SteveOH

Feelings and Thoughts

I woke up pretty good today.  Not great but not normal.  The routine is just fine now, with the juice in the morning and at night.  Today’s juice kicked my ass (more information below) so I was taught a lesson there.

Resources and Tips

Tip of the day:

Goals

• DeTox: Nothing new here.
• Lose body fat (a plus but not required): I quickly weighed myself today and found that I haven’t gained any of the weight back (yet).  Still down 3 lbs.  Body fat is unknown until Friday (Day 12)
• Start the new year more disciplined: Juicing regularly is getting to be normal, though it does take more time than I’d like (about 30 minutes from open the fridge to get the stuff and sitting on the couch after washing the juicer).
• Get over this constant fatigue: Still tired, so not 100% yet.
• Learn good habits: Good habits on the way!
• Sleep 8.5 hours: Last night I slept for about 8.1 hours, which is good but not great.

Supplementation

Supplementation is continuing for the next month to allow my thyroid, adrenal glands, liver and kidneys to recover.

Diet

Today’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: DeTox Tea
3. 12 PM: Lunch: food (lean steak and potatoes with green beans)
4. 2PM: Mid-afternoon: DeTox Tea
5. 4PM: Late-afternoon: protein shake
6. 6PM: Post-workout: juice
7. 8PM: Dinner: food (chicken and a salad)

Today’s juice consists of broccoli, kale, celery, carrots and cucumber, which is the same recipe as yesterday but excluding the apple.  I wanted to see if I could get away with not having that much sugar and still enjoy the juice.  Well quite frankly, I cannot.  The juice needs some fruity sugaryness.  Otherwise, it’s not very enjoyable to drink.  I still drank it, but boy did I not enjoy it.

I’ll probably add 1 apple instead of 2, to reduce the sugar but increase the sweetness.  I may also throw in a kiwi if I have any on hand for tomorrow.

Today is also the first time I’ve eaten steak.  It’s a little heavy for my stomach (a bit of indigestion) but not as bad as before.

Exercise

Cardio tonight!  Let’s do it!

Feelings and Thoughts

Today was a normal day.  I’m continuing the replacement of meals with juice to ease into eating solid foods and continuing the fat utilization.  I’m obviously no longer detoxing, but I’m minimizing the amount of artificial foods I ingest to keep my consumption of toxins within my food low.

Resources and Tips

Tip of the day:

Drinking juice before meals is an awesome way to get the nutrition you need and maintain discipline while eating.  When you drink 16oz of juice about 30-60 minutes before a meal, you’re less likely to over eat, binge or eat unhealthy foods.

Goals

• DeTox: My urine is still pretty light and I make sure to maintain my water intake as well.
• Lose body fat (a plus but not required): I’m still not sure, but I’m leaner than when I started.  I was paid a few compliments on my musculature as well as my leanness, so I’m happy.
• Start the new year more disciplined: Salads and vegetables are slowly becoming a staple of our diet.
• Get over this constant fatigue: Still working on this, I’m definitely not full of energy yet, but I’m hoping that I will be.
• Learn good habits: Good habits on the way1
• Sleep 8.5 hours: I’m having a tough time getting to bed on time with all the things I need to work on, but I’m trying.

Supplementation

Supplementation is continuing for the next month to allow my thyroid, adrenal glands, liver and kidneys to recover.

Diet

Today’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: DeTox Tea
3. 12 PM: Lunch: food (homemade meatloaf and salad)
4. 2PM: Mid-afternoon: DeTox Tea
5. 4PM: Late-afternoon: protein shake
6. 6PM: Post-workout: juice
7. 8PM: Dinner: food (steak and steamed vegetables or salad)

Today’s juice consists of broccoli, kale, celery, apple, carrots and cucumber (same as yesterday).

Drinking juice for breakfast makes my hunger kick in sooner; today I had lunch at 11:30 AM.  But either way I’m liking the feeling and will continue doing so this week.

