Day 26 and beyond: Home and deranged...

Day 26 and beyond : Home and deranged...

The last couple of days at Juicy Oasis went in a flash.  Jason gave us his juicing talk, which was fun and I learned some new things despite having mostly heard it before back in August.  He also gave us a talk on Friday about next steps and we got the last chapter of his new book, which hasn't been released yet, but deals with the 28 day program.  His advice as ever is to find the option that you'll be able to stick with and to go steady on your forays back into actual eating.  This is definitely good advice as going too rich or too much at first is not advisable.  I've been pretty cautious - mostly sticking to salad with a little baked or grilled or steamed protein.  So far so good!

On our very last night at JO we said a farewell to the group in a circle lit by candles.  It was warm and welcoming and I got a bit emotional.  We burned small pieces of paper with things we wanted to leave behind as we move forward.  I burned my emotional eating and eating to spite myself.  Things I've done that seem more insane the more I think about them now.  Eating when not hungry is lunacy but I've done it so often in the past.

We also said goodbye to Kate and Jason and the rest of the team.  I blubbed all over both Kate and Jason as they hugged me.  I thanked them both because without their retreat I feel like I would be in a much worse position now.

Saying goodbye to Kate and Jason - first of many many tears that night, even though they were tears of joy and happiness and gratitude.

So here is the good bit : the results!

I lost 28lbs in weight over the month (27.6 actually but I'm claiming that last pound!), my cholesterol dropped 41 points (using the scale where under 180 points is normal and I'd started at 267 and it dropped to 226), my blood sugar was normal before and normal after, my urine test showed I was nicely hydrated and was producing ketones.

I dropped 16cm from my waist, 8cm from my hips and 1cm from my thigh.  This pretty much correlates with where I felt I was losing the weight although the thigh is a bit misleading as I've definitely lost weight there but need to get toning before the difference shows in cm.

I can also see a real difference in my arms and it's looking likely to me that at some point I might need skin reduction treatment there, but I'm not going to worry about that til I hit the weight I want to be because lots can change as you shrink.

Here are my before and after pics!

Before:

After: 

Before: 

After:   

 So I think it's mostly noticeable in my face as although I lost a lot from my middle, neither top is really tight enough for that to show.

It's more noticeable in the photos below:

Taken July 2014 in NYC a couple of weeks before my first trip to Juicy Oasis.  Here I was 4 stone (56lbs) heavier than at my final weigh-in at JO on Friday 14th November 2014

Taken Thursday 13th November 2014 at Juicy Oasis, Portugal.

I truly believe that if I'd not gotten into juicing and gone to JO I might not be walking now.  My mobility was on a downward path and my weight was increasing a little each month.  I'm very glad to have had the resources and family/friend support to be able to go to the retreat because I think back then I'd have struggled to do this at home.  So much so that I really don't think I'd have stuck with it. I'd have found it too hard and fallen off and I'd be just as big as in that picture in NYC.

My journey started at the beginning of 2014 when I stepped on my scales and saw the heaviest weight I'd ever been.  It was also scarily close to a new decade of stone weight and quite literally I frightened myself.  I started reading everything I could get my hands on about diet as I'd tried so many before and felt like I must be missing something.  It was around this time that I saw the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  This struck such a chord with me that I started looking around for UK juicing websites and resources.  This is how I found JuiceMaster and Jason Vale's books and then their Juicy Oasis retreat.  

I do honestly think I'd be in a wheelchair right now if I hadn't pursued this.  I now weigh 4 stone 12lbs lighter than the day I scared myself silly as I stood on my bathroom scales. It's all due to juicing, learning about clean food, cutting out refined sugar and following these principles to completely redesign my lifestyle with regards to food. I daresay I'll have the odd thing that I didn't make or that has sugar in it as I like to be social and sometimes its difficult to avoid.  But these things are no longer in my day to day diet or in my cupboards!  The truth is I have no yearning for them because even the memory of the taste is artificial and too sweet.  I made the mistake of having a sip of ice tea drink after getting home and nearly gagged on the sweetness - and this was a drink I'd always liked before! The re-education of my tastebuds never ceases to amaze and amuse me. Every food I'm eating is a new wonder in the context of juicing for that long. Tomatoes have become an event! Avocado is to be savoured like a food of the gods.  Cucumber is cool and hydrating and deliciously crunchy.

Sorry Steffi - still haven't eaten the flipflop - having too much fun with veg!

