Live Your Best Life

Well, it's been 1 month since I started my juice fast, which I'm now calling a "Juice Feast" thanks to my friend Beth, who did her own 60 days of juicing last year.  I love her idea of using the word FEAST instead of FAST because that's exactly how it feels.  I haven't felt deprived at all during the last 31 days.  I'm still excited about all of the beautiful organic vegetables and fruit available and continue to try new veggies and juice recipes.  I figured out how to juice large batches (5-6 pints) at a time and I'm even thinking about having a JUICE PARTY to get all of my friends who have also been juicing or are interested in juicing together to share our experience, recipes and juicing tips.  I'm a wild & crazy girl!

My vision for my best life today involves keeping everything simple, from my food choices to my possessions and even my relationships.  I'm beginning to understand that life is only as complicated as I choose to make it and that by simply changing my attitude I am able to recognize the feast of abundance that is available to all of us.  I just never thought that I'd come to that realization as the result of getting rid of most of my personal belongings and juicing.  I guess clarity is another side effect of my recent endeavors. 

What are you doing to live your best life today?

Simple Abundance

The first day of 2014 will find me ringing in my 7th day of my juice reboot.  During the last week I've had more energy than I could have imagined and constantly surprised by the lack of physical hunger.  The most welcome surprise though has been the quieting of the mental chatter in my head about food.  My initial goal was to help my body detox and start a new relationship with food.  So a good house cleaning was in order and the peace and quiet of the last week has been a gentle segue into a new and simpler way of eating.  

I'm not sure how long I'll keep going with it, but I've notice that the mild case of eczema that I've had for a few years is almost gone and my skin in general feels softer - even my feet feel softer!  I've also lost a total of 17 pounds since last Monday (10 days ago - I lost about 6 pounds during those 3 days that I had the flu).  I did get out and walk a couple days during this week, but we got hit with a cold snap and I haven't been back out walking since last Friday.  I have been more active though and gotten quite a bit of cleaning done around the house and even made it through a 3 hour organizing session with a client yesterday without taking any ibuprofen.  

While I'm excited and encouraged by this initial weight loss, I have a long way to go and this reboot is just the beginning.  I have no desire or intention to go back to my old eating habits.  My ultimate goal is to juice about 1 liter of green veggies and fruit everyday and eat 1-2 small meals with minimally processed, whole foods - limiting my meat consumption to 2-3 times per week.  For now, I'm letting my body be my guide and feel that it will tell me when it's ready to break my fast and move forward into a healthier & simple way of eating.

One of my books that making the trip.

During this time I've also been thinking about my WORD for 2014.  This is something my friend Erin Garcia, a Life Coach in Phoenix, does to help her & her clients focus on moving forward in a positive manner throughout the year.  I never really came up with one last year, but think now that my word for 2013 was RADICAL.  It makes since then that my word for 2014 would be SIMPLICITY.  I've already started by simplifying my possessions and now I'm simplifying my food.  However, I also need to do some revamping of my finances (a.k.a. need to make more money) and was thinking that the Universe might get the wrong idea & prolong this "paycheck-2-paycheck" paradigm that I've manifested for myself.  So, I decided to focus on "SIMPLE ABUNDANCE" in the coming year so all of my bases are covered.  I also believe that the more I continue to simplify my life the more abundant it will become and I look forward to all of the delightful surprises & wonderful adventures that are making there way to me.  I hope the coming year is Simple and Abundant for you and yours as well.