Today has been the worst day by far.

I woke up feeling great. When I stood up, I was dizzy for a good 30 seconds before I could see anything again, but once that passed, I felt fine.

I had my green juice and then almost all of my liter of water with MSM and lemon (still drinking it now).

I also weighed myself because I knew I had a colonic today and I wanted to see what the weight difference would be between today and tomorrow. So far, I’ve released 3 pounds.

As far as the colonic – it was absolutely awful.

As I posted about earlier, colonics are very important because without a clean intestine, toxins can re-enter your bloodstream which is incredibly dangerous.

I felt very wary about going in and getting one done – anxious, a little disgusted, and nervous about how it would unfold.

It turns out the privacy part of it was nothing to fear at all.

I’ll go through the procedure – I know it can sound kind of gross, but I guess I don’t care. I’m in a weird, half-cranky half-muted to the world mood.

Anyway… when I went to the spa, they told me to undress from the waist down and put on a robe. After I did that, the procedure really wasn’t gross or weird at all. The practitioner inserted a tube in me and then I laid back on my back. The practitioner and I talked the whole time, so I didn’t have time to focus on anything “off”.

The reason that it was so awful, though, was that she had to pump me with water in order to soften my intestinal walls. Every time she did that, I felt intense pain. I pride myself on toughing things out, so I let her fill as long as possible… but it was really, really bad. I was closing my eyes, thinking of other things, trying to talk to her… but it just sucked.

I ended up pouring out a ton of toxins – a lot more than the average person does on their first try. The practitioner said this was likely because I was juicing for 3 days already.

The rubbish part about that, though, is that as the toxins come out, the body gets stirred up as toxins are moved around. I felt a massive wave of detox that left me feeling absolutely horrible.

I have my next appointment set up for Wednesday at 10am.

I haven’t been able to drink any juice since the colonic and even the thought of drinking water makes me nauseous – which means that I’ll probably only have the 16 oz of juice for today.

I took a nap once I got home but I still feel groggy. I’m planning on getting some more work done, watching a movie, and going to bed.

Blech.

I read some people’s blog entries saying that Day 2 was the hardest day of all for them, so I prepared myself for the worst.

That being said, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be.

I woke up VERY groggy and dizzy, and could barely see when I stood. I promptly had my liter of water with lemon and MSM, and then went back to bed because I had literally 0 energy.

After I woke up, I made my juice and got a spark of energy. This seems to be the theme – I’ll be super low-energy, and then a glass of green juice will perk me up for a little bit.

In the beginning of the day I was exceptionally dizzy. Jaime told me I should bend my head down at one point, so I did, and I thought I was going to fall over and pass out. It felt awful.

Slowly throughout the day, I got more and more energy. I had 16 oz of juice at 1pm to give me energy to go to get my nails done (I was afraid I’d fall asleep). I was OK throughout the appointment and ended up telling the woman who did my nails all about the juice fast (she was super-interested in it and may do it herself).

I had a good amount of energy afterwards and felt super-happy so I drove around for a while, singing in my car. I also stopped at Barnes & Noble and stood for a while in front of the Humor section, randomly reading books.

(I was excited that I could stand for such a long time!)

When I got home, I had another 16 oz of juice and used my energy to unpack my luggage from my Philly trip.

It felt great to have so much energy, and I felt REALLY happy at the end of the day.

I went shopping today for more greens, so I ended up drinking all of this throughout the day:

Spinach
Celery
Cucumbers
Kale
Dandelion Greens
Green Pepper

The juices have been really yummy. I like them the best after they’ve been in the fridge for a few hours and they’re nice and cold.

It’s only 4:15, but I’m thinking the end of my first day will probably be pretty soon. I’m still on east coast time and very sleepy. The dark conditions outside aren’t helping either.

The first day of the fast went well.