Exercise

Tonight was cardio night.  I did my usual of 30 minutes and burned 400 calories.  Not amazing, but pretty good.

Feelings and Thoughts

I woke up feeling normal today.  Food tastes AMAZING!  Today I cut back on the food (was planning to have food for dinner) but decided against it since I didn’t want to push too far.

Resources and Tips

Tip of the day:

Take your re-introduction of food very slowly.  Otherwise you will feel extremely bloated, have mean heart burn and / or indigestion, and feel like the detox was a waste of time.

Goals

• DeTox: My urine is still very light, so that’s good!
• Lose body fat (a plus but not required): I won’t know the progress until this Friday.
• Start the new year more disciplined: My family is eating more salad and vegetables already!
• Get over this constant fatigue: Still working on this.
• Learn good habits: I’ve definitely learned my lesson.  I think my detox was so tough because of the abuse I put it through before hand.  I’m definitely going to increase my fruit and vegetable consumption substantially so that the next time I do the detox, I don’t get my ass handed to me so bad.
• Sleep 8.5 hours: Sleep is wonderful!

Supplementation

Supplementation is continuing for the next month to allow my thyroid, adrenal glands, liver and kidneys to recover.

Diet

Today’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: DeTox Tea
3. 12 PM: Lunch: food (chicken and salad)
4. 2PM: Mid-afternoon: DeTox Tea
5. 4PM: Late-afternoon: protein shake
6. 6PM: Post-workout: juice
7. 8PM: Dinner: juice

Today’s juice consists of broccoli, kale, celery, apple, carrots and cucumber.

The picture on the far right is the salad I’m having with my lunch.  Basically, the same ingredients as my juice, but not juiced!  As you can tell, there’s much less vegetables than what I’d be drinking, so I intend on incorporating vegetable juice into my diet on a regular basis.  At least once a day.

Exercise

I worked out tonight, did an upper body regime of weights, with a rep range of 8 – 15 for most movements.  I was so tired at first, but once I started I got a second wind and finished up.  I would rate the workout an 8 out of 10 overall.

I do feel accomplished to have gone even though I had absolutely no motivation to go.

Feelings and Thoughts

This post encompasses Saturday and Sunday.  So Friday night I ended up completely killing the fast as I ended up at a bar with my friends.  So, I decided on Saturday that because of that, and in light of the headache I had that would not go away, that I would begin breaking the fast Saturday.

Yes, it was a lack of discipline on my part, but alas, 5 day fast is still pretty good for my first time, and I plan on taking about 5 to 7 days to fully break the fast, correctly and completely.  I’ll outline the plan below under diet.

Resources and Tips

Tip of the day:

If you’re a casual drinker (like me) and have your regular group of friends, outtings, drinking nights, etc. you need to plan with that in consideration.  I swore up and down that I wasn’t going to hang out, but alas, that’s just one bad habit I couldn’t break.

Goals

• DeTox: I feel lighter, happier and calmer.
• Lose body fat (a plus but not required): I still look pretty lean, but I can tell the bloating is already starting to come back as my body tries to digest solid food again.
• Start the new year more disciplined: A win and a loss here.
• Get over this constant fatigue: Still working on this.
• Learn good habits: I should have put learn good habits and STOP bad habits.
• Sleep 8.5 hours: Some nights yes, some nights no.  But I’m averaging the 8 hours.

Here’s a picture of the salad my family is eating today and this week!  I’m really happy the healthy habits are contagious (even if I have to make their salads for them to eat it).

Supplementation

Supplementation is continuing for the next month to allow my thyroid, adrenal glands, liver and kidneys to recover.

Diet

Saturday’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: food
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein shake
3. 12 PM: Lunch: juice
4. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake
5. 8PM: Dinner: juice

Sunday’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein shake
3. 12 PM: Lunch: food
4. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: juice
5. 8PM: Dinner: food

Some of the salad I ate this weekend with my meals.

Exercise

I worked out Saturday evening and it was amazing.  I worked out with the same intensity that I would before on large doses of caffeine and pre-workout supplementation.

