Category Archives: Raw Emotions

Juice Fasting and The Happiness Factor

23 March 2013

14 Comments

(Just so you know, I’m not even supposed to be writing this right now! I’m on “baby’s gonna drop any day” watch and should be sitting on the nest taking it easy. This is important enough to break the hiatus. See how  much I love y’all?)

I was inspired to write this post this morning by a comment on our Facebook page. Quick disclaimer: this is not meant to offend anyone…just to get you to think of your juicing/health/weight loss/life change journey from another perspective. Now that the preamble is over, let’s get to it, shall we?

smiley-face

Admittedly, I can be one of those disgustingly happy people that you’d prefer to avoid on the street. I’m not saying that I don’t have my snarky moments or I’m constantly going around singing “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”, but…I’m pretty happy the majority of the time, and I believe that accounts for the wonderful life that I live. In addition, if I decide to make a change in my life, I’m the kind of person who considers it first and then, upon the decision to do the damn thing, leaps into it with reckless abandon. The one piece of required equipment for the leap, you may ask?

HAPPINESS. See how I put that word on bold, there? That’s because, on this road, it’s beyond crucial to get (and keep) your happy on. 

Now, that’s MY feeling. Obviously, there are others who don’t share that sentiment, and that’s what I’m responding to on this gorgeous Saturday morning. I take the time to answer lots of questions and posts here and on Facebook, and the ones that always dishearten me are the messages where folks are obviously unhappy – either with themselves or the choice they have made to juice, lose weight, what have you. I get the ever-growing barrage of complaints no matter what I say: “I’m not losing weight fast enough!”, “Ugh! This is impossible!”, “My skin’s breaking out!”, “My head hurts!”, “I can’t poop!”, ”Nothing tastes good!”…see where I’m going? I’m not talking about the occasional vent about the obvious discomforts that come with juicing, either, because we ALL have those. This is a sense that no matter what anyone says or advises, the complaints just keep on comin’. 

My response today to those comments? DON’T JUICE. DON’T GO RAW. DON’T UP THE VEGGIES. DON’T LOSE THE WEIGHT. DON’T CHANGE YOUR HEALTH. JUST DON’T DO IT, BECAUSE IT’S TOO HARD. 

Pause for reaction: “Carla! What the heck are you saying?!?!? How could you write such thing?!?!? Where’ the “light at the end of the tunnel” , happy-shiny encouragement that we come here for?!?”

Never fear, lovies…it’s coming. Let me explain. 

Happy

I recently posted the above quote to my personal FB page. I believe that with all my heart and believe that you have to carry around that statement like a friggin’ beacon, especially when you decide to sludge through the hard times that come with drastic life changes. Let’s face it; anyone who makes the oh-so-brave decision to turn their back on their past behaviors and get healthy is clearly in for an uphill battle. It’s not easy, and if you don’t have the right attitude about it from jump, it’s even frickin’ frackin’ harder. The emotions? The food temptations? The television commercials? Family pressure? Detox symptoms? SELF-DOUBT? Come on, now…these are the things flying in your face at every moment of every day! If you don’t have a positive attitude about 1) what you’re doing, 2) why you are doing it, and 3) the inevitable awesome outcome that’s guaranteed if you stick to your path, these so-called obstacles will trip you up along the way. You HAVE to stay focused. You HAVE to stay true to your original goal. And most of all, you HAVE to get happy about it. You have to get happy about ALL of it. 

We all have bad days and we all have moments of doubt. It’s how you overcome those moments that’s the most crucial, especially when you’re doing something as ground-breaking-life-shaking as getting healthy. It’s not just about the juice recipes, the amount of water you drink, having the right equipment, or watching the right videos to “keep you going”. It’s about YOUR attitude towards yourself and your journey. It’s about choosing happiness – being happy that you are finally taking the steps. Being happy that every detox symptom is one less toxin in your body and a sign that your body is finally sloughing off the nonsense. Being happy about every time you choose juice over junk food. Being happy that your skin, your waist line, your cholesterol levels, your energy levels and everything else starts to reflect the great choice you made and stuck to. Being happy that your family, friends, loved ones, and random folks on the street will see your example and be inspired. Being happy that you are taking the TIME to make the changes, understanding that time and focus is what gets you to your end goal. 

