The Last Supper

So this isn't my last meal, but it's getting pretty close. It's pretty bad when the waiter says it was a pleasure serving you, which I think can easily be attributed too the fact that I had absolutely no self control tonight and ordered $230 in food. Definitely the biggest food bill that I've ever had and it's pretty easy to do at Wave.
It was very tasty though. The meal started with the calamari, which was well cooked and seasoned and seared tuna. They also had a drink called the Ginza that was made with lychees. Lychees are pretty much my favorite fruit ever. That would be hands down the best reason to live in an Asian country. Then there was the Cobia and short ribs alongside the potatoes cooked in duck fat. I'm a sucker for all things braised.

I can't believe that I'm already only a couple of days away from beginning this fast. That's another reason why ordering every dessert on the menu have me no pause. Although they were all tasty I could have settled for just the passion fruit pana cotta. It had this ginger crumble and landed in that tangy sweet area that I love.

It is also almost time for those before pictures and measurements.  Don't worry I won't do like every diet commercial and have some drab photo where I look depressed next to happy fit me. I will smile in both.

These are my final indulgences. I can hear the juice whispering my name.

What Would Jesus Do?

So then there's the whole spiritual aspect of this fasting.  When i told my mom that I was going to be doing the fast she said that I should be praying and asking God for something.  Ibut  do consider myself to be a Christian, but my individual spirituality pales in comparison to that of my mother's...  One thing I do want is either a decent word processing app for my Kindle Fire to write these blog posts or either a laptop which is so sensitive that the touch pad for the mouse constantly changes my cursor location while I'm typing.  But I digress...

Realistically I wanted to read the Bible from beginning to end during this period.  I've already started and up to II Kings.  My honest opinion of it so far, I find it rather appalling and I had no clue the amount of violence that existed in the Bible.  It almost seems unreal but that's where faith comes in I guess.  I've never made any effort to read the Bible on my own,  I've always have read small passages in church and before sermons.  It's clear to me why much of it is ignored throughout those sermons, because the stories of these Israelites is depressing and violent.  It also seems very cultish at times.

So that brings me to this.  I've decided what I'm going to pray and ask God for during this fast.  A better understanding of the Bible.

Preparing For It

Re-posting from the blog I got rid of on squarespace.

It is Christmas so I figure there is no more appropriate time to begin this madness than now. If you know me at all, you also know how passionate I am about food and living a healthy lifestyle and such.  It was one of the main reasons I chose to get out of the navy.  I remember my first underway.  Everything I ate was so disgusting that I spent that entire week surging only on French fries and the occasional chicken tenders.  It was a little before my health kick sort of came into its own and taste was the absolute most important factor.  

I eventually started surviving on sandwiches, beef jerky and protein shakes.  I felt better for sure, but I didn't feel healthy.  My sodium levels had to have been at some awe inspiring record breaking levels.  Nevertheless in the eyes of the military-industrial complex I was considered healthy. Even to this day, the level of quality of the food is still shocking.
But I digress...

So about a couple of weeks ago, I decided to watch this movie on Netflix called "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead".  It is a movie where this guy who is obese and has all of these crazy ailments and is on tons of medications decides to do something completely insane.  Live on a diet of just fruit and vegetable juice.  He comes out at the end of he fast and ends up getting off of all of his medications and suddenly being healthy.  I think that this movie did a good job of showing the health benefits that could bee.gained from a juicing.  What it failed to show is the negatives of a diet that consists of only juice.
So why am I doing this? I do realize that a diet of only juice is completely unhealthy, but at this point, my own individual vainity outweighs my desire to be healthy by just a little.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to get sick and die or anything like that, but I just want to shed a few pounds.
I also want to make this fast a period where I can completely divorce myself from fast food.  I do eat fast food very rarely, but there is the rare occasion (about once a month)  or so where I do eat fast food because I am on the go and haven't planned something out quote right and I'm hungry.  This is something that I want to completely eliminate from my life (with the exception of a Double Double Animal style with animal style fries should I ever make the journey back to southern California and happen to pass an In-N-Out Burger). I also very rarely eat processed foods (stupid work)  and I want to end that as well.
I also want to drastically reduce the amount of meat that I eat.  This all veggie and fruit diet (along with almond and coconut milk, whey protein and healthy oils) will be a good jumpstart to that.  I already know that I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables. A diet dependent on them may help me to become accustomed to a diet that doesn't include as much meat.

Then there is the productivity side of this.  I spend too much of my time.... far too much of my time, goofing off watching TV on the Internet. I want to spend more time reading learning and bettering myself.  So along with the diet I am limiting my TV to one hour a day (excluding 49ers games and Heat games against an opponent with a record of >0.500... I know but I want to make this something I cm actually accomplish). I do think limiting my TV and Internet use to one hour is going to be almost as hard as the food part.  I grew up with TV. Watching it all the time and I'm pretty sure I average between 20 and 30 hours a week (while dicking. Around on the Internet because I am a true multitasking).

Then there is the spiritual side of things, I think its pretty embarrassing that I call myself a Christian but I have never read the Bible from cover to cover. I mean sure I know a lot of scriptures and have been taught a lot of thongs but all of that is through the eyes and context of the teachings of a minister.  I don't know enough to be able to make a rational decision or be able to tell if somebody is full of shit to a certain degree. I cant make informed arguments and I haven't a clue where the Bible stands on all of those hot topic issues of social conservatism that seem to get a great many Christians riled up.

But really the main reason I am doing this is because if I can do this I can do anything.

The Debt Crisis

Evidently the place I was planning on using to host this blog was going to charge me $20 a month in order to host it.  That's a lot more money than free, so here we are Google blogger.

I did some research into Juicers originally, but on first look I just took the advice of Consumer Reports without going deep and researching which Juicer I should buy.  I eventually came to the conclusion that based on Consumer Reports,  I should get their Best Buy, Hamilton Beach 67650 Big Mouth Pro Juice Extractor This ended up biting me in the ass because after talking to someone that actually did one of these juice fasts, I discovered that the Hamilton Beach juicer can yield 30 to 50% less juice than a Breville.  How is something that yields 30-50% less juice a best buy?!  Consumer Reports subscription cancelled.

Anyhow I did end up ordering a Breville which is on the way.  Breville BJE510XL Ikon 900-Watt Variable-Speed Juice Extractor.  It is four times as much as the Hamilton Beach, but in theory it should end up paying  for itself just based on the amount of juice that I will get.  Still I'm going to have one and probably two extra juicers in the future.

I'm also interested to find out how much this juice diet will cost.  I do already spend quite a bit on food (about $600-700/month).  I'm wondering will the complete elimination of meat from my diet result in a cheaper food bill.  I do think that I'm going to have to buy more food in order to make fruits in vegetables than normal in order to sustain this.  Don't worry though I'm going to keep good track of every dollar that I spend on this.