Juice Fasting!!
Went out to the store and bought enough Celery, Bok Choy and Carrots to last about a week. A friend and I started this fast on Friday we plan on doing this for as long as each of us feels we are capable. I think it would be great if I can keep the juice fast going for at least 10 days, which would put the ending at about October 15. If I’m still able to function reasonably well by then, there’s no reason to limit the experience, but 10 days seems like a reasonable goal to start with.
While most people that I’ve talked to seem to think that Juice fasts are very difficult, I firmly believe the difficulty lies in the mental aspects of such an endeavor. This kind of fasting still allows your body to have calories, depending on the juices selected, as well as many of the essential nutrients and vitamins.
My research indicates that juice fasts have the potential to get our bodies more nutrients than eating “normally.” The reason being, when we eat whole foods that are in liquid form, they are very easily assimilated into the body with very little strain on digestive system.
Juice provides the body with a food supply that is much easier to assimilate, as it doesn’t require much work on the part of the body to obtain the valuable nutrients. It is also important to note that juice doesn’t leave behind the toxic byproducts that most other foods do, especially processed or denatured foods. This allows the body to spend its energies on detox as opposed to managing a continuous influx of toxic waste.
Properly mixed juice combinations can help you to reduce your insulin levels, which is essential in controlling the diet, since insulin imbalances often cause us to crave carbohydrate rich foods. These carbohydrate rich foods help to perpetuate bad eating habits; the longer this goes on, the worse the impact on the body and the more difficult it is to reverse the process.
I’m also participating in a weekend long Yoga seminar with someone who flew all the way from Arizona to work with us, so this is going to be a truly powerful experience indeed! Last time we had a seminar with him, I felt a dramatic increase in range of motion and circulation. So far the seminar is going quite well and I expect to open up many new facets of spiritual growth and rejuvenation.
Anyhow, I’m going to use this article as a journal, though I may start new ones if it seems necessary. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Tags: fasting experience
Today is day 3 of the juice fast and I’m feeling great. I’ve had very little desire to eat “regular” foods and feel quite content continuing on for the foreseeable future.
During the morning and afternoon of day 2, I had a juice that was diluted 50% with water, consisting of carrot, celery, bok choy and ginger. During the evening, after the Yoga was over for the day, 2 grapefruits were juiced and diluted 25% with water.
This morning, October 7th of 2007, was started by drinking the juice of one grapefruit, followed by a cup of Banlangen Keli (a Chinese herbal tea which builds the immune system) and later a couple of cups of green tea.
The Yoga class yesterday was a wonderful combination of hip openers and back bends, with some attention given to inversions. Both of the techniques we focused on are a fantastic way of regaining the range of motion that your body was meant to have.
I find that back bends have a dramatic effect on the openness of the upper chest, which becomes closed-off and immobile if back bends are not done to release the bones and stretch the muscles and tendons. An open chest makes everyday life more pleasant, because you are then able to sit with a better posture and move around more easily, with less pain and stiffness.
As the instructor said, hip openers are the key to much of what your body is capable of. After a nice warm-up with some hip opening exercises, we did a few variations of the “crow pose” which felt awesome; I never had known that I was capable of doing these until then.
I would like to end this with a chant that we did at the beginning of each class. Over the last few years I have found chanting to be one of the most powerful ways to center the mind, so you can focus on the eternal moment and discard errant thoughts…
Om…. Om…. Om….
Om Namah Shivaya Gurave
(I offer myself to Lord Shiva, the Auspicious One, who is the True Teacher within and without,)
Saccidananda Murtaye
(Who assumes the forms of Reality, Consciousness, and Bliss,)
Nishprapanchaya Shantaya
(Who is never absent and is full of peace,)
Niralambaya Tejase
(Independent in existence, the vital essence of Illumination.)
Om…
Interesting… would have loved to join your team in this endeavour… May be you can invite me for the next one…? mmmm… where are you researching proper juice combinations to keep well nourished? … I study and work a lot… I need good vitamins from the food I eat…
Any help will be great…
I was on a liquid fast (even liquid vitamins) about three years ago… the longest I’ve lasted actually… it was 17 days… mmm… I felt great. Reasons were spiritual but phisically I saw a lot of benefits… detox and an overall feeling of wellness…
Blessings!
Redanngel
Good to hear from you again Redangel. That would be great if you could fast with us next time! I have yet to go as long as you have, but I’m working in that direction.
I have been doing most of my research in a book called “The Tao of Health Sex and Longevity” by Daniel Reid. Ever since I picked up this book, back in November of 2005, my life has changed greatly as well as the lives of the people who this information was passed on to.
The book talks about:
* The Taoist practice of Trophology, or proper food combinations
* Cleansing and detoxification with juices, foods, herbs and digestive cleanses
* Sexual practices to help build vitality and conserve chi and Taoist birth control
It gets really deep into a number of important topics. If you get that book and like it, I would also get “The Tao of Detox,” a book by the same author that is focused entirely on detoxification.
My reasons for fasting are both spiritual and physical. I think that there are spiritual aspects of our being that are affected by the physical and vice versa.
Namaste
Chris
Now I am nearing the end of day 5 of this juice fast, Tuesday October 9, 2007. There is a bit of a lapse in this fasting journal, so today I would like to cover the happenings day 3 (afternoon) to day 5.
Day 3 (afternoon)
Spent a couple of hours at the Yoga seminar working on inversions: head stand, shoulder stand, hand stand and several other related poses which help with inversions. During the day I had a mixture of Carrot, Ginger, Bok Choy and Celery; this mixture had a very strong concentration of Bok Choy and Celery. During the evening I had drank the juice of several Grapefruits and tossed in a beer for the hell of it. All of the juice was diluted with 50% water, of course.
Day 4
On this day I woke up feeling nauseated and uncomfortable; I had some really toxic-looking urine after I first awoke, but the feeling quickly wore off as the day progressed. During the morning I finished up the remainder of the juice combo that I had bottled during the previous day and drank Watermelon juice, from a small melon that had grown in the garden last season.
To my suprise, the small melon made several large glasses of juice. The Watermelon juice is very rich and, according to what I have read, is an excellent juice for the Kidneys. When I drink the juice of watermelon, it reminds me of a chocolate shake.
Day 5
Today was the easiest day thus far. I think the powerful juices that were taken in the past couple of days are finally starting to have an effect on the internal energies (chi). This morning, no juice was taken; only Banlangen Keli and Green Tea. This evening I am drinking from an apple, blueberry and blackberry juice combination.
Before bed I plan on having a couple of grapefruits, to get a gague as for how good of an evening staple of grapefruit juice affects the following day’s energy levels and fluctuations. Then it will be time to do some Tai Chi before it is all over.
At the moment, the chi seems to be gathering in the upper dan-tien (brow chakra). It feels like a ball of energy is in the forehead, to some level of intensity, in each moment; this is an uninterruptable field of biomorphic energy that flows and pulsates in the forehead; the polar opposite of the lower dan-tien in the naval region.
During some experience, especially those where the awareness is heightened, I will often feel a large flow of chi to one part of the body or another. During one particular experience, I felt a massive flow of chi, moving upwards from the kidney and in to the head; when it reached the head, the chi created a calming and relaxing sensation.
The feeling resembles the sort of feeling you get when the acupuncturist puts needles in a few key places in your head and then holds a warm coal over them for a few seconds.
Ended the fast after 7 1/2 days.. wrote a little article about the experince here:
Locating the Darkness Within