Food Babe Family - Header

Why Juice Fast?

Today, my husband and I started a 3 day juice fast. A lot of people think when you embark on a juice fast or some temporary diet you are trying to lose weight. This is NOT the case for me or my husband. After starting the wonderful habit of juicing a year ago now – we’ve noticed the amazing benefits it can have in just drinking a glass 6-7 times a week.  My body weight has amazingly stabilized for the longest period in history and I can easily fit into everything in my closet. This is important – because I love my wardrobe and don’t like to grow out of it! But that’s not the point.

Juice Fasting is about ULTIMATE HEALTH! VITALITY! DETOXING! RELEASING! MIND OPENING! BEING FEARLESS! All of those things. And fine… you do end up losing weight – but that’s not the most important reason.

I’ve read countless books and studies about what the results of a juice fast can offer. The payoff is just incredible! There are even movies on it – have you seen any of them?  Juice fasting completely detoxifies your body from the inside out – at a complete metabolic and cellular level.  Several organs that are harbors for toxins in your body begin in unison to release toxins built up over time – Your blood becomes purified and your body is able to release toxins from the colon, kidneys, bladder, lungs, sinuses, and the skin clears out all of the unhealthy lifestyle habits or exposures you have had over time. While fasting, diseased cells begin to circulate and are eliminated from your body. The reason your body is able to do this is because your digestive system gets to rest for an extended period of time while still having a huge dose of mega nutrition and live enzymes from the juice.

I am used to eating at least 4 times a day – sometimes more – my digestive organs are constantly working all day long – devoting my body’s energy to digestion several times a day. When you give your digestive system “a break” your body has significant more energy to devote to releasing toxins. The enzymes that normally go to the stomach for digestion are released into the intestines and bloodstream where they eat up diseased and damaged cells. This is why experts recommend doing a fast at least twice a year at the change of each season. And that’s exactly why I am doing one now – Drinking “leaves” as we head straight into fall 🙂

Another reason I am doing this fast is I want to learn more about my eating habits and how I use food for emotional reasons.  Last night – my husband was watching TV and a commercial for “Kit Kat” came on – he immediately remembered that we had brought back some “Green Tea” Kit Kat from Japan last month.  He devoured the whole package in less than 2 minutes. Now – what if this same commercial comes on during our fast? Mmmmm…I wonder what will happen…Will the juice work its magic powers on us and clear our minds from reacting to the marketing and propaganda?  I imagine there will be lots of discoveries made about ourselves and new found respect for food. I can’t wait to find out what’s hiding in my subconscious or how my surrounding influences my appetite.  I hope to share all my “ah ha” moments with you as they come each day…

After the three days I expect my stomach to be slightly smaller than my fist, this will make coming off the fast and what I consume after extremely important.  I will spend the 2 days following the juice fast with smoothies, live raw vegan foods and warm pureed soups at night. I will also add 2 tbsp of flaxseed each day to our meals to continue to help eliminate the toxins from my body.

So here we go!

Day 0 – Check out my grocery shopping yesterday:

I went over to the HHM – Home Healthy Market to stock up on my supplies for the next three days. The majority of their produce is organic – they have very little conventional selection- which makes it super fast to shop. I was in and out in 15 mins!  They have the absolute BEST dark leafy greens!  I loaded up on several different kinds – Curly Kale, Lacinato Kale, Collard Greens, Rainbow Chard, Parsley….

I also stocked up some of these items too…The grocery cart…In the cart:

  • 3 bunches laminate kale
  • 2 bunches curly kale
  • 3 bunches rainbow chard
  • 2 bunches collard greens
  • 4 packs of celery (I have a feeling I might run out of celery by Sunday…. time will tell!)
  • 10 lemons
  • Bag of small red apples
  • 2 green apples
  • 2 grapefruits
  • 4 packs of fresh cranberries
  • Bag of carrots
  • 5 cucumbers
  • 1 head of green cabbage
  • 3 large beets with tops
  • 2 huge clusters of ginger
  • 2 garlic bulbs
  • 3 different types of herbal tea

Again, all the ingredients I chose were ORGANIC…of course! You don’t want to be putting in toxins (pesticides) in your body when you are trying to release them!

