I tried something different today, because I've been feeling a need to make some changes in my juicing regimen: I juiced oranges and added some collard greens (minus the bitter center stem), and it was delicious. I think I felt a bit of a lift from the greens. I have 2 big bunches of collards, so I'm going to try to incorporate them in my drinks this week. Now I'm off to juice a cantaloupe and do some yoga. Or maybe I'll be good and skip the cantaloupe juice and fast till morning--- I'll decide after I do some yoga.

Tonight I spent an hour learning from the guy who's teaching me how to water our community garden (he's my mentor & I'm his 'assistant' for the months of May and June). We both had to go late tonight, so we ended up watering the garden in the dark. It was kind of mysterious and fun.

Learning how to do things that humans have been doing naturally for hundreds of thousands of years is a bittersweet experience-- I find it really fulfilling but I also can't help thinking how gardening, growing one's own food and 'real' farming (as opposed to industrial factory farming) have become almost a thing of the past, and I wonder where humanity is headed and how it'll all turn out.

Sharrhan:


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Figured out something that had been puzzling me. Have been feeling a bit stiff and sore-- mostly in my back and hip joints. It dawned on me this morning that it's related to the long juice fast, and I remembered that this has happened before when I fasted, and it's related to detoxification. I also noticed that when I did yoga last night and the night before, I felt enormous relief from the symptoms, and slept like a baby.

Sharrhan:


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wayyyy back in the late 90's i got meeselfs a storebought juicer and started juicing anything i could lay my hands in, nothign was safe ..even the dogs ran and hid.

well i ended up after a few weeks .. 2.5? unable to walk i had gout-like symptoms in my feet knees and hips , the pain was so outrageous i ended up at the doctor and when he found out i had just jumped right into this high nutrient juicing so suddenly from barely eating any fruits or vegetables for nearly 25 years , he said my body just wasnt able to handle processing the uric acid that *SOMETHING* i was juicing was forming inside me.

needless to say this put me off juicing for quite a number of years and i never did figure out what it was i was juicing that might have caused it .

Of course ive come along way baby ! and juice everyday with no problems, and honestly think that goutlike symptoms were detox

i wonder if something you are juicing is doing something the same, producing the uric acid. Honestly i dont know much about it so i cant even give you an idea where to start. i do know that celery juice is supposed to help flush out uric acid from your body better than anything

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2009 04:57PM by Jgunn.

Here's some stuff from Herbert Shelton on gout-- I checked it just to make sure, and I don't think what I've been experiencing is gout. ;-P In particular, I never have any problems with my toes, and the only time my feet hurt (rarely) is if I just walk way too long in uncomfortable shoes and get blisters. My gut feeling is I just need to continue to detoxify and juice more greens.

GOUT

Definition: This is a form of arthritis characterized in its typical form by deposits of sodium biurate in the joints and other structures, and by recurrent arthritic crises
Symptoms: Two varieties are described, which may be acute or chronic.

Acute Gout is usually preceded by certain prodromal symptoms — restlessness, insomnia, moroseness, irritability, dyspepsia, and changes in the urine. This is followed by the sudden appearance in the early morning hours of pain and swelling in the ball of the great toe. The inflamed joint is so tender that the slightest pressure causes agony. It is of a reddish-purple color, the overlying veins are full and distinct and its surface is glazed. The pulse is quickened and temperature rises to 101 to 102 F. Toward daylight the pain subsides and the patient falls asleep. He is comparatively comfortable during the night, but there are severe exacerbations for several successive nights. At first the crises may be a year apart, but as they multiply, the interval grows less, until finally the sufferer is seldom free from pain.

Retrocedent Gout is the term applied to a condition in which the arthritic crisis suddenly subsides and grave gastric, cardiac, or cerebral symptoms follow. It is probably due to suppression.

