Juice-ly 22nd - FLASHBACK: Low points.

NOTE: These entries were originally posted on Facebook during November 2014, a month in which I embarked on my first super-extended juice. I began the month with some significant health problems and ended it some 40 pounds lighter! 

Since then, I have eaten a whole-food, plant-based diet and lost a total of 125 lbs. and counting. I hope you are able to benefit from my struggles. Enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment! 


Juicevember 12th: Last chance to get in a good workout before my doctor's appointment tomorrow, and the accuser switches battlefields. My plan is to work out in the morning, to get the day going and (probably most importantly) to get it out of the way. So I woke up at 6:15 and a voice inside my head said, "Hey! Why don't you just work out AFTER class and get a couple more hours of shut-eye?" Then, of course, I remembered everything I had been telling myself about NOT having to heed those impulses, and got up anyway. Didn't exactly crush the treadmill, but I did get 45 good minutes in. One impulse at a time...!

Also - what is the worst thing you've ever eaten? Not necessarily gross, just something you ate that made you say, "I can't believe I ate THAT!" afterwards. My biggest struggle comes with portion control. Some portion of my brain thinks that if part of a thing is good, then all is even better. In college (which doesn't really count, because college) I'm sure many of my UVa friends remember the sandwich shop Macado's, and their version of the big sandwich, the Hindenburg. It was maybe 2 and a half feet of sandwich, if I remember correctly. One night every week was cheap Hindy night (I think it might have been Mondays). I actually ate not one but TWO of them one night, in one sitting. That's five feet of sandwich, in one sitting. But again - that's college, so it doesn't count.

After I ate two Hindys in college, my stomach felt like it was going to explode like this. Oh, the humanity!

I eat while driving, more than anyone should. This is part of the shame of addiction, isn't it? I feel like I have to eat whatever I get in the car, before I get home, so my wife doesn't know what I've eaten. So, no matter how much food I get it needs to be gone before I get home. The worst thing I've ever eaten in the car was about a 10-dollar order from McDonald's, all from the dollar menu.
I had three jalapeno doubles and a 20-piece McNuggets, and an order of fries.

(Read that again.)

Yup, I've ordered multiple McDouble/McChicken combos, too.

This is the attitude about food that I'm trying to reset, once and for all. Not something that's going to die easily, but I'm hoping that I can overcome it with God's grace and the willpower not to listen to that part of me that would wolf down enough food to feed a medium-sized family in the 10-minute drive home. Needless to say, your prayers are appreciated.

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That was hard to admit to my friends, but once I did, I was surprised to know that other people could share similar experiences. Which is why I did this all in the first place. Some people need to realize that their dependence on food has nothing to do with what their body needs, and everything to do with addiction. If one person comes to grips with that, then I've done my job.

Tomorrow's post deals with my thoughts on approaching the halfway point of my first major juice fast, and another major struggle against two of my old nemeses, rolled into one: leftovers and Mexican food. Thanks again for reading!