Last week the adults in our family, myself,Kelly and Kaylie, decided to do a juice fast. For weeks Kaylie, my 21 year old step daughter, has off and on said "we should do a juice fast". She had watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead on Netflix and was inspired to try juicing. I finally watched the movie and was also inspired so we decided to do it. Kaylie and Kelly were out of town for the weekend and I was home alone so I decided to start without out them and they could join in on Monday. I went to Sprouts and bought $60 worth of organic vegetables (and that would only last for 2 days). Shopping was easy, though, since I didn't even have to leave the produce department. I pulled out a juicer we have had for years and it worked just fine. Although if I was going to be a frequent juicer I would invest in a better one since you have to cut up the veggies and fruit fairly small for ours to get through the opening. Sunday morning I went for a 3 mile run in the neighborhood and felt a little weak. My legs felt heavier than usual but I was able to finish okay. Sunday afternoon I spent with my extended family who didn't judge too much though I am sure they were thinking "there goes Anne again with her weird habits" My mom called the juice cleanse a "diet" where upon I corrected her that it was a cleanse not a diet. Which is completely silly because it is a diet! But it sounds so much better to be a cleanse. Everyone at the party at my Mom's house had sausage and chips and beer but I had my juice. And honestly I didn't mind. I wasn't craving anything yet.
Monday, however, was a different story. Day 3. I stupidly went for my scheduled 6 mile run that morning after dropping off Aiden at school. It was already in the 80's outside and between the heat and the fast I felt like crap. My legs were like lead. I felt weak and for the first time in a long time I couldn't finish the run. I ran 4 miles and the last 2 I walked. It was hard mentally to give myself permission to walk but I had to because each time I tried to run I felt so weak and nauseated. I got home and had more juice and took a nap. But I still felt crummy and beyond that the cravings began to come on. I just wanted to have something real in my mouth. I just wanted to chew!
Kelly and Kaylie started the fast that day too. Kelly did fine but Kaylie (the one who wanted to do this for weeks) came home from school on day 1 and declared that she was starving and had to have real food and couldn't do this. She promptly made her self a salad with avocado (and told us it was the best avocado she had ever had). So much for her juice fast. She did however continue with eating more veggies. I don't know if she lost any weight though. Kelly, on the other hand, did pretty well. He did a total of 5 days of juicing though I think he mostly just ate a lot of fruit and vegetables and was pretty sick of juice after just a few days. He lost about 10 pounds and feels "cleansed". My goal was mostly to see what juicing was like, get my family jump started on a cleaner diet and lose just a few pounds to help with my marathon training. I did that and feel good. I finished 7 days of juicing with just a little cheating here and there. The last day I had a normal dinner as I just couldn't wait another minute to eat some real food. I don't know how anyone could do it for 60 days as they do in the movie. However the pounds do come off and you are getting nutrients from the juice and not feeling too hungry so it may be a pretty okay option for those seeking weight loss.
For those training for a race, like me, it was not a good option. The main drawback for me was the weakness I felt. It got a lot better after the third day but I still felt weaker than usual. And I basically stopped running during the week of fasting after that day 3 killer run. I was scared that I would injure myself as I think my recent strong nutrition keeps me from getting overuse injuries. And even when I did start running again yesterday, 2 days after the fast ended, I felt weak. But this morning I felt back to normal. Tomorrow I will hopefully run 8 miles and we'll see how it goes. So, in the end, I think the fast was a success but not something I would do again soon.
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