Juice Fasting

GENERAL INFO AND SUGGESTIONS

Juice fasting is an advanced method of detoxification that speeds the elimination of toxins from the body.

It is important to choose a cleansing technique that is not too extreme for your condition. People who have never tried fasting may wish to try the detox diet first.

Fasting refers to the avoidance of solid foods and the intake of liquids only. Water fasts are one type of fast, but juice is often used because it requires minimal digestion, helps stabilize blood sugar levels, is easily assimilated by the body, and supplies nutrients and calories to maintain energy while clearing body waste. Juice also helps to decrease the unpleasant detox-withdrawal reaction that can occur common allergens are eliminated from the diet.

Why do people try juice fasting?

Many people experience enhanced physical, mental, and spiritual well-being during and after juice fasting.

People who report the greatest benefit from juice fasting have congestion, excess mucus in their bodies, and constipation.

Symptoms may include:

headaches

constipation

chronic sinus congestion

white or yellow tongue coating -- tongue coating is usually a good sign of congestion and toxicity

bad breath

acne or other skin eruptions

bloating, gas, flatulence

postnasal drip

premenstrual syndrome

runny nose

excess meat and fat consumption, overeating

chronic bronchitis

muscle stiffness in the low back

Proponents of juice fasting believe that it can prevent chronic degenerative diseases brought on by poor diet and lifestyle choices. It can also help people transition to a healthier lifestyle.

What are the guidelines of this diet?

Timing – Spring is thought to be the best time of the year for a juice fast. Fasting should only be done during the warmer months. In Canada and northern regions of the United States, this means spring, summer, and early fall.

Some people prefer to wait until a vacation from work to perform a juice fast. Most people should not perform more than two fasts per year, because it can cause depletion and weakness. After a fast, be sure to spend the next months strengthening and rebuilding your system. Restorative or anusara yoga, probiotics (friendly bacteria) supplements, and stress reduction are some strategies that can help.

Level – People who are fasting for the first time, have the above symptoms, or who are not healthy should be supervised by an experienced health care professional. The following methods can be used to minimize risks and slowly detoxify the body:

Five to seven days before the fast, eliminate alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, sugar, dairy, wheat, animal meat, fish, eggs. The diet should consist mainly of fruits, vegetables, and beans.

Limit the fast to three days or less. One method is to abstain from food for 38 hours, from 6 pm one night to 8 am two days later. Most people will feel slightly hungry and may experience some symptoms such as irritability or headache by the end of the second day.

Optional: Eat fresh fruit or vegetables during the juice fast.

Optional: Eat one meal daily at around 2 or 3 pm.

Optional: Eat light meals based on protein, vegetables, and starches. It is no longer a fast at this point, but a detox diet.

Proper supervision is necessary when fasting is used by people with medical conditions or who are taking prescription drugs.

Juicing guidelines

The basic procedure is to use between one and three parts distilled or mineral water to one part fresh juice. The juice is sipped throughout the day. Good choices for detox are celery, carrot, kale, cabbage, apple, pineapple, cranberry, spinach, beet, and greens. Citrus fruits should be avoided. At least 8 glasses of water should be consumed to flush out toxic substances.

Use organic fruits and vegetables. If you cannot find organic produce, peel the skin off fruits and vegetables or wash vegetables with a non-toxic produce cleaner, usually available at health food stores.

Low-allergen protein supplements, such as Ultra Clear and Medi Pro Protein Powder, can be added after the third day. They provide protein, vitamins, and minerals to support the detoxification process. The powder can be mixed into juices.

It is preferable to drink freshly juiced fruits and vegetables, but if unavailable, buy it from the health food store or juice bar as fresh as possible.

You may add blue-green algae, spirulina, or chlorella to juices to provide more energy.

Other suggestions

Be sure to drink plenty of warm water in addition to juices.

Go to bed early. In traditional Chinese medicine, 11 pm to 1 am is when the liver, the major detox organ, is most active.

Keep warm.

