We have heard about fasting on a particular week day or during festival season wherein a person skip's a meal or two during the day. This is done to give the digestive system a break.
What is juice fasting?
Today we have the concept of juice fasting. This is nothing but a method to detox your body without taking intake of any hard food for more than 16 hours and upto 24 hours or more.
Why Juice Fasting?
When toxins increase in our body, pH is disturbed making the body more acidic. To detox the acidity and to make the body more alkaline, consuming liquids or juices is a well defined method. Our body comprises of 72% water, 12% earth, 6% Air, 4% Fire and 6% space – the five elements of nature. According to Sadguru, if we do not respect these five elements of nature, their behaviour within us is going to be different. He further goes on to say that if you look at water and think something, its structure will change. If you touch it, its structure will change. Water has memory and depending upon how you treat water, its memory remains for a long time. Water is like a liquid computer storing our actions in its memory.
The food we eat should be alkaline to integrate with these five elements.
Juices specifically lack fiber which help control our apetite. They also help our body to cleanse itself, besides providing the required energy.
Benefits of water :
| Sr.No. | Benefits |
|---|---|
| 1 | Liquid anti-oxidants absorb more quickly in the body. Hence, it is anti-ageing |
| 2 | It has colon cleansing properties |
| 3 | It supports immune system |
| 4 | It has hydration, skin health and other detoxifying properties |
| 5 | It helps in weight loss |
| 6 | It is cancer resistant. |
Juices made out of fresh vegetables and fruits are to be consumed. These provide the required calories between 900 to 1200 for our sustenance during the day without eating anything solid.
Which vegetables and fruits can be used ?
Vegetables like Celery, Kale, Carrot, Cabbage, Spinach, Beetroot and leafy greens can be used for making smoothy or juices.
Fruits like apple can be used for making juices. Avocado, banana and papaya can be used only in smoothies as they do not have much water content.
Consume smoothie slowly sip by sip like eating it for better results and to avoid any gas formation or bloating.
How to clean the vegetables and fruits?
Use “Fruit and Vegetable Wash” liquid to remove pesticides from the fruits and vegetables. This liquid is available online.
Can I have water during the fasting?
Yes. You can consume alkaline water. To make the ordinary water alkaline, place the water in a copper or mud vessels or drop pieces of cucumber/orange /Sweet Lime ( mosambi ) skin in the water or tulsi leaves in the water.
When fresh toxins are not added, body becomes alkaline.
What are the preparations to be made for Juice Fasting?
1. 3 to 5 days before you start juice fast, gradually eliminate MRPS, wheat, alcohol to reduce headache, cravings and other withdrawal symptoms.
2. Increase intake of fresh vegetables, fruits and fluids.
Drink atleast 32 ounces of juice or smoothie with half being green vegetable juices.
You can do between one to seven days of juice fasting. Longer period should be under medical supervision.
After the fast ?
No heavy eating immediately after the fast. Eat lightly for a few days and gradually go on adding foods over the course of several days to bring it to normal diet.
How to do juice fasting ?
It requires preparation both mentally and physically. Plan it first for 24 hours from 7.30 pm to 7.30pm next day (i.e., dinner to dinner) or from lunch to lunch. Lunch to lunch could be advantageous for people who attend office. For previous day’s lunch or dinner (depending on what you choose for 24 hour period) use more of vegetables and salad and less grain with no rice. Only juices during the day and night only smoothie or Gazpacho juice or soup on the day of fast. Next food will be next day’s lunch, that too light food like fruits or salad and light dinner with soup and less grains.
Office goers can carry coconut water or juice in a flask or themos and consume it as per schedule. Coconut water if locally available can be consumed or fresh juices without sugar and ice.
Anyone from the age of 18 to 80 can do juice fasting without much adverse effects. Those with high dosage of medication and serious ailments, need to consult their doctor before undertaking such a fast.
What precautions need to be taken ?
| Sr.No. | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1 | Do morning Enema during the fast |
| 2 | Stick to light physical activity ie., 50% of your normal activity like walking etc. Conserve energy. |
| 3 | Do body massage. |
| 4 | Practice mind and body wellness. For mind wellness you can use chanting. |
| 5 | Prepare for Emotions that may arise during the fasting. First convince yourself that you can do it. Keep the craving aways. |
| 6 | If feeling very hungry or unable to sustain, eat vegetable broth or carrot, celery salad or a piece of fruit or drink turmeric water. |
What will be day's schedule on juice fasting day?
