Post Juice Feasting Update (Blog)

[Steve Pavlina]

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

Post Juice Feasting Update

[lifetimelearner]

I really appreciate Steve sharing his experiences with us

It can incite change in people or at least give 'food' for thought

I have read numerous books on certain types of diets such as mono-dieting ,juicing,food combining ,vegan , raw food and the ones I like the most are the ones written by people that use the diet /way of life themselves

I know there are ENORMOUS benefits to the raw way of life and juicing and Steve has pushed me further towards the edge of total committment

[Victor Vikingr]

This is inspiring! I now look forward to do my third raw food trial. This time I'll manage to stick with it!

[borisg]

Steve, you sure it was not actually a cold that hit you around the same time of the oats? You are having some pretty severe weather in Vegas

[lifetimelearner]

Originally Posted by borisg

Steve, you sure it was not actually a cold that hit you around the same time of the oats? You are having some pretty severe weather in Vegas

no I believe there is really something to it !!!!!!!

I started raw
then went back to SAD
and felt like I had the flu the next day
but the next day I felt good again

[Dimond]

Grains are very difficult to digest, like going from one extreme to the other. Even raw grains are tough for some. So definitely something like cooked veggies probably won't affect you as much. As for traveling, the king and queen of raw , Matt and Angela have been raw for years while living throughout the world. Seems to be quite easy for them and many others.

[Dan.Linehan]

The oatmeal experiment was done shortly after your body had adjusted to an all juice diet for a month. Your body was calibrated to basically sustain itself on juice and greens only..

This is similar to the other time you got sick from cooked foods. That time your body was calibrated to a very low fat raw diet, not a normal raw diet.

Interesting trend nonetheless.

[appifanie]

Well I wouldn't call vegan SAD . . .

Anyway, I've said it before and I'll say it again - thank you so much for your blog - I admit I don't read much of it aside from the RAW and juice feasting, but it's just so detailed and informative.

[Warping]

Wow, I wanted to know, does being raw and living in a very polluted place negatively affect people?

I had an odd experience. I went raw for 4 days and got bad detox, headaches and fatigue. I drink lots of coffee, smoke tobacco and marijuana, drink once in a while. One day I drank 3 liters of green smoothie (lots of spinach, bananas and every living food I could find in my house, I just threw everything in). I did this in a span of 2 hours. Now, I usually have a lot of social anxiety, I can't even go to the local supermarket without freaking out. Funny thing happened, I suddenly got LOADS of energy, felt amazing. I had to go out for a bit and I was practically running, I was smiling at EVERYONE and felt like I was on a drug, no anxiety nothing. Then I got off the bus and smoked a ciggie and WHOA...everything wore off, I felt like **** again! It was so weird. Instantly!

This has definitely made me want to go raw. I'm wondering, can you get over detox symptoms and jump straight into the benefits instantly early on in a raw trial by drinking massive amounts of green smoothie? I'm looking at jumping in, quitting smokes and coffee and goin raw in feb 09, cos I have a lot of free time then.

[st33med]

Huh. Your sickness reminded me of an experience while attempting to go part vegan and part raw last week. I was told to eat meat, and I am still living in this house, so, I had to. Next day, I was hit... No, steamrolled by a headache and was diagnosed with the flu. I. Could. Not. Think! I still feel the effects on my head to this day, but, alas, it might have been because I am returning to meat because it is not the right time or place to do this.

[Fullcrum]

There is no question in my mind this is the best way to eat.

When I live on my own this will be very simple.

When my family can afford all those organic veggies I'll consider going 100% raw. Till then, I consistently drink 1 quart of green smoothies a day and eat dinner with the family minus all the processed packaged stuff.

[tin]

Cleaning your system off parasites and toxic stones with juices is new to me and very interesting. I will be digging more into it.
However I would like to share with you other types of cleansing done in Yoga.
I have not taken any courses from an expert. I read Hatha Yoga books since my school days and have been doing this. Being in India, I have more exposure to these techniques as these are being practised just like a daily routine in many parts of India.
Once in Every 3 Months I perform Varisar Dhauti: Varisar dhauti is an excellent technique to evacuate and cleanse the gastrointestinal tract completely.
There are many variations but I do it with water.

