First things, first. I told you that I was going to add some shots of us doing a 'facial' on Linda. She was a willing volunteer but, as you can see, the pulp was somewhat difficult to apply. I think it would need to be combined with a sticky element to make it really work well. And it would probably be best applied when the 'victim' was lying still. The pulp started burning her face after about 2 minutes and so many people wandered by and laughed that I don't feel we did this experiment any real justice. I'll be returning with results from future tests :) Thanks Linda for your contribution! x

Well, I promised you after pictures.. so here they are.. We were down at the beach at the weekend so I thought I could do the classic 'so-much-happier-now' pictures on the beach on a sunny day! ha-ha! I feel better, and there's definitely a slight improvement in size. No Japanese Whaling Fleets harpooned me during the time I was on the beach at the weekend, so I guess something must be going right!

Although I lost the weight and more, I still feel overweight. If I could have got a hold of a copy of 'turbo' then I'd probably be keener to stay juicing, but for now, I'm going to try to make one per day and stick with that. I'm eating much better and feeling cool about exercise again, so in spite of a rather bad back (think I worked it a little hard during the '7 days' thing), I'm hoping to keep the weight falling off. I'll try to keep posting here, as time goes by, and, when I can get a copy of 'turbo' in the States, I'll start another blog to see how that works.



Happy Juicing! Ed

You won't believe it.. 12lb .. I lost 12lb in 7 days. I'm now 209lb!! That's ridiculous! Ok I didn't eat that much and I did plenty of exercise, but can that really be all that it takes??

For the record, I've not felt massively energised as the plan suggests I might but I feel happier, my eyes are bright, I can see my jaw, my belly has tightened a little (lots of work to do here), and I want MORE! I can't wait to get home and have a few juicy breakfasts. I really think they're going to make a massive difference to my day.

I only wish that this kind of food was available in airports and cities in America. My biggest struggle is getting this food on-the-go.. I'll talk to The Juice Master about rolling out over here... and we'll see.

I highly recommend this book. I'm going a read some of the others but I'm going to have to wait until someone comes over from the UK. The words truly inspired me to start and to stick with it.

Coming up: After pictures (they'll have to wait until the end of the week); regular updates on the weight and fitness. And I'll let you know if the Juicemaster ever makes it out to the States. I'll be there with bells on! I'll take a franchise or two!

More soon!

It's late now, on Day 7 and although I worked out well at the gym, I still not remotely hungry. It's quite strange.. Nevertheless. I DID IT! I DID IT!!! I stuck to the plan and I think I lost some weight.. There's a scale at the gym downstairs (thanks for the tip-off Sarah!) so I'm going to weigh myself in the morning... Should be fun.. I think I may have lost more than 7 lb because I've eaten so little but it really doesn't matter either way. I'm so thrilled that I've found out about this and that I can include it in my regular routine!!

Apologies, dear reader for the lateness of this entry but, alas I was tied up with working today and unable to.. well, do .. um.. ANYTHING..

Ok, so yesterday I forced down 1 Super Juice in the afternoon, but it was only under duress (from the guys at the beach house). I simply have not been feeling hungry at all. My tummy has been churning a little but I truly don't feel like eating. Exercise yesterday consisted of a few games of Wadeball (beach tennis, but at a pretty competitive rate). It lasted 2 hours or so and I was exhausted afterwards. I guess that puts me a little behind the curve on exercise seeing as I'm supposed to do morning noon and night.. But it felt gooood and was more than I would have done in all three combined to be honest.

Last night I got home from the beach and drank a litre or more of water and went to bed.

Early flight this morning meant no exercise morning or noon, but I plan to head to the hotel gym here in Cleveland to 'top up'.

Today I ate... nothing... I have not been in the least bit hungry and have drunk a lot of water. No temptations, no cravings, just not hungry. I do feel like I could drink something light but now there's no access to juicy stuff so I'll have to carefully select something from the room-service menu. Any good ideas? Or should I just have lemon tea?

Should I be worried about this? It's my last day and I know I must have lost weight because I wore trousers for the first time this morning and I'm a full notch (if not more!) smaller than I was the week before last. I'm not sure where I'm going to weigh myself, but I'll find an accurate scale and report back tomorrow.

