Preparation for a 10 day Juice Fast Part 2

This is what always goes through my mind as far as 'what to do' the day before I am about to embark upon a cleanse:

cookies and shakes, num num num!

But I have learned the hard way that this is just going to make it a LOT harder and that if you can, it's best to prep 3 or so days beforehand by "juicing 'til dinner",  a concept I learned from Natalia Rose, author of Detox for Women, that I will have to get to in another blog. Aside from buying groceries, which I will discuss in a bit on this blog, it's important to prepare on the psychological front, since I won't lie: this cleanse does involve focus.

So here are some highlights of what to keep in mind, all of which I have gathered from a variety of sources:

• Everything is going to be OK even though it may be hard to feel like it is. You are. The first 3 days are the roughest but after you get through those, it's relatively effortless. And from experience of having fasted for 3 days, I recall realizing that I could easily carry on painlessly.
• At the end of this 10 day cleanse you will feel more rejuvenated and have so much life force energy you will feel quite possibly even better than you did when you were a kid.  
• You'll be cleaning out your system, rejuvenating, re-energizing. and making breakthroughs.
• You may feel lethargic or you may feel invigorated - it all depends on each individual. 
• When you get out of bed, have a quart of water with a slice of lemon or lime in it. It'll go to your joints, wake up your brain, go to your blood, etc. Lemon has Vitamin C and will alkalize your water.
• Keep in mind you'll be consuming 16 cups of juice per day so be assured you are getting the calories that you need to the point you can go and exercise and just carry on your usual day where you'll be freeing up time for more creative pursuits because you won't be in the kitchen so much. You'll be doing more than what you normally do because as the days go by, your energy is just going to get higher and higher and higher.
• That you're  on a "hero's journey" (as coined by the JuiceFeasting guys). They say, "you need to focus on it at all times, much like following the Appalachian trail. How much juice am I making for the day? Is there a party I'm going to today? "You're always thinking ahead like a "chess player". 

• They also suggest this: "If you've been chronically constipated, you'll probably need to do an enema to get out the stuff your body processed during the night. This might sound revolting at first but what is far worse is NOT doing this when you're on such an intense cleanse. Note: This is not to be a life practice! You just need access during the juice cleanse because otherwise you only get 1/3 of the effects of the cleanse. You will likely have a severe headache and experience sluggishness as well, otherwise. If you skip it during a cleanse, you typically don't feel good and you don't want to continue on. Even though this topic is somewhat controversial, think about it this way: NOT doing it is far more toxic for you because you'll awaken and release old waste and fermented matter only for it to become reabsorbed. That mass is what was digested or putrified or fermented over time and if you don't get rid of it, it stays inside you and will continue to attach to the walls of your large intestine or your colon. It's important that people realize that matter will re-poison your bloodstream.  Because what does the intestine do? It's designed to absorb. It's what moves matter from your digestive tract into your bloodstream. That's the whole purpose of it. So if you have old putrified meat, candida, and you have growths that are just not healthy, they are producing poisons, and those poisons are going right through your blood stream, making you feel, "crappy"".  HHAAAA!!

spinach, swiss chard, bok choy, kale, collards and more.

So here are the groceries you need on hand and a few tips.

• You want to get a large variety of greens-at least 5 or 6 bunches of different greens.  The reason you want to rotate them is because there are alkaloids and if you were to eat the same green day in and day out, the alkaloid will build up in your system and can cause problems later on.  Rotate your greens! Rotating 3 at a time is great but feel free to rotate up to 10! 
• Bok Choy & Celery: you want to take in at least 1 bunch of celery per day (or bok choy) because these are just about the only sources of natural sodium, and we need them to balance out the other minerals we are going to be putting into our bodies. Green celery also helps to move the digestive system.
• Kale: Kale and Swiss Chard are a great source of minerals and you'll notice different kinds of kale and Swiss Chard taste different. The more 'purply' they are the more pungent they taste but the idea is to gradually build up to them and play around with different combinations, ensuring that there is never a juice that you don't like. 
• Basil or "baaaasal" as some people say who want to sound fancy, (great for tomato juice) parsley, coriander (great for fruit juices), cilantro can all be mixed into various juices. 
• You can juice the green tops of beets and carrots and that counts as your greens so it's a great way of getting 'free greens'. In fact, using the top and bottom of a beet, for example, will have the added benefit of giving you the amino acids and sugars to balance out the sweet coming from the fruit. 
• Red Pepper: great to add to green juices or lemonade to give it a twist; Red and Green Onions are great to add into the green juices or a savory juice (like tomato).
• Cucumbers are super important because they dilute the juice, especially fruit juices. You don't taste it much and you get the rich chlorophyll from the skin (ideally, go through 2-4/day)
• Play around with your vegetable and have fun with the combinations! Even sweet potatoes and squash (just not white potatoes)--no deprivation!

Last, this is in NO WAY comprehensive, it's what I have time for tonight. There is so much more I could write and somehow 'enemas' made it to the first blog and that is not what I had planned, although in retrospect, it's important when embarking upon a ten day juice cleanse, especially if you're new to this and you have a of toxins to rid yourself of.  I plan to update this blog tomorrow when I'm feeling more awake but hopefully here are some helpful getting started 'basics' to put in your pipe and smoke. Or juicer to masticate?