Last time I talked about fasting.  A great way to allow the body to rest.  Our bodies use so much energy digesting food, that a one day fast a few times a month, can certainly help with healing, not to mention you could learn a lot about yourself.  What’s the difference between a fast and a cleanse?  Here’s what Wikipedia says about a cleanse…”Body cleansing or detoxification is a treatment in alternative medicine which proponents claim rid the body of accumulated harmful substances that exert a negative effect on individual health.  Critics argue that such cleansings are often unnecessary, and are based on questionable or disproved scientific claims.”  Do I think they are necessary?  Read on………

Certainly the object is to relieve the body of the stuff that accumulates over the years.  I’ve heard stories of not just waste product, but one woman said she released a crayon that she had swallowed as a child during a cleanse.  Not convinced?  Here’s more…..My parents and brother were working at a well known health retreat where detoxing with raw food, wheatgrass and green drinks, is the first step to healing.  My Dad tells a story about a woman who was diagnosed with a tumor in her uterus and before surgery; she was going to give this process a try.  One day my Dad is walking by her room and she comes running out screaming “I passed the tumor!  I passed the tumor!”  Sure enough, that’s what she actually had done.  She took the mass to her doctor for diagnosis.  Get ready for this…..not for the squeamish……The mass was a tampon that had remained in her body for probably years and the body was protecting itself from this foreign body the only way it knew how.  Hence, the tumor.  Ok, so now you may be ready to set an intention for your cleanse or fast, right?

There are many forms of cleansing.  I chose the raw food way.  It took about three months.  Eating living food for three months, I believe, totally cleaned out any leftover waste product that was in my colon.  It also cleans out the emotional “crap” in your body.  Again, the body needs the rest from digestion in order to start the healing process.  Toxins like undigested food, left in the body, will start to look for something to feed off of.  These toxins also give off waste product of their own, and cancer cells in your body will feed off this waste product.   

There are many varieties of cleansing from dietary restriction to supplements.  Herbs and supplements can speed up the process of detox.  You can also buy products that are for specific areas of the body, such as the colon, liver or kidneys.  You can use teas, drops, pills or liquid for your cleanse.  Wheatgrass juice is intended for rapid detoxification and well as general health.  It is a living food.  It will immediately go to where it is needed in the body.  When I did my wheatgrass cleanse, I expelled mucous that was the color and scent of a common household cleaner.  I have a cleaning business and was inhaling way too much of this product over a ten year span.  Cleansing can also reduce and eliminate cravings from food to tobacco.  It can help with weight loss, increase your energy and alleviate some chronic diseases. 

I’ve seen in my reading, many medical doctors saying that cleansing is totally unnecessary because the human body can maintain itself.  I certainly would’ve agreed to that a long time ago.  However, now humans smoke, drink, abuse drugs and take in more processed and genetically engineered food than ever before.  Faster is better.  The faster chickens grow…..the faster tomatoes grow….well you know the rest.

So back to can the body heal itself? Absolutely, that is what it is intended to do!  But not if we continue to abuse it.  A cleanse is the perfect way to give your body a break.  Taking out processed foods, sugars, caffeine and alcohol are just for starters.  Does that mean you can never have a drink or eat a cookie?  Of course not, everything in moderation…..harmony.  Start to wonder.  What is it that you need?  What could be building up inside of you?  Are you attached to it?  Are you ready to release and start healing today?

Today, I wish you release of the physical as well as the emotional stuff that is holding you back from total health.

As always, please consult your primary health care physician if you suffer from any serious medical condition.  These statements are for informational purposes only.

You know me by now.  I get so many of my “ah ha” moments from what happens to me and who comes into my life.  It’s all about the lessons we learn every day.  Not just on the day we want or the time we want.  Being open to what presents itself to you on a daily basis is truly living in the present moment.   Last week I heard a story about a woman who had gained some weight, but only in her stomach.  She thought it was age and started a diet, but when her stomach didn’t shrink at all, she thought about another symptom she had (I didn’t find that out) and decided to get a colonoscopy.  Jump to the end of this very sad story, that doesn’t happen too often in this small town I live in, she had a massive tumor in her colon that was causing her stomach to protrude.  Her surgery was yesterday.  I heard that and I immediately said to myself, “I need to do a liquid fast.”

I’ve fasted many days in the last 5 years or so.  Usually I do a one day fast.  That’s no food, no chewing, just liquid.  The liquid varied depending on whatever I felt like that day.  The day after the fast, was usually light or all raw food.  Wikipedia defines fasting as this “the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time.  A fast may be total or partial concerning that from which one fasts, and may be prolonged or intermittent as to the period of fasting.  Fasting practices may preclude sexual activity as well as food, in addition to refraining from eating certain types or groups of foods…..A complete fast in its traditional definition is abstinence of all food and liquids except for water.”  If you are healthy, a one or two day liquid fast could be something to try. 

