My day in pictures...

My sisters and I had some fun today in the sun with the camera..

Day 1 again!

hehehe reset! Here we go again. Of course Oliver woke with a BS of 357. Thanks to his "I'm going out with a bang" mindset of pizza and beer. And I'm just as guilty because he told me he was going and nothing I said swayed him so I said "bring home vegan butter (Earth Balance) and sourdough bread." And then I swiped a slice of cheese pizza from the kiddos. Uggh. I woke up with renewed vigor to get our juice on! I made a lovely beet, apple, grape and lime juice to start off. Then I made myself a carrot, tomato, lime, ginger and thai basil. I made Oliver a cucumber, celery, lime, ginger and jalapeno.

My boys

Ick, making a bribe

Ok. On day 5, Oliver had to up one of his meds which in effect caused him to get really sick and his blood sugar to go very wacky. End of day 5. Oliver messaged me that he had pho. I broke almost immediately as I had been sitting at restaurants with my family all day. We had an EXTREMELY long Saturday as Jake was participating in a soccer jamboree. We had games at 8am, noon and 3pm. That night we went to Taco Time for dinner. I had a bean burrito minus cheese and some mexi fries. It hurt my stomach. Then for the next couple of days I did juice until dinner. But Oliver has been a pain in the rear not wanting to go back on it EVEN though his blood sugar was amazing and now he's having a heck of a time keeping it under control..I tried all my tactics, whining, cajoling, demanding.. etc. but I finally found what would work. He's been dying for a new comp processor and I told him if he did the feast for 2 weeks now that I would find the money in the budget for it. HEHEHEHEHE. Boy how fast he agreed! So starting tomorrow we start again. And btw, I had lost 5lbs when I did just 5 days of juicing.

Day 5-Me up, Oliver down...

I can't believe have survived (thrived) through 5 days of only liquids. Oliver's blood sugar continues to be super awesome, however his doctor upped him on one of his meds and its kicked his butt today. Its a  pretty tough day for him, couldn't even keep his juices down. I stopped at Marlene's to get him a ginger kombucha to help settled his stomach and it was walking through a plethora of raw/organic/healthy yummies. I bought Jake a small container of vegan asian noodles. but turns out it was too spicy for him so I told him to toss it out, initially, but then not wanting to waste them, I was like " I"ll eat em!" I literally stood there, fork in hand smelling the delicious aroma of vegan noodles and yelled to Oliver "I'm going to eat them!!!" Then it hit, the realization that we've come this far and I didn't want to muck it up. I threw them away and had some juice.
How I feel lately? I feel really good, hunger has really gone away as long as I keep up with my juices. My hair and skin feel softer, I'm pretty sure I've lost weight and just overall I feel energized. I even worked out yesterday (50 mins of Yoga). I'm pretty surprised I haven't had a huge detox. When we went raw couple years ago, our detox was HORRID. I was so sick. Yeah I've had bouts of a headache or feeling needy (for yummy vegan food)  but overall my energy level has skyrocketed.

Juice intake on August 18, 2011

- 16oz beets and beet green juice

-56oz (green apple, cuke, celery and lemon juice)

-1/2tbsp chia seeds in water

-1 can Amy and Brien's Coconut Juice 

-16 oz grape/lime juice (everyone should try this)

-16 oz warm miso broth

SUPPLEMENTS: Chlorella, cal/mag, multi, D2

Day 4 and feeling STRONG

Ok so like I said yesterday it was pretty tough for both of us with the food cravings. We did allow ourselves to have a small dinner of miso soup (hot water and organic white miso paste). Still fluid, still low sugar and virtually no carbs.
I just need to rave about Oliver's blood sugar... freaking fantastic. Here is a breakdown. Now we're talking about a very brittle type 1 diabetic. I have to state also that normal blood sugar is in the 85 range. His norms were 200 and we thought a BS of 150 was GREAT.

