Genuine concern

[Siham Sobhan]

Hello friends.

I hope all of you are well! I have some genuine concerns about juice feasting. I'm starting my juice feast on August 14th after my finals are finished : )

Before I go into my concerns, here is some pertinent information about me. I am a 25 year old female and very active. I weigh about 120 pounds at my heaviest (when I am cramming for tests and not working out as often, such as now) and 115 at my lightest. I am about 5'3" so 115 should be my healthy weight, I believe.

When I discovered the juice feast from Angela Stokes' blog and did my research on Juicefeasting.com, I was floored. I invested in a Green Star Juicer, bought some supplies and even got two close friends to prepare to join me for the feast!

It wasn't until my fiance expressed his concerns to me that I realized I honestly don't know what the best type of Juice Feast is for me. When I told my fiance I was planning on doing a 92 day juice feast, he got a very concerned expression on his face. "Why?" he asked. I explained that I wanted to develop a closer connection to raw veganism. I have been on the raw vegan diet for a year now, and while I am 98% raw, I still have an unhealthy attraction to unhealthy cooked foods, especially when I am under stress. I would probably lose some weight, but according to the site I would gain half of that back. "What about the other half?" he asked me. "You don't need to lose any weight, Siham." After a rather unpleasant conversation in which I got defensive because I wrongly felt that he was "raining on my juice feasting parade," I realized that maybe 92 days IS too long for a young woman who does not need to lose very much weight.

I have surfed on many a juice feasting blog and must admit that I have seen some extremely scrawny looking ladies after their juice feast, claiming that their doctors were incredibly concerned about their weight loss and not supporting the Juice Feasting regime. I do not want to become anorexic by doing a 92 day juice feast, but at the same time I feel a sort of pressure to do it for at least 4 to 6 weeks because I might be depriving myself of the detoxifying benefits.

How do I get someone to tailor my juice feast specifically for me? I have no idea how to contact David or Katrina (I tried emailing them once but they did not respond). Should I sign up for the 30 day registration and then someone will be able to give me a tailor-made feast that fits my needs?

Another thing: my father is a retired surgeon and does not want me to do it for more than 3 weeks. Help please!

Apprehensively,
Siham

[Dianne]

Go contact them again on the last page to members is the contact.I think you will lose too much weight since you are already tiny.Its a known fact people lose weight with juicing.I am 5 2 and gained a crap load of weigh.But I was healthy at 120 ,so if I were you just Juicefeast for 14 days!Dianne

[Siham Sobhan]

Thank you Dianne. I went to the site and wrote David and Katrina a message. Hopefully they will get back to me! I am also a bit concerned about juice feasting because it doesn't seem like this site if quite active and David and Katrina do not seem to respond to emails.

[Berry True]

I don't know what quantities of juice they recommend here, but why not increase the amount of juice until you can no longer loose weight? I like Mike Adams podcast where he makes 1 gallon of juice a part of his daily diet along with 1 solid food meal. (see http://www.healthranger.org/audio.html ) If you can't claim your diet is healthy to eat every day of your life and supports you and your loved ones in every possible way, then why do it at all, even for a detox? A long term approach seems like a good way to go.

[Siham Sobhan]

Thanks so much for the input, Berry True. I think that I am going to shoot for 1 month for the feast and closely moniter my weight to make sure I am not losing too much. I'm not sure I'll want to drink more than 6 quarts, as I hear it's a bit time consuming and I don't want to spend too much money.

Is it true that you gain half the weight you lose back?

If anyone has furthur input, please do share. I value all advice.

[Mefe Erutere]

This is also a concern of mine. I am already 133 lbs with barely any muscle mass. I eventually want to put on more weight through using hemp protein or any other type of healthy weight gaining products, but I plan to do so after my juice feast. Can juice feasting in some kind of way help you build muscle?

[Siham Sobhan]

David sent me an email the others day, and I thought it would be helpful to post the email here for everyone who has the same concerns: here goes...
Hi Siham,

Thank you for your excellent letter. Our apologies for not returning a reply sooner - we are new parents, so time has taken on a different quality!

Juice Feasting is a Life Practice that can be done for 1 Day, or 92 Days, depending on many factors, such as current weight, degree of health challenge, time of year, experience with cleansing, mental/emotional states, work schedule, support network....

And so one undeniable factor is your current weight. You are correct, 115 pounds is your ideal weight range, so going more than 10 percent below one's ideal weight is not desireable. For you, that would be 115 minus 11.5, or 103.5 lbs.

Three weeks of Juice Feasting would probably be more than adequate for you, from a weight perspective. And you might be good with 10-14 Days, Spring and Fall.

On a Juice Feast, you are placing yourself in a significant cleansing physiology, and you can overdo it. It should be a supportive Life Practice that you can use for tuning up the rest of your life. No heroics necessary. The 92 Days are there so that persons who can and do need to go that long know that it is possible. But only for people for whom it is a prudent choice.

What is prudent for you is what I have briefly described above.

And do take probiotics during and after the Juice Feast - your father is right, you can flush out some good flora. However what is more likely is that you could benefit from some probiotics now - even before you do enemas. Enemas and colonics are very supportive, provided that you also do another supportive thing which is always a good idea - take probiotics.

Enjoy your Juice Feast, and remember, the most important thing is that you enjoyed your Juice Feast and that it was meaningful/significant to you so that you will continue to access it as a life-honoring health-promoting practice for your whole life. The number of days is less important, so don't go for a number.... listen to your body!

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek, MA
[e-mail]