I'm ready, I'm not ready, I'm ready....I think.

For the past two years I have done a New Years juice cleanse. The first year I lasted 7 days, the following year only 3. The first go round was amazing, like hitting a reset button on my body. I lost 10lbs and kept it off for over a year. The beginning of this year, my motivation was low and I am pretty sure I cheated even for the measly 3 days I attempted to fast. Needless to say it didn't have an affect on my overall health or weight. It is December 28, 2013 and after a long and tiring fall semester full of convenience food, as well as giving up all things sugar free and replacing them with real sugar and little to no gym time, my body is not functioning or looking its best. I am super low energy, craving all the wrong things, my mental state has not been at its finest even with my meds and I have gained about 6lbs since September. I knew coming up on the holidays that something needed to be done and I halfheartedly began trying to cut back on carbs and sugar while trudging to the gym once a week if I could find the motivation. As you may have guessed, my weak attempt has had no affect. I knew come Jan 1st I would do the juice thing but I was really struggling mentally with even that. Even 3 days of juice sounded like hell on earth, especially with my garbage disposal husband eating everything in site with no regard for its nutritional value and my growing kids who I knew I would have to prepare food for. I needed motivation, and it came in the form of Netflix. If you are a parent you know how hard it is to find something interesting AND kid friendly to watch pre-bedtime, but while scrolling through Netflix documentaries I came upon "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead". I watched in absolute astonishment at the willpower and dedication of Joe Cross as he did a 60 day juice fast, all the while sitting in restaurants with people eating all things fried and delicious while talking about health. Not only did he accomplish his goal, he continued on in this drastic and predominantly raw vegan lifestyle and has since helped tons of other people. His enormous weight loss, close to 100lbs I believe, wasn't even the most amazing part. He has an autoimmune disease which causes chronic hives amongst other things, and from day one of his lifestyle change he has not had a breakout. His diet HEALED his body. This was exactly what I needed. I turned off the TV ready to go....maybe not for 60days, but as long as I could mentally and financially. This little blog is for accountability, to myself and whomever else crosses it. I have taken a before photo of myself in my skivvies, but I am totally not ready to share it. My goal is a minimum of 14 days juicing, leading into a genuine lifestyle change even as I incorporate chewing back into my life. Here we go!