As you may know, I’ve been on a juice fast for the last 10 days. I’ve traded my regular diet for nothing but fresh juice from fruits and vegetables. I’m also allowing myself the occasional cup of green tea to help my detox from caffeine.

So, how are things going? Here are a few things I’ve learned so far.

The Transition Phase

In my last update, I talked about the transition phase and the severe food cravings that showed up around day 3. I’m happy to report that the cravings for giant portions of Mexican food faded. I wrote my last update right before my wife and I took a road-trip for the weekend. I’ve been getting some questions about how the trip went (it was fantastic!), but specifically about how to keep up a juice fast while traveling.

Juice Fasting On The Road

To be honest, keeping up a juice fast while on the road does present a few challenges. I knew I wasn’t going to bring my juicer with me, so I planned to buy Odwalla or Naked juice from markets along the way.

So, we stopped at Starbucks a few times, at grocery stores a few times, no big deal. Then we got to the hotel we were staying at.  It turned out to be about 40 minutes from the nearest market, so there wasn’t any easy access to fresh juice. Oh well. I honestly didn’t care. This was a fun weekend away with my wife and I was more interested in having a good time than in keeping up my juice fast. We had reservations at the hotel’s ocean-view restaurant and I ordered cream of tomato soup–the closest thing to juice on the menu. It totally violated my juice fast guidelines, but I couldn’t have cared less. We had a fantastic trip.

Exercising on a Juice Fast

One of the most annoying parts of the juice fast so far is how it’s impacted my ability to exercise. I like to go for runs a few times a week. Normally, the only time I can’t physically go for a run is every few years when I get sick.

While on my road trip we spotted a beautiful beach and decided to stop and explore. While running down the beach with my dog I started to get lightheaded. It happened after running just a couple hundred yards. All the sudden, I felt like complete shit and had to sit down. I felt fine after a few minutes, but it still sucked. I really hated that I wasn’t able to do something I usually take for granted. It sort of freaked me out, and I increased my juice intake to about 2 liters per day. (That’s a LOT of fruits and veggies.)

After increasing my juice intake, I tried a really easy jog and I did feel better than before, but I didn’t feel as strong as normal. For me, this is a huge drawback, and I’ve had to cut out my running. I don’t know what I’m looking forward to more, running or Mexican food. Come March 1st, I’m having both. 🙂

Weight Loss on a Juice Fast

I mentioned in my first juice fast post that I wasn’t hoping to lose weight during this experiment. I knew it would happen but I wanted to keep it to a minimum. In fact, if I dropped more than 16 lbs, I was going to call off the experiment for health reasons.

After 10 days, I’ve lost 8 lbs. If I keep up this pace, I’ll have to stop the experiment on Day 20. I won’t stop the juicing completely, but will incorporate nuts and legumes for more calories.  I’ll keep you posted on that front.

UPDATE: After finishing this experiment, I wrote a post about my juice fast weight loss total.

Caffeine Detox

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about this. I’m now pretty detoxed from my severe caffeine addiction. By “severe” I really mean “2 RedBulls a day or I get a withdrawal headache”…yeah, it was pretty bad before. I did drink some green tea the first week of my juice fast (to keep my head from exploding) , but now I don’t even feel like I need it. Awesome.

Cruise Control

Other than the  inability to exercise, the weight loss, and the inconveniences of traveling, I’m feeling amazing on the juice fast! My food cravings are gone; and even though I feel hungry sometimes, it’s not an unpleasant feeling. My energy levels are steady throughout the day, and I’m waking up early feeling refreshed.

Overall, this has been a really good experience. I think the best part is feeling like I have more willpower. It feels effortless now.

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