I woke up feeling hungry (I usually feel hungry in the mornings) and had a liter of water with lemon and a tablespoon of MSM. That subsided me until I went to Whole Foods at 11amish. When I was there, I got a juice of:

Spinach
Celery
Cucumber
Parsley
Ginger

I realized I’m really not a huge ginger fan and didn’t enjoy the drink too much, but I did finish it.

At 2:22 I decided to make more juices for the day (you can make a bulk amount of juice in the mornings for the rest of the day, so I just made the rest of today’s juices then).

I made:

Cucumber
Celery
Broccoli
Kale

That was super-yummy. I had about 16 oz and still have some left for later on.

Since I don’t really crave food usually, I’m not too worried about cravings. The only exception is this amazing “Tsoynami” they have at a vegan restaurant around here called Green. A “Tsoynami” is basically the “Blizzard” at Dairy Queen, but made out of soy. It tastes just like ice cream, and I get it with Oreos, walnuts, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. AMAZING.

Jaime mentioned she had tons of food dreams on her fast, and I actually ALREADY had one during my afternoon nap. It was about the Tsoynami.

Jaime has brought home some food already, and ate a bit in front of me. I told her I’d be fine with her bringing anything home except for that Tsoynami.

(I didn’t think about them at all during my Philly trip, but Otto mentioned going to Green last night after the airport, and then I started dreaming about them again. )

I think I should be fine cravings-wise though. I read the first 2 days are the hardest hunger-wise, so if I can get past that (which I know I will with flying colors), I’ll be fine. I know there will be foods I crave during the fast on a psychological level (probably mostly foods from when I was growing up – mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets, french fries, Doritos, cheese doodles… not the best ever).

I made 2 big realizations today as well:

1. I have been very focused on “30 days”. I think that’s foolish. I’m going to do this as long as my body wants me to do it. I remember when Steve Pavlina set out to juice for 92 days, but his body didn’t respond favorably at all and he ended up stopping at 30.

Jaime wanted to do a 14 day fast but her body told her to stop at 12.

I need to get out of the disciplined “warrior” mode all the time and listen more to what my body wants. So who knows, maybe I’ll stop after Day 8?

(I doubt it though… I’m really feeling 30 at the moment. )

2. While health is a huge factor for the juice fast, I know there are going to be days when I’m thinking, “What the hell is this damn fast for?” I thought I would use the weight loss to show myself some instant results. After I thought about it though, I realized that’s actually going to be detrimental to me.

Because my lowest weight since 4th grade is 4 pounds less than I weigh now, it’s almost out of my mind’s realm of possibility to weigh less than that. I actually LOVE how I look 4 pounds away. I’m afraid if I weigh myself and see that weight or less, I won’t feel a need to keep fasting.

Because of that, I’m hiding my scale. I’ll weigh myself either weekly or at the end of the fast… but definitely not daily.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. I’ll blog again soon.

I’ve wanted to go on a juice fast for a little over a year now. I have several books on it and have been studying it a ton… but no time ever seemed like the “right” time.

That was for 2 reasons:

1. I knew I’d have huge detox issues, and I didn’t want to put my business at risk (I’ll be pretty useless work-wise for some days)

2. I had social activities lined up and didn’t want to be the “party pooper” while other people were drinking/eating.

After staying in Philly for a few days and eating like crap, I’ve decided it’s now or never, and have committed to a 30 day juice fast once I get back to Scottsdale.

I’ll be tracking my progress as much as I can throughout my blog (like I said, there will be huge detox issues and there may be some days I have no desire to be near the computer).

Why I Want To Go On A Juice Fast

There are a few reasons. The more and more I learn, the more the importance of each reason changes (ie first it was because I was really psyched about weight loss, now the health is more important to me).

Here are some reasons why:

- The amount of toxins in the food we eat is insane. Our body is constantly consumed by digesting the food we keep taking in. On a juice fast, the body can STOP putting energy into that and instead put energy into flushing toxins out of our body.

They say that for every day on a juice fast, you can heal 120 days worth of crappy food.

