I am always willing to try a fad diet if I truly believe that it is healthy. If it is endorsed by a physician that I do not think is a quack, I really take notice. A person's testimony will also make me want to try a diet as well, if I look at them and see that they are healthy as well and seeing results. Thus, my new adventure begins...a juice fast.
During my healing process, the physical therapist that I love working with the most told me about doing a cleanse that she had recently done. She said for 3 weeks she did nothing but eat fruits and vegetables. After doing this for three weeks she said she began to reintroduce foods into her diet in order to find the culprit foods that she found to be causing her pain that she would have. Long story short, gluten was the trigger food for her ailments. I had considered doing this diet after she told me, but I was in no condition to do so at the time. Another stress on my already fatigued body was not the best thing for it. The thought was planted though.
That was about a month ago when she talked about her vegetarian cleanse. I have toyed with the idea of going meatless but have never truly thought that I could do such a thing. My sister-in-law told me about juicing (not the steroid type, but the actual making of juice) just in passing. It was more of a conversation overhead when she was talking about ways to get healthy. She said she was excited because she just bought a bunch of fruits and veggies to start her juicing. My friend, Amanda, chimed in and said, "Oh, you must have watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, then." They talked about it for a bit and then my attention was caught by another conversation going on. I later asked my SIL about the movie that Amanda had mentioned. She said that it is a documentary on Netflix that if I wanted to understand juicing that I should watch it. She said it is the diet that Wade did.
Wade is my realtor. In the few times that we have tried to sell our home, Wade has been through the process with us twice now. Wade is also SIL's husband's cousin (did you follow that okay? Hahaha!)He posted a picture on Facebook last week that had me in awe of a transformation. On the left it was a picture of him a year ago. He didn't look bad, but you could tell he wasn't the most healthy individual. The picture on the right was him with a glow to his face, lack of a double chin, and just looking so healthy. He had documented a few times his juice fast on facebook and would take pictures of the juice he was drinking. I would read the comments and see where others that had done the diet before and most of the comments were something of, wait until day blah blah blah gets here and you get to experience this phenomenal event. Things mentioned were weight loss, of course, mental clarity, TONS of energy, etc. All were things that, as a fibromyalgia patient, I deal with. Its hard to lose weight, I want mental clarity, I WANT TONS OF ENERGY! This brought me to the conclusion...I had to watch that movie!
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead is a documentary. It chonicals the life of Joe Cross who is in his early 40's and suffers from a rare disease called urticaria that causes him to break out in rashes (hives) all over his body and that there is no cure for. He has to take loads of medicine to mask the symptoms and is at his wits end with the disease. Now, I don't have hives, but I do have an incurable disease and am (was) at my wits end so I instantly took notice of everything he was doing. He is Austrailian and decides to visit the states as a sebatical to take on a juice fast. He documents his journey in this film and it is nothing short of remarkable. His goal is to get off of all of his medicines and get healthier. He does his first 30 days in New York City where there is every food temptation imaginable. He does his second 30 days on the road on a trip across the US meeting people and telling them about his journey. His progress is managed by a physician who adjusts his meds along the way and he exercises and makes an active lifestyle change. He started out over 300lbs and dropped significant weight and achieved his dreams of living a healthier lifestyle. The best part is that he shared his knowledge along the way. He talked to a ton of people and found 2 others that the film documents as wanting to try the juice fast. The first is a lady who would probably be me. She said the shakes taste like grass, but later said that the taste grew on her and she uses juicing as a healthy alternative for meals on the go, but still eats a healthy meal in the evening. The most amazing transformation that you get to see start to finish is the story of Phil. He is a truckdriver and weights a whopping 429lbs. You see him hit rock bottom and you see him transform into this man who weights 220 now and is helping others along the way. The best part is that they are all monitored by a physician who gives the all clear and the weight loss is done safely and is approved. Another part that I love is that the weight melts off of these larger people. In just 30 days, Phil dropped 100lbs! It was so awesome to see the health shine out of him.
After watching this, and seeing other's struggles, I went to the internet. There is a plethora of juicers (people who juice, not the machine) out there and they love to share their receipes. I found one website where you type in what you are craving and they give you a recipe for a juice that will satisfy the hunger pains and fulfill the craving.I like knowing that there is a community out there that supports you as well as is rooting for you. I also like the education that goes with it. You learn about micro-nutrients vs. macro-nutrients and why your body does so well with the micro-nutrients.
The best part, as well, about this diet is that my husband is on board. I made a shake yesterday just to "try it out" and used my blender per my SIL's recommendation. I made a bunch and gave him a glass. He downed it. I thought it tasted like grass and all he could talk about was the banana that I put in it. I drank just a third of it and put my glass in the fridge and he drank the rest of it this morning. I think that with his support that I could do this. I had my first smoothie this morning and so far so good. I'm going to get online and check out some juice recipes and see what I can come up with for lunch. I look forward to updating you on the progress as I go through this healing process of my fibromyalgia.
Also, I want to leave you with this...DO NOT start this diet without the approval of your doctor. I have the all clear since I am healthy and not taking any medications right now. (Yeah, I weened off of them all as I started to feel better.) If you are taking medications, you HAVE to have an all clear from a doc or at least be monitored by a physician in order to do any kind of fast. I think that this diet is great and have hopes for it to do great things, but I don't want to endorse anything for YOU without you checking with your doctor first. I still plan to have a full checkup with Doc as I progress through this diet just to make sure that I am still doing well and that I don't need to tweak anything. (Have to take my own advice...right?) So, with that all being thrown at you, I hope that you reading about my progress and hope that you will check out the documentary, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.
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