Cleansing Guidelines
How to Prepare
A little preparation leading up to your cleanse will help for a smoother transition and to lessen the detox symptoms that most experience in the first 1-3 days. It is possible to cleanse without any preparation, though be warned the detox symptoms could come in strong depending on your current eating habits. I recommend to begin cleaning up your diet 2-5 days before you begin.
Begin cutting back on caffeine. Cut out packaged and processed foods, sugars and alcoholDecrease or ideally eliminate animal products and begin eating as much whole, plant based, raw foods as possible. (FRUITS!)Up your water intake ideally with lemon or lime or even better begin introducing more fresh juice and coconut waterMake your WHY strong! Why do you want to cleanse? What are your goals? Be clear of your WHY before you begin. This will be your motivation to keep going when the detox symptoms and the cravings kick in.For inspiration watch 'Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead' and 'Super Juice Me'. Both are free on YouTube.
What to Expect
Days 1-3 detox symptoms are at their peak so it helps to plan your cleanse at a time when you will be able to rest or take it easy if you need to in those first days. Depending on what your regular eating habits are and how well you prepared for your cleanse will determine how strong your detox symptoms will be. You may experience headaches, aching body, brain fog, sluggishness, moodiness, irritability, flu like symptoms, skin breakouts... or you may experience barely anything. Mostly everyone experiences these at different levels. The caffeine lovers often experience these the heaviest. Whatever your experience is in these first few days, it's important to surrender and trust the process, remember your WHY and know that any detox symptoms you are feeling is because your body is hard at work healing, cleansing and rebuilding each cell.
Our body spends so much energy on digesting food all day every day. When we fast from solid foods, our body redirects its energy towards breaking down and eliminating built up, accumulated toxins and wastes that has been stored in our body for years. To remove them from our system it has to first put the toxins back into circulation to then go through the normal bodily process of complete elimination. This is when we experience detox symptoms. Ultimately, during a cleanse when we experience any detox, we can take refuge in knowing that our body is healing.
From day three your symptoms will begin to fade. You'll feel lighter, your energy levels will rise, you may notice your eyes are and skin are becoming more clear, with your mental clarity and focus becoming sharper.
On an extended fast, these effects that you have already been witnessing will keep on improving plus more! Though remember your body is still in cleansing mode, so every now and then when your body releases stored toxins back into circulation you will experience detox days. Trust in the process. These symptoms will pass once the toxins have gone through the normal eliminating channels and are finally removed from your system, and then you will be back to feeling high on your juice supply!
Tips While Cleansing
« All things citrus is highly detoxifying! Start your day with a full glass of lemon or lime water to get your digestive system going
« It's important to help stimulate your lymphatic system. Light exercise like yoga, rebounding and walking are great for this.
« Sweat the toxins out! Our skin is one of our largest detox organs. In Tulum we are so lucky to have an abundant of temazcals available to us. I recommend Botanica. Sweating greatly assists the detox process by getting the lymphatic waste moving out of the body through the skin. If temazcal isn't your thing, a sauna is perfect too!
« If you feel hungry drink a glass of lemon or lime water, coconut water, herbal tea or more juice.
« Eliminate all caffeine! We want to give our system a rest and allow it to rejuvenate. Caffiene puts our system in a state of fight or flight and has everything woking over time, axhausting the adrenals.
« If you can make extra time in your schedule for rest, then rest as much as you feel especially in the first few days. This is when your body gets a chance to really heal.
« Dry skin brushing is another great tool to help stimulate the lymphatic system.
« Colonics and/or enemas can also greatly assist your detox process. If you don’t mind the slight uncomfortableness, they will help in flushing out old waste matter from your colon and intestines. The more of this waste matter we can remove from our body, the greater nutrients our body will be able to absorb and the greater we will feel!
« Space your juices out over the day so you don't allow yourself to go hungry in the evening without any juice left
« We recommend not drinking more than 16oz of liquid each hour. Too much liquid will flood the kidneys and won’t allow them to efficiently flush out the toxins.
« Need some inspiration? Watch ‘Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead’ and ‘Super Juice Me’
« Listen to your body and trust the process. If you need to rest, rest if you can. If you are thirsty or hungry, drink more juice, coconut water, lemon water or herbal teas. If you have energy and want to exercise, then exercise! If one day you feel like drinking less liquids, then drink less. Your body is your greatest guide. Try not to get caught up in your head about what you think you should do. Breathe, listen, trust.
