Hey y'all and welcome to the everyday athlete podcast recorded live from Omaha, Nebraska and I'm your host, Katie danger U S army veteran and founder of Red H Nutrition providing everyday athletes just like you, clean, effective nutritional solutions, custom formulated to help you reach your absolute potential every single day.
Athletes, welcome to episode number 17 and today you're going to learn all about this crazy thing I did where I didn't eat solid foods for 81 whole hours over three days. I didn't eat any solid food, so you know this about me. I will try almost anything once and I've always wanted to try a juice fast because I wanted to see if I could actually abstain from food for a certain period of time. When it came down to it, after I did some research, I decided that a three day fast was going to be the best for me. One day didn't seem like really a big enough challenge and five days or more, it just seemed psychotic. So I just was like, I'm going to go with a three day fast. And I did some research leading up to this and after I decided it was going to be three days, I hadn't figured out how am I going to execute this. Like am I going to make the juices myself or am I just going to buy a kit or a package from somewhere?
(01:13): Well, I did some local research. Then I pretty much just decided that I didn't want to make any of the juices. I did not want to have any part in juicing the vegetables, going out and getting the vegetables and fruits. I just didn't want any of that. I wanted it to be as easy as possible because I knew that this was going to be a little hard for me what I wanted and I just wanted to open a bottle and drink. I didn't want to have to prepare anything. So in hindsight, that was a great decision, especially for my first fast. I was so lethargic and grumpy after my deep hunger began to set in that first day that honestly the feelings of quitting were high anyways. I just don't think it would have helped my cause any if I would've had to prepare anything or give any extra energy that I didn't even have.
(01:53): So going with a kit of the juices put together for me was perfect. And after my research I found a company called blueprint.com and they've got a variety of lengths and fast that you can choose from including different types of packages based on your goal. Now the one that I decided to go with was the three day cleanse and it was called keep it 100 so for every day for three days I had six juices and each day kept the sugar to under 100 grams. So not only did I not eat solid foods, I kept my sugar intake to under 100 grams a day during those three days in my fast. Now if you opted for a cleanse that was tire in fruit juice, you'd probably have a hard time staying under that number in terms of sugar. But because I used the majority of vegetable juices, it was actually pretty easy for the 18 total juices.
(02:41): I got, like I said, it was six juices a day for three days. It was just under 200 bucks after shipping and all the juices were delivered right to my door. I got them on a Tuesday and I started my fast on a Wednesday. So my fast took place from, well actually essentially it was Tuesday evening, 10:00 PM was my meal. I did was abstinent from food Wednesday, Thursday, all day Friday. And then it wasn't until that Saturday around 8:00 AM that I actually had my first solid foods. So you know, some people claim to have these amazing experiences with their juice Fest and a lot of people use the word cleanse, juice cleanse, juice fast. I might use them interchangeably here. I mean the same thing. I'm just not eating solid foods. So like I was saying, some people claim to have amazing experiences with their fast and I'm going to tell you right away that for me it sucked.
(03:31): Those three days it really sucked. I did not feel good at all during that time. I was tired, I was cold and I really, really missed food. I did not realize how much time I spent thinking about food and now it was only amplified by the fact now that I couldn't have it. So of course I thought about food even more and I wanted to dedicate this podcast to my three day diary and my thoughts during my fast, the only things when I was doing research on how this was going to go, I didn't really find anybody's full disclosure diary like how did it actually feel? I found all these things like it's going to be good for you and it cleanses you and you're going to lose weight, but that's not why I even wanted to do it. I just wanted to do it because, because there's got to be somebody else out there who will do or try anything once.
(04:17): So that's essentially what I want with. So shall we just get going here now the format of the next few moments here, I'm going to just get to explain to you word for word what I wrote down in my diary for three days. Sometimes during the moment. Sometimes as the day was over, I wrote down my thoughts and just FYI, like my tense is going to shift from past to present and my diary. Some things, like I said, I wrote in the heat of the moment and then some of these comments and things came to me after the fact when I was getting ready to wrap up my day. So with that, let's go juice fast day number one, dear diary. I woke up excited this morning, but a little scared because I'm going to be starting my first juice fast. She called a cleanser fast. The goal is to not eat solid foods for three days and just drink juice and water.
(05:04): It seems kind of nuts to me. Never have I ever gone a whole day without solid foods. And if I have, I was very sick and I definitely don't remember and I'll tell you it wasn't by choice. So the morning of day one, Wednesday, it was fine. I had my first juice, it was called a watercress warrior, and then three hours later at 10:00 AM I had my lemon juice. So I'm having a juice every three hours when I'm awake. All of these juices are 16 ounces and I really, really liked the lemon one. The lemon was of course the sweetest one of my morning, and then after I found out the sweetest one of my entire six juices for the day, but I thought that based on the low sodium content, I was going to add some electrolytes. So I actually ended up grinding some Himalayan sea salt into my lemon juice because I just really know the importance of electrolytes, especially as you're not eating food that you need those.
