How to Have a Successful Juice Fast

This article will show you how to have a successful juice fast. Juice fasting is ideal for weight loss or health imbalances.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Good quality juicer
• Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables
• Herbal teas

1. You need to prepare your body for a juice fast. Eat nothing but raw fruits and vegetables for two days leading up to the fast. Begin your fast with a purgative (a natural laxative) or an enema. You will need an enema every day that you don’t have a bowel movement, otherwise toxins can build up.

2. First thing in the morning: Bowel movement or enema. (I have found that a cup of almost hot tea made with lemon juice & raw honey will stimulate the bowels to move.)
   
   For your breakfast: Have a warm cup of herbal tea. Mid-morning: Have a glass of fresh juice diluted 50/50 with pure water.

3. 
   Strain your broth thoroughly!

   Noon: Take a short walk or have some other form of mild exercise. (I once worked my day job during a juice fast. It was hard because it seemed like everyone around me was eating!)
   
   Early afternoon, around 1:00pm: Glass of freshly made vegetable juice or freshly made vegetable broth. (Instructions on making this broth will follow) Rest, or take a nap.

4. Mid-afternoon: Have a warm cup of herbal tea.
   
   Late afternoon: Take a walk, have a bath or mild exercise.
   
   Early evening: Have a glass of diluted fruit or vegetable juice.
   
   One hour before bedtime: Have a cup of vegetable broth.

5. This is just an outline. You can work up your own schedule to suit your needs. When you become thirsty you can drink pure water. Always remember to dilute your juices 50/50 with water. Your total juice and broth volume should be approximately two pints to one and a half quarts per day. Remember to never mix fruit and vegetable juices together. Without a qualified practitioner overseeing you, don’t do a juice fast for longer than ten days. With supervision, you can go up to thirty days! And remember also, that a "healing crisis" is likely to occur if you have a history of illness. ("Healing crisis" explained below)
   
   Break this type of fast slowly so as not to shock your system. Keep the fresh broth in your diet leaving in the chunks of vegetables for the first day after. Then, slowly add raw fruit and vegetables. Try to stay on a healthy diet with no meat for as long as you can!

Tips & Warnings

• How To Make Vegetable Broth: 2 large potatoes, sliced to half inch pieces 1 cup carrots, sliced 1 cup celery, chopped 1 cup any other vegetable available: turnip or beet tops, parsley, etc. Add garlic, onion or any herbal spice Put all ingredients into a stainless steel pot, add 1-½ quarts of pure water, cover and cook for thirty minutes. Strain, cool until just warm and serve. If not all broth is used, refrigerate and heat before next use. This broth makes a cleansing, alkalizing, mineral-rich drink.
• The more toxic one's body is, the more severe the detoxification, or healing crisis. This is characterized by a temporary increase in symptoms during the cleansing or detox process which may be mild or severe. You may feel worse and therefore conclude that the treatment is not working. But these reactions are instead signs that the treatment is working and that your body is going through the process of cleaning itself of impurities, toxins and imbalances.
• Fasting during pregnancy is not advised. Those in the advanced stages of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and tuberculosis should not fast. Avoid fasting in cases of mental illness, low blood pressure, and peptic ulcers. Especially to be avoided is fasting where a patient has cancer of the liver or pancreas. Some of these mentioned imbalances may improve with fasting, but these patients must have medical supervision. That way, if any crisis or complications arise, they may be dealt with immediately.

Resources

• Be Your Own Doctor

[starlet67]

on 6/10/2009 Great detailed tips on juicing!5*

[SarahRobinson]

on 2/10/2009 Thanks for sharing! Well-written article.

[kagee]

on 1/28/2009 I have been wanting to try this, but I just love my food too much!