I feel like this week has been a great success. Despite my concerns about not being hungry and not 'going' I think that I've most likely achieved my 'physical' goal (not that I really wanted to attach one to this week, but something longer term) but more importantly I've created an entirely different paradigm in my head about what's good and bad to eat and I think that has come from 'buying in' to the Juicy philosophy. I know I need to eat less 'bad' food, but juicing seems to fill me up in a way that stops me from even craving bad food. Right now the only thing I'm looking forward to is a beautiful slab of white fish with maybe some leafy veggies.. It's the most strange thing in the world. I'll be so happy if I can work back to at least one juice a day and let the rest take care of itself.

Eating out has always been my excuse for not eating well, but I know that EVERY restaurant around has multiple healthy options on the menu. In the past I've just chosen to overlook them. That's a choice I can make differently in the future and I'm looking forward to giving my favourite places a try with my new 'eye'.

So, friend, reader, anonymous blogger, I shall report back later on any 'activities' for today (don't expect much), but tomorrow will be the weigh-in (where does one find a set of scales in random American town??). I'm looking forward to telling you the results, but I'm looking forward more to reporting back periodically that the weight is steadily coming off and that I'm continuing to love the juicy lifestyle!!

Whether I've lost nothing, gained weight or dropped a stone, I can honestly say that this detox has been a terrific success for me. Not because I lost whatever I lost, but because it's changed my attitude, my outlook and my approach to healthy living.

Juicing ROCKS!.. Now, if only I could find a copy of the 'Turbo' book in the states. I feel like it would be very useful.... Anyone?

Help me Juice Master! You're my only hope! It's been almost 48 hours since I was last hungry.. and therefore I've consumed nothing but water since Friday lunchtime. As I write this I'm watching the American coverage of the final half hour of build up to the England vs Ecuador game at the beach house in New Jersey. I'm wishing I was in England in some wonderful pub, soaking up the atmosphere .. or better still at the game! But more so, I'm wishing I'd been hungry enough to eat or able to 'go' since Thursday morning. I'm rather concerned about both aspects, but I don't know if I should be?? As I've only just woken up (the game starts at 11am here), I'm going to have a lemon tea and watch the game, but then I'm very much hoping that I'll feel like eating or going..

It's also fair to say that yesterday I felt almost devoid of energy. I ran on Friday night when I arrived at the beach, then again yesterday morning, and went for a good walk in the afternoon, but both run and walk were very hard work. After my lemon tea (and the game, of course), I'm going to head out for a run with Linda.

Aside from that, reader, friend, I'm not feeling bad at all. Quite content, not hungry for anything (despite Linda cooking bacon and eggs in the kitchen!), and no headache to speak of today..

Come on England!!!!

Today I ate:
1 Lemon Tea - I could get quite used to these in the morning
1 Super Juice with Psyllium Husk
That's IT!
Well, I'm supping a final Lemon Tea for the evening as I type, but I simply cannot understand how I could have made it through the day without feeling hungry. Is this 'normal'? I'm a little worried that I'm 'backed up'.. but at the same time I'm feeling great that I've stuck to the juice plan. I consumed a lot of water today and it's been pretty hot, but still... no food except one juice??

Down at the beach there are many more temptations on the food front. Linda made a delicious looking (and smelling - I allowed myself a good sniff) chicken mayo sandwich which made me drool, but I wasn't really hungry and was happy to settle for water.

So, for now, with my lemon tea all but done, I'm off to bed. I wonder if I'll be hungry when I wake up tomorrow??

Day 4 - Friday. I woke up feeling 'hungover' again (but with remarkably clean teeth - go figure! Anyone?) and reached straight for the water. Managed to prise myself from the bed feeling very low on energy and took a good run in the park. It was hard work and I just could not seem to get going. But I was out there and that's what counts.

I've been feeling 'wooly' all day and the headache has moved to the back of my head. It's not a bad feeling.. and not a bad headache at all.. just slightly distracting.

I really didn't feel hungry this morning (though I did have a craving for Bathazar Toast and Marmite) so I just had extra Lemon Tea and masses of water. I ended up going to the farmers market at lunch time before making my first juice at around 1.30pm. I'm really enjoying all the juices but adding darned Psyllim Husk powder does make that first one of the day a little too thick for my taste.