Nurturing and relaxing are important during this time. Breathing exercises, yoga and/or meditation are some optional suggestions.

Get lots of rest.

Enemas or colonics can be combined with a juice fast to help expel the stagnation and toxins in the colon. A coffee enema is often recommended to encourage liver detox.

Supplements that can help to absorb toxins in the digestive tract so they can be excreted are bentonite clay and activated charcoal. Both can be purchased at health food stores.

Duration of the fast

A fast usually lasts for one to five days. Longer fasts should only be done with medical supervision.

Pay attention to weight, symptoms and degree of congestion, tongue coating, degree of hunger, and energy level. If energy level drops for more than one day, if weight becomes too low, or if any symptoms become particularly intense, it is time to break the fast.

Tongue coating may become thicker or have a more pronounced color (yellow, white, grey) as the body eliminates toxins. Although tongue coating should be used as a general indicator only. Some people retain a coated tongue even after all other symptoms have improved.

Benefits of the diet

In addition to promoting the excretion of toxins and decreasing congestive symptoms, juice fasts are believed to have the following benefits:

Eliminates most food allergies and sensitivities.

Reduces the burden on the digestive system, allowing it to heal.

Releases pesticides, drugs, and other chemicals from stored fat, which can then be eliminated.

Enhances mental, physical, and spiritual well-being

Has less severe withdrawal symptoms than a water fast.

Increased energy

Mental clarity

Glowing skin

Prevents chronic diseases caused by poor diet and lifestyle

Clears mucus dishcharge

Side effects and healing crises

In the first three days, it is not uncommon for headache and hunger to occur. These side effects are usually gone by the third or fourth day. Many people notice a thickening in the tongue coating, which can be brushed off with a toothbrush. Other common experiences – known as healing crises -- are bad breath, unpleasant taste in the mouth, foul-smelling stools, digestive upset, acne, energy fluctuations, mucus in the stools, sinus congestion, skin eruptions, fever, irritability, yawning, muscle aches or tightness, and gas. Most healing crises pass within one or two days.

Healing crises often occur during a detox or other positive change in lifestyle. In addition to physical symptoms associated with the release of toxins, emotions can also be released during a healing crises. Old symptoms from the past can also appear during fasts. They usually last for a brief period.

If any symptoms last more than two to three days, it should be considered a problem and be addressed. If a problem worsens or causes concerns, or if fainting, bleeding, dizziness, low blood pressure, vomiting and diarrhea, palpitations, kidney problems, or arrhythmias occur, the fast should be stopped immediately and a doctor consulted. In general, people should consult a health professional skilled in detoxification before trying a juice fast.

Who should not try juice fasting?

People with the following conditions should not try a juice fast: diabetes, hypoglycemia, eating disorders, anemia, epilepsy, kidney disease, impaired or weak immune system, cardiac arrhythmias, candida, cancer, peptic ulcer, malnutrition, pregnancy, nursing, gout, lactation, severe bronchial asthma, terminal illness, tuberculosis, ulcerative colitis, any condition that causes depletion and weakness, underweight, chronic infection, nutritional deficiency, serious disease. People should not try juice fasts before or after surgical procedures. Fasting can reduce blood proteins and change the way prescription drugs react in the body. People taking prescription medication should consult a health professional skilled in detoxification before trying a juice fast.

How to Break a Fast

After fasting, it is important to slowly return to a regular way of eating. This phase should be done carefully to avoid adverse reactions.

Suggestions

Chew foods well. Most people do not chew food thoroughly. Chewing releases digestive enzymes and minimizes the burden on the digestive system.

Don't overeat.

It is important to keep the bowels moving. Stewed prunes have a laxative effect and can be added at any point after the fast.

You can learn about your food reactions during this re-introduction phase. You may wish to keep notes on energy, digestion, cravings, and any symptoms, looking for any reaction within the 24 hour period after you have re-introduced a new food. Foods that cause reactions can be avoided for one to two weeks and then eaten alone.