Crazy long bill – I only went to two aisles the whole shopping trip – The Produce and Tea aisles! $153 dollars spent on the 3 days worth of supplies – I will definitely have left over tea, fruit, ginger, garlic, and carrots. Of course I will use those ingredients up after the fast to make smoothies, soups, etc. Also, remember this juice fast is for 2 people for 3 days – which averages out to be about $25 dollars a day for one person. This is about the same if you were to go purchase juice at a juice bar.  So if you don’t have a juicer – no worries – you can still do a 3 day juice fast for about the same cost and maybe a little cheaper!

Before I went to bed last night – I tied up the pantry where we keep all our snack foods – no reason to even go in there for the next 3 days!

Keep my mind on my juice and my juice on my mind. (Inspiration from Snoop Dogg) 🙂Day 1 is almost over  – Can’t wait to share all the details with you tomorrow! It’s always easier doing a juice fast with someone else – if you know some family members or friends that might like to do one – share this post with them for inspiration….

If you have any questions or comments – I’d love to hear from you here or on my Facebook Wall!

Wishing You Lots of Love & Vitality,

Food Babe

P.S. Want to follow along in my journey?

Check out the next consecutive posts here –

 

 

Food Babe Family - Book
Food Babe Grocery Guide

Sign Up For Updates

And Get A FREE Healthy Grocery Guide Sent To You Now!

Find out what to buy and where at the top grocery stores near you

Posts may contain affiliate, sponsorship and/or partnership links for products Food Babe has approved and researched herself. If you purchase a product through an affiliate, sponsorship or partnership link, your cost will be the same (or at a discount if a special code is offered) and Food Babe will benefit from the purchase. Your support is crucial because it helps fund this blog and helps us continue to spread the word. Thank you.

46 responses to “Why Juice Fast?

  1. Hi Food Babe. I am looking forward to reading the next few days blogs. I have thought of signing up to a Juice Cleansing program where they deliver fresh juice and soups to you daily. My husband wasn’t keen on me going on it so eventually I forgot all about it but now I am so excited! Let us know how you feel when you exercising. Interested to know whether one has enough energy to do spin classes or need gentle exercises. Also if it is easier to do it on weekends rather than weekdays or if you miss chewing! 🙂

    1. Hi Sally! For exercising – you don’t want to do something too taxing – because you want all your body’s energy to be used for detoxing, not repairing muscle. The exercising I have planned will be perfect for aiding a detox – Yoga for organ stimulation and walking for blood circulation. I just posted a recap of Day 1 and some juicing recipes! Enjoy and take care!

      1. Thanks Foodbabe! I enjoyed your posts on Day1. I had a closer look at your food bill and I am amazed on how affordable your organic produce are. Our normal produce cost more than your organic so you can imagine how much our organic fruit & veg are. Earlier this year, our bananas cost $25/kg! We had a cyclone which damaged alot of our crops in Northern Queensland and there was too much demand and not enough supply. So our humble banana was a luxury item! Bananas are one of the things you cannot import into Australia. Look forward to your posts!

  2. Hi, I’ve been thinking about trying this, but don’t really understand the benefits and based on some research I’ve done the jury is still out. I used WebMd as a reference. Can you share your references?

    Thank you.

    1. WebMd isn’t my favorite source of information because it can have so many differing opinions – I am assuming you read the article about whether or not fasting works for weight loss. A short juice fast (less than 7 days) will not disrupt your metabolism or muscle – you actually get a lot of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) through juice and lots of nutrient dense calories through juice. Drinking fresh unpasteurized green juice is not the MASTER CLEANSE – where you are sustaining on yourself on little to zero nutrients. You are getting a massive dose of nutrients every time you drink a glass of juice. You’d be surprised on sustaining just drinking juice can be. We found the fast to be quite easy for us…

      Here’s one on juicing from WebMd that is in support of juicing for health and detoxing – http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/detox-diets-cleansing-body-feature

      There isn’t a specific source for my information, it has been a study of the following health philosophies from Gabriel Cousens, Cherie Calbom, David Wolfe, Max Gerson, etc over the past 2 years. If you were to buy a single book on Juicing – check out my shop for a link to the “Juicing Guide for Health” – Also “The Juicing Lady’s Turbo Diet” is a nice one if your sole purpose is to lose weight.

