faqs

I must begin today by admitting a bit of a defeat. Well, I guess I can't call it a defeat because it just is what it is and I'm taking my health very seriously. The whole point of Juice Fast 2011 is to take my health seriously, which I haven't done in a very long time. The bottom line is that I have a thyroid disease. This isn't new-- I've been treating it for 5.5 years and I've mentioned it here a few times. It's kind of a big deal, but given access to good doctors and observant friends and family, it's not very terrible to handle.

However, though my symptoms have been in remission for almost a year, I've had some cause lately to go back on a very low dose of medication to help curb some symptoms. This fact is the reason why I cannot attempt to proceed with Juice Fast 2011 in what should be its most basic, natural form.

This is not to say that I'm giving up completely. I've done a lot of research and I still feel strongly that some small adaptations to this method will continue to benefit my health and assist me in healing my body. I still hope this may help to put me even further into remission. Juice fasting is aiding me in being more aware of how much dairy I eat (or don't), for example, and dairy can mess with my hormone levels, etc etc etc. I figure this is good knowledge, even if I have to "cheat" sometimes in order to actually embrace a full level of health for my body in its current state.

So there's that.

Now that I'm a week into The Experiment, I've been inundated with questions (and opinions and advice and all kinds of comments, both positive and negative). I've received many expressions of encouragement and a few expressions of concern regarding my protein intake. I figure I may as well collectively address some of the things I have learned.

Please note: my research has gone beyond simply watching the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. While it was certainly inspiring to me, and definitely an informative and motivating tool in this experiment, I wouldn't dream of pursuing a lifestyle that could potentially screw with my health without having more facts at hand.


1. Is this healthy?
Yes. It's basically a vegan/sugar-/grain-free lifestyle. While I haven't been yet, ever-popular nuts (in the form of nut milk) can be introduced to provide additional nutrients and forms of energy. The goal is to empty the body of foreign, non-digestible matter found in most of our food these days-- especially in my (former?) diet of processed, enriched fast food. By embracing clean, raw foods in a liquidized state, the digestive tract is able to recoup and physically rest, allowing all that toxic sludge to exit the body. It helps to break destructive food addictions. Oh, and it's a completely healthy way to lose weight.

2. Yeah, but is it HEALTHY?
Yes. Picture yourself eating an apple. Yummy, right? Kind of sticky, if it's juicy. That apple, while delicious, takes a lot of energy to bite and chew. Further, it takes a lot of energy to then digest. Being solid, it takes even more energy for the body to absorb the nutrients and make them useful. There are also parts of that apple that are relatively inedible (the core) but which hold additional nutrients. Also at least some of that sticky juice ended up down your chin and all over your hands and maybe dripped onto your shirt. This results in only about 70% of the potential useful energy in that apple able to be absorbed into the body.

Conversely, when you pull out the stem of that apple and juice it right up whole, avoid energy wasted by chewing and digesting, providing all the nutrients in a liquid (and therefore absorptive) form, all parts of the apple now made edible, the body is able to immediately intake up to 99% of the available nutrients.

So yeah. It's pretty healthy.

3. But losing more than 2lbs per week isn't healthy.
Sure it is, if your body has more than 2lbs per week to lose. Not every one will lose 20+ lbs in a week like the gentlemen in the documentary, or even 6.6 lbs like I have (having not stuck to the method 100%). The first time I signed up with Weight Watchers I lost about 6lbs in a week, and many people continue to lose at a rate higher than 2lbs per week. The difference is, solid food weighs more. Liquids move through you more quickly, and by allowing all the nutrients to be absorbed in your system, most of the liquids moving through are just water.

By not eating solid foods, the body is able to tap into those fat stores that are so popularly talked about-- the very same ones HCG and other diets attempt to dig into. Humans (especially overweight humans) have stores of energy that inable them to potentially survive for weeks, even months, without solid food. (NOTE: But you can't survive without water!!) It's instinctual and primitive. And healthy.

4. But you're not eating, so it's not healthy!
Stop telling me that. I am eating, and it's healthy. In each juice I'm having the equivalent of 3-6 portions of fruit and vegetables. 3-6 portions x 3 daily servings = 9-18 portions of fruit and vegetables. These are full meals. I'm currently drinking 1.5 cups of spinach, 3 large carrots, 1 pear, and 1.5 cups of grapes. That's a lot of food! Try eating it physically and tell me you aren't full.

Certainly there's a difference between feeling full the way you do when you eat solid food versus feeling full of juice. It is definitely a relearning process. But seriously, it's more a mental thing than it is physical. There's a certain level of fear wrapped in social stigma smothered in personal food habits. People have been fasting for thousands of years for religious, cultural and health purposes. It's healthy. It allows the body to naturally heal. I'm moving forward with my life, guys, not stepping back or promoting eating disorders.