It's utterly bizarre to me that the King of Large Meals, Snacks and General Consumption of Anything That Looks, Smells or Feels Tasty (that would be me) could find this process so easy. I had thought about clearing out the kitchen of all the 'tempting' items, which, to be honest, would have been pretty much everything(!), but I've not been interested in anything other than healthy food. I'm never going to be a big lettuce fan, but I can see myself tucking into lovely salads when I'm through here, with avocado and fish etc and not really worrying about the fried chicken and cream buns..

Right now I'd usually be settling down to a lovely chunk of blue cheese with a big (huge) glass of wine. Instead, today I have... you guessed it, Lemon Tea! Can't say I'm missing the wine, but I am starting to get a craving for steamed white fish over rice.. Odd..

You'll be pleased to know, dear reader, that my 'other' worries are over... Dropped the kids at the pool this afternoon, before my bike ride. Quite a releif..

I've been feeling a little dizzy/headachey all day, but nothing uncomfortable. I exercised morning, noon and finished the day with a lovely long bike ride around the park.

Today I ate
1 Lemon Tea (I tried it with mint.. won't do that again)
1 JM Super Juice1 Turbo Juice (I added Psyllium Husk powder to this.. won't be doing that again - it became a gelatinous green mess in seconds)
1 Passion 4 Juice. This was my first of these. Delicious, and a little thinner than the rest.
1 Lemon Tea

I was asked today about 'progress'. I'm kind of reluctant to answer as I don't feel like I could have lost any 'real' weight at this stage (is that even the objective here? I'm feeling more like the objective is to detox and start with a blank sheet, and energy and knowledge of what's good and what's not). With the summer heat, I'm confident that just the exercise I've been doing will see my weight drop by the end of the week.

I'm feeling good, confident, and excited about the next few days. Big problem is, I have to travel next week. There's no way I can take the juicer or enough prepared juice for the next stage. Big problem. I chatted to Joe at the West Side Markets in Cleveland and he's assured me that they have a juicer and enough fruit and veg to take care of me. I'll let you know how I go.

Today's Lessons:
Don't add too much Psyllium to the Turbo - bit of a mess..
Patience is a virtue
Don't ride your bike with your mouth open (do flies count as 'solid' food?)

Drinking plenty of water in this weather is key, but I'm still a little concerned about the lack of 'movement'. I'm not that hungry at all and feel like I *should* have been going like a freight-train., surely? I'm going to have to step up the psyllium husk - I'll add one to my next 'meal', even though I had one this morning too.

I've decided to test out the pulp face mask on Linda at the weekend. I think she'll go for it (check back for the results).

I took a lovely brisk walk around the reservoir at lunch time. It was a little too hot and I'm still rather stiff from all this exercise, but I totally agree with The Juicemaster that movement is key. It really makes me feel better.

One anonymous poster below suggested I could use juice pulp as a face pack! I could not resist googling that one, and I came up with a bunch of masks. Incredible! Strangely, most featured papaya.. but some others featured pineapple packs, apple packs and more! Who dares me to try it??

This morning I woke up sluggish. Almost like a hangover. I'm definitely dehydrated so I'm going to step up the water intake today. I have some aching muscles, so I toned down the exercise this morning to a 1/2 hour stretch/weight session. It was great but the apartment is already too hot. I think a lunch-time power walk/sweat in the park will be good. This time of year, you get used to showering and changing your clothes more than twice per day - you'd think the fat would be falling off me!

I'm going to delay buying my veggies until tomorrow as there's a terrific farmer's market on 97th street on Fridays. Here I'll pick up all the veggies etc that I need for the beach this weekend. I hope I have enough to see me through the day.

OK, so I've had more questions about it than anything else, so I feel the need to let you all know that it's 'come'. That's right, the psyllium husk did it's work and I've been.. and, to answer the question, yes, it was.. GREEN!!! I came close to photographing it but I thought the awful 'before' pictures were enough torture for anyone reading this!!

