Exercise and fasting and my bony self

[spacebug]

So, an idea of doing a short juice cleanse/fast type of thing was bantered around by a few friends. None of us have done anything like this and were thinking of trying it out. This is solely in the "hey, maybe we should try that" stage- no specific plan or start date has been suggested, so I'm just starting to research.

While this is an interesting idea to me, because I've never done it and because of a few other things, I'd be a little worried about it.
I take yoga once a week and train with derby, sometimes pretty hard, for two hours usually three other days a week. This means I'm exercising quite a bit- more than the other people who'd be doing this with me, at least. In addition to that, I have a pretty really naturally high metabolism and I've always been really thin; I'm at least mildly hungry a lot of the time as it is and can be pretty sensitive to when my blood sugar levels drop. I worry that if I fasted, it would be easy for my caloric intake to not be high enough for me to be healthy. Or maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal if we only did this for three days and I took it easy for those three days? I'm not sure.

Because the girls on my derby team are generally more athletic and knowledgeable about this kind of thing than I am (my captain is a yoga instructor, others play or have played other sports, etc.), I asked them via an email list if they had any thoughts on this. The one response I got was that in her opinion, I should definitely *not* fast and that I should, in fact, do the opposite, and drink protein shakes and work on building muscle.

Hmm. While I have no desire to be a beefcake, this is also an interesting idea. Left to my own devices, my diet is probably really weighted on the carb end.

What do you think, livejournal?


Oh, man. I'm not becoming one of those crazy exercise/health people, am I?

Shit.

Comments

[spikenheimer.livejournal.com]

i think instead, you should just eat steaks for a week.

;)

on a more serious note, i think you'd be better to increase bulk up a bit for derby rather than not. of course it really depends on what it is you want to do. i know that if you were had a bit more mass you'd have an easier time as a blocker and might survive falls a bit better. that being said, you made the team already so you have enough goin on that you don't ncessarily need to bulk up. i would think in a more short term dietary goal scenario you need energy and burst energy for skating. a dietician should be able to tell you how your diet approaches these goals and how a juice fasting would impede / harm it. my concern for you would be if the during fasting the type of rigor you go through from derby causes your body to start metabolizing muscle mass that would be bad.
anyways, doesnt derby cleanse enough of your toxins out through bruising??!?!