My wife and I started juicing after we saw "Sick, Fat and Nearly Dead." We bought the right kind of juicer and strainer for that style of juicing and it was truly amazing how fast the weight dropped off of both of us.
While neither of us would be classed as morbidly obese, or probably not even "obese" at all in the general sense, we were both 20 to 40 pounds over our target weights. My doctor was concerned about my weight as I am a heart patient, have had surgeries and am on medication. She was concerned because my numbers were sneaking up to the point where I could become diabetic as well.
My wife is fairly tall and slender, so her weight was all in her stomach. She hated that and exercise just didn't work for her at all. Overall she is good healthwise, but has arthritis in her hips that makes sustained exercise and long walks very uncomfortable for her.
So while the juicing as shown in the SF&ND movie was effective weightwise, we soon grew tired of the taste of nothing but green vegetables and apples.
So we gave it up and gained all the weight back and then some. You can see that we are very typical USAers.
Then my wife saw a demonstration of the heavy duty Vitamix mixer. Damn thing was priced at nearly $600 USD. She told me that she really wanted it and would like to use it for juicing again. I told her that she could buy it only if she promised to really use it regularly and for juicing at least part time.
She went out and found a book that promoted juicing, but the kind that uses the whole fruit or vegetable and also allows for some regular meals to go along. Bingo!!! That did the trick for us. I am down nearly 30 lbs. and she lost over 20. And it all came off evenly. We still lose about 1 to 1.5 lbs. a week and are very close to achieving our goal weight. My doctor indicated that she no longer considers me in danger of going into Diabetes and is very happy with our progress. My cardiologist is totally happy and told me to keep doing what I am doing because all of my numbers are right where he wants them.
To be absolutely truthful, we go off the diet quite frequently. For example, we hosted Thanksgiving this year and had several family and guests over. We went traditional - roast turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and ice cream, and copius amounts of wine (mostly reds). The males in the group had a whiskey on ice while we all watched football on the wide-screen TV.
Next day I was up 3 lbs. My wife was up 2 lbs. After our guests left we went back to our juice regimen in the AM and leftover turkey sandwiches in the PM. Four days later we are back to our goal weights and feeling great. We will probably juice twice a day for the rest of the week just to get back on track.
Here's the difference from the SF&ND diet: We mix green veggies (kale, spinach mostly) with berries (frozen blue berries, strawberries, mixed berries) with fresh banana, frozen pineapple and guava. No added sugar or salt, but she does add some flax and chia seed to the mix. We also add some unsweetened almond milk (vanilla) and maybe a few nuts that we have leftover. She adds some filtered water and ice and grinds it up. We each drink one large (10-12 oz) glass of that mix. It is delicious and is easy to digest. Unlike the SF&ND diet it doesn't get old and become a burden.
My wife will also exchange a regular meal for another "drink" in the evening made from almond milk and Spiru-tein protein drink. It too tastes good, goes down easy and is quite filling. Our regular meals are made up of scrambled eggs and turkey bacon / or baked chicken thighs and fresh mashed potatoes / or a frozen Chinese mixed veggies with meat / or fresh salmon or white fish when available. We avoid pasta unless we are guests at someone's home. We eat a lot of avacados when they are in season and try to have oranges, bananas, and tangerines as side treats every day. We snack on nuts (mixed or cashews). Our treat at night while watching TV is a few squares (4-6) of Trader Joe's dark unsweetened 50% chocolate.
While my wife has mostly given up all alchohol (it inflames her athritis), I continue (with my cardiologist's blessing) to have 2 glasses of red wine (merlot, pinot noir, syrah) that I sip in the evening between 6 and 9 PM while working on the computer or watching TV.
Bottom line is that my wife and I are losing weight, not holding on to anything when we go offline for a day or two, feeling extremely well and are rarely hungry. Unlike the SF&ND diet that was burdensome and after a day or two felt like we were drinking medicine and not healthy food, this diet really works for us. If either of us goes over or has to eat out with other folks, we just come back and do a day or two of "green drink" and "chocolate protein drink." In a couple of days we are back on the mark.
While the above diet may not work well for families with children, it should work very well for singles and married couples not having to feed others besides themselves. The diet is not expensive - even though almost everything we eat is fresh, organic, and non-GMO. We buy fresh every 2-3 days in small quantities. Above all, we do not nag each other if one of us opts for going out and having Mexican or Chinese one night on the spur of the moment. We just do two drinks the next day.
The book my wife uses for her green drink recipes is Green Smoothie Joy by Cressida Elias (list $14.95 USD). Everything she suggests tastes great.
Above all - we feel great (we are both over 70 anos) - our doctors are very supportive and happy with our progress. My cardiologist has moved my regular checkups out from 3 mos to 6 mos because my numbers are so good and consistent. i've dropped 30 lbs since Xmas 2013 and expect to maintain that weight range through the holidays this year.
And we do cheat. Most weeks I will go out one night and buy a full length Subway sandwich for each of us. We will eat one half for dinner that night and the other half for dinner the next night. Our other meal for the day will be a green drink. This breaks up the monotony. Believe it or not, the next morning I see little or no weight gain after having a 6-inch subway the night before. Your results may differ...
One last thing: We are trying to be consistent (except for bananas and citrus fruit) to try to go 100% local, organic, and non-GMO on our veggies, fruit, dairy and meat. We eat very little processed food like chips or anything that comes in a box.We don't go crazy or deny ourselves if we can't find everything in that category during a trip to the grocery, but those are our preferences. I have to say - the food really does taste better and the cost (for two old folks) is not significantly higher.
JV