Feelings and Thoughts

Today I woke up feeling more like myself.  It might be because I had a chicken breast last night and slept 8 hours, in addition to drinking some honey with lemon for my throat.  Either way, my throat is like 90% better and my headache is 80% better.  It might be the detox timetable (it sounds about right) but either way, I feel better than I did before.  I still feel weak though, so I’m going to get a lot of sleep and hit the gym tomorrow morning (Saturday).

Resources and Tips

Tip of the day:

Keep going even though you feel like crap.  You’re supposed to feel like crap.  They say that toxins hurt you twice: when they go in and when they come out.  So don’t despair.

Goals

• DeTox: Nothing new to report here in terms of detox symptoms or goal… still detoxing.
• Lose body fat (a plus but not required): I’ve lost a total of 2.8 lbs (I weight myself every Friday and measure my bodyfat.  My bodyfat is slightly lower, about 1% less.  We’ll see if that sticks or not.
• Start the new year more disciplined: still… working… on it.
• Get over this constant fatigue: Today I don’t feel as fatigued, but still tired and weak.
• Learn good habits: Good habits still suck.
• Sleep 8.5 hours: I slept 9 hours last night.  It felt good and I slept through the entire night.

Supplementation

Everything is the same here.  Continuing my echinasea and vitamin C.

Diet

Today’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 9AM: Detox Tea
3. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein shake
4. 12 PM: Lunch: juice
5. 3PM: Detox Tea
6. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake
7. 8PM: Dinner: juice

For today’s recipe I attempted to use the Ultimate Tomato Juice Recipe from here.  The ingredients are shown above.  As you can see, all those ingredients are very light and contain a lot of water.  I love tomatoes, so I thought, natural tomato juice has got to be awesome.  To my horror, I was wrong.  After using the last of my tomatoes (all 5) I took a sip and it tasted like water used to clean vegetables, with only a hint of anything, which just grossed me out.  You either taste like vegetable juice, or you don’t, but don’t taste like dirty water.  I tried adding the salt as directed in the recipe (I hadn’t at this point) and then it tasted like dirty ocean water (SUPER salty dirty vegetable water).  To quote my wife:

“You don’t ever make faces for anything, but when I saw your face after you drank that, I wanted to throw up!”

So unfortunately, I had to throw that batch away.  What a waste.  I tried to add 2 carrots, but the salt watery-ness of it was too strong to defeat.  Shame.

I ended up making the same recipe as I did before (7 carrots, 2 apples, 2 stalks celery, 5 leafs of romaine lettuce, 2 cups spinach).  That tastes great, nice and sweet with only a hint of leaf.

Now that I know I hate watery vegetable juice, I can pick my recipes better.

Exercise

I’m not sure about exercise today… will see how today goes.

Feelings and Thoughts

I slept well last night, but woke up feeling exactly the same as yesterday, at least I don’t feel worse.  It was slightly easier to go without dinner last night, though I did throw a few pieces of apple and kiwi in my mouth while I was making today’s juice.

I also woke up with my ankle hurting.  It’s the weirdest thing, as if I had slightly twisted it while I was sleeping.  Odd.  I have read that old injuries can become inflamed and painful on the detox, but I’ve never hurt my ankle, I expected some pain in my knees, but nothing yet.  Ohh well, just something else to deal with.

I am so tired and weak.  It’s only 3 PM and I feel like it’s 3 AM and I haven’t slept in days.  Ugh!

Resources and Tips

Tip of the day:

Only do the detox if you’re serious about it.  I consider myself someone with a strong will, and I’ve considered stopping a few times.  The need for food (and chewing) is strong, and it’s hard to resist when you’re moving around delicious foods in your fridge to get at your juicing supplies.