Monitor for any reactions.

Many people use this time to transition into a healthier diet. Go to the health food store and try some new, healthy foods. It usually takes a while to adjust to new tastes, so give each new food two weeks before you make a decision.

Go slowly. Don't reward yourself for fasting by splurging on a big dinner!

Sample re-introduction schedule

Each day, add the foods listed above to those allowed on previous days. Drink at least 8 glasses of water or herbal tea per day.

Day 1 – Two pieces of fruit. Have 1/2 piece for each meal.

Day 2 – Lightly steamed non-starchy vegetables, such as spinach.

Day 3 – Brown rice, fresh salad.

Day 4 – Organic yogurt, unflavored and unsweetened. Eggs.

Day 5 – Meat, chicken, fish, tofu, if eaten.

Day 6 – Beans, other grains may be introduced, if eaten.

Day 7 – Other foods, as desired.

Juice Specifics

Some juices work better for certain people or conditions. In general, diluted fresh juices of raw organic fruits and vegetables are best. Canned and frozen juices should be avoided. Some bottled juice may be used, but fresh squeezed is best, as long as it is used soon after squeezing.

Water and other liquids are what primarily cleanse our system, increasing waste elimination—rather like squeezing out a dirty sponge in clean water. Lemon tends to loosen and bring out mucus and is useful for liver cleansing. Diluted lemon juice, with or without a little honey, or the Master Cleanser can loosen mucus fast, so if this is used, we need to cleanse the bowels regularly to prevent getting sick. Most vegetable juices are a little milder than lemon juice.

Each juice has a certain nutritional composition and probably certain physiological actions, although these have not been studied extensively. We can think of fresh juices as natural vitamin pills with a very high assimilation percentage, and we do not need to do the work of digesting them.

In general, some juices are more caloric than others and might be used less if more weight loss is desired. The juices of apples, grapes, oranges, and carrots are good cleansing juices but might be minimized for weight loss. More grapefruit, lemon, cucumber, and greens, such as lettuce, spinach, or parsley, may be more helpful in this situation. Also, a variety of juices can be used in a fast with different ones squeezed daily.

Fruit Juices

These juices may be helpful for particular organs or illnesses, based on my experience as well as information contained in Paavo Airola’s How to Get Well. To prepare juices, we obviously want to start with the freshest and most chemical-free fruits and vegetables possible. They should be cleaned or soaked and stored properly. If there is a question of toxicity, sprays, or parasites, a chlorine bleach bath can be used (see Chapter 11). If not organic, they should be peeled, especially if they are waxed. With root vegetables such as carrots or beets, the above-ground ends should be trimmed. Some people like to drop their vegetables into a pot of boiling water for a minute or so for cleansing as well.

The best juicers are the compressors, such as the Norwalk brand, but these are very expensive. The rotary-blade juicers, such as the Champion, are good at squeezing the juice with minimum molecular irritation. The centrifuge juicers are also fine, but they waste juice left in the pulp. Blenders are not really juicers; what they make is more like liquid salads. These are high in fiber. I once did a energizing week-long fast with two blender drinks a day, fruits in the morning and vegetables in the late afternoon, with teas and water in between.

Juice Recipes

Juice #1

3 oranges

2 hard pears

1 small yam

Clean blood, clean muscles, and enzyme-rich, This juice is a nutrient-packed fuel made for intense aerobic activity. Sip it slowly.