So after a nice moment on the throne and a lovely post-work nap, I felt quite .. weird.. My energy levels felt low and I had the beginnings of a headache. It felt like the caffeine withdrawal headaches I've had in the past after periods of mammoth coffee consumption. Nevertheless I pulled on my running gear and hit the road. Getting dressed, I was tempted to jump back in to bed and continue my nap, but I'm so glad I went out. I ran for around 2.5 miles but stopped for good serious stretches twice and finished up with a good 10 minutes in the park doing sits and squats and push-ups. It's been a little while so I was very stiff, but it felt gooood, and I feel very relaxed now, and so pumped about making it out for a good work-out in the New York heat. I think that even without the juice, this amount of exercise would make anyone drop 7lb. With the healthy juice as well I'll be shocked if it's not more!

Someone suggested that I should add a weight item to my daily blog and it would give a good indicator of progress. I've decided against it for two reasons.
1) I don't think it would be useful or motivating for me to see that I'd dropped 1lb, worse still, nothing at all or, worse, added weight.
2) I don't own any scales.

I'll probably add an end-of week weight, but I hope that I'll continue to loose pounds over the next few months and reach an optimum weight before the summer is over. (Looks like I'm going to need the Turbo book!).

Today I ate:
1 Lemon Tea
1 Super Juice
1 Super Juice with Psyllium Husk
1 Turbo with Wheatgrass Powder
1 Mint Tea (lovely!)

Urges? None.. but opening the fridge and seeing chocolate bars and sauces did make me drool briefly.. but only briefly. I would usually walk into the kitchen four or five times a day and snack on something.. but I'm just not interested (or hungry!) so I'm happy to leave it alone.

I'm off to the TV with a lovely mint tea..

Thought for the day: How does one travel and juice. My work takes me to different cities every week and I always stay in hotels. There's no way I can carry around all that juicing equipment! Does anyone have any thooughts. Has anyone ever persuaded a hotel (in the US) to make juices for them? Comments??

That was odd.. I finished up with work and got out of my chair and felt strangely tired.. Unlike me, I went and layed down at 5pm and WOOSH! I was out like a light. I was crashed out for over an hour! Admitedly, this morning was an early start, and I probably over did it on the exercise last night, but still, that was quite weird.

That said, I have had no real headaches as people have warned me and I *still* don't feel very hungry. I'm going to trudge around the park (I say around, I only cover a fraction of it at my pace!) before coming back for my last juice of the day, and a wrap-up blog.

Should I be more hungry/moody/headachey?? Anyone??

I guess I should have posted what I ate yesterday:

1 Lemon Tea
1 JM Super Juice
1 JM Super Chute Juice
1 Turbo Juice
1 Lemon Tea

Can't believe I didn't feel that hungry!

Check it out! The Juicemaster Team have added a link to my blog to their website !! I'm almost famous! Now I'm beginning to regret those 'before' pictures.. !! Please, be nice..

I'm off for an afternoon stroll around Central Park before returning for my second juice of the day. .. My cousin asked me about my 'movements' earlier, and this has led to some concern about the paucity of action in this area. Perhaps on my walk I should pick up some Psyllium Husk. I'll be sure to publish any updates in that area...

Midsummer's Day. It's warming up to be a scorcher in New York today and I've had to resort to switching on the AC..

Even with only two apples I can make 1.5 pints of Super Juice. It seems like a lot of volume and it's taking me 1/2 hour just to drink it. The pineapple perfectly disguises the grassy taste of the 'powders' and the overall taste is quite refreshing. I could drink a lot of this...

Royal Gala apples seem to juice up nicely and the ripe pineapple I have seem to love being chucked down the chute!

I need to add some info about the juicer I purchased. It's the Breville JE900 Professional Juice Extractor (I can't find it on the Breville USA site, but I purchased it on Amazon.com). It jumped out at me on the Amazon website because of it's sturdy-looking construction, tough motor and the many reviews I read about how simple to clean it was. Most of all, I was pretty price-conscious. $99 was what I paid and I think I got a good deal. This thing is seriously powerful and has made light work of the ingredients so far (remember, only day 2 here!).. The shute is not quite large enough for my Royal Gala apples, but there's a big label on the side of it that says 'Juice Whole Apples'! It's fair to say that my apples are quite large (fnur fnur) and that the blade/motor would have no problem sucking in a 'normal' sized one, whole.