Chronic Gout: One by one, the joints become stiff, irregularly enlarged and deformed. Chalk-stones (tophi) form and are sometimes discharged through the skin by ulceration. Similar deposits are often found along the tendons and in the helix of the ear, or on the underside of the eyelid.

Non-articular Gout (uric acid diathesis, latent gout, goutiness, lithemia) is a term applied to a group of symptoms in which no gout is present. It resembles a case of severe, chronic indigestion.

Sharrhan:


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hehe no i didnt mean you have gout i was just mentioning that the symptoms were goutlike because of the excess uric acid .. apparently it can land in any joints not just the toes .. but feet are the most common

i dont think i had gout either , honestly i ithink i was just outrageously cleansing and my body just couldnt get it out fast enough

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

'Oh, I see!' said the nearsighted lady (me)! You're absolutely right, Jodi-- it's gotta be some kind of deposits in the joints, probably too much calcium? I don't care what the name is; all I know is it's time to sweep it all out and say 'Bu'bye' to it. As for the muscle weakness and aching in my lower back and upper legs, which has been happening when I'm carrying super-heavy groceries home lately, that's gotta be detox too; probably even kidney detox as bad stuff is flushed out.

It was infinitely better today, and I felt much more like my usual fairly limber self, with no muscle weakness. I spent 45 minutes in the steam and sauna this afternoon; so no doubt that helped.

I'm craving more yoga and pilates, which I'll do tonight. Normally I find I resist doing yoga, but lately it's something I just want to do. I don't go overboard-- just 20 to 40 minutes, depending on my mood and energy level.

Sharrhan:


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I decided to rev up my blog again and post my fasting journal entries (and related stuff) there for the most part, instead of here. No special reason; I just like to change things up sometimes. ;-)

http://sharrhan.blogspot.com/

Of course I still will make a nuisance of myself on the rawfoods.com forum, as much as ever, lol.

Sharrhan:


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Kwan....You can make your Blog 'clickable' by enclosing it
with [.....].
Makes it easier for us....WY
P.S. I'm close to becoming Liquidarian again. That's the way for me.
Might as well admit it, and just 'Do It'.

[www.sharrhan.blogspot.com]

Thanks, WY! Liquidarian is 'way cool.' I think I'm goin' there too. Right now I'm dry fasting, though -- started at 11:30am yesterday and now it's 9:22am the next morning and I'm trying to decide how long to go for. It was quite easy-- actually I think dry fasting is easier in some ways than water fasting-- but one is so unaccustomed to putting NOTHING down the hatch, not even water. Wonder how long I'll last before I have juice? An interesting experiment.

Sharrhan:


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believe it or not some of the pain issues which people encounter can be related to unresolved emotional issues which can surface at almost any provocation. i would like to turn you all onto something i found that can easily resolve many of our problems which are of that ilk.

check it out ....it may help.

www.emofree.com

jj

I ended up just dry fasting for 24 hours the other day. I think I will try to incorporate 24 hours or more of dry fasting every week now, in the midst of juice fasting. It's definitely worthwhile, and not hard to do. I noticed last night when I was doing yoga that my joints are more flexible; I'm pretty sure the dry fast played a part in that.

Sharrhan:


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Jgunn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wayyyy back in the late 90's i got meeselfs a
> storebought juicer and started juicing anything i
> could lay my hands in, nothign was safe ..even the
> dogs ran and hid.
>
> well i ended up after a few weeks .. 2.5? unable
> to walk i had gout-like symptoms in my feet knees
> and hips , the pain was so outrageous i ended up
> at the doctor and when he found out i had just
> jumped right into this high nutrient juicing so
> suddenly from barely eating any fruits or
> vegetables for nearly 25 years , he said my body
> just wasnt able to handle processing the uric acid
> that *SOMETHING* i was juicing was forming inside
> me.
>
> needless to say this put me off juicing for quite
> a number of years and i never did figure out what
> it was i was juicing that might have caused it .
>
> Of course ive come along way baby ! and juice
> everyday with no problems, and honestly think that
> goutlike symptoms were detox
>
> i wonder if something you are juicing is doing
> something the same, producing the uric acid.
> Honestly i dont know much about it so i cant even
> give you an idea where to start. i do know that
> celery juice is supposed to help flush out uric
> acid from your body better than anything