(05:53): So that's why I did that. All right, so 1:00 PM I had my third juice. Now I'm feeling tired, I'm feeling different, I'm not feeling good and I'm really not sure what to do with all this time because I didn't realize how much food and prep took up my mornings. I did get a lot done this morning, which is a good thing, but now I'm starting to hit a wall, so it's 4:00 PM and I'm laying in bed and I'm watching some TV. I just do not have the energy to do much else, but it's time for my fourth juice, so this kind of gives me something to look forward to. It kind of seems like maybe this is going to be the way my days go. I'm just going to look forward to every three hours because I get a drink, something I get to do something.
(06:32): I ended up not opening the store today. Unfortunately, Aaron could not cover for me. I'm just feeling sluggish and honestly the next three days were just dedicated to getting through this juice fast, so I don't want to even get behind a car because I'm just not sure I'm able to pay attention. So I closed the shot for the day and I'm okay with it. All I can think about is food at this point and I really just need to start writing about what I'm feeling because I don't know if I'm ever going to feel this way in the moment. Again, I have to do this. I have to know what this feels like. Maybe this whole experience is just so I can appreciate things a bit more to enjoy things a bit more. I didn't realize how difficult this would be and it's only 4:30 PM on my first day, but I guess I really do revolve a lot of my day around food and that's certainly eye opening.
(07:19): I'm going to have another juice at 7:00 PM and then my nighttime juice from nine to 10 I'm actually looking forward to that since it seems like the most filling juice of the day is the last one. It is a nut milk. It's a combination of almonds and coconut and it's sweetened with vanilla, so it seems like it's going to be feeling it's the only juice that has any protein content and with only seven grams at that. I can do this. I can do this. I'm probably going to look back on this journal and laugh, but for right now this juice fasting is hard. Everything on my Facebook feed and Instagram feed today was about food. I swear everything. Pizza, spaghetti, literally everything is, I've scrolled through the feed tonight so it looks good to me. I would eat anything. I'm going to go take a nap or maybe I'm just going to go lay in bed, but when I attempt to do something a bit beyond the scope of just writing in my diary and how I feel, I really just start to stare at the screen, stare at my phone and get lost and thought, Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into?
(08:16): Day two juice fast. Dear diary. Okay, so I guess I'm doing this thing. Let me tell you though, today was a lot easier than day one so far. It's still been tough. I did manage to keep my appointment of the day and I was able to do a live interview that I had scheduled with a friend and I did actually get some work done at the office today. Luckily I did have Aaron on staff today, so he did come in and take over the shop for me after I opened. All I really did though was come home and soak and be angry and grumpy. I also did hot works today and the warmth felt so good. You guys, I'm telling you, one of the most uncomfortable feelings for me has been the deep coldness. I just cannot get warm. My entire body is cold to the bone and my bones, like my bones felt cold.
(09:01): My bones. Oh, and how it works, how it works, what it is, how it works. Right? So how works is a fitness studio where you do your workouts in infrared saunas and the temperatures are set at 130 degrees Fahrenheit. So you can see why that would appeal to me and how it helped keep my body warm. After my hot work session, I was pretty tired. I did sweat a lot, but I saved my second use of the day, my lemon juice to have on my post workout on the drive back home. As soon as I got home, I drank my juice. I showered, really, really warm shower. But I went right back to being cold. I pretty much had spent most of my day just trying to get warm. Now today I don't really have as many urges to quit. And the urges that were there, they were superficial.
(09:42): So I knew I wasn't going to quit the voices in the head. They were easy to overcome. But this evening, this evening of day two, that is the strongest urge I've had to throw in the towel. I felt like because I'd only invested 50% of my time so far that who cares if I quit? Right? But I posted this all over the internet and I have really dedicated myself to doing this so I can't quit. But wow. Wow. The pull to actually quit was very, very, very strong. I had to find my reason why. I asked myself what the point of the suffering was and I realized that it's my duty to find meaning in what my body is experiencing. People do this for spiritual reasons, right? So maybe I can find something existential to come from this. I found a fancy way to make my last juice of a day.
