– by Sharon Rashbaum
Well it’s the night before I start my detox and I am still wondering how I got here. Let me tell you a little about the journey that has brought me to this detox.
Several years ago I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). I was miserable, couldn’t walk, couldn’t sit, couldn’t sleep and was on a TON of medication. The medication had wonderful side effects like constipation, irritability, weight gain, insomnia…the meds made me more miserable than the RA. So I decided enough was enough.
I was going to do something about it, something the doctors never would have told me. I changed my diet. Sounds easy right? Not exactly.
I researched and read articles, websites, you name it. I read it and all of them told I should become a RAW VEGAN.
A WHAT???
I wondered, How am I going to do that? I am pretty sure the first time I even heard the term, I was sitting eating ice cream! I did more research and read more books and realized it was a marathon I needed to be on, not a sprint.
So first I gave up meat – not really a big deal. I had been a vegetarian on and off my entire adult life. Then came giving up dairy. That took quite awhile and some serious rethinking of my food intake as I was a cheese and ice cream addict.
It took a while but with support from good friends and family I kicked all animal products. I was doing really well as a vegan; my RA seemed not to be a factor and I was able to stop taking medication! WHOO HOO! Life was good! I was really enjoying being vegan.
I could live this way forever and not even miss anything. But I kept hearing that voice inside my head whispering to me “Hey you, you’re doing great but wasn’t the point of this to go RAW???” So I took another step forward and started drinking my green smoothies. I was surprised at how much I really enjoyed them. I was having green smoothies every day for breakfast… Then something happened… It was WINTER.
Living outside of Philadelphia, it was one of the coldest and snowiest winters in history and I just couldn’t get myself drink a nice cold green smoothie. So I stopped for awhile, but I was still vegan so I didn’t slide too far back.
Then, heheh… another amazing thing happened… SPRING! The sun was shining, the temperatures were warm, and I was ready. That’s when I noticed The Green Smoothie Queen’s Free 3-Day Green Smoothie Mini Course offered by the wonderful Raw Divas. So I did it, thoroughly enjoyed it, and I followed it up with a 10 day green smoothie challenge. It went wonderful! I was back on track!
I felt great after all of the green smoothies flowing through my body. So when I saw the 21 day green smoothie detox, I jumped at the chance to get started. Unfortunately, somewhere between signing up and right now I think I might have bit off more than I can chew (or blend).
I am a little concerned with the fast. I know I can go 24 hours without food… done it many times before – but in my life being done with dinner by 6 pm just doesn’t happen. Also, I am really into exercising , and I can’t do that on an empty stomach or without something after a workout (like a green smoothie) I’m just not sure what I am going to do. We haven’t even gotten to what to do with my husband while I am drinking smoothies. AHHH! I am so overwhelmed but I’ll get it! Really I will.
Well here goes nothing! Check back and I’ll keep you posted!