« Combine your cleanse (and your every day) with yoga, breathwork, meditation, movement and nature.
Benefits of Juice Cleansing
The benefits we can receive from juice cleansing are almost limitless but this is not solely credited to juice. Ultimately what juice cleansing does is allow your mind and body the space it needs to heal on its own. The juice provides you with the nutrients, vitamins and minerals to allow you to go about your normal daily life while your body is busy healing and cleansing. Juice cleansing is definitely a physical detox, though the longer you cleanse the more mental and emotional healing also takes place. As one of my dear friends said:
"Reflecting on my day 20 of juice fasting I realise it's not only about the juice, its about breaking from bad habits, addiction to certain fats/processed sugar/salt, creating other habits such as dry brushing which I absolutely love, being aware of my body functions, the importance of the lymphatic system and liver in detoxing the body. I feel like these 20 days created some space & freedom in my mind to be able to increase my awareness. Things that I kind of knew already but was too obsessed with the taste of my food to care how it might affect my body.
It's been proved that it takes more or less 21 days to break an addiction and in that sense I see juice fasting as a real reboot. Once you're done ,the real work begins and you are free to choose with awareness what you want to put in your body."
Some of the common benefits people experience from juice fasting are:
Mental clarity
Improved digestion
Decrease or complete elimination of inflammation
Increased physical energy
Soft and glowing skin
Less cravings - the cleaner our body becomes, the less we crave foods which do not serve us
Reduction and elimination of diseases
Cholesterol and blood pressure balances out
Skin tags and warts disappear - Skin tags and warts are signs that our system is not functioning properly, so when our body begins to heal and clear out toxins and undigested waste matter, then these skin tags and warts naturally disappear
Deeper sleep
Strengthened immune system
Skin has a higher tolerance to sun exposure - The more unhealthy we are, the more sensitive we are to the sun. We were born without clothes for a reason. Though with generations of bad eating habits being passed onto us when we are born plus our own life choices, we have become sensitive to the sun. The more we heal and cleanse our internal body, the more our skin can soak up that pure vitamin D energy without being affected.
Detoxification and the elimination of toxins from your body
Increased mental energy and motivation
Weight loss
Confidence
How to Break Your Fast
It is important to always break your fast with fresh juicy fruits. Juicy fruits are easy for our body to digest and eliminate and are perfect to get the digestive system moving again. How to transition back into solid foods from here depends on how long you cleansed for.
If you cleansed for 1-2 days, reintroducing solid food back into your diet is not going to be much of a shock to your system. Ease your way back into solid food with some juicy fruits and ideally plant based food for the rest of the day for ultimate benefits for your cleanse. Raw salads are perfect to continue with the cleansing effects.
The re-feeding process after a 3-5 day cleanse still won't be too much of a shock on your system however it is recommended to have a whole day on juicy fruits before introducing other raw whole foods the next day. Foods such as smoothies, salads, soups, broths, for the day after you break your cleanse are perfect.
For longer cleanses, it is super important to break your fast correctly so not to cause stress on your body and the digestive system. To calculate how many days you should take to transition back into a solid food diet, divide the number of days you cleansed by 4. This is the number of days you should take to break your fast (the maximum number of days needed is 6-10).
Then divide the number of days you are taking to break your fast into three sections.
Eat 1 meal a day consisting of only one juicy fruit while still incorporate fresh juices.
Eat two meals a day of juicy fruits while still incorporating fresh juices.
Eat 2-3 meals per day. Two meals of juicy fruits and a simple raw salad while still incorporating fresh juices.
During this whole process pay attention and listen to your body. After such a long cleanse you will have a sense of what your body will like and what it will reject. Listen to that! Eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly.
