Juice Fasting, any tips/tricks/criticism?

MindLib

So I decided to go on a pure raw juice fast for three days. Just because I wanted to see what it's like, and if it had some of the health bonuses raved about on random health forums all-over the net. I have no prior experience with this sorta thing, and while I've read a few things online, nothing seems concrete whether words of the critic or proponent.

So, the diet is really simple. Consume nothing but brewed green tea, distilled water and juiced (not liquefied, the pulp is tossed) raw vegetables and fruit. I'm a pretty fit guy, I just felt a little verklempt and meh lately, and I always wanted to try this.

Thoughts?

KyleWPeterson

If your body had evolved to the point where it only needed liquids to function then we would all do it all of the time. I would really recommend not doing this, especially for three days, although I imagine you'll probably figure out how much fun this is at the end of 24-hours.

MindLib

KyleWPeterson wrote: »

If your body had evolved to the point where it only needed liquids to function then we would all do it all of the time. I would really recommend not doing this, especially for three days, although I imagine you'll probably figure out how much fun this is at the end of 24-hours.

Yeah, it's not fun, and it's been about 30+ hours now. I feel weak as a motherfucker, but I swear my colon has never felt this...clear. I honestly feel like I'm able to move my torso in ways that I haven't for a long time. The idea is to clear up and balance your system.

Entriech

Crippling your protein and fat intake for three days doesn't sound like a very healthy decision to me.

KyleWPeterson

Feeling "empty" in your digestive system isn't necessarily a good sign. Your body knows what it's doing and some foods take longer to process than others. Manually flushing everything out is not a good idea.

Limp moose

I have been forced to fast for over 72 hours, given only water. The end result was me horribly emanciated and weak. (my face looked like skeletor.) Brain function also suffered and I had trouble seeing and focusing. The worst part was when I was finally able to eat food again. It made me sick. 8(

Good luck. Maybe it will suck less for you.

Anarchy Rules!

This sounds like something a 'nutritionist' came up with to sell a book, with some very bad pseudoscience lumped on. Eating a normal balanced diet with plenty of fibre is much better for your bowels than this.

Shazkar Shadowstorm

there is no reason to force such sheer stupidity on yourself unless you for some reason need a colon clear enough to have a colonoscopy
and even then they won't make you do that

adytum

Yeah, the master cleanse? Horrible, horrible idea thought up by a quack and hung onto by people that think "being healthy" is something that can be achieved in 3 days. It's a terrible idea with no identifiable or provable health effects.

Skip it unless you don't value your health.

bowen

I've heard people feel wonderful after they stop the third day and start eating again.

But that's because you're starting eating again and this is a placebo effect that doesn't do anything to your system other than make you feel like shit for 2.5 days.

Platy

You're going to lose some weight (momentarily), but it's not healthy. Your body needs fat and protein.

ChillyWilly

Anarchy Rules! wrote: »

This sounds like something a 'nutritionist' came up with to sell a book, with some very bad pseudoscience lumped on. Eating a normal balanced diet with plenty of fibre is much better for your bowels than this.

This. This. All day this.

There's really no reason to do these type of crash diet/fast type things. They're not good for your body on any level. At all.

Midshipman

MindLib wrote: »

Thoughts?

The only legitimate reasons to fast are religious, spiritual, and as preparation for a medical procedure/examination. Fasting to improve your health is a dangerously misguided notion that is up there with bloodletting in terms of backwardness.

Thanatos

MindLib wrote: »

KyleWPeterson wrote: »

If your body had evolved to the point where it only needed liquids to function then we would all do it all of the time. I would really recommend not doing this, especially for three days, although I imagine you'll probably figure out how much fun this is at the end of 24-hours.

Yeah, it's not fun, and it's been about 30+ hours now. I feel weak as a motherfucker, but I swear my colon has never felt this...clear. I honestly feel like I'm able to move my torso in ways that I haven't for a long time. The idea is to clear up and balance your system.

The reason you feel so "clear" is that your body thinks that you're starving to death, and is putting out chemicals similar to adrenaline. You aren't "cleaning" anything that isn't handled by your kidneys and liver anyhow. If you're worried about digestive health, just start eating a well-balanced diet, with at least 25 grams of dietary fiber per day.

As7

These fasts and single food diets often claim they are cleansing you of....something. Toxins or whatever.

Thing is, your body doesn't work like that, and these "toxins" are really just made up words to make you feel uncomfortable about your own eating habits. As long as you eat a normal diet and don't destroy your liver with alcohol your internal organs should have no problem keeping your body free of anything harmful.

