We’ve harped on about the spiritual ways in which juicing can change your life. We’ve also taught you how to make vegetable juice at home, and how to keep the beet juice rocking.

Photo by Rob Baird

Now it’s time to look at the practical reasons why juicing will impact your life in an amazing way.

This is a guest post by John McIntyre.

1. Liquid engineering for your body.

The life-giving juice found in fresh fruits and vegetables is nutritionally way beyond anything humans can manufacture. I’m not just talking about junk food, but anything from bread to bottled juice.

Unfortunately, 95% of what you find on supermarket shelves is practically devoid of any nutritional value. The various methods we use to process our food are robbing it of its benefits.

This is why juicing is so wonderful. You can take the nutritional power from as many different fruits and vegetables as you want and feed it directly into your body. This truly is liquid engineering.

2. Boost your energy.

Think of the tired feeling you get after a heavily-processed meal. That happens because your body has to redirect energy to your digestive system… not something you really want. And who wants to eat food that makes them tired anyway? We eat and drink because we’re trying to replenish energy, not spend it.

Enter juicing. One of my favorite things about it is that you are doing the body’s digestive work for it. No more feeling sleepy after a meal. Now you get a burst of energy and your body will thank you for it.

3. Sleep better.

When you sleep, your body is recharging itself. Before processed food was invented, this was no problem.

But in today’s world of nutritionally bankcrupt food, this doesn’t happen like it’s meant to. Rather than recharging, the body has to focus on digestion and squeezing whatever vitamins it can find out.

By juicing (and by eating raw food in general) you hand the power of sleep back over to your body. Rather than digesting food, your body can get back to sleeping which means a smoother and more restful night.

4. Wake up early.

It goes without saying that if you don’t sleep well, you’re not going to get up early. So as you feed your body with more life-giving juice, you’ll wake up earlier with more energy for the day.

5. Feel great.

If you’ve experienced how good you feel when you eat good food, then you won’t need any convincing here. Simply put, the better you eat (and drink), the better you feel.

6. Look fantastic.

When you feel great, you look great.

7. Lose weight.

Much of what causes weight gain is found in unnatural and highly-processed foods that don’t have any nutritional value.

When you juice and your body is filled to the brim with powerful nutrients, all of its natural processes will step up a notch. Yes, this means your metabolism, digestion and immune system will function much more effectively.

Don’t forget all the extra energy you are going to have to get rid of somehow. That “somehow” is best known as exercise – the movement that produces endorphins and makes you happy.

8. Eat less.

When you are eating food which is rich in nutrients, your body isn’t going to need as much to be satisfied.

9. Prevent cancer.

Fruit and vegetables are essentially warehouses of antioxidants. These babies make up the army inside you which fights cancer. They eliminate cancerous growths and make sure your body is in tip-top shape.

Sure, you can get antioxidants from eating carrots. But think of how much faster it’ll be if you drink them.

10. Get more done.

More energy is naturally going to mean that you get more done. Whether you go surfing, paint a picture or write a business plan, it doesn’t matter. The point is that you’ll be doing more of what you want to do which can only be a good thing.

11. Enjoy life.

An old arabic proverb says “He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.”

I can’t really think of a better way to put it. The healthier you are, the more you are going to enjoy life.

What did you do with all the energy juicing gave you?

About the Author: John McIntyre is the resident juicer of Healthy Juicing, a place where you can discover how you can look and feel amazing with fresh juices.

Have you ever had a taste of freshly made vegetable juice? It’s one of the most nourishing foods out there. And today I’m going to show you just how to make this type of fresh veggie juice.

How to Make Vegetable Juice Video

Veggie Juice Ingredients

The beauty of making vegetable juice is that you can pretty much improvise with what you’ve got in your kitchen or garden.

That being said, here’s what I used in this particular juice.