Here’s what I did the other day: The first day I juiced one cucumber and one long stalk of celery and then drank nothing but water or water with fresh squeezed lemon for the rest of the day.  Was it difficult?  To be honest, it usually is.  I typically will fight it the whole day and think about food all day.  But this time, it wasn’t.  I kept saying to myself, “I’m not going to die if I don’t eat.  I’ll be fine.  The food will still be there tomorrow.”   The “feeling” of not having enough is pretty common.  And to top it off?  They had a going away party for me that night at the yoga studio where I teach, complete with many treats, even raw treats.  I felt fine not eating and I wasn’t guilty about the food that was brought and I didn’t partake in.   I knew if I started chewing anything, even raw food, my mind would want more.  I was determined to go the whole day and then see what tomorrow would bring.  I had some emotional stuff to go through that night and it was all very clear.  Without my body having to digest food, my mind was totally supported in processing the “stuff” of the day.  The next day I had another cucumber/celery juice and drank water.  I ate some nuts and a peach in the afternoon and then I had a tuna sandwich that evening.  The next day (that’s today) I have had only lemon water.  And that is my plan for the rest of the day. 

You see?  Whatever you can do, whatever it is, your body will be very happy with it.  The body could sure use a rest from digestion.  Parts of the nervous and circulatory systems play major roles in the digestive process.  Here’s a great site for reading about the digestive process: http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/yrdd/  Just reading what food and drink have to do to get through the body made me tired.  And our goal is to eat the right food, so that the correct nutrients can be absorbed and used by the body.  Fasting is a perfect way to give the body a rest in order for the mind and body to be able to do what it is inherently supposed to do, and that is to HEAL ITSELF.

There are many different kinds of fasting and cleansing.  I just heard about a book that talks about taking out 5 things from your diet for a 21 day cleanse.  They were dairy, alcohol, coffee, sugar, and gluten.  Whatever you can do for however long you can do it.  There isn’t a right or wrong when it comes to fasting.  Don’t put that judgement on yourself.  It’s ok.  Think about more raw food, less processed food.  How about just a one day fast?  I’m right there with you.  Today’s the day for you…or maybe tomorrow. 

What can you do when the end of the day comes and you really want to eat something?  I do these things:  Go upstairs and read a book, get as far away from the kitchen as possible. Take a walk.  Drink a very large glass of water.  Brush your teeth.  Talk to a friend.  Play with your cat.

Sending you feelings of health and well being.

Please consult your primary health care physician for fasting lasting more than two days or if you are suffering from any medical problems for which you are under the care of a doctor.

…but at least you don’t have to look at these pictures.  So to prove my devotion to my own and your healthy living, this article is about that deep dark place most of us would like to avoid considering completely, our colon.  And oh the places I’ve gone to research it.  The insanity started back in 1979 when Dr. Norman Walker published Colon Health, a book that has endured throughout the years and is still one of the best sources of information on the importance of keeping this part of your digestive tract in tact.  (The cover even has a cool picture of The Silver Surfer with hair.)  Among a wealth of important information on how the colon functions, why it is imperative to keep it healthy and how to do that, Dr. Walker discusses what he calls “colon irrigation”.  That’s right boys and girls, the Doc means colonics.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to focus much on this aspect of colon health because…  well, it’s disgusting.  But if you’re in the first phases of a real life change in diet, consider a colon cleanse—which usually will include colonics and/or enemas.  About 12 years ago when I was a new vegetarian I bit the bullet, opened my mind and did one.  And although there was trauma, the benefits were undeniable.  (I’d like to officially apologize to my parents for having to read that)  You’ve spent years filling your body with toxic materials and it’s time to get that stuff out.  But do your research and do it right.  So here’s the low-down on the down low:

Your large intestine consists of the caecum, the colon and the rectum.  It is responsible for the re-absorption of many nutrients and water, and ensures normal defecation (that means pooping). The colon is the site where most of the absorption of water, salts and vitamins takes place.  Some food components, such as dietary fiber and oligosaccharides, which escape digestion in the upper parts of the digestive tract, are exposed to bacterial digestion in the colon. The colonic microflora, (which are good bacterial microorganisms) not only digest otherwise indigestible food components, they also synthesize a variety of significant vitamins which are utilized by the human body like Vitamin K (essential for blood clotting), Vitamin B12 (prevents harmful anemia) Thiamin (B1) and riboflavin (B2) (metabolic processes/energy, nervous system functioning and lower homocysteine levels implicated in heart disease).  These microflora also ferment otherwise indigestible food components to short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) which provide fuel for the cells of the colon and help with the absorption of water and salts.  Microflora like Lactobacilli, and Bifidobacteria help boost immunity overall and increase our resistance to various infections like Candida, Salmonella and E-coli.  Research has even shown that a happy colon plays a part in lowering cholesterol.

