Today marks the tenth day of consuming only liquids.

No, I’m not hungry at all and while I do get the occasional craving for something “solid” I’m really liking getting all the nutrients I need in liquid form.

I’m getting more nutrients than I could possibly consume from solids or even smoothies  since the “foods” I’m drinking are the concentrated juice derived from vegetables and fruit! I feel amazing!

Since I’m drinking only liquids, I feel “lighter” than normal. My body doesn’t have to work harder since the nutrients I’m supplying it with aren’t solid or a pureed liquid. Yesterday afternoon, I developed a sore throat. I don’t think it was cold related since I didn’t have any more symptoms. Today, it’s almost gone.

The mind is extremely powerful I realized this as a child and have already set high goals for myself, many of them I was able to achieve simply because I refused to quit.

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

The few times that I had cravings I thought about the above verse. As I already mentioned, my body is definitely not deprived since the vegetables and fruit I consume in juice form is more than I could consume during one day.

I also realize that…

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Sounds easy enough, right? But often times many of us Christians forget about this and attempt to tackle things on our own. Are we surprised when we stumble? Remember, “The Spirit is Willing, but the fresh is weak!”

Today will mark Day 8 of my juice cleanse. I’m feeling great!

A few hours ago, I felt slightly tired but I realized that’s because besides one cup of vegetable juice (around 5:30 a.m. this morning) I hadn’t drank any more juice. That was easily remedied by juicing and drinking. If I hadn’t shared last nights juice batch with my daughter this morning, I would have had plenty of juice to last until this evening. But I love sharing with my daughter and it’s nice to see her jump on the bandwagon and drink my juices too. She’s still eating her meals.

Since I had to make juice anyway, I made enough to fill two Ball jars. The orange juice is actually a sweet juice blend. Yes, a shocker for me but something I added yesterday when I was stopping a cold in it’s tracks. Hopefully, I’ll be able to post about that amazing story some time this week. The second juice is the juices I normally drink. Dark green vegetables. Hot peppers, garlic, and onions are in each jar. The green juice has much more so it’s extremely potent.  I didn’t need to make a third jar, since I’d already consumed a jar today. Three jars full of juice is enough to last me throughout the day.

Although it’s Day 8 of my Juice Cleanse, I’m still not hungry. I’m getting more than enough nutrients from the juices I consume. There’s no way I could eat the amount of produce I’m drinking on a daily basis. Sometimes I get bored with just drinking juice. Remember I love being creative in the kitchen. However I’m able to ease that boredom by continuing to prepare my daughter freshly made food daily. No, I don’t get tempted even though the food does smell great!

What I’ve noticed while drinking only juices

1. My skin is a lot clearer
2. The whites of my eyes are becoming clear
3. No white patches on my tongue
4. Heightened awareness
5. Clear nasal passages
6. Passed a lot of mucous in my bowel movements
7. Morning bowel movements occur about the same time daily
8. Softer skin – my skin is already soft

There are other things I’ve noticed and many of the ones I’ve mentioned above I’ve experienced on past juice cleanses.I’m looking forward to consuming juices for at least one more week…

This has been a very busy weekend for my daughter and me. I buy the food for our Lutheran’s church ministry at a local Homeless Shelter and so today after church you could find me going to Aldi’s, with daughter in tow, to pick up the items needed to create three meals. Dinner this evening is jambalaya, breakfast tomorrow (bacon & eggs), and bagged lunch assortment of meats, veggies, bread and water. Also fruit roll up snacks are added to their lunch.

Afterwards my daughter and I returned to church. It’s Kick-Off weekend for all the small groups we have at our church and to celebrate they were selling a variety of food. The money raised goes to support the various Small Group ministries at our church.  I’ve heard great things about their Pit Beef. I picked up some Pit Beef sandwiches for my daughter (Even though there’s plenty of yummy food at home) and we went home. Oh, I assisted with Sunday School too. We accomplished all of this before 11:30 a.m.

Yes, I’m still only drinking juices and I feel great! It’s going on seven days. Years ago, when I started doing them, I had a few people concerned about my health stating that they weren’t healthy. I asked them why, I’m drinking vegetables and fruit in a concentrated form? There’s no way I could consume the amount of produce that I do when juicing. Tell me how is that unhealthy?

• I’m in good health – not my words my health care provider
• I’m not taking any medication
• I already eat healthy so no worries about intense detox
• I mainly consume vegetables when I juice

They had no answer for me. I will say that I’ve received nothing but positive feedback at my health & wellness visits. Although already healthy, years ago, my health care practitioner commented on improvements when I’ve visited them shortly after a fast. The most notable comment came from my optometrist, he commented on my eye health. That was a few years ago. I told him that I’d been doing juice cleanses within the past few months. He was fascinated and wanted to no more. I must say, that was very refreshing to have someone within his field being open to alternate ways to improve ones health without the use of medication.