Healing and Repairing my Digestion: Part III

For more on my healing and repairing digestion series, check out: Part I, Part II

It’s day two of my juice fast. One last day of juice and I’m on to smoothies.

Just one more day. One more day. Maybe if I keep on repeating it, Wednesday will be here before I know it?

I’m hungry… but not like starving, gut wretchingly hungry.

Yes. I made that word up.

It’s more like – when I don’t think about food, I’m fine. But every time I’m around it, see it, or think about it I want to chew something.

Being that I’m practically in love with all things food, not thinking about it is next to impossible.

I tried to go on Pinterest last night. Bad idea. I caught myself eying up a lollipop thinking it looked tasty.

I hate lollipops.

Hunger pains aside, here are some things I experienced during my first day of my juice fast:

• After my sweet and green juice, I worked up a sweat to this bodyrock.tv workout. I felt great afterward!
• I found I had more energy than normal throughout the day. My thoughts were clear and concise
• My stomach made weird gurgling noises all morning
• Preparing lunch for your boyfriend while on a juice fast is a horrible plan. I totally wanted to break down and bite into his chicken salad sandwich. But I didn’t. Lesson: avoid food preparation if you’re able
• Sliced ginger and a squeeze of lemon in hot water is awesome. I drank this mix all day in between my juices
• I didn’t experience any gas, bloating or unexplainable pains in my abdomen until around 7pm last night and they passed after I enjoyed a mug of warm ginger lemon water.
• My digestion was slow yesterday but there’s definitely stuff a brewing. Hoping things will improve today and tomorrow
• My sinuses feel SO clear
• I found that singing helped with my hunger pains (maybe distraction?) so I blared the tunes and sang along to 90′s pop music for a couple of hours last night
• I had strong cravings before bed so I made a small glass of fruit juice – 1 orange, 1 apple, 1 cup strawberries which totally did the trick. Then I made a second batch and froze them into popsicles. I cannot wait to snack on them later today!
• In total, I drank around 2 liters of water, 2 liters of juice, and 250mL of digestive tea

You guys had a couple more questions, so figured I’d answer them here so everyone can benefit!

How do you plan on preparing your vegetables and fruits? Do you take the skin off? Clean them?

You do not have to do much preparing, other than removing the peel from things like oranges or the seeds from peppers. You can throw the whole fruit or veggie in your juicer just the way it is. No need to cut off the tops of carrots or remove the core of an apple.

Something I didn’t mention yesterday and probably should have was washing your produce before making your juice! Very important.

You want to make sure you thoroughly wash your produce to remove as many pesticides as possible. The type of wash you purchase depends on the type of produce you’re cleaning. For things like lettuce, broccoli, grapes, berries, and spinach, your best bet is to soak them using a product like this. For produce like apples, tomatoes, or pears, you can do a spray and wash using a product like this.

Alternatively, you can try your hand at making your own.

I’ve heard it’s bad to drink liquids out of a straw. Is that true?

If you struggle with digestive issues such as gas and bloating, you may want to try drinking your liquids without a straw to see if that helps. When you drink out of a straw, you’re likely to swallow too much air which then introduces excess gas in your upper intestinal tract. This excess gas is then trapped causing bloating, or released in the form of belching.

Although I take pictures of many of my drinks with straws, I never ever use them!

Beets are good for your digestion. Why doesn’t your juice contain beets?

Today’s juice does! I’m a big fan of green juices. Maybe because I have this perception that they’re healthier for me even though I know they’re not. I guess I just like the idea of drinking a bright green drink as opposed to other colors!

Something you may not have known about beets, but that I thought was really interesting…

[Taken from WH Foods]

An estimated 10-15% of all U.S. adults experience beeturia (a reddening of the urine) after consumption of beets in everyday amounts. While this phenomenon is not considered harmful in and of itself, it may be a possible indicator of the need for healthcare guidance in one particular set of circumstances involving problems with iron metabolism. Individuals with iron deficiency, iron excess, or specific problems with iron metabolism are much more likely to experience beeturia than individuals with healthy iron metabolism. For this reason, if you experience beeturia and have any reason to suspect iron-related problems, we recommend a healthcare consult to follow up on possible issues related to iron status.

Or is it just interesting because I’m a nutritionist and get fascinated by the oddest things?

I’m pretty sure cinnamon is considered a fiber and shouldn’t technically be consumed while on a juice fast, but I decided to live life on the edge today and indulge in the 1/4 teaspoon.

Salad challenge or not, I don’t think I’ve ever handled this many vegetables in the span of two days!

Here’s to day two,

and to the caramel apple smoothie I’ve been promising you all… tomorrow.

Tagged as: digestion, healthy digestion, juice fast