The start of my juice cleanse/fast.
 

Alright lads, I started my juice fast/cleanse today and I thought it would be fun to keep everyone updated with where I am. I have already found two recipes I do not like. I thought this kind of thread would be a good way for anyone who is currently doing it or thinking about doing it. You can see me make the mistakes and then learn from them if you want to do this yourself. If you have any good recipes definitely put them in here. Anyone who has any type of input feel free to share it!

Reason for juice cleanse/fast: Doctor recommended for possible solution for migraines. He recommend this also as a good way to lower my blood pressure, LDL and CDL's, none of my numbers are really high, but they could definitely be lowered. I also am getting surgery on my ankle to take my steel plate out and install another newer plate, he said this would help with joint pain and healing. I also watched quite a few different documentaries and read a boat load of articles and I just love what the juice cleanse can do for you. It's not a diet for me, it's a lifestyle change. I want to be healthier for myself, my wife and out future kids. Personally I think I will always incorporate at least 1 juice meal per day after my cleanse.

Cost so far: I bought an Omega 330BM juicer at Bed Bath and Beyond, I had a 20% off coupon and I got it for $130. I spent $39 dollars on 2-3 days worth of juicing items (cucumbers, kale, celery, ginger root, carrots, kiwi, lemon, apples, pears, berries and strawberries). I will update this pretty regularly because I am not sure how much I will go through initially.

Starting numbers:

6'5
358lbs

First two recipes:

Breakfast: 6 carrots and a head of romaine lettuce. Did not like this recipe, it tasted like carrot dirt water. Definitely would alter or not use this recipe.

Lunch:Mean Green juice(off fat sick and nearly dead website). 2 cucumbers, 2apples, 6-8 kale, 1/2 lemon, 4 celery, 1tbsp ginger root. I havent drank this juice yet, but I did try it when I made it. I read online to leave the lemon peel on, it makes it taste a little more lemony. I found the opposite, it makes it more bitter. This juice I would envision to be like take a cows chewing cud and spinkle lemon juice and water on it lol.

Dinner: I will probably make something fruity, because I will need it.


Tips I have obtained and learned that are good to know: Do not make fruity juices to drink at night. Once you get over the detox period, you will have much more energy, if you drink a fruit juice mixture it will definitely keep you up. There are properties in the greens that help mellow you out a bit. I got this tip off a website of a black woman who has a youtube called Raw Raw life, she is super insightful, definitely recommend checking her page out.
Starting off I would definitely recommend spending the money on buying extra fruit, you have start off on the right foot, if you only drink the greens with minimal fruit you aren't going to like it. You can start off on the fruit and pull back after you get used to it.

The cleanup takes longer than making the juice. Buy a good juicer, mine is super easy to clean and use, its a pain, but that comes with the territory.

Thoughts so far about possible road blocks: The only real concern I have is the caffeine withdrawal. I spoke to my doctor about this before I did the cleanse and I have weened myself off of caffeine to some extent, but I know this will be hard for the first 2-3 days. I also don't look forward to taking runny poo's all day.

Best of luck.

Finally got down to 225 lbs. from 285 - 290 lbs. myself. Took a few years but once I commited myself to getting healthier the wieght dropped quicker.

Congrats man! That is quite an accomplishment!

Kale, spinach, green grapes, pineapple (frozen for cold purposes) Apple. Use lots of the spinach and kale.

Also, with your carrot juice, use the ginger. Ginger makes it amazing.

Ginger in most of these drinks make it amazing.

And one ore thing, avocado in drinks is also killer. It makes the drinks creamy.:D

Good luck.

Got another one...this one is a bit heavy. Maybe on days you workout hard or something...

Spinach, kale, avocado, banana, peanuts ( as long as your blender can handle it), cacao chips and cacao powder ( real chocolate) chia seeds, flax seeds and almond milk.

Chocolate peanut butter banana drink with list of wholesome goodness. It's really ****ing good if done right.

Holy sack that sounds awesome. Thanks!! Do you have recommendations for a juice to counter a caffeine withdrawal? I know I can google it, but you seem to know a lot more than most.

I'm glad you started this thread. You and I have almost identical builds. Exact same height, but I have a couple dozen pounds on you is the only difference. Okay, maybe 3 dozen. ;)

I've thought about doing this and am eager to see your experiences with it.

Good luck! Like i mentioned before I have done this twice, once for 30 days, once for 15.

Remember the first 3-4 days suck. Youll be sore, cranky, and coming off caffeine if you havent already done that. DO NOT give up! After this period youll begin to feel awesome. Lighter on your feet, that stuff in your gut will be gone and you won't feel that bloat anymore.

