The scale says...

The scale says I'm 259 pounds now. That's roughly 15 pounds lost since I started the juice fast.

For the record, I feel great. No weakness, no cloudy-headedness, nothing.

The Riot Act™

I was on Facebook and reading some comments made about juicing. Now, I don't think it's for everyone and I think some fans of juicing make it out to be more than it is (some people need to learn that the plural of "anecdote" is not "data"). But that having been said, I am actually shocked at not just the logical fallacy of common arguments made against juicing, but the anger and near-hatred with which they're made.

I wrote this in response to something that was posted on a friend's wall. It took several edits to make it civil and clear, but I think I nailed what I was going for.

I'm going to interject a few thoughts here, and I'm going to start by saying that there's a lot of pop culture mythology around "juicing," and it perpetrates a lot of silly myths. Anyone who thinks a juice fast is going to cure all ills - especially in isolation (i.e. without exercise, proper sleep, etc) are mistaken. Additionally, if someone thinks one person's juicing experience will be the same as the next, they're mistaken again. But that's how zealots and evangelists approach trends: They gloss over the facts and fill in the blanks.

So let's put aside the superstition and nonsense that we're plagued by and take a more unbiased look. Here's what we know is true and scientifically verifiable: 

Nutrition is important for health, and nutrient intake in typical North American diet is far below the minimum point necessary to maintain it. This means that many people are technically malnourished. Other issues, such as obesity, are additional factors which further complicate health issues. We also know that fruits and vegetables are extremely high in the nutritional content we require for good health and lack the things we eat too much of (like fat, sodium, high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, among others). Even Snopes won't refute these facts

So if you're not getting the nutrition you need to be healthy, you need to ingest nutrients and cut back on the things which make you sick when taken in excess. We also know that if you're suffering from a serious lack of certain nutrients, eating a single leaf of kale every day is going to have low impact. You have to get a lot of nutrition for your body to recover from the damage that's done to it by going without. Again, I'm stating the things that everyone knows and that are easily supported with data.

Intaking juice made from healthy materials (fruits and vegetables) will not only give you a concentrated and pure dose of nutrition, but those nutrients will go right into the bloodstream because of the juice form (whereas the pulp can make that a slower process). With the nutrient building blocks, your body and its cells can repair and restore themselves. And how does it glass of juice constitute a "huge dose"? Well, when I make a glass of juice I'm usually drinking something like five carrots and two apples. Or an entire bunch of broccoli and an entire head of romaine lettuce. Or four beets and four pears. Point being: If I drink four glasses per day, I'm consuming a massive amount of essential nutrition. So long as you're minding the sugar content, I can't think of a rational argument against that.

And here's the thing that any responsible advocate of juicing will tell you: First you see your doctor and chat about it, and he or she will probably ask you to get a blood test before you begin. Then, if your doctor says "don't do it" then you don't do it. Anyone who advocates you shouldn't see a doctor first is asking you to fly blind. It's not responsible.

The best (and most inarguable) thing about juicing is this: It's not just the start of something good, but it's the end of something bad. Coffee, high-fat dairy, preservatives, nitrates, and vegetables/fruits that have had their nutritional value obliterated by processing, boiling, or a ridiculous amount of chemical additives. And then there's sugar (which occurs in everything from bread to toothpaste) and is making us into a race of obese, diabetic weaklings. Even if you're a casual drinker of soft drinks, you're pounding down a lethal amount of sugar: http://www.sugarstacks.com/img/colas.jpg. Even if juicing were overrated as a nutritional option, how can anyone argue that it's not an improvement over what we normally do?

Personally, I'm not so sure you're going to be cured of cancer/lose 150 pounds/regain hair lost to male pattern baldness/whatever by going on a juice diet. It could happen, but I haven't seen any evidence to support this (other than anecdotes). But... it's a hell of a lot of high-nutrient intake that's absorbed almost immediately. Anyone who tells me it's a bad idea to consume that many fruits and vegetables every day has no data to support the claim. So long as your doctor gives you a thumbs up to do a set-length juice fast, there's no way it can do anything but help you.