Goals

• DeTox: I’m getting some acne (awesome) so something is coming out.
• Lose body fat (a plus but not required): Same weight as yesterday, I must not have been retaining too much water to begin with.
• Start the new year more disciplined: still… working… on it.
• Get over this constant fatigue: Still feel like crap, but not worse than yesterday.  I can deal with it.
• Learn good habits: Good habits suck.
• Sleep 8.5 hours: Last night I passed out at 10 PM and woke up at 8 AM.  I was feeling real weak.  The sleep was higher quality (didn’t wake up) but I woke up feeling exactly the same.  LOL.  I also took a nap today around lunch time, woke up just as tired.

Supplementation

Everything is the same here.  I did notice that I was taking 2 of the liver cleaner, twice daily, and you’re only supposed to take 1 twice daily, so I cut back on that.  Also, I’m still taking the echinasea and the Vitamin C.  I have tylenol on standby if the headache gets out of hand, as I have a meeting today that I can’t be a POS at.

Diet

Today’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 9AM: Detox Tea
3. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein shake
4. 12 PM: Lunch: juice
5. 3PM: Detox Tea
6. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake
7. 8PM: Dinner: juice

Today’s recipe (see above) is very similar to the one from day 1, but I added more fruits to make it sweeter and a little more filling than the first day. So far it’s worked.  The kiwi gives it a nice tang that really covers the leafy taste, as does the apple.  It also doesn’t smell like veg, so that might help some people.  The kiwi is a pain to juice though and a bit of it gets wasted as it’s so watery (kind of like what happens with the tomato).

Drinking a juice with so much in it really lifts your spirits too.  A lot of recipes are just one “type” of veg or fruit, but I’ve been using them all to get the most nutrition and vitamins that I can!

Exercise

As mentioned yesterday, I will delay going to the gym until I feel better (i.e. sore throat goes away, headache reduces a bit).  And as I stated, I don’t feel any better.

Feelings and Thoughts

I slept a little better last night.  I did have a half a glass of red wine to relax after successfully meeting a late night deadline (the reason I didn’t go to the gym as well), to that may have helped.  I did, however, wake up with that same stupid headache that I’ve had for 3 days, and I’ve noticed my lower back hurts a little.  Like sore.  I’m not sure if it’s that I’m sleeping poorly, or the detox, but it’s there.  My throat is also still sore, as if my lymph-nodes are fighting some nasty stuff in there.  I wouldn’t doubt it.  I’ve started taking echinacea and vitamin C (my usual arsenal against the cold and flue) just in case.  I’d rather deviate a little from the detox and continue doing it, than get sick and have to stop.  That would mean a lot of wasted time.

I updated yesterday’s post showing that I didn’t make it into the gym.  If its the detox, a bug, or whatever, I feel less than confident that I can make it into the gym and not kick the crap out of my immune system.  So, until my throat feels better, I’m going to rest (i.e. no gym).  Some sources say you should do the detox on a vacation or at home.  I can definitely see why, but I’m strong enough to keep at it.  Some people may feel too crappy to be able to function.  And while I’m groggy and achy and headachy, I’ll just keep pushing on.

I did have to give in and take some tylenol today for the headache (and eat some fruit).  I know, I know, against the detox, but I was getting desperate with the feeling like crap constantly.  I also considered stopping the detox so that I wouldn’t get sick, but it seems like I’m already sick (either from a bug, the detox, or both) so if I get any worse I’ll have to stop.  If I feel the same as today or less, then I’ll keep going.  I want to at least hit day 7 of the detox as that’s when you’re supposed to get the good effects.

Resources and Tips

• Juice Fast : General Information
• Learn all about the detox diet
• Juice Fast : Who should do it, how to do it, and what it entails
• What Do You Need to Do to Practice a Juice Detox?

The links above are general information for when you’re researching.  I’ll add them to the preparation post for those who are in that phase.

