Juice Fasting

So I have taken the plunge. It took some prep and resolve from circumstances in my life. I am now on a juice fast, it is early day 4 and I just finished making roughly 300 ounces of juice.

I had known about juicing for years and years, but watching "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" helped me see that this might be a good idea for me. I have extra residual fat that I gained during a low point in my life in my early to mid 20's. During that period of my life I started dealing with my depression by overeating. Since that time I have lost a good amount of weight, but there has always been a good size roll was still lingering on my belly. After almost twenty years with this issue, I am just "fed up", and ready to get rid of it once and for all. You know, in a lot of ways I have walked the line for many years, believing in healthy eating and physical fitness, but not committing all the way. After seeing my family's health decline over the last few years I feel like I have been led to a place of real commitment, a radical change.

This journey did not start overnight. I think that a big component of making a change like this is personal beliefs. Family members I know believe what you eat has no regard on health. I think that allows them to go about their diet without reflecting on whether their food choices were wise. I however believe that while we cannot control when we die, we can have a great effect on how healthy we feel while we are alive.

Because I failed in changing my habits in the past, I took a slow approach to implementing this lifestyle change. I want to list the steps I took because I know I have many weaknesses, and if I can ease into this change, then perhaps, if you're reading this, you can too.

Step 1: Have an exit plan

I know that after making a big positive change, I do not want to lose my progress. I ran across Dr. Joel Fuhrman on a radio interview, and I liked what he said. I decided to buy Dr. Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live". He makes a great, scientific case for his premises. Furthermore, the lifestyle Dr. Fuhrman suggests is absolutely sustainable.

Step 2: Get a really good juicer

I spent a ton of time researching juicers. It was an extremely tedious search, but I am glad I did it. In the end I went with the Omega nc800. A good juicer is a bit more money, but if you plan on making a long term change, going with one of the best juicers is well worth it. Hear is a list of the main reasons why I went with this particular juicer: 1. suggested by many reviewers 2. slow masticating juicers yield more juice that lasts longer in the fridge 3. 15 year warranty on all parts 4. approximate cost was $279 (Black Friday Sale), which is really low as opposed to any of the juicers higher rated 5. cleanup is a breeze, which is not the case with many juicers, even the more expensive one's 6. Isn't that enough reasons?

Step 3: Enter juicing slow

Start by replacing one meal:
I started by making 3 juices at a time, one for the day of, and then two for the next two days. I replaced breakfast with these juices for two weeks. This slow introduction into juicing allowed me to experiment and get the taste right.

Continue by replacing two meals:
Next I started juicing for two meals a day, and then eating a common meal in the evening. I did this for three weeks. I actually felt really great at the end of the three weeks; I gained a bunch of space in the waist of my pants and my mental clarity was outstanding.

Small set back:
I planned on going full juicing after the three weeks, but life got busy and I fell off (travel and job interviews).

Happy accidents:
What happened next was accidental, yet seridipital. Since I had a fall off of my juicing plan, I decided to try to eat as best as possible in alignment with Dr. Fuhrman's directions. I however was not perfect, (but perfection is not the goal!). I was able to stabilize pretty close to my new pant size. I was not making forward progress though due to a lack of discipline.

Return of the Juice:
At last I was able to get some down time to get back to the juicing. That brings us to the here and now. My experience for the first few days was atypical. Typically people who start on a juice fast go through a pretty intense period of detox, and this is very hard on us weak people (I know, I have failed detoxes in the past). But this time the detox was mild, I had little trouble rolling into a full juice fast. I am assuming that the incremental juicing and healthy eating that lead into the fast allowed my body a mild cleansing period and time to adjust to the change to come.

The ongoing challenges:
There are still challenges happening now, most of which come in the urge to eat solid food. Funny I didn't feel the urge to eat when I was on two juices a day. I assume the apprehension of solid food in the evening kept these current cravings down. Nevertheless I am determined to get through a month of juice fasting.

Changes I have noticed thus far:
Day 1 (04/27/2018): My stomach became much more jiggly in just one day; perhaps massive inflammation and water was shed? Very tired the first day.
Day 2: Still tired, and a bit hungry. taking naps help.
Day 3: Finding that I feel a bit sluggish until I get up and do stuff, then I feel fine.
Day 4: I think my body is starting to adjust better as I have been energetic all day. Finally weighed myself today, I wasn't going to, but my mother-in-law said if I am going to blog I better take my weight and throw some numbers up here: Before Christmas I was around 216 lbs, I am now 197.2 lbs.
Day 5-6: Felling pretty good, was constipated for a bit but finally had a bowel movement (sorry if that is TMI). I bought some "Smooth Move" tea to alleviate future issues; drank some tea and it worked. Had to work late one day and missed a dinner juice, this was pretty tough as far as hunger goes. I made up for it by drinking extra the next two days.
Day 7: One week! Feeling great other than still going through urges to eat solid food now and again.
Day 8: Worked all day from morning to evening with no tiredness, even felt like I could go longer; my energy is really improving.
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