Hi Janis,

You had asked about your juice fast of last week. I guess my first
initial impression is WOW - that was some WILD N' CRAZY ROCKIN' N'
ROLLIN' "FAST" that you went on.

I don't believe I'd call that a fast, to be honest. Seems that you had
an AWFUL lot of different items that you were eating and drinking, in
addition to adding workouts when there hadn't been any, and introducing
all kinds of other factors into the picture, all during one short week.
I'd think it'd probably be pretty hard to decipher what to attirbute to
what, after only a week of all this.

I'm not familiar with Dr. Schulze's program (although I remember vaguely
looking it over a couple of years ago and not thinking very much of it
at the time), but I'm always skeptical of programs which are presented
as if they can be applied to every individual, across the board. How can
this ever be true, when people have such different, different
constitutuions? One person might be allergic to one of his herbal
tinctures, another might have a massive candida infection and can't
handle any sugary juices at all, etc etc,. Anyway, those are my general
impressions. Here are some specirfic comments.

> In addition to raw fruit and
> vegetable
> juices

I guess I'd want to know which ones, when, how much, etc. I'm not
usually one for advising people to drink gallons of fruit juice, even
freshly squeezed, since its so much sugar. And by the way, even carrots
and carrot juice is an awful load of sugar, which is awfully quickly
absorbed, since its juice.

> and lots of water,

Again - who is the 'generic' person that this is intended for? Some
people just don't need to drink gallons of liquids, and then have to add
water on top of it. That's just an ENORMOUS amount of liquid, for some
people. (On the other hand, there are others who might need large
amounts of water to help their kidneys - or if they have obvious
kidney-related problems, and so on.)

> I took an herbal tincture and an herbal tea
> designed to support the liver

Which herbs? Herbs are not as benign as lots of people would like to
make it seem. Many herbs can kill you, others just make you exceedingly
ill, others are actually nutritious in small amounts, others do nothing
except help you to spend money, etc.

> as well as his intestinal formulas (one
> to
> stimulate the colon, which contains herbs like licorice, senna, and
> other;

I think I remember that you've mentioned before that you like licorice,
and have had good results with this. Senna is a laxative (which works by
irritating your colon - do you want to irritate your colon? Why?).  What
other things does he put in his 'formula?' Sorry to sound skeptical, but
I am.

> the other to cleanse the colon, which contains things like apple pectin,
> activated charcoal, bentonite, etc.)

Again, I most certainoly would not recommend these things. Charcoal and
bentonite are not foods. Are you familiar with what they do? Not a
pretty picture.

> I also took a morning drink with
> olive
> oil, garlic and ginger;

And again - as far as olive oil, there has been a lot of controversy
back-and-forth about whether or not it is dangerous to use in this way,
on a weak digestive system. As far as garlic, this is a strong spice
which many people are either very allergic to, or at the very least have
a difficult time digesting (which is why they taste and smell of it and
burp it up for several days afterwards). So, how can you tell about the
efficacy of your fast when you might be suffering the effects of even
just this one ingredient? Same goes for ginger - its pretty strong, and
some people don't tolerate it well at all.

> and a few spoonfuls of superfood (spirulina,
> dulse,
> yeast, etc.)

What is "superfood?" Is it Schulze's brand of a mixture? What is in it?
Most of those types of super-duper ultimate-food concoctions contain an
awfullyu long list of ingredients, which, if you are trying to give your
system a rest (which is what a fast is all about) doesn't help to
accomplish that goal. Spirulina is controversial for many reasons. Yeast
is right up there among the top most-common-allergens, and presents
other problems as well. Dulse contains sodium alginate, another common
allergen.

> In the afternoons I also drank a broth made from
> cooking a
> mixture of vegetables (he calls it a potassium broth)

Which vegetables?

> Also Day 1 and
> Day 5
> allowed me to eat just raw fruits and vegetables in addition to the
> juices.

I guess I'd be hard pressed to call this a fast. That is not to say that
this diet plan might not work as a detoxification diet, but I don't
really see why it would qualify as a fast. A fast implies that your body
is resting - from digestion primarily - but also from as many other
factors that you can manage to eliminate for the period of the fast.

> I had some unexpected reactions and want to hear what you think
> these might
> mean:
>
> The first 2 days I was very thirsty although I was drinking so much
> water
> and other liquids that I sometimes felt bloated.

Were you drinking lots of celery juice? That's much saltier than you'd
think. You can tell how salty celery is if you've eaten only raw foods
for a while, so that your taste buds have woken up, and then taste a
piece of celery. It will taste VERY salty, in my experience. There are
other vegetable juices that are saltier than you'd think, too. And
seaweed is very salty, and would make you thirsty. Also, some foods are
strong diruretics, and so are many herbs.

> On the 3rd day I noticed that I was sleeping more than normal; it
> was hard
> to get up and I felt sluggish in the morning.

Who in the world knows why this might be? I wouldn't jump to the
conclusion that it was any particular element of your diet, or even that
it was the diet at all. It's just hard to say, when there is so much
else going on. Now, if you were lying in bed, no conversaitons with
anyone, no fights with your boyfriend (not that you have those :D), no
workouts at the gym, etc. etc., with nothing but one single juice, for a
full week, or something like that, well then in that case you might
SUSPECT that it might, only might, have something to do with the juice.
But in your cast there are just too many factors, in too short a time,
to pinpoint the single cause of anyuthing.

> I was very cold all the
> time
> on days 3 and 4 (partly because the weather suddenly changed and
> it went
> down into the '60's)

I would be real tempted to blame the cold weather, Janis!  :)

> Today, my first day on solids, I went to the gym, and although I had
> lost
> merely a pound or two ... I had very little strength and had to reduce my
> weights
> substantially This really
> concerns me.
> I know I'll build up the muscle tissue again, but usually need animal
> proteins to do this.

Janis, did you know that you can easily urinate out 5 pounds of water
weight over the course of a couple of days? I have one very large man
(6"8", 270 lbs.) that I train at our gym, who fluctuates back and forth
as much as ten pounds, depending on if he's eaten a large meal, had a
bowel movement or not, or urinated or not. So one or two pounds is most
likely water, not muscle tissue, like you're thinking. I wouldn't worry
about it.

>  I suspect that juice fasting also may make the
> body PH
> too alkaline for some persons.

Yes, this could be a problem, too. And if I remember right, you've had
that problem before, right?

Anyway, hope I don't sound like a total party pooper, but I'm not
impressed with this program of Dr. Schulze's, I don't think.

I am, however, an advocate of fasts, (real fasts, properly conducted),
and of course depending on the particular individual in question, as a
means to accomplish certain specific health goals. I've seen fasts, and
even juicing programs, too, really turn things around for some people.

Hope this was enlightening!!

Lots of Love, Liza

[log in to unmask] (Liza May)