My Birthday Juice Fast

If you follow me on twitter, you’d know that on March 3 I celebrated my 25th birthday in a strange way {I’ve been labeling it my Silver Anniversary of Life}. Now, I’m not one to jump up and down about my birthday usually; a nice meal with my Glen and perhaps a quiet, casual gathering with a few friends sounds just right to me. In fact, I’d rather good food and a nice bottle of red than any gift {traveling and baggage allowance doesn’t take too kindly to presents}, although I must admit how stoked I was when Glen presented me with a pair of grey sweat pants. The one and only thing on my birthday wish list.

We are such nerds.

This year my birthday fell on a Saturday. Now I know that in the real world, this situation couldn’t be more perfect, but not in a ski town and doubly not when you work in hospitality as I do. It was also forecast to rain, which it did. To top it all off, Saturday is the busiest day up on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains; the weekend warriors from Vancouver make the trip Friday night, stay in their holiday houses, ski all day and hot tub it all night. They live a tough, tough life. Clearly. I make an effort to avoid snowboarding on the weekends, so when Monday rolls around, it feels as though it’s just me and the mountain, and no one else.

So, my 25th was shaping up to be not-so-special. I week before, I started thinking to myself- what can I do to make this day memorable?


I did my first ever juice fast.

… followed by an oldie but goodie- carrot.celery.beet.ginger…

How to Prepare for a Juice Fast and What to Expect

First things first, if you’re considering juice fasting, and like me, you work in hospitality, then for the love of God, do this when you have some time off. I’m not going to lie, I hit a wall at around 9pm; I started drifting around the restaurant with my eyes jumping from plate to plate. My mind was trying to play little tricks on me. Tara, stop looking at those chicken wings, you don’t even eat animals!!!
Next, brace yourself for an unexpected spiritual experience. While I was consciously very determined to get through this day feeling light and bright and positive, like I mentioned, I had a brief period where it was difficult for any food not to look appetizing. I mean, I was looking at rice at salivating over it, thinking how delicious it will taste tomorrow, when I can finally eat something! I must mention though, when the dinner rush was over, and I was able to return to the bar and fix myself another green juice {a particularly huge one this time, given how trying the last hour had been}, after having drunk it, a few notable things happened-
–// I suddenly didn’t feel on edge or anxious, instead I became calm
–// My body didn’t feel whole for quite some time, in fact, it’s almost as though I could feel every single cell within me vibrate with happiness and nourishment. I felt as though I was pulsating. Every breath became deeper and I began to move my steadily within my body. I know it sounds radical, but for a good half hour I felt like an expert in quantum physics, I could feel it.
–// All the food around me became a mirage. Instead of lusting over it, I begun recognizing it as something that simply did not exist. It wasn’t real, is wasn’t important, it wasn’t part of the plan.
–// The most memorable thing I’ve taken away from this awesome experience, is the true nature of fasting. I felt a spiritual connection, somehow, to everyone who has ever fasted, voluntarily or not. I started to feel appreciation and gratitude for the simpleness we often take for granted. My eyes were also opened to a lot of the gluttony in our community surrounding food, lifestyles, things! In these moments of clarity, I realised that my life will be lived appreciating the simpleness, knowing that less is more, letting love and compassion light my way.
–// My fast only lasted one day. One day! When I returned home from work, I put myself to bed and upon rising the next day, I felt amazing, honest. And truly, I wanted to keep fasting. I can now totally understand why people continue to fast for longer than they plan- the spiritual connection is amazing, the physical results are almost immediate (hello bright face!), and most importantly, it just feels right. When I woke, I got stuck into a big grapefruit.lemon juice, then spent the rest of the day eating coconut yoghurt and carrot and ginger soup, knowing full well that fasting was going to become a regular friend of mine.
–// This experience strengthened my core belief system that encompasses mind-body-spirit happiness; one that thrives on a plant based diet, is grateful for the abundance of beauty that is offered to us by Mother Earth, and is happy in the still, quite moments of self connection, love, yoga and meditation.

So, you wanna fast?

1. If you still eat meat, dairy products and processed foods, I’d suggest cutting back on these on the days leading up to your fast. It’s highly likely you’ll develop detox systems, and the worse you eat, presumably, the worst you’ll detox.
2. Visualize the fasting experience being a positive one, filled with clarity and self learning.
3. Get excited about vegetables! Surround yourself with them! I have a whole Pinterest album dedicated to juice and smoothies…

4. If you intend on fasting for more than a day or two, and you’re currently on medication, consult your medical ‘person’, if you have one, before you begin {I might be rubbing people up the wrong way here, but I believe everything you see up in that photograph is all the medicine you need}. It might be a fantastic idea to get your bloods reviewed before and after- this is definitely something I’m planning on in the future.
5. Try to buy organic, if you can. This is all about detoxing the mind and body. If buying all-organic isn’t realistic for your situation, consider the Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen.
6. If your fast is lasting more than twenty four hours, girlfriend, how about a few coffee enemas? I’m not going to lie, I’m going to try it, sooner rather than later hopefully, in the hope that it becomes a regular part of my detoxifying process.

Well, that’s about it from my end. To summarize, my birthday was just lovely!
I hope this post inspires you to give juice fasting a go, or to at least consider it. I hope you’re all having a spectacular week!