Juice #2

2 carrots

1 sweet potato

2 apples

thin slice of Spanish onion

pinch dulse powder

Rejuvenate with this juice

Juice #3

1/2 watermelon

1 lemon

5 oranges

1 can frozen pineapple concentrate

Juice #4

1 pineapple

1 sweet potato

4 oranges

Juice #5

1 lemon

2 radish

1 beet

1 slice Spanish onion

2 sweet potato

1 celery

2 Tbs. cider vinegar

Juice #6

1 beet

1 sweet potato

2 apples

1 lemon

1 tomato

thin slice of Spanish onion

1 garlic clove

1/2 can of frozen apple concentrate

Juice #7

1 oranges

1 hard pears

1 yam

1 grapefruit

1 apple

Juice #8

1 beet

1 carrot

1 celery stick

1/2 potato

1 radish

Rudolf Breuss's, anticancer mixture has helped thousands of suffering people. This juice blend, during fasting, exerts a death blow on cancer. This was attested by over 24,000 patients who wrote him describing relief from their diseases. His patients were given small amounts of this juice over 42 days. A tea composed of nettle, St. John's wart, marigold, artemisi and monarda was also given. By "starving out" the cancer, Rudolf Breuss reported a 96% success rate for the thousands of patients he treated over 30 years of practice. (Rudolf Breuss died in 1989 at 93 years of age.)

Its composition is: 55% beet root, 20% celery root, 20% carrot, 3% potato, 2% radish.

Juice #9

2 apples

1 1/4 cups of cranberries

Cranberry juice is a powerful healing tonic, filled with quinine which changes to hippuric acid in the liver. Hippuric acid is able to assist in the removal of purines, uric acid, urea and toxic build-up in the prostate gland, testicles, kidneys and bladder. An excellent preventative juice for North American men who are battling the increased risk of prostate cancer. It is a wonderful defense against yeast infections for women.

Juice #10

1 wedge watermelon (with ring)

1/2 lb. red grapes

Watermelon rind has chlorophyll, vitamin A, protein, potassium, zinc, iodine, nucleic acids and enzymes which aid digestion. Ninety-five percent of the nutritional content in watermelon is in the rind.

Juice #11

one cantaloupe

5 ice cubes

2 Tbs. of Sucanat

dash of cinnamon

Has more than 15,000 I.U. of vitamin A and over three times the vitamin C content of an apple. It also contains myoinositol, a lipid which helps with anxiety, insomnia and in battling hardening of the arteries. It also contains the greatest amount of digestive enzymes. Melons are recommended by the American Cancer Society as powerful agents in the fight against intestinal and skin cancer.

Juice #12

1 apple

5 oz. white grapes

1 oz arugula, spinach, or watercress

1 Tbsp lime juice

Juice #13

1/2 small red cabbage

1/2 fennel bulb

2 apples

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Juice #14

1 papaya

1/2 cantaloupe

3 1/2 oz. of white grape

Rich in phytochemicals and betacarotene. High in antioxidants and many health promoting properties

Juice #15

2 cups strawberries

1 peach or nectarine

Rich in vitamin C.

Juice #16

3 carrots

2 apples

1 orange

A true health giving drink

Juice #17

3 carrots

4 oz. beet

1 oz. baby spinach

2 celery stalks

Great for detoxifying the body

Juice #18

1/2 cantaloupe

2 pears

1 inch piece of fresh ginger root

Very invigorating and reviving

Juice #19

3-4 Carrots

1-2 Celery stalks

Small wedge cabbage

Juice #20

1 Green Pepper

1 Red Pepper

3 Celery stalks

1/2 Cucumber

5 Lettuce leaves

Juice #21

1/2 Tomato

1/4 Cucumber

1 Carrot

1 Celery stalk

1 Handful Spinach

1/2 Red Pepper

1/2 Cup Cabbage

1 Green Onion

Pinch of real sea salt

Better and healthier that V8

Juice #22

8 Ounces Carrot

4 Ounces Dandelion

4 Ounces Spinach or Chard

Juice #23

1 beet with greens

1 stalk celery

large handful of spinach

large handful of parsley

1 green pepper

1-3 cloves garlic

1 slice of Ginger

enough carrots to make a quart of juice

(usually half of a 5 lb bag)

Juice #24

1 kale leaf

1 collard leaf

small handful of parsley

1 stalk of celery

1 carrot, greens removed

1/2 red pepper

1 tomato

1 broccoli floret

celery stalk for garnish

FASTING AND JUICING

Americans eat way too much fat, way too much sugar, and way too much protein. In fact, Americans simply eat too much of everything. The way out of this dilemma is so easy that we usually miss it: consider occasionally fasting. A fast will cost very little money, and may well be one of the best things you've ever done for yourself.

