Juicing

No, not in the Lance Armstrong sort of way, but in the Jack LaLanne way.

Somewhere between Atlanta, GA, Jackson, MS, and every McDonald's rest stop in between, I managed to watch the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead."

The first half of the documentary is about a guy who, as the title suggest is fat, sick and nearly dead, decides to juice for 60 days straight. 60 straight days of just fruits and veggies in the form of diarrhea goodness.

The second half is basically the same story, but with a different guy that is also fat, sick, and nearly dead.

They both lose 100+ lbs and turn their health around after the 60 days. Hoo-ray!

Of course, both cases are on the extreme end of what juicing can do for you if you are willing to stick to it.

I know I'm not fat nor sick, but this marathon road trip nearly killed me.

I figure I might give it a shot after coming back from Mississippi, and to help me detox from the endless miles of fast food joints down south.

I've always talked about changing up my diet: more fruits and veggies, less meat. I've gotten a lot better over the past year, but not to where I think it can be so that it benefits my running and health.

I also like to experiment during every training cycle to see what works and what doesn't work, so let's see what juicing can do for me this time around.

Part of the thinking behind juicing is that you can get your daily nutritional requirement by just drinking it. Since most people can't eat 10 apples, 10 carrots, and 10 celery stalks in one sitting, you can definitely turn it into juice and drink it all in one sitting.

All of the vitamins, none of the pulp.

I started on Monday when my juicer (Omega J8006) arrived, but was conservative in my initial juicing selection. I went with just pineapples, mainly because I found them on sale for a buck a piece at the supermarket!

Two pineapples later and I had myself a tall glass of fresh pineapple juice minus the ton of pulp. So that's what my stomach is churning on? Yum.

It definitely tasted a whole lot better than the pineapple juice you buy pre-packaged from the store. I could tell something was missing. That something? SUGAR aka artifical sweetener.

I eventually got bolder and threw in apples, carrots, and celery.

Damn nature, you delicious.

All of this was promptly followed by a quick a trip to the bathroom.

I'm now on day 5 of being a part-time juicer, and feeling pretty good. I've noticed that the juicing has reduced my cravings, and more importantly, my meal portions.

The only side effect so far has been the increase in my toilet paper budget. I would kill for some right about now.

I don't plan on just juicing all day for long periods of time, since I know that I don't have the discpline to stick to it. I also know that I don't need to be extreme to keep myself healthy.

Balance is the key.

I do, however, plan to learn how to juice a hamburger.