Week Two starting stats: Weight: 166 lbs, waist 36" (at widest point, not my pant size) not bad for one week. I'm sure a fair bit of that was gone from all the bathroom visits, but I'm still happy with it.
Dumping that foul juice this morning was a bad idea. I woke up today (this afternoon, since after a midnight shift I go right to bed) with a throbbing headache, and sugar crash. Crystal said I looked sick, and I felt terrible. We were almost out of ingredients, so I made a quick apple, carrot, beet juice. After downing that I immediately felt better than I had. Once I was better, we went to Joseph's Produce, and refilled our ingredients for a few days. I then came home and decided to make another fruit juice to get my sugar, and energy back up. I made it with 2 big oranges, 2 apples, and a Bosch pear. It was yummy, and got me feeling good again
Finished the day off with A big batch of Mean Green that I took with me to work. I had a bit of a bathroom emergency while at work and took an Imodium when I got back to the line. After that I was fine. I felt bad about taking the Immodium, but the alternative wouldhave been much worse.
Monday, 31 October 2011
Day Seven
Morning Juice
2 kiwis
3 apples
1 orange
4 stalks of celery
I think I may have reached something of a turning point today. I really didn't think about food that much, and I started to feel better about the fast. I felt very alert, and stable all day, although I was a bit anxious about having to go back to work, and how I'd make it through the shift. Crystal made the mid day juice. I was so busy setting up our new internet connection, and the wireless router that I didn't even pay attention to it until I had a glass of juice in front of me.
I took a nap around 6:30pm, and got up at 10:00pm. this gave me enough time to make some Mean Green, take a shower, and get ready for work.
I had no trouble making it through my shift. I told one of the guys about my fast, and he became pretty vocal about how he thought vegetarians were stupid. He was very oppsed to the whole idea (even bordering on hostile) and ended up walking away after a short rant. After that I decided to keep my eating habits to myself at work.
Came home, and made some terrible juice that I couldn't drink, then went to bed exhausted, hoping that I'd sleep well.
2 kiwis
3 apples
1 orange
4 stalks of celery
I think I may have reached something of a turning point today. I really didn't think about food that much, and I started to feel better about the fast. I felt very alert, and stable all day, although I was a bit anxious about having to go back to work, and how I'd make it through the shift. Crystal made the mid day juice. I was so busy setting up our new internet connection, and the wireless router that I didn't even pay attention to it until I had a glass of juice in front of me.
I took a nap around 6:30pm, and got up at 10:00pm. this gave me enough time to make some Mean Green, take a shower, and get ready for work.
I had no trouble making it through my shift. I told one of the guys about my fast, and he became pretty vocal about how he thought vegetarians were stupid. He was very oppsed to the whole idea (even bordering on hostile) and ended up walking away after a short rant. After that I decided to keep my eating habits to myself at work.
Came home, and made some terrible juice that I couldn't drink, then went to bed exhausted, hoping that I'd sleep well.
Day Six
Had to get up early since we had a family event to go to. Made some juice, and ended up having to bring mine with me in the car.
Early Morning Juice (for two)
4 apples
4 stalks of celery
2 pears
1 large piece of ginger
a bag of carrots
This juice was really great, and gave me no problems at all. Probably one of my favourite morning juices so far.
After the family event everyone went out for breakfast. I had the choice of watching everyone eat, or going home by myself. I chose the latter, and it was really hard for me. My food cravings have been super annoying, and going out for breakfast is something I love to do. I went home and moped for a few hours.
Crystal and her Dad came back to our place, and I started talking about "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" while I made some mid day juice. I forgot exactly waht I put in it because I was distracted and forgot to mark it down. We sat and drank our juice, and watched the movie again. Crystal was hoping it might motivate me since I've been so down in the dumps without food. As great as the movie is, it didn't make much difference in my mood this time around.
Evening Juice
1 apple
2 beets
4 carrots
1 piece of ginger
2 Swiss chard leaves
Crystal went out, and I ended up going to sleep early.
Early Morning Juice (for two)
4 apples
4 stalks of celery
2 pears
1 large piece of ginger
a bag of carrots
This juice was really great, and gave me no problems at all. Probably one of my favourite morning juices so far.
