10 day juice fast (done)

Check out my Raw Food for 30 Days post. – I change my tune a bit on juicing and the need for fresh fruit/veggie juice. Please resist the urge to tell me how important it is to drink fresh juices. I am aware, this post is several years old. Thanks all fresh juice ambassadors.

I was going to go into a big deal about why juice fasting is good and research out all of the benefits but I’ll just provide this one link instead: Health benefits of juice fasting

Why?

First, I juice fast because of the way it makes me feel, plain and simple. It may be mental, it may be physical, it may be both – but it just feels good. You feel light and airy, clean and pure. You feel refreshed after giving your body a little bit of a break from the constant breakdown of junk. In my defense I eat mostly good food since “Going Green” back in March 08. We eat a lot of whole foods, organic, etc. and I have the crazy grocery bills to prove it. Admittedly, I do have periods where it’s like a free-for-all fast food Mt. Dew beer sausage nomnomnom!

If you walk around feeling bloated and heavy, like you have a cloud over your head from eating too much junk and fast food then you’re a prime candidate for a juice fast.

Juice

I do own a juicer and have done juice fasts both with fresh fruit and bottled juice. If you decide to do a juice fast with juice from a bottle I would really recommend you go with 100% all natural juice. In front of me at this very moment, I have a bottle of Tart Cherry made by Lakewood. It’s 100% organic fruit juice. No added sugar, gluten-free, casein free, gmo free, usda organic, no synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides or growth regulators.

I look at it like, these guys would probably do a better job of making the juice than me. Aside from that, fruit is out of season and is terribly expensive right now. :P

So I’m juice fasting from pre-made juice from a bottle. I picked out all types of juices made from Carrots, Pomegranate, Cherry, Tomato (it’s a blend), and some other mixed green juices (made from Spirulina, Chlorella, green grasses, etc). I don’t really have a set time that I drink. I just sort of pour a little 4-6 oz glass and sip it with some water. I’ve been drinking so much water that I have to get up in the middle of the night, something I rarely do.

Supplements

I’m using this opportunity to take a few supplements to help with the process. I actually bought a little detox pack from Whole Foods. It contains all of the basics to help detox the liver and colon. Basic stuff like fiber and Milk Thistle. I also bought a little bottle of Chlorophyll that I am taking with water at night.

Recommendations

You’ll find this by doing your own research but, I would recommend eating really light the day before you start. A couple days if possible. Me? I pigged out on some Chevy’s the night before so I deserve the tough road. But I would recommend eating some soup and drinking a lot of water before your first day. When you’re done with your juice fast I wouldn’t go out and eat Chevy’s. Even I’m not that dumb. Make some soup and drink some water. I like to eat boiled cabbage soup when I’m coming out of a juice fast. That’s my recommendation. You don’t want to come out of a juice fast eating a fatty hamburger. Done that, it’s not that great.

I’m going to update the section below with my experience on each day and how I felt that day. Since I’m on day 3 I’m going to do a little back tracking and try to remember day 1 and 2 (which is why it’ll be past tense). I’m shooting for 10 days, that’s the challenge, we’ll see.

Day 1

Day one was nothing. I’m the kind of geek (I work at a computer) if you don’t remind me to eat or put food in front of me, I won’t eat. So day one felt like any other somewhat “normal” day to me. I did drink a ton of water. I took 2 sips of my coffee and paid for it later that night when the coffee headache came on.

I didn’t really feel any different. Energy levels were good, it was like any other day really.

Day 2

Day two was a little more difficult, only at times though. Like when Sarah broke out a huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Or like when Sarah and I sat down to watch old episodes of Survivor and she broke out the cheese and crackers. I made only 1 pod of coffee (I use a Senseo) and took only a few sips again. I did get a coffee headache but it was more mild. My body knew what was up now. My mouth would not stop watering at all, all day it watered. It was really hard to watch Survivor, when they won reward. Because you’re watching these starving people pig out on hot dogs and beer. That was tough.

