slimmy - 28 January 2013 11:49 AM

I’ve been juice fasting (juice feasting) too, not because overweight but because of other health issues and it’s great. I didn’t lose any weight at all since I was already on my “ideal” weight. However, for everyone that feels inspired, you need to do research first because you will start to detox and it will scare you if not prepared. Always do research! When you fast, water or juice, the body will start to try to get crap out of the system and if you have a lot of toxins in you, it can be pretty bad. If you feel too sick, you can slow down the process by eating whole fruits. Not hard fruits but the soft ones that doesn’t have much fibre in it. There are lots of good books out there on fasting.

To be clear, there’s a difference between juice fasting and juice feasting.

From what I understand, the difference is that juice fasting may or may not meet your caloric needs,  while juice feasting involves meeting your calorie needs by drinking fresh-made juices. (Though, indeed, determining your caloric needs is another story.)

One thing both have in common is that they’re not intended to be long-term diet solutions.

I agree with what you say, though; detoxing has a place, but it’s wise to do it intelligently (like everything else, I guess).

VicOfAges - 23 January 2013 02:12 AM

Tim Schafer - 23 January 2013 01:27 AM

VicOfAges - 23 January 2013 01:21 AM

I create batches for several days. The amount of wasted food was another annoyance. I switched to this juicer as a result:

But!
Most places I’ve read said fresh juice only lasts 24 hours, even in a sealed container. I make mine in the morning, bring it to work in a thermos, and drink it throughout the day. The 5:30 glass is definitely different than the 9:00 am glass!

In terms of taste or nutritional value? There’s negligible difference in taste compared to a glass fresh out of the juicer, but I keep it all refrigerated at home or the office and it doesn’t go bad.

Now I research.

Mostly nutritional value.

You may not notice a taste difference pallet-wise, but if you’re fairly sensitive, you may notice a difference in how fresh juice makes you feel.

I believe it has something to do with enzymes, though I’m sure there’s more to it than just that (I don’t think we’ve yet discovered all there is to know about our world ).

Also, lots of juices will tend to oxidise if you leave them too long.

To be sure, though, stored juice isn’t void of benefit; it’s not as black and white like that.

The stress of working on my dissertation has led me to eat poorly and quit exercising over the last year.  I was at a good, healthy weight before but I have been using my mental stress as an excuse to ignore/abuse my body and the result is that I gained nearly 30 pounds last year.

I looked in the mirror last night as I prepared for bed and decided I have had enough.  I recalled reading Tim’s juicing success tweets and so a google search later, here I am.

So, I decided to do this.  I already have a Vitamix so today I just went out and bought the stuff to make that green juice recipe Tim is using.

I got a big bunch of kollard greens (pretty close to the same thing as Kale and it was readily available), cucumbers, apples, ginger, celery, and lemons so I am ready to start.  But I have a couple of questions for whomever wants to address them:

1. Is it better to make smoothies, ie. keep the pulp?  My thinking is you lose valuable fiber by straining the excess matter not to mention the waste.  What are the pros and cons for pulp vs no pulp?

2. The gallstones story kind of scares me.  Maybe I am thinking I should just juice 2 meals and eat 1 sensible one instead?

3.  Tim are you using fresh ginger or pickled or powered?  I have both fresh and powered available.  Do you mince it first?  I assume you peel it, but that recipe doesn’t say.

4. how many 16 oz glasses of this stuff are you consuming a day?

5.  What about coffee?  Please tell me I can have coffee.  I need coffee.  I drink it black.

Thanks, guys.

Looking forward to some brother in arms comaraderie.

First juice as meal complete.

I made the Mean Green juice Tim linked to for my first try.  It took a damn lot of work washing all those vegetables, drying them, blending them and straining them. 

I am going to be completely honest, the taste of that juice could use some improvement, but I know we aren’t hear for the taste, so forward march. I have a giant pile of collards to get through.

EternalGamer2 - 06 February 2013 02:25 PM

The stress of working on my dissertation has led me to eat poorly and quit exercising over the last year.  I was at a good, healthy weight before but I have been using my mental stress as an excuse to ignore/abuse my body and the result is that I gained nearly 30 pounds last year.

I looked in the mirror last night as I prepared for bed and decided I have had enough.  I recalled reading Tim’s juicing success tweets and so a google search later, here I am.

So, I decided to do this.  I already have a Vitamix so today I just went out and bought the stuff to make that green juice recipe Tim is using.

I got a big bunch of kollard greens (pretty close to the same thing as Kale and it was readily available), cucumbers, apples, ginger, celery, and lemons so I am ready to start.  But I have a couple of questions for whomever wants to address them:

1. Is it better to make smoothies, ie. keep the pulp?  My thinking is you lose valuable fiber by straining the excess matter not to mention the waste.  What are the pros and cons for pulp vs no pulp?

2. The gallstones story kind of scares me.  Maybe I am thinking I should just juice 2 meals and eat 1 sensible one instead?

3.  Tim are you using fresh ginger or pickled or powered?  I have both fresh and powered available.  Do you mince it first?  I assume you peel it, but that recipe doesn’t say.

