Food bloggers Wentworth and Isabella Power have completed their
10-day juice-only challenge

We saw times of hunger, times of light-headedness and other minor physical effects. But it has been a good experience for the discipline. Find out how much weight we lost, whether we piled it back on again, if Wentworth cured his chronic muscle pain, and whether a juice cleanse really does detoxify the body.

Visit www.firstworldnomnoms.com for a deeper look at the science and more details on how we managed the experience.

14 things we learnt from juice fasting

1. Its simplicity. Isabella said: “Not having to think about the composition, nutritional value, calories or location of your next meal is a bit of a luxury.” This is a quote from a gal who has dedicated her career to international development and to feeding millions more than Jesus’ paltry[1] sum of five thousand. For a workaholic like Isabella, this also freed up some of her exhaustive decision-making power for more important things.
2. Cravings. A conflicting sensation for the bulk of the experience was the persistent hunger. Yet, we had both lost our appetite and couldn’t name a food we had a craving for. Towards the end however, Isabella’s mind occasionally drifted to a plate of the Thai dish moo grob (look it up). Perhaps she was craving the fat.
3. Hair and skin. Isabella’s hair became very dry. This shows the importance of both fat and protein in your diet. Wentworth didn’t notice it up top on his bare scalp. People who didn’t know about our diet did comment on how well we looked after the cleanse.
4. Sleep. The juice diet affected our sleep. Sometimes we slept for just four of five hours. And still, we’d feel rested the next day. This was counter-intuitive to our predictions as we thought the body would require more rest time for repairs.
5. Protein. We had to use protein powder to add some extra calories and maintain sporting activities like swimming and the gym.
6. Discipline. There is no need to be afraid of hunger. Be comfortable with it. We didn’t experience any difficulties concentrating at work in the mornings and have appreciated our solid meals ever since. By the sixth day, we found it easier to hold off the first juice until midday. The hunger really was only triggered by breaking the night’s fast with the first sip.
7. Entertainment. We found there is not much else to do in Bangkok that entertains us like eating and drinking. Pretty sad, aren’t we?
8. The experience. Working on this project together was fun. It really helped to have a buddy to support the emotional journey. We also discovered how nice it is every evening to spend time splashing in the pool together, either care-free chatting or problem solving work spats. But will we forfeit our lavish dinners out and writing our food blog entirely? Will we heck?
9. Chronic pain. Wentworth experienced a lot of muscle pain and discomfort. He has struggled with this ‘dark passenger’ for several years and, despite recording his experiences in a diary, has identified no clear linkages between his lifestyle and the start of each mysterious pain episode. If there is any truth to the theory that environmental toxins are stored in your fat cells and are released into the blood stream during weight loss, then it’s entirely possibly Wentworth experienced this. This episode of pain cleared up as soon as we returned to solid foods. (We tackle this theory in the sciency bit of our blog).
10. Caffeine. Neither of us are physically addicted to the caffeine. It was no issue giving coffee up for 10 days. It didn’t make us tired and there were no withdrawal symptoms. We do, however, both love the ritual of the ‘warm hug’ in the morning and the chance to work in a cafe environment.
11. Time-restricted eating. This is the way forward for us. It suits our extreme personalities and offers a multitude of health benefits (see the sciency bit of our blog). Our aim is to restrict the eating window to eight hours each day. Whether that’s holding off until lunch during the working week, or knocking it on the head early after a boozy Sunday brunch. We’re both comfortable going Cliff Richard style with two meals a day.
12. Weight-loss results after 10 days. Isabella: -3.7 kg (-8 lbs), Wentworth: -3 kg (-6.6 lbs). However, body composition is king. Isabella’s clothes still fit the same at the end, and she didn’t ‘feel’ any slimmer. Weight has to be lost slowly to maintain muscle mass. We explore on our blog in a bit more detail what this means.
13. Post cleanse. Once we returned to solids, we both experienced a dip in energy levels, including light-headedness. We’re not sure what this was, but fortunately, we were at a beach resort for the weekend so were able to take it easy.
14. The weigh-in. Two weeks later. Isabella: -3.2 kg (-7 lbs), Wentworth: -3 kg (-6.6 lbs). However, body composition is king. Isabella’s clothes still fit the same at the end of the 10-day experiment and she didn’t ‘feel’ any slimmer. Two weeks later she has pretty much retained the weight loss but gone harder at CrossFit and consumed a lot more protein. So was it fat, muscle or water retention? We explore this in more detail in the sciency section. We both feel the function of the juice fast as a path corrector has been invaluable.

(1) Paltry, not poultry. N.B. Isabella doesn’t discriminate against other animals in her work across agriculture, livestock and fisheries.

Our full review of the 10-day juice cleanse

Introduction: hunter-gatherers turned lazy grazers

Eev led the hungry clan over the wintry plains. The women, who usually contributed the greater share of the food, found their sources had dried up. Not for the first time, nature had withheld its fruits. No time now for Eev to worry about balancing her macros, limiting her salt and sugar intake or counting her calories.

The summer crop had failed to produce its seasonal bounty of vegetables, roots, squashes and legumes. The temperate forest, usually a forager’s paradise of fruits, nuts, berries and seeds, resembled a bare pantry. The eastern steppes, ordinarily a golden sea of grain, offered not one kernel of wheat nor a smidgen of a threat to her gluten sensitivities.

Eev was beyond hunger. She had a constant, dull pain in the stomach and an occasional feeling of light-headedness… not too dissimilar from her last attempt at the Atkins diet. With a dogged determination though, she led the group onwards.

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors often went many hours or even days between meals in search of food. Evolutionarily, it’s a practice our bodies are accustomed to. Our metabolisms are designed to shift from using glucose as the primary source of energy to fatty acids and keytone bodies after 12 hours.

The custom of predetermined fasting has also been a part of human tradition and religion for many centuries, whether it be Ramadan, Yom Kippur or Navaratri.

Studies on the effects of fasting can be clouded by the conflicting lifestyle factors of the people who participate in a trial, such as smoking, taking oral medications, and their typical food choices and other eating habits. But the evidence these days overwhelmingly supports the practice. The benefits of fasting include reductions in body mass, blood pressure, total cholesterol, insulin sensitivity and oxidative stress.

Visit our blog at firstworldnomnoms.com to read the full review. Plus more, including:

• The rules we followed for the 10-day challenge,
• The social media diary we kept during the challenge, and
• The science behind fat burning, detoxes, fasting, and much more.

Try the juice cleanse yourself. Get a discount here.

FANCY TRYING THE CLEANSE? VISIT THE LIFESTYLE JUICERY SITE HERE AND USE THE CODE “EXPATLIFEINTHAILAND” TO CLAIM A 1,000-BAHT DISCOUNT.

The code works for any of the 4, 6, 8 or 10-day cleanse programs. You’ll also receive one free detox booster set for each juice delivery (valued at 200B each).