Notes on a Juice Fast: Day One
Weirdly inspired by a documentary film, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, that on some level is essentially an infomercial, I have decided to attempt a ten-day diet of nothing but the juice of fresh fruits and vegetables. This will roughly equate to 64 ounces of juice daily, based mainly in grapefruit, apple, carrot, and tomato with various smaller fruits and leafy vegetables thrown in for variety and nutrition. To be specific, as part of the fast, I will also refrain from caffeine and alcohol. This is not going to be easy.
As a supplemental program, I'm going to attempt to walk 100 miles over the same duration. This is less difficult than it sounds, as I already have intermittently done long-distance walking for several years as an easy-on-the-knees form of cardio.
I'm in a position to do this because all three of my part-time jobs are attached to my university, leaving me with three-plus weeks of down time between fall and spring sessions. With a nod to tradition, I've decided to run the experiment from New Year's Day to the tenth of the month, provided that I have the will to survive that long.
9:00am: Slightly hungover from New Year's Eve celebrating, I juiced two grapefruit, one tangerine, two granny smith apples and two carrots. This produced roughly a quart of juice, which I consumed all at once. Bad idea. I was already hungry again by eleven, something that might have been avoided had I split up the servings or started later in the day.
2:00pm: Following a 3-4 mile walk with Rachel and the dogs, I have roughly a pint of juice: spinach, carrot, fresh tomato.
6:00pm: Following a second, brisker, six-mile walk I have an additional pint of juice: one 14oz can of tomatoes (technically, I suppose this is cheating, but we have a giant surplus from a recent sale), two large carrots, baby spinach, red leaf lettuce.
On the whole, this sucks so far. I'm hungry, irritable, and using ibuprofen to fend off the inevitable headaches that come to me from caloric deprivation. Large glasses of water following the juice help stave off hunger for a little while longer. Will attempt to ration juice better tomorrow to reduce periods of hunger.
2:00am: I have completed the first 24 hours. This was more difficult than I would have imagined, but it is encouraging to know that the whole thing is already 10% complete.
As a supplemental program, I'm going to attempt to walk 100 miles over the same duration. This is less difficult than it sounds, as I already have intermittently done long-distance walking for several years as an easy-on-the-knees form of cardio.
I'm in a position to do this because all three of my part-time jobs are attached to my university, leaving me with three-plus weeks of down time between fall and spring sessions. With a nod to tradition, I've decided to run the experiment from New Year's Day to the tenth of the month, provided that I have the will to survive that long.
9:00am: Slightly hungover from New Year's Eve celebrating, I juiced two grapefruit, one tangerine, two granny smith apples and two carrots. This produced roughly a quart of juice, which I consumed all at once. Bad idea. I was already hungry again by eleven, something that might have been avoided had I split up the servings or started later in the day.
2:00pm: Following a 3-4 mile walk with Rachel and the dogs, I have roughly a pint of juice: spinach, carrot, fresh tomato.
6:00pm: Following a second, brisker, six-mile walk I have an additional pint of juice: one 14oz can of tomatoes (technically, I suppose this is cheating, but we have a giant surplus from a recent sale), two large carrots, baby spinach, red leaf lettuce.
On the whole, this sucks so far. I'm hungry, irritable, and using ibuprofen to fend off the inevitable headaches that come to me from caloric deprivation. Large glasses of water following the juice help stave off hunger for a little while longer. Will attempt to ration juice better tomorrow to reduce periods of hunger.
2:00am: I have completed the first 24 hours. This was more difficult than I would have imagined, but it is encouraging to know that the whole thing is already 10% complete.
posted by JPS at 1/02/2012 02:20:00 AM
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