Juice Fast??

People love to bag on juicing as being a crackpot way to purge your body of processed food junk and many pounds, but I can vouch for it working very well. I watched Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead and decided to give it a try. My wife supported me and we stayed on the juice fast for 10 days. Then, we started eating fresh fruits and vegetables as well as juicing for a total of 50 days. I lost 49.8 pounds and she lost 19 pounds. I had more to lose but even though my wife is in great shape, she still dropped enough to have to buy an entire wardrobe! I lost 3 inches off of my waist in the first month.

I tracked my nutrition intake using myfitnesspal and some other tools. I was WAY over on carbs everyday and I got more than enough protein (by using dark green leafy vegetables as a base for my juices) to see massive improvements in the gym. I worked out twice a day, 5 days a week for a total of 45-60 minutes a day. By working out I mean gym in the morning and a 5k walk/jog in the evenings. I tried to limit my carb intake after 4:30pm and not eat anything after my evening run. My energy levels did not vastly increase like some people say, but I did notice a big improvement in reducing the peaks and valleys I would experience throughout the day. I also had more energy later into the evening (no more snoozing during the evening news).

Those are the pros.

Cons: Juicing is not as much fun as eating. It is hard to stay motivated. If you don't live in a place where fresh fruits and vegetables are plentiful, then it can be expensive. It is not very convenient as you have to plan your day a lot more than just grabbing lunch with the rest of the office.

Bottom line: I would have seen good results if I had just exercised more and eaten healthier. However, I do that every year and I have NEVER seen the fast results that I got from juicing. I have kept the weight off for almost 2 months now by continuing to workout and just eat sensibly. I use a mini-fast to compensate for lapses (usually weekend BBQs) and that works very well if I overdue at a party or something.

A big con though is that it is very expensive to juice! We found ourselves spending lots of cash on fruits and veggies and then saw us throwing away all the flesh and it just seemed like a big waste. But if you got money to burn go for it, we had to cut back but we do juice a bit and I want to make it a habit at least once or twice a week

If you have a good juicer the only thing you are losing is the fiber. Assuming your diet has enough fiber otherwise it's not a huge loss. Martha Stewart says her chickens won't eat the pulp from juicing and neither will my dogs (I tried). That tells me there aren't many nutrients left. It is costly. The health benefits may be worth it for some (ex: if you have an issue) or if you have a garden and more produce than you can eat - it's awesome! I even find that when I go to the farmers' market produce must be purchased in quantities that I can not eat in a few days. Juicing takes care of the rest. You can buy, often at a reduced price, produce that is quite ripe (it can't be spoilt but riper than you would eat) makes a Wonderful juice. Experiment.