Blood Sugar and Juice intake for August 16,2011

--Waking BS: 75

--Had 16 oz green juice BS: 110

--He took his 10 units of Lantus (long acting)

--16oz juice BS 125

--1 hour later checked it, BS 142 so took 2 units of Novolog (fast acting)

--He felt low around dinner so had 16 oz grapefruit/carrot juice

--He hit BS 200 so took 2 unit Novolog and it went back to normal within 15 mins

After work (roughly 1030p) BS: 119

Around midnight BS: 68 so he drank some almond milk and grapefruit juice

For August 17, 2011

--Waking BS: 110, he took his 10 units Lantus

--16 oz green juice BS 150 so took 2 units Novolog

--Had 12 oz raw green smoothie

--About 230p BS 94

--More green juice BS 111

--He felt low around 1030p so he rank some beet apple juice

--BS at 1130p 139 so took 2 units of Novolog

For August 18, 2011

--Waking BS 130, so he took 8 units Novolog

--18oz green juice, BS 20 mins later was 139 so he took 2 units Novolog

That is as far as we have gotten today. 

This doesn't seem to include all the green juice he does eat, he is getting roughly 72 oz green juice, maybe 12-16 oz raw almond milk, we did have some miso soup and he will have small amounts of fruit juice if low. 

How he feels? Let's just say this is a man (and I love him mucho) that does NOT like to get up in the morning. It is a major pain as he has to pull himself out of a fog (due to high blood sugar) and its literally like a "hangover" he says. He was up bright and early 730 chipper as can be!!! REALLLY!! I have to usually drag him out by 10:30-11 in the morning to help me get stuff done. He even fed Connor breakfast while I juiced. Amazing. Simple amazing. He also states that he  is not sweating like normal (due to high/low blood sugar) and On this Day 4, the cravings have lessened. Oh and get this? He did some push ups and sit ups this morning. Its like a brand new revitalized man. I am oh so happy. 

Day 3, inexplicable energy and happiness

Wowser! At first this morning I didn't want to get out of bed despite the swats to the face by mister monster Connor. As soon as I got up, I attended to him, set him up in his bouncer and downed about 48 oz of water. Then I hit the juicing business! I made myself about 56 oz of beet, cucumber, celery, baby carrot, grape tomato, ginger, beet greens! and kale juice. Maybe its the addition of the beet greens, maybe its that we are at Day 3 but I almost immediately had a sense of crazy energy happiness. Pretty awesome. Oliver woke up with a bs of 110. Continued in awe of the power of green juices.

Day 2 Fantastic-ness

Last night was difficult, I'm not going to lie. The cravings were BAD. But Oliver and I stuck it out. He said his blood sugar yesterday did not rise above 130! Hot dang. Got up this morning, I was a little bit dizzy but I got the juicing done for the day. (Takes me over an hour prep and clean up time). Well worth it though. I made Oliver over 72oz green juice and some raw almond milk. The bestest news of all, he woke up with a BS of 75! It hasn't been that in.. well... a long time. He then had 16 oz green juice and checked it half an hour later and it was 110. Then he had another green juice an hour later and it only went to 122. This is amazing. He cut his Lantus (long acting insulin) down to 10 units (from 20-30) and hasn't taken any Novolog (fast acting). This is all in just 1 day! Simply amazing.
I did make him some carrot/grapefruit juice JUST in case his bs drops at work.

I've made myself over 56 oz of: (for the course of the day)
Beet, carrot, grapefruit, cucumber, celery, kale, lemon and ginger

Also best thing I've heard out of Oliver's mouth today: "I'm craving a kale, avocado salad" Dude, that sounds yummy.

I feel good, I've periodically been dizzy but I just drink more water and juice and I think I'll make a dense smoothie later afternoon. I've been keeping count of our calories and nutrient intake and all looks good.

AND THEN....


I got an email that I've been accepted into the Child Welfare  Training Advancement Program. This means up to 75% of my tuition is getting covered while I attend my MSW program. I can't even write about how excited/glad/relieved I am.


Update: 21:14. Oh man oh man oh  man. All the food in the kitchen is looking pretty sweet and literally screaming at me. I made a smoothie (a whole bag of sweet tender greens, water, frozen strawberries and some raw almond butter) but I didn't even want it, Connor had  a little bit. I drank only half of it. I've already finished my juice.. I really don't feel like breaking out the juicer again and have to clean up. So I'm gonna suck down some water and breathe through it. I made Oliver a huge smoothie (Kale, unsweetened coconut milk, flax seed meal and coconut oil) for when he gets home. I know he's going to be starving. He messaged me that his bs around dinner time was 94!!!! I'm stunned. And uber happy and this gives me the confidence to keep going. Its not like we're not going to never eat solid food again.  I feel like I need to do this also to prove to myself I can stick to what I say. And I've really wanted to do a juice/smoothie feast for a long long time. I'm interested in weighing myself, I feel kinda lighter already. I'll probably check it on Friday.

