Juice Feasting - Day 13 (Blog)

[Steve Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Juice Feasting - Day 13

[rosegold]

Do you recommend someone to just jump from a vegetarian diet to a juice diet without bypassing vegan raw state?

[nano]

Hey Steve you are amazing. I am awaiting your book up here in Vancouver BC. It is taking awhile, oh well.
When you went raw i read, and i used it to motivate me to go vegan.
Now that you are juice feasting i am attempting to eat more and more raw. I made it two weeks...and have wonderful energy.
This has been great to follow.

I needed to ring in about something silly though.
In the last paragraph of Day 13 i noticed a possible typo
"If you can’t seem to get your life headed down the right track, look to your diet. Make changes there first. You’ll find it so much easier to set and accomplish inspiring goals when your physiology is actively supporting you with high energy, positive emotions, and a sense of resiliency that allows you to easy overcome setbacks. Once you get a taste of what life at each new level feels like, you won’t want to go back. And even if you do backslide from time to time, you’ll always remember that higher level of being and will have a desire to return to it.'

the "easy" might have meant to be "easily".

I am not sure though. I have read hundreds of perfect articles by you.
so sorry if it is a false alarm.
Nathaniel
p.s. I have done the drive from las vegas to phoenix that your wife just did except starting in phoenix.
It was great!

[Dev]

This blog is so far the best among the previous 12 days. I really enjoyed reading it. I got an insight on how one can raise their awareness levels just by consciously watching what one is putting in her/her mouth. The analogy of blood getting dirtier to the house getting cleaned is also great.
One can only experience what Steve has written by actually experimenting with the diet for a shorter period.

[RRR]

Glad you're feeling better

I was confused by this statement.

your version of that statement is like how I see the color red. People tell me that my reds don’t look red at all — they look gray.

Your color red is our color gray? What is our color red to you?

I really need to change my diet from SAD. But I really didn't notice a difference going veg for 30 days, I was eating a lot of grapenuts with soymilk. I know Matt Monarch claims processed grains are a significant problem, I'm apt to believe him after the results of my initial trial.

Steve Pavlina post Juice Feast....bonkers.. I have a belief you'll go straight from Juice Feast to Sun gazing

Ps.. It seems odd to me the Juice Feast goes with the MSM products instead of going after parasites first. The idea of being full of parasites bothers me and I assume they are more disruptive than cellular clog.

[Andrew Brunelle]

Hopefully you're over the intial hump of the detox and can start feeling better like you did today. When the fast is over, you'll go back to raw foods. It's funny thinking that raw foods is a step down in the detox process for anything. Glad it's going well for you after the rough patch. I'm glad you're putting the logs up there in case I ever want to try juice feasting. But first I'll have to try the raw diet. One thing at a time.

P.S. I noticed the possible typo as well. One word out of thousands isn't bad, though.

[Jasper]

Great post this one, really enjoyed it.

It's really motivating to read about mental enhancement and after trying the 30-day trial of going vegetarian last march, this post has convinced me to do another 30-day trial concerning my diet.

I really like the things you are saying about the feeling of "certainty". Although my body is probably a total zoo when it comes to toxins, I do try to practice my 6th sense, when it comes to knowing and certainty. I know this exists from a mind blowing experience I had about 7 years ago and try to get close to that state as much as I can.

One of the ways I try to do this, however crazy it might sound, is by playing poker tournaments. Every hand I get, I try to see either the cards of the opponent, by imagining that I'm actually at the end of the hand and trying to feel what I will feel when the hand ends, or I try to feel the end of the pot before a move is made, especially if my hand is weak (and so I play some hands that no pro would play, just because I 'saw' the good ending for me). I'm still not sure if I'm in the business of creating the future, or glimpsing it, but it's amazing how many times my feelings are correct.
Now I'm sure I notice the rights a lot more than the wrongs, but still, I'm totally sure this is reality.

I can also say that the days I feel great (meaning emotionally very confident and relaxed) are the days my accuracy goes up.

Yesterday I played only one tournament (usually I do more at the same time) and I'm not sure why, but I just knew up front this was going to be a good one. This whole experience might be some self-fulfilling process, but my feeling was right. I was calm, collective and the whole table seemed 'transparent'. I couldn't understand some players making moves against "obvious" tight or loose players (sorry for the poker slang).
I ended up becoming 2nd (throwing away the tournament recklessly after an hour long heads-up battle, since the guy playing me had far better stamina), but the experience of the "knowing" was what I was after, and it felt so great.

This is why I love the posts where you tell us about your experience. You show me that there is so much more to experience. So much more mind-blowing stuff for me to explore. So thank you! You make me want to be a better conscious creator! (I'm pretty sure that's why I've created you )

As always, looking forward to more.