After the family event everyone went out for breakfast. I had the choice of watching everyone eat, or going home by myself. I chose the latter, and it was really hard for me. My food cravings have been super annoying, and going out for breakfast is something I love to do. I went home and moped for a few hours.
Crystal and her Dad came back to our place, and I started talking about "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" while I made some mid day juice. I forgot exactly waht I put in it because I was distracted and forgot to mark it down. We sat and drank our juice, and watched the movie again. Crystal was hoping it might motivate me since I've been so down in the dumps without food. As great as the movie is, it didn't make much difference in my mood this time around.
Evening Juice
1 apple
2 beets
4 carrots
1 piece of ginger
2 Swiss chard leaves
Crystal went out, and I ended up going to sleep early.
Friday, 28 October 2011
Day Five
Woke up later this morning, and slept well. Since the fast started I find that I am wide awake as soon as I wake up. Once Crystal made the juice this morning since I was feeling mopey. I was hungry, and craving real food. During the video Forks Over Knives yesterday, they were eating these vegan tacos that looked amazing, and I had been thinking about them ever since. We made the same juice as yesterday morning except added 2 peaches instead of cantaloupe. It was even better than yesterday, but even once I was done all I could think about was mexican food. I still didn't have a headache, and my bathroom troubles were gone for the moment. All in all I did feel better physically even if my mood hadn't gotten much better.
For the mid and afternoon juice we once again made a variation of the Mean Green. They say it's good to have very green juices as much as possible. I like the Mean Green and after I drink it I have been feeling pretty stable physically. The afternoon was pretty good. My mood wasn't great, but it was steadily improving. I was feeling very alert, and more mentally focused.
For the mid and afternoon juice we once again made a variation of the Mean Green. They say it's good to have very green juices as much as possible. I like the Mean Green and after I drink it I have been feeling pretty stable physically. The afternoon was pretty good. My mood wasn't great, but it was steadily improving. I was feeling very alert, and more mentally focused.
Day Four
I was really hungry when I woke up this morning, but waited until Crystal got up to Juice. We made a juice that was fruity but had some veggies in it too. Crystal and I watched Forks Over Knives while drinking our juice this morning. It was a really great movie. I'd recommend it to everyone. It really, really made me want to pursue a vegan diet once I'm done the fast. Thanks miss_tina for the recommendation. It was well worth watching.
Juice for Two
1 cucumber
6 stalks of celery
4 cups of grapes
1 cantaloupe
2 oranges
This juice was really good. Probably my favourite of the fruit juices so far. I ended up with somewhere between 25-30oz. I didn't get a headache at all. it seemed like the headaches were gone for good.
For the mid day juice I made a variation on Mean Green Juice which was the main juice used by Joe Cross and Phil Staples in Fat Sick, and Nearly Dead. The variations on the recipe were because we didn't have any kale.
Mean Green (variant)
6 Swiss chard leaves
a bunch of spinach
8 celery stalks
4 apples
1 lemon
2 pieces of ginger
2 cucumbers
It was a very green juice, but it tasted good. The recipe made enough for Crystal and I to each have a large serving and still leave enough for me to save for my third meal. I had to make several trips to the bathroom after this juice. I'm amazed there's still anything left in me.
For my last juice of the day I followed a recipe from Reboot Your Life called Gazpacho Juice. This one was not one of my favourites. I didn't like the taste much and it was a greenish brown colour. Blech.
Gazpacho Juice
4 Plum tomatoes
1 large cucumber
2 stalks celery
1 red pepper
1/4 small onion
2 cups parsley
1 lime
It may not have been entirely the juice's fault though. I've been miserable since afternoon. I'm really hungry, and the juice just isn't satisfying me today. My cravings for food have been terrible. I wanted to eat SO bad This was the first time I really had doubts about how long I would be able to last on the fast. I was definitely sick of juice by the end of the day. I wanted nothing more that to throw in the towel, and go get some steak tacos from Acapulco Delight.
Juice for Two
1 cucumber
6 stalks of celery
4 cups of grapes
1 cantaloupe
2 oranges
This juice was really good. Probably my favourite of the fruit juices so far. I ended up with somewhere between 25-30oz. I didn't get a headache at all. it seemed like the headaches were gone for good.