• Carrots (tops and all)
• Apples
• Ginger
• Celery
• Parsley

Juicer Recommendations

I’ve heard great things about the Breville Juice Fountain, and many raw foodies recommend it. One of the benefits is that it’s a good quality juicer, for a pretty fair price.

It also has a wider opening, so you don’t need to cut fruits or vegetables as small to get them juiced.

The juicer I own is the Omega J8005 Nutrition Center Single-Gear Commercial Masticating Juicer. What I like about it is that you can use it to make green juice, and other treats like nut butters, raw fruit sorbets and ice creams, and baby food.

It’s got a heftier price tag, but because it uses a mastication system you’re actually getting more juice for your buck. Before I got this blender I always cringed when I saw how much juice was left in the pulp. Now the pulp is totally dry.

What is Your Favorite Mix?

I’d love to know what your favorite mix of vegetable juice is. I’m pretty partial to my “Beet Goes On” beet juice recipe. What else do you like to drink?

This is a guest post by Henri Junttila.

If you’re familiar with drinking freshly-squeezed juices, I think you already know the powerful effects it can have on your body. What most people don’t notice are the effects it can have on the non-physical you.

Photo by Alfonso

Four years ago I had my first real date with juicing. You see, I bought an Omega 8005 Juicer and started throwing everything in it. The results were interesting, but not particularly tasty. You live and learn.

After awhile I decided to go on a juice fast, which is where I noticed the 5 subtle, yet profound ways juicing can transform your health and consciousness.

1. Intuition

Intuitive knowing sounds mystical, but for me it’s just a feeling or thought that suddenly bubbles up. When I’m doing something I might get a thought or feeling helping me decide which apple to buy or even which country to live in.

When I was on my juice fast my intuition became stronger. It was interesting, almost like having someone there to help guide you through life.

2. Courage

Fear penetrates even the most hidden parts of our lives. We tend to look at fear with fear, but how much would your perspective change if you looked at it with a fresh pair of eyes? Because what is fear? For me fear just shows me where my belief systems are not aligned with who I want to be.

Two of my biggest fears are public speaking and not having enough financially. When you go deeper and observe them, they are really not as big, bad and mean as you think they are. This awareness is amplified many times when you’re juicing and it allows you to break through these barriers and exercise courage.

3. Clarity

As you put less and less strain on your body, it starts to cleanse, detoxify and heal, which leads to enhanced clarity, focus and other mental functions. During my juice fast and when I juice daily I notice more clarity and an increased ability to make decisions.

Clarity is not only important in making decisions in your day to day, but in your life as well. What is your life purpose? What is your passion? What would you do if money didn’t exist? As I juiced, things suddenly started to become a lot clearer. Now, I am not saying I know everything about my life, just that it got a whole lot easier ;).

4. Awareness

Meditation is an awesome awareness expander, but cleaning up your body does that too. I remember walking down a quiet road in Spain (I lived in Spain then and will again soon, but that’s another story) and noticing new trees.

Had these trees appeared out of nowhere? How did they grow up so fast? I finally concluded that it was my awareness that had expanded. It’s almost as if I had been awarded the keys to a new world, the world of hidden trees.

(Editor’s Note: Maybe some of those trees were planted through my Tree Planting Initiative. If you could go back and in time, and all that. Ahem.)

5. Gratefulness

I was never the grateful type when I was younger, but as I’ve gained a few pearls of wisdom throughout the years I’ve noticed that being grateful feels awesome and is extremely uplifting.

If someone as anti-gratitude as me can become 87% more grateful on a juice fast, I’m sure you would notice it even more. How did I come up with 87%? I made it up, don’t you just love statistics?

To Juice or Not to Juice, That is Not the Question

We already know juicing rocks, so the question is: what benefits have you noticed from juicing? Any health benefits, healings or even subtle, transformational shifts?

About the Author: Henri Junttila is the founding father of the Wake Up Cloud, a place where you can discover your passion in 5 days and get conscious about your life.

This is day two of my Master Cleanse. So far, so good. I drank 3 liters of the lemonade yesterday, as recommended. You can read about why I chose to do this fast here.

