Day Five of the Juice Fast

Day Five is done, and I'm still on the path!

Tonight was definitely a good test of my willpower. I got together with my girlfriends for "ladies night". Once a week we get together and hang out, while feasting on a pot luck dinner. I knew how hard it was going to be, simply being in a fun social environment with my besties. I was going to want to eat! The woman who hosts it is notorious for her cooking skills. And every week she made something absolutely delicious and tempting. She, was a goddess of food. Her talents: remarkable. This was going to be one hard evening of temptation and cravings.

I prepared for this evening earlier in the day, with my boyfriend. We went shopping at our local Food Maxx, where we found the fresh produce to not only be more varied, but it was also substantially cheaper then the Safeway where we had previously been purchasing our fruits and veggies. We stumbled upon a sale they were having on fresh pineapple -Two bucks! We loaded up on some other things and ended up heading out of there spending roughly eight bucks for two bags of groceries. Before, we were remarking about how expensive this juice fast was going to be, but now we realize that it's all in where you shop, and if you go to the right places, this will not only improve your health, but may actually be cheaper as well.

Ambrosia was my contribution to "ladies night", and fresh juice if there were any takers. Before I headed out from home, I thanked my housemate for all of the tempting shit he eats every day. I swear! Living with men! Every single day, I am bombarded with all sorts of temptation. There is nothing that they eat, that is not of the delicious and tempting sort. Living with this has been like being on a crash course in ninja diet school. My assiduous practice consists of my housemates making taco's, making burgers, making pizza, eating cake, eating more cake, now they're eating pie...and *I* am drinking my juice. My green juice. It has forced me to train my mind and focus. So I felt pretty confident, that after all this practice of restraint, that I could go into a social situation with lots of delicious foods, and stick to my juice fast. I almost lost my shit when I saw the cheesy rice balls from Trader Joes! I wanted to put them all in my face. And it would have been so easy to make an exception and just have a few, but I knew that my veneer of discipline was thin and that if I gave in to one thing, I didn't think I had the restraint to not have others. So I unpacked my juicer and focused on my dinner. I put all sorts of stuff in it: radishes, blueberries, cucumber, kale, red chard, strawberries, pineapple, and carrots. The hostess, and another friend, both had a shot of the deep browny-green juice. Oh my adventurous ones! How I love thee! It was adorable watching their faces pull up in surprise, when they realized that it did not in fact taste as bad as it looked. "It tastes green" one of them said. It was a pretty good juice. And as I sipped mine, I realized how good my body was feeling. And I had the strength and focus to enjoy my drink, and relax about the rice balls that were winking at me from the table.

Things that I learned today:

1. Food Maxx is amazingly cheap for fresh produce, and therefor rocks my world!
2. Kale makes the juice very dark green.
3. I may be struggling with my cravings, but I am also at the same time, THROUGH my struggles, developing more strength, self-confidence in my ability to succeed, and ability to chose healthy foods on a consistent basis. 
4. Those little tiny frozen pizza bites will haunt your dreams, if you let them. :)