Not pooping is NOT a sign of health, it's just a side effect that makes you feel slightly better about your decision because it plays on stereotypes about cleanliness.

Usagi

Well, according to Mayo Clinic and WebMD the jist is

There's little evidence that detox diets actually remove toxins from the body. Most ingested toxins are efficiently and effectively removed by the kidneys and liver and excreted in urine and stool.

Though there is some research being done these days that shows health benefits including longer lifespan for calorie restriction, but that's an entirely different sack of bananas.

Go eat breakfast.

Darkewolfe

Thanatos wrote: »

MindLib wrote: »

KyleWPeterson wrote: »

If your body had evolved to the point where it only needed liquids to function then we would all do it all of the time. I would really recommend not doing this, especially for three days, although I imagine you'll probably figure out how much fun this is at the end of 24-hours.

Yeah, it's not fun, and it's been about 30+ hours now. I feel weak as a motherfucker, but I swear my colon has never felt this...clear. I honestly feel like I'm able to move my torso in ways that I haven't for a long time. The idea is to clear up and balance your system.

The reason you feel so "clear" is that your body thinks that you're starving to death, and is putting out chemicals similar to adrenaline. You aren't "cleaning" anything that isn't handled by your kidneys and liver anyhow. If you're worried about digestive health, just start eating a well-balanced diet, with at least 25 grams of dietary fiber per day.

Was it the exercise thread that discussed this? Fasting is a bit like self-mutilation. Your body freaks out and pumps out all sorts of stuff because it's pretty sure you're dying, and that gives you a bit of a high. But then, you know, you're mutilating your body.

TychoCelchuuu

This is a bad idea and you need to start eating normal food if you want to keep from dying.

Prime

This might be just me but all this "your gonna die/harm yourself" seems a bit ott, is three days really going to cause that much harm?

I figure if you want to starve yourself for three days for the experiance, why not, just wouldnt make a habbit of it (as in only do it once). Of course im not a doctor and might be hidously off the mark.

Perpetual

Three days without protein or fats?

This must be the stupidest fucking idea I've ever read, sorry.

Look, the Internet is full of horrible, horrible ideas. Just because you read somewhere that drinking nothing but juice for three days "cleans out" your system doesn't mean you should do it.

Don't fuck with your body like that or you might regret it.

Midshipman

Prime wrote: »

This might be just me but all this "your gonna die/harm yourself" seems a bit ott, is three days really going to cause that much harm?

I figure if you want to starve yourself for three days for the experiance, why not, just wouldnt make a habbit of it (as in only do it once). Of course im not a doctor and might be hidously off the mark.

It's not so much that he is going to cause grave harm to himself by doing it once, rather that if his intended goal is to improve his health, it's pretty stupid to do something that has the opposite effect. Would you recommend that someone suffering from acne smear butter all over their face? It's not going to cause their face to melt off, but it's equally stupid.

Fantasma

Your body will start eating itself, your gut flora will consume your intestines. Does this sound like healthy? I think not.

Djeet

If you go on just fluids it's no surprise you pretty much stop pooping. 3 days on just juice and tea is not going to fuck up your brain, however you might be running the risk of fucking up your internal flora since you're "eating" such an unbalanced diet. If you're just doing some self-experimentation then there are worse things you could do to yourself. But I doubt there's any health benefit to doing this and there may be some risk. I'm not sure if 3 days would pose a huge risk.

I've been on multi-day fasts and there certainly are some interesting consciousness-altering effect, similar say to a light dose of shrooms. Technically you aren't fasting so I'm not sure how much of that you might experience. Personally I'm more or less done with that type of self-experimentation, and that kind of behavior negatively affects my physical/health goals.

RUNN1NGMAN

Do you have a job? Because by day three you're going to have the brain function of a vegetable. Hopefully you aren't required to do anything more challenging than flipping burgers because your memory and cognition are really going to suffer.

BEAST!

Perpetual wrote: »

Three days without protein or fats?

This must be the stupidest fucking idea I've ever read, sorry.

Look, the Internet is full of horrible, horrible ideas. Just because you read somewhere that drinking nothing but juice for three days "cleans out" your system doesn't mean you should do it.

