ALL ABOUT THE JUICE CLEANSE

ALL ABOUT THE JUICE CLEANSE

When juice fasting, we allow our digestive system to take a much needed rest. The energy
saved is used for deep tissue cleansing that goes on in the body during this time. The fresh
fruit/vegetable juices we drink contain the necessary nutrients to help heal, repair and nourish
damaged cells.

During a cleanse, the body is meant to run on fuel from plant foods. These are live foods that
are rich with enzymes, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants. When extracted
properly, they are assimilated by our cells for nourishment. When our cells receive superior
foods, the inferior stuff (toxins) have to make way for it, thus being eliminated (detoxify).

Why don't we just eat whole fruits? Well, consider a carrot. If you were to eat a carrot, your
body is only able to assimilate a very small percentage of the nutrients. But when you drink
carrot juice, your body is able to assimilate almost all of the nutrients that are extracted. This
bioavailability of the nutrients can do wonders to speed up healing.

During a juice fast, the body is stimulated to greater metabolic and eliminative activity. After a
prolonged fast, you will notice that you will lose some weight, your skin tightens or clears up,
your hair shines, your eyes brighten, mental clarity and vision are improved, and you will feel
more energetic. A prolonged juice fast is powerful in healing your internal organs, strengthening
your immune system and healing your body from chronic diseases.

Finally, juice fasting can be a very humbling experience as you determine to resist temptations.
It also builds up your self-confidence as you sharpen your discipline and self-control needed
while you go through a fast. Through fasting, you learn to control your body and appetite
instead of having your body control your life.

Not everyone feels better as a result of juice fasting, nor do they always feel better right away.
With continued and frequent juice fasting, plus a healthier diet and lifestyle, you will eventually
make a difference to your overall energy levels.

To further help you decide whether a juice fast is appropriate, take a look at the list below.
When you constantly experience at least five of the symptoms below, you may benefit from a
good spring cleaning of the body.

Symptoms:

  �   Often suffer from headaches or migraine
  �   Feel tired, sluggish or lethargic
  �   Have difficulty concentrating or staying focused
  �   Have earaches, ringing in the ears, eyes twitching
  �   Catch colds easily
  �   Have bad breath
  �   Have excessive mucus, tend to get stuffy nose and sinuses
  �   Have unpleasant body odors
  �   Often have bloating, gas or indigestion after eating
  �   Have excessive flatulence
  �   Usually have dark circles under your eyes
  �   Sluggish metabolism - difficult to lose weight, or if underweight, difficult to gain weight
  �   Have some form of allergies
  �   Have eczema, acne or psoriasis
  �   Constipation
  �   A smoker, an ex-smoker, or spend time regularly around other smokers
  �   A meat-eater
  �   A coffee-drinker
  �   Drink very little water
  �   Eat very little fruits and vegetables
  �   Tend to get bloated or puffy

The Process of Detoxification

Detoxification is like spring cleaning your home; it’s a thorough cleaning from the inside out. It's
a time when you move all your furniture and carpets, and clean under them. When detoxifying,
there is deep cleansing work going on in your body that stirs the old toxins from every nook,
corner and joint in your body.

During detoxification, old toxins that are being stirred up begin to circulate in your blood system
again. Those toxins had caused you some problems when it entered your body either through
the air you breathed or the food you ate or by some other means. They stayed in your body and
could not be eliminated, possibly causing some disease. Now, when detoxifying, it will not leave
your body without creating the same problems.

If you were prone to headaches, while detoxifying, the headaches will get more severe. If you
have asthma, the attacks may recur when you detoxify. If you had been encountering fatigue,
you will feel even more lethargic during your juice cleanse.

Healing reactions are very individual. Not everybody will experience the same flare-ups. The
more toxic your body, the more severe the reactions may be. Whatever the degree of flare-
ups, healing reactions are an important aspect of true and deep healing. Although unpleasant,
it will be easier for you to go through it if you understood what it is, and welcome it as part of
your healing process. Some who don't understand healing reactions may conclude that juice
fasting is "not for them" and may decide to end the fast prematurely.

Before you go on a juice fast/cleanse, you need to know what to expect. It's not all a bed of
roses. Juice fasting is easy to do- make and drink juices then wait for your body to heal, right?
Right! But! ... While waiting for your body to heal, healing reactions ("healing crisis") are also
waiting to happen.

Whether you are juice fasting for short periods or for long periods of time, you may experience
any of these symptoms (healing crisis):

Hunger pangs: Hunger pangs are worst-felt during the first three days of a fast. Once you get
through the first three days, you will be surprised that the hunger pangs just disappear and you
can continue with a prolonged fast rather easily.