Extra Guidance & Inspiration
Books
The Detox Miracle Sourcebook: Raw Foods & Herbs for Complete Cellular Regeneration - Dr. Robert Morse
Rational Fasting for Physical, Mental & Spiritual Rejuvenation - Professor Arnold Ehret
Mucusless Diet Healing System - Professor Arnold Ehret
The Science and Fine Art of Fasting - Herbert M. Shelton
Fasting Can Save Your life - Herbert M. Shelton
Healing the Gerson Way - Charlotte Gerson & Beata Bishop
Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices - Dr. N. W. Walker
The Complete Book of Juicing - Michael T. Murray
Juicing Therapy - Bernard Jensen
The China Study - T. Colin Campbell
Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal - Medical Medium
Celery Juice: The Most Powerful Medicine of Our Time Healing Millions Worldwide - Medical Medium
Cleanse to Heal - Medical Medium
Life Changing Foods - Medical Medium
YouTube
FAQ
Why is cleansing necessary?
Our bodies are very capable of cleansing on its own, but nowadays we are so surrounded by chemicals, pollutants and impurities in our food and our environment that our body cannot keep up with the rapid rate of toxification that is taking place. Even if everything you eat, use and consume is organic, it is hard to avoid indirectly consuming these toxins which are all around us, in the air, the water, soaps, air fresheners, perfumes, our food, cleaning products etc. We may be living a healthy llifestyle right now, though for many of us we have a past of bad health choices abd habits that our body is still trying to eliminate from our system.
Good news is, we can assist our body in its natural ability to cleanse itself, and juice cleansing is one of the most powerful ways to do this! By fasting from solid foods, we give our body the space it needs to be able to heal and to cleanse itself of inorganic materials and to finally begin removing the undigested waste matter (from wrong food choices) that is lining our intestines. This waste matter (mucouid plaque) is where disease and bacteria grow and is what prevents us from absorbing all the nutrients from our food.
Juice cleansing is a huge step towards reversing disease in the body (and mind)! You'll be cleansing, rebuilding, re-hydrating, and alkalizing the body, boosting your body's natural detoxification system, flooding your system with nutrients and allowing your body to redirect its energy into healing and cleansing.
How long do your juices stay fresh?
Our juices stay with the highest nutritional content for 3 days after it is made. They will last an additional 2-5 days stored properly in the fridge, though they will begin to change flavour and lessen in their nutritional value. We recommend to drink them within 3 days so you can get the most medicinal benefit.
Is there a specific order I need to drink my juices in?
Do you use organic produce?Will I feel hungry? What happens if I eat?What about all the fruit sugar?Can I drink coffee, matcha or tea while cleansing?Can I work while cleansing?Will I get enough fiber while cleansing?What about protein?Can I exercise while juice fasting?"I am already very skinny, can I still cleanse?"Do you have any qualifications?What if I am pregnant or breast feeding?Can I continue to take supplements while cleansing?How often can I cleanse?I have a medical condition, can I still juice cleanse? Will it affect my medications?Why don't you have any nut mylk in your preset cleanse combinations?What can I expect to feel during and after my cleanse?I have diabetes, can I still cleanse?Links
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Is there a specific order I need to drink my juices in?
The only rule is if you have a celery juice, drink this first on an empty stomach and wait at least 40 minutes before consuming anything else (water, juice, tea etc). All other juices can be consumed in any order
Do you use organic produce?
Short answer is unfortunately no.
Currently I am in Tulum and for anyone who has been here for some time knows that organic produce is hard to come by. It is possible to obtain if you are just feeding a couple of people, but in order to have a consistent supply of produce so I can offer to you the service that I do every day of the week doesn't seem to be possible here. I tried! I was in contact with all the suppliers I could find, but I just couldn't figure out how to make it work. I wash the produce thoroughly and prepare each juice with love
Will I feel hungry? What happens if I eat?
Some people do, some don't. The first 2-3 days the cravings can be strong because we are so used to our normal eating routine. From day three onwards it usually becomes easier.
Mostly our craving to eat is not out of nourishment but out of habit, boredom or an emotional response. If you are feeling hungry or have the desire to eat, drink more liquids! Lemon water, coconut water, juice, herbal tea are all perfect. Up the liquids, rest when you can, occupy your mind, watch a juice fasting documentary, do some yoga and breathwork, go for a walk, get out in nature, remember your WHY! All of these things help to change the momentum of your mind when you find yourself dreaming about food 😉
But most importantly, you know your body better than anyone. If you are really feeling it is time to eat and fasting from solid food is no longer serving you, listen to that! And then with gratitude and appreciation for how far you've come and for taking the step to prioritise your health and wellbeing, thoroughly enjoy that first piece of fruit!
