Fasting, Day 4

Well, I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised with the results so far. The last 2 days were kind of rough (probably detoxing - which I deserved for not treating my body better), but today I feel quite nice.

I finally went to sleep around 3 this morning... I'd been lying around on the couch most of the day dozing and watching the tele so I wasn't exactly tired before that. Anyway, I woke up at 6:30 this morning to let the dogs out and I was feeling pretty energetic. Luckily, I had someone to take that out on and then I fell asleep again for another 4 hours or so. While I'm not bouncing off the walls I do feel energetic and not sick. No food cravings so far. All I've had today was a single orange (juiced) and some water. I'll probably make another mix before I leave to do some errands and I'll be fine for a while.

So, on to my skin. My face has pretty much cleared. What's left there is barely visible and I really only know it's there when I touch it. When I woke up today the skin on my belly and back wasn't sore at all. Usually the first thing I have to do is lotion it - it's dry and red and cracked and sore. But not today. It actually looks a bit lighter and is smoother, too. I still slathered down in lotion because it's dry skin nonetheless, but it's definitely improved. So I'm pretty excited about that. 😁

So far this has been a really neat experience. I guess when I'm done with my fast I'll try to eat mostly raw, but I doubt I'll be able to fully stick to that. I've read accounts of people fasting for 3 days a month to keep their bodies clean and I guess I could see that being a possibility for me - especially if it actually manages to clear my skin. If I clean myself regularly maybe the detox won't be so bad and I won't have to force myself to eat a 100% raw diet. I'm no good at "dieting" no matter what it's for.

Anyway it was a rough weekend, but the lovely boyfriend really took care of me and helped me through it. He's pretty much the best EVER and I'm a really lucky girl. ❤

One more thing: While on this fast I've realized that hunger is more in your head than your stomach. You would probably be surprised at how little of the right things you need to survive. After doing this I can honestly say that I believe we are over-fed and under-nourished.

More to come...

I'm on day 3...

So far today has been the worst. But I'm hanging in there.

Day 2 (yesterday) was not so easy. I was craving a salad SO hard. I tried to make a salad and juice it, but it was SO thick (I don't like that - I have texture issues - I'd never juiced a tomato before and that didn't go over so well [this is the main reason that green smoothies are not for me]) so I couldn't even get myself to drink it. I'm actually online looking for some more juice recipes... I just need some juice that is not so sweet. I am about sick of sweet juice and unfortunately that's about all I've ever made. If there is anything else that anyone could recommend for fasting - let me know. I'm up for suggestions.

The only other things about Day 2 that I noticed was a few bumps on my face and a bit of a runny nose. Also, I was a bit grumpy... food had been under my nose all day - all of which looked and smelled good. Oh well. Onward.

Day 3, (today) has been pretty rough. None of my juice was very appetizing and I ended up just having plain apple this morning. I promptly felt sick. I know that this was not the best thing to do, but I read (somewhere, among all of the reading I've been doing) that it was not TERRIBLE to do this: I had some chicken broth. And then I laid down. I felt much better when I got up, but I felt SO weak. I made some juice with apple / carrot / spinach / beet / lemon / celery... blegh... the celery. I might try that again minus the celery. It was MUCH stronger than I expected. Mostly drinkable, though.

I've got a dull headache lurking around, but my skin didn't hurt or look as angry when I woke up today. I'm REALLY cold - but I'm wearing snow pants and a thick coat. Also, I'm sore. Like, "when you have the flu" sore. And weak - I'm supposed to be resting a lot so that my body can do the work. All of these are supposed to be signs of your body cleansing so all in all I'm feeling like something is happening, which is interesting.

I guess you could say that I broke my fast with the chicken broth, but regardless I'm not quitting yet. I'll cut myself some slack seeing as how this is my first time. Anyway, off to be a couch potato.

Fasting: Day 1

For anyone who doesn't know:  I'm on a juice fast as of today, officially. I'd like to stick it out until next Friday, the 9th. 8 whole days. I guess we'll see.

My skin is bugging the holy cow out of me (which is the reason I'm doing this. Doctors have never been able to help me and I'm kind of tired of just living with it). My scalp is all flaky (dead sexy, I know) and that is my absolute least favorite place to have psoriasis. When I scratch it (and I am GOING TO scratch it) it makes my hair all flaky (another reason bald was nice) and then when I try to make that go away I end up pulling out a ton of hairs... which hurts and makes me wonder "If I accidentally pull out the same hairs over and over will they just stop growing back? I don't want bald patches!" and then I get all paranoid and stressy over it.

