Wednesday, January 30, 2013

After the feast update

Weight: 277.4

For a couple of days I did not see the weight loss as I re introduced solid food, but it has resumed again at a similar rate to the last few days of the feast.  I have remained almost meat and dairy free (I did have a small piece of lasagna Sunday with a bit of meat and cheese). For example last night we had home made spanish rice and home made refried beans with no added fat (they were awesome!) on burritos with fresh guacamole, onions, cilantro and cabbage. There might have been animal products in the tortilla, but we still have a giant stack of them for the kids quesadillas and I wasn't going to make my own just to be anal about it. I juiced the rest of the day. So, I still have a very low carb intake although it is no where near Atkins worthy. I also would not call myself vegan, but I am eating basically a whole foods plant based diet.  All of these things together are working for me. Time will be the biggest factor.

Actually the past few days as I added food again, I feel more sluggish and a little tired, but that may have to do with having a few early mornings in order to deal with a couple of east coast customers and non business hours launches, so it may not be totally related to diet.  If I am not back to 100% by Saturday I will consider juice feasting again starting on Sunday.

That being said I have had almost no cravings. We have had brownies and eclairs (thanks Holly), doughnuts, even ice cream in the house and I have not wanted any (oh wait I did have a couple of 100 calorie fruit sorbets this week...I guess I am not too strict).  I do not generally feel hungry durring the day, but when I do, I have a handfull of nuts or break out another juice.

All in all I feel like the juice feast gave my weight loss some legs and has killed my cravings for things that I should not have.  I would do it again in a heart beat. And I expect that my breakfast for many moons to come will no longer be an egg McMuffin, but a yummy juice or smoothie.

Today's workout is Tabata sprints, I am looking forward to not being able to breathe! Onward and upward (or downward in the case of my pant size).


Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Bloodwork

My pre-juice feast blood work came back today.
All in all it's pretty good, although the HDL is low, all the other items are well in line with where they should be.

Cholesterol 163 - Less than 200 is recommended, although many studies show that less than 150 is optimal.
Triglycerides 138 - Less than 150 is recommended
LDL 104 - Less than 130 is recommended
HDL 32 - Greater than 50 is desirable :-( HDL helps clean LDL from arteries so while my LDL is in line, a higher HDL would mean that my body is more self healing.

So, What to do with these numbers?

I need to take my fish oil daily instead of sporadically - HDL is impacted by good oils especially Omega 3 fatty acids (better said increased Omega 3: Omega 6 ratio)
I need to continue to exercise - at least 30 min per day of aerobic exercise
I need to continue to lose weight - My high concentration of abdominal fat still puts me at some risk for heart disease, and decreased HDL.

So I will continue on the plan to reduce my weight and increase my exercise, getting ready for RAGNAR.  I need to be carrying a smaller me up those hills!

Currently I am doing Tabata Sprints 3 times a week and 1 long run.


Saturday, January 26, 2013

Juice Feast Day 7

Weight: 278.5 loss of 12.5 lbs in 7 days

Belly:    54 loss of 1 inch
hips:      43 loss of 1 inch
Chest:   48.75 loss of .75 inches


YEAH I MADE A WEEK!
Well I kind of made a week. Yesterday evening I got a little creative. I tried nut milk, and I juiced two cups of an amazing vegetable soup that Heidi made. I am sure that is why the tiny drop in weight yesterday, most of it is water weight because of the additional salt in the soup (broth).

I will juice today most of the day and break my fast tonight.  I am looking forward to eating again, but I will say that this has been the easiest weight loss I have ever done. I think I may do this again fairly soon. I will definitely be juicing many meals over the next few weeks.  I am thinking Juice through the day and eat sensibly with the family at night.

Reflections on the juice feast:
Pros:
Quick weight loss
Good energy - Still able to run and work out
Change in taste -  The things that sound good to me have changed significantly from the time I started
Minimal investment - Produce is pretty expensive, but all told it was fairly cheap.

Cons:
Not eating with my family - I had no idea how much I would miss this. It was miserable to not eat with them.
Some juices will not be good - It takes a bit to figure out what tastes good. unless you are better than me, you will have several "failed" juices.