- I’ve seen lots of people talk about old injuries, etc… clear up while on a juice fast. I don’t have any old injuries, but those stories help me me see how healthy juicing is for your body.

- Not only do you flush out physical toxins while on a juice fast, but you also flush out emotional toxins. A lot of people (especially me when I was younger) eat to avoid having to deal with other things. I know even now, if I get sad or angry, I emotionally eat. Juice fasting helps “detox” these emotional issues.

(While I know I have a lot to detox there and am very excited about it, I anticipate this being the hardest part of the fast. I’ve read about people having days full of very severe emotions – some days being incredibly mad, some days being really depressed, some being gleefully happy.)

- Weight loss. I will still eat lots of calories from the juice, but as I put in all the alkaline foods, my body will help get rid of the acid ones, any excess fat, and all cellular toxins.

- I think my intuition is going to go through the roof once my body is more “clear” (and have read of other people experiencing that)

- Will have much more vivid dreams (Again, I read/heard about a lot of people experiencing this)

Obviously, I have to set up conditions to make this inevitable.

A juice fast isn’t the easiest thing in the world, so I’m setting myself up for success.

Here’s how:

- Jaime is coming to stay with me for 1 or 2 weeks. She actually just got off a juice fast herself (which was another reason that pushed me to do it. Like I said, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now, and when Jaime did her 12 day fast, I envied all the amazing side benefits).

When Jaime did the fast, she went to a retreat in Patagonia, Arizona. They specialize in fasts, so she learned a TON. She’s going to share the info with me, and then she’s also going to help me make juices, bring over elixirs, and just be with me as I go through the detoxing. I am so grateful for her.

- Otto is going to call me every day and walk me through, visually, getting to the 30 day mark.

I’ve read about the power of visualization through Psycho-Cybernetics and several other books, but saw the power of it in person a few times myself (for example, when Steph coached Mona and I through our 5k run).

- This may be “TMI”, but I don’t really care. When doing a juice fast, you have to either get colonics or do daily enemas. As you detox, the toxins can pile up in your intestines. If you don’t get them out, then they can go back into your bloodstream which is INCREDIBLY dangerous. I know I won’t want to do the daily enemas, so I’m purchasing a package of 20 colonics administered for me.

- I set up dates to do it (I’ll start Nov 28, 2009). I decided to go with Nov 28 because it’s the day after I get back from Philadelphia. I’m going to be super-honest with myself: I wouldn’t be able to do it here in Philadelphia. Thanksgiving is coming up, there’s too much yummy food around to tempt myself with, and my mom would be upset. I set up a time when I knew I could succeed.

- I’m purchasing a 30 day bikram yoga package as I do the fast. Jaime mentioned she used a sauna at her retreat, but since I’m doing this at home, I had to find an alternative. Luckily I had been planning to do a 30 day fitness challenge in December anyway, so this hot yoga works out perfectly. I’ll sweat out a lot of toxins through it, while also getting to move my body and get my exercise in (hiking at Camelback – my normal exercise – is going to be way too strenuous for me at first).

What I’m Going To Drink

I’ll be filling up my juicer with lots of yummy veggies. As I mentioned, Jaime will help me make the juices at first (I’ll post what she recommends), and then I imagine my body will guide me to know what to drink next.

I read in one of Victoria Boutenko’s books about the experience of her putting her children on a raw food diet. She said one day her son asked for some blueberries (I think that was the fruit). She brought a flat of them to have them on hand for a while, and he ended up eating all of them in one day.

The same sort of thing happened to her daughter. She asked for some grapefruits (again, I think that was it) and ended up eating massive quantities in a day. It surprised Victoria, but it turns out that the foods they requested are known for helping to cure what their respective illnesses were at the time – asthma and diabetes.

I say this because I trust my body is going to clue me in to what’s best for me.

What’s Next:

I’m fasting today (day before Thanksgiving). Even though I’m going to a juice fast soon, like I said, I’ve been putting lots of crap in my body and want to flush at least some of it out. I’ll go on the extended 30 day fast starting Saturday, and I’m REALLY excited for it.

