Juice Diet/Cleanse/Fast

RW81233

Has anyone tried one of those juice cleanse things? I never have before but our little 15 month old is having food allergy/digestion problems and has to heal his throat by drinking nothing but elemental formula for 30 days. After watching him scream for food when we sit at the dinner table during that time I decided to join him and got a juicer. The plan is to only consume juiced fruits and vegetables for the next week until I leave for a few conferences (and taking off for mother's day brunch b/c we are going somewhere awesome). If any of you have done this what has the experience been like? I'm on my second concoction and feel pretty good, but it is only day 1 so who knows if I can make it.

Mamasan23

I've had a few friends do this. My one girlfriend is currently on her 11th day and lost 12 lbs. already (she totally didn't need to either, but I digress!). What I've heard is that you have serious hunger pains for the first few days, then you get used to it, but as it goes on you have a serious lack of energy. Your whole digestive system goes out of whack for a bit too and when you're done juicing you have to re-introduce regular foods gradually so as not to shock your system. I personally couldn't do it, but good luck to you!

SatansFuton

I can understand doing this while you're around your kid if you don't want him to watch you eat food while he can only drink. But it doesn't sound like it's something you're really pursuing as you plan to "cheat" from time to time. So if you go to work or something and get a chance to get away from the kid I would say eat something. It sucks your kid is sick, but that doesn't mean you have to punish yourself. If your kid gets diarrhea you're not going to drink a bottle of Ex-Lax are you? I think it's nice you're trying not to tempt your kid by not eating a big feast in front of him, but since it doesn't sound like you really want to do a juice diet type thing, I would say don't. That's my take anyway.

RW81233

that's fair enough...i've read that 3 days constitutes a cleanse, and that cheating on Sunday will sort of ruin it. meaning i will have to do it again and basically go vegetarian.

RW81233

so I made it through 60 hours and broke, but mostly for fruits and veg (did have a few crackers and cheese at a mother's day winery). ate yesterday, and juice for breakfast/lunch today. while it did suck i must say that since i started it i have not (even wanted to) smoke a cigarette or consume caffeine, I have drastically limited alcohol comsumption, and generally feel better. so much so that i'm going to do the juice for breakfast/lunch and eat dinner to lose the 10 pounds i gained post-acl tear and being a dad. it's definitely not for everybody, but it has worked for me so far.

SVRDhand13

RW81233 wrote:

so I made it through 60 hours and broke, but mostly for fruits and veg (did have a few crackers and cheese at a mother's day winery). ate yesterday, and juice for breakfast/lunch today. while it did suck i must say that since i started it i have not (even wanted to) smoke a cigarette or consume caffeine, I have drastically limited alcohol comsumption, and generally feel better. so much so that i'm going to do the juice for breakfast/lunch and eat dinner to lose the 10 pounds i gained post-acl tear and being a dad. it's definitely not for everybody, but it has worked for me so far.

Its amazing how cutting alcohol out changes the body.

RW81233

SVRDhand13 wrote:

RW81233 wrote:

so I made it through 60 hours and broke, but mostly for fruits and veg (did have a few crackers and cheese at a mother's day winery). ate yesterday, and juice for breakfast/lunch today. while it did suck i must say that since i started it i have not (even wanted to) smoke a cigarette or consume caffeine, I have drastically limited alcohol comsumption, and generally feel better. so much so that i'm going to do the juice for breakfast/lunch and eat dinner to lose the 10 pounds i gained post-acl tear and being a dad. it's definitely not for everybody, but it has worked for me so far.

Its amazing how cutting alcohol out changes the body.

no crap...plus caffeine too. i'll still have a few drinks but no caffeine means my body shuts down and starts up at normal times.

brianlux

I have no idea how good or not good this is for a fifteen month old is but I have done a cleansing diet so I'll share my experience.

In the late eighties I was diagnosed with Epstein Barr virus- a form of chronic fatigue. When visiting friends in Colorado a woman knowledgeable natural healing put me on a diet of juices, a wide variety of sprouts and raw foods (uncooked fruits and vegetables only). I did this for about four months and the results were remarkable. I regained much of my energy and health. Afterwards, I slowly re-introduced other foods but continued to avoid highly processed food. Today I go back and forth a bit that way but whenever my chronic fatigue starts to kick back in I increase the juices and raw fruits and vegetable and sprouts.

I hope you find some good solutions for the little one! Best wishes.

Sugar-Magnolia

There is a good documentary called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" that is about this guy's journey as he juice fasts. Pretty interesting if you are into docs.

I have wanted to try this diet but never took the plunge! Hearing the op seems to be having an okay time of it might make me do it.

RW81233

brianlux wrote:

I have no idea how good or not good this is for a fifteen month old is but I have done a cleansing diet so I'll share my experience.

In the late eighties I was diagnosed with Epstein Barr virus- a form of chronic fatigue. When visiting friends in Colorado a woman knowledgeable natural healing put me on a diet of juices, a wide variety of sprouts and raw foods (uncooked fruits and vegetables only). I did this for about four months and the results were remarkable. I regained much of my energy and health. Afterwards, I slowly re-introduced other foods but continued to avoid highly processed food. Today I go back and forth a bit that way but whenever my chronic fatigue starts to kick back in I increase the juices and raw fruits and vegetable and sprouts.

I hope you find some good solutions for the little one! Best wishes.

oh sorry for the confusion...my 15 month old has bad allergies to some food we introduced him to and we can't figure it out. so he's on an elemental formula diet (literally like drinking the matrix food) and I did the fat, sick, and nearly dead thing. i will say if you are not like 50 lbs overweight that the all-juice diet is kind of extreme which is why I shifted it to two juices and pescatarian (veggie w/ seafood) dinner.