For the mid day juice I made a variation on Mean Green Juice which was the main juice used by Joe Cross and Phil Staples in Fat Sick, and Nearly Dead. The variations on the recipe were because we didn't have any kale.
Mean Green (variant)
6 Swiss chard leaves
a bunch of spinach
8 celery stalks
4 apples
1 lemon
2 pieces of ginger
2 cucumbers
It was a very green juice, but it tasted good. The recipe made enough for Crystal and I to each have a large serving and still leave enough for me to save for my third meal. I had to make several trips to the bathroom after this juice. I'm amazed there's still anything left in me.
For my last juice of the day I followed a recipe from Reboot Your Life called Gazpacho Juice. This one was not one of my favourites. I didn't like the taste much and it was a greenish brown colour. Blech.
Gazpacho Juice
4 Plum tomatoes
1 large cucumber
2 stalks celery
1 red pepper
1/4 small onion
2 cups parsley
1 lime
It may not have been entirely the juice's fault though. I've been miserable since afternoon. I'm really hungry, and the juice just isn't satisfying me today. My cravings for food have been terrible. I wanted to eat SO bad This was the first time I really had doubts about how long I would be able to last on the fast. I was definitely sick of juice by the end of the day. I wanted nothing more that to throw in the towel, and go get some steak tacos from Acapulco Delight.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Day Three
Started the moring off with a big fruit juice. It was sweet, but I really like pineapple so I didn't mind the taste at all. Crystal wasn't as fond of it, so I ended up drinking about 30oz.
Morning Juice for Two
2 apples
2 peaches
1 grapefruit
3 oranges
2/3 of a pineapple
After morning juice I was fully prepared for a throbbing headache, and multiple bathroom breaks, but amazingly (or at least if felt like it) this didn't happen. I ended up getting a slight headache that went away after about an hour, and didn't have any bathroom emrgencies at all. (not to say that I didn't make a couple of pit stops) I began to think that my body was adjusting to all this juice.
For the mid day juice I made another batch of the V8 recipe from DAY 2, but put half of it in the fridge for the afternoon juice. This recipe has been my favourite so far, and has made me consider adding onion and garlic to more of the green juices. I drank about 24oz for mid day.
By the time I finished my mid day juice the negative symptoms that I had been experiencing so far during the fast had disappeared. I watched some TV, spent some time on the computer, and then drove Crystal to work. I was still feeling fine, and beginning to feel more optimistic about staying that way.
After I got home from my chauffeur duties (about 5:00pm) I grabbed the rest of the V8 (about 16oz), rinsed the container and headed up to the computer room. I sipped the juice until it was gone, and still felt no physical discomfort. At this point I was hoping the worst was over.
During the afternoon I started to finally feel the lack of solid food. My mind kept trying to convince me to get something solid in my tummy, and I had the worst cravings so far. It still wasn't anything major though. Once again it was like a game my mind was playing with me. Just throwing thoughts of food at me to see if anything stuck.
For my last juice of the day I decided that I would make a very green juice. I just stated going through the fidge and grabbing all the partial stuff that was there. I knew I wanted garlic, and onion, and a lot of spinach. (sicne I love spinach) I unfortunately added way too much onion, and the juice tasted terrible. I ended up drinking about half of it. That's all I could stomach. I felt sick, but it was entirely due to my poor ingredient choices. After that experience I will stick to recipes that I find instead of trying to wing it.
Morning Juice for Two
2 apples
2 peaches
1 grapefruit
3 oranges
2/3 of a pineapple
After morning juice I was fully prepared for a throbbing headache, and multiple bathroom breaks, but amazingly (or at least if felt like it) this didn't happen. I ended up getting a slight headache that went away after about an hour, and didn't have any bathroom emrgencies at all. (not to say that I didn't make a couple of pit stops) I began to think that my body was adjusting to all this juice.
For the mid day juice I made another batch of the V8 recipe from DAY 2, but put half of it in the fridge for the afternoon juice. This recipe has been my favourite so far, and has made me consider adding onion and garlic to more of the green juices. I drank about 24oz for mid day.
