If you haven’t already, you should check out the lead-in post to my juice fast, here.

OK, folks…Day 1.  Like Day 1 of almost any endeavor it had some high points, some low points, and ended with relief, “Wow, well that’s over!”

I didn’t mention my pre-fast stats.  I weighed my self the day I got the juicer in from Amazon and my weight was 202 lbs.    Last night I weighed in at 193.9 lbs.  So, thats a total loss of 8.1 lbs just by making minor changes in my eating habits and also juicing twice a day for the last 3 weeks.  Not bad!

Breakfast

All my life I’ve been a “breakfast guy.”  I think that’s because I enjoy typical American breakfast food (eggs, meat, bread, potatoes) and could always find something I enjoyed for breakfast no matter where I went.  For all other meals I guess you could either call a “picky” eater or that I have a very limited palette.  As long as I had meat, some bread, and some type of hot sauce then I was happy!  One thing that I noticed during my 3-week preparation of introducing my body to juicing and eating smaller, lighter portions was that I wasn’t as hungry first thing in the morning. That helped a lot this morning!  For transparency’s sake, I should mention that my wife and I did do a pre-fast splurge for dinner last night, though.  She had pancakes and I made flat bread pizza on the grill with lots of onion and peppers (fresh roasted red bell, jalapeno, hot banana, and Greek banana), fresh roasted pepper tomato sauce, and a little bit of lean ham.  DELICIOUS!  I didn’t binge or treat it like a “death row” meal but I really did enjoy it! (Pause as I wipe the drool from my keyboard)

The first real challenge of the day was the big batch of juice we made to get my wife and me through lunchtime. Unfortunately, it was the worst juice I’ve ever made!  Yuk!  Had to deal with that all morning and lunchtime until it was gone.

Throughout the Day

I felt a little bit hungry a few times throughout the day but I certainly didn’t feel like I was “starving.”  I found that during Day 1 I was really battling habit versus hunger…you know, reaching for something to eat out of either boredom, habit, or just because it’s there.  That’ll take some discipline to change that.

I drank LOTS of lemon water throughout the day, a habit I’ve developed over the last few months.  I downed 4 liters which should help with the effects of the detox.  The body goes into a detox mode and releases toxins into your system, causing symptoms from headaches, nausea, and tiredness to flu-like symptoms, etc.  Drinking lots of water helps flush out your system and lesson the effects.

Habits Die Hard

I found that seeing foods I didn’t even ordinarily eat caused my mouth to water!  We took our little girl to McDonalds to have a snack (don’t judge, now) and play on the playground (she had some energy to burn off).  Unlike the rest of the world, I’m not a big fan of Micky D’s fries but even those made my salivary glands gush like Niagara Falls.  Oh, and back to the habit thing…I found myself reaching for a fry without any conscious thought whatsoever!  Crazy!

Well, Day 1 down…I’ll try to keep daily updates going and a little shorter, too.

One final note…my weight before bed was on Day 1 was 192.9 lbs.  So, 1 pound down…

Honestly, I read other guides before I began a juice program. They were decent…but as I read Farnoosh Brock’s “Your Comprehensive Green Juicing Guide” I found myself really wishing that I had bought this book FIRST to prepare me for my juicing journey. At least I now have what I consider to be the “definitive reference” to refer others to as they begin their own juicing program.