[BalancedExistence]

"Back when I was into shoplifting in my late teens, I ate lots of animal foods. For breakfast I usually had a bowl of cereal or some eggs and toast. For lunch I’d have a sandwich, or I’d get a bacon double cheeseburger from Burger King. Then for dinner I’d make some baked chicken, or I’d buy a few slices of pizza."

Interesting. You say that you ate lots of animal foods, but then when you mention the actual things you ate what really jumps out at me is the amount of unsprouted processed grain you were eating. Essentially at every meal. Which I would agree with you would make you feel like crap and act up for one reason because of the sugar dump.

I've got to ask - have you ever looked into organic meat, eggs and so forth and checked out the difference between that and regular commercially farmed animal products? Which I do agree are bad for us.


Stephen

[Matiasfx]

In my opinion this was one of the best posts (in the top 10 for sure), Steve made so far, very thought provoking for a SAD eater trying to grow and expand as much as possible.

Makes you wonder: How much we are losing from experiencing in life that could be better than anything we know so far?

And knowing its at reach makes me feel a little bit of emotional pain for not going there just yet, which its great, because when this pain gets a little bigger, it will be a must, and when its a must i will just have to do it no matter what.

So Steve, thanks for this post and for make me grow each day, showing me the way that i may have ahead of me soon.

Cheers

Matty

PS:

Originally Posted by RRR

Your color red is our color gray? What is our color red to you?

.

I think our gray its gray for him and our red its also gray for him....thats what it looks like in the pictures on the link Steve posted.

[Scorpio]

I posted this in response to the Day 12 post and have to ask again:

If you take a supplement or start a detox diet, and you experience a negative bodily symptom, how do you judge if it's the diet itself that's making you feel that way, or if it's the symptoms of detoxing?

Like you say having putrid bowel movements is a sign of cleaning out stored toxins. How do you know it's not just you digestive system's natural response to the novel, liquid-based diet?

It seems like it would be hard to tell. Do you just follow your instincts? Are you inclined to believe it's more often one or the other?

[rjani]

The analogy of your colorblindness reminded me of a book I've read when I was younger (around 11 maybe, I can't remember). It was written by Lois Lowry titled The Giver. The story takes place in a seemingly utopistic world where everything seems perfect, but you can constantly feel that something's weird, and one time this boy called Jonas sees something changing about an apple that he can't describe, and later on it turns out he started to see the colors, and he gradually realizes that everyone in the village is colorblind and have no emotions at all. I can't recall it perfectly, but I remember it was interesting and kinda strange for me.

By the way, can't you heal your colorblindness with simply intending it to? You know, like in the Secret, where that completely paralised guy healed himself... though I can imagine it's difficult to intend something you don't know what it looks like...

Oh, and one more thing. I'm glad you're OK now, but as you said you had some emotional problems during the past few days, and I'm curious, these emotions were so strong you couldn't control them, or you didn't want to, or what? After all you're some kind of genius when it comes to personal development, thus I suppose you can change your states easily whenever you want. Or are these kind of emotions are different in some ways that the ones I'm reffering to? This I can't really understand.

Good luck with the rest of the feasting, I hope it'll go much smoother from now on. (Although seeing you "suffering" sometimes can't hurt, it reminds me that you're also a human after all, which I tend to forget sometimes )

[ArthurHung]

This post brought me a lot more clarity into what you are doing, and makes it seem not only agreeable but worthy of pursuing these ideas with further investigation, even though you have posted of similar things for so long.

Agreeing with earlier sentiments, I also feel that this is the best post of your Juice Feasting experimental process.

[Monique7nuns]

I think I might finally be getting it.. a little. I'm really looking forward to reading how this goes for you.

[Steve Pavlina]

Some people say the processed grains and sugar foods are even worse than unprocessed animal foods. I'm on the fence about which is worse -- I think it depends on the person. Matt Monarch wrote in one of his books that if he were starting from scratch, he'd give up the grains and sugars first.

I think some people may get better results by getting all processed foods out of their diets first and graduating to a whole foods diet that includes some animal products. Then you can wean yourself off the animal foods further down the road.

One of the keys to diet is that health is more about what you don't eat than what you do. Matt says some people will see improvement by switching to a diet of dead rats because of all the junk they'd be giving up. The dead rats diet may not be healthy in the long run, but it could actually lead to a short-term improvement.