The one thing that will happen is you will get bored of the juice, no matter how much you mix it up, especially if your doing 60 days. I liked doing the fruits in the morning.

Add apple to everything, the carrot apple combo is awesome.

Though I didnt do it for weight loss I did end up with about a pound a day loss. I even started the couch potato to 5k running program during it, no loss of energy.

I reached the point where I got sick of where I am. After high school I floated around 215 for about 3 years. I herniated some discs in my back and ever since then I packed the weight on, because I couldn't be as active as I was. I hovered around 290, then I tore my meniscus, and I started piling it on again. At this weight I am ridiculous, and if I want to live for a long time I need to do something about it while I am young.

If you have any questions about it, just ask me. I am sure I will do everything dumb you can do while on this thing. The important thing is that I stay diligent to it! It's time for some super healthy change.

Awesome! Thanks for the input.

+1

Kale, carrot, apple, ginger, and avocado or yogurt are staples for any juicing/smoothie recipes.

I still don't understand what doctor would recommend a juice cleansing for migraines. That just makes no sense at all.

But good luck!

I'd like someone to explain to me how making a juice cocktail of all these fruits and vegetables is superior to just eating the fruits and vegetables.

Don't argue, it's on a documentary.

I don't want to eat raw vegetables. When you cook them they lose a lot of their nutritional values. For the cleanse they want you to get as much of the good stuff immediately. They don't want you to steam them and lose any of the positive properties of the vegetable. I would rather drink a broccoli smoothie, than eat a bunch of raw broccoli (no thanks).

So all you are essentially doing is having a machine chew your food for you.

No, it's really just common sense. Cookie, steaming or any other form of preparing vegetables can cause to them losing their nutritional values. When you juice them you are extracting the majority of the good stuff you want in a liquid form, which is also easier for your body to extract all the good stuff.

Most definitely.

Its like when Newton invented gravity, before that an apple from a tree would come off and just float around. Then, Newton invented gravity and it dropped straight down to the ground making it more convenient to retrieve the apple.
Newton had a hard time explaining something you cannot see, didn't make sense at the time.

For me it would be to make the taste more palatable. Nothing less, nothing more.

That's not entirely true.

Is anything entirely true? My doctor recommended it, I researched it, and everything sits well with me. Whether it is completely true or not, it is far better than what I was eating lol.

If it works for you, go for it. Good luck!

Congrats on getting started. Over the past year, I've been through two week long juice cleanses. At first I HATED the vegetable based juices. I finally realized that I just can't handle juiced celery. I think it's disgusting. Once I pulled that out of my receipes, everything went great!

Cucumber is now my favorite veggie to juice. One of my favorites over the summer was cucumber/watermelon/lime. I also found that juicing sweet potatoes/carrots/apples/ginger was a great combo.

It's amazing how many people will tell you that juicing is dangerous or that what you read or been told isn't true. I find it really funny that everyone is "concerned" about my health when I juice, but no one bothers to comment when I eat a bag of chips for dinner or have 2 dozen wings daily for weeks. Just ignore all the BS! Good luck!!

Cucumber juice is delicious. I make a A Cucumber margarita that is sooo good. Just peel the cucumber, cut em up, throw them in the blender with some water and blend until it's a puree. Strain it, add some more water, add 1 cup of sugar and a lot of fresh squeezed lime juice.


Mmmmm.....yum. Use Tajin as a rimmer, add in Some Tequila and Grand Marnier.....Thank me later. So refreshing.

I've juiced all kinds of vegetables/fruits. There aren't any that I don't like, but I typically eat them rather than juice them. Also, if I'm going to drink fruits/vegetables I prefer to blend them into smoothies instead of juicing. This way you consume the entire fruit/vegetable (less pits) instead of discarding the pulp when using a juicer.

Does the juice just chop everything up real fine, or does it take out the pulp?

Your first point is where I am currently. These vegetable juice based shakes are going to be rough. The mean green juice makes me want to vomit. I have to chase it down with water. Fortunately I tell myself that the green juice is the best for you. You can't just drink the fruits juices, the veggie juices are a neccessity. After I get this first month done, it will be nice because I will know what flavors and mixtures I like.

Currently I had a headache start a couple times, but I pounded some water and so far they have subsidied. The next 2-3 days will be interesting though. Thank God I don't work on the weekend. I know I will have a headache and the runs, but my resolve is steadfast.

It depends on what you put in it. Most everything is really fine, but I found carrot juice to be really fibery (sp) you could get a lot of particles and strings in it. The green juice I had was completely smooth. Kiwi's you don't want to juice the outside, it comes out really nasty IMO.

