Why
would anyone in their right mind stop eating and go on a juice fast?
There are probably as many reasons as there are people. For me it
was a typical scenario. There I was, walking through life, doing
what I wanted...eating what I wanted and suddenly everything changed.
It was as if I had slipped on a patch of wet grass and gone sliding
down a hill. There I was at the bottom of the hill lying in the
grass wondering how on earth I had gotten here. I was suddenly
over-weight and having health issues. It didn't happen over night
but it happened very quickly after my seventh child was born. That
baby weight just never did come back off.
So
there you are at the bottom of that slippery hill. You try one diet
after another...counting calories, no carbs, no meat, shakes, pills
and supplements and you gain ground only to hit another slick patch
where you slide right back down to the bottom of the hill again. You
may even hit bottom and start digging--frustrated that nothing seems
to be working any more! Dieting
is hard, grim, white knuckle, self control. Juice
fasting may be the traction you are looking for.
Your
body isn't hungry for no reason. It's the signal that you need
something, some vitamin or mineral or protein for your body to
operate properly. Cravings come because something is missing and
believe me, a lot is missing from the typical diet. Follow your diet
through a typical day and write down everything you eat. If you are
an average person you will see lots and lots of carbohydrates, plenty
of meat and dairy (dairy is the number one most consumed food in the
United States) and a few token fruits and vegetables. Maybe you have
orange juice with breakfast or an apple later in the day and some
over-cooked broccoli with dinner. Look at your plate...how much of
it is raw vegetables?
Raw
vegetables provide all the vitamins and many of the minerals your
body needs to work properly and repair cell damage from sun, and
toxin exposure or just plain wear and tear. We know the usefulness
of a
fraction of the micro nutrients found in plants but there are
thousands of constituents in plants that we have no idea what they
do. When researchers found that oat meal lowered cholesterol in test
subjects they proudly announced that oat bran would lower
cholesterol. Instantly there was an oat bran craze with thousands of
products providing the wonderful cholesterol cure crowding super
market shelves. Unfortunately, when the experiment was repeated
with only oat bran no cholesterol lowering was seen in the test
subjects. It is something in the whole oat, not identified as of yet
that lowers cholesterol. This isn't surprising, herbalists have used
oats for centuries. It is considered a nerve tonic. When
you say a horse is “feeling his oats” they mean he's kicking up
his heels and feeling frisky. And it's not just oats, every month a new wonder vegetable that
cures cancer makes headlines...tomatoes, garlic, berries, cruciferous
vegetables like cabbage and broccoli, and leafy green vegetables to
name just a few. Don't
wait for the research to add many more fruits and vegetables to your
diet.
The
why to juice fasting is pretty simple. Juice
fasting is a way to kick start your new, improved lifestyle (notice I
didn't say diet). Juice fasting will give you concentrated
phytonutrients that you couldn't possibly eat even if you went to a
raw diet right this minute. Your
jaw would get tired chewing all that food before you would get a fraction of the phyto-nutrients actually contained in the vegetables. When you
chew raw vegetables you are only able to get to a portion of the
nutrients because the cellulose cell walls encapsulate the rest and
it goes through your system undigested. Juice fasting
kick-starts your healing with
concentrated nutrients that prevent
cravings from sabotaging your resolve. A
well nourished body doesn't get cravings.
It
also
changes
the way you taste food. Subtle flavors that you missed before become
apparent—the sweetness of a carrot or green bean, the vast array of
beans and
legumes,
each with a totally different taste, and the fresh flavor of greens.
I can remember when a salad was a chore to eat. It had no taste
unless slathered with dressing. Having taste buds impaired by
years of eating fatty, salty and sugary foods makes tasting these
natural subtleties impossible. Juice fasting for even a week will
make raw and natural foods taste wonderful.
Juice
fasting breaks food addictions. Almost everything you see on your
grocers shelf that comes in a box or bag has been thoroughly and
scientifically been tested in laboratory to be the thing you can't
stop eating. Remember the potato chip slogan “Nobody can eat just
one”? These foods are engineered to be the right shape, taste,
color and crunch to keep you eating long after you should be full.
Food companies have a single goal...sell more product! That's their
job. It's on you to make healthy choice. They did their job making
food you can't stop eating and it's up to you to protect your health
and the health of your children by being aware and avoiding those
foods.
While
it's true, we all bear full responsibility for our current state of
health that does mean that we are equipped with the power to change
that state any time we decide to.