[Steve Pavlina]

@Scorpio: Detox and disease are essentially the same thing. When the body goes into a diseased state and produces symptoms, it's trying to heal itself. Notice how many symptoms of disease involve trying to expel something from the body -- sneezing, watery eyes, sweating, coughing, vomiting, etc. Apppetite often drops during a disease as well, so the body has a chance to catch up on elimination without having to deal with digestion.

A dietary change can trigger a detox/diseased state, often within the first few days. But the way you know whether this is a good thing is how you feel further down the road, long after the initial detox. Do you feel better than you did before the detox, about the same, or worse? What other results did you gain? Did you lose weight? Did your eyesight improve? Do you feel mentally clearer? Do you need less sleep? Does physical exercise feel easier? Do you have more stamina? And so on...

If you just had a temporary illness and go back to feeling the same or worse afterwards, that wasn't much of a detox then, was it? You've only maintained the status quo and restored your previous equilibrium. But if you notice a long-term shift in how you feel from that point onward, such as I did after going 100% raw, then you know you're on to something.

Now the people that I've talked to who've done a juice feast often change their diets afterwards as well. For starters they tend to eat a bit less food, and they eat less emotionally. The juice feast raises their awareness of their eating habits so much that they aren't the same afterwards. Some kind of permanent change is created.

If the benefits of juice feasting were temporary and only lasted as long as the juice feast itself, that would be interesting, but that isn't what I'm after. I'm more interested in the long-term effects.

[Chris01]

Great post Steve.
It's a bit silly, but the first thought that came into my mind after
reading the post was "What color is the sky to you?" =)

[RRR]

If a raw food diet is optimal, how does this truth alter your parenting? Are you responsible for your children's eating habits if they are addicted to cooked food?

What perpetuates the SAD? Is it truly addictive? As a culture-influencing agent how would you alter the way society eats? What is the proper response to a situation where for society to improve it must suffer?

[LeahWhitehorse]

Ok I admit it - I finally become so intrigued with the whole raw issue that I have just ordered a raw 'uncook' book. When you first went raw I had the whole 'that's something I could never even dream of' going through my head. I've kept reading though and I can't seem to get it out of my mind.

Oddly this juice article really caught my attention. I realised that one of my fears about going raw (aside from the feeling anti-social issue) is actually being afraid of having that amount of energy. Having suffered anxiety all my life (sometimes to the point where it became debilitating) I realised I associate having energy with having anxiety. When anxious I usually feel there is an enormous amount of energy inside me just twisting and turning in on itself.

Reading your article today made me really think about this and to quietly laugh at myself and my fear. How can I be afraid of a state I have never experienced - how can I possibly judge what that will feel like based on previous or past feeling!

So thankyou for that 'aha' moment. I'm not going raw overnight. I am doing a lot of reading and research and trying out new recipes to find foods I enjoy. I adore salad so that won't be a problem but I need and want to experiment.
Your juice journey is equally fascinating reading - especially how your intuition is increasing as well. I was also amazed at the 'before and after' pictures link you posted on Facebook as well.

I'm off to dig out my juicer and find the blades for my blender :-)

[A.K.Light]

This has been the most convincing diet-based article I've ever read. I hope that people, in the future, don't pass this one up thinking it's just another boring day of the juice feasting log. I've experimented with my diet a little bit, but it's still pretty SAD. I will admit the truth, though. The way that I treat my body is pathetic. I smoke and eat junk because it's convenient. Admitting the truth to myself doesn't really inspire me to change, so perhaps I'm not fully understanding the truth, or I'm just really messed up in the head for not caring enough.

[freddy]

Is there a reason why you only do this juice feast for the 92 days or so and then going off it. Is this type juice feast practical for some one who has a 8hr day job away from home. Sounds like the trips to the bathroom would get in the way of doing your job.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by freddy

Is there a reason why you only do this juice feast for the 92 days or so and then going off it. Is this type juice feast practical for some one who has a 8hr day job away from home. Sounds like the trips to the bathroom would get in the way of doing your job.

I don't think jobs are practical. They get in the way of real life too much. So if you want to juice feast and find it impractical with a job, then I would agree the job should go.

You can go longer than 92 days on a JF, and many people have, but I heard it's not recommended to go past 150 days or so since you could have problems regaining peristalsis.

[BalancedExistence]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Some people say the processed grains and sugar foods are even worse than unprocessed animal foods. I'm on the fence about which is worse -- I think it depends on the person. Matt Monarch wrote in one of his books that if he were starting from scratch, he'd give up the grains and sugars first.

I think some people may get better results by getting all processed foods out of their diets first and graduating to a whole foods diet that includes some animal products. Then you can wean yourself off the animal foods further down the road.