That is a big thing most people don't realize (I saw it online), when you use a juicer you have a ton of leftover pulp. I have heard a good treat when you are doing an all fruit juice to scrap the pulp out, put it in the freezer and have it as a snack later. Great point though DaKC. It will be really nice for me, when I get back to eating regularly, and what I mean by that is regular food, salads, chicken things like that. I know better already how to eat healthier, but I need to stay the course here, and then move on.

Sorry I completely misread what you were asking. Everything you juice leaves quite a lot of pulp you have to discard. Sorry about that, I had a brain fart when I first read your post.

6"5 350? Can you block?

Good luck man. I hope you update this thread regularly. Like DaKCMan, I blend everything in my Vitamix and chug it. leaving in the fibrous good stuff. I hope this goes well for you. I have a feeling that you'll be irritable and hungry at first, but you'll eventually feel great.

I like ginger too, but too much in the juicer can make the taste overwhelming. How much do you use?

I just can't come to terms with why people do this. You're drastically changing your diet, forcing yourself to ingest something that you don't like the taste of, in which your body freaks out and violently shits it all out anyway. And this is supposed to make you feel better?

It doesn't make any sense. And there's never been any proof that it's necessary or effective. Sorry to be negative, but I hate to see people waste time and money on this kind of homeopathic nonsense..

This. Why not just make wholesale lifestyle and diet changes? There is no quick fix, certainly not juicing. If you don't change your lifestyle, that weight will just come right back. So then why juice at all?

One benefit I can think of is that it can expose any food allergies or sensitivities a person might have.
Other than that, it's just the latest diet fad.

This actually isn't a new fad. The Detox cleanse idea was actually started in the 20's. And not surprisingly, it was done so in effort to sell stuff.

http://www.livescience.com/947-colon...ey-toilet.html

I'm not sure it's a toxin-reducer than it is a tastier way to ingest a bunch of fruits and vegetables. Nobody likes eating kale (okay, some people do). But eating kale when it's whipped up with wild berries and ice? Yeah, that sounds better.

I think it's hilarious that the juicer is called an Omega 330BM,

I like kale! :cuss:

No shit. We eat kale like it's going out of style.

Nobody likes kale like the way people like ice cream. You might "like" kale because you know it's healthy for you and it doesn't taste horrible (although some people think it tastes too bitter). You might like kale in your salad with cheese and mushrooms and olive oil. You might like it in your soup for an additional, complimentary taste.

But nobody, especially a person who in our sugar-infested world, likes kale in and of itself. It's good because it's packed with vitamins, low calories, and goes with things. And what better thing than a wild berry smoothie?

I tried making kale chips once. It tastes like salty garbage.

So on a juice cleanse, do you add a fiber supplement? I ask, because if you don't eat the pulp, that is all your fiber, where do you get fiber from?

I think a lot of people that do this are making lifestyle changes. For the first time they are buying from the outskirts of the supermarket and eating foods they've never implemented into their diet. Why you have to be negative is your issue.

One I like... is to put about 1 cup of Vanilla Almond milk and some spinach in the blender... and puree...

then add some almond butter into it... some frozen blueberries... and some cacao green drink into it... with some ice... it comes out like a chocolate peanut butter shake...

This stuff > is ****ing awesome in these juice smoothies.

http://www.luckyvitamin.com/buy/prod...cao-10-oz.html

Drinking only juice for a month is not making a wholesale change. This doesn't set people up for success after the diet plan ends. That's my issue with the plan. I've seen too many people put the weight right back on.

Your not doing it to loose weight.

If you read the first page, I indicated that a long duration is way too long to do this by itself. However, if you're replacing a meal a day with raw fruits and veggies, that can only be a good thing.

Disagree, when you start eating good things regularly, you start craving them.

One meal a day is great. I just get concerned when people replace their entire diet with juice.

Not sure about for juice, but there is a coffee altnatice call techinno? Whole foods of a health food store near you will have it.

Oh aNd I forgot to add agave nectar to those recipes;-)

You can get more in one serving. It's damn hardto eat all the veggies and fruits I one sitting. But ina juice? You can get it done.

Im a spicy bitch. I use a lot. I love ginger and its so damn good for you. I would say I use maybe 1/2 a ginger root for 32oz of juice?

That's what I do now. All juice and no food, makes your asshole sore from all that water shitting.

Holy shart, for real? That is a lot of ginger.

That's your body's way of saying "Hey dumbass, this isn't working, we need to try some actual food so I have something to work with here."

See I was the opposite, didnt make me shit at all.

LOL.

Good lord that's a lot! ;) I use a piece about the size of a golf ball or smaller.

Thought about this many times. Heard you can't move outta bed for 1st couple days though...

1/2 a ginger root is just a little bigger than a golf ball? Or maybe it's double, but I love it.