By the time I finished my mid day juice the negative symptoms that I had been experiencing so far during the fast had disappeared. I watched some TV, spent some time on the computer, and then drove Crystal to work. I was still feeling fine, and beginning to feel more optimistic about staying that way.
After I got home from my chauffeur duties (about 5:00pm) I grabbed the rest of the V8 (about 16oz), rinsed the container and headed up to the computer room. I sipped the juice until it was gone, and still felt no physical discomfort. At this point I was hoping the worst was over.
During the afternoon I started to finally feel the lack of solid food. My mind kept trying to convince me to get something solid in my tummy, and I had the worst cravings so far. It still wasn't anything major though. Once again it was like a game my mind was playing with me. Just throwing thoughts of food at me to see if anything stuck.
For my last juice of the day I decided that I would make a very green juice. I just stated going through the fidge and grabbing all the partial stuff that was there. I knew I wanted garlic, and onion, and a lot of spinach. (sicne I love spinach) I unfortunately added way too much onion, and the juice tasted terrible. I ended up drinking about half of it. That's all I could stomach. I felt sick, but it was entirely due to my poor ingredient choices. After that experience I will stick to recipes that I find instead of trying to wing it.
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Day Two
Started day two off feeling nasty, but still ready to go. We made a fruit juice for breakfast.
Juice for Two
2 kiwis
8 cups of grapes
2 Bosch pears
1/3 of a pineapple
It was really tasty, but extrememly sweet. I drank about 18oz. of it but had a bit of a hard time with the last half. I was starting to have all the physical symptoms that I had experineced the night before, and they came on fast. By the time I was done my juice, I felt pretty sick, and cranky. I went upstairs to the bathroom for an extended sit down, then moped until afternoon.
I started thinking about methods of saving juice for later so that I could make a large juice at lunchtime, and drink it as my evening meal as well. Apparently you want to pack juice in a sealed glass container, and you want to pull all the air out of it that you can. It made me think of those gadgets for pulling the air out of a wine bottle, and bang I had my solution.
We stopped at Canadian tire and grabbed a nice little wine set on sale for $10.00. It had everything I needed except the empty bottle of wine. Luckily Crystal had a solution for that, and after one more trip to the liquor store we had a big wine bottle that would be perfect. (once she emptied it for me)
We didn't end up making the mid-day juice until about 6:00pm. My stomach was extremely empty, but I was feeling very alert. This of course only made me able to fully experience the crankiness, weakness, and sick feeling with razor sharp clarity.
Mid Day Juice (also for two)
2 apples
6 kale leaves
4 cups of salad greens
8 carrots
2 pieces of ginger (thumbsize)
This juice was awesome. I had planned on putting spinach in it as well, but forgot when we were prepping the ingredients.
Crystal found a recipe on another site (Juicing Recipes For Health) that she wanted to try. It looked like it made a lot of juice, so it would be great to help make sure I got my 4 serving for the day.
V8
6 carrots
1 beet
4 tomatoes
1 bunch of spinach
1/8 cabbage
2 Swiss chard leaves (it called for kale, but we were out)
1 red pepper
1 stalk of celery
1/4 sweet onion
1/2 clove of garlic
(add chili opowder and salt)
This juice was really good. The chili powder made it taste a fair bit like a Caesar. I drank a huge 32oz cup of it, and enjoyed the whole thing. I'm not sure if having a double dose of juice at once was the best idea though. I ended up running to the bathroom every few minutes, and had a headache by the end of the night, but these symptoms seem to be getting less severe, and last for a little while after the juice, but then go away and I feel good. We're definitely going to make another batch of the V8 tomorrow.
I found today that my sense of smell (especially when it came to food) seemed enhanced. It's probably just my brain trying to snuffle out actual food, but every restaurant we drove by smelled awesome to me. Today I had cravings for meat (steak, and pepperoni mostly) in the early part of the day, then back to salty carbs later in the day. every bit of food I saw on TV looked SO yummy.
Juice for Two
2 kiwis
8 cups of grapes
2 Bosch pears
1/3 of a pineapple
It was really tasty, but extrememly sweet. I drank about 18oz. of it but had a bit of a hard time with the last half. I was starting to have all the physical symptoms that I had experineced the night before, and they came on fast. By the time I was done my juice, I felt pretty sick, and cranky. I went upstairs to the bathroom for an extended sit down, then moped until afternoon.
