Juice Cleanse Day 1

After 24 hours of consuming little more than juice, I've arrived at the following conclusions: whoever said day one was easy was lying and man is not meant to live on juice alone, regardless of how many cold-pressed fruits and vegetables are in them.

One thing I was NOT expecting was the fact that I was physically incapable of drinking all six bottles of juice throughout the day. It was just too much juice. By mid-afternoon, I just wanted something salty. I eventually satisfied that craving by having a chopped up avocado and tomato with salt for dinner (raw fruits and vegetables are recommended if you decide you need something more than juice, as is avocado specifically). But before I had my little avocado and tomato salt salad, I simply could not stomach any more juice. I only drank half of Fiji (mid-afternoon juice) and skipped Green Supreme altogether (dinner drink), then only had about a third of my "dessert" drink.

Man is not meant to live on juice alone.

Despite my issues above, there were definitely some positives that came out of day one. My stomach, which is frequently upset, has been totally fine. Surprisingly, I have not been hungry at all. My salt cravings have made me more or less forget my sugar cravings. I'm not sure that trading one craving for another is a good thing, but we'll see how this pans out.

So, after considering bailing on this juice cleanse after day one (for both the reasons above and the fact that it basically costs $50 a day even with the juices on sale this week at Whole Foods), I'm opting to do a hybrid juice/raw food/smoothie cleanse for the remaining two days. I'm going to keep drinking the Suja juices I still have left (sipping on Glow at the moment!), but after those run out, I'm going to switch to raw food and alternative juices.

Stay tuned.

We'll see if this juice cleanse thing really works...

If you follow Hollywood news at all, you've probably heard plenty about juice cleanses. I've had many friends try them out and preach about them, but I've always been a skeptic. Why? I have a science background and I know that your body is completely capable of detoxing itself without spending a couple of days limiting your diet to cayenne-maple syrup lemonade.

However, I've decided to give it a shot. After doing a bit of research, I have a few reasons:

1. I have a serious sugar addiction. From what I've read online, a three-day juice cleanse is fantastic for kicking sugar cravings.
2. I've been sick a LOT lately. At this point, I'm willing to try just about anything to improve my immune system health.
3. The juice cleanse I've chosen (Suja, primarily because it is readily available at Whole Foods and I don't have to pay crazy amount for shipping) is packed full of fruits and vegetables and who doesn't need more of those in their life?

So, I've decided to blog about this for accountability purposes. I'm told day one is easy but that it gets progressively more difficult from there.

I'm currently drinking my first juice, Glow. It smells like celery but has a nice apple taste to it. The juices are a pretty decent size, so you can enjoy sipping it for awhile (we'll see if that's a good thing when I get to the juice I'm dreading most - Green Supreme). 

Here's today's menu. Wish me luck!

Rain Boots and London

Today when I woke up, it was pouring. Naturally, I opted to wear my hot pink rain boots. I realized, though, that this is the first time I've worn them since London! So, I'm now missing London. Hope I can go back again sometime soon!

In honor of me missing London, I figured I would throw together a quick little list of the top things I miss about London.

Things I Miss About London

Draft Cider

Pubs

Beautiful afternoons along the Thames

The Tube (yes, even when it was crowded)

British Chocolate (and Stella Artois Cidre)

£1 Coins

Museums

And much, much more.

Why I Am in Favor of Love (and You Should Be, Too)

While I'm normally tolerant of others' political opinions, there comes a time when people are just flat out wrong. With the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on the legality of California's Proposition 8 today, I can't hold this one in anymore.

If you are not in support of the legalization of same-sex marriage, the fact of the matter is that you are a bigot. Plain and simple. Two guys or two girls getting married has absolutely ZERO impact on your life or your marriage. Banning same-sex marriage does not stop people from being gay or having children or anything else. It simply makes life more difficult for people who choose to be in those relationships. How would you feel if you were told that you could not visit your wife or husband on their deathbed because, in the eyes of the government, you aren't married? How would you feel if you and your husband or wife divorced and you had no legal right to visit with your child because, in the eyes of the government, you were never legally together?

The word "marriage" means different things when we apply it to churches and governments. The government will never legislate what a marriage is in your church. If your church feels that two men shouldn't be able to get married, guess what? Your church doesn't have to marry those two men. If your church believes marriage in all forms is evil and refuses to perform any marriage ceremonies? Also fine. The government won't force it to marry anyone. A government-recognized marriage does not have anything to do with the church.

If you don't approve of same-sex marriage because of religious reasons or simply because you're close-minded, that's fine. You're entitled to your opinion. But that absolutely does not mean you should actively work towards making it illegal for the people who do want it. As I mentioned above--your life will not be impacted AT ALL by same-sex couples getting married. Stop being hateful simply to be hateful. It's not a pretty color on anyone. Just think of how all those anti-interracial marriage protestors look today. If you'd like a 30-page dissection of why banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, please let me know and I'm happy to provide it.

So please, for everyone's sake, read the Constitution. Be a decent human being. Put yourself in someone else's shoes.

No one likes a bigot.

More Dogs and More Skiing

My dear pug friend Edgar got adopted yesterday! I'm so very happy for him but sad that I won't get to play with him anymore! There is a new puggle at Furburbia named Sadie, though, and she's pretty sweet. I met her for the first time today and she made me miss my Lolers!

Speaking of the Lolers...I'm heading home in a week! I have some comp days from weekend events I've worked, so I figured I'd go home for Easter. It'll be nice to see everyone and it's the longest trip I've taken home since I left in grad school! I'm excited to get fitted for my bridesmaid dress, as well...it's only a few months to the wedding. I also get to see Aly's dress!

Work has been pretty great! Things have been busy, but that's how I like it. With the ski season wrapping up, athletes are beginning to filter back into the office and I'm getting to meet a lot of the people I've been interacting with via email all season. For example, I met our head alpine coach this afternoon! It's great to put faces with names.

And with that...I leave you with a photo from my most recent ski adventure.

Dogs and Black Diamonds

I haven't posted anything substantial in awhile...no particular reason why, but figured I'd at least pop in and give an update on my life.

I've been enjoying the last good skiing of the year (I even skied my first couple of black diamonds last weekend!) and started volunteering at a local animal shelter. I've really enjoyed volunteering! It's been a great way for me to get my fix of animals without actually adopting one (my lease doesn't allow that and I'm gone far too often for a pet - it wouldn't be fair to them!). My favorite at the shelter so far is a 10-year-old pug named Edgar. He's just a big cuddler who wants nothing more in life than to have his belly rubbed. Although I really want him to get adopted by a loving family, I also really love having him at the shelter to play with!

I've been watching the TV show The Taste. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's a cooking show take on The Voice where the judges (Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre and Brian Malarkey) sample dishes blindly. Each of the judges has a team and can eliminate their own team member since it's a blind taste. I've really enjoyed it - particularly the banter between the judges! During the last episode, I posted something on Twitter and got tweeted at by Nigella!

Not gonna lie - I was pretty excited! I've enjoyed Nigella since before The Taste, so it was definitely cool!

I'm headed home for Easter in about 10 days...pretty excited to see the fam, check out Aly's wedding dress and get fitted for my bridesmaid dress!

So, now I will leave you with a photo of my first black diamond. Sad to see ski season end :(

Shit Skiers Say