People fast for lots of reasons: health, religion, weight loss. Moses and Jesus both fasted for 40 days. I decided to try a fast for 3 days, but not what you think of as a typical fast. Why? Curiosity. To see if I had the willpower to carry it through. But mainly to cleanse my body of toxins to reduce my arthritis symptoms. And also to prepare my body for pregnancy.
Fasting is usually done with water only or a partial fast. I just finished a 3-day juice fast, also called “juice feasting.” Juice feasting is different in that you drink fresh, unpasteurized juices in addition to water and herbal tea. Because the fiber is removed, juice feasting is said to give your digestive system a break so that your body can focus on cleansing and healing using all the fresh live enzymes and vitamins from the juice. I read raw foodist Angela Stokes A Juice Feaster’s Handbook and her juice feasting e-journal, nutritionist Natalia Rose’s Raw Food Detox Diet and also read up on Dr. Andrew Weil’s website for guidelines and recipes.
You can’t buy fresh, unpasteurized juice at the store, unless you go to a juice bar. We have very few around here and they are not always cost effective, so I made all the juices at home using a Breville Juice Fountain. Each day it took about 30 minutes to wash and trim all the greens, fruits, and vegetables for juicing, another 30 minutes to run them through the juicer and then another 45 for clean up (I rinsed all the juicer components after each juice).
Day 1 – Saturday, February 5, 2011
Total cost $26, 1.25 gallons of juice
- • Juice of 1/2 pineapple ($1.50)
- • Juice of 1/2 watermelon ($4.00)
- • Green Lemonade: kale, celery, apples, lemons ($6.20)
- • Spicy Skin Saver: grapes, watercress, radishes, cucumber, ginger ($8.15)
- • Hot Pink: pineapple, strawberries, beet root, ginger ($6)
- • Water
- • Herbal tea (Tulsi peppermint)
Day 1 Juices
Going into this I was really expecting that the juice wouldn’t be very filling and I’d be hungry all day. I spread the juices out throughout the day (in place of normal solid food meals) and after the fourth quart of juice I was so full I could hardly finish off the fifth quart! I felt great in the morning and had lots of energy. I stayed around the house and didn’t do any strenuous activities, but even so I got a little sleepy and developed a headache in the afternoon.
Day 2 – Sunday, February 6, 2011 (Superbowl Sunday – hard day for a juice feast!)
Total cost $28, 1.375 gallons of juice
- • Juice of 8 cups grapes ($11.50 – yikes!)
- • Juice of 1/4 watermelon ($2.00)
- • Green Lemonade: kale, celery, apples, lemons ($6.20)
- • Thai Green: kale, cilantro, pineapple, limes ($5)
- • Fruit Spice: pineapple, pears, ginger ($3.15)
- • Water
- • Herbal tea (Tulsi peppermint)
A day's worth of produce
I’m happy to report that I’ve noticed some swelling go down in my fingers; on Saturday I woke up with a new nodule on my right pinkie joint, a bright red lumpy knot that made it hard to bend my finger. By today it had disappeared! That usually doesn’t happen–usually, once a new swelling starts it’s downhill from there as other places start to swell, too. Not this time!
Day 3 – Monday, February 7, 2011
Total cost $19, 0.875 gallons of juice (I meant to also have a Green Lemonade today, but didn’t have time)
- • Juice of 10 oranges ($3.30)
- • Juice of 1/2 pineapple ($1.50)
- • Cucumber Mint Cooler: cucumbers, celery, mint, limes ($6.30)
- • Spicy Skin Saver: grapes, watercress, radishes, cucumber, ginger ($8.15)
- • Water
- • Herbal tea (Tulsi peppermint)
I didn’t wake up with knee pain today! In fact, for the first time since November, I ran. More like jogged, but I did it on three separate occasions today. My knees have been either to swollen to bend or too painful to step down hard, so jogging is pretty huge. I’ve noticed that my skin is starting to clear up, too.
Day 4 – Tuesday, February 8, 2011, fast break day
Total cost $25, 1.25 gallons of juice
- • Juice of 10 oranges ($3.30)
- • Juice of 1/4 watermelon ($2.00)
- • Green Lemonade: kale, celery, apples, lemons ($6.20)
- • Hot Pink: pineapple, strawberries, beet root, ginger ($6)
- • Spicy Skin Saver: grapes, watercress, radishes, cucumber, ginger ($8.15)
- • Water
- • Herbal tea (Tulsi peppermint)
- • Prunes, soaked in water (also drank the soak water)
I broke the fast by eating a few meals of soaked prunes followed by a colonic at Body Strategies. I’m slowly reintroducing foods back in my diet, making sure they (1) are mostly plants: greens, fruits and vegetables, (2) are whole foods (as close to their original state as possible–minimal to no processing or cooking), and (3) are properly combined meals (fruit by itself, don’t mix meats with starches, etc.).
Overall I had a good experience with this juice fast and would highly recommend it to anyone needing a “reset.” I noticed that on the first two days my willpower started to waiver in the evenings. I had some hunger pangs and I was really craving a cheeseburger that first day! By the third day I was really enjoying the different tastes of the juices and wasn’t really interested in solid food. I did have a few lessons learned: beets stain, grapes are really expensive, always buy more produce than you think you’ll need, and make all the juice for each day in the morning so that you’re already prepared for the day (instead of waiting until the last minute, or going all day without and then trying to cram it all in at 10pm).
