So last night concluded a 9 day juice fast.
Yeah. You heard me. That’s right. Nine days without solid food. Just fruit and vegetable juice, made from my handy-dandy juicer. I made multiple trips a week to the market, getting fruits and veggies. I carried around a glass Starbucks cup like a toddler with his sippy cup, chugging juice.
By day 9, I just wanted some meat. I wanted chicken. Beef. Steak.
I would have settled for chicken broth (or is that chicken juice? Technically…….)
But let’s talk a little more about why I was juicing.
First off, it was physical. If you haven’t seen the documentary “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead,” you need to go see it. Food is killing us – or, more appropriately, our abuse of food. One of my goals was to be able to eliminate any of the not-so-good stuff I was intaking (even though I am VERY mindful about what enters my body), and just give my body a chance to really recoup. You could see that it was doing good things for me, by the way. I glowed. I was starting to lose some weight. I felt amazing. Who doesn’t want that?
Secondly, I wanted to take a spiritual approach. Jesus fasted. I wish I was so awesome I could go in the desert and be without food for 40 days, and then refuse to turn stones into bread. Ha. I’m not that strong, I’d make those stones into a steak with a bloomin’ onion on the side (can I get an AMEN??). However, the spiritual discipline of fasting is one that is highly underrated, and I really wanted to give it a shot. I attended Secret Church the Saturday before I started juicing, and live-tweeted the whole thing. There was one statement that kinda tore me up:
Fasting is saying “there’s something I want more.” #sc14 #spiritualdiscipline
I wanted something more, that’s for sure. So conviction captured me, and I decided that it would be a focus during my juice fast. I mean, I was already thinking and planning on doing the juice fast, which is far more attainable than no food. I don’t want to unhealthily wreck myself, and I know that me without food? God help the rest of the world, cause it ain’t pretty.
Here’s a couple of things I’ve learned (or got reiterated into my life) from these past nine days:
1. Self control is HARD. (DUH). Nothing like having tomato juice while your friends have pizza or burgers. It sucks.
2. Community revolves around food. It’s true, all over the world, people come together over the table. They break bread together. It’s one of the most basic fundamental needs of the world – don’t eat, you die. EVERYONE in the world must eat; it’s one of the most primal, basic human needs. It brings us together.
3. Juicing is hard with a busy active life. If I had a family and went home every night after work, this might be easier. Most nights, however, are spent out of the house (it seems that if a single gal has “sweatpants night” it’s not such a good thing). I strive for an active social life, so I really don’t have a lot of nights out, which is unfortunate sometimes (I like sweatpants and LOST marathons and an evening making juice).
4. Being hungry doesn’t equal “more spiritual.” Getting closer to God is going to require work. He isn’t going to force Himself upon you. He knocks; you open the door. Just as a heads up, this is a lesson that I already know, but it was illustrated more clearly. Having a closer relationship with God doesn’t just happen to you.
5. Variety really is the spice of life. I was dying for something else. I thought longingly of the juices that come out of a grilled steak. Chicken broth. Sushi. I even craved pizza (I don’t overly care for pizza).
So there you have it folks. I didn’t eat solid food for nine days. It’s totally doable. It feels really good. It also is annoying, and people won’t stop apologizing for the fact that they eat regular food in front of you. It’s kinda funny.
If you’re really curious, this is the recipe I broke my fast with. Queso never tasted so good.
Life in Thai 