Beginner Juicers: What To Expect

Hey thanks for checking out this very special blog entry! This should help you mentally prepare for your very own 3-day juice fast.

If you can complete a 3-day juice fast, you can go even longer. It's the first two days that really hurt.

I want to share some excerpts from a columnist who didn't realize how hard a 3-day juice fast would be.

Joe Donatelli is a freelance writer who bought special pressed juices from a juicery for a 3-day juice fast. (I on the other hand, recommend you buy a juicer. Jack LaLanne juicers are around a hundred bucks, and I found a used one for twenty. Breville makes an even better juicer, for easier cleaning and more efficient juicing and optional pulp pulverizing depending on which model you buy).

Even with the convenience of buying prepackaged pressed juices, Donatelli still had a very hard time, just like you will. The following is from his article, "The 5 Stages Of A Juice Fast."

Stage 1: Optimism
Though a little nervous, I was excited about taking on a new challenge... I was surprised at how good the drink tasted... I had another juice mid-morning—also tasty. Good start. I remember thinking, “this won’t be bad.” Which, of course, is exactly what people think right before something goes bad...

Stage 2: Extreme Hunger
Stage 1 lasts three hours. By lunchtime I was hungrier than usual, and after lunch I was starving...   All I could think about was food—the food in our home, the food in restaurants, even the food my dog ate. I craved distraction because, not to get all technical on you, but my body was freaking the hell out... 

Stage 3: Uprising
Jesus, I was hungry. Right about this time, my stomach kicked the discomfort up a notch and began cramping. It was the first of about a dozen cramping sessions I’d experience during the fast... I also had short, intermittent headaches... But the most difficult part physically—and I’ll put this as delicately as I can—was how much Sports Illustrated I read. Sports Illustrated is my official read of sit-down bathroom trips. Starting the afternoon of Day 2, I began to read Sports Illustrated with increased frequency. As the cleanse wore on, I spent more time with NFL writer Peter King than his wife does... I experienced some changes mentally, too. On the drive to the library, my wife asked me a simple question, and it took several seconds for me to respond. The small hamster wheel between my ears was turning way slower than usual.

Stage 4: Doubt

Late in the afternoon on Day 2, I began to seriously question whether I could make it all three days. I started bargaining. Is it cheating if I have just one apple? I was miserable with hunger. The juices gave me energy but not satisfaction...I put myself to bed around 7 p.m. that second night. I thought that maybe I could sleep through the next 48 hours like a deep space traveler, and when I woke up it would all be over and I could eat a burrito the size of a football. That didn’t work... the one thing that had helped me push through toughest bouts of hunger during the fast: post a morning update to Facebook. Looking back, the daily messages I’d sent to friends and family—and the encouragement I’d received in response—may have been the main reason I didn’t quit. I didn’t want to disappoint them.

Stage 5: Triumph

Day 3 is widely viewed as the breakthrough day by cleansing advocates. It sure was for me. I felt less “sensitive,” worked a full day with my usual amount of energy, and while I was still hungry, it was less intense than it had been on the previous two days... By Day 3 the body knows where it’s getting its calories from (juice and stored fat) and adjusts accordingly... I’ve been told by a few veteran juicers that if you can make it to Day 3, you can go many more.

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You can access the entire article at:
http://www.thehumorcolumnist.com/humor-columns/