In alignment with this optimism, I'm trying to decide where to steer this blog. Issues of sustainability and social justice are really important to me. I had originally started this blog with an idea of charting my progress as I began trying to get fit. I'm starting to see that those two arenas - fitness and sustainability- are actually intimately linked. Mathew and I watched a documentary tonight called "Dive! Living Off America's Waste" www.divethefilm.com. Its description of the amount of waste in the USA made my head spin. It made me ponder how I "consume". I'm not planning on dumpster diving any time soon, but it's definitely given me something to think about.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Starting a new year.
It's sort of predictable to fall into the trap of making New Year's resolutions at the beginning of the year, and we all know how often those go south. I think I read somewhere that the average resolution lasts until the second week of January. However, there's something alluring about the idea of a totally fresh start, so let's just say that I'm starting the year optimistically, with a plan to have a little something to say each day.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The juice fast, or, The Fast and the Furious.
Hey folks- there's a lot of ground covered in this one, so it shaped up to be sort of a long post. I won't always drone on like this...
Like I mentioned in my first post, I began the process of losing weight thinking that I would do a 60 day juice fast. I want to talk a little bit about what motivated me to try the fast, and how it worked out for me.
My first encounter with a juice fast was a few years ago. Juice fasts are a relatively new phenomenon in the US, but they have been done for several decades in Europe, particularly in Northern European countries like Finland, Sweden, Germany, and others. My first exposure to the idea was from my now ex-wife (and current dear friend) Riikka, who is a Finn. Not long after we first met in 1999, I remember having a conversation with her about juice fasting. I thought it sounded like one of the craziest things I had ever heard, and not at all like something that would be healthy, and most CERTAINLY not something I'd want to try. She reassured me that she had done it more than once, and that you felt really amazing during the process and after.
Fast-forward to 2008. I decided that I wanted to give it a try. Looking at several resources (including research by the now somewhat controversial Dr. Paavo Airola), I figured I'd give it a go. I say that Airola's research is in some dispute not because of the WAY he advised people to fast, but more in the promises he made. Like many zealots, I think he believed so strongly in what he was advocating that he may have been a little generous with claims. At any rate, I followed the regimen for 12 days, and felt great. Airola's system (similar to many of his European colleagues) advised a low daily calorie intake of juices, clear broths, and fast-supporting teas and herbal supplements. Coupled with the intake of liquids is a careful cleansing of the bowel through daily enemas (a process I REALLY am not fond of.) The idea behind this is that during a juice fast, your body is throwing off a lot of toxins. Since the lower GI is the route of elimination for many of these, the Airola-types insist that the enemas are essential, since there's not enough bulk going through your system to trigger normal peristalsis (in other words, the muscle action that tells you it's #2-time). The cleanse ensures that you are eliminating these toxins, which is important to the functioning of the liver and kidneys.
Fair enough, I thought, and bravely subjected myself to what I've heard euphemistically described as "irrigating." Yes, irrigating. As if you were going to harvest carrots or a crop of clover as a result of the process. Additionally, I drank my less-than 460 calories worth of juice per day, drank copious quantities of water and fast-supporting teas (one of which had a distinctly dirt-like quality), and lost about 8 pounds. I felt great, and had tons of energy.
So, this year, as I mentioned in my first post, Mathew and I decided to go for a much longer 60 day regime as done in "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." We ramped down from an omnivorous diet (or, in Mathew's case, a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet) for a week, going vegetarian a few days, then vegan, then raw, and finally onto juice. Mathew bought a new masticating juicer, recommended because it extracts juice more efficiently than the centrifugal juicers, and at a lower speed, thus keeping the juices from oxidizing. I was looking forward to the process, and bought a ton of vegetables, with an eye toward making my own V-8-style veggie cocktail.