I started to feel a little more weak but only when I ran up and down the stairs. I don’t have an active job; I sit at the computer all day. So energy levels I don’t think will ever become an issue for me. I was maybe a little moody here and there, sorry if I was Sarah :-/ . I weighed myself just for kicks and I’m 4 pounds lighter. Could just be losing water from not having all of the salt in my diet. I do need to lose some holiday weight but that’s not the goal of the juice fast (although a nice benefit I guess). I went to bed feeling really good, actually tired for once.

Day 3

Day 3 is going pretty good. I took my supplements and drank my nasty chlorophyl and I’m back in the saddle. I’m not even remotely craving food right now. My juice is starting to run low so I’m gonna need to make another run here either today or tomorrow. My favorite juice by far has been the Tart Cherry by Lakewood.

I feel fresh and awake, well rested and energized. You know how your eyelids feel when you have 4 or 5 real heavy work days with little sleep? Then you know how much better your eyes feel, all rested, when you sleep in on Saturday and wake up slowly? That’s exactly how I felt this morning. A nice little pep in my step.

Day 4

It’s morning of day 4 and I feel absolutely awesome. No cravings for solid food at the moment. I’m in the groove and feel better than I have in any of the previous days. I’m not sure if it’s no coffee or the juice but when I wake up in the morning I feel fresh. I’m not achy or stiff and I’m not even hungry at all. I think because my body is still getting all of the nutrients it needs there’s no issue. Green tea has replaced my morning coffee and I have a glass before bed too. It’s quite nice!

Day 5

Day five is a piece of cake. I pretty much cruised through the day without any major issues. It’s a Saturday so I thought I was going to lay around a lot to conserve energy but we went shopping instead. It’s interesting how a flight of stairs can leave you zapped. I don’t always feel depleted but when I have to exert myself in any way I can definitely feel the burn.

Day 6

More of the same like day 5. I have to say that I did make several trips to the um, well, bathroom, which was interesting to say the least. I’ll spare you the details but I think day 6 my body finally figured out that something is definitely goin’ on. Today I had a few more food cravings but nothing like day 2. My mouth would start to water for no reason. I made myself a smoothie with some juice and ice which I ate with a spoon, that was really nice! At one point I kissed Sarah and she had been eating roasted/salted mixed nuts and I could taste the salt from her lips, eew.

Day 7

It’s morning of day 7 and I feel absolutely fine. It makes me think I could go 30 days if I wanted to, not going to but just saying, that’s how easy it’s been for me. I’m treating myself with a cup of coffee for doing such a stellar job at drinking my juice, taking my supplements and sticking with the game plan so closely.

Day 8

Meh. Sarah caught a little sore throat and that got passed on to me. Not really what you want when you’re already teetering on the weak side. At the same time I also had a little bit of stomach pain. I stopped taking my supplements because I wasn’t sure if that was the root cause. It’s only Fiber, Milk Thistle and some minor laxative but I’m stopping them just to be safe. I really felt cranky and a little irritable today. I think I wasn’t staying on top of the juice and water so I was a little under nourished. I made a nice fruit juice smoothie and that made me feel better.

Day 9

Day 9 wasn’t bad at all. Felt the same as some of the earlier days. Sort of like yesterday I drank a lot more tea and less juice. I think it’s because I’m getting sick of drinking sweet fruit juices? I made a smoothie again, it really helps to use a spoon.

Day 10

Day 10 is here and of course I feel like I could go another 10 but would really like to get back to eating normal food. I really started to get sick of the taste of fruit juice. Tonight I’m going to have some cabbage soup to get the food thing going again. All in all it was a good juice fast and I’m glad I did it. I feel like my mission was accomplished. I didn’t give in, didn’t quite early, didn’t cheat or cut corners. I have a great feeling of accomplishment and confidence. At the beginning 10 days seemed like it would not be possible; I made it by keeping a good focus and didn’t allow my body to talk my brain out of a decision I made. True mind over matter!