One of the reasons fasting merits your attention is that anything else is so often ineffective or downright dangerous. One of the really amazing books of our time is Medical Nemesis, by Ivan Illich (Bantam, 1977) Dr. Illich shows, in exhaustive detail, that medical care has become literally sickening. One in five hospital patients is there because a physician's mistake put him or her there.

Ever since George Washington's doctors killed him with their prescriptions (No kidding: Medical and Physical Journal, London, 1800. Volume 3, page 409), people have been seeking LESS HARMFUL treatments than conventional medicine has offered. A common "scientific" argument against fasting is that it is always unsafe. Truly the pot is calling the kettle black when drug-based medicine criticizes the safety of the therapy that all animals naturally use, namely fasting. First thing a sick animal does is go off its feed.

21-DAY CYCLE FOR CLEANSING AND GOOD HEALTH

A "cycle" is made up of an eight day juice fast, three days to come off the fast, and then ten days on a three-quarters raw food diet. (8 + 3 + 10 = 21 days.) This really works. I use it, except most of the time I just use the this advice without the 8 day fasting part. I usually juice fast.

FASTING

First, fast. Eight days may seem like a very long time to go without food. Actually, for the first day or two of a fast, your body uses up the food remaining in your digestive tract from previous meals. For the next couple of days, your body uses stored food reserves from your liver. This means that a fast doesn't really begin until about the fifth day. Now an eight day fast is closer to a three day fast, and attainable by nearly everyone. (Diabetics and persons on medication requiring meals should check with their physician, of course. Fasting is not for children, pregnant women or nursing women. If there is a medical reason why you should not fast, then don't. Check with your doctor first.)

Since "fasting" conjures up visions of starvation, it is important to realize that we are talking about JUICE fasting here. Freshly made vegetable juices, taken in quantity, are not a beverage. They are a raw, highly digestible food. It is ideal to have all the juice you want, without forcing yourself to drink it. The rules: "When you are hungry, drink juice. When you are thirsty, drink juice also."

JUICING

It is generally a good idea to dilute your juice 50/50 with water. If you can afford filtered water, use it. If not, don't worry... the goodness of the juices will carry you. Some people do not like the taste of diluted juice. An alternative is to drink a glass of water, then drink a glass of juice. This gives the same effect, and tastes better. Be sure to drink the water first, for after the juice you may not want the water as much.

When we say "juice", we generally are referring to vegetable juice, freshly prepared. Fruit juice tends to be too sweet for comfortable fasting. However, there is nothing to stop you from experimenting and coming up with your own best regimen. As long as you get good results, HOW you get them is secondary.

You cannot buy freshly prepared vegetable juice in any store at any price... unless they literally juice the vegetables right in front of your eyes and you drink it down before they make you pay for it!. Any juice in a carton, can or bottle has been heat treated and was certainly packaged at least a few hours ago. Even frozen juice is not fresh, then, is it? This means that you will need one essential and somewhat expensive appliance: your own juicer.

JUICERS

A juicer is not a blender. A juicer makes juice; a blender makes raw baby food. There is nothing wrong with blending your foods. If you found such food to your liking, it would actually be very digestible. However, to make juice you need to extract the fluid part of the vegetable along with the vitamins, minerals and enzymes it contains. Therefore, you need a juice extractor. We are also not referring to a whirl-top orange juicer, either.

Be sure to get a really good juicer. Good juicers make tastier juices, faster. Good juicers also clean up more quickly than cheap juicers. Clean-up is easy. The moment you have finished making (and drinking!) your juice, just rinse the cleanable parts with water and set them in a dish-drainer rack until the next use. Soap will rarely be necessary as long as you don't mind the plastic parts of the juicer gradually becoming the same color as your favorite vegetables.

