Day 3: What I've learned from my Juice Fast

Not much to report.  I'm happy to say that day 3 of the juice fast was pretty uneventful.  So I thought I would share with you some things I've learned over the past 3+ days about what has worked best for me.


1. Stick to the 80/20 rule. 80% veggies & 20% fruit...swapping the two will have nasty results!


2. Drink slowly throughout the day rather than at set aside "meal" times.  That way you are less likely to get hungry.


3.  Use a straw!  It help you to slowly sip throughout the day and really cuts back on the weird textures that sometimes come from juicing.


4.  Realize sooo much of fasting is mental & do whatever you can to psych yourself up NOT out.  Ex. Use a colored cup/glass so that you can't actually see the disgusting color of what you are actually drinking! OR if the drink isn't very tasty watch a cooking show while you drink it.  That way even if you are drinking green mush you'll be imagining a Rachael Rae masterpiece! Worked for me! 


5.  Don't eat to0 close to bedtime! Seriously, you'll be up all night running back and forth to the bathroom, after all your meal is straight liquid. 


6.  Recognize that like anything else in life trying to attempt a fast can't be done by your own willpower alone!


Number 6 didn't come to me easily. Honestly yesterday was much worse than I blogged about. I was doubting my sanity for starting this whole thing.  I was tempted by every TV commercial filled with food and I had a horrible time falling asleep last night. I was becoming as my church likes to call it, "Hangry"...that's hungry/angry.


At the end of the day I sat down & reached for a few short devotional books I keep handy. And by handy I mean next to the toilet.  Too much information?  Oh well you've already heard all about my colon so I can assume I do a lot of bathroom reading. Anyway,  I was reading Out of Solitude by Henry Nouwen as he spoke about the need to find a lonely place to connect with God.  He quoted Jesus' words: "If I were to seek my own glory that would be no glory at all; my glory is conferred by the Father, by the one whom you say 'He is our God,' although you do not know him." Nouwen goes on to talk about how God meets Jesus in a lonely place and gives him hope.  I was definitely doing this fast for my own glory, in my own power, and I was on the brink of quitting! It really got me thinking about the many fasts mentioned in the Bible and what the heck the purpose of those were...I mean 40 days!?! Really!?  Fasting is ultimately about giving up something we think we are dependent upon and finding the power to move on without it.  I recognize that while I may think I am able to find that power from within all on my own, any ability I have to resist temptation comes from God...so really I'm better off putting my trust in God rather than myself.  It was a good short and sweet reminder.


I reached for the second book, The Tender Words of God by Ann Spangler, and bam there it was again! She talked about the grumbling that went on from stubborn Israelites who thought God had abandoned them.  The prayer, "Lord you have never failed or abandoned me even though 'stiff necked' and 'stubborn' are words that sometimes apply to me just as they have sometimes applied to your people." Yep that was me stiff necked and stubborn trying to push through foodless hours all on my own to fulfill fairly selfish goals of losing weight and proving to myself I could "clean up" my body.  


The third book I reached for...OK sidebar, you must know I don't always read three devotions in one night. Truthfully I turn to these when I am most down and in need of a word from God...again after I've hit a wall and realized I need help. Sound familiar?  Anyway, the third book My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers really sealed the deal!  The words based on Matthew 3:11 from the August 23 devotional that jumped off the page and hit me upside the head were, "I indeed am at the end, and I cannot do more, but God begins right here, God does things that no one else can do."  In that moment it was very clear to me what God was saying...I cannot do this, but God can in and through me.  I can finish this fast if I turn my attention away from myself and what I am about to accomplish and instead focus on what God wants to accomplish in and through me during this time.  As Chambers said, "Get to the end of yourself where you can do nothing, but where God does everything." 


So I have a new focus.  No longer is this fast about simply "rebooting" myself physically.  It is also about allowing God to "reboot" me spiritually in whatever way deemed necessary.  The pressure is off...I am not doing this in my own weak power but rather in God's perfect and unfailing power. What a relief that is!

Taste of Heaven

(The Yam juice from yesterday's blog post)