5. Is it filling?
Yeeeees...? Yes. It is. It's just different. The first few days (as I mentioned) I felt like I was going completely crazy. Turns out, a little touch of the crazies is a normal part of the process as we try to understand toxins leaving the body and giving up a comfortable, ingrained dependence on food and chewing. I'm trying to be very in tune with my body to understand the difference between physical hunger and bored hunger. I'm bored-hungry a lot-- I've always known that. This is a really, really good exercise in breaking my bored-hungry habits. I'm glad about that.

6. What about those proteins?
What about them? Frankly I wasn't terribly concerned about getting proper amounts of proteins before this diet, why should I now?

Sarcasm aside, I'm serious. The pursuit of protein is kind of a fad-filled journey. Sure, you need protein, but there's protein in fruit and vegetables, so I'm getting protein. Also protein, by its nature, is a building block-- builds up cells, builds up muscles, builds up the body. Body builders and weight lifters need protein to built up muscles. I am not either of those things nor do I want to focus on building muscles this month. In a single month, the body I have built will not deteriorate into a puddle.

A good example is comparing protein to the wood that builds a house. Once the house is built, do you need to continue piling on wood in order to clean the house? No. That would potentially mess with the foundation of the house and/or the inside of your house would look like a hoarder, making it very difficult to clean. I'm cleaning my body right now, not building. I'll return to pretending like I care about proteins after I've sufficiently cleaned out my system.

7. What kinds of things do/can you juice?
All kinds of things. Basically any water-based fruit or vegetable can go right into the juicer whole (this means no banana, avocado, etc). No need to peel most things except orange peels (but the white rind is good-- even watermelons can go in with the peel) or like cantaloupe. Cantaloupe and honeydew are kind of hard because they have to be just perfectly ripe or else they're kind of worthless, but the cantaloupe I juiced yesterday was TASTY. Berries don't juice terribly well (especially strawberries) because it's hard to separate the pulp from the juice which means you don't get a lot out of juicing them, but I like do dump in a cup of blueberries or blackberries because of the antioxidants. Best to add berries to other, more plentiful juices rather than trying to make a blueberry juice base, for example. Oh and peel a pineapple. Duh.

As I've mentioned, I'm working up to working with more greens, which are real real good for you. Spinach is very sweet, as are carrots, so that helps to avoid squinching my nose over bitter tastes. Cucumbers, celery, kale, tomatoes, sweet potatoes-- all good. Will keep you updated with more recipes as I have them. There are great recipes and resources all over the interweb and libraries. Easy.

Oh. No pits in the juicer. 1) They're bad for the juicer. 2) They can be poisonous, which is bad for your body.

Again: use ginger at your own discretion/risk. Also, a little lemon goes a long way.

8. How long are you "supposed" to do this?
It depends what your goals are. People can go for months and months and months in this form of fasting. This isn't without a bit of practice however, to say the least. This is another reason why I'm embracing the idea of a modified fast. It's hard. It's hard mentally, and it's hard physically. It requires discipline and dedication.

Fasts can last one day, three days, ten days, or more. What I plan to do from now on is a combination of one- to three-day fasts. Anyone who's been on Weight Watchers or other "diets" knows that varying your meals and exercise plans is what really seems to work best-- never letting your body get "used" to a real pattern. Obviously a longer fast is going to have more immediate, long-term results, but for someone like me (for example), doing a series of 1-3 day fasts with some (hopefully) healthful breaks between for 30 days seems as if it will yield more realistic, if slower, results.

9. Who should juice fast?
Anyone, but with careful consideration of contributing factors such as stress, work, medical conditions, etc. It's like other diet plans but with less emphasis on exercise. You should exercise to help release those toxins, but don't plan on training for a marathon. The idea is to NOT starve. Bodies should not shut down, you should not have a fainting spell, and you shouldn't abuse the idea of "not eating." It's an emotional and spiritual cleanse too (seriously, it is-- had a random come-apart when I broke my tablespoon the other day. It was surprising, but explainable). DO YOUR RESEARCH before diving in.

10. Doesn't "fast" mean you aren't eating?
Correct. A juice fast perhaps isn't the purest form of fasting (that would be a water fast, where you don't have anything but water, which is scary and waaaaaay too dedicated than I could ever be, I think), but it is "pure" in the sense that the goal is to not eat solid foods. So go on-- think you're fancy pants for catching me in a lie, but it's not really. Also, I invite you to try this before you tell me I'm cheating by drinking juice.


There are a ton of great resources available about juice fasting. I recommend specifically is the book Juice Fasting & Detoxification by Steve Meyerowitz. It's been interesting to hear peoples' responses and questions to this journey of mine, and I appreciate the motivation to keep going. What else do you want to know?

Day 7 -- 158.4 lbs