Wow… I had such an amazing birthday weekend, and I wanted to post about it here so I’d remember it forever.

I’m going to go in order here:

On Thursday (day before my birthday), Jaime flew in from Canada to come visit. Every time I see her is PHENOMENAL, so this was obviously was no exception.

While she was sleeping from jet lag and no sleep for a few days, there was a knock at the door. Turns out Brian had sent me a dozen roses and Happy Birthday balloons.

A few short hours later, Otto got here. Before he started the 6 hour drive from San Diego, he asked me if there was anything he could bring me. I told him since he couldn’t bring me an acai bowl from “Big Squeeze” (they make the best ones I ever tasted), my juicer would do.

(Side note: I just signed on for a place in Scottsdale for a few months. I know my last post wasn’t the most complimentary towards it, but I’ve been meeting some amazing people and ended up falling in love.)

Anyway – Otto got here with ALL MY STUFF from storage in San Diego. I thought I was going to have to fly back to get it, so that was SUPER-AMAZING.

Then he took me down to the van where he said he had another present for me. He took out a styrofoam cooler and when I opened it, there was 3 lbs of dry ice inside… and an acai bowl!

Afterwards, the three of us went out to dinner with Otto’s new friend Alex – a supercool snowboarding instructor.

As you can see, this stuff was all ridiculously phenomenal as is… but the next day (my birthday) topped it even more.

When I woke up, Otto told me to open a present he had mailed to me a week or so ago (I was waiting for my birthday to open it). When I opened it, it was a framed paper that he wrote up entitled “50 Things I Love About Rachel Rofe” (including a Bonus one ). It was VERY sweet and just made the day start off wonderfully.

When I walked into my living room, I heard my phone ringing. When I went to go look at it, I saw Brian was calling. I knew he was very sick and couldn’t talk (or even really whisper), so I was surprised to hear from him. When I picked up, it was his girlfriend calling on behalf of him to say Happy Birthday.

After I hung up, I had several text messages, including one from Joshua who told me to check my screen door for “not one but two envelopes”. Since he lives right near his work, he had to drive out of his way to come here. I opened the envelopes and there was a beautiful card and a poem he wrote for me in another. It was really beautiful

My mom, sister, and brother called shortly after.

Jaime, Otto, and I all ended up going to breakfast at The Breakfast Club – a superyummy place to eat. We all kind of hung out for a bit, and then Jaime treated me to a 90 minute massage (which was PURE BLISS).

When I checked my email, I was bombarded (in a great way) by tons of Facebook “Happy Birthday” messages, twitter messages, and awesome digital cards (including a super-funny one from my trainer and his business partner, and my friend Martha )

Later on in the day we went to Green (an AMAZING vegan restaurant that we all fell in love with and went to every day – Thurs, Fri, and Sat. Everything we tried (and we tried a lot!) was so delicious!

Jaime also gave me a really cool game that asks all sorts of profound questions… it’s meant to be for dinner parties or when you have new guests around. We had fun playing with it

After that, we headed out to party for a few hours in Old-Town Scottsdale. We went to a place Jaime and I went to a few years ago – Dirty Pretty – and just had fun listening to old songs and dancing.

Overall, the night ended phenomenally.

Yesterday (Saturday), the three of us hung out some more. We went back to Green, and then when Otto went to go visit his friend, Jaime and I had some “girl” time. We went clothes shopping and then to a bookstore (where Jaime proceeded to buy a mountain of books ).

Today’s Sunday… I drove Jaime back to the airport this morning (BOO). Otto’s speaking at an event in Prescott, AZ, and he should be back in a few hours… and he leaves tomorrow (another BOO).