WHAT TO JUICE

You can juice almost anything you can eat raw. Vegetables are best, especially carrots, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes, zucchini squash, romaine lettuce, sprouts, celery and cabbage. You may juice fruits also, naturally. Freshly made raw apple, grape, and melon juices are delicious. It is not generally a good idea to juice potatoes, eggplant or Lima beans (not that you'd want to.)

It is wise to peel vegetables that have been sprayed or waxed, such as cucumbers. Sprayed fruits are also good to peel before juicing. Carrots and other underground vegetables often do not need peeling. Instead, give them a good scrubbing with a nylon-bristle vegetable brush while rinsing under tap water. Beets are the exception. Since beet skins are very bitter, it is wise to peel beets before juicing. A hint to save time: dip the beets for about 20 seconds in boiling water and then peel them... it's much easier.

Your juice will taste the best if you drink it right after preparing it. I mean within moments! Fresh juice contains a great amount of raw food enzymes and vitamins, many of which are easily lost as the juice sits. So don't let it sit! Drink it right down, with the thought that this is unbelievably good for you.

HOW MUCH JUICE TO DRINK

Drink as much juice as you wish. Remember that it is a food, not a beverage and that you can have as much as you want. There is little fear of over doing it. It is, after all, hard to hurt yourself with vegetables!

A good rule of thumb is to drink three or four eight-ounce glasses of fresh juice a day.

You will probably find that you will be urinating more as you drink more juices. That figures, doesn't it? You are taking in more liquid. You may also notice that you have more bowel movements now than you were previously accustomed to. This, too, is to be expected. Your body may well respond to all this nourishment by "cleaning house" a bit. More excretory symptoms would be the result. Ever notice how many trash cans you fill when you clean out the attic, basement or garage? Why, you hardly noticed all the rubbish you had stored in there until you went to clean it out. The same is true, by analogy, with your body.

WHAT JUICES ARE BEST FOR YOU

You may drink those juices that appeal to you the most. To find out your favorites, try each of them!

CARROT juice is tasty and popular, and two glasses of carrot juice per day are highly beneficial. There is no need to peel your carrots if you first scrub them well with a tough brush. Brush the daylights out of the carrots while rinsing them under water. This is quicker than peeling, and is less wasteful.

Carrot juice is very high in vitamin A. The vitamin A in carrots is actually "provitamin A" or carotene. Carotene is completely non-toxic, no matter how much you consume. The worst thing that can happen if you drink a huge amount of carrot juice is that you will turn orange.

CELERY juice is very tasty, but a bit high in sodium. Use small amounts of this juice to flavor the others. Juice celery leaves and all for the most benefit.

CUCUMBER juice is remarkably tasty. It tastes rather different than a cucumber itself. Perhaps you will find that the taste reminds you of watermelon. Peel cucumbers before juicing to avoid the waxes applied to their skins to enhance their shelf life in supermarkets.

ROMAINE LETTUCE or BEAN SPROUTS will make an especially nutritious juice with a taste that is well worth acquiring. This "green drink" is loaded with minerals and chlorophyll.

ZUCCHINI SQUASH juiced up tastes better than you'd ever imagine. Peel first, and enjoy. You may well be the first on your block to be a zucchini-juice fan. It also keeps the juicer from clogging on higher-fiber vegetables.

BEET juice is, traditionally, a blood-builder. In days past, herbalists looked at the blood-red beet as a tonic more so because it worked, rather than any color similarity. Beets must be peeled before juicing. Beet skins are very bitter. The beets, on the other hand, are quite sweet and make great juice. They will also permanently stain your juicer, so don't try to remove that color by washing. More important, beet juice will color your bowel movements.

A hint: you will save time if you first carefully dip beets in boiling water before peeling them.