13 days in

So I'm 13 days in thus far and I really want to barbecue something. Otherwise, it's actually pretty easy. I'm hovering around 264 pounds, which is all right, and I actually really enjoy these juices quite a bit.

The "wheat" thing...

The internet has its share of "cool kids" who make their name - such as it is - by talking down about things that matter to other people. One of the things a lot of cool kids like to make fun of is gluten intolerance and the growing demand for gluten-free products. This isn't entirely without provocation; "Gluten Free Evangelists" sometimes talk at a little too much length and with a bit too much enthusiasm sometimes. But the pushback among the cool kids is pretty aggressive and there's no shortage of people who are ready to say the entire controversy about gluten is a non-issue.

I'm not as well-studied on this subject as some people, and I'm not in possession of all the data. But here's what happened to me: On December 17 I started doing a juice diet (which, in itself, draws a lot of unkind armchair commentary from cool kids). On December 24, I took a "cheat day" in which I gobbled down a bunch of Bad Things™. I explained all this already so I won't bore you by repeating myself.

I took a second cheat day a few days later when I had a friend over and all I really had to feed him was pancakes (as I haven't really got much in the fridge or the pantry but juice-fixin's). So I decided to make some truly amazing pancakes and just enjoy them with him. One meal's worth. Didn't seem so bad.

After my cheat day on the 24th, I felt fine. Not so much as a hiccup or a burp. After my second cheat day, I did not feel good. At all. Immediately I felt weak and sick to my stomach. Within the hour, I was covered in hives.

I suppose you can make a case for there being something wrong with the maple syrup or the eggs or the milk. Someone could possibly even say it's some kind of delayed reaction to the cheat day on the 24th. Others might say I was imagining it and it never happened at all (I've heard this argument before). But if someone asked me, I would say that some people have trouble processing wheat, and others are allergic to it. I'm a fan of Occam's Razor, and I think my removal of wheat and gluten from my diet created an additional sensitivity to something I've been experiencing quite a bit over the years: I have some sort of wheat intolerance and, for me to be healthy, I need to steer away from it.

Food quotes from Baha'i scripture

I wouldn't be so arrogant as to suggest that the teachings of the Baha'i Faith exist just to support my personal dietary and health plans. I am, however, a practicing Baha'i and I took some inspiration from these quotes (which were shared with me by my mom... thanks, mom!):

Treat disease through diet, by preference, refraining from the use of drugs; and if you find what is required in a single herb, do not resort to a compounded medicament. . .  (Bahá’u'lláh, Bahá’u'lláh and the New Era, p. 106, in Health and Healing, p. 3). 

At whatever time highly-skilled physicians shall have developed the healing of illnesses by means of foods, and shall make provision for simple foods, and shall prohibit humankind from living as slaves to their lustful appetites, it is certain that the incidence of chronic and diversified illnesses will abate, and the general health of all mankind will be much improved.  This is destined to come about. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 156).

The Báb hath said that the people of Bahá must develop the science of medicine to such a high degree that they will heal illnesses by means of foods.  The basic reason for this is that if, in some component substance of the human body, an imbalance should occur, altering its correct, relative proportion to the whole, this fact will inevitably result in the onset of disease.  If, for example, the starch component should be unduly augmented, or the sugar component decreased, an illness will take control.  It is the function of a skilled physician to determine which constituent of his patient’s body hath suffered diminution, which hath been augmented.  Once he hath discovered this, he must prescribe a food containing the diminished element in considerable amounts, to re-establish the bodys essential equilibrium.  The patient, once his constitution is again in balance, will be rid of his disease. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,  p. 154). 

It is therefore, evident that it is possible to cure by foods, aliments and fruits; but as today the science of medicine is imperfect, this fact is not yet fully grasped.  When the science of medicine reaches perfection, treatment will be given by foods, aliments, fragrant fruits and vegetables, and by various waters, hot and cold in temperature. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 259).

If you'd like to know more about the Baha'i Faith, this is a good place to start.

Expect the unexpected

Beet juice with broccoli and celery. Blueberry and strawberry smoothie. Both are nearly the same color. Mistakes are going to happen.