So far I can't find any other cons...I may think of some later, but for now I feel pretty good about it.

Would I do it for 60 days like Joe Cross? Perhaps, I am going to keep that option open.  If I feel as horrible adding food back in over the next few days then I may go right back on. I want to see how much weight I add right off the bat. And how I feel. I am going to limit dairy and meat drastically for the next little bit and see how it continues with that.





Friday, January 25, 2013

Juice Feast Day 6

Weight 278.8

Woot, I am under 280! That is huge, I have not been here since I was running with Tracy nearly every day before we adopted Matt.

Today feels great. I still feel a bit of the bug that everyone has had but I have physically been much better than everyone else.  I also am not feeling hungry (although Heidi is making one of my favorite soups today, I may have to strain some and drink the broth).  I didn't even want to make juice until about 10:00 even though I had calls starting at 6:30 this morning so I had been up for 4 hrs (I did have a glass of water this morning).

I generally won't purchase tomatoes this time of year because they are so insipid, but I got a few last night and I am so glad this morning.  I made a V8 style juice for this morning:

4 Stalks Red Chard
1 cucumber
2 Celery stalks
1/4 onion
1 tooth garlic
1/2 lime
1C carrot chunks
1 apple
1 tomato
1 red bell pepper
5 hot yellow peppers (they are small)
1 avocado
1 inch ginger


It is so yummy, just a bit of back heat, it's like spicy V8 but without the salt. Delicious!!! It is not as pretty as V8 though, the mix of red and green juices again comes out a little like poo juice, not quite as dark as yesterday but here's a pic so you can get an idea:
That little floaty is a piece of ginger fiber that got through the sieve.  That happens sometimes. Ginger is strong stuff, I am glad I am removing most of that fiber.

I guess that leads me to another point, I am not doing smoothies but I don't own a juicer.  Instead I blend everything in the VitaMix super fine, then I filter it through a nut milk bag (paint strainer). It takes 3 or 4 min to do the filtering but it does mean that I am really just drinking juice instead of a smoothie or "Pre chewed veggies" as Joe Cross called it.  This also means I don't have to add as much water. I only add about 1/4-1/2 cup water to the blender and use the juicy vegetables and fruits like cucumber, apple, and lemon to get things going, then I add the harder stuff like celery, greens, ginger, carrots, etc.  The other advantage that I did not expect is that I get my pulp really dry because I press it through the strainer, so I get more juice than if I was using a juicer.

This Evening I made Tropical Green:

4 Pinapple Spears
1 apple
1 pear
1/2 inch ginger
1/2 lime
1/2 cup coconut water
4 cups spinach

This was amazing, super delicious, fruity, incredible. Now I recognize that: It could just be that my taste buds are totally broken, because of what I have been eating for 6 days, or it could be that this was really as good as it tasted to me.

Today was a good day, I feel like the energy has moved up, Both juices were super tasty. No cramping. I feel like I have turned a corner.

Excited for tomorrow I get our bountiful basket (double) which also comes with a double juice pack. I am going to be in green (perhaps brown) heaven for days!!!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Juice Feast day 5

Weight: 281.2

Making juice this morning, I was amazed how much I had cravings.  I wanted Chard (makes me think of Grandma Roberts), an orange, cilantro, ginger, the red apple instead of the green one, only one cucumber, and that chopped up red cabbage in the fridge.  The result, not moo juice, but poo juice. I just stared at it thinking, "I am supposed to drink that?" It looked foul, like argentine zanja (open sewer) fowl!!!! I timidly lifted my straw to my mouth...It's great!  Totally weird how my cravings turn out to be something that is really great, I guess the body knows what it needs.

I am still sick today with a runny nose and some achy, but again I feel much better than the rest of the hord. I decided not to run today because of my aches and pains.  I think today has been my hardest day.  I had my first headache today, and later in the day I was feeling a little buzzed, like I was caffeinated and not in the good way.  I checked my blood sugar and it was ok. The bad thought of the day was "five days is enough" I was really ready to bag it several times today, I had to kill about 45 min at the store while waiting for Heidi to finish an appointment and although I did not walk down the regular food isles, I was very tempted by smells and things I saw in other people's carts. I am craving corn tortillas, good refried beans, and guacamole like crazy!