Surprisingly I wasn’t really hungry. I did find myself scratching my head a few times, at lunch and dinner because I usually take a break from work then.

I also noticed that I like to take breaks to eat and relax throughout the day. And yeah, eating frequent small meals works for me. But fasting made me realize that I can take breaks without eating.

Food and breaks are not tied together. If I’m feeling overwhelmed or stressed, it is perfectly okay to take a walk, get away from the computer, or read a chapter of a book.

Imagine that!

So What is This Master Cleanse Thing, Anyways?

I wanted to give you a few more details about what the master cleanse consists of. It’s a liquid only cleanse, so there is no solid food consumed.

Here is the basic lemonade recipe for 1 Liter:

• 3 oz. Freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
• 3 oz. Grade B Maple Syrup (the darker the better)
• Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
• Filtered or spring water

So far I’ve been drinking 3 of these 1 Liter mixtures per day, as recommended. You can drink more, but should not drink less.

Take a sip every 15 minutes, or more often as desired throughout the day. This ensures your blood sugar stays stable and you don’t experience hunger pangs.

Until tomorrow…

I’ve heard that days 2 and 3 tend to be the toughest, because that’s when the majority of toxins tend to be released in the blood stream. So far, so good. I’ll definitely write about any detox symptoms in my next installment.

Talk to you soon!

Okay, I have a confession to make. I’ve been teaching people about raw food, detox, and alternative healing for months, but I’ve never fasted before.

Photo by Bu

Honestly, I feel like I should post a note that says “I’m not an expert” somewhere on this blog. If only for this reason.

Luckily, my friend Elizabeth P.W. reminded me that it’s okay not to have all the answers. She voiced what I’ve been noticing around the web: people trust those who are honest with them, even if that means admitting faults or problems.

For me that means letting you know that I’ve never done a real fast before. Well, unless you count that time where I decided to eat nothing but apples for one day. (Didn’t do much!)

But that’s all going to change…

I’m about to embark on my very first real fast! I’m going to do the lemonade fast, also known as the Master Cleanse.

I’ll be posting about my experiences here on the blog. I will be as honest and transparent as I can be, without sharing too many of the gory details, if you know what I mean.

It’s funny because before I went raw I always thought fasts had to be for an ulterior motive. Like a 24 hour fast for charity. Or for spiritual reasons.

My rationale for doing this 10 day cleanse is a lot less righteous. Here are a few of my thoughts and reasons:

1. Winter is coming and I want a strong immune system, so giving my body time to heal would be good.
2. I’ve been working hard on my Cure Cravings Forever program, and I could use a boost of energy.
3. I realized that there’s never a perfect time for a cleanse. I was going to do a juice feast in the summer, but somehow the timing didn’t work out. Now or never, I say.
4. It would be great to know what it’s like to experience “crippling cravings” again so I can really delve deep and share my insights in my Cure Cravings Forever program.
5. I’m very curious about the reported benefits and I want to know whether to recommend it to people or not.
6. This master cleanse will be an interesting way to build up my self confidence, and willpower. When you commit to something like this, it’s transformational. (Or so I hear.)
7. I want to see how much yeast vs. beneficial bacteria I seem to have gathered over years of being on birth control pills and taking antibiotics.

Oh, food cravings…

I’ve gathered a lot of craving busting tricks up my sleeve over the past few years.

I go into all the details in my new program called Cure Cravings Forever. I wanted to let you know that the program registration closes on Wednesday November 4th at Midnight, Eastern time.

So if you want to hear my advice on cravings, without the “high and mighty” voice (I’ll be just as bent on cravings as you during my fast!) then this is your time.

I look forward to working with you on kicking some craving butt!

One of the things you’re bound to encounter along your raw food faerytale is detox. In this article I’ll explore the concept of detox, the common symptoms, and even the magick that happens during a detox.

