My friend Kristin had seen this movie, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. The film came out in 2010 and was made by Joe Cross. At the time he was an overweight man attempting to loose weight. He created a juice fast with no caffeine and no alcohol. The fast made him not only lose weight, it also made him feel healthy in many ways that he hadn’t expected. Since then he has written several books, has phone apps, and has a website where you can hire personal coaches- cha-ching, right?! Financial empire.
I was skeptical, but I’ve also been feeling crappy and have let my eating and drinking habits take over. Three cups of coffee a day, lots of cheese, chocolate a couple of beers or glasses of wine at night, it adds up.
Luckily- Kristin has a juicer and opened her home to me. She explained the whole process and was patient while the 12 year-old boy in me went, “Oh cool!!!” every time I pushed a piece of fruit or vegetable in the machine and watched it get shredded.
Day 1: I felt pretty good. I got a bit dizzy in the early afternoon. I attributed that to a lack of caffeine. By evening by belly was a churning slush pile. I don’t think I’ve ever consumed as much of any liquids in one day. Falling asleep was fine but the dreams were surreal. At one point I dreamed that Kristin had put the worst meal that I’ve ever eaten my life- a slimy piece of meat from a seedy place in Argentina which got me fabulously sick- into the juicer! I woke up almost puking. Unfortunately, I also woke up in the middle of the night with a tremendous headache. I took some ibuprofen and was able to sleep until a reasonable time.
Day 2: I woke up with the throbbing head in full force. I sloshed down my first meal, which was thankfully sweet, and went for a long walk. The walk helped the headache and my sinuses feel a bit cleaner.
I’m still not completely won over but I’m also only half-way through the challenge. Some people say the first day is the worst, others say the second day. Whichever way this works it has definitely made me realize that: 1) I have to drink much more water and 2) I have to watch the quantities of what I eat and drink.
Have you tried this or other juicing challenges? What did you think of them? What did you miss? For some weird reason all I can think about is this bag of pita chips…
HipMamaJenn 