4. how many 16 oz glasses of this stuff are you consuming a day?

5.  What about coffee?  Please tell me I can have coffee.  I need coffee.  I drink it black.

Thanks, guys.

Looking forward to some brother in arms comaraderie.

You may want to do some more research on the subject.

You can still juice or eat the food you bought.

Lots of people seem eager to get into juice fasting or juice feasting, but I feel these are things to be done with a certain degree of understanding and the appropriate amount of support (especially if you’re juice fasting instead of juice feasting, though both have potential to be fairly transformative).

Think of it like this: you wouldn’t necessarily go out and run a marathon without any preparation or prior training. Likewise, when it comes to making dietary changes it helps to sort of start from where you are and determine what’s appropriate for you (with or without the help of a qualified health professional, such as a naturopath, nutritionist, or doctor).

You can certainly explore and experiment, but indeed, it’s wise to do so with a certain amount of self-responsibility and understanding.

If I was going to juice ginger, I’d ideally juice fresh ginger and may leave the skin on if it’s organic (which is just my preference; what you do is up to you).

Keep in mind this is just some general info; I’m not a doctor, nutritionist, or naturopath. If you want advice and support tailored specifically to you, consider seeing someone with the appropriate qualifications.

EternalGamer2 - 06 February 2013 06:46 PM

I am going to be completely honest, the taste of that juice could use some improvement, but I know we aren’t hear for the taste, so forward march.

Juice (even green juice) can taste good.

Tim Schafer - 04 February 2013 05:40 PM

Health alert time!
...
If you lose weight too fast you’ll get gallstones! Says the article.

Pooh-pooh I said, and continued losing weight. But last night I was awoken at 3am by a nagging back pain. ...

I hope results are okay.

By the way, I finally found alternative to Tuscan cabbage (it isn’t sold here) - savoy cabbage - and Mean Green is delicious. :3

EternalGamer2 - 06 February 2013 02:25 PM

1. Is it better to make smoothies, ie. keep the pulp?  My thinking is you lose valuable fiber by straining the excess matter not to mention the waste.  What are the pros and cons for pulp vs no pulp?

I’m not a scientist (believe it or not) but I’m not so sure about this idea that juicing destroys fiber. Fiber in food is a microscopic thing, not actual fiber you can see like the name implies. It’s not the string-fibers in a stalk of celery. It’s the nondigestible carbohydrates and lignin that are intrinsic and intact in plants. (Thanks, Wikipedia!) So I’m not so sure juicing really does destroy fiber.

That said, pulp can’t be bad for you, can it? But it can make the juice feel gritty, grainy, and taste bitter. So it’s more of a personal taste decision I think.

EternalGamer2 - 06 February 2013 02:25 PM

2. The gallstones story kind of scares me.  Maybe I am thinking I should just juice 2 meals and eat 1 sensible one instead?

Sounds like a reasonable compromise.

EternalGamer2 - 06 February 2013 02:25 PM

3.  Tim are you using fresh ginger or pickled or powered?  I have both fresh and powered available.  Do you mince it first?  I assume you peel it, but that recipe doesn’t say.

Fresh. I do peel it. Sometimes with a peeler, sometimes I scrape it off with a spoon, or if I’m in a hurry I hack it off with a knife.

EternalGamer2 - 06 February 2013 02:25 PM

4. how many 16 oz glasses of this stuff are you consuming a day?

I drink about five pint glasses a day. Reboot with Joe says six. I drink one in the morning, carry a thermos to work that has about three glasses in it, then have one or two more at home. I tend to drink the green juice at work and the tomato variety for dinner.

EternalGamer2 - 06 February 2013 02:25 PM

5.  What about coffee?  Please tell me I can have coffee.  I need coffee.  I drink it black.

I gave it up, I don’t really know why, but that’s what Joe did in the movie. And it gave me a huge headache the first day. But you know what? I have more energy in the afternoons now, and don’t really miss it at all.

Congratulations on starting the reboot/fast/diet thing! Let me know how it goes!

EternalGamer2 - 06 February 2013 06:46 PM

First juice as meal complete.

I made the Mean Green juice Tim linked to for my first try.  It took a damn lot of work washing all those vegetables, drying them, blending them and straining them. 

I am going to be completely honest, the taste of that juice could use some improvement, but I know we aren’t hear for the taste, so forward march. I have a giant pile of collards to get through.

What’s with all the drying? The veggies can be wet. And really I only wash the leafy stuff like spinach, basil, and the insides of celery. The rest of it I maybe rinse for a second, but I’m not too worried about it.

And if you get a juicer instead of a blender you don’t need to strain. Also it might take out the bitter skins that are making your juice taste weird. Are you peeling your cukes, for example? A juicer will separate out the skins and keep it out of your juice, also apple seeds, lemon pith, etc.

I like the word pith.

So I had the ultrasound, and the tech said my gallbladder “didn’t look happy.” She saw some “sludge” and “gravel” in it. Yikes.

