...And, We're Back to the Juice

Well, after a weekend replete with indulgences (i.e. banana chocolate chip muffins, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies...and the dough, a chicken wrap, tortilla chips, and even a few French fries today), I can say that I'm thoroughly sick of eating this way as as well as the way it makes me feel. I think it's safe to say that I overdid it and *BLAH* is the result. Lesson learned: Do not go off a juice fast and overeat on all your favorite things. Instead, change your favorite things and/or eat them in smaller quantities.

I actually miss juicing. I know it's strange, but it's true. I miss the clean, healthy feeling of ingesting so many good natural vitamins and nutrients. I miss the "just right" feeling of fulness after a "meal/juice." I miss seeing the numbers decreasing on the scale as opposed to INcreasing this weekend. (Dislike!) I miss knowing that I reached my daily quotient of fruits and vegetables and then some!

So, after much thought and discussion with Julie, we are going back on the juice fast this week (with some exceptions). We'll juice Monday through Friday with a couple of real meals thrown in due to prior commitments with friends. Then, when the weekend arrives, instead of throwing ourselves head first into a bowl of cookie dough, we are going to make some good Dr. Furhman soup (chock full of veggies) and eat some other whole foods, like bean salad, humus and whole wheat pita bread, and perhaps even some fish or chicken.

We decided that when Sunday rolls around, we will even allow ourselves an "unhealthy" treat, but not one that we'll make from scratch. (It's just too tempting to overeat when you make a whole batch of homemade cookies.) Instead, we'll go out somewhere to buy just one of something (an ice cream cone, a piece of dark chocolate). We'll see where our cravings lead us. This approach is a much wiser one for keeping our appetites in check, while at the same time, allowing us to give in to just a little decadence.

So, tonight, I make 5 different juices (Reboot Your Life recipes: Mean Green, Lemon Lime, Green Lemonade, Pineapple/Orange, and the Melon/Kale juice). I was in the kitchen (once again) for about an hour and a half, but now we are good to go for tomorrow and then lunch and snack juices for the next 5 days. It's a whole lot of work, but it is so well worth it. :)

I will be going to be so much happier tonight knowing that another especially healthy week lies before me. Thank you, Lord, for so many wonderfully healthy foods, the good lesson we learned this weekend, and the self-control to keep going on our path to optimum health!