It's the fourth day of my detox and I feel great. I am not sure if it is due to the detox itself or the new diet I have incorporated. I think it is a combination of everything. One thing I have noticed is the level of consciousness I've reached these past few days. I know it has only been four days, but I already feel that everything seems almost brighter and clearer. It is a pretty neat feeling and I hope it lasts.

I also feel more energized. Part of Tuesday and part of Wednesday I felt a little bit sluggish and off. The rest of the time though I have felt great and haven't felt sluggish today at all. I don't exactly know how to describe it but I just feel more alive. This could be attributed to the nice weather we have been having so I can't say for sure how effective my diet has been until the end of the detox I think.

I have encountered some problems this week with my detox and being a college student. For starters, fruit is expensive. I spent what felt like a lot money on fruit on Sunday and I felt like I really had to ration what I had in order to make it last throughout the week. What I have begun to do is supplement the fruit I bought at the supermarket with fruit I can buy on campus. I've used part of my meal plan to buy fruit from the dining hall and brought it back to my house. The dining halls here only have bananas, apples and pears (sometimes) but it is better than nothing. Bananas are one of my favorite fruits anyway.

I have also encountered some problems with using my blender. After using it Tuesday morning one of my housemates came downstairs and mentioned to me that I woke her up. She was not upset but asked that I just keep it down. This means I can't make smoothies in the morning any more. Wednesday and today I made myself fruit salads instead and mixed the protein into orange juice. This, however, did not taste as good as a smoothie. :-P I am going to try making my smoothie the night before and keep it in the fridge until the morning.

A little bit about my blender. I looked into blenders for a while before I made a purchase of one. There are a lot of options out there and many of them are very expensive. I finally settled on a cheap $20 one sold at the local pharmacy (Walgreens). It is extremely effective and works very fast. How awesome is that? I got a great blender at a great price!

One of the things I have been trying to do with this detox is to eat more food that is "living." I have been enjoying lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. On the other side I have been cutting out lots of cooked foods, pasteurized drinks, and foods with preservatives. I'm not 100% raw but I would say I'm 70%-80% there. I am still eating breads, pasteurized orange juice, soy milk and some cooked beans. I'm completely avoiding anything that has a shelf life of longer than a month or two.

I'm also looking into natural sources of iron, calcium and B12. While I am still taking supplements for all of these, I wanted to also eat foods that had these nutrients naturally.

Iron- Fortunately there are lots of vegan foods that contain iron. They include spinach, chickpeas, green leaf vegetables, beans, peas, raisins, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, kale, and broccoli. Dairy products contain low amounts of iron and can actually inhibit the absorption of iron.

Calcium- Natural sources of calcium includes collard greens, soybeans, tahini, almonds, almond butter, okra, and hummus. If I eat my greens and almonds it seems like I should be able to get some calcium naturally. I think for the most part though I am going to have to rely on fortified sources such as orange juice and soymilk.

B12- Unfortunately there are no natural usable vegan sources of B12. Vegans have to relay on fortified sources of B12 such as soymilk, energy bars or vitamins. This is why B12 has been my largest concern since trying to be Vegan. As I said before, I would like to get my nutrients as naturally as possible. It somewhat scares me that there are no vegan sources of it.

My protein intake seems to be going very smoothly. I think I am getting enough everyday to remain healthy. I am thinking of trying to add a little more protein into my diet just because I am trying to gain some muscle. I work out nearly every morning and think I'd benefit from an increase in protein. I'll have to see where else I can incorporate some protein into my diet.