Goals

• DeTox: something is definitely happening!
• Lose body fat (a plus but not required): I lost another pound today (more water).
• Start the new year more disciplined: working on it
• Get over this constant fatigue: Feel like crap.  Yay!
• Learn good habits: Stupid good habits.  Why do they have to suck so bad! LOL
• Sleep 8.5 hours: Slept better because of wine + less stress over deadline

The weight I’ve lost (3 lbs so far) are temporary and nothing more than water and an empty colon / large intestine.  What I will say though, is my skin is definitely thinner and I look more defined.  Not instant 6 pack defined, but you can definitely see muscle definition that wasn’t there before.  This is, of course, a result of being semi-dehydrated, but, I can definitely see its short-term value for those trying to lose a few lbs (or inches – yes, my waste is smaller as well) for a big event (e.g. a wedding, date, etc).

Supplementation

Everything is fine here.  As I mentioned above, I did add the echinacea (2 pills in the morning, 2 before bed) and 1000 mg of Vitamin C (1 pill in the morning and one in the evening).  I’ve also made sure to take the right dosage of CLA as well.

Diet

Today’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 9AM: Detox Tea
3. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein shake
4. 12 PM: Lunch: juice
5. 3PM: Detox Tea
6. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake
7. 8PM: Dinner: juice

Today’s recipe is a variation of the Fresh RAW v8 Juice Recipe.  It’s surprisingly good (I expected it to taste like dirt) but the beet really made it sweet.  I’m also not a picky eater / drinker, but my wife said it tasted like dirt (she doesn’t drink anything even remotely natural tasting!).

My variation: instead of cabbage and kale I added 5 leaves of Romaine Lettuce, the 1 green bell pepper and I passed on the onion and garlic (I don’t want to stink up the office).

You cannot taste the tomatoes (and I love tomatoes) as I think the carrots and beet combination overpowers it.  It is blood red though, which is fun to drink.  I also added a cucumber for fun, which I think mellowed out the flavors.

I cheated a little today and had a kiwi (the entire fruit) at around 3:00 PM after finishing my DeTox tea.  I wanted to see if my headache would go away because maybe it was caused by “low blood sugar”.  I also took 2 tylenol about 30 minutes prior because I just felt crappy and was desperate for some relief.  The tylenol took 70% of the headache away (so I might actually have a cold) and the kiwi took another 20% of it away.  I still have a headache, but not nearly as bad as it was.

Exercise

As mentioned above, I will delay going to the gym until I feel better (i.e. sore throat goes away, headache reduces a bit).

Feelings and Thoughts

Ohh am I feeling it.  Headache, body aches, my throat is soar, I’m tired and fatigued, and I’m cranky!  I woke up in the middle of the night because my throat was hurting (weird).  I do want to say that last night’s dinner (chicken leg and salad) tasted AMAZING.  I never realized how much I liked food, haha.

One note is that my urine is almost crystal clear today (it was quite yellow yesterday).

Resources and Tips

Read that.  You will feel sick, but you won’t be sick.  Once you get sick it has good tips on how to handle it since you’re in a delicate situation.  I’m not sick yet, but it sure feels like I’m fighting something.

Goals

• DeTox: so far so good
• Lose body fat (a plus but not required): so far I’ve lost 2 lbs, which is obviously water weight.
• Start the new year more disciplined: working on it
• Get over this constant fatigue: Funny thing is that I feel more fatigued today than before.  But, as Joyce keeps telling me, I’ll feel better for longer afterwards.
• Learn good habits: I’m learning!
• Sleep 8.5 hours: I’m going to sleep at the right time, but I can’t stay asleep.  I’m going to have some juice before I got to sleep (so I don’t wake up in the middle of the night hungry) and maybe some nighttime tea.

Supplementation

My supplements are right on track.  The only thing I’ve messed up on was only drinking 6 pills of CLA for each dose (as opposed to my planned 10).  I had to add another dose of 8 pills to make up the difference before my cardio.

Diet

Today’s menu:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 9AM: Detox Tea
3. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein shake
4. 12 PM: Lunch: juice
5. 3PM: Detox Tea
6. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake
7. 8PM: Dinner: food

Today’s recipe (link) was kiwi, apple, cucumber, spinach, celery and carrot.  I used the Glowing GREEN Smoothie for inspiration.  I made it in the juicer as I wasn’t about to dirty up another appliance.  It was a little on the light side (e.g. I didn’t feel full) so I’m going to use more spinach and maybe some more celery.