Fi

xoxo

Day 14 to 26 - It's been a while

Well I had planned to blog the whole thing but somewhere in the middle I forgot about it and its been a while!

In the middle of week 3 (so somewhere around day 17 or 18 I think) the weather had properly turned and Kate our fearless leader decided we would start to get soup in the evenings. Now yes obviously soup is cooked and therefore not containing the phytonutrients anymore, but as Kate said by this point our systems were pretty well cleaned out and we'd still be getting 3 juices a day so having a little cooked vegetable soup wasn't going to hurt us and could be useful in slowly transitioning us back to food that needs digesting.  Also some veggies like tomatoes actually improve nutritionally when cooked (because of breaking down for easier digestion apparently) so not all cooking is bad.

Needless to say we fell upon the soup like a pack of starved dogs.  Hilariously most of us couldn't even finish a bowl of it.  I personally managed about half a bowl and I don't think I've ever felt so full.  We went into the cinema to watch "Fed Up" (v.good and worth watching) and I didn't feel normal again til the end of the movie. I got really hot and my stomach felt so full.  And this from half a bowl of soup!

Here is the bowl of soup that I couldn't eat half of!  But it was very tasty.

The pattern of each day has been pretty similar but in the last week (so from day 21) we got a new fitness instructor called Sally who teaches Nordic walking.  I decided to go for the introductory session to see what it was about and really enjoyed it!  It's strange that actually it uses more muscles than normal walking but feels more supported to me.  I've already ordered some sticks for home and found a local teacher who runs classes.  One of the really great things about it is that when going up steps I can use both knees when using the sticks for support.

Nordic walking sticks! Use more muscles than just normal walking and look a bit like a cross country skier who has lost their skis. And snow. And outfit. Ok nothing like a cross country skier.

I also did a couple of yoga classes just to try them out but had a few issues with getting up off the floor without pain.  The yoga instructor Kenny got one of the sunbeds into the studio for me to use so I could still participate! I do love that about this retreat - they really do anything they can to help you participate.  I don't think yoga is for me right now - too many things I couldn't do even with the bed but it gives me a good feeling for the future when I'm in a position to be able to lift my body using my arms etc.

We've had quite a few different soups now and this one is my favourite - Tomato and Basil! It tastes just like yummy pasta sauce and I think if you spiralised a courgette into the hot soup after its blended you'd get a fab pasta experience without the starch or gluten!

Amazing yummy Tomato and Basil soup!

All of the soup recipes have been really tasty.  Of course our raw food chef doing demos this week has pointed out that at this point a flipflop would probably prove tasty due to lack of variation in juice tastes.  I think she has a point but I'm not munching my flipflop to find out.

Her name is Steffi Jeffs - she's a raw foodie who runs a raw cookery school in London amongst other things and has been doing demos for us.  She made the most amazing raw chocolate dip as well as a spicy raw "pho" like soup thing (yes it has hot water from a kettle but it's not cooked and so the veg still stays raw - the water is to sweat out the garlic and ginger flavours mostly).  I'm personally not likely to go fully raw ever but her ideas were certainly food for thought!

Steffi about to make love to some Kale through massage!

She showed us how to warm food with our hands (massage)  by putting oil and a little salt on some kale.  It tasted pretty good! Definitely one to experiment with.

Then yesterday Jason gave a talk on addiction.  As ever he's an engaging raconteur - I could listen to him for hours.  And we did because he always overruns on time. :) He made lots of sense but the abiding message that stuck with me is that you can only break the addiction cycle whether its food or cigarettes or whatever, if you recognise the craving demon for what it is and deal with it. He also pointed out why cutting down on the thing is the most pointless exercise ever.  Mostly just makes the problem worse because it prolongs / exacerbates the physical symptoms.  I really need to read his book again - "Freedom from the diet trap".  One thing is for sure - I'm pretty decently off sugary things.  All the cravings I have are for savoury foods and most of them healthy at that!  The only non healthy thing I'm really craving is KFC chicken and I've found a paleo (ie no wheat) recipe that I'm going to try when I get home that hopefully will fill that. It's not the breading I'm craving but the spices I'm pretty sure.  I'm going to go carefully but spicy food is in my future because I've missed it!

Tomorrow we have our nurses appointments to find out what we've lost and differences in our blood results etc.  That should be interesting!  It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day.

Here is a selfie from last night - when I do the final post with all the results I'll show some before and after pics too.

Day 26 selfie - nearly there!

Fi

xoxo