Weakness: Your stamina takes a dip when you are fasting. The lack of energy also means
that your body is not burning fuel to keep your body warm. During this time, it is normal to feel
cold most of the time. Keep warm by wearing some warm under-garments. Sleepiness is also
commonplace, so take your time to sleep in and rest.

Bad breath and body odor: Bad breath is normal during fasting and body odor may also
increase. But if the odor gets excessive, add alfalfa juice to your juice fast recipes. A white-
coated tongue at the beginning of a fast contributes to bad breath, but is evidence of your body
eliminating toxins from the body.

Giddiness or nausea: You may experience some light-headedness or nausea in some cases
because of the hunger pangs. During this period, a lie-in might help if you feel faint. Taking
about 3000mg to 5000mg vitamin C will help detoxify some of the toxins for relief (don't worry,
you won't get overdose on vitamin C). You can also drink a glass of carrot and capsicum juice
with a little ginger

Bloating: Fresh juices have a way of cleaning out the small intestines, reaching into every fold
and air pocket and releasing old fecal matters. There's a lot of activity going on with the
microorganisms inside that's releasing gas during this time of cleansing, which is why you may
feel bloated. This bloating will subside over time, but drink plenty of water to help relieve the
bloating.

Bowel movement: Diarrhea is common during juice fasting as fruit juices have natural laxative
effect. Elimination of mucus or dark stools is normal as these are elimination of toxins. Some
people take enemas in the morning to help them ease the bowel. Properly administered colon
hydrotherapy will also help a lot when juice fasting for a prolonged period of time.

Aches and pains: Elimination of toxins can cause tightness in some parts of the body resulting
in aches and pains. During a long fast, some people are temporarily freed from arthritis and
other constant pains that they normally experience. Headaches or stomach aches may be
withdrawal symptoms from salt, sugar or caffeine.

After about seven to ten days of fasting, many of these symptoms may subside altogether.
However, continuing aches and pains in certain parts of your body may mean continuous
elimination of fatty tissue is still going on. This is not harmful; rejoice that your physical body is
working well. But, if you experience severe pain or swelling, you should stop fasting. Then, at
whichever point of your fast, take precaution to break your fast slowly.

Stages of your detoxification by juice fast

To help you decide how far you need to go with your juice fast, I explain below the stages that
you will have to go through while you're on your prolonged/extended fast. As I mentioned
earlier, a prolonged fast is preferable over a short fast, when you're ready. That should be your
goal - to aim for complete healing.

Different people are at different stages of their lives and health. You may experience what's
mentioned below, either earlier in your fast or later in the fast, or maybe even not. The below is
just a general guideline:

Day 1 - 7:

During the first three days, hunger pangs are felt most intensely. This is why we suggest that
you start with a 1 or 2-day fast and gradually build up the number of days. See how your body
handles the hunger pangs.

The first healing reactions you would experience very early on in the fasts are very common:
diarrhea, lethargy, headaches, nausea, light-headedness, bad breath/body odor, aches and
pains.

Initial loss of weight may be great as they are mostly "water loss". Then the weight loss slows.
Continue drinking green juices to melt the fats. You might begin to have some skin breakouts
as the oils in the body are looking for an outlet and comes through the skin, causing pimples,
acne, rashes, or eczema.

Day 8 -14:

After the initial healing reactions and break-outs in the first week, with continued supply of fresh
juices, they will gradually clear up. From the second week, you will begin to feel a new surge of
energy and vitality. Mental fogginess disappears and you will begin to feel more alert.

Drink more green juices during this time for weight loss and fat will continue to melt away. If you
were overweight, some of the healing reactions you experienced during the first week will carry
through as you continue to juice fast.

Following the peripheral cleaning up in the first week, your body is now ready to dig a little
deeper to heal some old wounds/injuries that had not healed properly before. The nutrients
from the fresh juices begin to do their works by stirring up old toxins in old scarred tissues.
These toxins are being dumped into the bloodstream to be eliminated. They register as irritants
that cause the same pains that you had when that injury first happened. When you begin to feel
these pains, drink plenty of water to aid with the elimination.

Day 15 – 21:

As your juice fast continues into the third week, things will be a little calmer. The peripheral
cleansing and healing reactions that you experienced in the first week would mostly have
passed. There is now mental clarity and alertness. Vision might have improved somewhat.
Skin would have cleared up. Hair may appear shiny.

You will continue to feel energetic but there is a cycle to the healing reactions. Some days you
might feel totally energetic and the next day feel extreme lethargy for no reason, but not to
worry, your body is continuing to cleanse.

Continue to drink plenty of juices, and plenty of water. For weight loss, stick to green juices.
The nutrients from the fresh juices continue to do deep tissue cleansing, deep wound healing
which cannot be reached without this extended fast/feast.