(10:27): I told you the juices every three hours. That is all I've been looking forward to doing something with my mouth. And like I said, the last piece of the day is called nuts and bolts and it's really not even a juice. It's a nut milk because it's a combo of almond and coconut. So then I'm like, is this a liquid fast is not milk a juice? You know, I'm getting confused on what to even call this anymore. I'm probably getting delirious because day two I haven't had any food. The only thing I know is I'm not getting solid food. So here's some TMI. Here's some TMI. I had two bowel movements today and I know some people out there. I've got questions after this. Let's just address it now. I have two bowel moves today. The first one was kind of loose. Okay. And the second one, the second one came before bed. So the first one was in the morning, but the second one totally came out of nowhere. Left field. I'm sitting downstairs, I'm reading the book and all of a sudden I just get this terrible like gurgling in my stomach and that immediate feeling where you've got to go, okay, you tighten up and you've got to get to the bathroom. Cause she knows something's coming out.
(11:24): So I had that bowel movement and after that that was it. That was it ever heard. The same. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
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(12:02): Now one thing that I didn't plan really well with this fast apparently is it, I also got my period. They too. I got my period so I haven't had cramps or anything, you know and I normally don't get that but I figure that maybe I'm not feeling any of the cramps or the normal period blues because my body is so preoccupied with the fact that it's miserable without food. So I finished with day two after my last juice, I warmed up and I'm really excited going into the evening here, going into bed time of day too because I know that tomorrow is the end. This is it. Tomorrow I'm hoping for another day of learning how my body responds is interesting stress or I'm putting it through now with day three there's meaning in all of this. As I reflected this moment, they too, I said I'm learning more about how my body manages through these stressors, like I'm experiencing what it is to be human and it, some of this is very basic hunger hangar.
(13:04): The third G from lack of food, like this is being human. This is how you feel and experience the world around you in the body that you're in. Fortunately, we have the gift of a brain and a prefrontal cortex so we can make meaning to some of the suffering and it's the ability to reflect analytically on the feelings that I'm having and you know, really just be grateful for this whole run of events and that like I can voluntarily not eat for three days just because I want to try something new. That's pretty cool. That's pretty privileged and entitled, so I'm grateful for that. I'm going to sign off for day two now. I've only got a few more hours to go. I'm two thirds of the way there and it feels good. I can do this day three juice fast. Dear diary, I woke up and I'm really not excited as I'd hoped that I would be on the last day.
(13:47): I'm actually just kind of over this. Who in the heck chooses to not eat food for three days? I did go to hot works this morning and I did my hot core session because yesterday it helped me feel warm and I am just so cold today, so it was really nice to get a low impact workout in. It was great to warm up. If I ever do a cleanse like this again or a fast again like this, I'm definitely gonna keep the hot saunas in the mix because one, I did not plan on working out during this time, so there was no CrossFitting. There was no CycleBar, there was no spinning. I just didn't know what kind of energy I had, so I want to do something. I wanted to move my body, but I just chose low impact isometric workouts instead. Now, besides my am workout day three has been pretty uneventful.
(14:31): I'm not even looking forward to my juices. The kale warrior juice is really terrible at this point, I think. What am I on the first juice of the day? Kale warrior is just not good. It's just not good and like my mouth, my mouth is dry all the time. As of this moment, I swear I'm never doing this again. I just want to eat something. I'm so close to the end. I'm so close. I just want to go to bed. I to wake up and I want all this nonsense to be over with. I haven't been productive at anything the past three days and I am ready to be done with this. If you ask me right now, if I'll ever do this again is a big fat no. Now day three I didn't have any bowel movements today and I feel just as low energy as I did when I started. So day one and day three they kind of feel like the same thing. They both suck. And you know, I was kind of hoping for some moment of clarity or something when I read about these juice cleanses these fast, you know, some people call them a detox. People say that they've had moments of Zen and clarity, like they talked to Buddha or something. Well, I'm telling you it didn't happen to me yet. Maybe it will. But as of day three, I have not talked to Buddha.
(15:34): All right, post fast, post fast. So now guys, I'm done with my dear diary. I'm going to just go into my thoughts post fast and, and how I manage eating now that I've experienced three days without eating and I did it. I did it. I want three whole days, 81 hours to be exact without solid foods, and I kept my intake of sugar under 100 grams a day. There was not an easy challenge. Not easy by far. No. When I had my first meal, I didn't go crazy. Actually. It's pretty uneventful. I had some baby carrots. That was the first thing that I had post cleanse 8:00 AM Saturday morning, I had some baby carrots and I had an Apple. That Apple was like the best Apple I ever had though. It was so amazing to crunch on food, to bite into food and chew on it.
(16:19): You don't realize what an awesome, cathartic feeling chewing is until you don't do it for three days. Oh, and another thing, when I was reading about fasting, they did recommend that you don't chew gum because chewing gum itself, the act of it actually stimulates digestive processes. So they did not want to chew gum if you didn't have to. You know, there's a lot to learn and even as I'm coming up on a week and a half post fast, I'm still learning a lot of things. About how I felt, you know, first and foremost, I had no idea how much time I spent thinking about food, eating food, preparing food, gathering it, cooking it, and I'm glad that I didn't decide to make all my juices fresh because I learned a lot about my habits around food because I wasn't preparing anything. I really just spent a lot of my time during the day involved with food.
