Usually, no one likes to talk about the first few days of a juice fast. Why? Because it’s bad marketing. No one wants to hear that starting a juice fast SUCKS. Who would sign on for pain without knowing for sure they’ll experience the gain; especially if the pain is a lot?
The obvious answer is lots of people sign up without knowing about the pain and then stop when it gets bad. It’s time to fix that problem
How do I know detox can be that bad?
My first juice fasts started out terrible. The experienced juicers hadn’t warned me like it was some sort of right of passage. After I survived and asked about it most juicers sort of laughed a bit and said that’s the detox part. You just gotta go through it and the good part is worth it.
I’m here to give you the real story before you start AND give you an option that can cancel the pain. As for my first juices, it’s been a while, but there are parts I will never forget, good and bad. Here is a short take on the first few days of the juice fast I did where I juiced for 45 days, lost a hundred pounds, and had my first permanent blood sugar level readjustment.
Day 1 of almost any endeavor is exciting and hopeful. This juice fast is no different, but 3 juices seem like a possible struggle to get down. I expected it would be tough to skip my usual meals, how would I do without Family Friday Pizza Night? I didn’t worry too much about breakfast, because I don’t often have any. The fresh juice was more like an addition to my day. The lunch juice I picked was unremarkable but I had a full Mason jar and I was good to go. My evening juice tasted like a Bloody Mary. I missed vodka though. I went to bed looking forward to Day 2 and missing my midnight snack.
Day 2 made me feel like I could tell myself I had personal virtue and was on a life-saving quest. That feeling lasted through early afternoon. I felt pretty good especially because I was sharing my juice fast with a partner and my kiddo. See, virtue. By late afternoon something was going sideways, I felt like I might be an engine running on the wrong gasoline. I thought it was a bad day to pick up a cold or even the flu, but I’m usually an optimist. I distracted myself as best I could. Then, my positive attitude was left in my rearview mirror by nightfall. It really felt like something was wrong. Everyone juicing in the house was sicker than a dog. I wondered about some bad ingredients. This was early in Google time so there just wasn’t much information online. I was sure it was caused by the juicing but I had no idea what to do to fix it.
Day 3 felt like it lasted forever. I wasn’t sure how Advil impacted juicing, but I didn’t care even the least little bit. I took the full dose the nurse told me I could and I just laid on the bed sweating. Everyone felt like hell but we agreed to hang in. What made it worse, I had to pee all the time. Not fun, but I had started to find information on how bad your first juice could start. Pain seemed to be part of the protocol. I found information from Joe Cross that his first fast wasn’t easy at the start (apparently that’s a bit of an understatement as I recall it.) He hadn’t brought up the painful start in his first movie. He felt it would discourage people. See? Bad marketing.
I have a guilty admission. The night before I started my juice fast I was convinced to have a last blowout of rich food, mixed drinks, and an insulin boost. BAD IDEA.
Feeling uncomfortable is just how it goes with diets or juicing. I should have considered that before that steak and old-fashioned launch party. I was so sick on day 3 that I almost quit that first time. I was saved because my daughter was juicing with me and she kept reminding me that she wanted me to live…SO I kept swinging and sipping juices. It was crazy hard to get up and make my juices, but I didn’t know anything about batch prep for juicing. I just had to go through it. I’m glad I did.
Day 4, I hadn’t slept worth a damn. I wanted to throw up, but there was nothing to throw up. I was surprised that the juices helped a bit, but it was a “roll around on the bed and wait for the agony to pass” kind of day. It’s like the worst flu I have had for years. At least I didn’t want to eat. I did get on the scale so I had some good news to offset pending death.
Day 5 I was surprised to feel like my body was getting used to it. In the morning I started to feel much better and I got my energy back. Given how horrid I had felt when I went to sleep, I woke up feeling surprisingly better. Out of nowhere, I remember thinking I was ready to do this entire fast. Of course, I was peeing all day, I felt strangely amazing.
The scale and my blood sugar numbers were all I needed to get out of bed.
I had survived what I think of now as “the warm-up detox to a fast and WOW I felt great… The pain was entirely gone like it had not ever been there. I couldn’t believe how amazing I felt. I checked with my juicing partners and everyone was the same. The changes in 24 hours for all of us felt impossible, but it was all three of us. I was real.
I felt super energized and I loved the juices. I didn’t even miss my morning routine. Juices were better at giving me energy than coffee. I was ready to make real progress on weight loss. While I had been suffering from what is very much like a detox from bad food instead of drugs or alcohol., I hadn’t really focused on weight loss but it was sure happening
So, here is the bottom line: The first time I jumped into juicing, I did what Joe Cross said to do. Just grab your juicer and get to it. I had no idea the initial detox phase was going to hurt at all. As I said, Joe’s movie said nothing about the pain. I get that decision, he was looking to do good and if you got past the first days, things got very good. Still, I wondered if it would have been easier had I known. Well now I know, it would have been better because I found lots of folks who tried it and quit during the initial phase. It’s a damn shame, but I get why they did. I’m an understanding guy.
In the end, the memory of that pain really kept me from juicing again for a while, even after my 45-day success. I just couldn’t face those early days again. But without a follow-up dieting solution I was certain to lose ground with my health. I had tried to juice a year or 3 ago but I just could not deal with the detox repeat. BUT I still needed to juice. Faced with all that pain, I decided to create a better way. I read about other people’s experiences and fairly quickly I expected that just “ jumping in” might be the problem. Maybe I could find a better way to ease into a juice fast. I hoped that maybe the start could be softer and it would only be half as bad.
If you want to see more about the soft start, click here!
I guess I miscalculated. Easing into juicing wasn’t half as bad, it was amazing. I had zero pain in starting up again. That’s when I came up with the Soft Start procedure. It really worked great. I’ve tested it a bit with other folks and it simply and softly works. Sure, it takes another week, but the experience has been all positive. Now I know, I can detox and juice any time and not be stopped by ugly detox. The next step is the extended juicing plan. I’ll be posting that soon.
I couldn’t be happier
Juice on my friends
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