I started thinking about methods of saving juice for later so that I could make a large juice at lunchtime, and drink it as my evening meal as well. Apparently you want to pack juice in a sealed glass container, and you want to pull all the air out of it that you can. It made me think of those gadgets for pulling the air out of a wine bottle, and bang I had my solution.
We stopped at Canadian tire and grabbed a nice little wine set on sale for $10.00. It had everything I needed except the empty bottle of wine. Luckily Crystal had a solution for that, and after one more trip to the liquor store we had a big wine bottle that would be perfect. (once she emptied it for me)
We didn't end up making the mid-day juice until about 6:00pm. My stomach was extremely empty, but I was feeling very alert. This of course only made me able to fully experience the crankiness, weakness, and sick feeling with razor sharp clarity.
Mid Day Juice (also for two)
2 apples
6 kale leaves
4 cups of salad greens
8 carrots
2 pieces of ginger (thumbsize)
This juice was awesome. I had planned on putting spinach in it as well, but forgot when we were prepping the ingredients.
Crystal found a recipe on another site (Juicing Recipes For Health) that she wanted to try. It looked like it made a lot of juice, so it would be great to help make sure I got my 4 serving for the day.
V8
6 carrots
1 beet
4 tomatoes
1 bunch of spinach
1/8 cabbage
2 Swiss chard leaves (it called for kale, but we were out)
1 red pepper
1 stalk of celery
1/4 sweet onion
1/2 clove of garlic
(add chili opowder and salt)
This juice was really good. The chili powder made it taste a fair bit like a Caesar. I drank a huge 32oz cup of it, and enjoyed the whole thing. I'm not sure if having a double dose of juice at once was the best idea though. I ended up running to the bathroom every few minutes, and had a headache by the end of the night, but these symptoms seem to be getting less severe, and last for a little while after the juice, but then go away and I feel good. We're definitely going to make another batch of the V8 tomorrow.
I found today that my sense of smell (especially when it came to food) seemed enhanced. It's probably just my brain trying to snuffle out actual food, but every restaurant we drove by smelled awesome to me. Today I had cravings for meat (steak, and pepperoni mostly) in the early part of the day, then back to salty carbs later in the day. every bit of food I saw on TV looked SO yummy.
Monday, 24 October 2011
Day One
Day one starting stats: Weight: 176 lbs, waist 38" (at widest point, not my pant size), pasty, soft and generally cranky. Shaved my head again for the first time in a long while.
I've been watching my health, and physique slowly go down the tubes. I've been gettng sicker, and sadder. Gradually feeling like just about any challenge was more than I was up to. Then I watched "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead", and juicing semed like a great way to tackle the situation. We used to juice daily at home until our old juicer died on us, so we knew recipes, and what to expect from the experience. After doing more research I decided that although it might be uncomfortable at first, it would be worth it.
I've been watching my health, and physique slowly go down the tubes. I've been gettng sicker, and sadder. Gradually feeling like just about any challenge was more than I was up to. Then I watched "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead", and juicing semed like a great way to tackle the situation. We used to juice daily at home until our old juicer died on us, so we knew recipes, and what to expect from the experience. After doing more research I decided that although it might be uncomfortable at first, it would be worth it.
I am an autoworker, and last Friday we were given notice that because of a part shortage each shift would be laid off for a week. Being on midnights, my shift was first. With a week off, and nothing to do I decided that it was a perfect time to start the juice fast. Any adverse effects I experienced should happen during the first few days, so I would be fine by the time I have to go back to work.
Our old juicer has been busted for quite a while, so we needed to get a new one. We chose a Breville Juice Fountain Elite, and picked it up this morning. After our stop at William's Food Equipment we took a run out to the Superstore and filled up a cart with fruits and vegetables. We got enough to completely fill our fridge for $99. We've never gone shopping for just juicing ingredients before. It wasn't as expensive as I was expecting.
