Juicing

Today starts day three of my juice fast, or juice feast, depending on how you look at it. Basically this consists of fasting from all foods and only drinking juice and water throughout the day. These fasts can be done for one day, three days, or even up to ten days or more. A juice fast is a much safer option than a water fast because you are still able to gain nutrients during the fast. Actually you are often times gaining more nutrients than you normally would because of the large amount of fruits and vegetables you are consuming.

Digestion requires 30% of our bodies' energy. When you are consuming all your nutrients in a liquid form the stomach is able to immediately absorb them. All this saved energy can then be used for other needs in the body. This can be extremely helping in the case of chronic illnesses, or even at times for a short term illness. It is often recommended that as soon as you get a cold/flu to begin a juice fast so that your body can focus less on digesting and more on healing.

Some other benefits of a juice fast:

- Detoxifies the body and helps flush toxins out.
- Safe and effective weight loss
- Increased energy from all those nutrients you are absorbing
- Loss of water retention

Read more about benefits here

Of course if you do a juice fast you will need to juice your own fruits and vegetables and should consume an equal amount of both. This is the difficult part for me because the fruit juices taste SO much better! Also you are suppose to consume around a gallon of water a day. There are many expensive juicers you can buy. I have one that my dear mother allowed me to borrow. It is older but it works just fine!

Some people limit their juice to three glasses a day. I have been drinking as much juice as I want. My reasons for doing the juice fast are to allow my body to focus more on healing and to rebuild my body with good nutrients. So for me the more juice the better.

Even if you just juice for one meal or snack a day I would suggest juicing to anyone. Its also GREAT to make for your children! My little ones love a fresh juice and I can even sneak in a little spinach and they will still drink it. Green juice can be fun for a kid if you make it so!

Here is one of make favorite juices I've made so far! Try it out! Cheers!

Rise and Shine Juice

2 apples

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

inch ginger

two handfuls spinach

1/2 lemon

Back to Blogging!

So I haven't blogged in a long time. In a really long time actually. Mostly because our lives have been somewhat crazy over the last nine months. Well to be honest they have been really crazy. I originally created this blog to post craft ideas, party ideas, and recipes. I love celebrations and making everyday occasions special. Of course that's where the blog title came from.
Over the last nine months I have learned how important it really is to celebrate the small things. In February I suddenly became sick and just could not get better. Test after test continued to stump doctors as to what was causing my low blood pressure drops, extreme fatigue, body aches, and the list continued. We tried medication, slight diet changes and I continued to get worse. When you have two little children and you don't have the ability to get out of bed to care for them and no one can give you answers things start getting really difficult. Your world changes when you start hearing doctors mention serious illnesses such multiple sclerosis, dysautonmia, and other autoimmune diseases.

I can say with absolute certainty that God intervened when he led me to Middle Tennessee Center for Alternative Medicine. I began seeing a wonderful naturopath doctor there and slowly began to improve. Simply by changing my diet, detoxing, and taking all natural supplements. I decided not to continue with my medical doctors and seek a diagnosis but to continue treating it holistically and trusting God to heal my body. We are fairly certain that this is an autoimmune illness of some type. Which one? We don't know and I honestly have no desire to know. To me that would only instill fear and I choose to have hope that I can overcome this or at least control it in a drug-free way.

Where am I now? Well overall I am about 75% symptom free. My blood pressure no longer drops, my fatigue has improved, and the body aches happen less often. I have to follow a very strict gluten/dairy/sugar free diet. The closer I stick to the diet the better I feel. I have to rest when I need to rest. Which is VERY difficult for me! I still have bad days and still can't do everything I would like to do but God is teaching me so much through this process.

I want to continue blogging and sharing my journey. I have learned so much about healing naturally through this process and discovered so many new recipes. This is something I am now so passionate about and I'm eager to share it with others. 

Each day is a new day and I never know what to expect but each one is filled with its own small celebrations. Sometimes simply having the strength to talk a walk with my children or being able to attend church is a celebration. Like I said before- I've really learned to appreciate the small things. :)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him,and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6