7 Days of Juice Fasting – Almost
By Dr. Mary Starr Carter
So I am writing this on the 7 ½ day of my almost Juice Fasting. As some of you know I had been recently inspired by the movie “Fat, Sick and Almost Dead”. Although I had done several different cleansing and fast I had never done juices. My husband and I had been getting colds much more frequently than usual, gained some weight, and just felt overall “yucky”. So we both committed to do it.
Reboot is a term used in the movie to rest the body from solid foods and fortify with high dosages of nutrition from freshly juiced vegetables and fruits.
Reboot Tip #1: Having a partner to do your cleanse or fast with helps you stay motivated.
The Saturday before our cleanse my husband decides we need to eat pepperoni pizza since will be fasting soon. I am tired and hungry and give in to 3 slices and some fried mushrooms. Although I knew already this wasn't a good idea I would soon feel why in the next few days.
Reboot Tip #2: Eat light before your fast for at least several days or longer. Light meaning no starch breads, pasta, or pizza, no dairy, no sugar, no alcohol, or even meat, It does mean eat lots of veggies, fruits, healthy soups to get your fiber intake high. This tip will help the transition to cleansing be much easier.
I didn't spend a lot of time investigating what kind of juicing I was going to do I just knew I was going to do mostly GREEN juices meaning more veggies than fruits. The cost of about 3 days of groceries for both of us was about $75 with a few organic veggies like carrots and apples and the rest non-organic.
Reboot Tip #3: Decide on your recipes and get your food buying done in advance. Know where you can purchase the produce you will need. For some of us it may be a 15-45 minute trip to get organic veggies and some will not be in season. Plan your time accordingly.
Day 1: We start juicing and Jay can't stand the Mean Green juice with Ginger and refuses to drink it. He starts juicing his own drinks including apple and lemon, apple and carrot and things like that. I am braver and even make a tomato juice with garlic.
Day 2: My throat is burning and my skin yeast gets in full flare even though I am only having like 1 apple or less per drink. I am a little stiff and achey and a bit spacey. Jay turns into a gorilla Tuesday morning most likely because he is not having juices regularly maybe 3 a day and letting 6-8 hrs go by in between drinks. Jay and I both continue.
Reboot Tip #4: You must do your juices or shakes every few hours especially in the beginning. A minimum of 3-6 20 ounce juices a day.
Day 3: I realize that because of the yeast in my system that just juicing even veggies will not be good for me so I add a protein shake. We both do 3 shakes and 3 juices today. Jay is a lot less irritable and I feel kind of good except I am not pooping.
Reboot Tip #5: Juicing can spike blood sugar and cause a body that has some underlying yeast overgrowth to flare up.
Day 4: Jay's special protein shake and enzymes gets him to flush out a lot of old poop. He feels increased energy and stamina, but his cough from last week's cold is still hanging on. His bloating in his gut is down and his face is thinner. I feel good but still not having any significant bowel movements even with my cabbage juice.
Reboot Tip #6: You have to get the poop out when doing any type of cleansing, fasting or juicing program. Not pooping will drain your energy, give you headaches, mental fogginess and just have for feeling yicky if those toxins can't get out. If not pooping use Smooth move tea or Senna may be a good choice before and during your cleanse.
Day 5: I feel good and get my colon moving some but decide to go do an Infrared Sauna to sweat the toxins out for 45 minutes. Boy do I start stinking in that sauna, those toxins really start coming out. Today I notice a difference in my face thinner but also my complexion is clearer. I even go out to Tim Horton's to meet friends and have no cravings for breads or sugar. I have energy all the way until midnight.
Jay is back to juicing only once a day and maybe one shake so he is feeling not so good. His sinuses are very congested again and he has a cough.
Reboot Tip #7: Infrared Saunas, Lite exercise, Chiropractic, Foot Detox, Raindrop Therapies are all good to do when cleansing to help release toxins out of your system.
Day 6: I feel really good and get a juice and a shake in before a day of cleaning and heavy lifting. I can't believe the energy I have. Although I forget to bring any shakes, juices or water so at noon I eat a pear that was there. I feel pretty dehydrated by 6pm but still lots of energy. I have released 9lbs.
Jay warms up some beans around noon and eats 2 servings of beans that day. He lost 12 lbs.
Day 7: I have no desire to make another veggie juice because every time I drink one my throat gets irritated so I am deciding that I will just have protein shakes and a little light food. I enjoy a shake this morning and eat a little sweet potato.
Reboot Tip #8: Coming off a cleanse is just as important as starting if not more.
Jay's cough is really bad now. Sunday after church we find ourselves on the road to show a property we own in Syracuse NY and Jay decides he is going to get a Five Guys hamburger and Fries, I tell him I am not going to eat meat for a while but I still have a few of his French fries. He finishes his fries and is full and decides to save the burger until later. When he eats his burger (protein, bread and heavy food his body isn't used to having) he can't keep his eyes open and goes to bed at 6pm that night.
