On Cravings

So during the course of my juice feast I've really begun to learn some things about how we relate to food. What triggered this was an almond commercial announcing a new "portion control" strip on the side that lets you see how much you're eating. This is what I hate about dieting; eating should not involve math goddamn it!

That's my natural feeling on it and up until recently I was thinking that was what was getting me in trouble. I'd get something REALLY good like coconut curry from take-out and mow through it instead of saving half for lunch the next day like I rationally should. This is why the prospect of dieting always seemed kind of grim. You count all your calories and then when you've reached 1500 you just stop eating? That's crazy talk!

In doing the Juice Feast, I have to say, portion control has not been an issue. 4 quarts of juice is a lot to drink in a day, in the first few days I was lucky if i got 2.5. Sure there were cravings, but I was full %100 of the time, not just full, stuffed.

So what changed? I think it was getting all my vitamins and minerals for once. Honestly, it's like all those cravings were my body going into a feeding frenzy searching for magnesium, potassium phosphorus, whatever. And just like a shark I didn't care if I was biting my own tail, I just wanted to OM NOM NOM something.

Now that I think of it, it's quite possible that this is the first time in my life I'm actually getting all my macronutrients, vitamins and minerals. The shark doesn't go on feeding frenzies any more, and I think withdrawal from certain foods (grains, soy etc) has made the shark sort of chill. Like a shark with sunglasses and a martini!

Prophetic Words

"I will live to see the end of Monsanto."
-Vandana Shiva

Day 24 of the Juice Feast

I did a nutritional analysis on everything i ate today at nutritiondata.com. Interesting results, I'm getting everything I need and about 1400 calories

Calories: 1401
Protein: 38.9 g
+2.0 g Chlorella
+2.0 g Greens Powder
+1.0 g Vitamin Code Perfect Weight
+0.5 g Kelp powder
44.4 g Total protein

Fat: 47.7 g
should have been more like 32 g
Carbs 239 g


Vitamins Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV
Vitamin A 85534 IU 1711%
Vitamin C 728 mg 1213%
Vitamin D ~0.0 IU ~0%
Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol) ~19.9 mg ~100%
Vitamin K ~4240 mcg ~5300%
Thiamin 1.7 mg 114%
Riboflavin 1.8 mg 107%
Niacin 16.2 mg 81%
Vitamin B6 ~3.8 mg ~188%
Folate ~617 mcg
Vitamin B12 ~0.0 mcg ~0%
Pantothenic Acid ~7.2 mg ~72%
Choline ~259 mg
Betaine ~3.9 mg

Minerals Amounts Per Selected Serving %DV
Calcium 986 mg 99%
Iron 20.4 mg 113%
Magnesium ~757 mg ~189%
Phosphorus ~984 mg ~98%
Potassium ~8750 mg ~250%
Sodium 1748 mg 73%
Zinc ~6.5 mg ~43%
Copper ~3.1 mg ~157%
Manganese ~5.3 mg ~266%
Selenium ~15.1 mcg ~22%
Fluoride ~41.0 mcg

The vitamin D, Selenium, Pantothenic Acid, and Zinc I'm missing are made up for in my mulitvitamin. The B12; I'm getting in my bee pollen. Also the supplement info isn't included.

Speaking of which, how did i get so much fat? I might have put that info in wrong when I made a custom entry. The site doesn't have Hemp Oil listed, although it's got pages and pages of info on Arby's, Mcdonald's, Taco Del, etc. At least it's nice to know i'm good on calcium iron and everything. Holy crap i got a lot of vitamin A.

UPDATE: I was right about the fat grams. I was adding them up wrong so it's more like 23.8 grams which brings the calories down to around 1250.

X-Posted from GlobalJuiceFeast.com

After 3 Weeks of Juice Feasting

this week weight lost: 6.6 lbs
total after 3 weeks: 17.6 lbs

Juice Feasting Week 2 Weight loss

week one: 5.1
week two: 5.9
total : 11 pounds

yay!

Global Juice Feast 2009

What the heck is a Juice Feast? Well it's not a diet, although you tend to lose most of your excess weight. It's not a juice fast because you'll be getting your recommended 1500-2000 calories. It's not a lifestyle although many feel so good that they continue it for 92 days or even more. It's not a cleanse although you will be purging your body of the same kinds of toxins that cleansing formulas deal with. In addition you'll be alkalizing, re hydrating and building up your mineral reserves.

I started mine March 7th, the beginning of this year's Global Juice Feast in which people from all over the world are taking control of their bodies and their health by consuming mass quantities of fresh organic juice in lieu of their normal diets (junk food, standard american, vegetarian/vegan, or raw). Without the solid food the organs are able to focus their full attention on removing all of the toxic sludge we accumulate over years of eating at the corporate trough. I'm not sure what his source is, but noted raw food proponent Juliano claims that the average american ingests the equivalent of 17 cell phones in plastics and metals over the course of an average lifespan.

