Hi all,

Liza and I have been having juice-only for 3+ days.  4 for her, and
today after 3+ I had some normal solid food.

We've had some interesting experiences, and she suggested I post some of
mine.  I decided to fast after having very stressful times at work.
Without the distraction of food, I was able to work longer hours for a
couple of days, which I really needed to do.

During the juice days I was juicing mainly organic stuff.  I juiced:
pippins, grannies, fuji apples, asparagus, celery, parsley, garlic,
cilantro, scallions, carrots, lemons, limes and blood oranges.  I didn't
really lose much weight (about 1.5 - 2 pounds) but I could feel my
abdominal area shrinking.  I'm a little overweight right now.  I would
like to juice fast again to lose weight, but my motivation for juicing
is mainly for health (mental, physical) not appearance/weight loss
(vanity).

As a result I started feeling like I was fasting and detoxing, and a
variety of symptoms quickly appeared and disappeared.  I was having
about a pint of juice each day, and about the same amount of water.  I
was having juice only when I felt hungry, and that was 2-3 times in a
day, and I would feel very full after having about 8-10 oz of juice.  I
was thirsty only 1-2 times and had water (distilled or filtered) when I
felt that.  On Wednesday I had raw fish for both lunch and dinner and
late that night decided I had to do something.  Thursday I started juice
fasting.  I worked a very long day that day, about 11 hours.  By that
evening I had a shouldder-neck pain exactly where an old injury was.  It
was bad enough to make me rub it and think about doing acupuncture on
myself, as soon as I was done treating patients, but before I did it
went away.  I also worked long hours on Friday, less patient hours but
more computer work.  Friday night I had a similar experience, with the
injury flaring, but the pain was about 80% less in time and intensity.
It felt like something that was physically stuck came out of there.
Saturday I awoke feeling like everything on the right had moved to the
left, but the sensations were mild and brief and lasted about an hour.
Later that day I had hayfever type symptoms, including phlegm, sneezing
and fatigue, and my tongue was coated.  I didn't work Saturday, and had
completed the work I felt pressured to do in the past two days, so being
tired might have also been a mental thing about letting go - then I felt
so tired I slept the majority of Saturday.

Sunday, today, I watched the joy luck club movie on a tape and cried my
eyes out for a while, but it felt like it was an emotional release
connected to the detox reaction.   After that I was hungry.  Today,
Sunday, I felt hungry for food for the first time since Wednesday and in
the early afternoon had something to eat, including seaweed (wakame,
nori) which tasted good, a little cheese which tasted not good so I
stopped; a little cooked brown rice and stir fried veggies which quickly
changed from good to tasting bad so I stopped; a few macadamia nuts
which tasted great, but I was full after only a little of those; and a
few brown rice crackers with raw butter and raw honey.  My energy is
rising quickly in response to the food so I have to think something has
shifted.

Because it is hayfever season and everyone around me is suffering, and I
usually do but have had only 2 bad days this entire year, I intend to
juice-fast again very soon, like within a few days, unless it feels not
right.

I haven't read much about fasting, or about detox symptoms during
fasting, which Liza shared with me.

regards roberta
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