Don't fuck with your body like that or you might regret it.

overreact much? sheesh

this isn't the worst thing you could ever do, people do it all the time and are just fine, the human body can go a long time without solid food

but no this isn't a good idea to go about getting the results he believes he'll be getting.....it's not doing what he believes it's doing so not much reason to continue, instead just eat better

MindLib

So it's been roughly two days since I started and I broke the fast with a banana. I had to prepare for class tomorrow and I was so zombified that I could barely get my thoughts together. Fuck that. I'm not jeopardizing my education for this.

Not only that but it was really expensive destroying that much fruit and veggies for a little bit of juice, that shit just wasn't enough nutrients.

I'm gonna finish my third day by just eating vegan, and then I'll eat some chicken tomorrow. I appreciate the thoughts.

bowen

Eating vegan won't make you any less toxic. If that's your intent.

MindLib

bowen wrote: »

Eating vegan won't make you any less toxic. If that's your intent.

Honestly it's just to ease back into things. If I got a cheeseburger right now I think I think I'd double over.

Gabriel_Pitt

Yes, the sudden influx of rich foods into your guts would probably leave you feeling like they were trying to rip out of your stomach and strangle you.

GungHo

They are... they're pissed you made the decision to stop feeding them in the first place.

MagicPrime

I've been doing Adkins for a few months now and I've lost 35lbs.

Along with this I have severely cut down on my red meat intake. My usual foods are Chicken, Fish, and Veggies.

Both my weight and cholesterol have gone down significantly while on this diet.

BEAST!

MagicPrime wrote: »

I've been doing Adkins for a few months now and I've lost 35lbs.

Along with this I have severely cut down on my red meat intake. My usual foods are Chicken, Fish, and Veggies.

Both my weight and cholesterol have gone down significantly while on this diet.

too many solids

Protein Shakes

BEAST! wrote: »

Perpetual wrote: »

Three days without protein or fats?

This must be the stupidest fucking idea I've ever read, sorry.

Look, the Internet is full of horrible, horrible ideas. Just because you read somewhere that drinking nothing but juice for three days "cleans out" your system doesn't mean you should do it.

Don't fuck with your body like that or you might regret it.

overreact much? sheesh

this isn't the worst thing you could ever do, people do it all the time and are just fine, the human body can go a long time without solid food

but no this isn't a good idea to go about getting the results he believes he'll be getting.....it's not doing what he believes it's doing so not much reason to continue, instead just eat better

The problem isn't this particular diet, but the fact that the OP is willing to actually try the bullshit mumbo-jumbo pseudo-scientific nonsense that he reads on the internet.

I mean, today it's "drink nothing but juice for 3 days". What will it be tomorrow?

DirtyDirtyVagrant

What was it that was said about this? That fasting is the "dietary equivalent of cutting yourself", wasn't it?

Raneados

it's not going to hurt you unless you do it for a while but there is no medical benefit to fasting or "grapefruit diets" of any kind

in fact NOT eating certain things makes you weaker and worse off

eating vegan is a viable diet. You can get your proteins and etc from things that aren't meat, you just have to be careful

Tube

Here's the only relevant advice: don't juice fast. it's fucking stupid.

TychoCelchuuu

Cardboard Tube wrote: »

Here's the only relevant advice: don't juice fast. it's fucking stupid.

And along those same lines, reexamine the chain of reasoning that led you to select a juice fast and alter your actions in the future such that you avoid the obvious flaws in this chain of reasoning.

Unless you want to end up in ketosis or vitamin deficient or something.

Djeet

Well you aren't going to end up in Ketosis drinking a bunch of what's essentially sugar water.

Protein Shakes

Djeet wrote: »

Well you aren't going to end up in Ketosis drinking a bunch of what's essentially sugar water.

No. Ketosis is a result of lack of carbohydrates in the diet.

And, just to make sure everyone is on the same page, there is nothing wrong with ketosis.

TychoCelchuuu

Djeet wrote: »

Well you aren't going to end up in Ketosis drinking a bunch of what's essentially sugar water.

And I said that if he doesn't go further than Tube's advice to quit doing this stupid diet, he might end up in ketosis, which would happen when he gets roped into another stupid worthless fad diet.

MindLib

Ok, I appreciate the criticism but not the overtly abusive shit that is now piling up. I get it. Thank-you. I've come off the diet now, and I valued the experience and will try to learn from it. Also; I'm not the sort of guy to hurt myself by trying something new, so you can stop worrying about padding the corners of the furniture in my apartment. I'm not into 'fad' diets and for that matter this is the only diet I've ever been on. Again, I did this for the experience of it, it was more a discipline thing than anything else, and my verdict was that it was a rather pointless endeavor.

Shall we move on?