I won’t pretend to be an expert on juice-fasting. I am not an expert or anywhere near to being so. I attempted my first juice fast back in 2012. I liked the results so I kept on doing juice fasts every few months. My fasts have ranged from 3 days – 14 days. I have found that juice-fasting helps me in numerous ways. Again, I cannot speak about juice fasting as if I have expert knowledge on the subject. I can only speak about it from my own personal experience as it relates to my efforts to regain some control over my fibroid-altered appearance.

While I have found that juice-fasting helps to balance me mentally, emotionally and physically, I have found after the last three fasts I’ve done, that I have gained back the weight lost during the fast plus some extra pounds very rapidly and without any modifications to my food consumption that could explain it.

In doing some research I have read that juice-fasting has a negative impact on the metabolic system. This information is not undisputed; but the suggestion is that, over time, juice fasting slows down and eventually crashes your metabolism. I’ll let the experts do the explaining, but for me, something is definitely off. I could see if I went eating cake and ice cream and pizza right after finishing my fast and kept doing this for days; but I’m talking about gaining back the weight plus extra pounds while consuming half the daily recommended dosage of calories and other nutrients.

I can’t say that my metabolism has “crashed”; but the weight gain happens too quickly. I expect to eventually gain back the weight I lost during a fast; but not within a couple of days while barely eating. Something is definitely going on systemically. It’s true that I’ve been going through a phase of not exercising as many days a week as I normally do; and in fact I’ve had about 3 two-week stretches of not exercising over the last 6 months. No doubt this has contributed; but I’ve gone through these stretches in the past and maintained the same weight. Nothing has changed in my lifestyle and habits. I haven’t been eating differently; but my body is reacting differently.

Why do I juice fast?

This is a question I am asking myself because I am trying to figure out if I should stop doing these occasional juice fasts or keep doing them. Certainly, if they are indeed compromising my metabolism then I will have to stop doing them; but for now, the reason I fast is because it helps me to regain control over myself and over my life.

As I’ve said in previous posts I’ve had a self image issue since I was an adolescent. I’d love to be able to say I’m cured now that I’m a grown woman, but the truth is, how I feel in general is very much tied to how comfortable or uncomfortable I feel in my own skin. When I don’t feel physically balanced I slip into a dark place. I lose touch with myself. I become mentally and emotionally unbalanced. When I am at a good place physically I can cope better with life. Even if I’m off balance mentally and/or emotionally, being balanced physically enables me to stay above water. When I don’t feel right physically my whole life falls into an unlivable state. I find it hard to love myself. It becomes difficult to care enough about anything when I’m feeling full of self hate.

Juice fasting helps to balance me by resetting me physically to a point where I feel comfortable. It resets me to a point where I feel more right in my skin. I feel more powerful, more in control of myself. I feel more capable, more free, more fluid and lighter. By lighter I don’t mean in terms of how much I weigh. I mean lighter in terms of mental burden and emotional burden.

The problem for me has been that I haven’t yet been successful in turning that into a permanent transformation of my life. I reset myself but I don’t follow up by taking a different route as I traverse my life (is that correct to say?), so I end up right back where I started and have to reset again.

I guess the question I need to ask myself is whether it is really and truly necessary to fast in order to reset myself. Are there other ways to reset myself that are as effective and healthier?

Juice fasting dangers

The more I read about juice fasting the more I think that perhaps it will be best for me to find a less “faddish” way to achieve my long term well-being goals.

I stress again that I cannot speak to you on the subject of juice fasting or on the subject of juice fasting dangers as if I know something about either that qualifies me to speak. I have read the same articles which you have no doubt read. Most of them suggest that juice fasting comes with a risk of damaging your metabolism among other things.

For me personally I would have to say that there does seem to be truth in the suggestion that juice fasting can have a detrimental impact on your metabolic system. But I find it a little peculiar all the same. Is it a general result or conditional? I mean, is there a way to do a juice-fast that reduces if not eliminates the risk of crashing your metabolism?

I have tried to drink things that don’t contain too much sugar. Since my initial foray into the world of juice-fasting when I was consuming enough sugar to make my head explode, I haven’t been using a lot of fruits in the things I concoct because I don’t like the way my body feels after consuming fruit based juices. I can feel the impact of all that sugar in my system. Additionally I have tried to fortify my drinks with protein and make them as nutritious as possible; and I have tried to ingest enough calories to prevent my system from reacting as if being deprived. Even so, it would seem that my system has still been compromised.

I have definitely noticed after the last 3 fasts completed, that I have gained back the weight too rapidly. It’s like I will lose 5 pounds after a 5 day fast, gain back the 5 pounds by the second day after the fast ends and another 10 pounds over the next several days after that. I’m probably exaggerating there; but right now I definitely feel like I’m 5 – 7 pounds heavier that I was before I started my last fast. I don’t weigh myself. Don’t keep a scale in the house, so I can’t say for certain how many pounds I’ve gained above my normal; but I’m definitely a little heavier a couple of weeks out of the fast than before I did the fast. And this has happened for the last 3 fasts. Admittedly it’s not like I’m getting fat yet; but even so, I’d rather not be gaining weight because I stupidly crashed my metabolism by juice fasting.

Ok, so juice fasting might crash your metabolism…But Does Juice Fasting at least Shrink Fibroids?

Until recently my experience with juice-fasting has been positive. I once thought it helped with shrinking my fibroids; but I now believe it just helped to streamline my system. By that I mean it got rid of all the extra junk I was carrying around so that my stomach became more settled down and looked smaller even while my fibroids remained the same size. Some people say juice fasting shrinks fibroids. I am not going to argue with them. My personal experience doesn’t prove anything on a worldwide scale. Just because I can’t say from my experience that juice fasting shrinks fibroids doesn’t mean that someone else is lying who says that in her experience juice fasting shrinks fibroids. In my experience juice fasting shrinks the stomach and even a stomach filled with fibroids benefits by looking smaller.