What you essentially need to understand about colon health is that if the colon isn’t functioning correctly—which really means it’s not cleansed—the rest of the organs can’t cleans their waste.  Some experts assert that there is really only one disease–autointoxication or malnutrition.  That means it’s all about the diet.  A bad diet doesn’t digest well, and ultimately creates feces that are sticky, hard and difficult to get out (I know, I know).  Therefore it builds up along the colon wall and, Presto!; you’re filled with decaying toxins and poisonous gas.  The system backs up and the body gets sick.  It’s like a sewer backing up in New York City.  No matter how efficiently everything else runs, it’s all coming to a stop.

If you have doubts just look up some of the pictures of waste matter eliminated during colon cleanses (I dare you).  Also consider that according to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths with more than 153,000 new cases and more than 52,000 deaths expected this year.  Infections, antibiotics and excessive stress also impact the health of the colon so once again it’s all about balance.

In the end (no pun intended) colon health is all about a holistic, healthy lifestyle.  Keep your weight down, don’t drink alcohol excessively, don’t smoke, meditate or find some way to alleviate stress, exercise, drink plenty of water and for God’s sake eat right.  A healthy colon requires fiber, calcium, Vitamin D (sunlight), B (folic acid) and the rest of them.  First off stop with the processed food and cut way back or eliminate red meat.  M.D. Anderson suggests at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day for colon health and I’d suggest even more.  Juicing and blending can really assist in getting that daily requirement but remember fruits and vegetables are loaded with anti-cancer, immune-system-strengthening properties and they are fibrous and assist in digestion.  For more fiber eat your oats, legumes, whole grains and wheat bran.  Yogurt and fermented milk products, which contain live Lactobacilli, promote healthy microflora and you can also take microflora supplements.  Finally, if you’re over 50, get screened.  Because of an increase in colorectal screenings over the past years, new colorectal cancer cases have been decreasing steadily.  It’s you’re butt, better take care of it.

Be well

JuicyJosh

Well, it won’t fix your car, bring you love, or raise your kids but it might make all those things easier.  Two glasses of fresh fruit and vegetable juice a day to maintain your health and at least four a day to speed the body’s healing and recovery from illness, making a regular habit of juicing and blending can literally change your life.  Yes, I realize I’m going into infomercial sounding copy (always a peril when you write for a retailer) and for the bulk of this community might be common knowledge but this is important for anyone interested in healthy living.  Not to mention it’s high time I write an article on the benefits of juicing overall.

Raw fruits and vegetables are probably the best source of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, cancer fighting phytochemicals and other nutrients and because more beneficial substances continue to be found in fruits and vegetables all the time, it’s increasingly clear that you cannot substitute supplements for the real thing.  When you juice or blend from raw produce you get the whole plant including all its health promoting components in tact so it’s important to drink it when you make it.  For the newcomer to this world, essentially there are three juicing categories to become familiar with: Green Juices; Vegetable Juices and Fruit Juices.

Green juices are cleansers. They rid the body of pollutants and have and incredible rejuvenating effect because they are rich in chlorophyll which purifies the blood and builds red blood cells.  It detoxifies and heals and produces big boost of energy.  8 to 10 ounces a day is recommended using everything from alfalfa sprouts to wheatgrass (checkout our wheatgrass juicer section!)

Vegetable juice restores and builds. It removes excess body fat, boosts the immune system, removes acid wastes and balances the metabolism.  Carrot juice is the most popular not just for its taste but because it is packed with cancer fighting beta-carotene but you can benefit from just about any vegetable you can fit down the juicer spout. (Checkout a great vegetable juicer – the Omega Big Mouth Juicer)

Fruit juices are also cleansers and nourishers of the body. Filled with important nutrients including invaluable cancer fighting antioxidants you can enjoy fruit juices any time of the day.  Berries in particular have a high amount of antioxidants and so with fruits (but I’d suggest it with veggies also) blending up everything, peel, rind  and all will make for great smoothie experimentation and give you the much needed phytochemicals found only in the fiber of produce.

So now you’ve got the overall scoop.  Happy juicing!

Be well,

Juicy Josh

877MyJuicer.com