Saturday, May 23, 2015, 3:28pm
It's 3:30pm and instead of having a traditional lunch, I had my first juice of the day. I wanted something packed with nutrients, something with both kale and cucumber, so I chose to have the Healthy Green Juice again (the juice I had on day one). I must be getting used to these juices because they are getting much easier to drink. 
I had planned on having a small Southwest Chicken Salad for lunch but it's getting so late I may just wait and have that for dinner.
I am feeling a bit antsy. I could do some housework but am really not in the mood. I really feel like going on a walk. My kids are eating lunch right now...maybe when they're done I can convince them to go for s walk or something. Either way, the little one would have to go if I went since she is only seven and can't be left home by herself. Her sister is not old enough to babysit her yet. Even though my older daughter is thirteen, she and her sister still fight/argue quite a bit so I would not feel comfortable having her babysit uet, even if it's just for a few minutes to run to the store. Someday she'll be able to watch her sister but not today.
The little one likes geocaching so we may go to that for a bit. The weather app on my iPhone shows that it's 61 degrees right now so we'll probably need to dress warm since it will only get cooler as the day progresses.
As far as the juicing goes, I haven't notice any significant changes yet. My skin is the same, my energy levels may have improved a little but it's hard to tell, overall I haven't really noticed anything besides helping with the normal hunger pangs. I've replaced my mid morning snack with the juice (I used to have an apple or something similar in between breakfast and lunch) so I'm not really eating less calories per day. Actually... The more I think about it I realize the juices probably have reduced my daily calorie intake. I was able to skip lunch on Wednesday and Friday (and possibly also today). On Wednesday I brought lunch with me but didn't want to go nextdoor to heat it up (I have two clients right next to each other and the one I was at doesn't have a kitchen or microwave). I ended up snacking on some organized granola that I added some chia seeds to.
On Friday I just didn't have time to stop for lunch. I was at my office until 2pm. I the ran over to meet with a new client which lasted until 3:45pm. I then had to pick up my kids to take them to their 4:30pm dentist appointment. By the time we were done it was a little after 5:00pm and I still had to go to the grocery store (it's amazing how much fruit and veggies I am going through since using the juicer).
I would never advocated for skipping meals but what I've noticed is that I don't really need a meal after after a juice. Since I've been having my juice around 11am every day when lunch time comes around I'm just not that hungry. So instead of eating a typical 300 calorie lunch I find that I only need a light snack. I bring a piece of fruit with me every day along with a bag of carrots. Sometimes I throw in something else, like an extra piece of fruit, or some granola but the fruit and carrots always stay the same.
The other change that I have made is how I eat my food. When I used to eat dinner I would always start with the meat then move on to the carb/starch and lastly move to the veggy. Now, I start with my veggy. Once all of my veggies are eaten up I move to my protein. Once the protein is gone if I have any room left I move onto the carb (brown rice or quinoa).
One of documentaries I watched taught about the importance of filling up on veggies and fruit. The guy being interviewed said "Instead of thinking 'I want it but I can't have it' say to yourself 'I can have it but don't want it'". He said that he had been overweight for years and had tried dieting more times than he could count. Every time he would basically do the same thing. He would go to the grocery store on the weekend to stock up on healthy food to start his diet the coming Monday. On Monday morning, by 11am he would always feel u get and deprived. Looking back, what he finds intersting is that, when he wasn't dieting, he could sometimes go until 1pm without eating or even thinking about food. But when he dieted, he had that "deprived" mentality and therefore tended to think about food ALL OF THE TIME. I have had the same issue.
The same guy explained how important it is to not feel deprived. It's simple, when you can't have something you tend to want it more. So instead of cutting the food out of your diet, don't. Just add ten times more vegetable and fruit to your diet and always eat those first. By doing this, you're still "allowed" to eat certain foods but chances are, you'll be so full of healthy food, you won't have much room for the nonhealthy food.
All of these tips I think about often. It's a little different for me since I really do think I'm an actual sugar addict. For me it's simple: If I can't control myself around a certain food I can't eat it. I'm hoping that changes some day but, from what I know about addiction, it sounds like this will be something I'll have to be mindful of for the rest of my life. Whatever it takes to be healthy...
