Sunday, April 27, 2008

Global Juice Feast Day 58!

I Love Berries!
Juice Feast Day 58

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning we made 5 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, spinach, arugula, romaine, lemon, carrots, and apple. We also made two quarts of orange, grapefruit, and lemon, and two quarts of watermelon, cherry, blueberry, apple and lemon

DAVID:

2 QUARTS GVJ, 2 QUARTS FRUIT.

TOTAL JUICE: 4 QUARTS JUICE

KATRINA:

3 QUARTS GVJ, 2 QUARTS FRUIT

TOTAL JUICE: 5 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, kelp, flax/DHA oil, bee pollen and maca.

Also taken: Vitalzym, NCD, burdock root tea, antioxidant extreme, Max Stress B, cayenne, and water.

Your Questions:

What time period after my feast is over (I'm thinking 60-70 days) can I get my bloodwork taken with accurate readings. I know from experience having my bloodwork done immediately after a two week juice fast that the numbers were skewed a bit.

I'd like to wait and have it done when everything is normalized and I can get a "true" reading.

Thanks

We Say:

As far as we know, you can have your blood tested almost immediately. After about a week you should get a true reading on your blood work.

Another Question:

Great post guys, and as always lovingly supportive and informative.
So I have some news to report and ask: Since ending the JF and eating solid foods (about a month now), I have been so bloated and gassy that it reminds me of how I felt when I first went raw. Now despite this, my elimination has never been better --huge amounts of stools several times a day!:)So one would think that this would be bringing the bloating and noxious gas down, but it's not. It's as though my elimination has gotten much better but my digestion has gotten worse or at least super sluggish? Everything I put in me, whether it be something light like fruit or salad, or something cooked and more dense (I am not doing 100% raw, more like 70 or 80), doing good combining or bad combing, juice or nuts -- EVERYTHING seems to create gas and bloating ( I look 3 months pregnant sometimes!) and SUPER noxious gas, despite all my elimination and colonics ( once a week with good cecum releases). I am feeling really gross and kind of frustrated. I know the JF was so good for me in many ways, but I feel worse post than I did pre in terms of my digestion:( I am taking probiotics and going to amp that up by a lot and see if that helps. Any other insights or suggestions?
As always big hugs and deep gratitude!
xxkyle

We Say:

Hello Kyle!

Oh dear! So sorry to hear that this is happening to you! Your story is somewhat curious to us as I am sure it is to you, as gas and bloating are usually signs of being “stopped up” and it sounds like this is not the problem for you. It is also not a common experience for most people after a Juice Feast, and I say this not to make you feel bad, but so that other readers don't get worried their plumbing might be off after Feasting. We are all so very different, but usually people experience a stronger digestive system after cleansing it out. So, lets see if we can figure out what is causing this situation for you!

Our only guesses, with out knowing your full situation, are that you have low stomach acid and are not fully digesting your food before it enters the small intestine (which would lead to both bloating and gas) and that perhaps a colonic once a week is more than you need, and is working to flush out the good flora and bacteria in your colon needed for good digestion.

We agree that up-ing your probiotic intake is a good idea. Focus on bifidus cultures, rather than acidophilus which are acid forming when taken over time. You could also try taking Vitamineral Green, which is loaded with good probiotics among other things.

If it makes sense to you that your stomach acid might be low, you can focus on lots of green juices and green smoothies, celery for sodium so that your stomach is lined with alkaline mineral and can create nice strong stomach acid, and you could also try taking supplemental digestive enzymes and a HCl supplement and see if this helps. Victoria Boutenko’s book Green For Life is a great resource for understanding HCl, and what we can do about strengthening it for excellent digestion. Sunshine and cayenne are also great at stoking the digestive fire.

Other little tips for increasing digestive strength:

  1. Chew your food really well.
  2. Drink lots of green juice and green smoothies. Drinking green juice supplies the minerals needed to digest whole food.
  3. Try eating a large portion of your calories as blended foods, such as green smoothies and green soups.
  4. Engage in vigorous exercise.
  5. Practice the “breath of fire” by inhaling passively, and exhailing in bursts through the nose as you pull the lower belly in.
  6. Get direct sunlight to as much skin on your body as possible daily.
  7. Get a sufficient amount of sleep and rest.
  8. Try drinking some water about 10 minutes before you eat to flush out your stomach, which will cause it to re-supply with fresh, stronger stomach acid. Do not drink while eating, and wait about 30 minutes after eating to drink.
  9. Try supplemental HCl, digestive enzymes, and probiotics.
  10. Eat as much of your calories from fresh, enzyme rich, raw foods as possible. Avoid dehydrated foods, which can cause bloating and gas in those with weaker digestion.
I hope that one or two (or all) of these things help towards increasing your digestive fire! Remember that these things can take time, so be patient with it, and in the mean time remember to say when you fart “better out than in!” In our house, when ever someone farts, the other says “I love you!” kind of like “bless you” for a sneeze. It might be kind of silly, but it certainly makes the farter feel less yucky, and makes the non-farter realize that they really do love the farter no mater what, which can be a good thing to remember when the room is filled with noxious gasses from your loved ones inner realms making you wonder if you love them in that moment.

The last things we might guess, and these of course would be our last guesses, and without knowing your history we could never say for sure, are that you perhaps have an engorged area of your colon, or a transverse collapsed colon. Both of these situations would cause the gas and bloating. You could ask your colon hydrotherapist if this is a possibility for you. If either of these are the case, you can shrink your colon back down with the use of white oak bark and ginger, by following the white oak bark and ginger protocol of Juice Feast Breaking. You could use these two herbs for several months if necessary. Also check out Day 3, Day 4, and Day 84 of the 92 Day JuiceFeasting.com Program for more information!

Let us know how things go for you!

Personal Journal:

Another glorious day on juice! What to say….can I tell you I feel deeper love and gratitude than EVER!!?? Oh sweet greens!!

That is enough for today,

With love and thanks,

Katrina and David

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Thanks so much for diligently answering everyones queries :-)
I have a couple more for you!
1. I'm on Day 60 today, and I'm now a month overdue for my period. Is this normal?
2. My I'm loosing more hair than I'm used to! Noticeable when showering etc. Why is this? A particular deficiency?
Any insight/help will be MUCH appreciated.
Best wishes
Lisa

Melissa said...

Good day David & Katrina,

Thank you for all the hard work and dedication you put into bringing all this information to the public at large. You are truly changing lives.

I am over 100 lbs overweight and am interested in doing a juice feast to take off the majority of the extra weight in a healthy, easy way (easier that is than trying to eat addictive cooked foods in small amounts - just doesn't work for me). I have done a 30 day juice feast in the past, loved it and lost about 30 lbs.

I was wondering, how long is too long with juice feasting. I am pretty sure that 92 days would not result in a 100lb weight loss, especially in a woman. So, if I wanted to juice down to my ideal size or at least shed 100 lbs via juice feasting, could I do this? Would it be safe to juice feast for this long, following all the protocols on your website?

Or would it be better to do a short feast, like the 92 day you suggest, then take a break and then do another 92 day feast.

Thank you for all your insight, love and care.

Melissa