Celery | Kevin Barrett's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Celery’

Day 7 / Week 1 – Down 1lb (Down 7lbs & 1.5in To Date)

Posted in Diets, General Comments, Health, Juice/Blend Fasting, Walking, tagged 2023 Day 7 (365), 2023 Week 1 (365), Bananas, Beats Per Minute, Bloat, BPM, Celery, Diet, Fasting, Fluid Retention, General Comments, Health, Heart Rate, HR, Juicing, Naked "Green Machine" Drink, Shiva, Spinach, V8 Juice, Walking, Water Pills, White Onion on August 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It’s the end of Day 7 of my current “Juice / Blend” fast. …Early evening.

Diet: I woke up this morning feeling terrific! No bloat anywhere as near as I can tell (feel). I’ve skipped the water pill again today. I made up the “swamp-juice” for the next couple of days: small banana (4), spinach (2), celery (2), white onion (1), apple juice 128fl oz, V8 (low sodium) 46fl oz, V8 – Strawberry / banana 46fl oz, Naked “Green Machine” 64fl oz and approximately 48oz of ice cubes.

A lot more energy today. I’ve definitely started the “oily” skin transition between the “start” and “normal” period fast. From prior fasts, this transition can last from three to five days. After that, my skin should feel smooth without the “oily” sensation. It’s hard to describe. …Moist without being wet. A bit like you’ve just come out of the shower and you’ve toweled off, but you’re not 100% dry.

Shiva’s walk was mostly uneventful… Just a short walk around the corner and back home. She was bouncing / dancing, waiting to get the leash on and didn’t seem overly tired at the end. She stumbled three times, though. Once badly. I’m still carrying the lifting strap in case she goes down and can’t get back to her feet on her own.

I did my two laps (walking) around the block after we walked Shiva. My heart rate was higher on the max rate, the average and the duration of high. Today, it was 114bpm average (30bpm higher than yesterday) and a 152 max bpm (5bpm higher than yesterday). Not great news, but I didn’t feel bad (at all) during the walk. I still want to target an increase to 3 laps on Monday, but now I think I have to play it by ear and see how I am tomorrow (Sunday).

Day 7 : End of Week 1 – weight 365lbs (down 1lbs, down 7lbs total); today’s (muffin) waist 58 inches (down .5in, down 1.5in total).

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Click here (26 August) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Day 4 – Down 1lb (5 To Date)

Posted in Diets, Health, Juice/Blend Fasting, Walking, tagged 2023 Day 4 (367), Beats Per Minute, BPM, Celery, COSTCO, Diet, Fasting, Health, Heart Rate, HR, Juicing, Shiva, Spinach, Swamp Juice, Walking on August 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It’s the middle of Day 4 of my current “Juice / Blend” fast. I feel ok, so I’m not waiting until the end of day to post.

Diet: I am still waking up feeling good to great. Again, my fingers feel thin and my ankles look thinner (to me anyway), although the upper arch on my left foot is raised. I have the start of gout related arthritis there. I finally have a slight decrease on waist measurement. Not much, but better than nothing and I definitely feel smaller.

I did two laps (walking) around the block this morning after we did a short walk with Shiva. My HR was sub-110s during Shiva’s walk. It went higher after I dropped off Hil and Shiva. My heart rate was much higher yesterday – 120’s bpm for most of first and second lap and 150’s bpm for the final third of the second lap. Today, it was 114 bpm average and a 133 max bpm. I’ll have to wait a few days to see if any pattern is emerging…

Shiva is still looking forward to her morning walk, but it’s apparent she doesn’t have the will to go very far. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is getting older and weaker…

I hope I’m through the worst of the “start of fast” period. From my experience, it takes (me) about three days of intense tiredness before I can settle into the juice / blend fast. After that, I’m substantially less tired, but as much as I feel full of energy, it’s really only a few minutes of energy. This can go on for a while (several weeks). Eventually, I’ll come to a balance and be less tired and start to pick up more stamina. That’s my experience anyway…

Hil went to the supermarket and got me stocked up on spinach and celery for my juice / blend. I’ll make the new batch this evening or in the morning. It should be enough to get me through the rest of the week. These first few days, I’ve been getting by with frozen smoothie blend packets from Costco. I don’t usually do this, but I wanted to get into the fast with a minimum of hassle. From now on, it’ll be mostly blended veggies and fruit juice. What I call “swamp juice” – because it looks like swamp water. LoL!

Day 4 – weight 367lbs (down 1lb, 5lbs total); today’s (muffin) waist 59 inches (down .5in).

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Click here (23 August) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

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Day 8: One Stone

Posted in Diets, Health, Included Video, Juice/Blend Fasting, Quotes, Videos, tagged 2/14, 359lbs, Apple Cider, Bob Dylan, Broccoli, Carrots, Celery, Cranberry Juice, Cucumbers, Day 8: Juice/Blend Fasting, Doctor's Appointment, Dr. Sten Ekberg, General Physician, GP, Grapefruit Juice, Included Video, Onions, Pomergranate Juice, Quotes, Ruben Meerman, Spinach, The Mathematics Of Weight Loss - reply video, V-8 Bananas / Strawberry, V-8 Greens, Weigh-In, YouTube.com on September 6, 2019| Leave a Comment »

The end of day eight and the (now) most of the way through day nine… One full day completed into week 2 of juice / blend fasting.

