Juices go fast

I decided to start a juice fast yesterday, mostly because I'd been feeling a bit like I'd overdone it on stodgy wintery foods (one too many macaroni cheeses) and that I wanted to kick start spring eating with a bit of juice. My mom used to do these all the time, about twice a year for one week at a time. I always thought she was a bit nuts for doing it, but was always going on about how great living off nothing but juice, herbal tea, and maybe some fresh soup makes you feel. Being me, I managed to start my juice fast at the worst time ever. I was already feeling a bit icky when I woke up yesterday - given that everyone at work and a lot of my friends have been ill, it isn't all that surprising - but I managed to make it to my viva at noon (which went very well), but after that I started feeling worse for wear by the hour. I had lots and lots of juice, mostly fruit, and decided that I should make a some fresh spring greens soup for dinner.

There's a Planet Organic near College so I went there hoping to score lots of yummy leafy greens, but to my disappointment all they had was various types of lettuce. Boring! Even though I was feeling a bit rough by now, I thought I can't quit this fasty thing on Day 1 and I really need to make some kind of soup, and I remembered that there was a Whole Foods on Kensington High Street so I dragged myself to the tube. I haven't quite made up my mind about Whole Foods. It's brilliant in some ways - there's lots and lots to choose from, it's very veggie friendly, interesting pastas and some good veg, but again no spring greens. So I wandered around in a daze until I finally decided on a spinach and pea soup with lots and lots of sage. I'm not following any rules in my fast, just making them up as I go along, but I did decide that in any of my soups I wouldn't use spices - so no salt or pepper or oil or anything but fresh veggies. At Whole Foods, I bought a bag of frozen organic peas, a bag of organic spinach, a lemon, a packet of fresh sage, a box of herbal tea, and 1 litre of organic tomato juice. 6 items cost me £12.66! The spinach alone was £4 for a single bag. Insane. I have no problem at all with spending a lot of money on really good, fresh produce, but £4 for a bag of spinach is ridiculous.

Having said that, my soup (with nothing else but peas, sage, and spinach with a bit of lemon juice squeezed in) was surprisingly delicious. Though by that time, I was already in a state of delirium brought on by high fever, and maybe it's a soup which could only taste good to an ill person. I'm still on the juice fast though, and feel surprisingly okay. I've heard of some people who feel so starved by the afternoon of day one, that they don't make it even one day. I'm not saying it's positively delightful, but it's not as bad as I imagined it would be. Whether it actually does my body any good remains to be seen, but I feel like it's doing me good and, if nothing else, I'll take the placebo effect.

And I haven't had even a sip of coffee since Sunday afternoon, which is nothing short of a miracle for a devoted follower of the cult of Monmouth.