Here is a link which explains what it is and How to do it :
Varisar Dhauti:

My experience:

After doing this particular cleansing, there was some muscular pain (nothing serious) in the abdominal area for a day or two ( my intuition says it was due to atrophied(?!) muscles moved & massaged in various ways due to those postures). My digestive system was rejuvenated from sluggishness. Sharp increase in libido for a day after doing this procedure.
It is a sureshot remedy for indigestion, constipation, gastric problems etc. It is not an exaggeration to say it is a panacea for most common gastrointestinal problems.

Overall, it is a detoxification procedure.
I think you might be interested!!??

[MasterD]

I wonder, is it the cooked food or the grains?

[Athena]

On the people- people can sense auras and energy, and when your body is cleaner and closer to source energy, people are attracted to that on a visceral level. You can see it too- also with the cooked food experiment. Raw food and cooked food completely change your aura and energy field.

My mind is sometimes writing 1-2 paragraphs ahead of my fingers. I have to tell it to slow down from time to time and let me catch up. I can’t even fathom the possibility of writer’s block. I experience writer’s flood.

Perhaps you should have an assistant to whom you can record or dictate your words.



On traveling and raw food- there are very few places in the world where fresh food is not readily accessible. Even in Europe in the winter, most stores will have imported produce, unless you're traveling far out country, which is doubtful that you would for long, but you can still bring fresh fruit and vegetables from the city.

If you do any extensive traveling or touring, you should have an assistant or maid with you to purchase your daily food.



On raw and cooked food- usually, when cooked food is reintroduced to the body, the immune system will overreact, and processing the food can drain the energy from the body, including opening up to sickness.

I also wonder how-- if I add cooked food to a meal, and end up with a cold or flu-like symptoms-- where is the germ coming from? It happens very predictably with cooked food, not just during flu season, so maybe its just a flu-like reaction from the body.

But long term, after the body gets over the initial reaction and sickness, if you keep eating cooked food, the immunity to cooked food is eventually restored. So, you should still eat mostly raw if you want, but if you ever need to eat cooked again, your body can still adapt.

[Cyllya]

I also wonder how-- if I add cooked food to a meal, and end up with a cold or flu-like symptoms-- where is the germ coming from? It happens very predictably with cooked food, not just during flu season, so maybe its just a flu-like reaction from the body.

My understanding is that the germs came from the usual sources and that, if he hadn't eaten the oatmeal, his immune system would have fought the germs off so thoroughly that he wouldn't have felt sick. Not that the germ came from the oatmeal or heat or anything.

[jdbhouston]

Steve, I'm intrigued by your liver and parasite cleansing. What is Chanca Piedra, how do I find it and use it?
jdb

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

This oatmeal experiment was done right after your body had adjusted to an all juice diet for a month. Your body was calibrated to basically sustain itself on juice and greens only..

Similar to the other time you got sick from cooked foods: Your body was calibrated to a very low fat raw diet, not a normal raw diet.

Interesting trend nonetheless.

Excellent application of the calibration concept here, Dan! The body is always looking for homeostasis, the balance.

I wonder if he would have faired any better if he had a cooked food monomeal, i.e., just the oatmeal without raisins.

Is it possible he would have done better?

[derekja]

I think your powers of expectation fulfillment are such that a one time trial like this might not be conclusive. I guess it's hard to have someone slip you cooked food without your knowledge to test it though!

[MasterD]

Originally Posted by derekja

I think your powers of expectation fulfillment are such that a one time trial like this might not be conclusive. I guess it's hard to have someone slip you cooked food without your knowledge to test it though!

That's exactly the reason why medical 'wonders' caused by diet change are not accepted as scientific.

[boohayomega]

Steve,

What herbs did you use to clean parasites? And where did you buy the Chanca Piedra?

thank you, boohay

[avaj]

are you thinking of visiting Eastern Europe, Steve?

no worries about maintaining a raw diet, the markets are full of fruits and veggies and any half-decent restaurant is able to serve at least a raw salad and some fruit, regardless of the season. if that's true for Romania - the least developed of the countries in EE - then it must be true for all.

EE is a fascinating area to visit, and for many people my age - who are old enough to remember the communist way of life - there is also a nostalgy about things that we had during our childhood, and which are now almost wiped out by "western civilization". what we gained in terms of freedom means a loss in other, more subtle areas.

so if you're seriously considering such a trip, my advice is to hurry... in 5 years we will be more "globalized/civilized", in a good but also in a bad way.

in fact, if you & Erin ever happen to be in Romania or around it, I'd be very happy to be your guide .

