Dear Diary,
Unlike the rest of the US who already saw the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, Sweet Baboo and I had it in out Netflix queue for over a year before watching it last weekend. Baboo was fascinated.
Hey, should we try this?
"Try this?" This, from a man who has nearly torn cabinets off the wall because of a hunger pang? I was suspicious. I finally asked him, later, why he wanted to try this.
Turns out he wants to 'make weight'. This is a throwback term from days of being an athlete...Baboo is in the Military and, at 6'1" his weight limit is 208 lbs. (I'm now officially to lazy to convert that to kg or stone, but Google will do it nicely if you type in, "hiw many stone is 200 pounds?") He's convinced that they mis-measured measured his height and he's actually 6' and thus, his weight limit is 200. Military members are given periodic fitness assessments, and getting high points on these is part of qualifying for promotion, or for some, continued stay in the military.
But he's solid, and I do mean solid, muscle. If you're overweight, then they 'tape' you, meaning that they measure your abdomen with a tape measure. As long as the abdomin-to-height ratio is acceptable, then you can be overweight. Baboo, however, is a perfectionist (hence myself, his Lovely Wife) and he was firm. I don't wanna be taped.
Also, he wants to drop about ten pounds, or more, to be faster. He wants to qualify for Boston again. I think he feels mildly cheated by the record insanely fucking hot year that was 2012. So now he's shooting for 2014.
Now, here's what's interesting. Himself hates vegetables. Haaaaates them. Did I say hates? He fucking LOATHES them. But, he insists that this is because of their texture, not necessarily their taste. He will eat the following vegetables in their whole form: peas, carrots, green beans, beets, and corn.
Corn is a grain, I pointed out.
He feels that he might be able to stand the juice.
So, last Sunday, while the rest of the US was chowing on wings and beer, we parked directly in front of my favorite cookery store (and I am telling you, shopping during the Stupor Bowl is the BOMB. The streets are empty, the parking lots are empty, and there were more store employees than customers. I wish every weekend was the Stupor Bowl; my general dislike of crowds and well, let's face it people would be mollified while people sat in their wall-e chairs and gazed straight ahead)
Ahem. Anyway.
<-- We got this. I read through many, many reviews of juicers on Amazon before selecting this. They had to search long and hard for this one at the store, being as it was the lowest-priced one there. It's the Breville 850 watt model with variable speed. It takes up an impressive amount of counter-space, and other than a home espresso machine, may quite possibly be the messiest thing I've ever used. But it does a good job juicing. It is a centrifugal type juicer. Putists will insist that it raises the temperature and destroys important enzymes, to which I have found that 1) according to the company it does, indeed, raise the temperature two whole degrees Farenheit, and 2) there are absolutely no studies about enzymes being destroyed. It's a weak hypothesis, at best.
As I gazed upon it sitting on the counter, I realized, I now officially old. -er. All i need now is the large divided pill box full of supplements and oh shit wait, I already have that.
I read. And read. And read. When considering this type of thing, one has to wade through a lot of quasi-scientific new age (I'm not even bothing to capitalize that) bullshit. I also consulted with one of my work collegues, who is a DO and a psychiatrist.
I told Baboo we would start with a three-day fast, and see how it goes, starting Friday morning. This weekend he will have guard duty, which will keep him busy and keep his mind off eating. I am also doing this, because apparently it's difficult to do a juice fast if your partner is in the next room frying chicken, er, I mean sauteeing chicken. Whatever.
Purists will also insist that there should be NO SODIUM and NO CAFFEINE. I posit that this is a good idea for people who have the luxury of fasting while lying in bed all day. But it gave me an idea: Baboo starts off his day wuth about 4 to 6 cuos of coffee. I'd like to break that cycle.
Day 1: Here are the rules, which I emailed to Baboo at work and to his personal email:
8 ounces of juice, (recipes to follow) consumed at 9, 11, 1, and 3.
8 ounces of water at 8, 10, 12, 2, and 4.
8 ounces of broth with plenty of sodium at noon and maybe later in the afternoon if you get hungry.
Evening, to be determined.
Now, devotees of the Juicing Lifestyle insist that the juice be made and consumed within the same time-frame. it oxidizes, they insist.
I don't know where these people work, but I don't want them in my office, which is on a locked psychiatric unit and where coworkers take a dim view of loud machinery spewing bits of vegetable matter hither and yon.
So, I made the juices the night before, and froze them, in 20 ounce containers -->
I didn't freeze the morning juice, which is thus:
--1 cup of strawberries
--3 large carrots
--1 small zuchinni
--4 celery stalks
--1 medium granny smith apple
I have to say, this was pretty damned good. I like this juice. It made two cups, and that was breakfast.
I was warned, in my reading, against eating too much fruit, which has a ton of sugar in it. A little fruit is good, though, because of the high water content and because it makes the juices more palatable.
So, here is mine ands Baboo's juicing fast kit for the day:
The caraf in the middle has the morning strawberry mix in it.
Note the spoon, broth base, and plastic knives--the plastic knives are for chipping away at at the iced juices. They are much better when fresh, and when cold.
It's 6 am on day 1.
Ready?
Here we go...
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