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Tuesday morning, up
with the lark a bit late at 7.30am. The scales were slightly disappointing after yesterday's spectacular start - I'd only lost 0.4lbs. Otoh, I did have two servings of barley and green beans on Monday which were definitely not juiced.
I started the day with my coffee and oat milk. Then, before getting going on the day's smoothy, I made a simple vegetable soup. There were two reasons for this. 1. The weather got cooler again and it was even raining. 2. I had some red onion, 2 potatoes, a wilting cauliflower, and too many carrots in the fridge and I cannot sit here and just watch them all die.
Day 3's smoothy consisted of: carrot, cucumber, celery including the light green leaves, spinach leaves, parsley, a small piece of fresh ginger, a banana and a small avocado.
I have discovered the secret of smoothies. You need to put in some soluble fibre like banana or avocado, otherwise it comes out as juice and sludge. With a banana and avocado it came out smooth and creamy. Of course you can strain the juice and chuck the fibre if you only use insoluble fibre so that could be a way of juicing if you don't have a juicer.
It was ok. I enjoyed it because I was focused on the health aspect but it wasn't something you'd choose just for the taste. It wasn't offensive in any way. It was even quite pleasant after a while.
I didn't drink much of the smoothy this morning as it got very cold and rainy outside so I switched to a steaming bowl of cooked vegetables from the soup. The smoothy waited for later. Plenty of hours still left in the day.
My neighbour and friend, Aviva Belfer (remember my
blog posts about Aviva?) offered to lend me her juicer for a few days so that I could see if it was something I'd like to invest in.
I took a green tea teabag to college with me as my students who are mature/returning students on this course, take turns to bring a light lunch for everyone. I didn't want to be tempted. As it happened, one student returned from a short maternity break with her 3-week old baby. Today's class was the end of year exam so I held the baby while his mother did her work. It was Godsend as obviously I couldn't eat while holding the baby.
Home for another bowl of vegetable soup and I found I was feeling a bit light-headed. So I had my second cup of coffee as well as a banana for dessert.
Teaching again in the afternoon, out with DD for a school event. Home at 7pm. I tried to finish my green smoothy but it was disgusting so I binned it. That's it, I'm done. I finished the evening with a homemade bread roll stuffed with salad and the rest of the vegetable soup. Yum. (In hindsight the smoothy going off was probably because of the avocado and banana - they don't keep well.)
I felt a bit bad because Phil Staples is now following me on twitter (though he might unfollow when he reads this). Yes, Phil Staples the actual co-star of Fat, Sick and Almost Dead! I am honoured and humbled Phil, but I just can't do these smoothies anymore.
Wednesday morning and I'd given 1lb back, I was up 1lb but that's still a 2.4lb loss since Sunday. Coffee and oat milk for breakfast. I took a bottle of V8 to school but found myself eating 4 slices of bread to help it go down. (No lunch duty on Wednesdays.) Oh well, I still got the vegetable nutrients. Home at 4.30pm and tea was a homemade bread roll stuffed with fresh spinach leaves and olives. And then I ate a banana, 2 dried figs, and some peanuts.
Another local fb friend messaged me with the offer to lend me a juicer, which was really nice of her.
Then we went shopping, then we came home, then I went to bed. I think the word fast might need to come out of the headings. This morning the scales were the same - unsurprisingly. But I'm back with the programme and have arranged to have a juicing lunch with Aviva.
Only one coffee drunk on Wednesday. You've got to celebrate the small things. :~)
I also want to point out that I'm on day 5 and I've not eaten any animal products, any crisps or other processed snacks, nor any sugary foods (there was probably some sugar in the bread I ate at school but that's all). I'm going to extend this project to the full week with a small break for actual food (vegan) on Friday night. I'm eating with a friend and it would be a bit rude and not pleasant for her if I just sit there with a juice while she eats.