Tonight is my last supper until this thing is over.  Chicken breast and yuca, here I come!

Exercise

Tonight is cardio night, and I feel like death.  I’m going to do some low intensity (maybe some treadmill walking or light elliptical) to maintain to the plan and get my butt moving.  I’ll post after to let you know how it goes.

Edit: So I didn’t make it to the gym today.  Between a work deadline, feeling like crap, and having to juice for tomorrow, there just wasn’t time.  I think I might hold off on the gym until I feel better, because it really feels like I’m about to get sick (that icky feeling that you feel like your going to feel like crap, but don’t yet).

This will serve as my comprehensive post and my Day -2 post, since after today everything will be laid out and should be smooth sailing on auto-pilot.

I am 2 days out from my juice detox, which will commence on Wed, Feb 1 and go until Fri, Feb 10.  between today and tomorrow I will replace a meal with juice to slowly work my way into the detox.  For instance, today I replaced breakfast and my afternoon snack (around 3 PM) with Carrot – Spinach – Apple – Celery – juice (recipe). [see edit at the end regarding timeline, etc]

Feelings and Thoughts

I had a tough night of sleep last night, so today’s comments are going to be skewed.  Either way, today I started the preparation for the detox, so I’m excited.  Made juice last night (first time) and it was super easy.  Almost fun.  Cleanup wasn’t a big deal either, just have to make sure to clean the mesh screen really good with the included nylon brush.  Then rinse everything else with soap and water, and you’re done.

I brought the juice to work without an issue.  I don’t feel anything yet, other than being really exhausted (eyes burning, etc).  I do have a small nagging headache that I’m pretty sure is a combination of not sleeping well and not eating breakfast.  I sure hope I don’t have this headache throughout, or these posts are going to be very cranky.

Hopefully with a good night’s sleep and some good juice tomorrow, I should feel like 2.34 million bucks.

Resources and Tips

So the first tip I have is when trying to juice leaf vegetables in a centrifugal juicer, you must ball up the leaves really tight and use another vegetable to push it into the cuter.  Otherwise, your leaves are going to fly around (there’s a lot of moving air in there) and won’t make it in your juice.

Useful sites:

• http://www.juicefasting.org/detoxification.htm
• http://www.livestrong.com/article/435213-how-to-keep-slim-healthy-young-with-juice-fasting/
• http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/detox-diets-purging-myths
• http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/randy13.htm

Goals

The goals for this detox are many.  I’m not a fad dieter and typically wouldn’t try a ‘diet’ unless there’s some research or medicine backing it.  I’m more of a healthy and consistent person.  I do know, however, that I don’t eat anywhere near as well as I should (I eat for results), so my high protein and low carb and fat diet is limiting the nutrients I get.  I’ve been eating like this for 15 years and want to eat a results-oriented but more natural and healthy diet.  This is how I’m going to dive right in.  Furthermore, recent health issues within my family have made me more conscious to the needs of my body, mind and soul, so this is my first step in the right direction.

I have outlined my overall goals and motivation for taking on this endeavor:

• Increase consumption of raw vegetables in my diet (especially post detox)
• Detox all the crap I know I have in my body
• Take a break from my supplementation regime to allow for better absorption post detox
• Burn some fat and try to retain as much (lean body mass) LBM as possible.  I’m shooting to get lose around 3% body fat.
• Start the new year more disciplined, goal oriented and on the right track
• Get over this constant fatigue that I’ve been dealing with for awhile (and abusing caffeine and other supplements as a result)
• Dive in and then grow into good habits that I can share with my family
• Sleep 8.5 hours a night and continue doing so.  I have the bad habit of forcing myself to stay awake for some strange reason.

