Day 8

It takes me about 10 minutes to make a juice and then clean my juicer. I clean the juicer right away and put it all back together before I sit down to enjoy my drink so when I come back the next time it's ready to go. It's almost like a meditation. Sometimes, when I start thinking about how many days lay ahead if I want to go to my maximum goal of 60 days, and I start thinking there's no way I can do this - simply cutting up some fresh fruits and vegetables and putting them in my juicer makes me feel better.

I've had way too many red solo-cups sitting in my cabinet for months, so I started using them for my juice and it works out great. You have to rinse your cups right away! If I don't finish the juice fast enough and the cup sits around, the juice dries on the sides of the cup and hardens. After that it's almost impossible to scrape off. So if it doesn't rinse off easily, I can just recycle the plastic cup. If it rinses off, I reuse the cup. I recommend using any and all tricks possible to make this an easy experience! No stress.

I feel 95% back to normal since having the flu. Last night I had what I thought was acid reflux, although I'm not sure if it was actually hunger from not being able to drink enough juice while I was sick. It was probably a little of both. I read that apple cider vinegar is a natural remedy for heartburn, so I took a straight up shot of vinegar and I did feel better. It's recommended that you drink the vinegar through a straw or wash your mouth out with water right away if you don't dilute it because it's not good for your teeth. And I take my teeth seriously! Go to the dentist every 6 months!

I found another great online resource here. Michael Morales does a juice fast every year and on his website you can read his blog from his 2010 juice fast and also watch videos for every day. If you register, you can also download a free copy of his 2011 journal and it's a great tool. It has space available for you to track your stats like he does and to take notes of what you're eating and anything else. It also has an inspirational quote for each day. So now I'm following two video blogs and a written blog day by day.

Finally . . .thank you, lemons and limes. I can now happily drink a cup full of spinach because the lemons and limes mask the flavor so well.

I have a slight headache because I waited too long to have dinner, so I'm off to bed early!