I expected to get results from the doc today but don't have them yet.  I did notice today that my hunger/desire for something in my stomach started to wain today, but not the desire for something in my mouth as you saw above. I made a lot of juice for tonight (32 oz) and I still have most of it left (25 oz). Part of that is the sweetness of the afternoon juice today (the banana threw it over the top), but I think part of that was that I just didn't need to keep myself full like I did on previous days.

Here's hoping that I am turning the corner!


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Juice Feast Day 4

Weight: 283

Today was rough. last night was miserable, I felt like I had the flu all night. Which apparently I did because Emily, Brayden, and Bella stayed home from school; Heidi was sick all day; and Kira was sick tonight. One thing I will say is that I felt much better than any of the other sickies in the house. I had good energy today, was a little achy but nothing horrible, and I did not get the vomits or diarrhea like everyone else.

I added a beet to my Mean green today for Heidi Khoroujnikova who is struggling with her juice fast today because of the beets her husband Mike likes in them (It's a borscht thing).

Juice was great today, I really am doing much better than the other sickies. I think this whole foods vegetarian thing has something to it. I don't know how long I might last but I am liking it right now.

Tonight's run was a treadmill run with Matt. Can I just say that I absolutely hate running on the treadmill. It should have been called trodmill or extremeboredomemill. I can't watch TV because I am not that coordinated (no I did not fall off, but almost). All I do is watch the clock count VERRRRRRRRRRRRRY SLOOOOOOOOOOOWLY.  That being said, I thought tonight would be kind of a slow plodding run anyway because I am still a little achy and have been sick all day.
3 min in I felt great so I decided to do intervals of 8 min mile pace and it was awesome, ended up with 5K including the warm up and cool down.  I did have just a tiny twinge on the outside of my left heel, which probably means I am supinating a little bit too much, I am going to go with no insole in that shoe for a few runs and see how that helps.  My left hip is 7mm below my right hip and it is always the longest leg at the chiropractor so I need to see if I can compensate for that a bit, and the insole I have been using has a tiny bit of arch support which also causes supination.


So far loving the diet, but I am only 4 days in, I haven't had that dreaded headache day yet. and I am not really feeling hungry, I think I am pretty well through the water weight so things now should be real progress.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Juice Feast Day 3

Weight: 285

I am surprised to see the significant lbs per day still I expected a few lbs of water weight but not to lose another 2 lbs.

Today is Dr. Day - They excised a sebaceous cyst on the back of my neck, I'm sure I will feel that later.
Other than that they were very up beat about my current progress and direction.  They want me to come back in 2 months for a full physical. I did have blood drawn for a full pannel of tests. They discussed different mixes of items, using fruit sparingly as necessary, etc.

So, it is a Go, and we are off to the races.
Mean Green this morning, I think still a bit too much lemon, I may peel the lemon tomorrow, but it is not bad. the flavor really grows on you.  I missed it a little this morning because I was fasting even from the juice until 10:20, for the blood work.

It was a tough day, I am aching all over wondering if I have the flu or if this is diet related.
That being said I went out for a 4 mile run tonight and only stopped because that's when I got back to the house (I ran a loop around west Lehi, not knowing how far it would be).  I settled into a rythem at about 11:30 miles that felt like I could carry it on forever...That is not fast by any means, but it is faster than I was in december for any mile (12:09) and it felt like easy pace.


Energy was not bad today, but I am ready for bed!

I need to get some pics in here so these pages aren't so boring.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Juice Feast Day 2

Weight: 287.2 (after 16 oz of juice).

I feel good, getting up this morning was not a problem.

I picked up a couple of paint strainers today and was able to "filter" the juice, and remove a fair amount of fiber. It was easy, just took a little time. I got a lot more juice than I would get from a juicer, and a very nice cake of fiber left over.

Juice:
1 Beet
1 spears of Collard greens
2 cups spinach
2 C carrots
1 bannana
2 apples
1 cucumber (lots of juice)
1 Grapefruit
1 Orange

Very earthy, but it is really tasty. The beet is pretty sweet, the only downside is that it is bright purple and stains everything. I guess the green would stain things too so I have not lost much.

