Juice Fasts for the Raw Challenged

[petlady]

Hi Everyone,

This is the first time I've posted, but have been reading the forums for a few days.

I've tried some of the recipes, but the only one I can get myself to eat is the Breakfast Smoothie. Eating raw is proving to be extremely difficult. I was raised on all "meat and potatoes" type of food. I drank nothing but Pepsi for a period of about 11 years. It got to the point where I couldn't manage to drink more than one swallow of bottled water even when I was dehydrating at a festival in August. I've never even eaten a salad.

I've since weaned myself off of Pepsi by slowly decreasing the amount of Pepsi in the glass and filling the rest up with water. I can drink a bottle of water straight now and am down to only 2-3 oz of Pepsi as a treat with dinner.

Long story short.... I think the only way I'm going to do this is by starting with a juice fast. I've found that it's much easier for me to drink something down quickly instead of trying to eat it. I tried a baby carrot last night for the first time and couldn't stand to finish the little thing.

A couple of questions though....

1. Any tips on dealing with a 100% unsupportive family? I'm not 100% raw but I have cut out all meat. As a result, I've been blamed for "wasting" the meat leftovers in the fridge (even though I'm not forcing anyone to go raw/veg with me). I've also been blamed for not drinking the remaining Pepsi fast enough. I'm not in the best environment right now but that's another issue entirely.

2. What can I do for fiber during the juice fast? Will all that "stuff" ;) take care of itself or should I be drinking something else as well? I've seen references to salt water flushes and laxative teas but can't find a recipe.

3. Will the detox benefits be completely lost if I do this in spurts? I can't afford to take any time off work for a detox migraine. Can I do this on the weekends, or is it better to do a long stretch at once?

Sorry about the long first post.

[tglasco4]

Hello Petlady,

Congratulations to you on your decision for great health. Starting the raw lifestyle with the juice fast is a wonderful idea. But allow me to address your questions in the order you gave them.

(1). Unsupportive family. When you decided to seek out the raw lifestyle you probably had alot of reasons for doing it, everyone does. One of those reasons is usually to improve your health. Improving your health is not just good for you, but for your family as well. Just like if you were to have a terminal disease, it would affect your family as well as yourself. So in that sense this is for your family also. Because its completely different from your current lifestyle, the first reaction from those who love us is concern, then sometimes followed by hostility. When that happened to me, I prayed for strength, because I knew that in the long run, this would be good for all of us even if I was the only one doing it. Another key is something you alluded to, not pushing it on anyone else, but making it your personal choice. This should be calmly re-iterated to those in your family who question your choices. When the raw lifestyle is embraced, the results are evident and plainly seen. I call that being a Living Testimony. The radiance of your face and vigor of your being testify to its benefits. Seek to be a Living Testimony, but at the same time understand that you are learning and will make mistakes. Whenever you slip up, don't focus on the negative but take note of what you learned and move on.

(2) I used the salt flush during my first 30 day juice fast. I did it for the first 10 days. It consists of 32oz of room temperature water with 1.5 to 2 teaspoons of sea salt. I added the juice of one lemon during this week (I am on day 5 of a 10 day juice fast now) and it made it a little more palatable. Don't worry about fiber during the fast as you will find "stuff" will definitely be cleaned out. If you are working full-time, it takes more planning but it can definitely be done. I would recommend beginning on a Friday because the first 3 days are the hardest and this gives you the weekend. Plan to be home that weekend. Carefully plan the week as far as bringing juice with you to work (I use a 64oz thermos). I would be glad to assist you with planning if you feel it would help you.

(3) As far as detox. It is something that your body will be dealing with on and off for a couple of years. Its usually more intense in the early stages but its something you should learn to welcome as your body is cleaning itself out. I recommend at least 75% raw for the lifestyle to be affective. This means one meal is evenly split 50/50 and the rest are raw. Certain things should be avoided at all times, like candy, soda (you know about that one), cookies, pies, ice cream (junk food in general). Processed potatos (like french fries), white bread and cheese (clogs the system). Steamed veggies, brown rice, toasted whole wheat bread are good choices for cooked. Eat as much raw fruit as you can handle. I recommend 12 pieces per day. The more fresh fruit you eat the healthier you will be. Its a great time to do it now, as its summer and fruit is available in abundance. To more directly answer your question, its not something you can really just do on weekends although you can schedule yourself to slowly move away from cooked. Again, if I can be of assistance to you in that area, I will be glad to help.


Peace and blessings to you on your raw journey.

Todd