Day 1 with my man

Despite the fact that we had to be up by 6am to drive up to Children's Hospital in Seattle for Connor, we are sticking to our guns. Oliver agreed to try my modified green juice/smoothie feast for a week. So late last night I put together tons of green juice (Broccoli, celery, romaine, lemon) for him and Carrot/Tomato/lemon for me. I also made him a large large green smoothie (spinach, protein powder and almond milk). I know technically Gabriel Cousens suggests the green juice to help reset his system but I did a calorie count and the green juice were very little. I don't want him to lose a lot of weight. Its taken him years to finally get to a good weight. Me on the other hand, lol, I'm ready to shed that baby weight. I managed to snag a box of cukes from Fred Meyers, 36 of them for 18 bucks. I'm quite happy, it will definitely help our juicing venture. It has a very tempting day as well as Connor and I headed to my parents house to hang out with Grandma and Shanelle. I did indulge in a handful of raw pine nuts (How could I not?)

So far here is my food intake:
24 oz of carrot/lemon/tomato juice (broken up in 8 oz servings)
I still have about 16 more oz that I will drink over the rest of the day
Handful of raw pine nuts
Half a coconut yogurt (non dairy) that I shared with Connor. (I just had to have a taste.. or 3)
A large spinach/banana/water smoothie
1 kombucha

So while it is not just juices/smoothies, at least it was easier to digest than an actual apple or vegan meal. We'll see how Oliver feels later. I feel tired and weak (as in I want to grab a mango or an apple or a vegan burrito or something)

Hungry hungry hungry

Ok, lately? I have been HUN-GARRRR-EEEE. I have my juice everyday, sometimes more than 2. But then I just kinda go crazy. I'm eating vegan, that really isn't that hard. We had the kids over and I made them spaghetti and guess who ate all the leftovers. MEEEEE! I think what is happening is since Oliver agreed to do a juice feast starting Monday and I'm going gung ho (with the addition of green smoothies) I'm over indulging in anticipation.

So I've been distracted from this blog by getting an invite to Google +. Seems interesting. I must go investigate. Find me on there!

Feeling all sorts of motivation...

I've been trying to compile a grocery list for this upcoming Monday's juice feast. It will feature Oliver on green juices (no fruit unless BS requires it) and I desperately need to dig out Gabriel Counsen's There is a Cure for Diabetes. I've been doing the math on all the veggies required and trying to map out where is the cheapest to obtain them. It'll be a combination of Costco, Fred Meyers and this little produce place by my parents house. Unfortunately the budget doesn't compensate for all of that. It goes over our budget just for Oliver's food. So I've been trying to conceive of ways to get around it. I want to make sure he is getting a good deal of calories but honestly without the addition of fruit he would literally have to eat pounds and pounds of juiced veggies. His juices I've decided will be:

Cucumber

Celery

Kale

Swiss chard

Parsley

Cilantro

Ginger

Garlic

Lemon

Lime

Romaine

That still leaves groceries needing to be bought for me, Jacob, Ollie, Hanna and bubbababy. I've decided to do green juices but make sure Oliver is getting the bulk of it and I can add fruit for caloric needs. And I will be doing green smoothies, spinach and bananas are super cheap. Smoothies are more filling as well. I'm debating whether adding a modified smoothie to Oliver's intake, if it would benefit him. I would nix the banana and blend spinach, almond milk and a protein powder. Actually this sounds like a good idea. Anyone (haha I know no one reads this) have any advice? I think I'm going to try to find a forum on this. 

Today's eats:

Breakfast: Green juice (Cukes and golden delicious apples with lemon), Chlorella

Snack: Leftover golden delicious juice, Cal/Mag supplement

Lunch: Carrot/ tomato juice (First time I've juiced tomatoes and WOWSER it was super good) DHA and D2 supplement

Snack: Kombucha

Dinner: Green smoothie: (Banana, coconut milk, coconut oil, raw hemp protein powder, and tons of spring salad mix, Multivitamin

Snack: Home made raw almond milk

Total calories------>1226

How I feel: Good, I feel good. I have been reallly thirsty today. Such an odd feeling when I'm consuming all liquids.

Hooray. I've convinced Oliver to....

Do a green juice fast starting on Monday! I'm super stoked as I do best when I have a "buddy." I have been vegan the last 2 days but only half raw. Usually my first part of the day is all raw and then evening/dinner time is cooked. I've been at my parent's house visiting and that is always very challenging.