So, it’s your choice. If I were you, I’d choose happiness as it makes everything so much easier. Now, excuse me while I break out into song and go skipping down the street…

Who am I kidding? No one “skips” when they’re 9 months pregnant. LOL! 

The Best Exercise While Juicing

2 October 2012

3 Comments

Boy, do I have a story to tell y’all… but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s video to hear it all. :) In the meantime, let me tell you a semi-brief anecdote to explain why I believe walking is the hands down best exercise to engage in while juicing.

August was an INCREDIBLY hard month for me. It seemed as if all my get-up-and-go got up and left me. I began my Bikram challenge, but crapped out after the 10th day. I was ridiculously emotional, tired, irritable, sad… I had not frickin’ clue what was happening to little ol’ me! This is when I decided to go on hiatus – I stopped everything, shut off the phone, turned off the computer, ignored all emails, texts and Facebook comments. I needed to reset. 

For the first week of my hiatus, I laid in bed curled up in the fetal position. Well, that didn’t really help much… aside from finally getting all the sleep I think my body needed, I was still wrestling with my crap. So, one day, I started walking. Nothing major, no power walking or anything… just a simple, easy stroll around my neighborhood. 

Being the Type-A Virgo that y’all know I am, the desire to take my iPhone pedometer app, music and hand-weights was huge, but I fought it back like a champ. I knew that if I was going to get in touch with whatever the peckinpaw was going on with me, I would need to be silent. So I laced up my sneakers and left the house. No music, no phone, no nothing. Just me, the wind, the sun, and the pavement. I didn’t track the time… I just walked and listened to my head and my heart.

Eureka. Houston, we have achieved clarity. 

I began doing this every day. Not because I wanted to win some race or put myself through some challenge, but because I realized how long it had been since I just stopped to think. I have been exercising in one form or another for years, but I can honestly say that I have never done it without some outside influence or distraction. There has always been a trainer yelling, some music pumping, a friend chatting, a yoga instructor instructing… SOMETHING outside of myself and my own thoughts happening to take me out of my head. Now, there was nothing but the sound of my own footsteps and breathing, and I could finally hear what was happening with me… fully and completely. 

This is why I say that walking is the best exercise when you are juicing.

Many of us have a variety of reasons for getting into juicing (whether doing an all-out cleanse or just adding a juice or two to our daily meal plan). No matter who you are, though, I will bet you dimes to dragonfruit that as you progress in your juicing plan, those emotions start kicking up and kicking YOU in the chest. The temptation to bear down on them and stomp them out with the nearest Twix bar can be a bit overwhelming at times, ain’t it? We don’t WANT to hear what’s happening inside. We don’t WANT to face our fears, our demons, our scary monsters in the closet. But if we do not, how will we ever get past them? How will we exorcise the demon if we continue to ignore it? 

When you walk without distraction – be it for 10 minutes or 90 – you can listen to yourself. You can be out there crying, screaming (well, maybe not too loud on that front as not to alarm random passersby), talking to yourself… you can do it all. Most of all, you can BREATHE through it, and the breathing only helps as you’re moving your body. There’s nothing to take your mind away from how you feel, and that is a good thing. Use the time as your walking to process. Make it your time in the day to be with YOU and only you so you can process through the inevitable emotional stuff that comes up during a cleanse. 

That’s what came out of my time away. Well, there’s something else, too… but for that, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s video. 

Today

19 July 2012

12 Comments

Today was a hard day. 
Today was a really hard day. 
Today I thought about quitting. 
Today I watched a movie and was distracted by how much food those bastards were eating. 
Today I thought about Kettle Chips. Hard.
Today it made me angry. 
Today it made me sad. 
Today I was tempted. 
Today I heard the little voice inside my head whisper, “Go ahead. Have the Twix bar. You deserve it.“
Today I almost listened. 
Today I thought I couldn’t change. 
Today I wrestled with old self. 
Today the food addict almost kicked my ass.
But today… I won. 
Today the New Carla won.
Today I drank more juice than I usually do. 
Today I drank lemon cucumber mint water. 
Today I worked out twice. 
Today I breathed. 
Today I thought before I acted. 
Today I chose differently. 
Today I thought about the end goal instead of the immediate temptation. 
Today I saw the strong girl at the end of the journey. 
Today I changed my mind about who I am. 
Today I told the old me to kick rocks. 
Today I was proud of myself. 
Today… I won. 
Today… I won. 
Today… I WON. 
And I will win again tomorrow.