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I've done quite a few juice fasts, ranging from 3 days to 92 days. I've always lost some weight during the fast, but it usually seems to even back out to around where I feel I should be health-wise afterwards. You might want to try a modified juice fast...eating half an avocado or a banana every time you juice, it will slow down the absorption plus give you extra calories; I wouldn't recommend doing that for a longer-term fast cus anytime you put something your body needs to digest in your stomach, it wakes that system up and makes you hungry! You could do a series of juice fasts...i.e...3 day fast....3 day 100%raw...1 day at least 85%raw (don;t know how raw you are so just an example) then another 3 day juice fast. But, the whole point of a fast is that you're shutting the digestion down so your body will cannobolize on the dead, sick and diseased cells so you can get rid of them...in order to do that, you will lose weight, but more often that not, you will balance out afterwards.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write, juicefastfan. What a wonderful idea! 3 days juice and 3 days raw. I'm about 85 to 90% raw at the moment, and I'm staying away from all processed foods (including agave). I feel an urge to give my body a break from all foods. I have several instetinal issues, and I think that he juice fast would help me a lot with this condition.
From your experience, what book would you recommend for starters? Do juices have to be extracted or the ingredients can be blended? I have a juicer that does not juice greens. For my breakfast smoothie I usually blend the greens in a regular blender, but I guess that that type of juice would not classify as a fasting juice...wouldn't it?
Thanks a lot.
Your actual juices should be extracted, but I do have smoothies, I juice my greens and an apple so the only thing I'm blending is bananas or an avocado, at least one a day when I am fasting. So, you could do your regular juices (as many as ya want, but I'd recommend at the bare minimum four-six 8 oz. servings a day....your body can only use 8 oz. at a time in a half hour so I think its about a cup and a half at a time) and then still get your green smoothie in, the way you said you could do it is just fine...you're still not having to eat or chew the greens. During fasting, I do have clear raw veggie broth also.
I'm a nursing mama so I do more of a modified juice fast, right now. I had tons of digestion problems too, and even though I've been an at least 75% raw vegan for awhile now, I'm still finding foods and combinations that don't work for me. But, you're totally right, juice fasting is a wonderful way to give your digestive system a much-needed break and to balance itself out. Its like hitting the "reset" button!
Are you taking any pre or probiotics, or digestive enzymes? Those have helped out my issues tremendously! I take Dr Ben Kim's greens (its a green powder) and his has those in it as well. So far, its the biggest bang for my buck, that I've found.
Good books that I've really enjoyed and have gotten a lot out of for juicing are: Juicing For Life by Cherie Calbaum (not sure if that's the correct spelling though); and Juicing, Fasting and Detoxing for Life by that same author. I'm a Christian so I've read and own quite a few Hallelujah Acres books, which are about the raw lifestyle but biblically based. If that doesn't float your boat =) just hit up your library and see if they have any books on juicing. I live in a really small town but was amazed when my library had quite a few raw and juicing books.
Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!
Thank you juicefastfan; now I have a better idea of what to do. I will definetly hit the library and see what they have. Thanks! :)
I've just bought a juicer and it came with the Juice Master's (Jason Vale) book Keep it Simple. I'm working through the detox juices at the moment and they're really good. Lots of other juice ideas and some lovely looking smoothies too.