Before you break your fast, have a read through my cleansing guide on the right way to ease back into food.
What about all the fruit sugar?
This is a topic that many touch on a lot better than I ever could. Namely Anthony William - Medical Medium, and Robert Morse.
Have a read of Dr. Robert Morse's post entitled Myths and Medical Mediums post on Fruit Fear. Below I have highlighted some of the points made by Medical Medium:
"Sugar, while it may sound like an enemy to avoid because of our conditioning, actually runs every single cell in our body, especially our brain. It’s just a matter of having the right kind of sugar that’s found in fresh fruits and high-carbohydrate vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squashes".
".....fruit is in fact the most important food group to consume in order to protect you and your loved ones from chronic illness and a lifetime of unnecessary suffering. As I will explain further below, fruit not only prevents illness, it slows down aging, kills off pathogens, and heals our bodies on a cellular level. When we are told to fear fruit, we are essentially being told to avoid the very thing that will bring us the most life. There is so much misinformation surrounding fruit that is essential to debunk for the sake of yours and your family’s health and well-being".
"The most ironic part about people being afraid of fruit, due to the misinformation as well as the discomfort they may experience when too much fat is in their diet, is that the very thing they are avoiding is what is going to make them feel better. Fruit will not make you fat; it may help you lose weight. Fruit does not cause acne; it helps heal you from the bacteria that causes it. Fruit does not cause indigestion; it is running into the fat lining the interior of the intestine. Fruit does not cause diabetes; it is the fat that is blocking the sugar from getting into the cells and creating insulin resistance. Fruit does not cause brain fog; it can help you have a clear mind because your brain actually runs on sugar and is made of glucose. When it comes to fruit, there truly is nothing to be afraid of. It is your ally, your best friend, your healer, and your savior. "
Can I drink coffee, matcha or tea while cleansing?
Caffeine is something to avoid when cleansing. Unfortunately I would say to avoid at all times (I know, I don't want to believe it either!) but definitely while you are cleansing your system of toxins and giving your body a rest. Caffeine dyhdrates the body and triggers your fight or flight system putting strain on your adrenals and ultimately wearing them down. Caffeine is also a strain on the liver weakening it's ability to process and distribute nutrients to the body.
With juice cleansing we are aiming to give the body a rest so it can cleanse and heal, re-hydrate, reset and begin functioning in its most natural way. Caffeine will disrupt this process and hinder the true healing transformation that could otherwise take place.
Medical Medium explains it best here.
Can I work while cleansing?
Yes you can and many do, though I recommend starting your cleanse over the weekend or when you have a couple of days off work. It is hard to predict how you will feel on those first couple of days, but mostly you might want to rest and your mind won't be as sharp so it is to your advantage if you begin your cleanse when you have a little down time.
While cleansing (after the first couple of days) most people experience higher energy levels and increased mental clarity so it actually makes working easier! The inconvenience being that you may need to use the bathroom often. If your work involves expending a lot of energy, you may need to up your juice intake. You will know that you need to consume more juice if you are feeling low energy or weak.
Will I get enough fiber while cleansing?
Juicing specifically takes the fiber out of the food but still provides you with a concentrated dose of nutrients, enzymes, amino acids, minerals, antioxidants and alkaline water. The idea behind juice fasting is to give your body a rest from the constant digesting of food. This is why we drink pure fresh juice as it takes minimal energy for the body to process and at the same time floods your body with all the energy and vitamins you need to go about your normal daily activity. The less energy your body uses to digest food, the more energy it has to redirect into cleansing and healing.
What about protein?
The food industry has been very succesful in it's great efforts to have us believe that our body needs more protein than it actually does. The proteins which our body can recognise and actually use are mostly found in leafy greens, fruits and vegetables. By consuming a variety of juices you will be consuming protein throughout the whole day. If you are extra worried about the protein content, then consume more green juices as the raw spinach contains a great deal. Specifically carrot and spinach juice with a 50/50 ratio will give you a lot of protein! I would be very happy to add this to your cleanse, just let me know.
I understand protein is a controversial and confusing topic with an abundant of information out there all telling us different protein 'truths'. My knowledge and understanding of protein has come from Dr. Robert Morse and those I mention on my resources page.
Medical Medium has a good post about protein and also speaks extensively about it in his book Liver Rescue.