Boos aside though, it was a fantastic weekend and I’m so grateful for my amazing friends and family. I really couldn’t ask for a better weekend. When I recounted the events to Brian last night, he was flabbergasted at how much awesomeness took place. It’s true – acai bowls, poem, “50 Things I Love About Rachel Rofe”, a massage, friends flying in from Canada, 6 hour drives…

I’m a lucky girl

After Otto and I broke up, I had a few decisions to make (as mentioned in my last post). I was trying to figure out what I felt like doing – go to Hawaii for a few months, take a road trip, sign a lease in San Diego, go to Australia… I really had 0 idea.

I ended up deciding to go on a new road trip. I know it sounds ridiculous, but one of the main reasons I wanted to do it was to go back to Half Price Books in Dallas. I LOVED that store on my last trip and met some incredible life-long friends while browsing.

There are a few locations for HFP, but the Dallas one is HUGE (it’s the main one) and just incredible.

I left on Monday, and for the most part, the trip has been phenomenal. There is SO MUCH beauty to check out on the drive from California to Scottsdale (where I got a place for a week so I could think/catch up on work/explore) and I was reveling in it the entire time.

I also got to listen to a few audiobooks (Caroline Myss’ Primal Nature – I don’t recommend that, and started Caroline Myss’ Energy Of Anatomy which seems a *lot* better), listen to great music, and just relax.

The place I got in Scottsdale is awesome. It’s actually an extended living place for executives, so there’s a refrigerator, a toaster, utensils and plates. I’m using the kitchen table as a desk and have my full setup – the 24 inch monitor, the MacBook Pro, and the PC. The coolest part is, I got some tips from Mark Anthony on how to use Priceline, and I ended up scoring the place for only $21/night, and it’s right in the heart of everything!!!

The drive was interesting for some other reasons too. As I just mentioned – I think I live in some of the most glorified parts of America. For example, in San Diego, even living in Pacific Beach (frat-party town), people are usually super-happy, laid back, and out for a good time.

Every time I see someone in passing, I smile at them. In much of SoCal and here in Scottsdale, people obligatorily fake smile back, but it doesn’t feel “real”.

When I stop at random areas in my journeys, I flash back to “average” America. I don’t say that at all to be elitist – it’s just a weird experience. I got off in El Centro, California on Monday and smiled at a few people, and they got these huuuge smiles on their faces, like I made their entire day. It almost feels much easier to make a difference there.

Scenery was a lot different, people seemed a lot more introverted, and there were a lot more unhealthy-looking people.

I know Eben Pagan mentioned (I think in Altitude) that sometimes he drives to the local Wal-Mart just to sit and listen to people, to get more of an idea of what the “average” American is like. I don’t blame him.

Although I generally feel grateful to live in fake “bubbles” of America (more pleasant to look at, more healthy food, more successful people), I appreciate getting to go to other places. It makes for a more well-rounded world view.

When I was bidding on Priceline, I didn’t get much say into where I’d stay. I just randomly got Scottsdale, and was psyched that it was so inexpensive for such a pricy place to live.

Jaime and I joked the last time we were here that this was almost a mini-L.A., maybe even more plastic. While I *love* the streets around here and how central it is to everything, I still believe that’s the truth. There’s even places that have big signs for “Walk-In Botox”.

I’m not complaining, just observing. What I mainly wanted to get out of this first stop I’ve gotten easily – the relaxation, the centering, and the feeling calm.

The only other thing I can report so far is the Master Cleanse.

Okay, I’m exaggerating. But it was nuts. I’ve done successful water fasts, eat mostly raw foods, and just got done with a cleanse… but this Master Cleanse was awful.

I made it through the day fine without eating (I made it inevitable that I’d succeed by having books around if I started thinking of wanting to eat, had the TV, etc…). At night though, things were nuts. I kept waking up with hot flashes, then cold flashes. This is TMI but – I also dry vomited throughout the night, and just felt generally awful.

I couldn’t stand up for more than a few seconds, had a small headache than went on and off, and felt ridiculously dizzy.

Jaime, Taj, and Caleb have all reported incredible things with it… but it’s definitely not for me, at least not on a road trip.