[Steve Pavlina]

So I guess those from Eastern Europe who complained about the difficulty of finding raw produce were just making excuses then?

[Trezker]

Originally Posted by MasterD

That's exactly the reason why medical 'wonders' caused by diet change are not accepted as scientific.

Yeah I guess it's rather tricky to do a blind test on this... Doesn't science have any way to get around this problem?

[avaj]

finding raw food is not a problem, I'd say. the bigger question is: is it organic?

mmm. from personal experience, no. not marketed as such - I've only seen a handful of organic things in supermarkets, quietly wilting in a corner. in farmer's markets though, even if many sellers do not know the concept as such, you can often find fruits/vegs that have been growing in someone's garden where no pesticides were used (because they're expensive ). you just never know. but since "real organic" is hard to find, I settle for "natural-looking apple, great taste, not very nice aspect, possibly with non-veg inhabitant OR pesticides". but then I think hey, I was at <500 km of Cernobil when it went kaboom, worse things than pesticides have already happened to my body...

next step - preparing what you buy. since eating out on a regular basis is a dream for people with an average salary, you have to do the cooking (or "cooking") yourself. I am vegan but not raw, so my options are larger. I am also a semi-decent cook. but let me tell ya, it's a pain in the mikta to do it on a regular basis. and I can afford stuff many others don't.

restaurants: the concept of veg* is already well understood, "raw" can derive from that. Romania/Bulgaria/Russia/Greece/Serbia have a somewhat special status, because of the orthodox christian religion. it involves fasting = going vegan during certain periods. many people still do that, so any restaurant can understand "give me fasting food that's not been cooked". provided you can afford it, of course.

so I'd say that at least in my country it's a luxury to be raw.... as a native... but as a tourist, I'd say no problem. wanna make a 30d trial on that?

[mahreenferdous]

If a little bit of oatmeal makes you ill, is the raw way of living really better for the body?

It seems it makes the immune system weaker. If you're making your body less capable of handling certain foods.

Also, this notion of this is the best diet for humans makes no sense. The things about people is that they can adjust to their environment. Very adaptable that's why we have managed to survive. Suggesting an eskimo should go raw seems foolish.

[MasterD]

Originally Posted by Trezker

Yeah I guess it's rather tricky to do a blind test on this... Doesn't science have any way to get around this problem?

I don't think so, because the placebo effect can never be ruled out as the cause of any positive effects.

[Andreas]

Actually there is a really neat scientific method that completely removes the influence of placebo. It's called Double-Blind, and if I were doing serious research on this subject, I would conduct a Double-Blind Experiment.

Check it out: Blind experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Andreas

Actually there is a really neat scientific method that completely removes the influence of placebo. It's called Double-Blind, and if I were doing serious research on this subject, I would conduct a Double-Blind Experiment.

Check it out: Blind experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You can't do a double blind in this case because people can tell when they're eating raw vs. cooked food. So the placebo effect can't be eliminated.

Part of the raw food experience is the visual and sensory delights of eating fresh, whole foods... such as a ripe strawberry.

[Andreas]

Steve, there are some ways to overcome these obstacles.

First, you could liquify all food before people eat it. If both raw and cooked were liquified, the average person would have much greater difficulty discerning what exactly it was.

Another option is feeding raw and cooked food to a group of people with stomach tubes, so as to completely bypass their visual and taste systems. If they have no idea what they're eating, they can't be bias, and you could observe how the differing food habits affected their health.

(Mysterious) Food for thought.

A worthwhile study, I might add.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Andreas

Steve, there are some ways to overcome these obstacles.

First, you could liquify all food before people eat it. If both raw and cooked were liquified, the average person would have much greater difficulty discerning what exactly it was.

Another option is feeding raw and cooked food to a group of people with stomach tubes, so as to completely bypass their visual and taste systems. If they have no idea what they're eating, they can't be bias, and you could observe how the differing food habits affected their health.

(Mysterious) Food for thought.

A worthwhile study, I might add.

I thought about those options. However, in such cases you'd be testing a liquid diet, which can have very different effects. Also, proper digestion begins in the mouth, so the second option is out.

I think in this case personal testing is the best bet. You have to experiment to see what works for you.