Raw Food Detox Video

(Click here if you can’t see the video.)

Is Detox a Myth?

Take a look at this fictional scenario: You increase your intake of raw food or cut out certain things like processed sugar, processed starch, and/or meat and dairy.

Suddenly, you can feel yourself getting edgy. It’s as if someone took away a drug addict’s stash. All you can think about is food, and you crave a spoonful of that sugary cereal, pretty please.

That’s detox. That’s withdrawal.

Okay, Nathalie, so where does the myth come from? The truth is that sometimes people use detox as an excuse to ignore their body’s signals.

For example, maybe your skin breaks out because you’re eating nothing but dates and raw sweets. (They’re good, but you still need to balance sweets out with other stuff, like greens.) The danger creeps up when someone brushes off these signals as a sign of detox.

Common Detox Symptoms

Here is a short list of possible detox symptoms to help you recognize detox when it happens.

• Skin breakouts
• Bloating, stomach pains
• Headaches
• Food cravings
• Trouble sleeping, nightmares
• Diarrhea and constipation
• Fatigue, drowsiness, low energy levels
• Irritability
• Congestion or Mucus that feels like a cold

Detox Madness

Photo by Kathleen

The short version of detox: when you eliminate or cut back on certain foods, your body eliminates toxins. Your body will try to expel toxins in any way it can: from your liver, via bowel movements, and through your skin’s pores.

While you are detoxing, your body focuses on releasing toxins, so you might feel under the weather because you have all of this garbage traveling throughout your body.

Think of it as deciding to clean a very dusty house for the first time in years. When you start sweeping the dust, it’s going to get into the air and make it hard to breathe. You’ll feel better when you’ve gotten all the dust out, of course.

The same goes for trying to brush away toxins in your body, you will feel the ill effects of drudging toxins up and out. Once they’re out you’ll feel better, but the process is not so peachy.

Why do we need to Detox?

You might be wondering what it is you need to expel exactly?

If you’ve been eating a fairly processed diet for many years, you might be surprised to find that a lot food might have gotten stuck, turning toxic.

In addition to left over food matter in the body, we are all constantly bombarded with modern day chemicals and toxins in the air, water, and products we use.

I believe every one of us could use a little detoxing.

Caution: I do want to caution against getting “detox fever” and constantly wanting to fast, cleanse, and detox. At some point you need to give your body a chance to rest from eliminating toxins.

Detox Magick

Photo by Kenna Takahashi

Now that I’ve thoroughly scared you, I’ll put on my Good Witch’s hat and discuss the magickal aspects of detox.

If detoxing is so uncomfortable, why should you do it? The simple answer is because you’ll feel so much better afterward.

Going through bouts of detox really makes you grateful for those times when you’re just humming along. Plus, every time you detox, you reach a new level of cleanliness. Imagine a car running on the cleanest fuel without any impurities slowing it down.

Assuming you don’t revert your detoxing efforts, you’re going to continue to operate at such a higher level of energy and cleanliness, you’ll be grateful for detox.

Benefits of a Cleansing Detox

• Clearer sinuses
• Weight loss
• Clearer skin
• More energy
• Regular bowel movements
• Mental Clarity
• Emotional stability / eliminated depression

Every time you detox, you peel away one layer of the onion. If you’re not ready to experience a full on detox, simply add a bit of the foods you’re cutting out.

For example, if the headaches of your detox are killing you, just add back a bit of cooked grains or dairy, if that’s what you cut out. It will slow down the detox, and make it easier for your body to adjust to the changes you’re making.

You can control how fast you want to detox. I recommend you detox slowly, unless you give your body the support it needs to eliminate toxins: with hydrocolon therapy, dry skin brushing, or a supportive system for detoxing.

Read my follow-up article full of tips to stop detox, or speed up detox so you can get back to feeling good again.

What Detox Symptoms have you Experienced?

I’d love to know if you’ve ever had a bout of detox, and how severe it might have been. Let me know in the comments!