About 2 years ago, my husband dragged me kicking and screaming into a 28 day juice plan. I, Needless to say, had no qualms about the promised health benefits but two things were distasteful to me. The first was the prospect of drinking veggie juice like cucumber, spinach and kale and the other was the time plan 28 days, really! No food!
By day 11 I was sad on the inside although I had got used to, no – more than that, was actually enjoying all the juices, I still had 17 days ahead stretching out like dry desert with no oasis in sight. However, by the end of it after relishing a couple of weeks eating real food again I was craving juice and 2 years on, yes, I have actually done another 3 week plan, with the odd days break in between for a family meal. Granted, it was not so full on as there was a days break every week and I didn’t feel like I was punishing myself because when was extra hungry I had some nuts of a piece of fruit or just ate a meal rather than suffer. I was just too hungry! Nonetheless, it achieved its primary aim which was to drop ‘lockdown pounds’ and give my metabolism a much needed kick up the butt.
Since my first juicing experience I haven’t gone longer than 2 weeks without incorporating juice into my diet and most weeks will have it to replace at least a couple of meals. But, here’s my point: I have at various different junctures during the past 2 years, for various different reasons from having an occasion to lose pounds for to just wanting the discipline juicing provides, tried to do the plan in some form for 1, 2 or even 3 weeks and have been miserably unsuccessful in sticking to it prescriptively. Don’t get me wrong, the juicing does take place to some degree, but the discipline and consistency of following the plan completely without wavering has continually eluded me. Much to my frustration!
But, let us turn this on its head. What I have achieved is incorporating juicing as an integral part of my lifestyle and this is actually success. It has become something I know I will never fully relinquish, even if I go for a few weeks without it. My body and soul crave it so I always come back to it in some form. I love the flexibility of allowing it to work with me, not against me. Jeff and I are juicing buddies and we are learning to let it work with our rhythm, instead of beating ourselves up because we’re not sticking to the plan. I’m turning that self-inflicted bondage of seeing myself as a failure because I’ve lacked the discipline needed to stick to the plan verbatim and instead am choosing to celebrate every juice I do have as a choice to be kind to my body and soul. Now that my friend, for me, is progress!
Thank you Jeff for making me do it in the first place, its revolutionised our lives (you know when the juicer lid broke I was mortified and focused on getting another one like it was a military operation!) and thank you so much Jason Vale for your great juicing plans. You have my vote!
As I Was Thinking 