Setting Sail; Global Juice Feast 2008 Day 1!!

We've got wind in our sails baby!

The ship has left the dock ladies and gentlemen! We have officially set sail with the first annual Global Juice Feast, 2008!!! The forecast is clear, with possible showers ahead, but hey, we all need those once in awhile right? Let's keep it real darlings! But for now skies are blue, the wind is sweet, and the water is electric blue!!

This is going to be a long first post, so enjoy it because I can't promise any consistency as the Feast progresses!

I really did have a hard time sleeping last night, that was no story. I don't know about the mouse, but me, I don't do well with cacao for dinner, it keeps my eyes wide open like an owl all night! I think I got about four hours of restless sleep.

The day began with sitting meditation for half an hour, then it was juice making time! We are trying to quickly adjust to sharing via video and finding space for that, so while juicing, David was also trying to up-load our Last Supper video, and trying to arrange youtube accounts, and now our main project of the day is figuring out how our new video editing software works. No small task.

We made five quarts of GVJ, and two of amazing citrus/pineapple that we made from oranges, blood oranges, mandarin oranges, grapefruit, and pineapple. Later on in the afternoon we made some crazy amazing watermelon/blueberry/cherry juice. The Last Supper did not get finished last night, so this juice was made with Last Supper berries. Then we also made a mix of various different juices for our Patagonia Juice Feasting buddies at the Global Juice Feast 2008 Kick Off Party!

After juice making it was into the bathroom for that little red kit routine, skin brushing, shower, and then out for a bounce on the Bellicon, and then for a morning walk.

Have I properly discussed why David and I are Juice Feasting? We are, after all, in very good health as it is, and eat only foods that create health (raw vegan.) Why would we want to Juice Feast? Well, there are so many reasons! Juice Feasting goes beyond nutrition, as it feeds your being all the way up the chain of being!! For me personally, I have never done any extended cleansing and feel I still have some subtle tweaks to make to my health. Here are my Juice Feasting wishes:

~I would like to see my blood sugar stabalize even more than it has with the magic of raw foods. (BTW, my fasting blood sugar was at 81 yesterday morning!!)

~I would like to develop an even healthier, more loving relationship with the food that nourishes me.

~I would like to detox some unhealthy fat that I am still carrying in my hips and elsewhere and replace it with healthy, happy weight. I don't know what I weighed at my heaviest, but I'm sure it was close to 190 lbs. Because I am tall, my frame hides an extra 30 lbs quite well, but I could really feel and see the difference. I am still showing signs of those extra bits that I would love to see transformed.

Here is a little bit of that story: When I was at my heaviest, about two and a half years ago, age 26, I felt like I had fallen off of the side of the mountain called youth. I was a very active kid, and a big eater, lovingly known as my mother's "hollow leg." When I was 18, a boyfriend watched as I was eating dinner one day and he commented "You won't be able to eat like that for long you know! As you get older, you will have to start eating less." I didn't believe him and thought that because I had slim parents, was active, and had always been a healthy weight, that I could eat what ever amount I pleased. WRONG!! It was true that while I was eating vegetarian and getting lots of exercise, I could eat quite a lot with out any ill effects. But then I graduated from university and a few things changed: I started to make more money than before so it was no longer brown rice, salads, oatmeal, and apples, I started to eat fancy cheeses, baguettes, fish, meat, and rich, heavy, creamy, white flour, white sugar foods. I was still eating all my beautiful salads, but my system started to get thrown off. I believe that eating meat, after growing up vegetarian (I had no idea what to do with beef or chicken in the kitchen until around age 24!) had a hugely negative effect on me. I would wake up in the morning and the first thought that would be in head was "I hate my life." Also the processed white sugar and flour foods threw my whole system into blood sugar havoc. Here too, I had grown up with home made, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, and excellent health, so I noticed a huge difference, but couldn't seem to stop eating the white, processed stuff. I felt like I was addicted to bread! I started to gain weight, despite the fact that I was running, riding my bike to work, and going on long walks. Believing that if a person got enough exercise, they could eat whatever they were hungry for, I kept eating! What I didn't realize was that my body was getting under nourished because of my activity level and the foods I was eating, and that the huger I felt was not true hunger but often blood sugar ups and downs. One day I called my boyfriend into the bathroom to look at my thighs, which had big lumps of fat on them. "I think there is something wrong with me" I said "Look at my legs! Should I go see a doctor?" He in all honestly replied "No, you are just getting fat." I thank him for saying that to this day, because it was what I needed to hear. All in all, I wasn't myself, and I knew it, and I knew I had to do something about it. For a time I was so in the darkness of how my mind and body felt, that I thought maybe this was just what it was like to get older, somehow I had missed out on my mom's healthy genes, and was given some bum deal. After all, I was surrounded by people who had had this happen, this mysterious getting older collapse into ill health, why should I be any different? But no! There was not a chance! I knew it was possible to age well, and I was going to do it! So I began to read about health....I was very fortunate to cross paths with raw food almost right away, and I was hooked. This has all lead me here, feeling better than I can remember feeling EVER and happy as can be.

