21 Day Juice Fast

I now, in April 2012, begin 21 days juice fasting, returning to my journey towards cheap and extreme health, since eating mixed food and some junk food as well for the last three months.

The night before starting this fast I had a big take-away meal of white rice and Chinese yellow bean sauce mixed in with vegetables and cashew nuts. Normally it is advisable to slowly change your diet and prepare your body for the fast gradually but I just decided to start spontaneously.

Jump to: Conclusions, How to Improve the Juice Fast Next Time, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, The Pulse Test, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21, Breaking the Juice Fast, Second Day Off Fast.

This time my juice fast is not done with LIVE juices (Queen Afua recommends live juices) - I drink mostly pasteurized 100% fruit juices, with no additives and especially no sugar. The reason I don't drink all live juices now is because this time I am fasting while working and I have to save money as I am struggling to pay my bills - so I can't practically drink all live juices.

The purpose of this whole website is to make information about cheap, effective health practices available to as many people as possible. So in that spirit, I begin this fast with enthusiasm, seeing that it could prove useful for many people out there, who - like me - have a need to improve their energy levels and health - but don't have the luxury to take time off work or to drink purely live and freshly squeezed juices.

Please note that according to Dr. Paavo Airola's "Juice Fasting" -book, it is safe to fast for 10 days without the supervision of a health professional. I already have one week's experience of fasting at home from before so I now proceed to fasting at work, as I know roughly what to expect. [I started this fasting experiment off as a 10-14-day fast but ended up extending it to 21 days.]

There is a difference between a juice fast and a juice feast and what I am doing is actually a juice feast, because I don't limit the amount of juices I take and so can get all the calories I need each day. A fast, strictly speaking, always limits calories and puts the body in ketosis, where instead of external foods, the body starts digesting its own waste matter and old cells. I use the terms 'feasting' and 'fasting' intermittently in this text, however, because many people may not know the term 'feasting' and may be looking for information on juice fasting and find this blog entry useful instead. Some people call juice feasting 'a liquid diet' instead and from my point of view it could also be called a type of fast, because the digestion system gets to rest and the body's energies are directed towards healing.

This is me after the juice fast...

I think there are levels of purification you can go through, and you have to choose what level you are happy with, what inspires you and also keep in mind that the detox might get too difficult with too big steps from one kind of diet into another. This is how I see the levels (just an example, they are not that clear-cut in reality, especially because everyone's body is different). Each level down makes it easier for the body to digest and detoxify:

• SAD Diet (processed food, meat, toxins, etc.)
• Organic diet - no processed foods, includes a little meat, no sugar, no wheat, no allergens...
• Organic lacto-ovo vegetarian diet
• Organic vegan diet/ Nutritarians - no meat, dairy, sugar, wheat or sensitivity-causing foods
• Organic raw food diet/ Fruitarians/ Chlorophyllians - no processed foods, lots high greens and high water-content foods (low or high fat diet, depending on the person)
• Smoothie feast
• Juice feast/ Liquidarians
• Live juice feast (92-days or longer max.)
• Juice fast (calories restricted) (60 days max?)
• Water fast (40 days max?)
• Dry fast/ Breathatarians (48 hours max?)

(Personally, I don't think I agree with water fasting or dry fasting. Maybe they are good in cases of extreme illness but for me juice feasting is an efficient enough way to clean and there are many doctors and health professionals who say water fasting may be harmful.)

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Conclusions (21 Days Juice Fasting)

[See the chapter after next for the diary notes day-to-day during the fast..]

This was a successful juice fasting on a budget experiment! I bought on average 4 litres (/quarts) of fruit juices per day, and in addition I made on average 1 litre (/quart) of live vegetable and fruit juice at home per day. The fruit juices I bought ranged from £1.20 to £2.40 (except plum juice which was £4 and young coconut juice which was £5.25!) and the vegetable juice I would estimate to have costed about £1.60, realistically. So for juice feasting, when you don't restrict your calorie intake, I think that the cheapest you can go is £8.80 ($14.90, €10.74) per day, unless you have your own garden and fruit trees!

