Juice Cleanse: A Multi-Dimentional Journey

Detoxification is what our body innately performs unless we interfere with poor diet (highly processed, over cooked food), negative thinking and unhappy relationships with ourselves and others, which all have a dramatic impact in slowing down and obstructing the natural removal of undigested proteins, toxins, chemicals and other inter-cellular waste as well as our wondrous capacity for radiating health and vitality. Anyone embarking on a juice cleanse (7 days is the usual optimal period) becomes aware of how the body is deeply boosted in regenerating itself and washing out toxins, thus enabling the body to heal itself and restore its natural wellbeing.

More importantly, along with the physical elimination of toxins we also release stress, emotions and undesirable thought-patterns (psycho-toxins) as body, mind and emotion are fundamentally one.  Energies existing in food, as Gabriel Cousens aptly maintains, affect our physical functioning, the nature of our thoughts and even the expansion of our consciousness (1). Imagine how powerful this can be when it is applied to flooding our body with live pure foods which speeds up the function of the cells to absorb nutrients and excrete toxins as well as stimulating our mental faculties. Juicing, in particular, brings an alkaline energy into the body which effectively neutralises acidity and restores the mineral balance in the cells. And this is the reason why the pure energy of fruits and plants increases our own energy so that extraordinary transformations can take place. It heightens our awareness and a deep sense of connection with our inner self, thus renewing body, mind and spirit.

During a juice cleanse our body knows precisely where to go, what to metabolise and how to eliminate the least essential to its life and health: toxins and wastes are consumed first, a process known as autolysis (from Greek 'self-eating'), usually described as an operation without surgery, thus thinning the blood so that the lymphatic system can release toxicity into the blood to be detoxified. It has been scientifically demonstrated that a simple meal comprising of cooked meat and dairy can impair blood flow for up to 6 hours (2). Conversely, raw fruits and vegetables, and drinking their juices thin the blood and stimulate the lymph’s waste elimination.

When juicing without any food, detoxification symptoms generally occur, especially when we leave behind poor dietary habits (alcohol, sugar, caffeine, meat, dairy and processed food) and embrace a highly-dense nutrient regime. You may feel worse for the first 3 days and experience headaches, drowsiness, cold symptoms, halitosis, temporary aches and nausea, but these are very positive signs of a healing detoxification taking place and usually subside after a few days. A change happens in the body’s internal energy economy, in which the organism switches over to the more efficient burning of its reserves to satisfy its basic energy needs and at this point, your energy levels really start gaining momentum: your senses become more alive, your mind sharper – with thoughts and new ideas flowing with ease – and you feel like bursting with health and wellbeing.

While detoxifying, all the eliminative organs (mouth, lungs, bowels, skin, kidneys) are working in full swing and therefore it is fundamental that we pay particular attention to properly cleaning these areas and looking after them so that we avoid the risk of recycling toxins back into the body and comfortably wash them out. Superfood powders, bentonite clay, active charcoal, dry brushing, daily enemas, mouth scraping, daily baths with Epson salts, walking and mild exercise, drinking water and herbal teas are all essential aspects of a thorough detox protocol as well as a gradual transitioning back to food so that the benefits of your juice cleanse can be continued.

REFERENCES

(1) Gabriel Cousens. 2005. Spiritual Nutrition. Berkeley (CA): North Atlantic Books.

(2) See Dr. Michael Klaper’s A Diet for All Reasons, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJItu9LwJE0 (consulted on 18/11/18).