I mean I'm just tired of it. And I feel like if I was healthy I wouldn't be so gross. So anyway. Fasting. I'm doing that. Btw, first time EVAR. 😳

I have to admit that I'm scared as hell about the detox that supposedly everyone who fasts experiences. I wonder how bad it will be? I don't do drugs or drink or smoke or even take much in the way of Ibuprofen and the like so I wonder how toxic I could be? I occasionally have caffeine, but that's about it. It's not like my diet is the best so I'm sure there will be something in the way of repercussions there. I dunno. I'm just nervous. And I don't want diarrhea. Or to be constipated. Or especially to vomit. Scary. 😩

So far today has been fine. Despite not eating I haven't been very hungry (or thirsty) at all. I've had about 2 bottles of water and maybe 20 ounces of juice by now. And a tiny bit of coffee. I don't consider that cheating since it's not food, but it's not something I plan to make a habit of. I just went to bed wayyy late and got up wayyy early and was not having an easy time waking up.

Anyway, most of what I've read online says to only do a juice fast for a few days at first. And also from what I've read the detox and fading of the hunger pains really starts after a few days... So my question is: Who wants to get to that part and quit? Seems like it would be defeating the purpose. I thought you were supposed to push through the rough to get to the good feeling. The website that got me interested in trying this is doctoryourself.com. If you look under "Psoriasis" and "Juicing" that's where I got most of my info to start with. But then I started Googling things and looking on YouTube at videos and I'm getting a lot of differing opinions. I mean, I'm going to do whatever works for me. I imagine that it's different for everyone (as with anything else).

So yeah. My first day has been good. Anyone have any fasting experiences they would like to share? Is it weird that I'm not really into food at the moment? I really thought that the first day would have been harder... I mean - there are chocolate truffles in the house. 😳

Anyway, off to bed. I need my sleeps. ❤

About fucking myself...

Normally when I'm concerned about something I keep it to myself (and maybe the few people closest to me). I have this bizarre fear that throwing it out into the universe will make things worse somehow. So, sharing this with you all is kind of not what I would normally do. But, I don't really believe that things could get much fucked-er, so why not?

If you don't know about this then the rest of this blog probably won't matter much to you. Or make any sense.

So, I filed a suit against the railroad companies and contractor (FINALLY). There are 3 that we're going after: Norfolk Southern, the railroad company, A & K Railroad (who are tied to Norfolk Southern somehow) and AllState Contractors (who did some of the work). Well, A & K Railroad wanted to settle for $5000 (half of what the lawyer is suing for), and at first I was going to take it. I was supposed to go sign the papers yesterday.

But then, it started raining.

Upon hearing the rain I looked out of the window at work and my stomach promptly tied itself in knots. This happens EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME IT RAINS ever since my house flooded. I panic because I never know if the water is going to come into my home again or just turn my yard into a swamp (like either of those are desirable options). And then I realized something:  The money wasn't going to fix the problem. Hell, after my lawyer's cut it wouldn't have even covered the damage done to my house. So I declined to settle for that.

I could tell that I upset my lawyer... he had the papers and the checks and everything right there waiting for me to sign. I'm so ready for all of this to be over with, but there's no point in fixing my home if I have to live in fear that it will flood again. So the lawyer says I should take some of that money and stop the flooding. Well, then what about my house? I didn't cause any of this. I really don't feel that I should be expected to come out of my pocket to fix someone else's mistake (not that I will ever have the money to).

I don't know. All I've asked is for the $5000 and for them to dig the ditch back out. I would be comfortable settling for that. If they won't do that then I have to decide whether to take the $5000 (which really comes out to be $2948 for me while the damage done to my home was estimated at $3200 - not to mention I'm out $200 in filing fees) and walk away or take this to court. And I'm not all that much of a gambler, but I really feel like I have a case. I mean, what idiot can't see that the "drainage ditch" is draining into my yard - not the other way around? I do have witnesses who have lived near this property for 20+ years who say this has never happened before, not to mention that I was here a year with no problems before the construction began.

Besides, who would want to live with this? (And yes, it's recent).

  

For me and you: My favorite juice recipes!

I keep discovering new ones so maybe I'll keep this updated. I've found so many good ones that I don't want to forget them. AND (although most of my friends are like, "Dude, you've lost it") a couple of people have actually expressed interest in my juicing - so that's all of the encouragement I needed. 😀 Here you go! Try to keep up with my really precise measurements, mmmk?

1)

1/2 bag of baby spinach

2 small apples

4 regular carrots

When I'm trying to be SUPER-DUPER healthy I add in about a quarter of a beet and about 2 hands full of either black seedless grapes OR strawberries. It really takes the edge off the beet.

2)

4 carrots

2 small apples

1 hand full of strawberries

3)

4 carrots

2 small apples

1 pinch of ginger

4)

4 carrots

2 hands full of black grapes

That's all I've got so far. I'm expanding - slowly but surely. I just needed to start with things that I'm familiar with and that were pretty simple.

