Progress Report ID-8197 by aarykah

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• Erica Johnson, 24 years old female, weighing 97 kg / 213.4 lbs, 69 in /175.26 cm tall, Nichiren Buddhist. From Minneapolis, United States US

• Doing 30 days of Juice/Water Fasting. Starting January 25, 2011

• Reasons for Fasting:
  I am fasting again after having completed only 6 days on the Master Cleanse from January 2nd-January 9th 2011. I had intended to go the full 10 days and then water fast for all of January, but I kept slipping up. I got very sick on the 6th day of the MC because I was still smoking a lot of cigarettes and cheated with a few cups of coffee at work (no solid food, though). I got ill while shopping for more lemons at the Seward Cafe in my hometown and almost asked my boyfriend to call an ambulance because a very weird, ill feeling came over me. I am therefore: fasting to try to quit smoking cigarettes once and for all, and to lose weight. My birthday is June 29th. I wanted to be down to 150 pounds by my birthday, this has been my goal all year, and there is no way I'll get to that without fasting.

• Past Fasting Experience:
  I have done several shorter-term fasts. When I was 17 I was addicted to meth amphetamines for a year so I wasn't eating much at all, dropped down to like 118 pounds and when I stopped doing the drugs, I had to give my son up for adoption when he was 5, and I got extremely depressed - binge drank and became an alcoholic, and gained so much weight - topped out at 280. I had gotten down to 186 last winter via 3 day fasts at a time, dieting, and exercising a LOT. I am back up to 213 now after having gotten a 2nd DWI and was on house arrest and got pretty depressed and inactive. (I had two years sober before slipping up and drinking). I have not had a drink since September 7th. No desire to drink alcohol, it's just the binge eating and chain smoking that are standing in my way to my goal of being the healthiest self I can be.

• Present Diet:
  I have had days where I only ate apples, days where I didn't eat all day but then had pizza, but for the most part I've started juicing, but still eating solids with the juice. I bought my juicer 3 weeks ago and enjoy making celery-carrot-apple juice, with ginseng, or tomato-carrot juice, etc. I've also been eating salads such as kale, with red pepper, avocado, etc. Today I am looking to not eat at all but will be going to the gym with a co-worker, just to get a kickstart to my fast.

• Supplements:
  Just multi vitamins and aloe vera super food that I add to my juices.

• Relevant Medical History:
  N/A just drug and alcohol addiction, relapse, chemical dependency treatment for 7 months, and now sober.

• Present Medication or Drug Usage:
  None

• State of Mind:
  positive, open-minded

• Limitations:
  None

• Questions:
  How can I do keep my strength up to do this? I live in Minnesota, also known as Minnesnowta, where we have very cold winters and we are right in the middle of winter. I walk to and from work which is almost a mile each way. Can I do this safely?