Loving the creamy miso garlic dressing..

I have to start this post with the admiration I have for Miss AtV and her delicious recipe. I believe I will be making a huge batch for the upcoming Guild BBQ (Yes we are dorks and I currently do not play the game). So have I been raw the last 2 days? Mostly. Vegan? You betcha. Funny thing is when I tell my brain "Go 100% raw, being vegan feels like cheating." As I write, Connor, who has been army crawling for half a month, is now pushing up onto his knees and is really gaining mobility. Why do they grow up so dang fast?

Thursday's Eats August 4, 2011

Breakfast: A couple spoonfuls of the creamy miso garlic dressing ( so darn yummy) and a green juice: Cukes, celery, golden delicious apple, kale. Also a warm cup of lemon water. Probiotic and chlorella.

Snack: Raspberries, Kombucha

Lunch: Spring salad with the dressing and a handful of Tostitos chips dipped in it

Snack: more dressing, LOL. Also a multivitamin, DHA and D2.

Dinner: I didn't log what I had for dinner and quite honestly I can not recall

Friday August 5, 2011

Breakfast: Green juice (Cuke, green apple, kale, celery) Chlorella. 

Snack: Kombucha

Lunch: Spring salad mix with that heavenly dressing

Dinner: An awesome smoothie (Kale, banana, coconut oil, raw almond butter, frozen cherries, coconut kefir). Serious yumminess.

Snack/another dinner:  A can of Amy's Black Bean Veggie soup with 2 slices of soy vegan cheddar cheese and a dollop of the dressing as a sour cream alternative. Holy guacamole. Can we say "Lick the bowl" goodness?

Today Saturday August 6, 2011

Breakfast: Super mean green juice: Cucumber, kale, romaine, parsley, lemon and GARLIC. This juice will knock your socks off (in a good way). No fruit. I was a little dizzy after drinking but I felt fabulous.

Snack: Kombucha and a carrot/lemon juice

Lunch: Spring salad with more of the fantastic dressing

Snack: Banana smothered in raw almond butter

Dinner: A can of Amy's Black Bean veggie soup with a dollop of the dressing and a handful of cherries

My plan of the attack for the rest of the night is to consume more cherries and maybe another green juice if needed. I'm still working on attaining more high rawness for weight loss reasons. I feel pretty good right now.

Continuing to try...

So I hit a low the other day, then I hit a high and then I hit a snafu. I've stayed vegan though! :) Lets recount the last few days of goodies

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Green juice (160z), probiotic, chlorella

Snack: Kombucha and hummus

Lunch: Carrot juice and grape tomatoes

Snack: Vanilla soy milk (I needed to add some calories and some calcium)

Dinner: Green smoothie (almond milk, cashew butter, spinach, raw hemp protein, frozen cherries, chia seeds, and banana)

Snack: More hummus then way later some aloe vera juice

Total calories-->1260

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Carrot/celery juice, some raw honey (so yum) and probiotic and chlorella

Snack: Kombucha

Lunch: This is where the day went wrong. Oliver wanted pho so off we went tofu calling my name. I ordered the small veggie tofu pho and shared with Jakey ( I gave him all the noodles). I just had the broth, veggies and a couple pieces of tofu. IN hindsight I realized that is nothing to eat and made me super hungry

Snack: 1 pint of raspberries, more carrot juice

Dinner: Some veggie potstickers ( I was making them for Jake and I ended up with a plate of my own) and then this DELICIOUS eggplant punjab with eeeks Kettle chips and 2 slices of vegan cheddar cheese

Dessert: 2 ice cream bars (So Delicious dairy free)

Calories--> 1906

Then I woke up with some blemishes on my face! YIKES! I haven't had any in a while and they are usually small and go away quickly. But it must be from the week's stress or I started to detox a bit, I have a flare up of psoriasis still here on my right elbow. Egads. AND I have dinner tonight with an ex coworker. DOH.

Still searching for that peace..