Lesson 1 for anyone considering a juice fast; follow a recipe. Let me repeat that: FOR GOD'S SAKE, FOLLOW A RECIPE. I assumed that I could make something akin to the tomato-y wonderfulness of V-8 by juicing the same vegetables as V-8 has as ingredients. Wrong. WRONG. I ended up making this horrid concoction that I had to pour down the drain. I mean, this shit was vile. This brings me to another realization that I came to in the first few days of the fast. I like most vegetables. Almost all of them in fact (with the notable exception of raw celery, and turnips, which I think taste like moldy tile smells.) But, just because I like a vegetable does not in any way mean I like the juice. So often, the flavors of the juice are intense in a green, grassy, and... well, vegetal way that really put me off. Some of the concoctions I made, even when following a "delicious recipe" reminded me of yard debris. I wasn't pleased about that, but figured I could be diligent and find combinations that worked for me. Incidentally, in case you're wondering, the fast I did in '08 was all from store-bought bottled juices, so this juicing and consuming of raw vegetable and fruit juices was a new game for me.
Anyone having gone through a juice fast will tell you that almost always, you feel hungry the first day, listless and lifeless the second day, often with a headache, and then feel a surge of energy from the third day on. I followed this pattern, dropped a few pounds a day for several days, and felt great until about day 8. Then, I noticed that my energy was slipping away, and I felt terrible. I should point out that at no point did I feel hungry. You lose that urge after about the second day. In fact, I had to push myself to drink enough juice to get through a day. What worried me is that by about this point, I had stopped losing weight, and felt utterly miserable. I had this overarching feeling of doom and was pretty depressed. By about day 12, I was on the edge of tears all the time. Not at all because I missed food or anything like that. That was the damnable thing; I couldn't explain WHY I felt so terrible.
After a medical consultation on day 13, I determined that it was time to call it quits. My resting heart rate was 35-40, and I was told that my metabolism had essentially slowed to a hibernation pace (again with the bear references! :p ). I was advised to transition gradually, over a few days, back to solid foods. I was also told that if I increased my caloric intake to 1000-1200, or even as much as 1500 calories a day, that my weight loss would likely resume as my body no longer thought that it was starving, needing to hold on to all reserves (more about that in the next post.)
The take-away from this post may make it sound like I'm an opponent of juice fasting. I most certainly am not. I would recommend that anyone in good health, who ok's it with their medical person, give it a go. I can't be sure if I did it incorrectly, or if my system isn't geared to have a good experience with a long juice fast, or some combination of both. My hunch is the latter. So if you want to try it, definitely RESEARCH it, know what you're letting yourself in for, and go for it. Just listen closely to your body, and know that you're not a failure if it ends up not working for you. The way I look at it, I got an amazing almost 2 weeks of detoxification, and a jump-start on the new life I'm trying to start. I'll likely even do much shorter fasts in the future as a way to periodically purge the crud out of my system.
Next time, the new eating plan, exercise, and how I feel fantastic these days. Thanks for reading!
Like I mentioned in my first post, I began the process of losing weight thinking that I would do a 60 day juice fast. I want to talk a little bit about what motivated me to try the fast, and how it worked out for me.
My first encounter with a juice fast was a few years ago. Juice fasts are a relatively new phenomenon in the US, but they have been done for several decades in Europe, particularly in Northern European countries like Finland, Sweden, Germany, and others. My first exposure to the idea was from my now ex-wife (and current dear friend) Riikka, who is a Finn. Not long after we first met in 1999, I remember having a conversation with her about juice fasting. I thought it sounded like one of the craziest things I had ever heard, and not at all like something that would be healthy, and most CERTAINLY not something I'd want to try. She reassured me that she had done it more than once, and that you felt really amazing during the process and after.
Fast-forward to 2008. I decided that I wanted to give it a try. Looking at several resources (including research by the now somewhat controversial Dr. Paavo Airola), I figured I'd give it a go. I say that Airola's research is in some dispute not because of the WAY he advised people to fast, but more in the promises he made. Like many zealots, I think he believed so strongly in what he was advocating that he may have been a little generous with claims. At any rate, I followed the regimen for 12 days, and felt great. Airola's system (similar to many of his European colleagues) advised a low daily calorie intake of juices, clear broths, and fast-supporting teas and herbal supplements. Coupled with the intake of liquids is a careful cleansing of the bowel through daily enemas (a process I REALLY am not fond of.) The idea behind this is that during a juice fast, your body is throwing off a lot of toxins. Since the lower GI is the route of elimination for many of these, the Airola-types insist that the enemas are essential, since there's not enough bulk going through your system to trigger normal peristalsis (in other words, the muscle action that tells you it's #2-time). The cleanse ensures that you are eliminating these toxins, which is important to the functioning of the liver and kidneys.