(If you want to have a more extremely cleansing juice fast and also save more money, you can always restrict your juice intake. It is more extreme on the body as well, however, so study this method first carefully, so as not to harm your body. It is quite safe when done correctly. Paavo Airola's and Queen Afua's books both promote this kind of proper juice fast and I have provided quotations and more information on these in the book summaries section of this website.)

This was also a successful 'fasting at work' -experiment and I managed to cycle 2x 45min (to work and back) every weekday, while doing 21 days of juice fasting. Additional benefits experienced were as follows:

• Much more balanced moods, happy more
• Lost 3kg and managed to keep the weight at my ideal level without losing too much! This is a massive achievement for me since during my previous raw food diets and fasts I have had a problem with losing too much weight. This might be a sign of my body finding its healthy balance in terms of weight.
• My allergy symptoms hugely improved very quickly on the juice fast (mucous in the sinuses and throat)
• I started waking up earlier than normal, naturally (another major improvement!)
• My bloated belly went flat quickly
• Workdays seemed to go quicker! This was a very strange experience and I have had that before on raw food diets when off caffeine at the same time. I think the reason why I felt like that was because I could concentrate so much better! Because when you concentrate, time goes quicker.
• My mind felt sharper. My memory was better and I felt a bit wittier than normal. Some would probably say this was the infamous 'brain fog' lifting...
• Occasionally I had this fresh feeling on the inside of my chest, perhaps something happening on the cellular level
• Saved so much time not cooking
• I felt a bit more flexible without doing any stretching exercise
• Saved money
• I felt that it required little discipline to do this fast because I had practice rounds before and because I have already done a lot of purification through raw foods and other methods. The fact that I didn't have many cravings seems like a great achievement and a sign that this was a correct level of challenge for this moment in my health journey.

(To read about my full health journey, see: My Raw Food Journey - How I Came to Know the Good Life)

My eye whites still didn't get white, they remain a little yellow. This may be related to food intolerances, liver function, too little mineralisation, or anything else, but this is one little thing that didn't get solved during the 21 days juice fasting. I would like to solve it, though.

When taking a coffee enema, I passed a lot of gallstones. This was a surprise to me, I didn't expect to have them at my age (32- years old)... although the water in London does have a lot of limescale and I have been drinking tap water for a long time here. I will definitely be doing more coffee enema liver cleanses now!

One HUGE realisation was how effective enemas are. I got absolute proof this time on how important it is to take a lot of enemas during fasting. Every time I went for a longer period (1-2 days) without taking an enema, I would start to get different detox symptoms. And every time I took an enema they would clear quickly!

Read more about enemas here: Why and How to Take an Enema

At the time of writing this it is the second day after the fast and I am feeling a little more phlegmy again after eating a cooked wild rice dish. So the allergies seem to have cleared temporarily but not permanently. I will next start a 'pulse test' experiment, to see if I have any food allergies, and once I have figured that out, I will start the next raw food diet.

I will report at length below, day to day, on this 21-day juice fasting experiment (three weeks). If you are juice fasting, you can compare your progress with my diary, and write your own notes in the comments section - or ask questions. I'm happy to support you on the way.

For my other juice fasting experiments, as well as more summaries and writing of the benefits I found from fasting, return to: "Cheap Health Revolution - Juice Feasting/ Fasting Experiments".

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How to Improve the Juice Fast Next Time

I was quite happy with this juice fast - I thought it was a success.

On another juice fast, I would probably do more enemas, since I have now experienced their power first hand. I would probably also do more coffee enemas. And since I have now properly learned how to take an enema, I don't mind them anymore. At the beginning I hated them.

