The Juice!

     So last year I created a blog that some people followed for all of two posts.  And then abruptly stopped.  It was about getting back into shape.  In it, I admitted to my emotional eating.  Right after that second post was published, my mom passed away very suddenly.  And it was holiday season.  The peak of the social eating coupled with some major depression.  It's been over a year and when my mom's death anniversary rolled around, I took a good hard look at myself and the belly I created.  I was now 20 pounds heavier than "Resolution 2011" posts and needed to do something about it badly.  I was careful about what I ate, exercised, made some fitness goals for myself. 
    I started to eat COMPLETELY clean at January 1st, as most do, after a New Year's Bash I couldn't not participate in. I also started exercising daily, sometimes to lengths where my friends remarked that I was crazy.  And I'd lost 8 lbs from when I started.  Good, but not great.  Every time I look at the belly on my tiny frame and feel the padding on my back and see how my clothes don't fit, I am reminded of the last year.  Sick and sad and angry.  Not like myself at all.  And I want the reminders to go away. 
     I learned in every single health class I took in college that for a person to be truly healthy, they need to be socially, emotionally, spiritually AND physically healthy.  After blocking out those in my social circle and crying way more than I've ever been used to, I thought what would really help is to get that spiritual thing in line.  My mom was a Christian and I was raised as one, but to get healthier I felt I needed help to get to the place where I respected others, respected the body I was blessed with and had both a human and a spiritual support for the emotional stuff.  I found a church and in it I found a whole congregation of amazing people.  This is me getting baptised this summer::

     So from there they started to heal me, socially, emotionally and definitely spiritually.  And I started formulating goals for myself and goals with my best friend/ boyfriend Matt.  I got a job, started paying down my debt.  Signed up for a race I've always wanted to do.  Started studying to get my personal training certification.  Everything was lining up EXCEPT my weight.  I was working my butt off (unfortunately not literally) keeping track of what went in and how many calories were going out, taking supplements that were supposed to help you burn more.  Nothing worked.  At least not as fast as it would take to make my goals this Spring. 
    So last Sunday, my pastor incorporated a documentary he'd watched into his sermon.  This film was Joe Cross's "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead".  I love documentaries, and believe it or not, I love veggies (I've actually been a vegetarian since I was 7).  So when my dad came home two nights ago, I sat with him and watched it.  Joe Cross, an Aussie man juiced veggies and fruits only for 60 days. It not only helped him look better and feel healthier, it helped him kick a dibilitation autoimmune disease called Cronic Urticaria.   I'm not quite at the point of obesity that he was, but I'm headed that way and the doctors have told me diabetes is on the horizon. 
     He said the first days sucked.  A lot.  But when I do things (and am myself) I do them wholeheartedly and as extreme as possible, So I got out my juicer right then::

I set it up for the morning, and changed my grocery list to just fruits, veggies, and herbs.