Well, you can find as many juice diet plans (some call it a juice fast) as you can find advocates, but, in general, they all agree on a few important steps, which I'll list below.
Before revealing the details, I should tell you I have no qualifications whatsoever as a medical expert and consequently you should check with your family physician or health professional should you choose to use any of the information that follows on juice dieting.
Those for whom a juice diet isn't appropriate:
- Diabetics in particular are generally told to avoid fasting and/or juice dieting because of possible blood sugar problems.
- Severely underweight individuals should also not go on diets such as this.
- People who fear not eating should avoid fasting and/or juice dieting.
- People on drugs, either prescribed or recreational, must check with their physician before trying the techniques that follow.
Okay, with all that out of the way here are the main steps to consider for a juice diet:
1. Ease into the juice diet by spending a few days on a fruit and vegetable routine where you eat nothing but uncooked fruits and vegetables for anywhere from one to five days. Some people never get beyond this point because after eating high-quality, natural foods such as fruits and veggies for a few days they suddenly feel great again and no longer have a need to go further.I still remember my first five-day juice diet. That was the one that resolved my stiffening shoulder problem for which the doctor had wanted to give me cortisone shots.
2. Some people hate the idea of living on "rabbit food" even for a few days. For those folks, move right into the juice diet. I've tried both ways and could give you good arguments for either. To make your own best decision, think about the options and then go with the one that feels right to you. Your body is constantly talking to you. Learn to listen. It'll tell you what to do.
3. Plan on going anywhere from one to three days on your first juice diet. People can live on juices alone for amazing lengths of time, but if you've never juice dieted before, just going for a few days will be most comfortable.
My first five-day juice diet was the experience that significantly changed my life and got me into all this natural living stuff.
4. For one to three days, eat nothing solid. Instead, when you feel hungry, slowly sip a glass of juice. What kind of juice? I like freshly extracted orange juice or grapefruit juice in the morning mixed half and half with distilled water, no more than 12 ounces total. Sip it slowly and swirl around in the mouth to properly insalivate. I'll have another glass of the same thing around mid-morning if I'm feeling hungry.The whole business of hunger is very individualized, but most people report that their hunger goes away after three days.
5. Around noon time, repeat step four or follow the directions in step seven.
6. In mid-afternoon, if you feel hungry, repeat step 4.
7. In early afternoon or supper time, have 8-10 ounces of freshly extracted carrot/celery/apple/squash/Romaine lettuce juice. If you don't have a juicer, purchase organic juices at your local health food store or else go to a juice bar on your way home from work. Carrot juice alone also works , though I don't recommend 100% carrot juice because of its high glycemic index rating. Dr. Ben Kim's Greens mixed in 4 ounces of distilled water or freshly extracted carrot or apple juice or even bottled apple juice also works great.
8. An hour or so before bedtime, if you're a little hungry, repeat step 4 or step 7. Keep in mind the fact that fruit juices provoke more cleansing symptoms than vegetable juices.
9. You may or may not feel hungry during your days of juice dieting. When I did an extended juice diet a few years ago, I surprised myself because I did not feel hungry the whole time I stayed on juice alone. On other occasions, I've felt slightly hungry the first few days.
If you still feel hungry, look at yourself in a mirror. If you look so thin that you fear you're gonna starve, then it's time to stop and eat. Seriously, nobody's going to starve to death by consuming juices for a few days.
10. What to expect or how will you feel? Again, each of us carries a different level of toxicity and each of our bodies deals with that toxicity in a different manner.In general, if you're very toxic, you may experience some cold-like or flu-like symptoms such as headache, runny nose, tiredness, fever, and so on. This is especially true if you drink coffee, smoke tobacco, do recreational or prescribed drugs, or consume alcohol. The body doesn't like this stuff and when it starts unloading it, you pay the piper.
If you experience symptoms, be thankful. Go to bed and get a well-deserved rest and let your body do some self-repair. Contrary to conventional thinking that encourages us to suppress symptoms of whatever ails us, the natural health model I subscribe to tells us that disease itself is the cure, that through disease (colds, flu, etc.) the body is trying to heal itself, working diligently to get rid of a toxic overload.
According to this model, if we suppress symptoms, we build deeper and more dramatic problems for ourselves in later life. Whoa, now that's a wild idea, isn't it?
Click here to read a detailed explanation about detox symptoms you can expect to experience when juice dieting or when upgrading your diet and lifestyle in general.
You can also expect to experience some very positive changes on a juice diet. Increased ability to concentrate, improved mood and sense of well-being, increased energy, less congestion, improved sense of taste and smell, and a host of other good things.
11. To end the juice diet, start with the best orange (preferably organic) you can find the morning you want to resume your regular life. Peel that sucker and get your hands into it. Break into segments and then bite down on maybe a quarter of one segment.Lordy, lordy, you never realized in your life an orange could taste this good.
Guess what?
During your brief juice diet, your taste buds reset themselves. And they'll continue to appreciate the wonderful tastes of fruits and vegetables until you reset them again by eating spicy, sugary, processed foods.
And then, guess what?
The fruits and veggies will seem bland and not good. At least until you go on your next juice diet and reset yourself back to the way we're meant to be.
For the rest of the day you break your juice diet, eat fruits only, but don't overeat. You can resume your regular diet the next day, though I encourage you to stay away from all processed foods as much as possible.
Click here for an excellent maintenance diet that works well after coming off a juice diet.
Of everything I've learned since 1993 in my on-going search for superior health, I currently hold dearest the juice diet information I've just shared with you.
Juice dieting represents a remarkably easy and simple way to improve health.
It doesn't cost much, it's easy enough to do, and it works.
Who could ask for more?
Chet "Juice Diet" Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com
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