Money

Something else you'll learn about juicing is that it's not cheap. First of all, you can't just buy two weeks' of juicing fodder in the way you'd normally buy groceries. Your food won't stay fresh that long, and definitely won't last that long either. About every four days I need to top up about $30 worth of fruit and veg. Sometimes more. The amount you go through is insane. Example: One jug might be good for 4 really big glasses full. If you drink two glasses a day, that's just two days (remember: this is all you're eating). That one jug might take 14 carrots and six apples. It might take 12 beets and eight pears. I normally drink about four big glasses of juice per day, so that should give you an idea of how much we're talking about.

There's something that works in your favor, however: Juicing is not "idle snacking." You're more likely to go through half a bag of cookies or six cups of coffee without realizing it. With juicing, every glass is deliberate. This works in your favor because idle snacking often doesn't satisfy your hunger (or at least doesn't make a noticeable dent in it) and often adds to fat and/or salt intake.

As a person who has been pretty poor for many years, I'm used to spending as little as possible and making whatever I buy last for a long time... so this is somewhat counter-intuitive for me. I keep thinking I will use fewer veggies in my juices but then I can't fill a whole glass when I do. It's a very different economy of money:food, and food:meals. Not entirely in your favor and not entirely against it either.

Aftermath

I consumed:
- Eggrolls/springrolls
- One chocolate
- A bit of cheese and crackers
- A can of Pepsi
- An eggnog latté

I was there for four hours and there was food EVERYWHERE. Yeah, I ate it and I don't have any regrets.

Today, it's beet and carrot juice again. And I'm good with it.

The Indulence

Back when I started this fast, I decided I would allow myself two "indulgence" meals. Meals where I can eat anything I want.

There are two reasons: One, is because I anticipated having moments of weakness (even though I really haven't) and I thought having something to look forward to or, at worst, a "get out of jail free" card might help.

The other reason is because juice fasting is not a religion. You don't go to hell if you venture outside the boundaries. It's the beginning of a life-long change in habit and thinking. At no point did I ever think I'd never drink another milkshake again for the rest of my life. But what I am going for is a life in which I'm not drinking milkshakes daily... and nothing else.

That was a genuine danger (maybe not milkshakes, but other crap like it).

I'm going to a Christmas party. I was just invited. I'm going to eat something that isn't juiced. I shall report back later when my IQ goes on vacation and I have to spend a week in the men's room recovering.

A Present To Myself

About 600g of blueberries, 600g of strawberries, 600g of raspberries, four apples and one sweet potato went into a jug of this stuff. Apart from the thousands of seeds between my teeth, this is quite tasty.

Off To The Gym

I've missed the last few days at the gym (I think 4 days). Not good. I haven't missed more than 48 hours since I started so I'm a little worried about how it's gonna feel when I go back. No matter... off I go.

This almost feels like a non-post because it's so short, but I have the strange feeling I'm going to post even shorter in the future. When my entire posts whittle down to a word count of two or three like "Taco dreams continue," "Juiced a waffle," or "Uncontrollable farting" I'll try to have the wisdom to stop myself.

Post Script: This isn't going to be such a short post anymore because I'm adding something worth mentioning. Here's how I do my intervals: 60 seconds moderate walking, three minutes fast walking, 60 seconds running. Repeat 4-5 times. When I was last at the gym I was finding this remarkably difficult, and had been running for five or six consecutive days. Today, after a four day break, I did not only find this to be pretty easy, but I actually increased my running time to 90 seconds. Apparently taking a few days off is a damn good idea for me.

Screw It

I'm gonna make a smoothie that's all  berries. I need a break from cabbage and kale. 

Oh Damn

I was just watching a TV show and someone's having a big bowl of spicy chili.

Lord give me strength so I don't go to Tim Horton's right now and order a bowl.

266

Today I weighed in at 266 pounds. Weight is a funny thing, though. You can gain or lose a few pounds even within a day. I learned this through weight gain and loss in the past. That having been said, however, the drop from 275 to 266 is definitely a real loss. It may fluctuate three or four pounds one way or the other but, even if this reading is at the low end of a fluctuation, I have definitely lost weight. This is a good thing because I need some sort of reward for having drank roughly four liters of this:

It's not that it tastes so bad (it's actually kind of refreshing and tasty), but it's not exactly a caramel frappuccino. I needed a win.