(17:04): Somehow that appears to be the way that I used to navigate my days, so I certainly had a lot of free time on my hands during the fast if I ever do this again, which at this very moment in time at the present, yes, I will now that the hanger and anger has subsided, yes, I have some clarity on it and I will do it again. This time I'm going to focus on being more productive and focused because I was just too wrapped up in how I was feeling and how I was going to feel without food that I really just didn't have the clarity or mental discipline to focus on anything else and I want to change that about next time. Another beneficial realization that I've got from this fast is that hunger is not an emergency. I repeat. Hunger is not an emergency.
(17:48): I know there are a lot of people out there like me. They get hangry and what I mean is if you don't eat within a certain time window, if you get too hungry, you get pissed off at the world and look out, look out world because you're going to bite somebody's head off if you don't get fed. I know there's more out there like that because I see memes on this all the time, so there's something to it. This feeling of hanger, but like I said, hunger is not an emergency and I totally, totally used to live that way that it was, and after this fast, I'm not sure I'm ever going to get hungry again. I mean, how could I know that I can live through hunger. I can go three days without eating and that if you feel hungry, it's okay. You're not going to die.
(18:23): Our body is conditioned to eat around certain times, so you're going to naturally have ebbs and flow to that hunger. Your body's just following the script that you've already wrote for it. Now I'm aware that I can rise above those feelings and still function. Knowing the bean Hungary isn't actually going to kill me, so honestly I'm not sure though if I could have ever learned that lesson without actually doing it. I had to experience it. I just had to, I'm finally back to eating a full normal range of foods. I generally like to keep my food. Yeah, I would say probably like I ate a lot of lean meats, protein. I do enjoy a hammer or red meat every now and then, but I only have red meat about once a week if that. Otherwise, most of my protein is going to be from Turkey or chicken.
(19:05): I eat a lot of vegetables throughout the day. Some of my favorite are carrots. I love apples, fruits and veggies, apples, bananas, carrots. I keep all that stuff around the house, so I'm back to that full range of food. Eggs. I actually had bacon today. It was delicious. I think once you fast, this is my observation. At least for me. That's true. You'll never be able to go back to a few things first. You're never going to feel hunger the same again. I don't think I'll ever feel hunger the same way again. And the second thing is that you realize how lucky you are to be able to abstain from food as a choice. I was very grateful for this experience because I know that choosing not to eat for research like research is in quotes here, right? Cause I'm just giving you my little narrative and diary but choosing not to eat is very much a first world problem.
(19:50): So I'm very, very grateful and I think keeping good notes like this about and then being honest about how I was feeling was the key to making the suffering in long days with no food worth it. I know that fasting for a lengthy period of time isn't going to be for everyone, but it is for anyone who wants to learn more about themselves and learn more about their real relationship with food. Yeah, I think this was a really, really fun experience and I would have never said that during days one, two or three. But post fast when the smoke clears, when the sun comes out, the rain stops. It was a great experience and as always, if you want to do this, if you want to go on a fast, send me an email. If you've got anything that you want to know. katie@redhnutrition.com always check with your healthcare professional if you have any underlying health conditions or concerns about how fast could affect any medications you're on or any conditions that you may have.
(20:44): I will do a fast again soon. It'll probably be within the next six months and this time I'm going to go for five days. I'm going to go for five days because I remember my first day post fast that Saturday when I woke up. I'm like, okay, I didn't have that hunger anymore. I was just kind of satiated content I would say. But when I woke up I'm like, if I had to do another day, I totally could. It's kinda like now how long can you go? I made three days. Can I do four? Well, I'm gonna try five and like I said, probably within the next six months and you'll know all about it because five days is going to be different than three days and I'll keep a dear diary for that too. Alrighty, athletes, that is it for this episode and my experience during my first ever juice fast, so I'll be found to entertaining. I hope you like the dear diary way of presentation and next week I've got a good one for you too. We're going to be chatting about how beats, yes, the red root vegetable beets, how beats are your new secret weapon for fitness performance.
(21:42): Stay tuned, but in the meantime you can find dozens of performance optimization solutions@redhshop.com and for being a loyal listener of the podcast. Remember to use code podcast 20 to save 20% on your first order, your next order and every single order after that. Read eight shop.com podcast 20 save 20% okay guys, episode number 17 is a wrap. Let's meet again. Same time next week, shall we? Of course, who are all athletes. I'll see. Then this is Katie D over and out.
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