Supplementation

I have stopped all my performance supplements listed below for the detox.  What I am going to take is listed below, with some rationale as to why and dosage information.  I don’t endorse any of these, I just want you to see what I’m doing and why.  Everything listed below is what I take because I have done my research, am informed with their contents and their interaction with my body, and consult with my doctor regularly.  You should do the same before taking any type of supplementation.

• Yogi DeTox Tea (2 bags twice daily): This tea is great for liver and kidney health.  It has some of those herbs and extracts that I can’t seem to find to put in my juices.  I’ve used this tea in the past and have experienced clearer skin and overall higher well being.
• Gaia Herbs Adrenal Health (2 pills twice daily): Adrenal support.  I’m pretty sure I’m on my way to adrenal fatigue, if I don’t already have it.  So I’m combining this supplement with the detox (and continue until I finish the bottle) to get my adrenal glands back up to where they need to be.
• Gaia Herbs Thyroid Support (1 pill twice daily): A few months ago my doctor said my thyroid was almost near the low-end, so I’m going to give it some nourishment just in case.  I really like these products because they’re all organic and natural (nothing synthetic).
• Dymatize Elite Gourmet Protein Powder (1 scoop twice daily): This is the protein I take on a regular basis to maintain my muscle mass.  As you know, vegetables don’t have nearly as much protein as meat unless you 1) eat very large quantities, 2) eat soy (I don’t), or 3) eat nuts (too high in fat and the fat / protein ratio isn’t great).  With that said, I’ll be drinking one shake in the mid-morning, and one in the evening before my workouts.  Your body uses carbs (muscle glycogen then your liver stores) as fuel first, then protein, then fat during workouts, and I don’t want to fuel my workouts with my muscles.
• PrimaForce Max CLA (10 pills twice daily): That comes out to 14g of CLA daily, which should increase my blood levels of saturated fats (i.e. causes my body to release fat from my cells to utilize as fuel and energy) and they be used as fuel themselves.  I use this regularly in my supplement regime and have had great results (but at a lower dose of 6 pills twice daily).
• trunature Liver Health Complex (2 pills twice daily): Me and my liver have a love / hate relationship.  I love to kill it with alcohol, and it hates when I do it.  So I’m taking this supplement in addition to the detox tea to allow my liver to get in shape.  I’m also significantly reducing my alcohol consumption throughout this process.
• A multivitamin
• Other vitamin and minerals for general health (i.e. vitamin C, E, calcium, etc).

Diet

Fasting is broken up into 3 phases where you 1) slowly reduce food and prepare the body for the juice, 2) the juice fast, and 3) the recovery period where you reintroduce food into your diet.  Some people have suggested reducing certain types of food during the prep, and simultaneously increasing juice consumption (reference link).  I like the idea, but it doesn’t seem practical, as you’re cutting out foods that may only work with others that have not (i.e. remove meats (turkey) while maintaining grains (bread) – that’s a gross sandwich).  So what I’m doing is a hybrid approach where I replace a meal with juice over the next 3 days.

I eat at least 5 times a day, in some way, shape or form.  Here’s a quick outline:

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: eggs, whole wheat bread, ham
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein bar or fruit
3. 12 PM: Lunch: meat (chicken, steak or pork) and a vegetable (usually corn, green beans, tomatoes or sweet peas)
4. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake or protein bar
5. 8PM: Dinner: meat and vegetable, maybe some starch

 Day -2: Replace Breakfast and Mid-Afternoon with juice.  Eat food for mid-morning, lunch and dinner.

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: food
3. 12 PM: Lunch: food
4. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake
5. 8PM: Dinner: food

Day -1: Replace mid-morning and lunch with juice

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein shake
3. 12 PM: Lunch: juice
4. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake
5. 8PM: Dinner: food

Day 1-10: Replace dinner and all food consumption with juice

1. 8 AM: Breakfast: juice
2. 10 AM: Mid-morning: protein shake
3. 12 PM: Lunch: juice
4. 4PM: Mid-afternoon: protein shake
5. 8PM: Dinner: juice

Day 11+: Slowly introduce food back into your diet

I haven’t yet decided if I will start reintroducing food on day 8 through day 10, or complete up to day 10 with juice and utilize a slower re-introduction process for days 11 – 20.  I have to do a little more research on this.

