If you are trying to obtain a goal, but you consciously or subconsciously do not want to obtain that goal, then you won’t have any success. For instance, if you want to get a promotion at work, but your subconscious mind knows that you hate your job and getting a promotion will only make it worse, then you won’t do the things you need to in order to get the promotion. The same rules apply if you don’t believe that the strategies that you’re using will be effective. If I am trying to lose weight and think that juicing is not healthy, then juicing won’t be an effective weight loss method for me.

Part of my struggle is my belief that the fiber in the fruits and vegetables is an essential part of a healthy diet. The fiber, especially in green leafy vegetables, helps fill you up while eating less calories.  Filling up with less calories helps you lose weight. And losing weight is a high priority right now since our youngest is only two months! With juicing you don’t get that fiber – or you don’t if you have a really good juicer.

The other thing that is holding me up is a doubt that juice fasting is a healthy practice. I knew from reading Fasting and Eating for Health: A Medical Doctor’s Program for Conquering Disease by Dr. Joel Fuhrman that you actually damage your body if you consume any calories while you’re fasting.  If you don’t take in any calories while fasting (i.e. a water fast) your body quickly begins to use your stored fat for fuel. However, if you keep eating or drinking a minimal number of calories your body will burn your muscle (including your brain and heart) for fuel. That’s not good! It seemed to me that juice fasting would equal a minimal calorie input, and would thus not be a good choice for my body.

For now, that leaves us with the option of adding juices on top of our normal diets or replacing a daily meal with an equivalent caloric amount of juice. We’ve experimented with both, but I still don’t feel like I’m fully behind either option. I’m going to do some more reading on all of this and see if I can figure out exactly what I want to do for my 30 day trial.