Once home we washed everything, took some pictures, and got started. I've been reading up at Reboot Your Life to get inspiration, recipes, and read the forums for info. They have a tonne of juice recipes, but we decided to start with one called Green Lemonade.
Green Lemonade
1 Green Apple
3 handfuls Spinach, 1.5 cup
6-8 Kale leaves, 2 cups
1/2 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
1/2 Lemon
Calories: 210
Protein: 10 g
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 10 g
Fiber: 1 g
(We doubled the recipe since there were two of us.)
I was really surprised how much less pulpy the juice was compared to the juice we used to get from our old Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer. There was also a lot less pulp in the hopper, and what was there, was very fine. All together the ingredients made almost 3 pints of juice (I drank almost 2) I can't say it was my favourite juice ever, but it's been a while since we juiced, and I was really excited about starting.
It didn't take long to start my stomach doing somersaults, but I knew what I was getting into, so it looks like the journey has officially begun.
Part Four
It was just after 9:00pm when I made my last juice of the day. It didn't taste great, but I wanted to used mostly vegetable that I hadn't yet used so that our ingredient supply didn't get too out of balance.
2 stalks of dandelion
3 carrots
1/2 cucumber
5 leaves of Swiss chard
1 red pepper
After drinking it my body definitely started to rebel. I don't really think it was from the glass of juice, so much as from my last meal being more juice. I started to feel sick to my stomach, my head was pounding, and felt like I had the flu coming on. I couldn't concentrate, and went from a normal mood to full on depression in a matter of a half hour. Luckily I was expecting this, so as bad as it was I was able to wrap my mind around it. by about 10:45 I decided to go to bed, and once I was in bed and warm (which took a little while with some shivering involved) I fell asleep almost right away.
Crystal went out birding for a while. (That's gonna have to be an entirely different blog) When she got back it was only for a short time, so we decided to juice again before she left. (our first one was at about 1:00pm.) It was about 4:45pm, and we decided to go with one of the recipes that we used all the time with our old Juicer.
4 Apples
4 Beets (stems and all)
6 Carrots
2 pieces of Ginger (each about the size of 2 sugar cubes)
The result is a sweet spicy juice with a mellow earthy taste. Really good stuff. I made sure to rinse the juicer immediately since the beets stain like crazy.
My body was already starting to have issues with the juice. I had been craving pretzels since about a half hour after my first juice. I also started experiencing significant intestinal distress (had to make several trips to the bathroom), and felt a headache building. Crystal wasn't experiencing as much physical distress, but she eats a primarily vegetarian diet already. Crystal won't be joining me fully in the juice fast until November 1st. Chances are she'll be juicing with me, but still eating food, and drinking alcohol until then.
I kept thinking about snacks. It's not that I was really hungry, or that I'd gone longer than usual without a snack. It seemed to be my mind knowing that this was the beginning of a long haul without food. Every time I got up to go do something I got a momentary idea to go downstairs and get a snack. There weren't even any snacks in the house. It was absolutely silly. I figured this kind of thing would get worse the first few days. It reminded me a little of when I first quit smoking long ago.
I kept thinking about snacks. It's not that I was really hungry, or that I'd gone longer than usual without a snack. It seemed to be my mind knowing that this was the beginning of a long haul without food. Every time I got up to go do something I got a momentary idea to go downstairs and get a snack. There weren't even any snacks in the house. It was absolutely silly. I figured this kind of thing would get worse the first few days. It reminded me a little of when I first quit smoking long ago.
Part Four
It was just after 9:00pm when I made my last juice of the day. It didn't taste great, but I wanted to used mostly vegetable that I hadn't yet used so that our ingredient supply didn't get too out of balance.
2 stalks of dandelion
3 carrots
1/2 cucumber
5 leaves of Swiss chard
1 red pepper
After drinking it my body definitely started to rebel. I don't really think it was from the glass of juice, so much as from my last meal being more juice. I started to feel sick to my stomach, my head was pounding, and felt like I had the flu coming on. I couldn't concentrate, and went from a normal mood to full on depression in a matter of a half hour. Luckily I was expecting this, so as bad as it was I was able to wrap my mind around it. by about 10:45 I decided to go to bed, and once I was in bed and warm (which took a little while with some shivering involved) I fell asleep almost right away.
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