Anyway, I guess that’s it for now. Just wanted to get myself back in the groove of posting blogs.

I thought it could be cool, in the future, to maybe do 50 states in 50 weeks… spend a week in a new state each week… and blog about it. Seeing as I still don’t know where I want to go next, maybe that’ll be my next adventure.

Have a great day, and don’t forget to post at 5PositiveThings!

Things have been really busy on my end. I should be posting more…

But thank you to everybody who left comments. I do read them and really appreciate them.

So… the last time I posted was back in May. Since then, lots of stuff has happened.

First, I launched a site called 5PositiveThings. It’s looking a little sparse now as we had to delete all the old posts in our upgrade, but I’m psyched about it and how many it has the potential to benefit.

Second, Otto and I were supposed to move to a place in La Jolla on August 1st. I wasn’t 100% on San Diego but LOVED the apartment. Anyway, the owner asked if we could hold out a week, so we got an extension on our current place. Yesterday (the 28th), after I called her, she decided she needed another month.

After driving around for a bit, we still couldn’t find anywhere we really loved…

And then this morning, we mutually decided that this was one sign on top of a few that we should probably just end our relationship and stay good friends. We both have a deep love for each other and a deep respect, but we’re not “in love”.

We’re both eerily calm about this, and will continue to do our offline business stuff together.

I’m back at the drawing board now – can grab a place here in San Diego, move in with Jaime for a month, move to Miami with Brian for a while, or get a place with Joanna (I’ve only talked to 3 people so far and all 3 had incredible options for me ).

I’m thinking about staying in SoCal just so Otto has a support system too… but have also thought about Australia, Hawaii, and NYC. I’ll probably take the next month to think.

In other news, after going back and forth about being in the Internet Marketing industry, I’ve decided that I *AM* okay with it… as long as I’m promoting things I really believe in and nothing too hype-y sounding. I started re-building my list and things have been awesome so far.

I guess I’ll end here for now… am sure there’s more to talk about, but I’m happy to just make a post and update the site a bit!!

Don’t forget to post at 5PositiveThings , and thanks for reading.

I randomly came across the “Record” button in Viddler, so I made a video!

This one’s about my recent Reiki training. I know Reiki isn’t the most “widespread” type thing, but… guess I just don’t care.

The video’s not the best quality – not sure why – but it’s good enough, I think, so here it is:

So Mass Control weekend is over, and I had a great time!

It’s always awesome to see old friends, and I got to see a ton this time.

I need to take my own pictures more often… I snagged these from Ralph from InSearchOfHeroes.com. I LOVE what he does!!

Jaime and me

Otto and I – I love this picture

Jaime, Jason, and me

Chris Brisson, Otto, Jason Moffatt

So I was on the train home today from a phenomenal NYC trip, and the train was super-crowded. Three of us were on a seat – a middle-aged man on the end seat, a guy my age in the middle (Chris), and me at the window.

Anyway, Chris was reading a Steinbeck book I’d just finished, and I commented on it. We ended up talking the entire 78 minute trip about lots of stuff – Steinbeck, traveling, his job with Jet Blue, etc.

The man at the end didn’t say anything until he was about to get off at his stop. When he did, he told us that he couldn’t help but overhear us talking and that he had to thank us for making him smile. He said he’d been in South America for 8 years and we reminded him how great it was to travel, he loved hearing us talk about Steinbeck (and gave us a book recommendation), enjoyed hearing about the other stuff, etc.

After that, he reached into his bag and gave us a bottle of champagne (guess he was bringing it to someone for Christmas) and gave it to us. He said that he only had one bottle for two of us, so we had to figure out a way to share it.

I think we’re going to share the champagne when Chris passes through the train station near me again on Sunday. Isn’t that rad?

Kind of seems like a good Christmas story too.

It also reminds me of the movie Pay It Forward (one of my two favorite movies). In case you haven’t seen that yet, here’s the trailer (go rent it!):