Email Comments

I had some comments in email that I wanted to share and address:

"I tried fasting before, I did lose some weight but found that I had very low energy levels.  The juicing is another story, that seems like a pretty good diet idea that is still is putting food in your system, sounds gross taste-wise though haha!"

Firstly, you hit the nail on the head.  Juicing puts a lot of nutrition and energy building elements into your body.  Because there is no solid matter for your body to process, it's like it pulls the nutrients in and uses them more quickly.  I get an energy rush sometimes after drinking my juice.   I have *more* energy by juicing and depriving my body of solid food than I have eating solid food.  When I eat solid food, it actually takes energy out of the body to process that food. Have you ever had that "heavy" feeling after eating a meal?  It's less pronounced when it's primarily plant-based foods, but its still there.  I never feel that when I juice (except in one specific situation, which I'm still analyzing and trying to understand).  More on that later.

Secondly, it's more than just energy.  It's "teaching" my body a few things and changing how my body reacts and craves. When you first start a juice fast, your body will accept it for about a day.  Then it will absolutely rebel against you.  You will be told by your stomach that if you don't eat, you'll die.  Your brain will start giving you every excuse to eat.  Your every thought will be on food.  When did you eat last? When will you eat next? What can you eat when you eat next?  What are your plans for tomorrow's meals?  What you're dealing with is not really "hunger" -- it's "habit".  Your body has spent 20? 30? 40? years accustomed to having every petulant desire fulfilled.  Your body is a little baby that demands and stamps its food and has learned that doing so gets it what it wants. The juice-fast conditions your body to accept a new way of life -- and it's not easy.  The first three days are hell. The first week is tough.  By the time you get to the end of the first 10 days, you're on the fence about whether to continue or to go back to solid food. (At least, this was my experience.)

Thirdly, it tastes great! LOL  Now, the taste depends heavily on *what* you juice and in what *combination* you juice it. I have learned that there are certain veggies that I just can't take. On my third day of my first fast, I had a juice that had two beets in it.  I gagged on it.  I couldn't even handle the smell.  I set it on the counter and made another juice.  It sat on the counter for two days.  None of the kids (who will steal any food left on the counter) would touch it. However, that was the anomaly. The juices taste amazingly good.

The trick that I've used is to add things that I know that my body needs (but I may not like) in small quanitities to things I love and taste great.  Apples are your friend.  Lemons are your friend. I use them in every juice.  Lemon is a great source of vitamin C, has a tangy flavor, helps your body process fat.  Apple is one of the best juices you can drink if you have to concern yourself with diabetic problems (not store-bought--FRESH).  They are also strong enough flavors to overpower the other things that you need to put in your juice: spinach, kale, bok choi, parsley, etc.

I've discovered that vegetables are *sweet*.  I have always considered them "bitter" or "bland" or even "salty" -- but they are very sweet. Eliminate sugar and sweeteners from your diet for a couple weeks and you'll be *amazed* at the difference in flavors of the foods that you eat.

If you mix a cucumber, a tomato, a carrot, spinach, broccoli stems (avoid the florets, they don't give much juice and gum up the juicer) you will have a very sweet, albeit, strongly veggie drink. Add 4 apples and a lemon and you'll have a lemony, apple-cider with some "smoothe" and "dull" flavors from the veggies.  Toss in some strawberries, blueberries, orange, kiwi, grapes and you'll think your breaking your diet!  And adding a couple thumb sized pieces of ginger root to your juice gives it an *incredible* flavor!  (This from the man who *hated* ginger before...)

Overall, the flavors and tastes are awesome. There have been a few that I just had to slug down.  But, I've learned how to adjust the recipes to suit my preferences.  I avoid certain things--pineapple tends to make me retain more water and gums up the juicer.  The florets of broccoli and cauliflour provide little juice and lots of gumming up.  Beets should be taken in *great* moderation.  Onions can quickly overpower a drink.

You'll also find that your tastebuds change as the diet progresses. And everyone is unique and different in their preferences.  My oldest daughter prefers few flavors mixed into a single drink--I prefer a great many.  Each to their own. :)