That night I cook a turkey breast for my son to have this week but end up eating over a cup of it. I didn't feel hungry but I definitively craved something that must be in turkey. I guess I am officially done with fasting. I can't even fall back into a Daniel Fast now.
Did this Juice Fasting make Jay's cold worse? No, his actions of not drinking water or juicing regular or even have shakes regular led to that in my opinion.
But overall this was a really good experience for both of us. We feel good and have broken sugar habits and shrunk our stomachs. We are motivated to continue to eat smaller portions, liter foods, and exercise more regularly.
I realize that juice fasting is not the right place for me and most of my clients to start when trying to rest and reboot our bodies. I pray that our story will be an encouragement to you. We are real people too who struggle with food. But we both were ready to REBOOT. You can do it too even if it is a day to start with. But I will share with you my favorite Reboot program which is safe and sooooooo much simpler is the 5 day Cleanse by Young Living. It is easy to stick with and taste a lot better than the mean green juice with more benefits in my opinion.
The 5 day cleanse is the next thing we will do one to two times before the end of the year to solidify and continue our progress.
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Dr. Mary Starr Carter is known as the Total Wellness Doc. She has been training individuals about Natural Health Solutions for over 13 years. She is trained as a Chiropractor and has studied under the world’s foremost leaders in natural medicine. She is a mother and a wife and has created a balanced and total wellness life for herself and thousands of her clients using her simple wholistic approach to health and wellness. Her coaching, classes and ebooks help clients with Fibromyalgia, Hormone and Adrenal issues, Asthma, Diabetes, Weight problems, Thyroid and Chronic pain find resources and solutions to better health.
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It is so easy to forget that a lot of planning is needed before starting a fast. I can’t imagine how hard it is to get a lot of variety out of seven days of juicing.
Have you considered fasting before the holidays. Check out this article.
Love the information! Reminds me I need to do another juice fast, too. 🙂 I have been doing juice feasts (rather than fasts) for years. They help me keep my system running clean and get rid of the nasty toxins that tend to accumulate, because of the leaky gut issue I’ve had. You’re right – it is essential to keep the bowels moving throughout a fast or feast, otherwise, you’re re-cycling those toxins right back into you body, Yuck! When ever I do a cleanse like this I also add colonics, foot baths, far infrared saunas and lots of alkaline water. If I have any kind of yeast out-break, I’ll add a frequency generator session or two.
Thanks for the detailed info. It was quite helpful and motivational.
Thanks Enrique !
From what I have read, having protien shakes while juice fasting can be deadly. It can turn the blood acidic.
I am on day 7 with just mean green juice.
yeah, that was my impression – they didn’t actually do a juice fast – they made up their own thing… you’re not going to get the same results as a juice fast by introducing protein in your diet – or beans – or cutting down to one juice a day… seems like they broke all the rules – doing things like that will force your digestive tract to work when it is supposed to be resting working on caked up debris…. they should have mentioned use of enemas to cleanse the bowels as well.. especially when she felt she needed to have a movement but wasn’t getting any…. this is really a guide book on what NOT to do… no offense – there is a learning curve and a lot of info to digest (no pun intended) in preparation for a jiuce fast – hopefully you’ll try it again and do it right next time
Thanks for the comment Tom.
Thanks for the post Mary. I am finishing Day 4 of my Juice Fast, and so far have had minimal detox side effects. Maybe they are still to come??? We shall see. Not sure how long I am going, I guess I am going to let my body tell when it is done. I enjoyed your blog post and I hope to blog my journey as well!!
When u start stiring those toxins u deff will feel sick achy all avocet if u havnt felt it do the beets an possibly. Buy beets with the leaves still attached it will do more to the colon an u will poo more ……I deff learned so much through this amazing man doc/ practitioner. If you have any questions please contact me …this is hard to go through but I have learned so much.
I am sixty two years old, type II diabetic and started my Juice fast at 326lb. I had neuropathy in my feet and had trouble walking, especially down stairs or slopes. Since being on the fast, the pain in my legs has stopped, I walk at normal speed, I do feel full of energy. and my numbers have improved. My waking blood sugar was 235 before, now the 14 day average is 140 amd current reading is 114. My cholesterol is now normal and triglyceride have dropped from 485 to 200, still 50 points high and moving in the right direction. My taste has also changed, Now I crave healthier things, and the only change from the strict juice plan that I made for myself was a weekly garden salad.
My weight was 290 when I weighed myself on day 28, a 36 lb loss. I’ve only experienced minor detox effects on day 3, when I felt like snapping at someone (I didn’t).
I think the protein shakes probably hurt your results, and I’ve never felt hungry in the way that I used to. I have to juice by the clock, If I go too long without juicing, about eight hours, I suddenly get really tired but a bit of juice perks me up. I started to get lightheaded once and I realized I needed water. For me the hardest part about this diet is keeping my pants from falling down.