I would definitely try to incorporate much more green juices than I did this time because only towards the end of the fast I read that fruit juices are actually not alkaline! I always thought they were. So I would try my best to make sure that the body gets at least as many alkaline juices as it gets fruit juices. Funnily, grapefruit juice seems to be one of the least acidic fruit juices and that's what my body was constantly craving on my previous, 7-day live juice fast.

[Update: Some fruit juices, e.g. lemon juice, have an alkalizing effect on the body although the juice itself is acidic. Thus it is good practice to include lemon juice diluted in water into the juice fast as it alkalizes and also helps to clean the liver.]

[Update: I noticed after completing this fast that I had a food intolerance to carrots. Thus I was getting some of the classic food intolerance symptoms - heart palpitations and chest pain - from drinking carrot juice. I used the pulse test to find this out and you can read more at my Food Intolerance Test diary. Keeping in mind that the pulse variation will be less on a liquid diet, I would definitely monitor my pulse on the next fast. I would also leave out carrots since I, personally, happen to have a reaction to them. For other people carrot juice is a very good juice to make, however.]

Apart from that, I think I was pretty much spot on with how I did the fast.

More live juices would have been good but, as explained in my diary notes (below), I didn't have the opportunity to do that this time.

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Day 1 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Saturday, 31st March 2012

I started a juice fast today, after three months of eating mixed food, partly raw salads and smoothies, some green juices, and partly cooked, including some junk foods, beer, plenty of processed carbs etc.

I woke up at 1pm today feeling quite tired, with stuffy nose and plenty of phlegm in my throat. It is 4.15pm now, I have not drank any caffeine and starting to get a slight headache in addition to the tiredness. Drinking chaga mushroom tea helps a little bit. I have a slight throat ache, too. Generally feeling lazy and quite demotivated to do anything, including writing this.

I took some probiotics also, and will drink plenty of green juice throughout the weekend. I include quite a bit of pasteurized juice in this diet, in order to save money and to make it easier to manage the fast during full-time work. I hope to strengthen my immune system this time and to see if my cough and allergy symptoms (post-nasal drip) go away. I am really looking forward to being alcohol- and caffeine free again. I am also looking forward to the benefits of quitting dairy and of giving my digestion a break from solid foods. On the first couple of days I may include some smoothies in the diet, however. [Update: I didn't, as I didn't feel I needed them.]

I currently feel like drinking a green tea would help me get motivated to do things. I feel it would also lift my moods. I feel a bit down, which comes with the tiredness and demotivation. I'm not hungry at all, although I keep thinking about different foods. I think I might just have to be quite lazy this weekend. From experience the second day may be much more difficult than the first, at least when it comes to caffeine withdrawal. But when next weekend comes (long Easter weekend), by then I am hoping to feel good and be enjoying this diet. Battling some cravings, maybe, but generally more energetic and happy.

I had a little sleep and feel a bit better now. The phlegm is definitely already clearing from my throat and sinuses.

I've been having some heart symptoms recently, which seem to be alcohol-, caffeine- and stress-related. Slight pain in the left side of my chest, once extending into the arm, and heart palpitations. They seem to come and go. I saw a doctor about it and she advised monitoring the symptoms and seeing if they are caffeine- or alcohol-related. If they come with exercise, she said, I should go back and see her.

[Update: I found out later during the food intolerance/ pulse test experiment that these heart symptoms were due to an intolerance I have to carrots. I also started getting similar anxiety symptoms later whenever I had eaten a lot of sugar or processed carbs.]

I have also had humming in my ears ever since the last time I was in an airplane, which was a couple of weeks ago. I don't always notice it but it is there sometimes. I had it today again.

It is 7.30pm now, I'm feeling very slightly hungry. Up to now I have only been drinking pasteurized orange, grapefruit and pineapple juices and chaga mushroom tea. I feel a slight caffeine headache coming on, but it hasn't managed to come on so far, probably because I had a sleep earlier and the day has been very relaxed. I do think I should have a green juice or some freshly squeezed lemon, to get electrolytes, life force and other unknown goodies in fresh juice. (Live fruit or fruit juice sometimes seems to slightly help with pain.) I feel slightly dizzy but I think it's due to the general brain fog from lack of caffeine.

