website called Damn You Auto Correct.  Trust me, if you've ever had the desire to laugh until you think you're heart is going to explode, you need to go check it out!  My husband says it's this generation's answer to the comic strip.

Anyway, in one of the posts there was a woman who wanted to say "holy crap" and the phone kept correcting it to "hippopotamus crap."  Quite funny.  And so I've adopted that expression.  Anytime something strikes me as amazing, mind-blowing or surprising and the moment calls for an expression of "holy crap", I'm going to use the new auto correct version.

So.... HIPPOPOTAMUS CRAP, I can't believe I'm on day 19 of this fast!

19 Days.  NINE-TEEN DAYS! That's ten days.  PLUS NINE!

I feel great.  No, seriously...after that first week of the detox from hell, I've recovered quite nicely.  I've got super energy, I feel healthy and light and clean and I've been non-symptomatic from almost every single ailment that plagued me before.

I have less body aches, I have no headaches, no heartburn, no sleeplessness, no digestive problems, no lethargy, no mood swings, no anxiety, no heart palpitations.

My blood sugar has regulated, my blood pressure is normal, my heart rate has slowed and I've lost 32 pounds!

Here's a few facts that may not know about juice fasting:
1.  Fasting has been around for hundreds of years.  While the Egyptians didn't drink juice, they understood the benefits of fasting for health and vitality and often used fasting as a way to cleanse their bodies.

2. One reason you have more energy when juice fasting is because when we normally eat, we use energy for digestion.  When there is nothing to digest, our system gets a break and we can use that energy in other ways.

3. Juicing heals the body. There have been many cases of people healing themselves from a variety of diseases including colon cancer, blood disorders and even heart troubles by starting a  juicing diet. 

4.  You aren't hungry during a juice fast.  Sure, the first 3-4 days are tough but after that, the normal hunger diminishes. You are left with cravings but not hunger.  I'm less hungry on a juice fast then when I'm eating normally. In fact, my hunger is easier to tolerate during this fast than on any "diet" I've ever done.  And my cravings are less on the fast than when I diet.

5.There are many people who are against fasting.  They claim it has no benefits, that it's dangerous to the body, that it causes damage.  They can site facts all they want but they can't argue with results.  Plain and simple, people who fast, particularly on juices, tend to feel and look better and restore their health. 

Although the physical changes have been amazing, the thing that I love the most about this fast is the mental clarity, the ability to think and be present.  I used to float around in a fog so often and even when I tried to concentrate, it was often in vain.  I love having more control over my mind, of being able to control my emotions and of feeling a sense of calm and stability.

I've started to integrate exercise as well.  I began a Bikram Yoga class a week and a half ago and I have to say, it was a complete fluke that I started it but as it turns out, Bikram could not be better suited for a juice fast because it stimulates quicker detoxification and marries perfectly into what I'm putting into my body.  For me, it's the perfect system.  In just a four sessions, I've noticed a strength in my body that wasn't there before. 

I look forward to what I can accomplish in the next 30 days of both fasting and Bikram. I don't think it's presumptuous to say that I will have literally transformed my mind, body and life in 47 days.