I had to blog about whats up today as I've hit a weird spot. I've had very low energy today, feeling depressed and I'm sure that isn't all attributed to eating this way but I have not been hungry at all today and its been a struggle to keep up the calories today. The issues with the kiddos has really gotten me stressed out. I've recently (2-3 months) noticed a suspicious psoriasis case on my right elbow and in times of stress it flares. It has been gone for over a month but yesterday I had weird red itchy bumps and sure enough over the progression of today, scaly white itchy patches. While my diet hasn't been strictly 100% juice, I'm pretty sure I'm hitting a weird feeling spot. I just need to get over this hump. Funny thing is, I have no desire whatsoever for cooked food. Ive been in the house all day today, maybe that makes it easier as I don't keep junk food in the house.
I have had no focus or concentration today, my goal was to finish up this week's stats homework and study for quiz. I have yet to even open the book. Jake is with his dad tonight and Oliver is at work, so just me and the baby. I don't even have a desire to watch a movie or do much in the way of housework. I did the dishes. (Hooray, me!) The laundry isn't even all folded. (gasp). I've played with Connor and napped with Connor. We took a 2 hour nap! And I feel like going back to bed. Connor has other thoughts though.

Trying to find some inner peace.. or just not freak out..

First I'm going to address yesterday's food then I'm going to rant. Fair warning.

Breakfast: 16 oz green juice (Cuc, celery, romaine, green apple, nectarine), a huge class of water prior to the juice with cayenne, lemon and raw honey. Actually VERY tasty.

Snack: 8oz Kombucha

Lunch: Smoothie (Banana, raw hemp protein powder, vanilla soy milk (not raw) and frozen blackberries, 1 cup of lentil soup (now raw)

Snack: Another Kombucha and some Kimchi (oh yeah!!!)

Dinner: Half an avocado, carrot/lemon juice, a mango

Snack: A ton of watermelon

Exercise: 30 push ups broken up over the day and 1 mile walk while Jake was at soccer practice

Total Calories--> 1423. Much better. In hindsight I'm going to forgo the not raw soup.. It completely and thoroughly made me feel like a ravenous beast that I had to tame.

I spent most of my day at my parent's yesterday and it was temptation hell. Let me list them: Rice, chocolate cream pies, orange/cran muffins, doughnuts, cookies...... the list goes on but I'll stop there. Ok So I filched one lil bite of the orange/cran muffin.. no calories in that right? ;-). It was minuscule, really.

RANT TIME:
First off, I love my family. All of them. I get a call from left field from Ollie and Hanna's mom about the boys fighting during the week we had them. And let me just say this has escalated to the point that now she says the kids don't want to see us due to Jacob (6 years old) being "violent" and my father being "emotionally abusive." There is so much more to this story and I thought ranting would help but I now realize I just want to cry or eat a pie.

Juicy goodness

Yesterday's Intake (July 31, 2011)

Breakfast: 16oz green juice--> Cucumber, green apple, celery and romaine. A probiotic and chlorella

Snack: 8 oz Kombucha ( Found a super great deal on the Wonder Drink Brand at Grocery outlet, about 77cents a can)

Lunch: About 10 oz carrot/lemon juice, 1 avocado, some more chlorella

Snack: Spirulina and some more carrot juice just a few ounces

Dinner: Some grape tomatoes and leftover green juice (about 8 oz)

Snack: Banana with cashew butter (not raw), multivitamin and Vit D

=1100 calories (Now I know this is a bit low so I'm going to incorporate more smoothies)

There were times during the day where I felt mentally hungry, not actually physically hungry as long as I anticipated it and had my juice before letting hunger get out of control. Overall, I felt the best I have felt. I felt super glowy (I know not a word but it was how I felt). I did get lethargic around 5ish and slept with Connor while nursing for about an hour. Then I continued the daily grind of working on Statistics hell. Around 11pm was particularly hard because Oliver gets home around that time and wants to eat, therefore I want to eat. The kiddos are sleeping and I have free time to watch mind numbing movies or such. I did have some trouble falling asleep, usually I'm out like a light by 11:15 but I stayed up until 1am.

This morning I'm noticeably "thinner" and I feel GREAT! Oliver made hash browns and the smell nearly drove me mad but then I looked at my waistline and decided it wasn't worth it.I will post my food journal later tonight. I have to take Oliver to work so I can take Jakey to soccer practice later. I'm excited about that because I'm going to bring Connor's backpack and walk around the track while he practices. So yay! Some EXERCISE!

I'm also drinking copious amounts of water. I haven't noticed any changes in breast milk and Connor doesn't seem affected. He's quite the happy boy. Here are some pics of his dinner last night.

 I made him Avocado, spinach, and apple yumminess.