On the positive side, everything suddenly looks brighter (I get this every once in a while) and I had some good 'sparkly', fresh feelings in my body. It is difficult to describe, but like a pleasant cold, sparkly sensation spreading along the muscles, in streaks. I seem to get this more and more often the more purification I do. It might have to do with the antioxidants from chaga mushroom. Other things that seem to possibly enhance this fresh feeling are: natural bristle brushing of the skin in the bath (without soap), negative ionizer, and hydrogen peroxide baths.

It is a very nice feeling, but quite limited to small areas of the body still. I am hoping the feeling will one day take over my whole body! It feels like the body coming alive, like the cells are refreshing and becoming energized! (But I hope it is not a B12 deficiency symptom! ;))

* * *

Random inspiration, here is a quote from Tonya Zavasta on hydrogen peroxide (available at a pharmacist for a couple of pounds/ dollars, but needs diluting before using in a bath - don't drink it!):

"Another way to get more oxygen in your body is with hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is found everywhere in nature because it falls to earth in the form of rainwater. After a good thunderstorm, you get out and it looks as though everything has grown an inch. Everything is alive. What happened? All the vegetation just received a high dose of nature's oxygen and peroxide that aids growth almost visibly." - Tonya Zavasta, p. 202, Quantum Eating: the Ultimate Elixir for Youth

And this is what Tonya Zavasta has to say about negative ions (and why I sometimes use a negative ionizer):

"Negative ions are invisible molecules that we inhale in abundance in the mountains, near waterfalls, and at beaches. Natural sources of negative ions are sunlight, radiation, moving air, and water. Pollution, smog, chemicals, and the like, are airborne in relatively large ions with a positive charge. They are capable of steamrolling over the good negative ions and flattening out all the good air. Positive ions simply suck all the vitality out of the air. [...]

"Have you experienced exhilarating moods after a thunderstorm, or walking on the beach? The air circulating in the mountains, the country, the forest, and on the beach is said to contain an average ratio of negative to positive ions of about 3 to 1. In cities, the ratio drops dramatically to one negative ion for every 300 to 600 positive ions!" - Tonya Zavasta, p. 215 of the above book

She also quotes Pierce J Howard on the same topic: "Negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain; resulting in higher alertness, decreased drowsiness, and more mental energy."

So that is why I like hydrogen peroxide baths and negative ionizers! But you need a powerful-enough ionizer for it to work well and also, I put about 1/2- 1 small bottle of 9% hydrogen peroxide in my bath when I can afford the luxury! I say luxury, yet the bottle is very cheap to buy from a pharmacist - a couple quids. This is not a very strong amount, at least it doesn't seem so, you may need much stronger solutions to feel a clear difference. [Hydrogen peroxide can be a very dangerous substance if misused, be careful.]

Also, keep in mind that many of these subtler, natural cures will not produce clear effects in a toxic, drugged, stressed-out and over-taxed body and mind. As you detoxify and simplify your lifestyle, your body (and mind!) will be able to work with these subtle natural substances better: like good quality essential-oils or negative ionizers. The other things to keep in mind are quality and quantity. For example? Do essential oils work? If you want them to work, you have to go for a quality product. Don't choose by the label of the product or their ad-campaign. Find independent recommendations for it, otherwise don't bother. If you're interested in essential oils, there is plenty of information available on the internet regarding potent extraction methods. I have found that if an essential oil is organic, that is usually a good sign.

In the same way as raw foods and herbs work differently from cooked ones, also the same difference can be expected with a healing method dealing with a toxic or a non-toxic person. And there is another complication on this way to cheap, extreme health truths: often the dosages you need are played down by various profit-making interests, who compete with natural home remedies. The other reason dosages of, for example, many vitamins are played down is for safety. This would be good, unless the end result came to be recommendations for such low dosages of vitamins that they won't work at all anymore.

