Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead: Joe Cross Juice Diet

Avalonis

Not to be the negative one here, but since it's a public forum and many people will take advice because others are touting results, the reality is that liquid diets are temporary fixes. Yeah it's 10 days, but really all that's being done here is VLCD. Introducing solid foods back into your diet will definitely put some of that weight loss back on.
When your body is flooded by liquid, it will release it just as fast as it takes it in. So the majority of the weight is water weight.

THIS. Totally.

Avalonis

There are lot of myths out there about juicing and the ensuing weight loss not being sustainable.

My name is Shane at the start of 2010 I weighed around 242 pounds and i decided I needed to make some changes in my life. I discovered juicing and running. At that stage I could not even run for 5 mins.

Lets fast forward 18 months or so. I have lost over fifty pounds and its stayed off. I have also run two half marathons.

You can see photographic evidence of my journey here http://www.runningonjuice.com/about/

Of course its all dependent on the person. I know people who have juiced soiidly for 7 days, lost weight, returned to their old diet and put the weight on.

Sure, everyone will find after a juice fast you will put a bit of weight back on, its only natural. However the real change is not the weight loss its how you feel. After my first 7 day juice fast I felt lighter, my mind was clearer, my energy levels were through the roof.

I like Joe Cross's idea, he now 'reboots' his system every three months with a 15 day plan.

There are many health and psychological benefits to juicing as long as you combine it with exercise and remain committed to its principles.

Do you still juice all the time? What happens when it ends?

Avalonis

Heres what I said about it in a previous post. My opinion still stands.

Ok, crap like this pisses me off. It pisses me off because its a TERRIBLE IDEA. Its not sustainable! Sure, you go 60 days, you lose a TON of weight, and what then?

You still haven't learned portion control, and you still haven't learned healthy eating. You've learned how to make a single shake. The same thing. Every day. (actually, they mix it up a little, but its still very structured, you eat only what they say)

Honestly, who could do that their whole life? Statistically, people that go on these diets and stick through the whole program DO lose weight. But they don't keep it off! They balloon right back up!

So you know whats changed when that's done? NOTHING except your starting weight. NOT A DARN THING. So in less than 2 years, you'll gain it all back!

It's really sad, because people listen to crap like this and think "Oh my god, I can lose so much weight in just 60 days" and ultimately, it ends up being no healthier for them in the long run.

In this particular "shake diet"s defense, they try to teach exercise as well... but if your nutrition isn't right, no matter what you do you aren't going to be healthy.

Here is a good analogy - Its like when poor people win the lottery. Statistically, they are broke in less than 5 years. Because they haven't changed their spending habits, learned how to save money, or learned how to invest!

Please people... I am begging you. Look at the statistics of programs like this before you waste years of your life bouncing back and forth between programs. It's for your own good.

Note: This program is at least a vast improvement over most of the planned meals programs. They are trying to throw some exercise and SOME idea of food control, but its still not enough. Especially since they are getting rich off the people that buy it. >_< <--- that's my angry face.

I know, this is my weight loss pet peeve...

greenmm25

in the documentary they say the first 3 days are the toughest but then it gets much better. I haven't tried it but really considering it, not to lose cause I am doing good on that now but to just cleanse and feel better.

runningonjuice

@greenmm25 yeah the first 3 days are not fun, you may get headaches, you will feel hungry. I have to say though its all mental. The way to get through that hunger is to visualise everything that went into your juice. In truth you would struggle to 'eat' all that.

I found by Day 3 or 4 my energy levels were through the roof. I slept like a baby! You feel tired earlier at night and the trick is to just to go to bed and not fight it.

During those first few days the biggest challenge is friends and family who will attempt to pour scorn on what you are doing. Take a look at my photos, no gimmicks I juiced and as you can see I am in much better shape.

@ Avalonis. I juice every day where possible. If I am not travelling then I will always make my own juice for breakfast. I get one good juice in a day. Every two to three months I do a 3-5 day juice 'fast'. I do this to recalibrate my system and to sync back into the juicing way of life. I really do not consider this a fad diet as long as you combine it with good exercise and sort out poor eating habits.

ninerbuff

There are lot of myths out there about juicing and the ensuing weight loss not being sustainable.

My name is Shane at the start of 2010 I weighed around 242 pounds and i decided I needed to make some changes in my life. I discovered juicing and running. At that stage I could not even run for 5 mins.

Lets fast forward 18 months or so. I have lost over fifty pounds and its stayed off. I have also run two half marathons.

You can see photographic evidence of my journey here http://www.runningonjuice.com/about/

Of course its all dependent on the person. I know people who have juiced soiidly for 7 days, lost weight, returned to their old diet and put the weight on.

Sure, everyone will find after a juice fast you will put a bit of weight back on, its only natural. However the real change is not the weight loss its how you feel. After my first 7 day juice fast I felt lighter, my mind was clearer, my energy levels were through the roof.