Green

Kale

Celery

Parsley

Bok choy

Broccoli

Granny Smith apples

Green cabbage

It's the least delicious of all the juices I make, which is to say its "merely" tasty. Definitely good for me though. 

Get Thee Behind Me, Satan

One thing I've heard commonly about a juice fast is that eventually you're going to get hit in the face with a crushing amount of temptation. There will be a steak on the barbecue, a bowl of ice cream, or a loaf of fresh bread that will try to seduce you. I knew my day would come and that my will would be tested, and it looks like today is the day.

In a few minutes, I'm going to be meeting my daughters here. And watch them eat their lunch.

Good News & Bad News

Two things are going on that I didn't expect.

First, I thought I'd have insanely bad caffeine withdrawals. I should be having them by now and I'm not. When I get those, they usually manifest themselves in wicked bad back pain and a really foggy brain. I'm not getting any of that.

Second... you may not want to read this part... my flatulence is absolutely horrible. And if you didn't wanna hear that part, you definitely want to know that it smells like vegetables. Only bad. I don't even think I want to describe it, actually.

I'm surprised about the caffeine thing because, even though I generally only drink decaf coffee and tea, I drink a lot of Coca Cola... which has plenty of caffeine. Not as much as coffee, but still. So I was expecting some sort of blowback on that. So far, nothing.

The farting... I don't know what's going on but it's like Chernobyl. I don't wanna get further into it, but let's just say it's noticeable.

Yeah, line forms here, ladies.

Bananas

I ate two bananas.

I didn't think the cravings would be so bad, but wow. They are. It's not so much that I'm looking for something chocolatey or like steak, but I'm missing the texture of things like pasta and bread and eating something hot.

I ate two bananas because I could just as easily mash them up and put them into a smoothie, so I let the firmness slake my desire for something substantial. And the good thing is: It worked.

It's a lot of sugar and of course I'm going to be careful about that. On the other hand, I'm coming from at least a liter of Coke a day... and possibly a tub of ice cream to go with it. So respect the bell curve.

What I Eat

I'm about three days in. I've been drinking combinations of apple, orange, pear, beets, carrots, celery, sweet potato, raspberries, spinach, cucumbers, and even an onion (I don't recommend that one). I sometimes add ginger and will be experimenting with mint.
I've occasionally been eating a raw banana here and there in addition to the juice. I've also had some mint tea and organic honey.

Then I started asking around the internet a little and here's what some people told me:

I'm a total juicing novice, but from what I've read and watched about juicing, you are missing THE most important veggies- dark greens. I saw you had spinach, but you also need bok choy/collar greens/kale/cabbage/chards. And, you want to juice 80/20 veg to fruit ratio, because all that fruit equals so much sugar. 

Additionally, apparently you need to mix up the type of greens, because veggies from the broccoli family (kale, spinach) can cause hyperthyriodism. 

Taken from this site, http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/hypothyroidism 

Avoid foods that interfere with thyroid function, including broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, spinach, turnips, soybeans, peanuts, linseed, pine nuts, millet, cassava, and mustard greens. 

I know it says "Avoid", that is advice for people with an already pre-existing thyroid condition. Regular folks without the condition don't need to avoid, just ensure you do not ALWAYS eat these foods that DO inhibit thyroid function.

So, these mentioned vegetables block thyroid production/function, so switching up your greens to, say, bok choy, will "balance" out your diet and help your thyroid.

And then this:

When juicing kale/spinach/leafy greens, always juice a quarter of a lemon or so to go along with it (or anything acidic, like orange/grapefruit/tomato). 

You need that acid to increase calcium absorption from those greens. 

Taken from some blog, but I've heard this for a long time and I've read it many times in other places: 

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends eating spinach with citrus or tomatoes. These foods are high in vitamin C, which changes the form of iron in spinach to the easily absorbed kind you find in steak–but with much fewer calories or risks to your health. Vitamin C also blocks the oxalate from binding to calcium, encouraging further absorption.