Everyone else had a hard time stomaching the beet.

Today was good I feel good, I drank about 32 oz of juice today.  Had a twinge of a headache in the evening. Energy was great until about 10:00. We had a family night and watched a movie, and then had to get the kids to bed quick, and then I crashed...good since I have to be up at 6:00 am so I need the sleep.

Dinner was the kind of thing I would love, Tater Tot Caserole. I expected it to be harder than it was but I sat at the table and we talked like normal. It looked really good but I was not dying to eat it. I felt like I had a lot of control over myself.


Finished the day with a desert juice,
2 apples
1.5 C carrots
2 inches of ginger...
Oh it was soooooooo good. Great for relaxing and watching the movie with the kids.

Nice day 2, no big pains, I expected it to be worse than it was so I feel like I am ahead of the game.

Juice Feast Day 1


Weight: 291
Belly:    55
hips:      44
Chest:   49.5

Breakfast:
4 Spears Black Kale
1 Green apple
1 Bunch Grapes
1 Banana
1 Navel orange
1/2 cup blackberries
1 grapefruit
1 celery stalk (blend-able plunger)
1 vita coco (I will have to find a way to get away from this Pasteurized coconut water but I just bought a case of it and I needed some more fluid).
Yield 7.5 cups

Notes:
Black kale - that was too much kale. The kale is a little bitter and it adds a ton of fiber to the juice. On the one hand that is good news since kale is expensive at $2.53 a bunch (that was just over half a bunch). The spinach from yesterday's trial smoothie was better and since a big bag of spinach is the same prie
Consistency is pretty thick and the seeds from the blackberries are pretty notable.
Grapefruit is a little bitter too (I sliced it and didn't get all the pith)
Actually it's not bad, but I can imagine if this is all I drank for the next 60 days I would want to kill someone by the end.

At the end of the day I feed pretty good. Not as hungry as I thought I would feel. Can I keep it up for a week, or more? We will see.

It's a new year...a little late

The universe has combined to drive me toward a juice feast.  I signed up for RAGNAR. Yes I am a masochist! As a result I have started monitoring my food intake, and exercising (swimming, cycling and yes running). I have also been devouring as much data as I can about how to train, and run endurance races. I am actually having lots of fun with this. Now you are asking yourself, what does this have to do with a juice feast?

Thursday my friends at Audible had a sale on 100 audio books, and in the list I found Finding Ultra by Rich Roll. In it I was impressed by his Vegan diet transformation. I was inspired by a 40 year old man who transformed himself in 2 years into an ultra marathoner, an Iron man and one of two to complete the first Epic 5 Challenge (www.epic5.com) I actually started listening to the book after eating at Tucanos. Afterword I did not feel great, and a vegan diet sounded pretty good. So I started considering trying a vegan diet for a while.

Then I bought Scott Jurek's book Eat and Run about him becoming an unlikely ultra marathon powerhouse on a vegan diet.  Haven't finished the book yet but I will write a review in the next week or so.  Vegan push number 2...

Then I got on Face Book last night and read that my cousin Heidi is on day 12 of a Juice Fast after watching the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. I jumped online and thought I would add it to my Netflix queue...but it was already there. Apparently my beautiful wife added it to our queue because her friend and fellow wonder woman is trying the juice fast. Today we watched the movie and I was impressed, first by Joe Cross and his story, but even more with Phillip's story (you'll just have to watch it to find out).  Here was push number 3 for a vegan diet...

So, although I will be baking bread still for the kids, and Heidi (at least for a week or so before I convince her to join me). I am going to embark on the juice feast, no solid food, only juice and water for the next two weeks as a cleansing fast. I expect the first several days to be tough. Then I will evaluate if I want to continue to 30 days. If I make it to 30 days, then I will evaluate if I should continue the 60 days like Joe does in the documentary.  Tuesday morning I am meeting with the Doctor (again, I met with him before I started the first of December...), and will have my blood work done and hopefully a few more tests.

Will I be vegan the rest of my life? Probably not, but I will be for the next few weeks, and possibly a stint after that. I will let you know how it goes. Wish me well!!!!