Five weeks ago I started a 14-day juicing program from Jason Vale. In the first 2 weeks I lost 10 pounds by juicing, drinking water and walking almost every day in between half an hour and 1,5 hour. My energy level went up and I never had a problem feeling hungry. In my previous blogpost I promised to keep you all updated on the ongoing progress.
Lost 18 pounds in 5 weeks
I lost 10 pound in the first 2 weeks, but it took me another 3 weeks to loose the next 8 pound. There are several reasons why I did not loose more in the most recent 3 weeks. The most important reason was the Sailing Challenge of crossing the English Channel from Calais to Dover on an inflatable catamaran. During this sailing challenge trip I did not continue juicing and even gained 2 pounds. When we arrived in Calais, the weather was 24 degrees Celsius (October 18). We enjoyed Fruits de Mer outside at a French Brasserie.
Instead of wine, we had the seafood served with water. Once we arrived in the UK, after being rescued by the British lifeboat/coastguard from sea, we ended up in a nice seaside bed-and-breakfast where they served only fried food for breakfast. For the evening meal they suggested a local Fish and Chips restaurant. I selected fish (ended up being fried fish as well) with green beans. Everything was fried.
Constipation Issues
Not the first subject to discuss in public. However, I have experienced similar problems in this area when juicing about a year ago. In fact, my wife Saskia was juicing at that time as well and had similar problems. We found several ways to possibly tackle this problem, which, they say, is mainly due to the lack of fibers in juicing-diets. Juicing vegetables and fruits in a slow-juicer removes all the fibers from the fruits and vegetables and gives you only the juice as a result. This juice contains all the nutrients your body needs and is delivered instantly on a cellular level. No digestion is needed. You can add some of the vegetable/fruit-pulp that comes out of the slow-juicer on one side back into your menu as one solution to the problem. Alternatively, you can use a blender to blend parts or all of the juice you are preparing, for example by adding some avocados and apple-pieces to the blender instead of adding these as well to the slow-juicer. The blender will not separate the fibers from the juice. Then mix the juice from the slow-juicer with that from the blender to get your final juice to consume. JJ Smith, author of a very wel reviewed (over 2700 4/5 star reviews) e-book on Juicing called ‘10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse: Lose Up to 15 Pounds in 10 Days!” is a great advocate of only using the blender to make the juices. Smith also suggests drinking 1 large glass of water with 1 teaspoon of sea-salt first thing in the morning, followed by drinking another 4-5 glasses of clear filtered water after that first glass. After that there should be no constipation issues that day. Eating regularly a salad instead of drinking juices all day also can help in this matter.
For me, I even had pictures taken at the hospital as I had constipation pain and wanted to make sure it was not something else. The doctor subscribed me the above pictures stuff. It is mixed with water and doesn’t taste well, but solves my problem as does the sea-salt with water solution work well.
Protein Powder
JJ Smith motivated me to add some protein powder to my juices and to adjust the juices to those which were fully blended. I have just adjusted my way of juicing to include the protein powder and to try the fully blended some of the juices. The protein powder should help in adding extra protein to my diet and feeling satisfied and not hungry. The blended juices are full with fibers and will help with the above mentioned constipation problem I had.
Wheatgrass
We have been drinking wheatgrass before but had some trouble growing it. I have started to add it to my diet again.
Walking
I started walking almost every day 5 weeks ago. My physical condition was not great when I started. I remember that I had muscle-pain from just walking 30-40 minutes early in the morning before breakfast. Last weekend, I went on a walk with Saskia for 4 hours and had no problem finishing this walk. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a lot.
Challenge
I feel challenged to continue my effort to loose weight and completely change my lifestyle to a healthier one. I don’t know all the answers and the best way to loose weight. There are of course moments I long for a good glass of wine with some French or Dutch cheese. This while listening to good Jazz music watching the flames in the fireplace in our livingroom. However, I try to keep the end-goal in mind and that helps to wave away the wine and cheese most of the time. 🙂
Stay tuned. A next update will be there in 2-3 weeks time.
My favorite Health and Juicing books: www.amazon.com
JJ Smith Juicing book: 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse
Juicing website Jason Vale: www.juicemaster.com
Supplier in Amsterdam of slow-juicers: www.tarwegraskoning.nl
Joe Cross website about the difference between juicing and blending: http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/juicing-vs-blending-facts/
Joe Cross website about adding proteine: http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/protein-on-a-reboot/
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