This is the juice I prefer

Recently, I saw the documentary “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead” featuring Joe Cross, a grossly obese Australian affected by a debilitating auto-immune condition. Joe makes it clear that American’s (and Aussies, as well, apparently) consume an excessive amount of fast food and desserts. He then has a movie crew follow him around for a 60 day juice fast. As you may imagine, subsisting on an entirely fluid diet for 60 days, Joe loses a staggering amount of weight. He goes from 325 to 235 for a jaw dropping weight loss of ninety pounds. This is certainly extraordinary, but what really happens to your body on the fat sick and nearly dead diet?

In the documentary, Joe shows an amusing cartoon break down of the way most of the people in America eat. Obviously entirely too much fat and  sweets and not enough vegetables. According to Joe, the vegetables are where all the disease fighting compounds, called micronutrients, are found. They are present in, you guessed it, leafy green vegetables the most. When Joe cuts out all solid meals and makes the decision to survive exclusively on liquified fruit and veggies, he is feeding his cells just micronutrients and also forcing his body to eat his enormous excess fat stores. The body is not able to store micronutrients for later use, however it can retain extra fat in an almost unlimited volume. Basically, Joe was receiving all the vitimans and nutrients he needed from the fruit juice he consumed while his body consumed excess fat he’d been storing up for many years similar to a bear for winter.

There is a lot of science to it, but in a nutshell, this is how fasting works. The body wants carbohydrates because they’re easy to use. It doesn’t have to do much to break them down and use them for food. Having said that, the liver can only store about a 24 hour supply of carbs before your body needs to find a different fuel supply. Initially it will turn to proteins, but if the fast continues, then gradually your body begins lipolysis, which is the breakdown of adipose tissue, or body fat.

I’m not sure if a full on 60 day juice fast would be best for most people. If you are morbidly obese you should definitely seek the advice of a health care provider before attempting something so radical. I think radical is the term. We’re used to such excess nowadays that all things have to be extreme in order to hold our attention. I think that balance and moderation are the key to almost everything in life, not just health and fitness. However, even people that have already chosen to lead a healthy lifestyle could very well utilize the occasional liquid fast.

What can you juice?

Virtually any veggie really. Green leafy vegetables rank highest in micronutrients, then veggies such as radishes, cucumbers and brocolli are a bit lower, and then finally fruits, beans, and nuts, respectively.

I’d structure each recipe around leafy green vegetables and include fruits sparingly to provide sweetness in your juice. You can get quality recipes anywhere online, but this one seems like something even I wouldn’t mind drinking now and then.

The Green Carrot

Juice cucumbers with their skins on. The green skin is a wonderful source of chlorophyll that can help build red blood cells

1 Cup of spinach
1/2 Cucumber
2 Stalks of celery including leaves
3 Carrots
1/2 Apple

Using electric juice extractor, press all ingredients in the juicer. Whisk to mix.

Should you attempt the fat sick and nearly dead diet? Doing it for a short period definitely couldn’t hurt. We could all stand to have more vegetables and fruit in our diet. Sixty days is a bit much for lots of people, but a few days, even a full week could probably yeild remarkable fat loss along with a surge in energy from all the vitamins and minerals you’re all of a sudden getting. Or, you can just drink Power Thirst.