review: Juice Fest 2012

All of our ingredients. We were prepared!

The weekend juicing getaway was a success! Being away from home took away a lot of the temptations of other foods that weren't part of our juicing plan. Mom was a sport and not only came along for the experience, but was 100% into following the juice fast weekend plans. A lot of our time was spent washing and cutting the fruits and veggies. Rather than me blogging about this experience all myself, I asked Joshua and mom to write their own thoughts about last weekend. Hope you enjoy the pictures and find our descriptions informative.

JOSHUA

most craved food: steak tartar

weight lost: 10 lbs

favorite juice fast meal: blackberries on a hike

Where we ate Joshua's fave "meal."

Going into the juice fest weekend I had some trepidation on what it would be like to feel hungry, since we would not be having much solid food for a couple of days.

We did eat raw fruits and vegetables in-between juicing and I think this did help, but even on the day when we primarily juiced I was rarely hungry, felt light, healthy and always ready for an activity. From swimming, to hiking, to running up a mountain I remained active each day.

Juicing gave Joshua super strength!

There was a very contemplative component to the fast pertaining to food. Perhaps it was the lack of caffeine and the simplicity in the answer to the question "what are we going to eat" that made for the reflective mood. All the smells and sights of food everywhere were not going to end up in my stomach so there I came to the conclusion there was no point in grasping onto the pull these things had on my conscience. It was interesting to feel the pull of suggestion and "sit with it" as my meditation teachers have often brought when you are facing something uncomfortable. It made a big difference to also know that I was getting plenty of nourishment from the leafy green juices and that hunger, desire and nourishment can all be looked at separately, but often become confused in my mind.

I saw how easy it is for me to fall into the trap of eating something due to the power of suggestion when that food isn't healthful and I'm not really hungry. There is a lot of eating that is driven by emotion and the fast really let me see that clearly.

Coming back to food was the hardest for me and my stomach. I had some stomach cramping and gas on a run. I think my system was probably shocked by all the raw vegetables and fruits I ate that day. On day three of normal food I had no more issues. I'm glad I took it really slow going back to "normal" food.

LINDA 
(a.k.a. mom)

most craved food: scrambled eggs and hearty whole wheat toast

weight lost: 4.5 lbs

favorite juice fast meal: the last juice which contained lots of fruit as well as greens???

OK, I’ll admit that I was somewhat skeptical about the juice fasting weekend; thus, the comments on our calendar that “Linda will bring steak and potatoes.”

What would the green juices taste like?  Would I constantly be thinking of real food?  Would my energy totally disappear – rendering me a couch potato in beautiful Vail?  Despite these concerns, some recent blood test results made me more than open to trying the juice fasting in an effort to move toward an alkaline diet, as have Joshua and Laura, to decrease inflammation in my body systems.

I have to admit: I was favorably impressed!  Chef Joshua mixed up the ingredients so that no two juice events were alike; the initial taste on some were “surprising” but after a sip or two, not bad at all.  Naturally, the more fruit he put in, the more palatable the taste.  I’ll admit that each day I was thinking of chewing something – anything, but no particular food occupied my thoughts.

Two bumps on a log.

Third day hike.

Thankfully, my energy did not disappear!  In fact, we hiked about 5 miles above Dillon on Sat., walked all over Vail Village on Sunday, and stopped on the trip back Monday to hike about 4 miles up Shrine Pass – wow!  It was so great to see Laura’s ability to hang in there during our hikes!  Of course, neither one of us were able to match Joshua’s run up the ski trail in front of our resort (did he drink some kind of energy drink or what?).

All in all, it turned out to be a great way to celebrate Laura’s perseverance and strength through this year as she met her BC diagnosis head on!  Yea for Laura!  Yea for us!

LAURA

most craved food: popcorn (what the heck?)

weight lost: 6.5 lbs

favorite juice fast meal: toss-up between chia seed drinks or avocado

Chia seed drink - mmm.

Since the end of my last chemo treatment (mid-April), I'd been looking forward to this weekend for three reasons: to have a mini celebratory vacation in the mountains, to help my body detox after the last year of meds running through my system, and to experience a fast firsthand. Right before the weekend, I started to think about food differently: What I'm eating now I won't be able to enjoy all weekend! This ended up being time wasted, because I never really wanted anything other than what was available to us.

Fridge upon arrival.

This was my first time participating in any type of fast. Honestly, it wasn't bad. We set ourselves up for success by not having many food choices: juice, raw fruit, or raw veggies. For beverages--water or decaf tea. That's it. Although some of the smells while walking around Vail were tempting, none snared a hook in me. What a powerful feeling!

Fridge on last day. Good job!

As a group, we had several interesting conversations about fasting. We talked about how ads target people and pull "us" into thinking we want certain foods and products that are just plain unhealthy. Ads that target kids are especially saddening...children don't have the knowledge base to make these decisions and cute little characters make things look friendly and fun. We also talked about how fortunate we are to rarely experience true hunger. And how forcing ourselves to experience it for some time is a good thing. Even though we felt hungry at times, we had what we needed to survive through the day. Think how many humans do not have enough nourishment to survive and thrive!

I believe that the experience of breast cancer and life as a survivor can be an enlightening one, if you allow it to be. (It is a given it'll be a challenging experience, too.) Being open to not only Western medicine but also alternative therapies, spirituality, changes in eating habits and lifestyle, and other such endeavors can be empowering. You can question things you simply took for granted before and be awakened to new ways of thinking. I wasn't sure if I could handle a 3-day fast; I now know I can not only handle it - but enjoy it!

The top of Shrine Ridge was elusive.
When we met up with this snowpack,
we did a U-turn and headed back down.