I like Joe Cross's idea, he now 'reboots' his system every three months with a 15 day plan.

There are many health and psychological benefits to juicing as long as you combine it with exercise and remain committed to its principles.

I would think that any type of fasting as long as you have the essential nutrients, minerals, protein and fats (carbs aren't essential) would have anyone feeling better.
I find many of the fad diets to be nothing more than restrictive calorie intakes.

runningonjuice

You do make a great point ninerbuff.

Actually the calories per juice are quite high and its not full of chemicals like some of these shake diets that you see.

My daily juice is:

4 celery stalks, 2/3 apples, 6 kale leaves, slice of lemon, lump of ginger, 1 cucumber, I juice the lot and blend it with ice and some baby spinach.

You can even add half an avocado to the blender if you want. Great protein source and it gives you more calories.

If you juice for 7 days you will lose 7lbs+ I will agree this is too rapid a weight loss. However what it does do is motivate you. There is nothing worse then being very overweight, make big changes to your diet, start exercising and when it comes to the week you have barely lost half a pound.

The 7 day juice programme i followed gave me real belief that this weight could be shifted, there is nothing better for motivation.

emmaleigh47

One things for sure, it's a shock to the body's metabolism. Most of the scientific community will agree that "juicing" to detox is a myth. While removing foods that contain chemicals that you may be sensitive to will definitely help, your body is more than capable of regulating processed foods as long as you're getting your essentials, water, rest and exercise.

100% agree with this post and your earlier post. It does nothing to teach you portion control. The low protein actually will lead to muscle wasting... and for the people who said that they arent going to work out during it... uhh why would you STOP working out!

I prefer to lose weight the slow healthy way ... a way that I can maintain without ridiculous effort for the rest of my life.
And if you check out my ticker... its clearly working!

Dtho5159

Smh.. I don't get why everyone is posting about these "fad diets" They won't do you any good in the long run so why bother? After 10 days of this and no working out, the minute you put solid food back into your body and start working out, you will gain it all back so what exactly did you accomplish? I have a lot of weight left to lose but as I told my doctor "slow and steady wins the race" and he agrees. Im losing slowly and healthy and will keep it off when I get to my goal because I didn't buzz right thru it. Ive lost nearly 50lb doing what Ive been doing so obviously Im doing something right!

emmaleigh47

Smh.. I don't get why everyone is posting about these "fad diets" They won't do you any good in the long run so why bother? After 10 days of this and no working out, the minute you put solid food back into your body and start working out, you will gain it all back so what exactly did you accomplish? I have a lot of weight left to lose but as I told my doctor "slow and steady wins the race" and he agrees. Im losing slowly and healthy and will keep it off when I get to my goal because I didn't buzz right thru it. Ive lost nearly 50lb doing what Ive been doing so obviously Im doing something right!

and THIS is why I am glad you are my friend!

rachel41

Hi everyone ,I have watched the documentary myself.I think joe's main goal was to get healthy ,he had an autoimmune disease! In the process he lost weight,I have been on it for 2 weeks,I only had juice for one day and ate whole foods with the juice(.For me drinking just juice is not possible)Now i have one in the morning mix with protein powder,I eat whole foods as much as possible.like Joe I have an autoimmune disease to,When I watched the documentary, I was more of thinking of my disease,I feel great since i been juicing I have been eating whole foods and in the process I have lost 3 pounds.I will be sticking with the whole foods so maybe I can get off my meds! I am taking the weight lost slow!

jennlee80

I've seen this documentary too and really enjoyed it!! He DOES say doing it for 90 days isn't something that everyone should or could do. And yes he wasn't getting rid of a skin disease that medicine was not helping. His experiment was extreme! I think juicing in general is GREAT! Should it be used long term....no. Is it a lifestyle change....no. But I do think doing it for 7 days isn't going to harm anyone. It's not to be used as a quick fix though.

jennlee80

Sorry....he WAS trying to get rid of the skin disease

Pretty1one

I also saw the Documentary on Netflix and would like to try it. Not for 10 days as I do not need to lose more weight.
I started my journey on MFP in December and already lost 47lbs. I've been working on maintenance since June 03rd.
doing well if I may add (1 or 2 lbs up and down, sort of what I expected)

I feel I do not eat enough vegetables or fruits and my hardest time is at night when I get back from work (9:30pm and later ) I need something sweet.

I was thinking about a juice in the morning to replace my 3 cups of coffee (coffee is getting expensive and i may do better with fruits and veggies) and a juice at night when I get back from work (instead of eating ice cream, or a small bar)

Any ideas or recipes? Maybe a cleansing for 2 days then booster for morning and something I won;t be up all night?? :laugh:

Also how should I consider the calories since I've been counting calories for so long.