Fair enough, I thought, and bravely subjected myself to what I've heard euphemistically described as "irrigating." Yes, irrigating. As if you were going to harvest carrots or a crop of clover as a result of the process. Additionally, I drank my less-than 460 calories worth of juice per day, drank copious quantities of water and fast-supporting teas (one of which had a distinctly dirt-like quality), and lost about 8 pounds. I felt great, and had tons of energy.
So, this year, as I mentioned in my first post, Mathew and I decided to go for a much longer 60 day regime as done in "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." We ramped down from an omnivorous diet (or, in Mathew's case, a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet) for a week, going vegetarian a few days, then vegan, then raw, and finally onto juice. Mathew bought a new masticating juicer, recommended because it extracts juice more efficiently than the centrifugal juicers, and at a lower speed, thus keeping the juices from oxidizing. I was looking forward to the process, and bought a ton of vegetables, with an eye toward making my own V-8-style veggie cocktail.
Lesson 1 for anyone considering a juice fast; follow a recipe. Let me repeat that: FOR GOD'S SAKE, FOLLOW A RECIPE. I assumed that I could make something akin to the tomato-y wonderfulness of V-8 by juicing the same vegetables as V-8 has as ingredients. Wrong. WRONG. I ended up making this horrid concoction that I had to pour down the drain. I mean, this shit was vile. This brings me to another realization that I came to in the first few days of the fast. I like most vegetables. Almost all of them in fact (with the notable exception of raw celery, and turnips, which I think taste like moldy tile smells.) But, just because I like a vegetable does not in any way mean I like the juice. So often, the flavors of the juice are intense in a green, grassy, and... well, vegetal way that really put me off. Some of the concoctions I made, even when following a "delicious recipe" reminded me of yard debris. I wasn't pleased about that, but figured I could be diligent and find combinations that worked for me. Incidentally, in case you're wondering, the fast I did in '08 was all from store-bought bottled juices, so this juicing and consuming of raw vegetable and fruit juices was a new game for me.
Anyone having gone through a juice fast will tell you that almost always, you feel hungry the first day, listless and lifeless the second day, often with a headache, and then feel a surge of energy from the third day on. I followed this pattern, dropped a few pounds a day for several days, and felt great until about day 8. Then, I noticed that my energy was slipping away, and I felt terrible. I should point out that at no point did I feel hungry. You lose that urge after about the second day. In fact, I had to push myself to drink enough juice to get through a day. What worried me is that by about this point, I had stopped losing weight, and felt utterly miserable. I had this overarching feeling of doom and was pretty depressed. By about day 12, I was on the edge of tears all the time. Not at all because I missed food or anything like that. That was the damnable thing; I couldn't explain WHY I felt so terrible.
After a medical consultation on day 13, I determined that it was time to call it quits. My resting heart rate was 35-40, and I was told that my metabolism had essentially slowed to a hibernation pace (again with the bear references! :p ). I was advised to transition gradually, over a few days, back to solid foods. I was also told that if I increased my caloric intake to 1000-1200, or even as much as 1500 calories a day, that my weight loss would likely resume as my body no longer thought that it was starving, needing to hold on to all reserves (more about that in the next post.)
The take-away from this post may make it sound like I'm an opponent of juice fasting. I most certainly am not. I would recommend that anyone in good health, who ok's it with their medical person, give it a go. I can't be sure if I did it incorrectly, or if my system isn't geared to have a good experience with a long juice fast, or some combination of both. My hunch is the latter. So if you want to try it, definitely RESEARCH it, know what you're letting yourself in for, and go for it. Just listen closely to your body, and know that you're not a failure if it ends up not working for you. The way I look at it, I got an amazing almost 2 weeks of detoxification, and a jump-start on the new life I'm trying to start. I'll likely even do much shorter fasts in the future as a way to periodically purge the crud out of my system.
Next time, the new eating plan, exercise, and how I feel fantastic these days. Thanks for reading!
Momentum...