Also, anything like just plain apple or orange is really delicious... SO much better than anything you could buy in a store.

ALSO, Janet, if you read this: Do you happen to remember what you juiced at my house that night? Some weird thing... grapes and blueberries? I can't remember, but it was nice and sweet. 😊

Killing time while digesting. (Part 2)

There are a few new things with me.  First of all we have kittens.  They're pretty much Shadows and he's doing an excellent job caring for them.  Of course they both just found their way to me... spoke to me - I guess you could say.  I didn't plan to keep the first one, but Shadow really wanted her.  She's solid black and her name is Midna.  He promised that he would take care of her so I was like, "Well, ok."  Shortly after we fed her that first night I found her curled up in Shadow's lap asleep.  He was all, "I sang her to sleep."  Who could say no to that?!?

We ended up getting her a friend from my mother (because she was driving me [and the guinea pigs] CRAZY! - ever try to sleep with a kitten slicing you up?)  She just needed some companionship and someone to tire herself out with.  So her friend is solid gray and her name is Twilight.  They make a good pair.  I've had mixed feelings about having them around (one isn't consistently using the litter box and one of my dogs literally begins to water at the mouth when they come near her), but I think things will smooth out.  We're just having to be careful right now is all.

Well, I guess all of the news is not happy news.  Stella passed away last week and I'm really unsure why.  She was doing fine and then BAM! she was dead.  😢  It just made me sick.  Literally I felt nauseated.  Stella was too sweet.  I think anyone who's ever met her has at least teared up when they found out.  She was just a doll.

Aside from that things have been pretty good.  Moved things in the house around a bit and I think it looks nice.  Now I have a lot more space in my bedroom and now that the computer isn't in there I'm just less drawn to it.  The computer is really close to the dogs' room so when I'm sitting here ignoring them I feel really bad.  And then I get off my ass and go love on them.  I guess that's one way to keep my internet usage in check.  😂

Anyway, I think I'm done digesting my juice.  I have to pee like you wouldn't believe.  So I guess that's a good enough reason to get up and get moving.  😂

I hope everyone is doing well.  ❤

Killing time while digesting. (Part 1)

Yep, that's right. DIGESTING. I'm pretty full and don't exactly want to get up and do the things I need to do just yet so I thought I'd kill some time on myspace. I haven't been around much. I'm ok with that, but no harm in checking in every now and then. I noticed that they've done some upgrading on the messaging and stuff... it sucks that they JUST NOW got all the fancy messaging shit going. Because now I pretty much never use it, but I used to a lot. I DO NOT care for the whole "sending groups of people you never talk to chain messages" thing, though. Gross.

Shaun (and me - to a lesser extent) put the hall floor down. It looks AWESOME. I should post pictures, but I'm just not right now. If anyone wants to see it that bad you should just come and visit me. That is what I think. I might even let you walk on it. 😜

Also, we moved things in the house around a bit and I think it looks nice. Now I have a lot more space in my bedroom and now that the computer isn't in there I'm just less drawn to it. The computer is really close to the dogs' room so when I'm sitting here ignoring them I feel really bad. And then I get off my ass and go love on them. I guess that's one way to keep my internet usage in check. 😂

Shadow started 4th grade on Monday. So he's old. Yeah - Middle School next year. Time flies.

I bought a juicer a couple of weeks ago and I LOVE that thing. I'm having spinach / apple / carrot juice every morning and usually a glass of orange juice. Orange and apple juice - for the record - tastes SO MUCH YUMMIER when it is not store-bought. You won't find anything like this packaged. Another juice that is really tasty is carrot / apple / strawberry. I know some of this might sound really gross, but it's not. It is the complete opposite of gross, for realz. Come over one day and I'll make you some. I decided to get a juicer for my health (namely, my skin). I've read a lot about certain vegetables (that I would probably never really eat) being good for psoriasis and so now I'm juicing them. If you add fruit juice to juiced vegetables that you don't really like it changes the taste completely. I've gone through 3 bags of oranges, 3 bags of apples, 5 bags of baby spinach, 1 bag of carrots, and 1 container of strawberries in a week. That's more produce than I usually get in months.

My skin - for the record - is a little better. But I need to start juicing beets and adding that to the mix. I hear that it's one I'm going to need a lot of. So it's a learning process and whatnot. Aside from my skin I feel pretty good. Juice gives me tons of energy and not like the rise and crash of caffeine. If feels different - in a good way. I've also lost some squish... I don't have any idea if it even equals up to a pound (nor do I care) - I'm just saying that it's something I've noticed. So no complaints there. I'm actually considering trying to go mostly raw by the end of the year... currently, I'm only eating like, 1 cooked meal per day. Sometimes more, but not always. I've noticed that the more I eat raw veggies and stuff like that (and the more juice I drink) the more of that I want. So it's interesting how that affects you.