Cleansing or fasting is our body's natural way of removing or purging itself of poisons. Fasting purifies the blood, regenerating and rebalancing all vital functions in the body. Digestive functions use a large amounts of energy and enzyme power in our daily life and fasting diverts this energy to detoxification and healing. During fasting, each and every one of the internal organs detoxifies itself, while digestive enzymes travel throughout the system digesting damaged cells, tumours, deeply impacted mucus, crystallised spurs on the joints and inflammation. Fasting also stimulates growth hormone secretion from the pituitary gland which is the most powerful healing and regeneration hormone for the specific purpose of repairing damage to the organs and tissues as part of the healing process.
Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2016 for his research on fasting for health and longevity, on how cells recycle and renew their content, a process called autophagy. Autophagy is a process where cells break down proteins and other cell components and use them for energy. Cells destroy viruses and bacteria and get rid of damaged structures. A critical process for cell health, renewal and survival. Fasting activates autophagy, which helps slow down the aging process and has a positive impact on cell renewal.
Our entire digestive system, our colon in particular is designed to process solid wastes from the foods we ingest. Overall health is largely about our digestive systems functioning optimally. A lifetime of improper eating habits, environmental pollution, medicinal drugs and various other lifestyle factors have contributed to an accumulation of poisons in the organs and tissues of the body. In most people, the colon has become clogged with impacted dried mucus, undigested food, inorganic chemicals which not only inhibits digestion and normal bowel movements but also causes toxication of the bloodstream which is the primary cause of disease and degeneration of every organ in the body.
Periodically one needs to cleanse in order to protect health, promote vitality and prolong life. There is no substitute for fasting as it is nature's method to cure disease at the root source which always involves toxicity. Fasting, yogic cleansing practices, breathing, bodywork, massage and exercise all assist the process of deep tissue detoxification and is more important than ever. Every drug, preservative and artificial additive you have ever ingested has triggered a major secretion of mucus which is now impacted on the walls of your colon and cannot be removed simply by eating pure foods. One has to rehydrate and loosen the solid waste from the colon and bowel lining.
Your own body will then naturally do the rest of the detox work through your blood, lymph, hormones and enzymes. But we do need to allow sufficient time for the natural system to take over. Three to seven days is usually enough to kick start you on your own journey of healing.
Five Benefits of Juice Fasting
Rests your digestive system
When you stop eating you stop your digestive system also. The energy that your body uses for digestion is then diverted to healing other parts of your body as your body begins to regenerate itself. Juicing is now able to distribute essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients more easily directly through your blood stream. It is not to say that you should only ever juice but rather take some time out to juice fast so that your digestive system can right itself and thus bring you greater ability to digest after the fast as your body can now work more optimally.
Reduces inflammation
More and more research is being done on inflammation being one of the major causes or disease. There are a few ways to reduce inflammation naturally, one being to eat a clean plant based diet with no toxins. However, it is very difficult even for the healthiest individuals to never be exposed to toxins because of so many factors. It is the body’s natural process to protect itself from various pollutants through creating inflammation. Remove the culprits - remove the inflammation. Allow time for the body to heal through cleansing and fasting and reduce inflammation.
Improved appearance of skin
The skin is the largest organ in the body and is often the last organ to show whether we are healthy or not. Juice fasting brings vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients right to the level of the skin. Juicing boosts collagen production which reduces the appearance of fine lines, it hydrates the skin and removes toxins from the skin. The more we juice, the younger we look. Try these juice recipes for a health glowing skin.
Healthy weight loss
While juicing is not the panacea for weight loss because there is no better remedy than a healthy plant based diet, juicing can help to kick start the weight loss process. Inflammation can be the cause of weight gain and going on a juice fast of just 6 nights can reduce enough inflammation in order to lose a few kilograms depending on each individual. Once we try a juice fast, we feel so well that we shift the way we think about eating. There is no one single diet that helps to lose weight because there are so many individuals and to treat an individual, we need to look at the individual lifestyle as a whole. But a juice cleanse can guide the individual to making healthier choices.
Energy boost
After just a few days, juicing gives such a powerful energy boost because of changes at the cellular level that you will be utterly amazed. At first one feels worse as the body is looking for it’s habitual energy boosters, like sugar and caffeine but after three or four days, sometimes five days, we begin having so much energy that we can’t believe it took us so long to being juicing to start with.