I plan on doing a 1//2 juice day deal, once Im in motion from knee surgery. Juice for breakfast and sometimes for lunch (3-4 days a week) and then sensible dinner.

Ok, my thoughts so far:

I'm going to alter my diet. I have had phenomenol success so far. I started at 358, and I weighed 341 this morning. I will contribute that to be vastly over weight, and the juice cleaning me of a lot of water weight and bad toxins. Im going to alter this plan a bit to fit me better. I am going to juice for 2 meals and have a good third meal. I am going to start doing this friday, so I give the juice a bit more time.

I had some issues with headaches, but it seems the more water I drink the better it gets. I was drinking about 2 2litres of Diet pop a day. Now I haven't had any for four days and I am drinking about 2 gallons of water a day. Good news is, that water is very good for you, bad news is I have to pee like a race horse every hour and a half. I will cut back on that though. I have not craved any bad food or pop since probably saturday. Which isn't some ridiculous feat, but for me that is pretty good. Before doing this I would shove anything in my gullet. I am not craving any diet pop at all, water tastes pretty good.

I did cardio every day so far, and yesterday I did a light weights workout, and felt great. The juicer I bought is a broken piece of crap that I am taking back. I am going to use my blender. This morning I blended 6 oranges and a bananna for breakfast and it was excellent.

Sad realization:

In 2010 I was heavy into lifting, I weighed 260lbs and was 18% body fat, played basketball all the time. I was 10-15lbs from where I should have been, but I was crushing weights. My knee started bothering me, so I quick working out as much and began to gain weight. By 2011 I was 290, 2012 I was 330, and then I got up to 358 in 2013. It's sad, but, at least I am doing something about it now. I won't get back to that weight ever again.

I didn't go through the whole thread, but I imagine you have added blueberries to your diet?

Seriously that's a huge jump. I didn't think something like that was possible so quickly.

Also, is this the pos juicer?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ENQyqs2eL.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/Omega-BMJ330-C.../dp/B0032XEIOG

I pee pretty much hourly with the amount of water I drink, so I don't think you're that far off.

Are you going to update the OP or just keep it in line? And I'd be interested in weigh-in reports to see if/when there's a plateau. I know the HDL and LDL levels can't really be done daily, but I've heard this diet works quickly, so for the guy two offices down (peanut butter in his veins), I'd love to show him a real-life example of how quickly it works.

And thanks, this is awesome! So many folks (6!!!) in my office got lap bands, and it just seems to me that along with the lap band, this is about what they did. So what was it, the lap band or the diet. I know they say the lap bands "magic" is you feeling full almost right away, but that's a will thing, and they seem to have assumed a LOT of risk for lack of will....

Anyway, thanks, this is cool...

Good luck to you sir, That is good progress. You don't want to lose your water weight though, that would be very unhealthy. What I know about cleansing is that you will feel like shit and have many aches for a while to start. You should make sure you ease into it, going too fast can be detrimental.

Ya I drink about 2 gallons a day most days, and I receive quite a bit of shit over my restroom visits. It's good to be the boss though. ;)

ROFL Nice catch.

You've lost 17lbs in 3 days? Holy jumping ****ing shitballs!

Yes that Juice cleanse works VERY quickly, it's also very dangerous and should be watched over by a doctor...You can go a little slower as well.

Get the Vitamix when you can. You can get a refurbished one from their website a a discounted rate. That way, you can juice veggies like spinach and kale, carrots etc.
Congrats on the qweight loss and big congrats on diminishing your headaches. Getting rid of the soda and replacing with not only water, but good juice is prolly a huge reason. Soda is ****ing terrible for us.
To continue to lose weight, drinking a gallon plus a day is good. But don't drink your weight in water. .for instance, maybe drink 150 oz a day? Just under 2 gallons from here on out? That's what my trainer ha told made in the past, altho mine is a gallon a day 120oz.
Keep it up. Your inspiration. Love to keep,seeing your progress:)

Yep^

Yep, I dropped 17lbs. I will check in with my doctor this week.

Yes, all types of berries, but I actually have been eating them whole. I am not wasting them in the juicer. It takes like 3lbs of blueberries to make one shake, F that noise. I have been eating tons of different berries. Cancer runs in my family very deeply, and I am on a lifestyle change to combat any type of disease or illness I can. The show fat, sick and nearly dead really hit me in the eyes. I don't want to have a stroke or massive heart attack before fourty. If I can eat different types of berries to help me avoid cancer, even if it only matters a couple %, I am going to do it!

I didn't even think about updating the header, I think I will give that a shot. I wouldn't touch a lap band, my aunt did that and she regretted it. I know I can do it myself! I will definitely keep updating.