Hit the wall last night trying to write an entry. I'll have a new post up later today for the 7 or so people reading this ;)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
How I got here
I think I'd like to give a little history about how I got to where I am. I come from a family of large people. We're mostly peasant stock. You know, people with broad shoulders and hips, built low to the ground, perfect for working the turnip fields (or olive groves in the case of the Spaniards in my background.) Anyway, we're designed to last a hard winter, you know? Perfect if you're working the fields. Not so amazing if you're a desk jockey, as so many of us are in the 21st century.
I think the story of my family was the common experience of many Americans in the second half of the last century. My parents married VERY young in 1949, and had four children between 1950 and 1970 (me being the last, and a bit of a surprise.) Dad was a physically active guy; he ran a building contracting company, worked like a mad bastard, hunted, fished, etc. However, our family came into being during the convenience food revolution. Dad had an amazing garden, and being Depression Babies, Mom and Dad both froze and canned produce, cooked out of the garden, and so on. But, there was a LOT of convenience food and junk in the house, too, and no real socialization to eat in a healthy way. I remember well taking day-trips as a child and adolescent with my folks, and the common car-food was Doritos, soda, sweet rolls... all that shit (and I don't use that word gratuitously; it really is shit) that tastes good, and is nothing but empty calories.
Where day to day food was concerned, there was no push to control portion size, food was used as a comfort or a treat, and regular physical exercise was not encouraged. Compounding this issue was the fact that I was: a) the baby, and the only boy, and b) was born with a severe club foot. It was corrected through surgeries during my childhood, but it always was a handy crutch when I wanted to get out of any kind of strenuous activity. Mom's cooking did not exactly err to the healthy side, either. Being from Nebraska. there was NO NOTION of a meal without meat. None. Let me repeat it: Meal = meat. The idea of a vegetarian meal would have been greeted with the same horror and shock as if someone suggested Roasted Nun as a nice change of pace from the traditional Thanksgiving turkey. Plus, my dear Mother learned to cook in the early '50s. Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup, mayonnaise, and Cool Whip constituted "The Mortar Trinity"; one or more of these substances was usually included in a dish to hold it together. You could feel your chest cramping as you soldiered through a slab of casserole or a pile of luminous Cool-Whip-and-Jello "salad." No lie.
Moving into my adulthood, I became more physically active, but have always been overweight. Through the influence of friends and loved ones, I developed a love of outdoor activities and travel. Over the last 20 years, I've been lucky enough to have hiked on six of the seven continents, whitewater rafted, skied, snow-shoed, snorkeled, surfed... and yet still, I'm fat. I've flirted with being in shape during my adult life. In 1999, I was down to within about 10 pounds of my ideal weight, was mountain-climbing, and felt great. However, socialization and an early life of poor choices around food and alcohol meant that I never really was in shape for long, because I reverted to old patterns in times of stress, or when I became lax in my resolve. I've never been over 240 pounds, but that's hardly a bragging point. I'm less than that now, but nowhere near my goal of 160 pounds.
The bottom line is, I'm still able to pretty much do what I want. I can hike, I can play frisbee, I can swim... and my fear is, that could all change, potentially rapidly, if I don't get my act together. I don't want a partial life (a half-life, so to speak), and I don't want to unnecessarily shorten my life, nor do I want a lessened quality of life. I want a quality life; hence this journey. For me, it's a combination of stating my intention to myself, and publicly; thus, multiple channels of accountability.
In the next post, I want to talk about the juice fast experience, and what worked and did not work for me. After that, I'm going to access my live-in tech support and love of my life to pimp this thing out, so I can add video, metrics which implies, *gasp*, weigh-ins and reporting them out. Can I get a halleluja?
By the way, if anyone is reading this besides Mathew, feel free to leave a comment, suggestion, or say hello, so I know I'm not just talking to hear my head roar :)
I think the story of my family was the common experience of many Americans in the second half of the last century. My parents married VERY young in 1949, and had four children between 1950 and 1970 (me being the last, and a bit of a surprise.) Dad was a physically active guy; he ran a building contracting company, worked like a mad bastard, hunted, fished, etc. However, our family came into being during the convenience food revolution. Dad had an amazing garden, and being Depression Babies, Mom and Dad both froze and canned produce, cooked out of the garden, and so on. But, there was a LOT of convenience food and junk in the house, too, and no real socialization to eat in a healthy way. I remember well taking day-trips as a child and adolescent with my folks, and the common car-food was Doritos, soda, sweet rolls... all that shit (and I don't use that word gratuitously; it really is shit) that tastes good, and is nothing but empty calories.