CABBAGE juice was used by Garnett Cheney, M.D. to cure bleeding peptic ulcers back in the 1950's. (Cheney, G. (1952) "Vitamin U therapy of peptic ulcer." California Medicine, 77:4, 248-252) Dr. Cheney's patients drank a quart of cabbage juice a day and were cured in less than half the usual time... with no drugs whatsoever. Since then, cabbage juice has successfully been used for a variety of gastrointestinal illnesses. Colitis, spastic colon, indigestion, chronic constipation, certain forms of rectal bleeding and other conditions seem to respond well to the nutrients in cabbage juice. Dr. Cheney called its healing factor "Vitamin U" (for unknown). More recently, the American Cancer Society has urged people to eat more of the cabbage/broccoli family of vegetables because of their protective effects against cancer. There may be something to this cabbage juice idea. It certainly couldn't hurt to try it.

TOMATOES are easily juiced. Do not juice the leaves, vines, or green tomatoes. Only the red, ripened fruit is good for you. Yes, the tomato is a fruit. A fruit of a plant is essentially a seed-containing structure that can be picked without killing the plant.

A TIMETABLE

At the beginning of this section we were talking about a 21-day "cycle" beginning with eight days just on fresh juices, three days to come off the juice "fast," and then ten days of a 75% raw food diet. This makes a total cycle duration of three weeks (21 days). Now that you have a better idea about the juicing segment, let's take a look at the next steps.

Coming off the juice "fast" is best done by eating lightly for a while. Fruit, fruit salads, vegetable soups, and other light foods are appropriate at this point. A good rule of thumb here is to eat only half as much as you want to at any one time... but eat twice as often. This is for about three days.

For the ten day 75% raw food diet, you can eat all you want as long as three-quarters of it is uncooked. For the uncooked part of the diet, eat fresh, raw vegetables and fruits. Don't forget nuts, too. If they are raw, they count. Begin each meal with a large salad, perhaps a fruit salad for breakfast. Then, when you've finished the salad, have whatever you want within reason. The 25% cooked portion could include whole grain breads and pasta, brown rice, cooked beans, lentils, cooked vegetables including potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, squash and other foods that you like. Meat is not recommended, nor is chicken or turkey.

One of the best sources of flesh protein is seafood. Fish is a major source of important oils and other nutrients in addition to protein. Enjoy it as often as you wish, but avoid breaded or fried seafood. Shrimp and shellfish are good foods. Generally, it is wise to avoid eating a catch from questionably polluted waters, such as the Great Lakes.

If you don't want to eat seafood, you do not have to. Eggs in moderation, unsweetened yogurt, goat's milk, tofu, miso, tempeh, nuts, and especially beans and bean sprouts are all good protein sources. The issue is not WHERE you get your protein but ARE YOU getting your protein. If you are not yet a vegetarian, now is the time to move in that direction. If you currently don't eat meat, good for you... and remember: get plenty of protein.

When you go out to eat, it's easy to stay right on this program by eating at salad bars. Remember, try to make the other three-quarters of your diet fresh and raw.

All the strongest and longest-lived animals on earth are vegetarians.

7 Day Detox Juice Fasting Diet

For the 7-day detox juice fast, a different juice is consumed each of the seven days:

Day 1: Apple and celery juice: Intestines, liver, kidneys. Use 1/2 apple juice and 1/2 celery juice.

Day 2: Pineapple juice: Enzyme bromelain for the small intestine. Also specifically helpful for inflammation, allergies, arthritis, edema, and hemorrhoids.

Day 3: Lemon juice and water: Detoxify and cleanse the liver. Add the fresh juice of 1/2 lemon for cup of water.

Day 4: Carrot Juice: Liver, lungs, kidneys, eyes.

Day 5: Beet Juice: Removes toxins from the liver into the bloodstream. Also specifically helpful for arthritis and menstrual problems.

Day 6: Green Juices: Believed to cause an exchange of toxins across membranes resulting in the systematic flushing of toxins out of the body. Also specifically helpful for circulation, skin, digestive problems, obesity, bad breath

Day 7: Distilled Water: Cleanses the entire system.