13. The Juice Fast, Weight Loss and Aging

Juice fasting is a safe and easy way to detoxify the body. Fasting is not harmful. Fasts have been recorded in ancient history, and have been a part of virtually all religions. For example, in the orthodox Christian church, fasts have been practised for centuries and are still a way of church life today. Fasts play an important role in our life too.
We do not recommend water fasts because they are too hard on the body. Such fasts release too many stored-up toxins without supplying the nutrients, especially the antioxidants (beta-carotene, Vitamins C and E, and the mineral selenium) supplied in abundance in the juices, bind with harmful toxins and carry them out of the body.
Some words of caution are in order regarding juice fasting. Children under 17 should not follow a strict juice fast. But fruit and vegetable juices are a great supplement to a healthful diet for your child or adolescent. Diabetics should seek a doctor’s approval before trying a juice fast. Hypoglycemics may benefit from using protein powder as a supplement during the fast. Whenever your are sick, your body is sending you a signal that it needs rest—both from strenuous work and from foods that are hard to digest—along with plenty of immune supporting nutrients. Juices offer great quantities of nutrients that support your immune system, and the juice fast is a powerful healing tool. But don’t wait until you are sick to try fasting. We suggest a juice fast several times a year. You can fast from one to five days any time you like. Some people do a two or three day cleansing fast every month. If you fast for longer than five days we suggest you seek qualified supervision.
Drinks that are especially cleansing on the juice fast include beets (not more than three ounces should be consumed the first day, but this amount can be increased gradually upto six ounces), cabbage, wheat grass, sprouts, lemon, carrot, celery, and apple. In addition, you can add herbal teas such as dandelion root and nettle.

seeds

These two herbs queeze help cleanse the liver and kidneys. (Mix only ½ teaspoon of each herb in a pint of water, strain, and drink warm. Add lemon for flavour). Vegetable broths can be drunk as well. Gently simmer fresh vegetables with onions and garlic, strain out the vegetables and add a dash of seasoning to make a nutritious broth you can drink as desired. Also, if you find that you need something to munch on, don’t hesitate to modify the fast by adding fresh raw vegetables.
Bulking agents such as psyllium seeds husks are used commonly as mucilaginous bulk laxatives. One or two teaspoons can be added to a glass of juice once or twice a day. This can be a very helpful aid to elimination during the cleansing fast.
Breaking the fast properly is as important as the fast itself. If the fast is broken incorrectly, more bad than good can result. Actually, your diet the day before the fast should consist of raw fruits and vegetables with vegetable broths, homemade vegetable soups, or steamed vegetables. No animal products should be consumed until the second day after the fast, when fish as well as whole grains maybe added.
The suggested menu, below, is a guideline for the juice fast, which can be followed for one to five consecutive days. This schedule can be modified whenever necessary to meet your individual needs.
Recipes for Juice Fast
The following recipes offer possibilities for each ‘juice meal’ of the day. You can choose from one of these recipes or you can make up your own. Feel free to dilute any or all of these juice recipes with water. In fact, many health professionals recommend diluting all fruit juices with an equal amount of water. Finally, we recommend that you have one beet juice and one cabbage juice drink per day because of their effectiveness in cleansing the body.

daily diet table
daily diet table
daily diet table
daily diet table
healthy drink diet table

Aging
Aging is not a disease, although many people think it is. The good news is that premature aging doesn’t have to happen. While no magic elixir exists to reverse this process, research has shown that certain nutrients can help to slow the onset of visible signs of aging, can prevent many disorders, and can extend life expectancy.
Dietary Modifications

  • Eat a diet that’s rich in raw fruits and vegetables and their juices. Ideally, 50 percent of the diet should be composed of raw foods.
  • Increase the amount of gel-forming fiber in your diet by boosting your intake of flaxseed; oat and rice bran; and pectins, which are found in fruits and vegetables.
  • Try adding black currant juice to your diet. This juice, which is rich in bioflavonoids, has been shown to promote longevity.
pulses herbs grains
  • Eat more cabbage, yogurt, and olive oil, all of which have been shown to increase longevity.
  • Try adding thyme and lavender to dishes. These herbs have been used traditionally to slow down the aging process.
  • Reduce your consumption of refined foods such as white flour and its products.
  • Avoid refined sugar and its products. This includes chocolate chip cookies, frozen yogurt, and your favourite candy bars.
  • Reduce your intake of saturated fats, cholesterol and animal proteins. And here’s a surprise—butter is better than margarine. There are substances in margarine that have been shown in studies to contribute to cancer. You can finally say that there is something that tastes better and is actually better for you. But don’t celebrate with too much butter. The general guideline is no more than about four tablespoon of saturated fat per day.
  • Make one or two days a week vegetarian. Try making your main courses on these days from beans, lentils, split peas, and soybean products like tofu. In addition, use more of these vegetable proteins in your daily diet.
  • Select only cold-processed or expeller-pressed vegetable oils, and increase your intake of fish oils.
  • Choose nutritious snacks such as nuts, seeds, nut or seed butters, raw vegetable sticks, whole grain cracker, popcorn without butter, and fresh fruit.
  • Reduce caffeine by eliminating or limiting your consumption of coffee, black tea, and chocolate.
  • Significantly reduce or avoid alcohol.
  • Avoid all processed foods as much as possible.
  • Incorporate a detoxification program into your life-style. Use the Juice Fast or another effective cleansing diet to eliminate the toxins from your body.

Nutrients That Help

  • Vitamins C and E and the mineral selenium are antioxidants that protect the cells from free-radical damage, thus preventing premature aging.
  • Beta-carotene and other carotenoids (over 500 have been identified) are antioxidants that are converted by the body to Vitamin A as needed. These are some of the most powerful interceptors known to protect the body from a particular free-radical bad guy called singlet oxygen. The carotenoids are also very helpful in preventing shrinkage of the thymus gland, and thus strengthening the immune system.
  • Bioflavonoids prevent free-radical damage. Like the carotenoids, these nutrients which are found in plants, are considered antioxidants.
  • Methionine and crystine are sulphur-containing amino acids that may promote longevity. Sulphur is abundant in beans, fish, liver, eggs, brewer’s yeast, cabbage and nuts.

Beneficial Juices

  • Kale, parsley, green pepper, and broccoli—sources of Vitamin C.
  • Spinach, asparagus, and carrot—sources of Vitamin E.
  • Turnip, garlic, and orange—sources of selenium.
  • Carrot, kale, parsley and spinach—sources of betacarotene and other carotenoids.
  • Apricot, black currant, blackberry, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, cherry, grape, grape fruit, lemon, orange, papaya, parsley, plus, prune, sweet pepper, and tomato—sources of bioflavonoids.
juice recipes
healthy food ingredients table
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