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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Day 5 of Fasting

So far today I am feeling great!  I am writing this while I am on bus to school and am trying desperately to not feel carsick!  Last night I made some orange/peach juice and some concord grape juice that tastes great!  The only problem is that since I don't have a juicer and I blend the fruit and then squeeze the juice out with a cheesecloth the grape juice makes my hands itch like crazy!  I thought for a while about getting a juicer, but I also want a dehydrator.  On a married full time college student budget I can't afford both so I think that I am going to get the dehydrator within the next couple of weeks because I think that for my purposes right now I will get more use out of it.

I haven't weighed myself in a while, but I plan to do so after this fast and then every 7 days thereafter.  I will also post before/after pics of me for every 25 lbs I loose. 

My wife asked me a good question yesterday that made me think.  She said that she had read that people who drink one glass of apple juice a day are more likely to develop diabetes.  She asked why I feel that juices are good for my body for more extended fasts (I told her that I would like to do a 30 day juice fast some time latter this year).  She said (and I already knew this) that when you juice a fruit you remove all of the fiber that helps slow the digestion of the fructose in the fruit and without it our bodies absorb the sugar much faster.  Why do I feel this is still healthy? (Please know that my wife and I ask each other questions like this all the time.  We both have similar but different philosophies about eating and will often debate our differences in a healthy way.)

I figured that I would post my response to her here!

When you juice a fruit you do remove the fiber and your body does absorb the sugar faster.  However, drinking store bought apple juice and fresh made apple juice is completely different.  Store bought apple juice has been heated at high temperatures to pasteurize it, when juice is heated the nutrients die and the sugar is condensed, try fresh orange juice and then try 100% store bought orange juice ... you will taste a massive difference) and the oxygen is removed to increase shelf life.  The oxygen being removed also depletes flavor so flavor packets are added to restore it.  This is true for even 100% juice.  That is why all juice you buy from the store tastes the same (if it is the same brand) and tastes differ between brands.  Each company has a different flavor packet formula.  Why isn't it listed on the label you ask?  It's because the flavor packet is DERIVED from the fruit that the juice is made from so it doesn't need to be listed as anything other than the fruit itself.

Anyway :) drinking heated juice has less nutrients and more sugar (through the juice condensing during the heating process).  When you make your own home made juice it does not condense (as long as you leave it raw) and it maintains much of it's nutrients except for fiber. 

Our brains need carbohydrates to function and the sugar in fruit (or any sugar) is a carbohydrate thus it supplies power to our brains.  The nutrients and antioxidants in the juice fuel our bodies in their daily activities and in the restoration process.

So, in short, I feel that homemade juice is okay to drink if it is left raw.  I do have to say though that I am not a medical professional so if you have diabetes or are pre-diabetic you should consult your doctor or do your own research before consuming anything with sugar in it.


Try your own raw juice!  I promise you won't be disappointed!

Remember, you are RAWsome!

8 comments:

Georgina said...

Who is it that says that you are more likely to develop diabetes if you drink a glass of apple juice a day? If this study exists, was it pure, fresh apple juice or the pastuerised sort that is allowed to have added refined sugar and still call itself 100% apple juice?

Just a quick word on your disclaimer ... any carbohydrate will be broken down in the body to simple sugars. You can't avoid sugar per se but you can avoid the refined types.

RawDaddy said...

I have no idea where she heard this. I will have to ask her! I would assume that it is the pasteurized apple juice.

I also want to point out how irritated I am at the wording of things like this (the study, not you) that say things like "those who drink a glass of apple juice a day are more likely to develop diabetes". I feel like what they are saying is that they don't know if apple juice can contribute to diabetes, I feel like they are saying that they just noticed a correlation. What else did the people eat? Were the people in their study group also eating a box of Twinkies a day?

Georgina said...

totally agree ... they probably could say that there is a correlation between breast milk and diabetes if they chose to.

Over here we have a newspaper that loves health scares and scary stats. It doesn't matter if their stats/stories contradict each other day in day out ... it's having the scary copy that they care about.

Anonymous said...

Well, you guys have pretty much said it all, but I feel compelled to add that when I drink a lot of fruit juice (raw or not), and even if I eat a lot of fruit, I gain weight. Every single time. I think for me, the compelling reason to eat the whole fruit instead of the juice is because you'll consume way less calories (and sugar) that way. Just think of how many apples it takes to get a cup of apple juice, when you could have eaten the whole apple for a fraction of the calories. That said, I'm obviously a fan of fasting, and I think it's usually done for reasons other than weight loss. While I've not done a juice fast, I am on day 4 of my water fast. I think juice fasting suits your situation rather well.. a good way to give your digestive system a break while still giving you energy to get through your busy day. And, if you're feeling successful, then you are probably not like me with fruit causing weight gain. :-) Anyway, that's my two cents on fruit. For me, it just will never work.

Ashley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ashley said...

umm, I tried to edit my post but instead I deleted it.

Here is the source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/DiabetesNews/story?id=5403691&page=1

I haven't looked into the particulars of the study, it was just something that I'd read a couple years ago.

~"wife" ;)

Hippy_Hippy_Make said...

amazing that they don't even mention the difference between shop-bought juice and home-squeezed juice.

I read - actually I think I heard it on BBC radio news that people who take vitamins are likely to make unhealthy food choices because they feel they are "covered" by the vitamin supplement! I wonder if the same is true of apple juice drinkers.

Also I note that the study was of nurses. Having studied as a nurse - albeit briefly - I can say they are amongst the most unhealthy eaters and drinkers I have ever come across and that doesn't even include the level of smoking they indulge in.

Their job is a highly stressful one and very busy. Stress and being rushed off your feet and long shifts tends to make for the grabbing of ready-made meals in the supermarket and the dangers of stress are only really acknowledged in the mildest way most of the time - but let's blame apple juice!

Hippy_Hippy_Make said...

btw ... I logged in at work and forgot the password to my other ID ... it's actually Georgina again :o)

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