I don’t have a number of days for a goal, but I want to get down to a weight where I can surf again, and I continue to reevaluate, if I should be doing this, and without question it’s the right thing for me.
Vermilli;
Thanks so much for sharing your success! That is great. And you have renewed my desire to get juicing again. Let us know how you are doing and when you are surfing again!
Hi!
My son is a chiropractor and sent me the same movie and I was very inspired. I am over-weight, have type 2 diabetes, and within the last year have had two blood clots in my leg from varicose veins. He wanted me to do this juice fast to reduce the inflammation in my body. I have quite a few chiropractic issues as well.
I have found the juicing very easy to do. He wants me to juice at least 3x a day and so far for the past 6 days have done that for four days and two times on the other two. I find I am just not hungry. Many times I still feel full from the juicing and don’t want another juice for a long time. I typically juice spinach, kale, and green chard for the greens, adding carrots, green, red, and orange peppers, and tomatoes with a fruit in the morning juice. I choose one of the leafy greens as a base. I prefer the spinach over all. I bought juicing books to find other blends. My problem is that I haven’t had a bowel movement for two days. I was wondering if that was normal and I started looking online and came upon your blog. I really like the juicing and was planning on doing it for the sixty days as he did in the movie. However I feel that I may not be able to accomplish this now that I have this problem. In the movie, Joe never mentioned having any of these issues, lol.
Deb
Deb,
Congratulations! You are doing great. As far as not having a bowel movement I can’t diagnose and prescribe but I can share what I did during fasts. If I went 2 days or more I might take a little Senna herb to help me keep moving. Or I might try some cabbage in my juices. Also I personally like to get at least 1 colonic to help get any extra toxins out.
Check out Joanne’s experience juicing and her videos… She has a couple great tips and recipes. http://www.thetotalwellnessdoc.com/juice-detox-fast/
I am very young an have same issues but worst my wholistic practitioner has been working w my issue an to make your slep poop u should juice beets an carrots w ur veggies but the beets are amazing you can also do a garlic enema …..you need to retrain your Colon… Which is why ur possibly not pooping
It bothers me that a doctor would advocate protein shakes on a fast and then eat turkey to break the fast.
I’m only planning to lose a little bit of weight, could I do the mean green juice, but also eat food during the time?
sure!
Congratulation on fast juicing, It would of been great and very helpful if you put up the recipes on what you ate. thank you keep up the great job (*.*)
I only did the juicing for two days and couldn’t stand it! I felt hungry. I also drank alot of water which is what my doctor recommended. The movie also motivated me but i just found it too much work! It did make me realize that I need to eat healthier! Maybe I’ll go back to eat another time and stick with it.
meant to say:
Maye I’ll go back to it another time and stick with it!
I sure don’t need to go back to eat!
Start slow Cindi, Try juicing once a day and see how you feel with that. Sometimes juicing can be a little too much for our systems to initially handle.
Hello. I am juicing for ten days. I am in day 3. The first day I had a lot of bowel movement. Day 2 and 3 I have had none. Is this bad? Another thing, I plan to go back to my regular workout routine. Can I take protein mixed with water during the juicing diet?
Personally I fins my bowel movements slow down during liquid fast so I either add cabbage to a juice or usesomerhing like smooth move tea. I be learned mixing protein not so good unless I was in a specific type pf liquid cleanse.
Yeah you really can’t expect to feel good and detox if you don’t do the cleanse properly.
Only one juice a day is pointless, you might as well quit at that point, the whole idea is to load your body up with nutrients.
And drinking a TON of water is key.
Protein commercial protein shakes are a no-no but if you need the protein try making an all natural nut milk with almonds or cashews.
This actually sounds like one of the worst-planned fasts ever. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so horrendous if you had planned your juice times, not taken protein shakes, and not started and ended the fast with fatty, greasy, processed foods. What were you thinking??
Hi Mary and Friends!
I am juice fasting for the second time now. I generally have 3-4 fruit/vegetable shakes throughout the day.
I was going to start to take some bentonite clay/psyllium husk mixtures during my fast.
Can anyone tell me preferably when during my daily routine to drink the clay/husk mixture? (i.e. before my first shake of the day and after my last? is there any science to this timing?)
Thank you.
I know we do the salt flush first thing in the morning for Master Cleanse, but juicing hmmmm not sure. Maybe ask Crystal from http://www.healthlittlebylittle.com she has a lot of experience with juicing and working with clients.
There is a guy at FASTING.COM who supervises fasting for a fee. His method includes: Getting off of caffeine; five days on fruits and vegetables going into the fast; daily enemas, juices, and an electrolyte broth to keep the electrolytes in balance. His clients have much better success than what you experienced. It helps to have some method and understanding of the process.
The problem with taking psyllium husk shakes, as opposed to enemas, is that the appestat doesn’t turn off. That is why you need to take only juice and strained broth, but not shakes or smoothies.