For me this is a great chance to correct some of the damage soy has done to my digestive system.

i can has foodz?

So what kind things am I eating during this 92 days of liquid lunches? The bare bones of it are

• 2 lbs (about 1 kg) of green leafy vegetables (kale, spinach, chard, collards, turnip etc.)
• 1 lbs (.5 kg) celery
• 1 cucumber with skin
• 1 quart of fruit juice (grapefruit, pomelo, berries, pears, apples)

Now of course if I juice a pound of kale and try to drink it I'll probably blow chunks... err... green juice all over my kitchen. The secret is how you mix it. Cucumber and celery are a big help in watering it down. Next I throw in some carrots, fennel, zucchini, and/or beets to make it slightly sweet. In addition peppers, garlic, ginger, parsley and such can give it a little flavor so I'm not drinking the same glass of juice over and over again. A little variety, I've found is the key to staying on this diet.

Supplements? Why yes, please!

You can get a surprising amount of protein out of your greens and even some from other veggies. But if you really want to make sure you're losing fat and not muscle adding some protein into the diet isn't a bad idea. I use the tag team of spirulina and kelp in my green juices. In addition and mostly at the suggestion of juicefeasting.com I'm taking

• MSM - aka the "beauty mineral". repairs scar tissue in the body and makes your hair, nails, skin etc infinitely more healthy.
• Chlorella - itsy bitsy little single cell algae. great source of protein and more!
• Fo-ti/He Shou Wu - Mr Wu was an old man in China a long time ago. he starting eating this stuff and his hair turned black again and suddenly he was the stud of the village. he shou wu translates into "the black haired Mr. Wu". Also known as Fo-ti.
• Digestive Enzymes - many different products exist usually with names like "Ultra-zyme". Look for ones with bromelien and papayein and herbs like marshmallow root.
• Cell Salts - your cells like salt too! dissolves under the tongue
  
• Turmeric - i take it in capsule form. has antiseptic/antibiotic qualities, great for the digestion.
• Triphala - for keeping things regular!
• Psylium Seed Husk - fiber!
  

The Juices

Although juicefeasting.com has some different suggestions, I basically drink 2 green juices a day. Each is about a quart and they look something like

my beet, chard, green pepper, zucchini, and parsley juice from this morning.


I mix in a little hemp or coconut oil to give me some good-for-you fat and to make them a little more filling.


My fruit juices are generally smaller, often mixed with water and some cayenne pepper to give it a spicy kick.

pretty pretty cantaloupe-
grapefruit juice.

Results

More info will be forthcoming, but at the end of week one i was down 5.1 pounds. My skin is softer, my eyes are brighter. I'm not hungry much but I do crave weird things. Even seafood/meat which i haven't had in at least 12 years! Supposedly cravings come from toxins so we'll see how long this lasts. Realistically what I'm craving most right now is Cyber Dogs. :3

Damn you soy!!!

Sprouted Raw Hummous

omfg is that a flaxseed cracker? yup and what's it doing by that big bowl of freshly made sprouted raw hummous? it's going in, hawt. this is the best hummous i've made srsly, recipee down below.







Sasha's Sprouted Hummous

2 cups sprouted garbanzo beans (if you don't know about sprouting google it. i might cover it in a later post.)
1/4 cup raw tahini
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice. you could get lazy and use bottled but it will be so much better if you squeeze it yourself
3 cloves garlic: crushed
1/2 cup parsley chopped
1 - 1 1/2 cup rejuvelac (a delicious fermented wheat berry beverage. if you don't know what this is you can just use water or coconut water here. more on rejuvelac soon.)
1 tbsp minced jalepeno or pepper of your choice
1 tsp black cumin
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp coriander seed
a few grinds of black pepper
1 tsp zest from lemmon
1 1/2 tbsp celtic sea salt
lots and lots of olive oil
paprika to garnish

Ok so you've got your sprouted garbanzos, remember, they need to be sprouted, just raw will taste weird and be hard to digest, you throw these in the blender and add a generous splash of olive oil, the lemon juice, garlic, tahini and rejuvelac. Go ahead and blend this down to a paste, then add your parsley, jalepeno, lemon zest, and salt. Put on blend while you grind the cumin, black cumin, coriander and red pepper flakes down to a powder. Add through top of blender and continue to blend. How long you blend is dependant on how awesome your blender is and how creamy you want this. Your rejuvelac, lemon, and olive oil will actually help break things down in the fridge, but i find it's best to blend until there are no more little chunks. If you have trouble with this you can add more olive oil and continue to blend.

now when it's ready pour it in it's serving dish (a big flat dish with a top would be ideal) and garnish with olive oil, black pepper and paprika. if you wanna be snobby you can throw a little parsley on top.

all that's needed at this point is a cracker, tortilla, toast, baguette or just about anything you can imagine. as you can see i've dehydrated some flaxseed and veggies into crackers. so as to have a completely raw meal but i leave it to your discression to chose the medium for your hummous. try raw veggies dipped in it too!