And we were off.
Thing is, anyone who knows anything about juicing will tell you: This is about 12 hours' worth of nutrition. Tops. I went into this situation well aware that I was going to have to go off the wagon. But, as I mentioned elsewhere, juicing isn't like a "diet" in the typical sense of the word. It's an ongoing system of making sure you're getting nutrition. But I knew that, at some point, I'll be returning to "regular" eating (or some version of it) anyhow, so all this represented was a change in schedule. I suppose I could have brought my juicer with me, but that's asking my hosts to put up with a lot (I'm couch surfing for four nights). Keep in mind the massive amount of waste and noise and preparation and cleaning. I wouldn't ask anyone to deal with that.
So I've been "juice free" since Tuesday night. And I hate it.
My body craves juice so badly it's driving me insane. I keep eating, but I feel like what I'm eating isn't "feeding" me. The over-abundance of salt and sugar is repulsive. I also find that food is so poorly prepared: So overcooked, so stale, so burned, so much of its natural appeal whittled down to nothing by over-boiling, over-heating, sitting too long after being cooked, being frozen before cooking, or being left for hours before it ends up on a plate.
Even the kale/green leafy concoction I whip up (which is my least favorite juice recipe) seems like it'd be a miracle elixir to me now. I can literally feel my body asking for it. I'm eating twice as much as I was (or, if you count fat/calories, way more) but I feel like only a fraction of what my body needs is entering my my mouth.
As you can imagine, this is affirming for me. You can spend a lot of time wondering if the juicing is having an effect or if there's any point to it. The changes come slowly and are subtle (especially at first) so it's hard to notice the effects. Sometimes you wonder if you're really changing anything.
And then there are times like this which stand as a very clear indicator of how just three weeks of juicing has changed what my body considers to be food. It's not just my mind anymore; my body demands something that's good for it and no longer ignores malnutrition in a sleepy, sugar/fat-induced haze.
I consider this a win.
It's interesting that you were repulsed at the sugar in non-juice foods, since juice-calories come almost entirely from sugar. Not that this is bad, fallacious myths have made sugar "evil" for no good reason, just like how fat was "evil" in the 1980s (remember the constant "zero-fat" versions of everything in the 80s?).
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about your juicing diet is that you've likely immensely increased your fibre intake, which few people get anywhere close to enough of. Fibre gives you lots of benefits and is hugely under appreciated. When you stop juicing, your fibre intake craters, and this can cause you to feel very differently, very very quickly.
Add a spike in salt intake and ugh, I can totally see you feeling bloated and gross within a day or so.
JP
Juice calories from things that are made from fruit are a lot of sugar. If you follow my blog, you'll know that I've been juicing 5:1 vegetables:fruit, so I'm not intaking massive amounts of sugar.
DeleteOn another note: Isn't juicing a *reduction* of fibre? I'm all for fibre (in fact, we need it very much) but a juice diet isn't very high fibre, I think.