Juice Fast Adventure

[cryerelizabeth]

My family and I sat down and watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and after seeing what juice fasting can do for you, we decided to give it a go. I'll post pics and videos of what's going on every week and our progression.

I'll post a beginning pic of me in a kilt (and I'll post the first introduction video) I made when I had lost weight and plateaued at 200 lbs. Since then I've had to stop playing rugby to get grades up, and with the stress of having to do that, I've gained back the weight I lost up to 240 lbs. About two weeks ago I started cutting down on what I eat and started running again and have dropped down to 230 lbs and this is where I'll start. My goal is to lose

My family and I are looking forward to this fast and changing our living habits!

Here's the first video! Pic of me will come later.
http://youtu.be/vPegHCBR-Q8


Here are the pics


as you can see i can't buckle the side buckles anymore

[Hopper250]

Good luck man, I know the process is tough and wish you the best in pulling it off.

[Mael Coluim]

Wishing you and your family luck, Elizabeth!

I follow the Nutritarian diet lifestyle advocated by Joel Fuhrman, MD in his book Eat to Live. I have a least one Green Smoothie a day.

You and your family would also find of interest the DVD, Forks over Knives.

[GMan]

Knowing that you will do it!

[xman]

Get to it Elizabeth. I also gained a lot from using MyFitnessPal.com. It helped me understand what calories were in what foods. Also, giving up as much processed foods as possible seems to be the current standard medical guideline concerning diet. Maybe it helps after the fast? Anyhow, way to go!

[cryerelizabeth]

yeah, I plan on never touching fast food or sodas ever again. And I'm going to try my hardest after this fast to stay away from processed foods as well as I can. I'm thinking that to fast for a week or so every year or a half would be good for my body. So far so good though. I think I'll post a video every couple of days to give you guys a look at what's going on instead of just once a week . So I'll post another video tomorrow evening.

[cryerelizabeth]

Alright! Days 1 and 2!!! Keepin it up!

http://youtu.be/PtwCyr_uXsM

[piperdbh]

What kind of juicer are you using? I have a Green Star, and the Mrs is really into "Grale", a mixture of grapes and kale. It's a tasty juice! We also like carrot with a little bit of apple.

[cryerelizabeth]

What kind of juicer are you using? I have a Green Star, and the Mrs is really into "Grale", a mixture of grapes and kale. It's a tasty juice! We also like carrot with a little bit of apple.

We are using a Juiceman. I think my favorite juice so far is Sunrise (I believe I called it something else in the video) Its made with carrots, oranges, and beets. I thought it was super good, but apparently me and my little brother (who isn't actually taking part in the fast, he just wanted to try the juice) are the only ones in the family that likes it, so I guess I'll just make it for myself from now on. I'll let my mom now about the Grale, we bought a bunch of grapes and didn't have a recipe for them, so she'll be eager to try it out .

[Aussie_Don]

In Australia we get a lot of BBC programs on TV. There was one recently that may be of interest. (But I'm not
sure where you'd get access to it in the USA -- perhaps your local PBS station might be a possibility, or one of
the cable channels.

The program was titled, "Eat, Fast, and Live Longer"

In it the presenter, who had been told that he had a problem with cholesterol, triglyceride, and a reduced
insulin sensitivity, went off to three universities in the US looking for ways to improve his situation. The
first place, Washington University, in St Louis advocated long term reduced calorie intake -- little meat, lots
of veggies, little or no processed sugars, etc.

He did a test of his readings versus those of someone who'd been doing the diet for several years, and the
difference was dramatic. But, as the presenter commented, you might live longer doing this diet, but it
would seem like it was a l-o-t longer.

Next he was off to California (I think it was LA, but I cannot remember exactly which Uni) There they
suggested that he do a 5 to 7 day fast, with only around 50 Kcal/day. At the end of the fast, he'd improved
his readings all around. So it was a good thing -- unfortunately the readings returned to where they'd been
in about a month.

The final stop was Chicago. (Again, I'm sorry that I don't recall the name of the Uni) Here, they were
advocating a system of fasting two days per week. It's only for a day, so it is not all that hard. The overall
results, in terms of the medically important readings, were similar to the results of either long term
reduced intake or fasting for 1 week per month. I think that he was allowed around 3-400 Kcal on the fast
days.

On the eating days, the people in their experiments were permitted to eat whatever they wanted in
whatever quantity they wanted. In fact, in the show they went off to a fast food place on one of the eating
days. So this seemed like a more sustainable idea -- fast some days, but be able to eat some "fun" things
occasionally. Seems to me that this gets around one of the big problems of a lot of diets. I do well and lose
weight while I'm dieting and being careful about what I eat. But, when I stop, I gradually go back to the
unhealthy stuff (because, if I'm honest - I have to say that I like it -- it tastes good) and the weight comes
back. Being able to have some of the unhealthy stuff and maintain weight seems like a win to me. I seem
to recall reading someone saying that calories are a measure of how good things taste.

I, too have been working at losing some weight. At Easter I pulled out the kilt and had to put it on the last
holes on the straps. I was up to about 112Kg. As a former tight-head prop, I feel your pain. But, since I was
trying to lose weight as well as reduce blood pressure and all of those test measures, I decided to try
fasting three days/week as well as weight training in the gym. Since the start of April I'm down to about
98Kg, blood pressure is down also -- haven't been game to get a cholesterol/etc. check yet - but soon.

So it's all working for me, as well. The one day fasts aren't as bad as I initially thought they might be. One
useful trick that I can pass on is herb tea with Stevia sweetener and two or three spoons of low calorie
fibre supplement stirred in. If you're hungry, it can be just filling enough to help at less than 30 Kcal.

I've currently plateaued just a bit, partially due to getting a bit slack in what I'm letting myself eat on the
eating days. It's OK to eat normally or even a bit more than "normal", but binging is not a good move.
(Though, that having been said, all that has happened is that I don't lose as much.)

Good luck to you. And remember that while the weight loss is important, getting the rest of your body
chemistry in line is also important.

-Don