Resting Continues

My rest week has spilled over to a second week. I think my body is reacting to the current stress I've been under. Between working, finding a new job for once this current contract ends, and the large amounts of exercising, my body was feeling off. It first started with a horrible blistering all over my lips that stabbed and crusted, then moved to three days of premature spotting (something that has never happened to me), and now I'm suffering from an awful sinus infection. 

Before the sinus infection kicked in, I spent Wednesday feeling off. I went for a walk and grabbed a green juice on my lunch, hoping to fight off whatever was going to happen next. 

By Friday the infection kicked in, and while my mom and my boyfriend ordered pizza for dinner, I just wanted juice. I made myself a citrus juice with oranges, grapefruit, lemon, peaches, and ginger.

Saturday night and I'm feeling awful. My sinus infection is in full force. I'm curled up in bed with the second season of Friends, lots of liquids, a bowl of berries, and a warm bean bag on my neck. 

I'm hoping this is the last thing that bothers me. Taking a break from running and cross training has been killing me, but I know it'll be better for me in the end. 

Juicing

Note: The labels do not depict what the juice is complete of -- it's so I remember how they might differ

I might be obsessed with juicing.

Usually I'm a smoothie person. Every morning I wake up, throw some fruit and spinach into my blender and chug as I get ready for work or whatever I have planned for my day. Instead, I'm going into my third week of juice for breakfast.

I use breakfast as a loose term because, while it is my breakfast, I usually follow this up with a snack earlier than I would with a smoothie-breakfast. I'm not doing a juice cleanse and I'm not trying to lose weight, but there are definitely a few things I have noticed about myself:

1) I have more energy. I'm not relying on tea or coffee to keep me alert at work now. I'm ready to start my day, my thoughts are clear, and my morning tea is not for a small caffeine boost, but as something that makes me feel warm and peaceful.

2) Less binging. Now, I can't say for sure that this is the juice. It could be my eating habits are better and I'm simply learning not to binge. It could be the natural sugar is more satisfying. All I know is that since I've started drinking juice in the morning I find that I'm less hungry and when I do eat full meals I don't want to follow it up with processed junk.

3) Clearer skin. Again, I can't officially link this to the juice but I've had less breakouts, less inflammation, and brighter skin since drinking juice. I like to believe that this influx of nutrients is calming my system down.

4) Less bloat -- for the most part. I make a lot of my juices with items that are great for the digestive system and reduce inflammation (hello, ginger in everything!). I'm also finding I don't have to focus on hydrating myself as much as I used to because a lot of the produce I use has a high water content (cucumbers and celery). However, as I type this I'm currently super bloated so some days it just doesn't matter.

I'm having so much fun trying out different combinations and actually look forward to waking up just so I can drink my juice.