I was a chubby baby. But look at that upper body strength.

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve struggled with my weight. I got made fun of for it a lot. When I was 10, I weighed 100 pounds, roughly 30 pounds over the average weight of a kid my age.



I grew up eating Wendy’s chicken sandwiches after school every day. I grew up on the best cookies ever – Berger cookies – which are a Baltimore treat filled with tons of trans fat and sugar. I grew up slipping on Slurpees, munching on potato chips, and binging on donuts. My parents attempted to feed me healthy food, but it was never filling. I was never satisfied until my stomach hurt and I felt sick.



I still struggle with what “feeling full” is supposed to be like. If a bag of potato chips is put in front of me, my OCD kicks in and I have to finish the whole thing. I rarely can have just one cookie–I need two, or three, or four.



Last year, I tried to kick my addiction with Weight Watchers. I lost ten pounds, but then my progress halted. I felt so restricted by the tracking system and I wanted to rebel. I’ve so far gained back five of those pounds, which isn’t so bad. But for a food addict like me, telling me I’m basically now in food prison and have to watch everything I eat, well… it backfired.



The only thing that has worked is juicing. I admit, I do have a lot of trouble being consistent with it. I don’t do it on the weekends and because it’s kind of expensive, I don’t always feel like spending so much money. But when I’m committed, the results are amazing.



I don’t do it to lose weight. I do it to be satisfied.



I don’t believe in buying a week’s worth of expensive juice and “cleansing the toxins” from your body. Um, that’s what going to the bathroom does. There are no toxins in my body. That is a lie made up by these companies to get suckers to purchase these juices and think they are cleaning themselves out. Sorry, it just makes you go to the bathroom. A lot.



I own a juicer. I juice lettuce, cucumbers, oranges, apples, celery, kale, collard greens, watermelon… a bunch of fruits and veggies I wouldn’t eat otherwise. I have so far, today, ingested two cucumbers, a head of romaine lettuce, a kiwi, and two apples, and I’ve only been awake for two hours. How would I get all those nutrients otherwise? I would never make a salad. Too much work. Cutting up and juicing all these foods takes about three minutes.



Juicing makes me feel full and it makes me feel good. After this weekend, where I binge ate a lot of bad stuff, I felt so bloated and crappy. On Fridays, after a full week of juicing two meals a day, I feel great. I feel thinner, full of energy, and look better.



I think it’s crazy to only juice. I think that if you put off eating for even one day, you’re screwing yourself over. You need protein and real nourishment. I think a full juice fast works for a very select group of people, and everybody else fails miserably and gains back all the weight they lost.



In my weak moments, I find myself getting a second piece of pie and ordering an iced caramel macchiato at Starbucks. But I’m kind of sick being weak. I want to be strong.



And that’s why I juice.