And then we come a full circle back to the point about quality: vitamins are a good example. If you take lab-made chemicals for vitamins, they are likely to bring your body out of balance. They may have the same name as natural vitamins but they are not the same substance. On the other hand good-quality vitamins, made of compressed food, can support your body. And the best source of all are vitamins in wholefoods, where they come balanced out with the correct chemical soup, naturally.

* * *

On a completely different topic, I am reading an interesting book at the moment, called 'The Pulse Test' by Arthur F Coca, M.D.
The book explains a method of counting one's pulse throughout the day and testing different food items in relation to the pulse. A pulse above 85 beats per minute (bpm) is an indication of a food allergy but can be a delayed reaction to a food, thus the method of counting throughout the day. Thus, I will test my pulse during the juice fast and also after breaking the fast, which will be an interesting experiment. Perhaps I will finally find a cause for my cough!

Pulse:
67 beats per minute
66 beats at 9.20pm, after drinking grapefruit juice and green juice (with ginger, apples, broccoli, celery, lemon, and romaine lettuce - one of the nicest green juices I ever made by the way! With about half of the juice made of apples and the other half of greens, with only a little bit of lemon. Mostly organic ingredients.)
64 bpm at 10.40pm
67 bpm at 11.09pm (some 15mins after being exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke)

I also had high blood pressure couple of times, but on the second check it was fine, so the doctor said not to worry about it. It does make sense it would have been caused by an allergy to a certain food. The main culprit I suspect is alcohol, or something in the alcohol, as it often causes me to blush, which could be a sign of high blood pressure. Also caffeine, which clearly gives me many strong symptoms when drunk in excess. And for the cough I suspect dairy, but it could be anything... Seems like there is hope that I found a simple way to test this and find out - finally!

Total juice consumption today:

• 1 litre (1l = 35 ounces) of pasteurized 100% grapefruit juice from concentrate £1.29, 410kcal
• 1l of orange juice, as above, £1.49, 470kcal
• 1l of pineapple juice, as above, £1.49, 510kcal
• 1 glass (250ml) of green juice, ingredients as above, estimated at £1.50, 269kcal (as calculated on Nutridiary.com
• 2l of chaga mushroom tea (approx.), free, calories = very few

Total calories today: 1659 kcal (the general target for a moderately active woman per day is 2500 kcal)

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Day 2 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Sunday, 1st April

Woke up at 10pm, after 11 hours' sleep, pulse upon wakening 63bpm. Have a slight headache, and my face is puffy but apart from that I feel fine. Not hungry, a little bit more energetic than yesterday. I am excited of my new discovery of the pulse test because I have been considering of paying a lot of money for allergy tests, while not being sure which ones are good ones. This allows me to easily test it at home for free, in the true spirit of the cheap health revolution!

Morning weight: 58kg (128 lbs, 9.1 stone).

Pulse 67 bpm at 11.20am, half an hour after drinking grapefruit juice and one litre of chaga mushroom tea (and after being exposed to a small amount of second-hand cigarette smoke).

Pulse 67 bpm at 12.50am, after taking a hot bath, washing hair, and drinking a glass of water with a juice of one lemon in it.

Pulse 64 bpm at 3.30pm, after walking outside in the sun, drinking fresh orange juice, pasteurized prune juice, organic pear and apple juice and chaga mushroom tea. I have a slight headache and cold symptoms: throat ache... My mouth feels tense around the gums, headachy feeling but I have some more energy now, the feeling of laziness from yesterday is pretty much gone, and the phlegm in my throat and sinuses is pretty much gone as well. Some quick results on that front! I am interested to see if the phlegm comes back at work or when cycling through the polluted city.

[Update: The tense jaw seems to be a symptom I get from caffeine, even when withdrawing from it.]