I feel very blessed to have grown up with such wonderful health, and that my inner wisdom did not get buried too deep by white powdered crap!! (I don't believe that any body's does, we can always find our way back if we want to.) There, that is just a little bit of my "How I Got In To Raw Foods" story, I need to work on an "about me" page so you all know where I have come from! I know I love hearing other people's stories.

~I would like to get deeper into lucid dreaming, stretching, yoga, and develop a solid exercise routine that will stick!! To see just how strong, clear, and light I can feel.

~Massive heart opening, deeper meditation, connection to all things, and a true connection to the consciousness that with us in every moment.

~To take things to the next level. To remain open to what comes. I am curious to see what will occur on all levels!

~To get ready for baby Rainoshek, who is waiting in the wings as I write, I can feel it!

We will see tomorrow if we can get David to discuss in a bit of detail why he is Juice Feasting, AGAIN!!!

Want some statistics? You got it!

David: weight 132.o lbs at 5'7"

Katrina: weight 161.4 lbs at 6'1"

Our weight goals are different for the Feast, I would like to loose some, David would like to stay the same or gain some. We would both like to tone, tighten, and sleek up with some nice useful muscles. I have a feeling that this is going to mean A LOT of juice for us both!! We will find out as the days progress.

Notes on Day 1:

~The nut mylk bags supplied by Matt and Angela are awesome! Stronger than any we have used, with no squirting pulp everywhere out of holes on the first day.

~ Watching my mind eating. I am not eating, but I notice my mind eats before I have, and I will reach for a piece of apple thinking "I am going to eat this" before I stop and say, wait, no I'm not!

Daily Juices~

David~ 1 quart GVJ (celery, cucumber, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce, spinach, apple, carrot, parsley, lemon, and kale), 1 quart GVJ (same), 1 quart citrus/pineapple juice, .5 quarts GVJ (same), 1 quart watermelon/blueberry/cherry juice, .5 quart Global Juice Feast Kick Off Party GVJ!!!

Total juice: 5 quarts
Other: 1/2 tsp kelp granules, 2 TBS bee pollen, 2 quarts water

Katrina~1 quart GVJ (same as David's), 1 quart GVJ, 1 quart citrus/pineapple, .5 quart GVJ (same), 1 quart watermelon/blueberry/cherry, .5 quart Global Juice Feast Kick Off Party GVJ!!!

Total juice: 5 quarts
Other: 2 quarts water

Exercise: 10 minute morning walk, 20 minutes of rebounding, very brief resistance training. Stretches.

How do we feel? Fantastic!!

We just got home from the Global Juice Feast 2008 Kick Off Party, the Patagonia chapter, and are feeling so lucky to have some locals to get juicy with. There was 7 of us, and we all made juice, talked Juice Feasting, and felt loving and mellow. We realized that next time we have a Juice Feasting Party on the first day of a Juice Feast, we need to do it sooner than 7 o'clock! We all watched a riot of a juice gag that you can see here. When we got home we Skyped with my Dad's house where the GJF '08 KOP, the Victoria chapter was happening. They had 12 people come, get silly and high on juice, and we had a very happy, silly skype call.

May your dreams be juicy and sweet, thank you all for being a part of this amazing process!!

With love,

Katrina and David Rainoshek