Re: Green smoothie fast while nursing

March 28, 2012

Welcome! (name??) So nice that you joined us. Have you considered undiagnosed

food sensitivity as a possible CAUSE of your skin issue? Wheat is usually the

culprit in skin issues, but things like corn, soy, or other allergen can cause

problems. Keeping a detailed food journal can help you isolate what might be

causing issues, since you can look back and see when/if your symptoms get worse

after consuming certain foods. It often takes a day or two for a symptom to

show up after injesting a food, so the journal helps you track it. Since you

are nursing, you will want to proceed with caution, as any " die off " reactions

from fasting could pass through to your little one, so your better option might

be to try some eliminations based on your journal and save the fasting for when

you are no longer nursing. Often, just trying eliminations can have as big of

an impact, even more so, than fasting does.

>

> Hi everyone, this is my first time posting. I've had my Vitamix since

> the end of last month and I love it! My husband comes home from

> deployment next month (YAY!!!) and I'm wanting to lose a little more

> weight before he returns and also because I have a skin rash that won't

> go away, eliminating meats has helped a lot but it's still lingering and

> I'm tired of it. I watch Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead the other day and it

> made me want to do a green smoothie fast, but I want to make sure that

> it's safe to do while nursing my almost 2-year-old. I rarely eat

> processed food and I haven't had meat in about 6 months so I don't think

> there will be a large amount of detoxing. I just want everyone's

> opinions on this or if anyone has had experience with this I'd love to

> hear how it turned out for you. Oh, I do have a daily green smoothie

> already, sometimes twice a day. Thank you and I hope it's ok that I

> posted this here.

>

March 28, 2012

Hi! I guess I'll answer this, since I appear to be the only other person on list

who is nursing. I, too, had been doing green smoothies before I started my

juice/smoothie fast.

While at my little one's last checkup, I talked to our family doctor about the

movie, and the idea of doing a juice/green smoothie fast. He thought it was a

great idea, so long as I continued taking my krill oil supplement (omegas), my

prenatals (just in case...), and supplemented my smoothies with soaked and

dehydrated almonds and lots of chia (which I toss into the smoothies). Each of

my smoothies is chock full of greens and other veggies, and I have no more than

the equivalent of 1 whole piece of fruit in each smoothie (usually a frozen

pear).

Our doctor is very naturally oriented, encourages breastfeeding for as long as

possible (bare minimum of 12 months), and used to attend homebirths up until

about a year ago... so he's a super crunchy doctor. :-) He said all the

micronutrients would definitely be beneficial for my nursling.

So that's what I've been doing for Lent. The first two weeks were fine, probably

because I had a lot of baby weight to lose. But then I noticed that the little

one's BMs started to drop off. So on Sundays I added in grass-fed beef,

preferably liver. It made a huge difference for a couple of days, but by

mid-week his BMs would drop off again. So I started adding in some coconut oil

to some of my smoothies. Then everything was going along swimmingly until I was

reading about how much cholesterol is in typical breastmilk. So, I got worried

again, and I've been adding in a raw, fresh from the farm, soy-free egg to most

of my smoothies.

So now a typical smoothie will have about a cup of water, 1-2 tsp chia, ~2 Tbsp

coconut oil, one raw egg, several handfuls of various greens and veggies, 3/4

pear, and ice.

I've lost about 4-5 pounds per week on average, even including the beef. It's

not as much as my husband has lost doing the FS & ND juice fast, but I have my

little one to worry about, so I'm happy with it.

I went on youtube and watched the FAQ about the Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead juice

fast and Joe Cross said that he typically drank six 16 ounce juices per day. I

probably have four or five 16 ounce smoothies per day, although my kids pilfer

quite a bit of them sometimes.

I've felt great the whole time, and haven't noticed any loss of energy, which is

important when you're chasing down little ones. ;-)

Our doctor pulled up some recent studies that said that detoxing while nursing

does not impact the quality of the milk. A woman's body protects and shields the

milk, thus preventing anything toxic from getting into it. I found those

reassuring even though I've been eating incredibly healthily for several years,

in the Nourishing Traditions line of cooking.

All that said, I am not a healthcare provider, and only your healthcare provider

can determine if a fast is right for you.

Sorry this was so long, and not terribly informative, but I thought I'd offer

you my experience since no one else had as yet. Welcome!

~Wendie