Pulse 71 bpm at 8.20pm after a long telephone conversation, drinking St. John's Wort and passion flower tea, coconut water, orange juice and a little bit of prune juice. I also had one hour's nap some hours ago. I had a diarrhea some hours back too, not sure if it was because of prune juice or the tea. (Later note: not the tea.) Feel a little bit hungry now, maybe I have had too many low-calorie drinks and not enough high-calorie ones. Small headache is still there and arms and legs are occasionally achy: the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal and a cold. These should hopefully be gone by tomorrow. Feel quite tired, too, again. But the thought that I am free of caffeine makes me happy. And it is only a four-day week because of Easter so I should be able to make it through without too much temptation.

Just got out of a second hot bath for the day (hot bath is a very good detox help), it is 10.15pm and I'm going to bed now. Pulse reads: 71 bpm. Had some chaga mushroom tea and pineapple juice for a night cap.

Note: I am not including the individual pulse readings from now on, just the conclusions of what I find, or if there is a clear difference in the pulse.

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Monday, 2nd April, Day 3 - Fasting at Work (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Woke up at 7.45am. Live green juice, and pasteurised grapefruit and orange juice for breakfast. Some chaga mushroom tea.

Feel good this morning, slept well apart from waking up around 3am very thirsty and still with a slight headache. Now, after waking up, the headache is gone, although a slight feeling of cold is still there, sinuses feel a bit numb and slight throat ache. Legs ache very slightly and eyes feel a little bit sleepy, but generally I feel quite good and energetic. No digestion issues, no headache and very little phlegm in the throat. I will buy lots of ready juices to take to work today.

9.45am, after cycling to work. Slight headache - otherwise feel good.

1.30pm, after drinking a Crussh 'green goddess' -juice with added spirulina (sitting outside the office in the sun). Have a slight headache which comes and goes, feel slightly 'under the weather'. Cycling this morning was easy, though, perhaps easier than normal [Update: not so in the evening!]. Work day seems to go quicker than usual - I've had this feeling before with raw food and no caffeine. I'm not sure why. It might be that I can concentrate better.

[Much later I realized that I might have to stop drinking the juices from the juice bar, very unfortunately, because they make all the juices in the same juicer where carrots are also juiced. I got a food intolerance reaction (increased pulse) even from non-carrot juices from this specific juice bar. (See my note above about my sensitivity to carrots.)]

8pm - just arrived at home. Cycled 45 minutes through the city to get here. I feel pretty rough: cold symptoms. Cycling made me cough quite a bit, more than usual. Inflamed feeling sinuses are back and so is throat ache. Headache comes and goes but gradually got worse towards the end of the day. I am surprised to feel this bad, the last juice fast was quite comfortable. I also felt a little dizzy every once in a while today. I may have drank too many juices at work, too, and too many citrus fruit juices.... my stomach feels a little unhappy.

10.25pm - I took an enema, which seems to have made me feel a bit better generally. Third day of the fast is meant to be the crisis day, according to what I've been reading, so I'm hoping to wake up feeling a lot better tomorrow!

Other juices drunken today (not already mentioned):
- 'tropical fruit' juice
- redbush tea (rooibos)
- Caribbean lemon+ginger tea
- camomile tea

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Tuesday 3rd April - Fasting at work day 2! - Juice Fasting Day 4 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

7.45am. Upon waking, pulse was 64pbm. I was not hungry and had just a glass and a half of juice to energise me for the cycle ride. Morning weight: 55kg (121 lbs, 8.7 stone).

9.45am - Day 4 and I feel great this morning. But cycling makes my nose start running and makes me cough a lot (maybe because of the exercise... I wonder if gym would make me cough, too). [... or maybe because of I was cycling through the polluted city centre, among cars...] There is maybe a tiny shadow of a headache detectable, but I feel good: energetic, relaxed, and like I had a good sleep.

1.50pm, 74 bpm. Drinking camomile tea during lunch break. Just went to shop quickly, otherwise sitting indoors at the computer.