One of the keys to diet is that health is more about what you don't eat than what you do. Matt says some people will see improvement by switching to a diet of dead rats because of all the junk they'd be giving up. The dead rats diet may not be healthy in the long run, but it could actually lead to a short-term improvement.

I completely agree with what you've said here. Which is why I'm unsurprised when so many people make a change to vegetarian or raw and proclaim it the ultimate way to eat. Of course they feel better. They just stopped eating crap and ate more vegetables and fruit. It's kind of a "well duh" moment.

I do however think depending on the person there is more beyond vegetarianism and raw eating. Organic for one. Commercially farmed produce that contains pesticides and lack natural antioxidants is not going to be as healthy as certified organic produce. Vegetarian or raw is a good place to start though. It's where I started and now I eat organic meat and eggs and butter and so forth.

In fact when I made the change from vegetarian to organic and included plenty of organic animal protein and fat so did my family. Since that time my father has lost on average 1kg per month every month without making any other change. There's more to this eating thing then many people are willing to take the time to experiment and consider.


Stephen

[Fullcrum]

Steve - Best food post yet. Convincing. Just curious - you say that jobs get in the way of life. What about public schools?

Stephen - You feel better on a mostly raw diet of plants and animals than you did on a purely raw plant-based diet? Could you describe those changes?

[debbiedoesraw]

Hey Steve
Debbie here.. I am on a form of cleansing too right now.. and yes, the emotions and "fun" of enemas can be a bit of .. well not fun.. but as I progress I feel (and smell!) better and better.
Once you are on this road, going back to SAD or even complex, gourmet raw seems, well, a bad idea.

Keep it up, your posts are inspirational and informative, as always.

[rosegold]

Only jobs that require brainstorming gets in the way of life--like a programmer or a teacher or being a student.

Other jobs like being a bag boy doesn't get in the way of life as much, because you are free to think of whatever you want, like Personal Development. I guess you could go to the bathroom every hour to record your thoughts for the hour regarding how to genuinely improve your life.

[BalancedExistence]

Originally Posted by Fullcrum

Steve - Best food post yet. Convincing. Just curious - you say that jobs get in the way of life. What about public schools?

Stephen - You feel better on a mostly raw diet of plants and animals than you did on a purely raw plant-based diet? Could you describe those changes?

Hey Fullcrum,

The important point is I feel better on a mostly raw diet of organic plants and animals.

Ways I feel better include energy and clarity. And remember I have the experience of having done several fasts longer then 14 days as well as making the change from regular diet to vegetarian to compare how I currently feel to. My energy levels are much more sustained throughout the day and I don't get hungry quickly after eating a meal. That's despite the fact I eat small meals.

I've dropped some weight without doing anything else different and I don't have much weight to drop. And the big one for me is my digestion and elimination is much better and much more regular.

I'm largely convinced about metabolic typing. For someone who's body works well on mostly fruit and vegetables and a little fat their digestion and elimination would get all blocked up if they ate as much protein as I do. And the opposite is true.

It's all about doing what is best for you. Not what is best for me or for anyone else. Just you.


Stephen

[Hunter Nuttall]

"If you’re an American, you have an 80-90% chance of dying from heart disease or cancer."

Do raw foodists not die from heart disease or cancer? If not, what do they die from?

[Fullcrum]

One raw foodist, Ann Wigmore, died from smoke inhalation in a fire at her institute in Boston on Feb. 16, 1994.

The Ann Wigmore Foundation : The Foundation

[Dev]

Originally Posted by Hunter Nuttall

"If you’re an American, you have an 80-90% chance of dying from heart disease or cancer."

Do raw foodists not die from heart disease or cancer? If not, what do they die from?

Maybe the percentage is far far minuscule, but don't you think belonging to that lower bracket after going raw is still worth it, isn't it buddy?

[Steve Pavlina]

Norman Walker (author of Become Younger and many other pro-raw books) died peacefully in his sleep. He was 99 and was healthy and active until he died. He was a big proponent of consuming fresh veggie juices every day. He was raw for decades but not 100% vegan since he included small amounts of raw dairy (mainly goat's milk if I recall), but he admits in his books that any milk products are mucus-forming and certainly not needed.

Assuming you don't succumb to other lifestyle diseases or commit suicide, you're probably most likely to die from an accident.

You can also screw up the raw diet and make your health worse if you don't know what you're doing, but there are so many great resources available now that this isn't as likely if you're moderately intelligent.

The quality of produce is a big factor too. I'm doing mostly organic right now, with some foods from my own garden. I have a nice crop of tomatoes coming in now. Ideally I'd love to plant an even bigger garden and grow more of my own food, even if I just grow some things in pots.