JuicY!

ANOTHER juice cleanse

some of the things i love most in life.

...

french fries.

bacon.

cheeseburgers.

salmon.

my dad's cooking.

fried things in general.

Shrimps.

short ribs.

oysters.

steak.

gin and tonics.

wine.

BEER.

chicken wings.

ice cream.

I have a lot of vices and guilty pleasures when it comes to food things. I try to balance it out with a daily run, and a handful of salad now and then-but I tend to fall back into self indulgent binges that leave me exhausted, scattered and a bit depressed. Really depressed, actually. Also, I'm never going to be "skinny", and that's absolutely not a goal of mine. But I know what my body looks like when I'm healthy. WHen I'm not: I don't love mirrors, or photos, or buttons. Silly, but real.

These things happen. ups and downs. healthy, not so healthy. Sexy, not so sexy. I'm grateful and happy to live, breathe and wake up at all. But eventually, I have to check in. A couple years ago, I met two raw nutritionists (who happen to also be queer, black women artists as well, (not that it matters, but of course it matters)). They'd recently founded their company Raw! Inc. They gave me the and and short of raw eating, how long it takes to digest meats, overeating, mucus build up, this 'n that. It sounded nice to me. But not THAT nice. I love eating. I eat all the time. Cooking and eating are deeply wired in my heart and brain to communicate love, warmth, happy. So not eating, or eating only live plant things didn't appeal to me. but some time after I met the Raw! Girls, I found a reason to try a juice cleanse. Could have been curiosity. Or the challenge in it. Don't know. But I decided to give it a try.

It was so hard. Truly. Every moment, I thought about cooked meats and breadsticks. Every time I passed a restaurant on the street, my knees got weak. I felt weak, tired. Sad. afraid i'd pass out at any moment. thing is-i didn't really believe that the body could survive, or thrive without snacks and cooked foods at least a couple times a day. No matter what anyone said, I couldn't believe it. so it was a struggle. But i did it! And afterwards-I pooped. I pooped forever. It was unreal. I've never pooped so much in my entire life. As luck would have it-i was on tour during my post-fast-poo-fest. Funny story, for another day. but poop and hunger aside-I figured out how much my body actually needs. how to treat it with love, and still frequently enjoy a basket of fries and such.

so a couple years and three cleanses later, i decided to do another cleanse. my partner asha is hardcore-she went for the five day. this time, we got really excited about the Raw! Inc. photo contest. Basically the person who posts the most exciting or interesting photos during their cleanse, gets some free raw foods to break-fast. Asha and I are both visual artists, so we got really into it. it turned into a kind of artistic exercise. also, a distraction from the occasional hunger or cravings. i don't know about you, but when i'm working on arts or crafty things-that's all i can think about. so it was really nice.

today is my first day of break-fast. i feel amazing. super clear, energized. just ready. so anyways. i decided to share the photo collection in hopes that it inspires folks to try cleansing. and if you're in the DC area, Raw! Inc has the best juices and they're great coaches as well. *I promise I'm not getting paid to say this. I'm just really into what they do AND I'm excited about black folks and queer people of color leading our communities toward a health revolution. We really need it.

so. Not braggy, not preachy. Eat what you want to, live how you like. But, if you're curious-definitely go try a cleanse!

Again, it's not easy. not even close. but it is so necessary and worth it.