Lately I have had a lot of questions on a juice fast I recently did. First off I want to explain why I did the fast and what it consisted of. I have recently become very very health conscious because of several stomach issues that have come up. I have been to several doctors and been put on different antibiotics/ medicines, none of which cured my problem. Desperate and over medicated, I realized that there had to be another way to help solve my stomach and digestive issues. ( all of the individual details of my problems is gonna have to be a whole different post haha) So my eyes became open to food healing! I suggest for all of you to watch Hungry For Change, a health documentary you can find on Netflix. This really opened my eyes to what I was putting in my body. When you eat foods with tons of chemicals, your body doesn't know how to process it. Chemicals were never meant to enter our body, therefore, it takes more energy to break down the chemicals than it does the actual food. I was addicted to Diet Coke and was drinking 4-5 a day (no water I might add). I then found out what a demon aspartame was! Did you know Aspartame was denied by the FDA 5 times?! (Resource: Skinny Bitch)
Over the next few weeks I watched countless documentaries and read every "clean and natural and raw" book I could get my hands on. (I'll post a picture of my favorites at the end of this post) I learned a lot and continue to have a passion for learning about all of this stuff! After watching Hungry for Change and another documentary called Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, I decided to try a juice fast. I purchased Jason Vale's book, 7 lbs in 7 days and a breville juicer. I followed the plan of the book, which comes with great recipes and handy shopping lists. My full intention was to do all 7 days....
Day One, I jumped out of bed so ready to start! I will say one of the most annoying things about a juice fast is the prep and time. You have to make 5-6 juices a day and clean the juicer and blender every time you use it. ( yes, some of the recipes called for a juicer and a blender). My roomies were not pleased with the noise especially because our schedules are so different and I was awake before them. Day one went off with no problems though, I wasn't hungry and didn't feel bad and I had survived my first day. Day Two, however, was the WORST day. I felt sick all day: nauseated, headaches, exhausted and drained. On top of that my face began to break out (a detox symptom). I couldn't concentrate in class and was so ready for the day to be over. I continued on through Day Three but decided to stop after that. Here is why: when in nursing school, I have to be cognitively alert at all times and I wasn't on the juice fast. My roomies were also getting pretty annoyed with all of the noise. I got through Day 3 and I decided that it had been a pretty good experience for me. Disclaimer: I did a juice fast because I wanted to let my digestive system heal for a few days, NOT TO LOSE WEIGHT. I didn't even weight myself when the fast was over. I don't think fasts are a good way to lose weight, they are extremely strict and require a lot of time and effort. It would be very easy to go insane on a juice fast if you were doing it only to lost weight, in my opinion. I am not opposed to trying another juice fast this summer when I am not in school. If you do follow a fast, please follow a plan, don't do it blindly. Also keep in mind when you are done with the fast, you usually have to eat raw foods for a few days to get your digestive tract use to eating food again.
I personally have found the best way to loose weight is to not concentrate on trying. Stop weighing yourselves and eat good, whole, natural foods for your body and the weight will fall off. I promise. When we go into to diet mode, it's all about what we CANT eat, focus on what you can. When eating clean, you don't have to deprive yourself, you can even have dark chocolate! (72% cacao and above). Focus more on the good you are doing for your body. You are no longer poisoning it with bad chemicals and "no fat" processed foods. In the book, "The Raw Food Detox Diet" the author, Natalia Rose, makes an excellent point. She says when most people are asked to choose what is healthier between an avocado and a protein bar, they chose the protein bar because it has less calories. This is not true, our bodies don't know how to digest the chemicals in protein bars vs a whole food like an avocado. This post could go on and on and on. I have a huge passion for clean foods and want to share it with everyone, the point is I can't word it as good as the authors do below. I started eating clean at the end of Feb this year and have stuck with it and will continue to. So far I have lost 15lbs and I really wasn't even trying to! My skin has a nice glow to it, I have more energy, I feel lighter and I know I am doing something great for my body.
Like any diet (I don't even like that word, Diet. eewww) or "change of lifestyle", its gonna take some time to get use to. Don't expect to wake up the next week and be 20 lbs lighter. But with eating clean, you're not restricted to a low amount of calories a day so you don't feel hungry all the time, it's more likely to be something you stick to!! I have been every diet you can think of and this is the only thing that I love and can stick too!
Ok that's enough rambling for this post, now on to the pros for advice!!
Juice Website www.juicemaster.com
Documentary to watch: Hungry for Change (watch instantly on Netflix)
Easy Youtube Raw Recipes: http://youtu.be/bo6AdFYIidc by Jennifer Cornbleet
Favorite Websites: http://www.therawtarian.com/ and http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/
Some of my favorite Books:
The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose
The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno ( she has several books, all of which are fantastic!)
Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet
The Beginners Guide to Natural Living by Larry Cook
Skinny Bitch and Skinny Bitch in the Kitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson
Any other questions: Please please please ask me! This is my new passion and I love talking about it and helping others experience what I know feel!
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