So far (one day in!), I'm following Jason's instructions clearly about 'process'. I fill the sink with warm water and prepare and chop all my food, then rinse everything off after I'm done. It works really well. I don't have any bags though so the pulp is going straight into the bin. Already there's a nice pong when I open it up, so I think I'm going to adopt the bag method. Has anyone come up with ingenious uses for that stuff. Add a comment and let me know. Is there any nutrients left in it? Shall I feed some to next-door's dog?

Received another mail from the guys at Juicemaster.com suggesting that I should be consuming around 2 apples per juice. This would explain why I was not hungry last night. I'm about to prepare my first juice of the day so this will be my first test.

A quiet evening was just what was required. Last night I ran in the park for 45 minutes before mixing up a turbo for 'tea'. Then I jumped on the bike down to Hoboken. I felt a great sense of achievement at having completed my first day, and celebrated with a lemon tea and pretty much went off to bed.

This morning I awoke feeling slightly dehydrated (dry mouth) but otherwise fine, and not really hungry. I cycled back along Riverside Drive (so beautiful!) and I'm now home and contemplating my first juice.

I sent a link to my blog to the Juicemaster web-site last night and they replied saying it would be good to see how much volume I was drinking. It's a concern of mine that I'm making too much volume. This is really derived from the fact that the book does not specify how many apples to use. I'm still using 3 or 4 each time along with the suggested amount of each other ingredient and this seems to make up around 1.5 pints.

The book asks you to record your overall enery levels for the day. Yesterday I'm going for a 5. Though I did more exercise yesterday than in the last 3 weeks!

Well, the 'turbo' is quite different in look and taste. It's quite sweet but brown with a yellow froth. It's almost like Guinness.. in fact, if I close my eyes I can almost see the green, rolling hills of Ireland..

One thing the book doesn't guide me on is how large each drink should be. I'm filling a pint glass every time and this seems like a lot.. I guess I'm used to necking a few pints (tonight for instance I may well have been out celebrating England's winning of their group in the World Cup with a few jars!), but maybe not quite the density or colour of these babies.. I'm excited to see what comes next!

This one is a little harder to get down. It's a little 'grassy' but not nasty in the least!

I haven't felt hungry today but I know, because I always eat late, I'm going to be starving by the time I get to Linda's. I'd better take some mint and/or lemon for a delicious nightcap.

I'm planning to head out on my bike around the park before heading over to Hoboken tonight. I don't have a flask yet so I'm going to have to come back and make up my 'evening' meal before heading over there.

No sign of any adverse effects... But time will tell. I'm going to purchase some Phyillius Husk on my way back to the office tomorrow... That may well start things rolling.

The book has some summary questions for the end of each day. I'm going to type them here and answer them later in the day (so as to give my system a little more time to react to its new food.

WOW!

That's green..

Bright GREEN!! There's more of it than I thought too... perhaps I used too many apples (3). The book doesn't tell you how many apples to use so I just guessed (based on the number he tells you (35)).

It's a lot to get down and I don't think I can drink four of these a day.. but we'll see..

Ok. Here's the real telling shot. Just look at that belly. It's like a frickin' whale!

I've never been quite so out of shape. Shame on me.. :(

Here's the front on shot.. Actually isn't that bad.. until you see the side-on one!

Today I start my 7 day detox program. I'm 15st 11 (221lb) today and I''m hoping that I'll weigh less and feel better by the end of the week.

I've read the Jason Vale book (7lb in 7 Days Super Juice Diet) and I'm ready to go!

Yesterday I purchased $40 of vegetables (including some I've never heard of!) and $60 on supplements (spirulina, wheatgrass and 'Power Greens') and I think I'll have to go back for Psyllium Husks (God knows how much they'll cost!).

I'm going to subject this blog to a 'before' and 'after' photograph, but as there's no-one here to take them for me, I'm not sure how successful I'll be...

This morning my juicer arrived. I did some serious research and came up with this model as it was a reasonable price and looked pretty sturdy. I'll be adding reviews as we go along.

As the juicer didn't arrive until this afternoon, I had to start this morning with a 'chewable' breakfast - I had a cup of hot lemon tea, and an apple, which I made sure to chew as best I could. The tea was surprisingly pleasant. I was quite happy to sup down a mug-full.

It's 2.30 now and I'm starting to feel a little hungry. So I'm off to juice my first meal