Morning weight: 359lbs. (on Day 9)
I am down / down “2 / 14”. As in, 2lbs down from yesterday and 14lbs down from my fasting start weight: 373lbs (the morning of Day 1). For those who are British: I have now lost a “stone” from my starting weight!

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day: walked the dog (30min), TV (news), blog a bit / watch YouTube / read emails, read a book, go for a swim (1hr, breast stroke), watch the first half of a movie. Basically, a nice, relaxing day. Nothing major to report. Drink my juice / blend too fast, get runs… This is both good and bad. Bad: You got the runs. Good: Another day without being constipated. Believe it or not, THAT is a BIG thing when you are fasting.

So, today is Day 9 and I woke feeling pretty well. I’m feeling slightly thinner and I’m not having any of the (my) normal aches and pains. It’s all good…

This afternoon I went to see my General Physician (GP) for my annual health check. BP: 114 / 64. HR: 67. Weight: 350lbs. BMI: 50.22. The good news is my blood test was also generally positive, with most bad numbers edging closer to good and good numbers getting better. So, it’s: “See ya’ in six months.”

Today I am finishing my last bottle of “juice / blend” so tomorrow I will need to grind up a new batch. Here’s the menu: 2 bunches of celery, 2 large cucumbers, 2 large onions, 2 bunches of spinach, 3lbs of carrots, 1 large broccoli, water (for blending) and various processed juices (for calories and taste). The processed juices vary depending on what’s on sale, but normally include V-8 Greens, V-8 Bananas / Strawberry, Apple Cider, Grapefruit, Cranberry and Pomegranate. None of these have added sugar. That’s not the same as having NO sugar. It only means there is none added. I also add 1 or 2 cans of beans (Kidney, Pinto or Black). This makes enough bottles for 6 to 8 days of fasting.

Now the first thing any health / juicer person is going to shout is: “You can’t store juice that long!!!” Yes! I know. I know. “Traditional” veggie juicing theology (protocol) mandates you MUST drink your veggie juice within an hour of juicing and certainly no longer than the same day. Well, that’s fine if you’ve got the time, energy and dedication. I could probably find the time if I had the other two assets (energy and dedication), but – to be perfectly honest – I don’t. When processes get too complicated, a somewhat lazy stiff like me blows off the process or at least a few steps. I wish I could afford to have someone else do the preparation before ever juice meal or even every day, but I can’t (afford it) and I don’t have the motivation. I’ve tried it a couple of times when I first got into juicing and, to quote Bob Dylan: “It Ain’t Me Babe. No. No. No. It Ain’t Me Babe.” So, I have to focus on what I can: bunch process the blend and drink it each day. That I CAN do.

Backing up a bit, some of you may have noticed I showed my weight this morning as 359lbs, but my doctor’s office visit was 350lbs. What’s up with that? Well, first I use an analogue scale and they use a digital scale. I don’t know if they program the scale to discount for clothing or not. When that is programmed into the digital scale they are normally set for either 3lbs, 5lbs, 7lbs or 9lbs depending on if the person is fully dressed or in shorts and either barefoot or in shoes / trainers. I didn’t see the nursing assistant punch anything in so if it is programmed it’s probably for fully dressed with work shoes – so the max: 9lbs. But, for the sake of argument, let’s say it doesn’t have an offset programmed in. What else might cause the difference? Standing!

Standing?? Yes. Standing… What is the scale standing on? Carpet or a hard surface? And, where are you standing on the scale? Surface can add / drop 5lbs from the reading. My own scale is on cement. If a scale is not my own, I try to stand in the center of the scale, as flat footed as I can get and with my weight as balanced as I can be. On my own scale (at home), I take two measurements daily (each morning): 1) knees slightly bent, feet flat, but with my weight shifted as much as possible (without falling) over my toes; and, 2) knees straight (not locked), feet flat, but with my weight shifted as much as possible (without falling) over my heels. On my scale, the variation between the two is normally 7 to 10 pounds! It has been as low as 5 pounds and as large as 12 pounds. (Sarcasm: “The beauty of using a spring based scale.”) The first is the high for the day. The second is my low for the day.

My daily record (these posts) shows the highs. My monthly “Sweat Equity” page (with daily updates) shows both weigh-ins. The temptation is to pick the lows, but because I don’t “really” know how accurate my scale is, I don’t want to pick the lows and then show up at the doctor’s office a get a rude surprise. The last time I was at the doctor’s office, his scale matched my scales low weight for that day. Today, the doctor’s scale was 2lbs below my low scale weight from this morning (and I was wearing shoes at the office but not this morning). Which means I got a pleasant surprise!

So, now having read all of this post, aren’t you glad to know there are some folks out there who are WAY crazier and OCD than you are…??

Yesterday I offered up a 20-ish minute video about the math of fat loss. Today I’ve got a reply. It’s marginally shorter (17-ish minutes) and I don’t know the presenter or what he is trying to “push / sell”, but I found it interesting, so I’m passing it along…


(Reply Video to:) The Mathematics Of Weight Loss Ruben Meerman TEDxQUT (presented by: Dr. Sten Ekberg)

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Click here (6 September) to see the posts of prior years. I started this blog in late 2009. Daily posting began in late January 2011. Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.