Thanks to the inspirational blogging of Angela Stokes, David and Katrina Rainoshek, and Courtney Pool, I've decided to spend the first third of the coming year engrossed in what seems to be an amazing process....the JUICE FEAST.
In a nutshell, for up to 92 days (92 being the number of known elements present in the human body) one feasts (not FASTS!) on a gallon or more of fresh vegetable and fruit juices every day, in combination with a number of natural healing approaches like dry skin brushing, low-impact exercise, etc. During this time, the energy that your body would typically expend on digesting whatever you consume during the day is diverted from digestion, since you are consuming high-nutrient, fresh, liquid juice that zips right through the digestive tract without the slowness and indigestion associated with the typical nutrient and fiber deficient American diet. That diverted energy is then freed up to attend to matters of healing in your body that it wouldn't normally have paid any attention to. As far as I am concerned, this includes brain and mood healing, as well as the obvious benefits to the digestive system, skin, and overall vitality.
It is my hope that this nutrient-dense juice will help me overcome some known deficiencies in my body, like a lack of magnesium and essential amino and fatty acids. I believe it may help cure my rampant insomnia (I can't remember what it was like to sleep well through the night and wake up refreshed...it's been so long!). Dropping a few extra pounds of toxic fat put on by years of drinking alcohol and eating foods devoid of life energy would certainly help my physical health as well as my mental outlook (such weight loss is virtually inevitable on a plan such as the Juice Feast). Lastly, I am at a point in my life where living much, MUCH more lightly on the earth (and I already am quite conscientious about it) is calling to me. Juice feasting is, in my opinion, a first step towards simplicity in food awareness, relationships, and necessity that could greatly benefit a recovering anorexic like myself.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Recognition
I suppose the first step in healing is saying that you need help.
Well, I do.
Lots of it.
It's been over a decade now that I've needed help. From age thirteen I have struggled with depression, an eating disorder, body dismorphism, drug and alcohol abuse, and a general sense of confusion, anxiety, and negativity regarding my body, mind, and soul...my self. I sought help from the normal sources...family, friends, the medical community...and still I find myself lost and alone, wondering how hard it will be to get up and through each day, dreading the effort involved in doing the most simple day-to-day tasks.
It's not that I haven't TRIED to get help. I've been to therapists, I've taken Effexor and Celexa...all those fun quick-fix drugs that doctors prescribe instead of looking at the root of what causes depression. I've embarked on complicated diets, strange exercises, and nebulous new-age therapy regimes that left me feeling as if I must be doing something wrong because nothing was making me feel better. You name it, I've dabbled in it. I've hit the bottom one day, thinking i couldn't go any lower...and the next day, hit even lower than I thought was possible. Something is missing inside me. I look at people around me and envy how easily they make it through the day. I wonder why I can't just feel "normal" or why life hurts me so badly. I feel guilty that with all my blessings (which are too numerous to count...a loving, beautiful family, lots of incredible friends, a husband who supports and nourishes me with all his might, two sweet and affectionate dogs, a nice place to live, decent jobs, enough to eat and a good education), I still feel so blue most days that it is a supreme effort to get out of bed and make it through the day.
What is wrong with me?
This blog is mostly for my own benefit, since hand-writing in a journal is a crapshoot endeavor for me day to day. There's something about being held accountable for my words in an online forum that keeps me writing, you know? And if that's what motivates me to embrace the healing powers of writing, then so be it. We all need a good kick in the butt sometimes.
I am on a mission in 2008: to HEAL using nature and the intrinsic powers of my own body and mind. If I'm successful, then maybe what I write here may help you too.
I plan to do this healing using a variety of natural healing approaches based on some incredible writings I have come across in the last month or two...really at the brink for me since I hit my absolute rock bottom in August of 2007, and have been barely afloat in life since that time...searching for the means to get back on my feet, embrace my existence, and move forward. I recognize the desperate need in me for healing and I intend, for once and for all, to pay ATTENTION to my body, mind, and soul, giving it what it needs without depending on allopathic medicine to patch up the symptoms without getting at the cause.
It's the new year in just a few days. It's time for new beginnings...for MY beginnings.
Well, I do.
Lots of it.
It's been over a decade now that I've needed help. From age thirteen I have struggled with depression, an eating disorder, body dismorphism, drug and alcohol abuse, and a general sense of confusion, anxiety, and negativity regarding my body, mind, and soul...my self. I sought help from the normal sources...family, friends, the medical community...and still I find myself lost and alone, wondering how hard it will be to get up and through each day, dreading the effort involved in doing the most simple day-to-day tasks.
It's not that I haven't TRIED to get help. I've been to therapists, I've taken Effexor and Celexa...all those fun quick-fix drugs that doctors prescribe instead of looking at the root of what causes depression. I've embarked on complicated diets, strange exercises, and nebulous new-age therapy regimes that left me feeling as if I must be doing something wrong because nothing was making me feel better. You name it, I've dabbled in it. I've hit the bottom one day, thinking i couldn't go any lower...and the next day, hit even lower than I thought was possible. Something is missing inside me. I look at people around me and envy how easily they make it through the day. I wonder why I can't just feel "normal" or why life hurts me so badly. I feel guilty that with all my blessings (which are too numerous to count...a loving, beautiful family, lots of incredible friends, a husband who supports and nourishes me with all his might, two sweet and affectionate dogs, a nice place to live, decent jobs, enough to eat and a good education), I still feel so blue most days that it is a supreme effort to get out of bed and make it through the day.
What is wrong with me?
This blog is mostly for my own benefit, since hand-writing in a journal is a crapshoot endeavor for me day to day. There's something about being held accountable for my words in an online forum that keeps me writing, you know? And if that's what motivates me to embrace the healing powers of writing, then so be it. We all need a good kick in the butt sometimes.
I am on a mission in 2008: to HEAL using nature and the intrinsic powers of my own body and mind. If I'm successful, then maybe what I write here may help you too.
I plan to do this healing using a variety of natural healing approaches based on some incredible writings I have come across in the last month or two...really at the brink for me since I hit my absolute rock bottom in August of 2007, and have been barely afloat in life since that time...searching for the means to get back on my feet, embrace my existence, and move forward. I recognize the desperate need in me for healing and I intend, for once and for all, to pay ATTENTION to my body, mind, and soul, giving it what it needs without depending on allopathic medicine to patch up the symptoms without getting at the cause.
It's the new year in just a few days. It's time for new beginnings...for MY beginnings.
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