Where day to day food was concerned, there was no push to control portion size, food was used as a comfort or a treat, and regular physical exercise was not encouraged. Compounding this issue was the fact that I was: a) the baby, and the only boy, and b) was born with a severe club foot. It was corrected through surgeries during my childhood, but it always was a handy crutch when I wanted to get out of any kind of strenuous activity. Mom's cooking did not exactly err to the healthy side, either. Being from Nebraska. there was NO NOTION of a meal without meat. None. Let me repeat it: Meal = meat. The idea of a vegetarian meal would have been greeted with the same horror and shock as if someone suggested Roasted Nun as a nice change of pace from the traditional Thanksgiving turkey. Plus, my dear Mother learned to cook in the early '50s. Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup, mayonnaise, and Cool Whip constituted "The Mortar Trinity"; one or more of these substances was usually included in a dish to hold it together. You could feel your chest cramping as you soldiered through a slab of casserole or a pile of luminous Cool-Whip-and-Jello "salad." No lie.
Moving into my adulthood, I became more physically active, but have always been overweight. Through the influence of friends and loved ones, I developed a love of outdoor activities and travel. Over the last 20 years, I've been lucky enough to have hiked on six of the seven continents, whitewater rafted, skied, snow-shoed, snorkeled, surfed... and yet still, I'm fat. I've flirted with being in shape during my adult life. In 1999, I was down to within about 10 pounds of my ideal weight, was mountain-climbing, and felt great. However, socialization and an early life of poor choices around food and alcohol meant that I never really was in shape for long, because I reverted to old patterns in times of stress, or when I became lax in my resolve. I've never been over 240 pounds, but that's hardly a bragging point. I'm less than that now, but nowhere near my goal of 160 pounds.
The bottom line is, I'm still able to pretty much do what I want. I can hike, I can play frisbee, I can swim... and my fear is, that could all change, potentially rapidly, if I don't get my act together. I don't want a partial life (a half-life, so to speak), and I don't want to unnecessarily shorten my life, nor do I want a lessened quality of life. I want a quality life; hence this journey. For me, it's a combination of stating my intention to myself, and publicly; thus, multiple channels of accountability.
In the next post, I want to talk about the juice fast experience, and what worked and did not work for me. After that, I'm going to access my live-in tech support and love of my life to pimp this thing out, so I can add video, metrics which implies, *gasp*, weigh-ins and reporting them out. Can I get a halleluja?
By the way, if anyone is reading this besides Mathew, feel free to leave a comment, suggestion, or say hello, so I know I'm not just talking to hear my head roar :)
Monday, November 7, 2011
New day
This is my first attempt at a blog, y'all, so bear with (pun intended ;) ) me while I get the hang of it.
My name's Greg, and I'm a 41 year old guy living with my partner Mathew in Portland, OR, USA. About 6 weeks ago, Mathew and I started having some serious conversations about our weight, and about our health in general. We had watched the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", which has garnered so much attention lately. The filmmaker, Joe Cross, documents his dramatic progress through a 60 day juice fast. I won't go on about it at length here, but I'd definitely recommend giving it a view.
Anyway, we decided to give it a try ourselves. Outside of being overweight, both of us are in good health. I had done a 12-day juice fast a couple years ago, and felt amazing, so I felt ready to dive in. On 7 October 2011, Mathew began his, and I started mine the next day. Our agreement between ourselves was that we would continue as long as we felt good. Over the next few weeks, Mathew and I had radically different experiences. He felt amazing, refreshed, and full of energy. I did too for the first week, and lost 13 pounds. Then, I started losing energy, feeling depressed, and my weight loss completely stopped, even though I was taking in less than 400 calories a day. I sought medical advice, and was told that my resting heart rate was so low that it was clear that my metabolism was flatlined. I was told to either increase my calories and/or to begin eating solid food.
