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Last summer I did a 14-day juice fast (primarily organic vegetable juice). After about 3 days of no carbs your body burns off most of the sugar in your body (t
by espeed 16y ago
Last summer I did a 14-day juice fast (primarily organic vegetable juice).
After about 3 days of no carbs your body burns off most of the sugar in your body (the liver's glycogen stores) and you go into ketosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis) where your body switches its fuel source from sugar and starts burning body fat for fuel.
Some people who go on these types of fasts talk about the mental clarity they receive after a few days into it. I can attest to it -- the best way I can describe it is going from ADD to no ADD.
When this happens I have assumed it has something to do with the change in the brain's fuel source. I don't know if this is related to sugar being toxic, but I have suspected it might be.
- staktrace 16y agoI'm curious about this: do you mean you drank only organic vegetable juice for 14 days?
- espeed 16y agoYes -- I bought a juicer and stared out making it myself, but this quickly became a PITA so instead I went to Whole Foods and stocked up on Bolthouse Farms "The Vedge," which is like V8 only organic (and pretty good). After about day 3, when all the sugar burns out of your system, you aren't really hungry anymore. Psychologically you may feel the urge to eat because you're used to doing it so often, but you don't really experience the "hunger pangs" like when you miss lunch. This is because "hunger," as most of us experience it, has more to do with your brain craving sugar than it is you being truly hungry.
- smhinsey 16y agoDid you do this under a doctor's supervision or just on your own?
- bretthopper 16y agoI hope people aren't reading this and thinking about doing this crazy diet especially with all this misinformation. Hunger is not just your "brain craving sugar". I get hungry every single day and I eat virtually no sugar. Yes, insulin response has been known to cause some cravings, but that isn't the only factor in hunger. Fat and protein also satiate you more than carbohydrates which means you shouldn't experience as much hunger.
- espeed 16y ago"Know the difference between hunger and appetite. According to Chalmers and Campbell, few people understand the difference between real hunger and appetite. "Hunger is more physiological, whereas appetite is more psychological," they state. The authors advise that it may take some time to distinguish one from the other, but eventually, it can be done. So the next time you experience a "craving," remember to ask yourself whether it is hunger talking, or your brain only imagining it needs food. Also, it is important to check your blood glucose (sugar) when you experience these feelings to make sure you’re not low" (Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School - http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/info/food_cravings_and_diabetes.html http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/info/food_cravings_and_diabete...).
- haploid 16y agoAnd yet, you used the word "hunger" twice.
- pyre 16y agoI've also found that sometimes drinking something is enough. If I'm eating lunch, for example, and I've run out of water, I find that sometimes I can end up eating more than I need because I'm actually thirsty, but somehow it registers as more hunger. It's weird.
- Tichy 16y agoIsn't there also a lot of sugar in juice, even if it is vegetables, not fruits?
- jtuyen 16y agoInteresting. Could you please post details on what your day to day meals are like when you were on this schedule? Foods you must eat and some you had to avoid. I'm sure others are curious about this as well.
- bretthopper 16y agoYour description of ketosis is pretty lacking. You never completely stop using glucose as a fuel source. In fact, your brain always has a requirement to get about 30% of its energy from glucose and it takes up to 40 days to get to that point. You might be wondering how its possible to use glucose as fuel when you aren't eating any glucose, if so, look up Gluconeogenesis.
- ejs 16y agoI don't understand, you ate nothing but juice and assume that is no sugar? It would be a lot of fructose, which would be glucose after getting through the liver. Fruit and vegetables contains very little fat or protein (most of them anyway) so were do you think your calories came from? There is only one source left.. carbohydrates
- merloen 16y agoThat's wrong. There is very little fructose in vegetable juice. And the liver does not convert fructose into glucose, but in a whole bunch of unhealthy chemicals, including LDL.
- pkulak 16y ago"After about 3 days of no carbs" There's plenty of carbs in vegetable juice. Where else do you think the calories would come from?
- espeed 16y ago"The basis of the ketogenic diet is the brain's ability to utilize ketones as an energy source. Ketones include b-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, and acetone, which are products of fat breakdown. Under normal conditions, the brain derives most of its energy from glucose. Under fasting conditions, hormonal changes cause fat cells to release fats, which are then broken down in the liver. The liver packages the energy contained in fat into ketones. The liver releases ketones into the blood, which then transports them to the brain." (Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, http://neuro.wustl.edu/patientcare/clinicalservices/pediatricepilepsycenter/patientfamilyphysician/ketogenicdiet.htm http://neuro.wustl.edu/patientcare/clinicalservices/pediatri...).
- martythemaniak 16y agoThis is the same type of idiotic quackary (semi-truths and lies mixed with anecdotes and bullshit) that makes people turn to homeopathy, turn against vaccines etc. Let's see what's in that juice you drank for 2 weeks: http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-bolthouse-farms-vedge-vegetable-juice-i127236 http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-bolthouse-farms-vedge... Serving Size 8 fl oz (240.0 g) Amount Per Serving Calories 60 Sodium 450mg Total Carbohydrates 12.0g Sugars 9.0g Protein 3.0g Carb-restricted diets usually mean ingesting less than 30g of sugars/day. Assuming you ingested at least 1800cal/day, you were ingesting 270grams of PURE SUGAR a moderate amount of protein and 6 times the recommended intake of salt. None of what you're saying makes an ounce of sense and while you may have lost weight due to caloric restriction, there is absolutely no way your body would have gone into ketosis, and you have absolutely zero credibility talking about anything nutrition-related.
- espeed 16y agoYou sure make a bunch of assumptions for being so emphatic. I didn't drink much of it and bought ketone strips (http://www.walmart.com/ip/Reli-On-Ketone-Test-Strip/13037592 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Reli-On-Ketone-Test-Strip/13037592) to check it periodically -- I was definitely in ketosis throughout the day. "The ketogenic diet mimics a starvation or fasting state by denying the body the carbohydrate it requires to function normally, and forcing it to metabolize fat. As the fat is metabolized ketone bodies are produced. It is the production of the ketone bodies which appears to play a central role in the success of the ketogenic diet. When the body begins producing ketone bodies it is referred to as the body being in ketosis. It usually takes 3 – 5 days for the body to go into ketosis after starting the diet. Ketosis is readily recognized, because the ketones can be detected in the urine, and can be recognized by a characteristic smell of the individual’s breath. The prophylactic properties of the ketogenic diet build up with time and it may take several weeks before the full effect of ketogenic diet is achieved" (UNM School of Medicine, http://hsc.unm.edu/som/coc/clinics/Ketodiet_eng_10Dec09.pdf http://hsc.unm.edu/som/coc/clinics/Ketodiet_eng_10Dec09.pdf).
- martythemaniak 16y agoI just finished a type of low-carb (though non-ketogenic) diet, so I know my terms, thanks. Again, nothing you're saying makes sense. You said you drank nothing but low-calorie/high-carb veg juice for 2 weeks, but now you say that you didn't drink much of it? So where did your calories come from? Or did you just plain starve yourself with 300 calories worth of veg juice a day? If you're gonna play the nutritionist and offer people advice, expect to get called out on things that don't make sense.