      Juicing for me is a way of life – (Actually just finished a glass) It isn’t about losing weight, it’s about being as healthy as possible so I can avoid disastrous and debilitating diseases in the future. Doing one of these cleanses helps your body focus on repairing and detoxing, a wonderful thing for vitality and longevity. I plan on doing this a few times a year going forward – but will still drink juice whenever I can get my hands on it. I crave it everyday.

      Let me know if you have anymore questions! Would love to hear from you again! Thanks for stopping by!

      1. Thanks for the response. I’m not concerned with weight loss. I was just trying to understand how this detoxifys you. What I read was detoxification is the function of the kidneys and liver and that on a microbiological level there was no evidence that the fasting had any additonal detox affects. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any medical or physical concern with this type of fasting. I’m just trying to understand all and any benefits of it before I try it. I asked the same question at Yoga One and got a much abbreviated but similar response, and I wanted to look more into it. Thanks for sharing your references and philosopy. It’s very helpful.

      2. Your bodies main detoxification system is digestion. When you juice you are removing all the fiber from the fruits and veggies so all the nutrients goes straight into your body and there is no need to go through digestion. Since digestion is able to rest, other organs such as the liver and kidneys are able to release toxins they have built up, and cleansing can take place. The longest juice fast I’ve done is 7 days and I had a detox on day 6, this was a great experience for me. I was able to see my food habits and the wonderful results from juicing. Good luck on your journey, I’d say its worth trying at least once.

  3. Hi foodbabe =)
    I think your skin looks amazing! You are so gorgeous, but anyway I’ve tried juice fasting before and my acne significantly improved, but I gained all my weight back and then some (and the acne came back too) once I got off the juice fast. I think it may be because I didn’t know how to transition from juice fasting to eating healthy, wholesome foods. Do you stick to smoothies mainly after your 3 day fast for a couple of days afterwards and then start adding in salads and then after a couple more days go back to your regular eating? Also do you regain your weight once you get off the juice fast?

  4. Can nursing mothers go on a juice fast? I would like to both cleanse and lose weight. I would rather not have to wait a full year before I can do so, but obviously I want to be safe!

    1. I was just wondering the same thing! Kellie, I’d definitely not try for a full juice fast, just because you need SO much extra protein and calories when nursing–especially in the beginning. My son is 7 months and has started to wean a bit, so I’m going to replace one meal a day with juice and ease myself into it all. If I start to feel tired, though (which happens if I’m not getting enough calories/protein) I’ll probably have to add an egg or something to keep up the protein. I would talk to a lactation consultant about diet necessities before doing anything–especially if your baby is super new.

      1. I was going to ask the same question! I’m a nursing mother of a 10 month old. Is it safe?

  5. Maybe you’ve touched on this, but are you a vitamin taker, and if so, do you abstain from them while on the juice fast…or continue to take them? I take a multivitamin, Vitamin D, Calcium, Turmeric and Niacin. My husband and I are thinking we will do this in 2 weeks, but will have a much harder time as I will still be preparing regular meals for my 1-1/2 and 3-1/2 year old daughters. Oh well…I know we can get through it.

  6. My juice detox will begin this Friday!! I’m excited, slightly anxious, just ready to start. I’m going with no on taking any vitamins, as we’ll be getting so much from the fruit and veg in the juice. Fun!!

  7. I came across your blog via a friend on Facebook and keep coming back to read what’s new. I’m going to attempt my very first juice fast this weekend and have copied some of your recipes to try.

    I’ve read alot about wheatgrass, do you incorporate this into any of your juices?

    thx

  8. Finished the juice detox last night. Today I’m experiencing light-headedness, dizziness, nausea, and warmth throughout my body. I’m guessing this is all of the built-up toxins that I’ve released that now need to figure out how to escape?? I couldn’t drink my smoothie this morning, beyond a few sips, as it made me want to throw up. I ended up laying back down for an hour or so and then getting up to some water and a banana. One thing you don’t touch on in your blog posts is elimination. Not that you want to discuss that, but all sites that I’ve been looking at are recommending enemas during the fast…is this something you did? I did not hear about this until after so I didn’t do this, and my bowels did stop during the fast. Just wondering your thoughts on this. Thanks!