Went for my followup with the doctor today and he said I got some stones in there! Yep.

But he couldn’t say for sure if they came from the diet, or just came from being overweight for so long.

Also, my liver is mildly inflamed. He really didn’t know what was causing that, but when you’re over weight you can get a “fatty liver” which is inflamed.

So did the diet cause this, or did my general fat-assedness cause it? And how can I find out?

And if the diet caused this, could it have been prevented by inserting some fat back into my diet?

So many mysteries.

Well, I’m heading off to consult with a surgeon to see if it’s time to rip out the old GB or just feed it positive vibes instead.

Either way, I’m still juice fasting. 38 days in, 36 lbs down. I refuse to learn my lesson! Suck it, gallbladder!

my aunt has this old juicer she isn’t using and i was considering borrowing it to try this juicing thing. now i saunter back into this thread and see all this talk about gallstones and inflamed livers and i’m like “whoa, back to the cheetos!” maybe i’ll let you be the guinea pig first

Tim Schafer - 08 February 2013 04:18 PM

So did the diet cause this, or did my general fat-assedness cause it? And how can I find out?
And if the diet caused this, could it have been prevented by inserting some fat back into my diet?

Probably the combination. Rapid weight loss w/ low fat (low bile flow and raised ldl) + raised insulin (bile saturation). Fructose (concentrated, lacking fiber) gives the liver a hard time too. Would need food + tests before the fast for comparison to know exactly how juicing contributed.

Tim Schafer - 08 February 2013 04:18 PM

Either way, I’m still juice fasting. 38 days in, 36 lbs down. I refuse to learn my lesson! Suck it, gallbladder!

Whoa… wait, a pound per day? Is that even physically possible? A pound of fat should contain about 4 086 kcal (assuming 100 grams = 900 kcal, 1 pound = 454 grams) so you would need to have a daily calorie deficit of 4 086 to burn that much fat! One could maybe achieve that by eating absolutely nothing and being quite active during the day… I don’t doubt that’s what you’re measuring, but I’m guessing a chunk of that has to be water and stuff.

...did I just write a post contemplating Tim Schafer’s bodily fluids? Oh, Internet.

Tim man from what other members who are prolly that much more informed than I am have said, I think it’s awesome you’re getting health(ier) and losing some weight, but keep in mind that it’s also important to stock up on essential nutrients, from vitamins and minerals to protein and even the healthier forms of fat and cholesterol. I’m no dietician, but I’m currently losing weight even tho I drink Pepsi all day and have Baconators and poutines. Yeah it’s not healthy, but I barely have one meal a day, and having a faster metabolism (recently went off a medication that’s sped it up again, because as a kid it was DAMN fast) I’m losing weight like it’s going out of style. You can still enjoy the good stuff in moderation, and you can still also supplement that with healthy juicing experiments like you’ve been doing. But right now your system’s in shock because it’s like “Whoah I used to eat so much and now I’m essentially on a cleansing diet in the purest sense. WTF is my owner Tim doing to me?”  Cook a rib-eye steak or treat yourself to a bacon-cheese burger (preferably leaner and homemade, much healthier than the Wendy’s/Burger King alternatives). Have sushi - healthy but tasty. If you don’t want the epic one-meal-a-day Pepsi-poutine diet, at least add on some actual food calories - I know you’re really excited about what’s working for you, but if your liver, kidneys and whatever are in protest, might want to supplement the juicing with some meat/etc.

Obviously I’m not at that level of decrypted age and worry, so I don’t know how much I’d blame on the diet and your choices to get better.

But if it were me I’d look at your gut level ITS THE DIET! Reaction as secret bad vibes you’re sending yourself to give you a fall back to quit.

On the science side of it who the heck knows, and if I knew I’d obviously have way too much personal information on you.
Also that mole no ones seen? Totally Abe Lincoln with a bat attacking his ear.

If you stress that much about something you read, and then went panicked to your doctor, maybe stress could be an issue. If you read that and said ho hum…maybe this is what that is and asked in a reasonable manner I’d still say stress could be an issue. I don’t stress much but I don’t have ppls lively hoods hanging off my actions either eh!

Also I don’t know if you’d want to remove it in the first place, what exactly does having stones in there do?

Ryan Keokuk - 12 February 2013 07:34 AM

But if it were me I’d look at your gut level ITS THE DIET! Reaction as secret bad vibes you’re sending yourself to give you a fall back to quit.

Seriously though, it probably IS the diet. Or rather rapid weight loss combined with a very low-fat diet, like kam posted. It’s a pretty well known issue apparently (though not to me, not until this) that occasionally happens in these cases. It might still be worth it in the end because being fat is seriously not fun either (I would know). Hopefully Mr. Schafer can manage it without needing surgery, it’s never fun losing organs no matter how puny or non-essential.

Also I don’t know if you’d want to remove it in the first place, what exactly does having stones in there do?

These guys hang in your gall bladder and when they start to move around it feels kinda funny. D:

Ok that seems like an extreme case, don’t panic yet Tim! Here’s the article.

Links might be not safe for mind.