Thanks for any help

runningonjuice

Emmaleigh et al, I juiced for 7 days solid in January 2010, it got me to adopt a much healthier lifestyle that included running and eating better. 18 months later and I am fifty pounds lighter, you cannot say this is a fad diet. How do you explain my weight loss?

emmaleigh47

Emmaleigh et al, I juiced for 7 days solid in January 2010, it got me to adopt a much healthier lifestyle that included running and eating better. 18 months later and I am fifty pounds lighter, you cannot say this is a fad diet. How do you explain my weight loss?

Because your weight loss was not a direct result of the juicing... it was a result of the healthier lifestyle. You could have done it without the juicing by just starting to live as the thinner, healthier you.

soulcheese3

I know I'll get flamed for this:

But half of you are ridiculous and either 1) Didn't watch the documentary or 2) Completely missed the point of the film.

One person got it right with the fact that a major reason he did this was his disease, but the biggest thing is that you are supposed to be cleansing your body to help change your life. Whether or not it's a "myth" doesn't matter. The way people are claiming to feel and the results CLEARLY shown by the doctors examinations in the film are evidence enough that, in the least, it's beneficial.

This is not a "weight loss" program. It's not a "diet". It's a "fast". People fast for different reasons. This helped one lady in the film with her migraines which she no longer has. That's reason enough.

"You'll gain all the weight back". Yeah if you go back to the lifestyle that got you to where you are. The primary point of the film, which he clearly states, is that this is a total lifestyle change, not a diet. (Referring to the common term of "dieting" and not your overall eating habits.)

"This doesn't teach you portion control". Are you serious...? Do you want the guy to plan out your life for you? As stated - this is not a diet.

I'm sorry if I'm dissing some of your comments but it seriously pisses me off that most people here just don't seem to understand that this is to help cleanse your body and give you a fresh start at a new, healthier life. I just watched the film and will be starting tomorrow. I will try 10 days and see how I feel and whether I should continue or not. Do you seriously think Phil, in the film, could have lost over 130 pounds and gained the health results he did in such a short amount of time any other way? Do you seriously think he'll gain that weight back? Hell no. He's going to take what he's got and run with it. God bless'm.

JulieTX86

I don't understand why it has to be so "right" or "wrong". One side did the juicing fast where it did help them in some way shape or form. Feeling better, losing weight, mental clarity, etc. The other side, "slow and steady wins the race". I lost weight the "normal" way and clearly "I am doing something right" as evidenced by my ticker etc. etc.

My thoughts, the people that want to do the juice fast should do it, and find support in those that you can. Those that aren't doing the juice fast (or even watched the documentary most likely for that matter), it's OKAY that someone else is trying something different then what you did.

Like previous poster said... the movie is about SOOO much more then just dropping some pounds. The guys blood pressure dropped to a normal level in less than 60 days, his cholesterol got down to a normal level. Another lady quit having migraines after having debilitating ones for YEARS where she would literally get sick and puke because of them. Another guy had an autoimmune disease go into remission (he too lost a lot of weight that put him in a healthier bracket -- less at risk for heart attack etc.) His brother WHO DID NOT get down to a healthier weight DID have a heart attack during this exact same time frame. Who is to say that he wouldn't have been next? All of the people in the video were monitored every 10 days by a doctor, and were medically cleared, all of their numbers improved to more healthy ones.

All I am saying is it's not ALL about weight loss!

runningonjuice

Emmaleigh et al, I juiced for 7 days solid in January 2010, it got me to adopt a much healthier lifestyle that included running and eating better. 18 months later and I am fifty pounds lighter, you cannot say this is a fad diet. How do you explain my weight loss?

Because your weight loss was not a direct result of the juicing... it was a result of the healthier lifestyle. You could have done it without the juicing by just starting to live as the thinner, healthier you.

I disagree with you Emma. If it was not for juicing I would not have a) been able to run for more than 10 mins and b) the rapid weight loss motivated me to get healthier. I tried Atkins, WW, South Beach but nothing motivated me like juicing did. I am now 70lbs lighter and I drink one juice a day and every other month complete a short fast.

I also think Julie is right to say it's not just about weight loss.

Through juicing I got interested in nutrition and eating whole foods. Juicing opened those doors for me. So yes juicing was very much the catalyst behind my weight loss.

Also sometimes if I have overindulged a few days on a juice fast will get me back on the straight and narrow.

Also on my last juice fast I ran my fastest 10k.

For those of you who are openminded on this - I have produced a short video about my experiences along with a free juicing starter guide again based on my own experiences. You can find it on my blog runningonjuice.com

Crystaltlnd

I've actually done it for 2 weeks and lost over 17 pounds. I felt fine throughout the whole 2 weeks

Anyone who really is determined and dedicated , can do it . Trust me, it's well worth it in the end.

I've lost 40 pounds by fasting off and on, over a 2 month period.