  9. is it a must to begin the juice journey with a hard and fast cleanse? this is why i ask:

    instead of starting the fast/cleanse cold turkey, my boyfriend and i thought it would be prudent to ease into it because i have a history with mild IBS and wanted to be careful. our plan was to start out by replacing one meal a day with a juice, do that for a week, then replace two meals the next week, and so on until we were only consuming juice, which we would do for then another 7 to 10 days depending on how we are feeling energy-wise at the time. well, we started this morning by following the original “mean green” recipe to the letter. i drank my juice for breakfast, and securely cold packed his so he could have it for lunch. not 20 minutes later, i was in the bathroom and could not leave for more than a half hour. this was followed by uneasiness, stomach cramps, and more trips to the bathroom. i had to take off a half day from work! i called my boyfriend immediately to tell him that he may want to wait and juice at home for dinner.

    as i was cramping on the sofa, i did a little research online and read that it takes a few days for all of the unabsorbed toxins and nutrients to clear out of the stomach when on a juice fast. this i already knew, but it doesn’t really explain the immediate effect it had on me. plus, i find it quite disconcerting that i can literally find no one online who has had this same experience.

    i apologize for the long post and the somewhat graphic nature of these questions, but i am very concerned about this bathroom situation. will this be the case for me as long as i am consuming solid food in tandem with fresh juice? instead of my original plan, should we jump in with both feet then ease back into solid food? and most importantly, will i ever be able to simply incorporate fresh juice into my healthy eating lifestyle?

    many thanks for any help you can offer!

  10. Whew! I completed the Juice fast last Sunday at midnight and boy was day 2 tough-just like you said it would be! Day 1 was relatively easy, day 3 a bit more challenging but it helped to know it was the last day. I dreamed of so many basic foods I’d never usually crave on day 2 lol. I almost wanted to throw in the towel on day 2. The prep work definitely helped alot. I’m so proud of myself for accomplishing this! Thanks for the inspiration to do it!

    Sonja

    1. No I don’t because they are still developing. However, I do recommend including juicing in their diet on a regular basis – it’s an amazing supplement with real food!

  11. Can you tell me what the benefit would be in juicing versus blending? We have been using our Vitamixer but I’m debating buying a juicer.

    1. I’m also wondering about the Vitamix vs juicing. We have the Vitamix and enjoy smoothies made with this using many of the same ingredients as your Kickin’ Kale Juice.

      1. Erica and Angela,
        A Vitamix is awesome but it is very different than a juicer. They each have their own different benefits but for this juice cleanse, it is really better to juice instead of blend .Vani tells about the benefits of each in this post
        https://foodbabe.com/2011/12/31/habits-for-the-new-year-and-beyond-4-drink-a-green-drink-every-single-day/
        Check out this video too!
        http://www.elizabethrider.com/the-difference-between-juicing-blending-video-blog/

  12. Coincidentally I am fasting today also. I have been fasting one day a week for the past 3 weeks.
    It is difficult for me. I am doing it for health reasons as well as losing weight. I fasted for 20 days in a row last year. Each day gets easier when you do a long fast. Short fasts are harder. I can tolerate one day a week. I would love to keep doing it after I lose this last 7 pounds. I find it difficult though because food is something that I so look forward to each day.

  13. Looking forward to following along! I am about to start a 10 day fast, beginning and ending with 3 days of juices only. I am specifically focusing on heavy metals and therefore will taking Aged Kyolic Garlic 2x daily as well as using LOTS of cilantro in green drinks as often as I can fit them in when home. I’ll be supplementing with Spirulina and Chlorella. I’m hoping to get the details ironed and and posted on my blog soon! I love your blog and following the great information you share. Thanks for doing what you do and good luck to you guys! 🙂

  14. I’m considering going a 3-day juice fast. I’ve read a few places that it’s important to being with an enema to get everything out so there won’t be a build-up of toxins, bloating etc. Do you do this? What are your thoughts on doing an enema with the fast? Is it necessary?

