Are you interested in doing a juice fast? I recently designed and trialled this protocol for 5 days, but you can adapt it for 3 days, 7 days, or even longer. In the 5 day trial, I lost 2 kilos and I felt amazing afterwards. This cleanse is great for building the immune system.
Each Morning
Start the day with a glass of boiled filtered water and the juice of half a lemon and a small knob of ginger. For all of juices use cucumber and celery as a base and add your ‘flavours’ from there.
Breakfast
One litre of juice made with mostly vegetables and some fruit.
Lunch
One litre of juice made with vegetables and one green apple.
Dinner
One litre of juice made with just green vegetables.
In Between ‘Meals’
Make up another litre of juice from fruits and mainly vegetables and have this in the fridge. You can have a glass of this when you feel you are hungry. You may find you can’t drink much more than the 3 litres at meal times, but it depends greatly on your metabolism. This is your backup juice!
Have a carton of fresh coconut water in the fridge. Make sure it is 100% coconut water with no added extras! This is great when you need a little pick me up, it helps to stop any hunger pangs particularly during the first couple of days.
Make sure you drink a glass of water after each juice at meal times. You need to keep up your water intake to assist the process.
In addition to the juicing to aid elimination you can try the following:
- Have a colonic hydrotherapy on day one. This is good to speed up the process and help the body to rid itself of toxins, but it is not compulsory.
- Try dry skin brushing every day before you shower. Buy a dry skin brush and working in a circular motion brush the skin up towards the heart. This helps to get the lymphatic system going and again assists detoxification.
- Epsom salt bath twice during the 5 days. Put one cup of Epsom salts into a bath of warm water and soak for 15-20 minutes. Epsom salts is magnesium and help the body draw impurities out via the skin. Its also great for tired aching muscles, which you may experience during a detox.
- Drink lots of herbal teas, which help with energy (licorice), relaxation (camomile), digestion (peppermint, meadowsweet).
During the detox make sure you don’t have a super busy week. You will find you don’t feel like doing much and it’s natural for your energy levels to drop. Exercising should be limited to a walk a few times a week. On day one in the morning before breakfast, weigh yourself and keep a note of your weight. Then put the scales aside until the morning of the final day of juicing when you should weigh yourself again and celebrate!
My favourite juice recipes
Breakfast
One whole pineapple
One large sprig of mint
One large cucumber
One bunch of celery
One thumb of ginger
Lunch
One beetroot
One large cucumber
Half a bunch of celery
One green apple
Half a lemon
2 large carrots
3 large cabbage leaves
Dinner
Two large cucumbers
One bunch of celery
One bunch of kale
One knob of ginger
One large sprig of parsley
2 large cabbage leaves
**Always be sure to consult your doctor before undertaking any major change in diet or physical activity level.