Running across an article by Dr. Glenn Braunstein in the Huffington Post Blog reminded me it was time to check in on our juicing progress. Dr. Braunstein is a medical doctor and has written about the potential issues of long term juicing, detox diets and juice fasting. There are many sitting either side of the juicing fence. I like to hear from both sides. As with most good things, can become problematic when taken to extremes.

First, Glenn has some points on juicing. I don’t care what it is, step (or drastic) changes in anything in your life can be hard on your body and lifestyle. An all juice, long term juice fast isn’t for everyone. It’s drastic. It’s a commitment that your primary physician needs to monitor. Especially if you have any existing medical conditions. While it has worked for some, it may not work for all. We haven’t heard from the people it didn’t work for. Is that because they’re silent or because there are none? Interesting…

At the same time, adding a couple cups of veges to your diet liquid style probably doesn’t hurt and is one way to get the 4 1/2 cups of fruit & veges that… well my body rarely sees. Of course it would be better to eat 4 1/2 cups of (mostly organic) fruits and vegetables daily… my body would probably go into shock :). While adding more to my daily routine is a goal, that journey has many steps remaining. 🙂 So providing even a portion of that to my body in any form is a good thing. I think. We try to limit the sugar in our daily green juice. Does it have carrots and apples in it? Yes, most days. So there is a healthy dose of sugar. Do I feel the sugar high? Good Question. Juicing generally has increased my energy level. There’s no noticeable short term peak and fall, no hitting the gas pedal. Rather it’s a higher idle, all day. Which I love.

There are no medical pros in our house, but here are a couple observations from our juicing experiment…

• Change is hard
• One reason people who are committed to diets are successful is because it helps them to change their routine. As long as the diet is not harmful, it doesn’t matter much what vehicle allows the routine to be broken. It provides some rules and guidelines to follow through the day to break one habit and start (usually temporarily) another.
• Ash Wednesday was eye opening for me. Remember my post on that fast day? The realization that my eating was out of habit or boredom was, well eye opening.
• Juicing has resulted in my generally feeling better. More energy, resistant to the colds are shared this time of year. Nice
• But it was only one of the things I’ve committed to, at the same time more exercise and watching what I eat. So is the exercise adding energy too? Yea, it always does for me. Is it making me generally feel better, yea it always does. Is cutting back on processed foods making me feel better? Yea, it probably is. Is cutting back on snacks having an impact? Yea, it probably is. So juicing isn’t the only component that is making me feel better and really there isn’t enough of a scientist in me to want to JUST juice and observe the results.
• Bottom line is this… baby steps… small changes are having an impact. In breaking some bad habits and routines, I’ve dropped about five pounds over the past couple weeks, have more energy and feel better. My clothes fit better. It’s not from drastic changes, but from baby steps.
• It’s about being able to make small changes to a routine and hopefully replacing habits that are not great with habits that are better. However that happens for you. For now, this is working for me.
• Change is hard. It requires an openness and a motivation to change, and a plan. In the big picture, don’t think it matters too much what the motivation is or the plan. What’s your motivation? What’s your plan? Mine was being vain & cheap. I didn’t want to bump up a clothes size. It’s. That.simple.
• My eyes were open to the possibility that changes were needed. Hence the investment in this crazy juicer that sits on our island. Nothing drastic, just an openness and then some action. If it cost me $299 to get where I am today, I’m ok with that.
• In May I’ll go for blood work to see what the impact to my body has been and will let you know. Hoping for lower cholesterol and thyroid levels. We’ll see.

One step at a time, nothing drastic. We’re still considering a couple day juice fast, but we’ll see where this journey takes us! For now, once or twice a day is good.

Do you juice? What do you think?