Food Freedom // Health + Happy Juice Fast Day 3

Another victory met! The halfway mark of this journey was so sweet because it was all downhill from here. Small victories in a BIG challenge are important to celebrate. So I think I did and went shopping or something...I forget, but I treated myself to something little because who doesn't like a reward? Even if it's just a little sumthin' for your hard work.

One of the real rewards in this as I mentioned Day 1 was discovering some food allergies. I can't even tell you how many crazy, sideways, inquisitively confused glances I've gotten from health care professionals from my candid confessions of weird bodily symptoms I get like when I'm sick with a cough the way I know it's truly an infection is the middle of my back gets itchy...yeah, never met anyone else in my life that happens to. (If you know something about that, please share. And if you think I'm weird, be nice and don't share. I know already and I'm fine with it. Ha!)

Back to weird food allergies...over the years I've had some minor run ins with the random fruit, vegetable or tree nut. Food items include:  banana making my lips feel swollen; cantaloupe - cucumbers - walnuts - sometimes almonds, mainly raw - and...oh yeah, the big one cherries all make my throat itchy. Not always, and sometimes just mild. Cherries are actually in a class of their own. On a few occasions I felt a ver strong I think my throat is swelling feeling and I just plain refuse to eat them. But it's only fresh or frozen ones, not dried cherries. (Yay! Because I love them on salad.) So explain these random food irritations to a physician, and hence the looks. All I said to my ND was, "Sometimes cucumbers bother my..."  Her response: "Yeah, and cantaloupe, walnuts, bananas, tomatoes..."  

My heart screamed: She gets me!!! Hold the phone though...tomatoes have never bothered me and I l.o.v.e. them and eat them all the time. Well, little known fact to me (and everyone else I've ever asked) these foods are somehow related. So for the purpose of the juice fast and reintroducing foods into my diet I was to restrict these problem items. No biggie. I could do that for 2 weeks. If I can not eat for 5 days, cutting out something (for a time) really just isn't a big deal anymore. (Huge BONUS of juicing, by the way. Willpower.)

After the juicing I have reintroduced a tomato here and there and now I notice the irritation. If I eat one just straight up raw by itself I realize it is bothering me. Good to know. If my body is inflamed and irritated from something I'm giving it I want to know what the cause is so I can manage or eliminate the problem. If I'm giving my body things that irritate it regularly or multiple things all in one meal (a salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, walnuts...eeek), I'm going to become accustomed to the noise it causes in my body because it starts to feel normal. The little nuanced cry my body made about tomatoes...I didn't even notice it until I had successfully removed them for three weeks. Then I heard and now I know how to listen. I'm still eating tomatoes, but I know better now how and when. A great lesson learned.

Be sure to check out Health + Happy's amazing blog for all things nutrition related or to get your juice on.

If you missed out, read all about Day 1, and Day 2.