Monday, June 25, 2012

Juice Fast and Other Updates

I know it has been quite a while since I've posted  a blog update.  I've been very busy with school, work, and making of the "life decisions."  That said, I believe I will now have a little more free time for blogging--so long as I can get over my "lazy bastard" syndrome.  I literally just spent about an hour or so coming up with things to do on "teh intrawebz" that would allow me to avoid writing this blog post.  But once I got over the lazy, I was good to go.

So, these are the things I want to talk about today:


  1. My juice fast
  2. My decisions recently regarding school and life
  3. My upcoming vacation
Well, we'll start with #1 first.

The Juice Fast

So, like many fatties, I have tried just about every diet under the sun--most with no results.  I've also come to find that--during the times I did have results--I had different reasons as to why I lost weight.  For example, when I was first coming to grips with my queerness, I didn't realize that I was actually suffering from multiple eating disorders.  So when I "started Weight Watchers" back in the day, it wasn't so much the "program" that helped me lose weight, so much as it was the fact that I was coming to grips with my sexuality at the same time and this led to my eating disorders subsiding (at least to a degree).  So, needless to say, I don't typically fall into the bullshit espoused by fad diets.

That said....  I was kind of interested when I saw the documentary by Joe Cross, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead."


Admittedly, I tend to be kind of apprehensive about stuff like this when I see it.  I just assume that it is total bullshit.  However, there is a difference between watching a documentary--where you're practically walking with someone through a part of their life--and watching some bullshit infomercial where you know that it is photoshopped.  Yet, I was still questioning the legitimacy of a juice fast as being healthy.... so I embarked on about three weeks worth of research into it.  I wanted to know if anyone had produced any peer-reviewed studies about this topic and what their results were.

What I found was that 1.) there haven't been any peer-reviewed studies I could find on this particular subject--yes, they've had them on "fasting," but that typically involved water, no juice.  So you have a bunch of pharma-fan people and juice fast guru people--both claiming that the studies are out there, but providing no citation--cheering on their side of the argument.  So I decided to say screw it, and try one for myself.

Yesterday was my "Day 1" of what is currently going to be a 10 day juice fast.  Needless to say, when I went to make my breakfast juice yesterday, I got a bit ambitious.


This was WITH having already drank a full bottle of juice.  Buh.  It's watermelon, strawberry, pineapple, and ginger.  It was basically delicious and I'll be drinking it for breakfast at least through tomorrow.  I've been sharing it with my sister-in-law, who claims she is doing a juice fast too.  Of course, she ate soup for dinner last night.  So take that however you'd like to.  :)

Overall, yesterday wasn't too terrible--except for discovering that beet juice basically tastes like dirt.  I think I'll be able to stick out the 10 days, but who knows?  I had a dream last night that I was eating meat--sausage, to be exact--and was enjoying it.  Needless to say, I woke up wanting to wretch.  Gross!  But, other than that, so far so good!

I would like another juicer.  Mine I've had for about 3 years and I had only used it once prior to this experience.  But I'm sure I could get a better one.  I think this is the one that dude used in that documentary (or close to it).


School/Life Decisions

I'm crazy.  This may be true.  I may be suffering from a grad school "Senioritis" situation.  I doubt it.  So, I've had every plan of taking the GRE and applying to Ph.D. programs in the fall, and very likely moving to NYC in about a year to pursue my Ph.D.  However, I recently decided that this was a terrible idea.  So what is a "good idea" according to crazy me?  Apparently spending the next year--to finish up my degree--and then moving to L.A. to pursue a career in the entertainment industry (either as a writer or an actor).  I know.  Crazy, right?

I'm sorry.  But I keep seeing all of these articles about people with Master's degrees and Ph.D.s who are on welfare.  I'd rather be the struggling artist than the guy with $100,000 in student loans and a Ph.D. who is on welfare.  Also, it is something I've always wanted to do, but I had immediately assumed it was improbable--if not completely impossible.  So I figure I might as well try it for a year and see if I can survive with that as a career.  If not, I can always go back and get my Ph.D. later.

I've already started taking necessary steps.  I have an appointment with a photographer friend in August to take my first round of head shots.  I have a similar appointment with a web friend who is going to work on my website.  In addition, I've been auditioning for roles in local projects.  Admittedly, that hasn't gone great, but what do you expect when I haven't auditioned for anything in 8 years!  I do have my first part--be it a chorus part--in a play.  My rehearsals start in August and the play will be in Sept./Oct., I believe.

Vacation

For the last two years, my brother, his wife, and I have gone to New Orleans every year for vacation.  This has been falling in September every year.  Last year, I got no end of shit from my job about taking time off for this vacation.  I have a big responsibility assignment around that time each September.  So this year I decided that I want to take a vacation in October.  Why?  October is my birth month.  I've never done anything big on my birthday, so I decided this year that I wanted to take a big vacation for my birthday.  Because of that, this year we will be going to.....  VEGAS, BABY!

Well, Vegas and California.  We're going from the 19th (the day before my birthday) until the 23rd.  On my actual birthday (the 20th), I've decided that I want to rent a car and drive to Los Angeles.  That way, I'll get a small taste of the place--since I want to move their eventually anyway--and I'll get to enjoy some great sightseeing stuff on my birthday!

In Vegas, we're going to be staying at The Stratosphere.


We're mainly staying there because: 1.) they're one of the nicest cheap hotels in Vegas and 2.) because my sister-in-law has a hard-on to hit up the rides that are on the roof.

I'm looking forward to so much with this trip.  It'll be awesome to actually do something big on my birthday for once.  Also, I get to see a friend--who lives in Vegas--that I haven't seen in years.  Also, apparently Vegas AND Los Angeles have some great vegan restaurants and vegan options that I am looking forward to.  They include:

- Wynn/Encore hotel restaurants:  The owner of these places went vegan within the last few years, so they offer great vegan menus at everything from casual to fine dining.  I'm pumped about trying both!

- Pura Vida Bakery in Vegas:  They serve amazing vegan baked goods as well as typical meals and appetizers.  Their chocolate waffles look amazing!

I can't even get into my list for L.A. as it is WAY too long.  I'm gonna have to work on trimming it down way before we actually go on this trip.

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Anyway, I hope to be blogging at least every few days while I'm on this juice fast, to let you all know how it is going.  If you've had experiences juice fasting, I'd love to hear them!  Drop me a comment.

1 comment:

  1. Juice fast: I've not tried this. The closest I got was making kefir-based smoothie in the mornings for a few months about 2 years ago. I'm sure I'd be starving throughout the day (and night!)... I'll certainly be interested in your progress through this fast (from your tweet today: sounds like you're moving through the stages of grief or something, lol!)

    School/Life: dude, I think it's great that you are going to give this a try! Better to try and fail, than be haunted by what-ifs. It's great you also have a specific exit strategy. I wish you all the best!!

    B-month vacay: Sounds like fun :)

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