So it’s time…. to cleanse! Very excited since this is not something I usually do (but should). Picked up 6 fresh juices from Organic Avenue this morning – must say they were super helpful and put together a plan that would work for me.

”Fasting can be an enlightening experience if done properly and not abused (as would be the case if one used it, for example, as a method to quickly lose weight, or as a crash or fad diet). Fasting can sometimes even help address deep seated emotional issues attached to an individual’s preoccupation with food, or a food addiction.

The good thing about a juice cleansing fast is that it brings with it the many health benefits of fasting.

Many people in the Western world today have measurable levels of specific toxins in their systems as a result of lifestyle, exposures in the environment, and other factors. These chemical substances include pesticides, PCBs (from plastics), lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals, dioxins, herbicides – the list goes on.

In the healthy person, the body has been genetically wired to self-detoxify with the assistance of the skin, liver, kidneys, intestine and lymphatic system. However, in the face of modern day strains, an additional yearly or seasonal detoxification process can be helpful.

Juice fasting, or juice cleansing / juice diets (as some consider fasting to be complete abstention from both water and solid foods, for instance the religious fasts undertaken by Muslims during the month of Ramadan) allow the body to imbibe large quantities of rapidly available nutrients, in many cases more nutrients than the individual obtains through a regular diet.

The minerals and nutrients contained in juice can help break down and eliminate old or dying cells, enliven active cells, and speed the process of new cellular growth. Raw juices contain all the following elements:

• Vitamin K (especially prevalent in dark leafy green vegetables), which promotes bone strength, the immune system, and healthy blood.
• Minerals such as calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, boron, zinc, and selenium.
• Organic sulfur compounds, which help to destroy poisonous chemicals and cleanse the bloodstream and liver.
• Polyphenols (the plant molecules which give fruits and vegetables their color) serve as potent antioxidants.
• Additional antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, flavanoids, beta carotene and others.
• Anti inflammatory agents.
• Powerful antibiotic substances.
• Living enzymes to improve digestion.
• Phytochemicals that help the immune system battle disease.

Juices, because they function as concentrated forms of the normal daily quantity of raw fruits and vegetables, can deliver larger proportionate amounts of many of the above nutrients than one would be able to ingest eating whole vegetables and fruits. Thus, besides detoxification, juice cleansing also gives the body a potent nutritional boost.

And, because better nutrition translates to better bodily function, which then improves the body’s ability to naturally detoxify itself of harmful substances, juice cleansing makes for potentially more effective detoxification than a pure water fast.”

(All information from http://www.all4naturalhealth.com/juice-cleansing.html)