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 8 - 9am | Green Juice/Smoothie |
| 10.30am - 11.30 am | Black coffee or Lemon Tea |
| 1pm - 2 pm | Badam Soup, Cucumber smoothie/Thick tomato soup |
| 3pm - 4pm | Herbal/Hunza tea |
| 5pm - 6pm | V-6 Red Juice (filtered)/coconut water |
| 8pm | Mix Veg soup or thick tomato soup |
| 10pm | Warm vegan nut milk with turmeric |
Other Instructions
Sleep early on both the days viz., before and on the day of fast
Before attempting longer juice fasting, first do 16 to 18 hours fasting and then extend it to 24 hours or more.
Power nap in the afternoon is permissible
On the previous day of fasting dinner, you can have millet upma or light dal kichdi of brown rice or brown rice kanji.
On the next day of completing the fast, eat mainly vegetable (raw or lightly steamed), fruits and nuts. Include more plant based foods such as beans, brown rice or quinoa. Then slowly add regular diet.
During the juice fasting, use it as spiritual fasting i.e., practice forgiveness, observe silence and conserve energy.
Juice fasting provides abundant energy both mental and physical.
ADVANCED DETOX JUICE FASTING BETWEEN 3 TO 5 DAYS:
Once you are acclamatised to one day juice fasting, it can be extended to 3 to 5 days when you reach the abundance stage.
Schedule of juices to be consumed during the advanced detox days are :
| Time | Type of Juice |
|---|---|
| 9am | Ash Gourd Juice or Coconut water or Cucumber Juice |
| 11.30am | ABC Juice (2 apples, 1 Beetroot, 2-3 carrots, ½ ginger and ½ lemon) |
| 2pm | Green Juice. (2 cucumbers, handful of spinach, 1 or 2 apples, handful of coriander leaves or mint leaves, 1 inch ginger and ½ lemon) |
| 5.30pm | Repeat Green Juice or Ash Gourd Juice or Coconut water |
| 7pm | Repeat Green Juice or Ash Gourd Juice or Coconut water |
Advanced detox juice fasting can be done under supervision of DFF or a group.
For more details refer to webinar of Dr.Bhagyesh Kulkarni on youtube
Ans: Yes you can do juice fast alone during a period suitable for you. But there are distinct advantages of doing it in a group viz., drawing out a schedule, sharing the information, support and energy of the group, and a commitment to complete the juice fast along with others.
Ans: Depending upon your body metabolism, there could be some common symptoms like headache, nausea, vomiting, acidity and weakness. There could also be some temporary weight loss. But once you complete the fast, these symptoms will go away and you feel very energetic and enthusiastic.
Ans: When you do 12 to 14 hours of fasting or more, Autophagy in the body starts. Autophagy is a process by which the cells in the body get recycled or the damaged or dysfunctional cells get removed or replaced. It is sort of a self-eating mechanism of the body. When you fast for longer periods, body goes into ketosis, a process in which body starts to burn the fat for energy instead of glucose. When you deprive the body of carbohydates which in turn deprives it of glucose, body switches from glucose for energy to relying on ketones produced from the burning of fat. That is why when you fast for longer periods, body loses weight because of fat loss. Typically, during this period when you deprive the body of carbohydrates, body will need energy to keep up the daily energy requirement. This is provided by the nutrients from the fresh juices. The juices also keep the body alkaline.
Ans: Generally yes but for a few exceptions like people who are under medication for chronic diseases and pregnant ladies and breast feeding mothers. Even people who are underweights are also advised not to undertake juice fasting without proper medical supervision.
Ans: You can consume between 4 to 5 glasses of juices in a day. You can consume juices like ash gourd juice, cucumber juice, coconut water, ABC juice or V6 juice. Sufficient quantity of water intake is also recommended to avoid any dehydration.
Ans: You can make juices out of any locally and readily available fruits and vegetables.
Ans: You can use any item readily available in your kitchen either a blender, or juicer or even mixer. Only requirement will be to strain the mixture before consuming it as a juice.
