 Fasting & Juice Diets
Fasting is the abstinence from food for a period of time for therapeutic or religious
purposes. This supports the body by resting the digestive system and releasing energy
for the body to use elsewhere. A short-term fast can last for one to three days.
Longer than this would be considered long-term fasting. A water fast is not recommended
unless supervised by a doctor. Toxins stored in the body begin to be released and
could cause severe detox reactions. Also, people with blood sugar problems could
be adversely affected. Most people can adequately and safely maintain a detoxification
program based on juicing fresh fruits and vegetables. These supply the nutrients
needed to support the body, and they require very little digestion. A juice diet
is preferable to a water fast in today's toxic world.
Although it is unreasonable to eat 10 to 20 pounds of vegetables, it is easy to
consume the juice from 10 to 20 pounds of vegetables during the course of a day.
Even if the average person were able to eat that many vegetables, 90% or more of
the nutrients would be eliminated in the vegetable fiber as it passes through the
body. Juicing provides the full value - 100% - of the nutrients since the juice,
containing all the nutrients, is normally separated from the vegetable fiber by
the juicer. Freshly prepared juices are quickly and easily digested and absorbed
in approximately 1/2 hour.
There are many good juicers on the market today, priced from about $40 to more than
$1,000. The more expensive ones are more efficient; however, even the least expensive
juicer on the market will work nicely for the person new to juicing.
About Juicing and Juice Diets
There are also many fine books about juicing available in most local health food
stores. We recommend Juicing for Life by Cherie Calbom and Maureen Keane. Both of
these authors have master's degrees in nutrition and provide the reader not only
with tasty, easy-to-prepare juice recipes, but also a great deal of useful information
on which juices and nutrients are most useful in treating some 50 disorders, including
a number of gastrointestinal problems. They recommend consuming two to four glasses
of freshly prepared juice daily.
'Fresh' is the key word here. As previously mentioned,
juices begin to lose their nutritional value within a short time of extraction and
therefore should be consumed immediately. They do not store well. The reason that
juices from the supermarket stay 'fresh' is that they have been pasteurized to increase
their shelf life. Usually chemical additives are used as well. There is no comparison
between canned or bottled juices and freshly prepared juices. The former are nutrient-depleted
and toxic to some degree because of the chemical residues they leave in the body;
freshly prepared juices are rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes and all the companion
nutrients.
For more information about cleansing and detoxification, visit DetoxStrategy.com, the website of Brenda Watson's Detox
Strategy: Vibrant Health in 5 Easy Steps.
Further Detoxification Information
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