Movie Fat, Sick and nearly Dead

[OakLeaf]

I'm with Crankin on the general principles, but I do have to say, I thought I ate a healthy diet, but vastly increasing the amount of calories I get from raw vegetables makes an ENORMOUS difference in how I feel. And there's no easier way to get a whole lot of calories from raw vegetables than juicing. Otherwise, there's really too much fiber to even eat that much, let alone absorb it all.

[itself]

For me, my approach to food has been balance. I was a vegetarian, but tested positive to a soy allergy 15 years ago, I eat all hormone free meat, and have not eaten red meat for 30 years. You do have to wonder about genes and what we inherit.

All I know is that it will probably save my brothers life. Better late than never.

[Sylvia]

For me, my approach to food has been balance. I was a vegetarian, but tested positive to a soy allergy 15 years ago, I eat all hormone free meat, and have not eaten red meat for 30 years. You do have to wonder about genes and what we inherit.

All I know is that it will probably save my brothers life. Better late than never.

The movie says you need to be supervised by a doctor if you are on medication before doing a 10 day juice fast. So if your brother is doing a juice fast, I'm presuming he's checking in with his doctor. That said, I think it is great that he is making an attempt to change, improve his diet and become healthy. That in and of itself is really HUGE for many of us.

[Crankin]

My comments stem from the fact that there are some people, as Itself alluded to, where genetics trump everything when dealing with these issues and others, like Goldfinch, and myself somewhat, where dietary changes have made no difference. I'm not on any medication, but at age 35 my total cholesterol was 160. At 40 it was 180. At 45, it was 245! I was exercising vigorously and eating well, although not as well as I do now. I started cycling and just from that (and giving up on my old forms of exercise) it went down to 220. It hasn't gone down much from that, about 217. However, it did raise my HDL to such a high level (70-100), that my ratio is excellent and no doctor will think of putting me on meds, despite the overall total that is about 20 points too high. I've tried every type of eating and nothing changes.
On the other hand, no amount of changes in diet/exercise would have prevented my DH from having 2 80% blockages, after 5 years of cycling 3-4K a year, and making huge dietary changes, and being on bp and cholesterol lowering drugs for a year. Maybe, if he had started when he was 18; the genetics were so bad, we are just waiting for all 3 of his siblings to have some "event," as they are all overweight, 2 are extremely sedentary, and they don't eat well, either.

[itself]

My comments stem from the fact that there are some people, as Itself alluded to, where genetics trump everything when dealing with these issues and others, like Goldfinch, and myself somewhat, where dietary changes have made no difference. I'm not on any medication, but at age 35 my total cholesterol was 160. At 40 it was 180. At 45, it was 245! I was exercising vigorously and eating well, although not as well as I do now. I started cycling and just from that (and giving up on my old forms of exercise) it went down to 220. It hasn't gone down much from that, about 217. However, it did raise my HDL to such a high level (70-100), that my ratio is excellent and no doctor will think of putting me on meds, despite the overall total that is about 20 points too high. I've tried every type of eating and nothing changes.
On the other hand, no amount of changes in diet/exercise would have prevented my DH from having 2 80% blockages, after 5 years of cycling 3-4K a year, and making huge dietary changes, and being on bp and cholesterol lowering drugs for a year. Maybe, if he had started when he was 18; the genetics were so bad, we are just waiting for all 3 of his siblings to have some "event," as they are all overweight, 2 are extremely sedentary, and they don't eat well, either.

My cholesterol is also 225, but my NP said that my HDL and LDL are so ridiculously good that I need not worry. There is some thought around the total number having less importance.

[Miranda]

The cholesterol levels of people eating the meat type Paleo diet does make me curious. I wonder if my friend that's doing it has had his checked, hmm. I have not had mine checked in a while, but I assume it would be good.

I love my little NutriBullet gadget that keeps the fiber in it. One reason I was never a juice drinker before is that the quick absorption and increase in my blood sugar would always make me sick.

I know you can use a bag to help dispose of the bits spit out (w/juicer), but it just looked like a lot of waste and clean up. OTT, my bestie seems to love hers (juicer machine) tho.

[OakLeaf]

it just looked like a lot of waste and clean up.

That's why you want a quality juicer - that will (1) grind the vegetables slowly so as not to heat them, (2) grind them thoroughly to break up all the cell walls, and (3) press the mash under high pressure to extract the most juice possible. There's little waste, because what comes out of the end of the juicer was just going to come out of the end of you, anyway ... and if you ate it, it would take a lot of the nutrients with it. So effectively, juicing with a quality appliance could really be *less* wasteful than eating the whole veggies.

And I *always* read the cleaning instructions before investing in a kitchen appliance of any kind. Some are easy, some not so much. If a juicer doesn't disassemble to the point where the only real effort is brushing out the screen, I wouldn't buy it, either.

[IBrakeforPastry]

And there's no easier way to get a whole lot of calories from raw vegetables than juicing. Otherwise, there's really too much fiber to even eat that much, let alone absorb it all.

Can you explain this? I've only juiced oranges and I'm unfamiliar with vegetable juicing. I guess there's more to it than just throwing it all in a blender or food processor? I think I might want to try this!

[OakLeaf]

The only juicer I have any experience with is a Champion. Sold it years ago, wish now I'd kept it. Nowadays there are several quality brands with similar mechanisms. Basically, they slowly masticate the vegetables so as not to heat them, then press them through a screen, so the juice comes out the bottom and the fiber comes out the end.

Nothing wrong with throwing it all in the blender, but then all the fiber stays in and it can be hard to digest if you drink a lot of it.

[IBrakeforPastry]

Thanks, OakLeaf. The fiber has it's own benefits, but it sounds like you don't want too much of it so you can drink more juice. Is that right?

[Sylvia]

Can you explain this? I've only juiced oranges and I'm unfamiliar with vegetable juicing. I guess there's more to it than just throwing it all in a blender or food processor? I think I might want to try this!

From what I have seen there are three main types of juicers: centrifugal juicers, masticating juicers and juice presses. Most of the good quality juicers that I've seen within a reasonable price range ( $400 or less) are centrifugal or masticating. Centrifugal, as the name implies, uses centrifugal force to force the juice out. They are much louder. The guy in the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, promotes the Breville juicers which seem to be mostly (if not all) centrifugal juicers. The masticating juicers grind or chew up the fruit/veggie and forces the juice out. They are generally quieter. The juicer I have, the Omega 8006, is one of these.

I believe the reason behind juicing is to concentrate the nutrients by removing the pulp. Part of the reason I started juicing after watching this movie was I wanted to add more dark green leafy veggies to my smoothies. Something besides just spinach. I did try Kale or Chard in my smoothie and found it had way to much pulp which caused me problems. Now I mostly juice and love it.

One more thing, for many people getting a good quality juicer can be expensive. And if this is the case, I recommend starting out with smoothies. Many people who juice also do smoothies. I started with making smoothies made with banana, some fruit of my choice, spinach, some protein powder and maybe soymilk or water. I would even throw in some ground ginger or cinnamon. You don't even need an expensive blender. I use just an Oster blender. The real point for me was to try to eat healthier.

[Sylvia]

For those who might be interested in juicing greens, but aren't quite ready to be die-hard, here is an infographic guide to juicing greens.
It lists different greens to try in steps, so you can work up to the tougher ones. I didn't have this guide when I started
and went pretty quickly to juicing kale, collards and chard (which seems to be missing on the chart).