Juicing

Today starts day three of my juice fast, or juice feast, depending on how you look at it. Basically this consists of fasting from all foods and only drinking juice and water throughout the day. These fasts can be done for one day, three days, or even up to ten days or more. A juice fast is a much safer option than a water fast because you are still able to gain nutrients during the fast. Actually you are often times gaining more nutrients than you normally would because of the large amount of fruits and vegetables you are consuming.

Digestion requires 30% of our bodies' energy. When you are consuming all your nutrients in a liquid form the stomach is able to immediately absorb them. All this saved energy can then be used for other needs in the body. This can be extremely helping in the case of chronic illnesses, or even at times for a short term illness. It is often recommended that as soon as you get a cold/flu to begin a juice fast so that your body can focus less on digesting and more on healing.

Some other benefits of a juice fast:

- Detoxifies the body and helps flush toxins out.
- Safe and effective weight loss
- Increased energy from all those nutrients you are absorbing
- Loss of water retention

Read more about benefits here

Of course if you do a juice fast you will need to juice your own fruits and vegetables and should consume an equal amount of both. This is the difficult part for me because the fruit juices taste SO much better! Also you are suppose to consume around a gallon of water a day. There are many expensive juicers you can buy. I have one that my dear mother allowed me to borrow. It is older but it works just fine!

Some people limit their juice to three glasses a day. I have been drinking as much juice as I want. My reasons for doing the juice fast are to allow my body to focus more on healing and to rebuild my body with good nutrients. So for me the more juice the better.

Even if you just juice for one meal or snack a day I would suggest juicing to anyone. Its also GREAT to make for your children! My little ones love a fresh juice and I can even sneak in a little spinach and they will still drink it. Green juice can be fun for a kid if you make it so!

Here is one of make favorite juices I've made so far! Try it out! Cheers!

Rise and Shine Juice

2 apples

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

inch ginger

two handfuls spinach

1/2 lemon