Tomorrow I go shopping and it seems like I'm gonna be hitting the kale pretty hard. I actually don't mind the taste of leafy green vegetables at all and a jug full of kale/bok choy/cabbage actually sounds really good to me.

Five Versus Ten

As I mentioned, my daughter Ruth and I are looking at doing a 5k run together in May. I was thinking about it... wondering if maybe I should try 10k. She's completely down with it. She'd probably do 30k. But for me, this is pretty new. I'm going to ask my trainer if he thinks it's wise. If he's good with it, I may live dangerously and try it.

Juice & Treadmills

Today I made two jugs of juice.

The first had six cups of beet juice (that's a lot of beets) and four yaw pears.

The other had six cups of carrot juice (that's a lot of carrots) and four apples.

I've already drank half of both. Plus some cucumber juice.

Went to the gym today. There's a slight improvement from when I began: I started with walking 2kph for 2 minutes, 3kph for 2.5, and running 5.5kph for 30 seconds (repeat four times). Now I run a full minute. It's not a huge leap but it's double what I was doing.

Oddly, I'm gaining weight since running. My diet hasn't gotten significantly worse, so it's not just fat. I think it's that I'm building muscle so quickly, and muscle is heavier than fat. To be honest, I'm really not sure but I'm not going to worry about it.

My daughter Ruth came over. She was cautious of the juicer but decided to put in some frozen raspberries... which did not juice at all. She eventually got a full glass of orange juice and melted some raspberries to make coulis.

Anyhow, there was no real drama or thrill to the day except perhaps where I was at the gym with Ruth and snuck a few photos of her while she was working out (she didn't see me doing that). I then looked up and saw several women around me scowling at me because they didn't realize I'm her father.

My Name Is Corey

My name is Corey. I'm a 44 year-old Canadian male who has spent most of the last three decades eating junk. As a result, I'm 275-ish pounds and 6' tall... so that's pretty big. It's not the biggest I've ever seen, but combined with my sedentary lifestyle it's going to kill me.

On my mother's side, there's heart problems. My aunt had a heart attack and my grandfather had several. My mother also had a congenital heart defect which was repaired when she was a young woman, but I'm not sure that's a determinant. On my father's side, there's health problems. My father has had two heart attacks that I know of. Heredity is the primary predictor of heart disease, so the cards are stacked against me heavily. Even if I don't die, I'm looking at diabetes because my sugar/high fructose corn syrup intake is insanely high. That, combined with the amount of fat I eat (mostly through dairy and oil) is likely going to result in me not waking up one morning. Probably not this year, but... that train is coming down the tracks.

It's not just that, though: I don't look good. My clothes barely fit, I walk like a fat guy, and my stomach ruins the lines of most of my jackets and shirts. I find myself winded after even a little bit of exercise and obviously I don't sleep right and my breathing sounds like I'm always out of breath.

Ok, actually I'm lying. This was me about 6 weeks ago.

I decided I didn't want to be dead so soon. I decided I didn't want to look and feel like crap anymore. I decided that if I didn't do something deliberately, then nature would take its course... and I'm not ready for nature to put me in a pine box yet. So I started going to the gym and running. Just running. I get on the tread mill and I go for about half an hour. I can't run that well because I'm not used to it and I'm pretty heavy, so I walk for a while and run for a while. I've been gradually increasing the ratio of running to walking and I intend to keep doing so.

I've also committed to my daughter, Ruth, that I will run a 5k race with her in May. She's not a person with any problems exercising. She's a real jock. Runs, works out, the whole thing. So for her this is going to be no milestone... but for me, it'll be my first race ever. And I've got time to prepare for it.

I'm also about to start a short juice fast and will be recalibrating my diet completely. I'll get into that more later, but it's the next big frontier for me.

In the last six weeks I've gone from a guy who moves maybe 50 meters per day at most and eats crap at any opportunity to becoming a guy who goes to the gym and comes home to juice carrots and oranges as a post-treadmill treat.

I'm still fat. I'm still unhealthy. But this is how we change things, right?