Blake you have inspired me to write with your question. I had planned on writing about our juice fast, but knowing me I would have made it really hard to do (must make video of me juicing, pictures from the market, etc). Instead I’m just going to tell you what we are doing and why. Hopefully that will be OK.
Josh and I saw Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead about a month ago. During the course of the film Joe Cross goes on a 60 day juice fast to lose weight and heal himself from an autoimmune disorder all while traveling across the United States. One of the people Joe meets gets migraines and she does a 10 day fast in which she comes out the other end not getting migraines. Here’s a little back story…
Josh has been getting migraines for the last 12 years or so. They started out being about 3-4 times a year, then they progressed to monthly, then biweekly. Now he gets one every week. Like clockwork.
We have tried almost everything. He has been scanned from head to toe, blood and urine tests. Acupuncture. He’s taken herbs, B vitamins and tintures. No wine, no chocolate, no gluten, no salty snacks, no aged cheese, stress triggers and the list goes on. I will have to say that he hasn’t been as good on the stress management side as on other things, but it doesn’t seem to matter and I can’t blame him considering he has a huge headache waiting for him every week. That would put me over the edge.
Josh said he wanted to try a juice fast. I jumped on board fast because he is very resistant to change and it was his idea.
RESEARCHED JUICERS: I owned a Champion for years and it was a bitch to clean, so I wanted something that was easy to clean and squeezed the maximum amount of juice from my expensive organic fruits and veggies. I landed on this Breville juicer. I love it. I keep telling anyone who wants to listen how cool it is.
PLANNED MENU: We are doing the Reboot Standard Program, with some recipe modifications, because he will not eat orange food. I’ve tried. It’s not a OCD thing, he just happens to have a problem with most orange fruit or veggies.
The Standard Program is 5 days only veggies and fruit with juices, 5 days juice only, 5 days only veggies and fruit. I’m also using some of the Pressed Juicery’s juices as jumping off points. So far the pineapple, green apple and mint is a hit.
GATHERED: See this post.
What we see happening is that Josh breaks his cycle of weekly migraines and move on to more meaningful healing and less drugs. I would also like to get some allergy relief, which if today is any indication, I think I just might. I’ll keep you posted.
11 Comments
Desi McKinnon
November 7, 2011 at 5:10 PMoh we also got his eyes checked and he is now wearing glasses. still got a migraine. curse.
180|360
November 7, 2011 at 5:50 PMI had a photo shoot with a young woman last week that has a similar problem. Her headaches/migraines (which started nearly a decade ago) are so debilitating she can't get out of bed. She's been to every doctor, had every scan, tried every method. Baffling! I sure hope this works for him.
Also, looking forward to checking out the site for some new juice mixtures. I'm always trying random combos but frankly I haven't found a juice that I didn't like! 🙂
Colleen
November 7, 2011 at 9:16 PMis that a masticating juicer? i've read about certain programs that recommend masticating juicers but I don't know why. I'm guessing that you do..
I bet this is going to do it for Josh.
Desi McKinnon
November 8, 2011 at 8:43 AMit's not a masticating juicer. the champion is a masticating juicer. people say the masticating juicers are better because it works simular to you chewing the food and extracts more juice. i haven't found that to be true
i hated using it. it was a bitch to clean you have to do a ton of prep. for me it's more a matter of use. i had the champion for 10 plus years and i never used it.
i love the breville. i can put in whole apples. slice the tops off my pineapples, cut them into fourths and run them through. i just rinse it for clean up. heaven.
in the long run it's really up to you. my mom has my champion and even she complains about the clean up and maintenance of the thing and we know she loves torturing herself for health.
blake
November 8, 2011 at 11:13 AMAh, info! Glad you posted about this. I also suffer from "must make super detailed post with video and then never do it" syndrome.
I didn't know Josh was suffering from all this… really, really hope it works. Also change-resistant, Toby would never volunteer for, much less agree to, something like this. Though he could probably benefit from it. I'm impressed, and again, super hopeful. I honestly cannot imagine a migraine a week.
I also vote for some Desi-approved juice mixtures. I haven't touched my juicer for a decade!
simone leblanc
November 8, 2011 at 5:34 PMHave you heard of the vitamix? It's simply amazing. Best of luck on this juice journey!
Desi McKinnon
November 8, 2011 at 7:02 PMSimone: I come from a long line of Vitamix users. I have mos def heard of the Vita's wonders. I just don't have the counter space for it. Also I've heard good things about the Blendtec. Do you have one?
Natalie of Fashion Intel
November 9, 2011 at 11:05 AMI too recently bought a Breville juicer and I am in love. My energy level has completely changed! I'm going to try this reboot plan that you posted, thanks for sharing.
julia wheeler
November 17, 2011 at 9:54 AMi was on such a good juicing kick for a while but the prep work and clean up got the better of me! i wonder if a breville could solve that…
Anna
November 18, 2011 at 10:10 AMthanks for this info Desi. I watched that film too! and it definitely had me curious about trying a little juicing myself. How did Josh fair with it?
Desi McKinnon
November 18, 2011 at 10:12 AMAnna: It's not over, but he got his usual headache last week. He feels pretty good this week. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he skips this week. I'm going to post on it when we are done.