Day 22 – 28 and beyond:

Congratulations to you for going beyond 21 days! If you have many health issues, they will
continue to heal from hereon, healing even deeper and older wounds/injuries that occurred in
your younger days.

Be prepared also to experience some mood swings which may have happened earlier in your
fast. They might become more severe now, if you have previously lived through a trauma/grief
or a rather stressful life.

When you juice fast, you have to make a conscious effort to drink enough beverages throughout
the day- but how much is enough?

For meal times (breakfast, lunch and dinner), it is very normal to drink about 17-27 oz. each
time in place of a solid meal. If you can drink more the better, but don't force yourself. Drink
only as much as your body can take at any one time. Listen to your body, it will tell you when
it's had enough.

In between meals, continue to drink juices alternating with pure drinking water. It is normal if
you keep going to the bathroom, as this allows your body to flush out the unwanted wastes from
your body.

Vary the types of juices you drink throughout the day so that you receive a wide range of
nutrients your body needs. But tend to take more vegetable juices than fruit juices.

Water: Always drink pure drinking water at room temperature or warm. Never drink cold water
when juice fasting, to avoid troubling your digestive system. It is important while juice fasting, to
drink plenty of water on top of the juices. Distilled water is best; we don't want chlorine or
fluoride from the tap.

Fruit juices: Avoid drinking fruit juices if you're juice fasting for the purpose of losing weight.
Some green apples and lemons/limes are fine, to be included in your green juices for taste.

You want to drink as much moisture-rich fruits as possible for proper hydration of
vitamins/minerals and phytonutrients. Some common fruits that you can use during a juice fast
are: green apples, carrots, orange, pear, strawberries and watermelon. Even though citrus
fruits tastes acidic, when consumed they do not make the stomach acidic.

Vegetable/green juices: Fresh vegetable juices are the best foods for melting away fats and
they are very healing/detoxifying for cleansing the blood/organs. No juice fast is complete
without drinking green juices.

Herbal teas: Store up on caffeine-free herbal teas to be sipped between meals. Peppermint
and chamomile teas are excellent in reducing the feeling of bloating. Oolong tea is good for
those who want to lose weight. Rooibos and green tea are excellent sources of antioxidants.

Others: You can get creative and add other liquids to your juice fasting. Some examples are
liquid chlorophyll, or mix spirulina or chlorella powder into your juice/water and drink.

**You should not add any pulp into your beverages. The whole idea is to prevent your digestive
system from working. This will keep your body burning the low-grade stored fat, so that you will
not feel hungry. Any protein or fat or pulp taken when you're juice fasting will cause your
digestion to restart, causing you to feel hunger pangs and discomfort.**

Follow your instinct as only you know your body best. Should you feel severe discomfort and
feel that your body cannot take it, break your fast slowly using the guidelines below. Act
responsibly regarding your health when juice fasting.

After a fast, don't be tempted to go all out and eat everything you've been craving when fasting.
This is dangerous as your stomach had shrunk considerably during fasting.

You will have to take more precaution, especially if you had done a prolonged fast to prevent a
shock to your system. It is very important to reintroduce food to your body in small amounts and
very slowly. Gorging on food after a fast can be fatal.

Initially, avoid oily food. Rich foods with fats, starch, processed sugar and salt can cause
nausea and headaches. Start with fresh fruits or steamed vegetables. The first few "solid"
meals will just move through your digestive system and breaking up waste. It may cause some
discomfort but will pass in a few hours.

Wait until you are hungry before you have your next meal. Resist the temptation to eat just
because it's "lunch time". Continue to eat fresh fruits and vegetables                               including ju
increasing the amount over the next two to three days (less time if you only did a short fast).

Here are some helpful tips on eating, when breaking a fast:

   �   Decide ahead what permissible food you will eat when you feel hungry (watermelon,
       banana, etc.) Gear up your mind for a slow break. Do not jump ahead and think of that
       pizza you want, for then you will surely pick up the phone and call for pizza delivery!!

   �   Take time to chew your food well. Your enzymes in your saliva will help in the digestion,
       putting less stress on your digestive system which is not yet fully awake.

   �   Eat only when you're hungry and not by the clock. Eat because you're hungry, not
       because of cravings. Listen to your body and be alert with what the food does in your
       stomach.

   �   Continue to drink fresh juices at least twice a day until you're back to eating normally.

   �   Keep yourself occupied so that you do not think too much about food. Have something
       to look forward to, like a good book, a home project, etc., so that you can get up and
       leave the table without hesitation.

   �   Once you are back on track with eating normally, give yourself a small treat at your
       favorite restaurant. Celebrate and share with a loved one on your little success.

   �   Endeavor to continue to eat healthy after the fast. Let this be the beginning of your
       journey towards a healthy lifelong, lifestyle.