    Thanks!

  15. Hi! I really enjoyed your article! This is random — but where was that picture taken with the juice? Thanks!!

  16. I’m breastfeeding a one month old. Is a three day juice fast appropriate and safe for the two of us?

  17. Hi Food Babe!
    I’m anxious to give this a try as i’m in a bit of a rut right now! Anyhow, couple quick q’s. Please forgive me if I missed it somewhere. Just looking for your recipes for both the lemon water/cayenne pepper and the cranberry water. Thank you for all you do!

  18. Hello Food Babe!

    While some consider me to be a superhero, I know better. I know that YOU are the real and true superhero!

    I have a question: If I am to be a better, stronger superhero, I need to cut down a bit on coffee!

    I would like to ask you your opinion of mate of which I am quite fond — particularly Guayaki.

  19. Hello Food Babe!

    While some consider me to be a superhero, I know better. I know YOU to be the real superhero!

    I have a question: If I am to be a better, stronger superhero, I need to cut down a bit on coffee!

    I would like to ask you your opinion of mate of which I am quite fond — particularly Guayaki.

  20. Well I just finished the 3 day juice Fast. I did not cheat once. The shopping list provided did not match and I should have looked at the recipes beforehand.
    My friend and I did this together or we never would have made it. She is breast feeding as well….but she is over a year so it was ok to have less milk. We had to sub in fat for her on day 2 or she would of had nothing…but once we added in some grass feed clean beef she had no issues.
    I got sick right away…the first night and my kidneys were dying. I had to do a Castor Pack on them. Then my Spleen was killing me!…I Castor Packed it and I was fine.
    I did 2 Enemas 1 on day 1 morning and 1 on day 3 afternoon. The headache was a Killer right after the 2nd juicing. On day 2 the headache left and the pains became less and less.
    I did not get any crazy High on Day 3 but I do feel cleaned out.
    I also had a yuck white film in my mouth and a metallic taste.

    My friend did not get the sick feeling till day 2 and she still did on Day 3. She did not have all the pain I did for the yuck film…I guess I reacted more then she did.

    I am super glad I did this.

  21. Hey! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice from an established blog.
    Is it very difficult to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things
    out pretty fast. I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m
    not sure where to start. Do you have any tips or suggestions?
    Many thanks

  22. Hi Vani, thank you for all this wonderful juicing information. I am going to try this fast this weekend (7-18-2014) and I am stoked for it.

    I have all the juice recipes and your grocery list saved. Question: the bag of red apples and grapefruit were not used in the recipes, how do they play in?

    Also when you are not fasting how long do you wait to eat after you drink the lemon water? I love to eat breakfast and I also love to drink green juice in the morning – what time frame would you recommend? My ideal plan would be to do the hot lemon water, juice, and something to eat; it seems like a lot to try to accomplish in the morning.

    Thanks for your help!

  23. I am excited to give the 3 day juice fast a try but I have one questions (I may have missed the answer somewhere). Would these recipes be okay to do as smoothies instead of juice? I have a Vitamix but not a juicer.

    1. A belated response but anyway..
      My understanding from research into the topic (and personal experience) is that if possible, for a juice cleanse (or fast as often called) it is best to have the juice in a liquid form as opposed to the more ‘fibrous’ consistency that you will get from a juicer or smoothie (eg nutri bullet). This allows the digestive system to do its work in absorbing the nutrients much more rapidly and efficiently and with minimal use of the body’s resources. You can notice this effect especially after having a heavy meal where, after an hour or so you become tired as the digestive system needs to divert more of the body’s energy resources to absorb the nutrients.
      Also I find that I tend to feel less full when the juice is in liquid form as opposed to a smoothie, which is helpful especially if like me, you struggle after the second or third day.

  24. Hi, is a water only fast ok to do? Would that be even more clarifying since no food in any form? 1 day only or multi ok? Also much cheaper ;0)…. spring water I assume? THX

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

food babe with grocery cart - footer image