Day 4: Peaceful & supersmart

 

Posting earlier in the day (read: before midnight) than I have the past few days. I’ve had a “day-off” which consisted of only about 3 hours of work at the store, and maybe 4 at home. Ha. But it was at my pace. Tomorrow is technically a day off. And one thing I’m noticing is that I have cleared all the things I was behind on off my to-do list! At least all of the very important things that I felt I was way behind on. At one point, I took on a little too much, so I’ve been playing catchup. And I feel almost to the point of just being able to maintain. So now when I want to take some downtime, I can feel less guilty about it because I’m getting so much done in the “on-time.” But seriously, let me stress that there were a few BIG projects that have had loose ends for weeks that I was finally able to finish up over the past few days. So hurrah for that.

 

A few things I’ve observed today: vegetable broth makes a bad ass snack. Of course, that’s just when in comparison to juice. The juice is bad ass too. I’ve been enjoying the greens only juices (this afternoon/evening was a giant juice with green cabbage, collars, cilantro, broccoli, green pepper, jalapeno, ginger, and apple.) The jalapeno came through nicely, and it was a spicy alternative to satifsy some tasted buds (remember to keep changing it up!) I’m really really not wanting carrot or beet juice much today. Opening the crisper, all the green things look much more appetizing and nourishing for juices. I think it must have to do with the high sugar content. I just don’t like that much sugar. But bring on the veg.

Also, when your juice is done, don’t drink it until you’ve washed your juicer and cleaned up everything. Then sit down and enjoy it, appreciate it, and treat it as a meal. Sipping the juice periodically while cleaning or doing other things will only make you feel hungrier later and like you haven’t eaten anything at all. Dedicate a few moments of your life to feel the flooding of nutrients washing through your cells and body. (PS – I’ve definitely had some um -washing- out of sorts. Every BODY is different, but don’t believe the hype that anyone who drinks juice will be running to the bathroom afraid of the splatter. You will definitely pass some waste, but that doesn’t mean it will be explosive, and isn’t that the point of doing a cleanse? You should feel satisfied and accomplished to get rid of that nasty stuff.)

 

Feeling a bit introspective, really in my body, and just focused on what I am doing. Ultra-focused. On the experience of the juice fast and on fulfilling the tasks that I have always wanted to get going. For building the ladder between visualization and actualization.

 

I commented to a friend that I feel super smart now. He pointed out to me that my brains have always been there, I just don’t always use them. Now that’s true in a sense. I definitely use my brains, but there are of course these invisible barriers that block our focus and utilization of all parts of our brains that are caused by all sorts of things: stress, diet, loves, emotions, logic, societal pressures, shall I continue? The mindset that I’ve got right now, and have somehow been able to maintain for almost 4 full days without even breaking, is that this juice feast is all about letting go. Let go of your own notion of food and let go of the average person’s perception of a diet. Discover what makes your body happy.

 

I’m realizing more and more that nutrition is almost a belief, a faith, an ideology. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a religion (although this time of transition in my life is sure to bring me some enlightenment.) You look at a food, and believe it is life-giving, and I bet you, sho’nuff it’s gonna make you feel great. That’s not to say that looking at a double bacon cheeseburger and seeing buns of steel will manifest you a healthy, fit body. But any food that is whole, pure, complete, and unaltered can result in health. I eat vegan, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand that some people’s bodies may be better suited to consuming meat and maybe close to only meat. I don’t look at a piece of meat and see food, because I know that I can get everything I need in the vegetable kingdom. But I know a few folks that follow a close to paleo diet, and some who are huge advocates of eating local meat. And that’s great! I say: the more changes we can make in our diets to become aware of the food we are eating and where it comes from, the better. The more folks that turn to local agriculture, both in farming and ranching, the more chance we have for fighting for a cleaner future (for our bodies and our environment). And that’s what the food movement, to me, should primarily be about. It becomes a natural byproduct of eating local and eating clean that your consumption of vegetables goes up and your consumption of meat becomes more mindful. There just wouldn’t be enough space and resources for people to consume animal protein the way the standard American diet has people consuming meat. And really, it’s only a portion of the food pyramid anyway!

 

End dietism! Eat clean! Buy local! Then we can all be happy.

 

On that note, I’m going to take my self-reflecting self and go do some yoga. My body is already thanking me.