Before anyone says "you were doing it wrong", or "you should have increased your caloric intake" or "juice fasts are bad for you", or any other helpful, well intentioned advice, know that I already went over every possible angle in my head, and spent a few days beating myself up as a failure. However, and this is the reason I'm starting this blog, I think I made the right decision. I transitioned back to solid food slowly, and have been keeping my caloric intake to between 1000-1500 calories a day. I've been eating lots and lots of vegetables, very small amounts of meat, and limited carbs.
Here's the cool part...
A little over 2 weeks after going back to eating (and eating CLEAN), and a week after starting workouts again, I feel fantastic. I hate to repeat myself, but often do (something I attribute to age), but my Facebook status today captures it:
"Sometimes the gradual change becomes noticeable and thus dramatic. After a 13 day
juice fast and 5 weeks of "eating clean" and starting to exercise again, I'm starting to see real transformation. I was out on my walk/jog through my very hilly neighborhood, and found myself STORMING up the hills. At a jog. This would not have been possible in September. I'm not losing weight at a quick pace, but it's coming off, and I feel a little better, and better about myself, each week!"
So where the hell am I going with all this? I want to be able to document my progress for starters. It's all kind of in the formative stages now in my head, but after weeks of procrastination, I wanted to finally kick in and just f'n do it. I'm going to also start doing the videos I had planned on doing weeks back (a terrifying prospect, both in terms of my dislike of filming myself, and my cascading technical nightmare from the first times I tried. Yes, times. Plural.)
Anyway, let's see where it goes!
My name's Greg, and I'm a 41 year old guy living with my partner Mathew in Portland, OR, USA. About 6 weeks ago, Mathew and I started having some serious conversations about our weight, and about our health in general. We had watched the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", which has garnered so much attention lately. The filmmaker, Joe Cross, documents his dramatic progress through a 60 day juice fast. I won't go on about it at length here, but I'd definitely recommend giving it a view.
Anyway, we decided to give it a try ourselves. Outside of being overweight, both of us are in good health. I had done a 12-day juice fast a couple years ago, and felt amazing, so I felt ready to dive in. On 7 October 2011, Mathew began his, and I started mine the next day. Our agreement between ourselves was that we would continue as long as we felt good. Over the next few weeks, Mathew and I had radically different experiences. He felt amazing, refreshed, and full of energy. I did too for the first week, and lost 13 pounds. Then, I started losing energy, feeling depressed, and my weight loss completely stopped, even though I was taking in less than 400 calories a day. I sought medical advice, and was told that my resting heart rate was so low that it was clear that my metabolism was flatlined. I was told to either increase my calories and/or to begin eating solid food.
Before anyone says "you were doing it wrong", or "you should have increased your caloric intake" or "juice fasts are bad for you", or any other helpful, well intentioned advice, know that I already went over every possible angle in my head, and spent a few days beating myself up as a failure. However, and this is the reason I'm starting this blog, I think I made the right decision. I transitioned back to solid food slowly, and have been keeping my caloric intake to between 1000-1500 calories a day. I've been eating lots and lots of vegetables, very small amounts of meat, and limited carbs.
Here's the cool part...
A little over 2 weeks after going back to eating (and eating CLEAN), and a week after starting workouts again, I feel fantastic. I hate to repeat myself, but often do (something I attribute to age), but my Facebook status today captures it:
"Sometimes the gradual change becomes noticeable and thus dramatic. After a 13 day
juice fast and 5 weeks of "eating clean" and starting to exercise again, I'm starting to see real transformation. I was out on my walk/jog through my very hilly neighborhood, and found myself STORMING up the hills. At a jog. This would not have been possible in September. I'm not losing weight at a quick pace, but it's coming off, and I feel a little better, and better about myself, each week!"
So where the hell am I going with all this? I want to be able to document my progress for starters. It's all kind of in the formative stages now in my head, but after weeks of procrastination, I wanted to finally kick in and just f'n do it. I'm going to also start doing the videos I had planned on doing weeks back (a terrifying prospect, both in terms of my dislike of filming myself, and my cascading technical nightmare from the first times I tried. Yes, times. Plural.)
Anyway, let's see where it goes!
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