If you search on the internet about gout, you will find that there are a list of foods that they recommend not eating, since they could, in some people result in high uric acid. just a few are : spinach, mushrooms, peas, dry beans, cauliflower, but there are more. You should be able to google this topic.

kwan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I ended up just dry fasting for 24 hours the other
> day. I think I will try to incorporate 24 hours or
> more of dry fasting every week now, in the midst
> of juice fasting.
Thanks for the reminder Kwan. I liked what you said
about being more flexible.
I've 'Officially' returned to my Juice Fast. I feel better when
I relieve the 'pressure' that solid food causes in the Colon....WY

Technically, my fast ended the day before yesterday, and I ate solid food all yesterday. It's been cool and damp here, and my motivation to juice was just not there. However, the temperature is in the 70s today and I'm back to juicing again. I'm not going to count days or keep records anymore. I'm just going to juice fast most of the time. ;-) Simple.

Sharrhan:


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kwan Wrote:
------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not going to count days or keep records
> anymore. I'm just going to juice fast most of the
> time. ;-) Simple.
That does seem better. With Keeping numbers,
the Ego might get in the way.
One thing I'm going to start is only eating, or juicing,
or blending, between the hours of 8am and 4pm....with a
16-hour Dry Fast. I've been rereading "Quantum Eating"....WY

>With Keeping numbers,
the Ego might get in the way.<

Heh--- so right! Plus it creates a sort of unnecessary tension (for me, anyway) related to whether I'm on track or not, rather than just doing what comes natural and going with the flow.

>One thing I'm going to start is only eating, or juicing,
or blending, between the hours of 8am and 4pm....with a
16-hour Dry Fast. I've been rereading "Quantum Eating"....WY<

That's great, WY. I'm not going to do that tonight, but soon enough, I want to get back on the dry fasting at night bandwagon-- I like the results.

Sharrhan:


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My semi-long-term juice fast has morphed into smoothies, juice and a little raw food for awhile. I'm realizing more and more that when I'm back on solid food, I have to really be diligent about eating in the afternoon or I tend to run into trouble and overeat later in the evening. Yesterday I made myself a green pineapple/mango smoothie late in the afternoon, and then an hour or so later had a big salad. That worked nicely.

It's great to fancy oneself somewhat of an ascetic and try to cut way back on food and calories, but I have to humble myself and face the fact that I really like to eat and I haven't done whatever it is I need to do (yet!) to be able to scale back and comfortably live on small amounts of raw food.

Sharrhan:


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Kwan,

Thanks for embarking on this journey.
I can give a couple comments that you might find helpful.

Mostly, I suggest that you follow the guidance which comes from your heart and body.
If you ignore the ego and numbers, your body will indicate when it wants a liquid diet and when it wants fiber or other solids.

Regarding fancying oneself as an ascetic, I will say first that I was living as an ascetic in a jungle with a group of ascetics. The ironic part is that I did not realize that they were ascetics, or that I was. To me, it just seemed natural to live without furniture, to sit in meditation on a rock and to sleep on a rock.

It never occurred to me that there was anything austere about it. I found it comfortable and enjoyed it. If my body gave me signals of discomfort, I would honor it. The only logical reason that I can see for being ascetic is if it generates greater rewards than not being ascetic.

Having said that, my advice is to follow the signals of the heart and body. What possible benefit could come from denying oneself what is directed from inner guidance?

If you post a reply to this message and would like my feedback, it would be best to send me a private message to that effect. Otherwise, I may not check this thread for a while.

***Info from the advisors at HealthNVitality***