I really like this plan because of the convenience.  I can juice once per day (in the evening), drink that juice for dinner and then pack up the rest for my 2 juices the next day.  The protein shakes are super easy as well, since it’s just powder that you add water to.

Exercise

Physical activity is extremely important to a healthy life style, and a juice detox is no different.  My typical workout regime consists of heavy weights 2 days and cardio 3 days a week.  Typically, cardio Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with weights on Saturday and Sunday (more time available on the weekend).  I’m going to keep that routine, but instead of lifting for mass / muscular growth, which is probably going to be impossible to sustain at this caloric intake level, I’m going to utilize endurance rep ranges (15 – 25 reps) (reference link).  That way I’ll remind my muscles that they’re there, but not destroy them and then leave them with no nutrients to rebuild (since this detox is low protein).

Edit: As it turns out, I had it wrong.  The time that you reduce food is considered part of the detox phase.  That is, the moment you start reducing your food and increasing your juice, you are detoxing, and thus, if you do that for 3 days and then just juice for 10 days, you’re actually detoxing for 13 days.

So I’ve renumbered today as Day 1 and adjusted my timetable.  Now the 10 day juice detox will be Jan 30 – Feb 8, with the reintroduction of food more or less ending on Feb 12 (4 days).

So I’ve decided to do a 10 day juice detox, which entails drinking vegetable and fruit juices only for 10 days.  There’s more to it than that, which I will outline later, as well as some modifications I’m going to make to suit my personal needs and goals.  I intend to post once a day for the entire duration of the cleanse, which I am planning for the entire month of Feb (more details to come).  I will also outline my motivation (prior to commencing), my supplies and diet plan, supplementation, my goals and my expectations throughout.

I will post once a day with all of the information, outlined in the following sections (below).  The only deviation from this will be the beginning and end comprehensive posts, any recipes I think may be helpful, supplement write ups and reviews, and anything that is not specifically juice detox oriented.

Post Sections and their descriptions:

Feelings and Thoughts

This section will contain my thoughts and feelings about the process, possible improvements, how its affecting my daily life, etc.  This should give the reader an idea of what it takes to get through it (from my research and prior experience I know it’s going to be quite difficult) and perhaps some tips that I can come up with.

Resources and Tips

This section will contain resources that I am utilizing on that particular day, that is, the books (and recipes), juicers and equipment, websites, blog posts, etc.  Further, I’ll include any tips that I discover or think up on a daily basis.  At the conclusion of the detox I will aggregate all the tips, resources and supplies for a comprehensive list.  That way someone can work backwards for the “best” preparation.

Goal Progress

At the beginning of the detox I will outline some of my goals and the corresponding issues / problems that these goals should solve (if applicable).  For instance, I intend on reducing my body fat and trying to maintain as much lean body mass (LBM) as possible, so I’ll be evaluating that frequently to see how it progresses.  (I know a lot of bodybuilders are interested to see just how much muscle they’d lose on this diet / detox, so hopefully this can shed some light on the subject).

Supplementation

Most instructions for the detox omit or exclude supplementation (i.e. vitamins, minerals, performance supplements, etc) for one reason or another.  I’m going to include the ones that I take and their rationale.

Diet

What I eat, drink, etc will go here.  I’m typically add the recipes in a separate post.  So if you want to see progress, you come here, if you want to get a recipe, you can just go directly to that page.  I will also include the removal and addition of foods at the beginning and end of the process.

Exercise

I work out between 3 – 6 times a week (depending on the week) and I don’t intend on stopping while fasting.  But I will definitely change the manner and frequency of my workouts to adjust to the added strain.  All those details go here.

I will be as specific as possible utilizing psuedo-scientific methods so that anyone (including myself) can duplicate the experience, improve upon it, or deviate from it according to their personal needs.