3.10pm - Upper respiratory system (top of lungs) feels heavy and congested, tiredness increasing, the fresh feeling of the morning is gone.

7.45pm - Just returned from work, cycled 45minutes, partly in the rain, and stopped at a supermarket on the way. Sitting on a sofa I feel a bit dizzy, I guess the body is clearing some toxins. But generally today has been a very easy day. The cold symptoms are gone, no headache. Energies could be higher but I would say I had plenty more energy and better concentration today than when eating mixed food and drinking caffeine. I love being caffeine free! I don't have any cravings either, and funnily I enjoy the smells of food in the shops and the restaurants I cycle past - it does not make me want to eat the food - I just enjoy the smells! This is very strange, I would have never believed it unless I experienced it! But obviously the earlier raw food and fasting experiments help with this... my body is cleaner and doesn't crave so much junk because of that and also, 'strict' eating has become a bit of a habit now, it gets easier the more I do it. But I think the breaks I have in between, allowing myself to eat anything I like, are very important, so that I can let go of unhealthy foods slowly.

Evening weight: 57 kg (9 stone, 126lbs), going to bed at 10pm after a hot bath and dry brushing.

Other things drunken today:
- camomile tea
- grapefruit juice, orange juice, pineapple juice
- ginger+lemon tea
- berry juice

Wednesday 4th April 2012, Day 5

9.30am, arrive at work.
11.50am, feeling good though face looks puffy.
12.50am, I have been drinking less juices today.
9.15pm, making vegetable broth.

I was a bit tired this morning but that was because I didn't sleep that much. Felt good otherwise, except towards the afternoon/ evening, when tiredness increased and I got very slight cold symptoms. Tongue is very coated and bad taste in my mouth in the evening. Took another enema today.

10.10pm, 64bpm. Lying in bed half asleep. Chest and heart rate feel erratic, though. Sleeping on a feather duvet as a pillow.

11.30pm, 72bpm. My heart feels like it is pounding very heavy and my head feels dizzy (I don't know if it is related or not). I feel tired but cannot sleep. It is heavy feeling at the bottom of the lungs as well as a bouncy heart. Did it start after drinking the vegetable broth? Just drank a glass of pineapple juice to see if it gets better [Update: seemed to have helped, at least for me to fall asleep].

[Update: These are the symptoms I get when I eat carrots. I must have had carrots in the vegetable broth or in the juices this day. Note also the reaction next morning.]

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Thursday 5th April, Juice Fasting Day 6 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

8am: pulse 82bpm. Why is my pulse higher than other times this morning? I feel like I slept well... Maybe it is the feather cover I used as temporary pillow? I definitely also had an allergic reaction last night (I can't think of what else could have caused it)... my heartbeat was not that fast but it was very strong and did not feel good at all. I was also dizzy. I was tired but couldn't sleep. I also woke up with quite a bad cough... although the cough could be a detox symptom...

What could have caused the allergy reaction last night? What happened immediately before the reaction was: 1) I drank some vegetable broth, made of boiled potatoes, beetroot, celery, fennel, green cabbage and carrot in an aluminium pot. 2) the feather cover. I will try to drink one glass of the same broth now (even stronger, been standing overnight) and see if I get the same reaction.

[Update: I found out later I had an intolerance to carrots.]

Morning weight: 55kg (121 lbs, 8.7 stone).

Couple of weeks ago the doctor asked me to monitor my bouncing heart symptoms in relation to coffee and alcohol consumption (this morning I even have some slight stinging pain in the heart area). I know this time it was definitely not caused by either of those. But I don't think that it is caused by exercise either. I also don't think it is caused by stress but when the heart gets bouncy is causes stress because I can't sleep despite of being tried. Also I think stressful situations are not very well tolerated when the allergic reaction is on. [Update: nervousness also seems to be connected to these symptoms.]

8.30am: pulse 68bpm (I've been away from the feather cover for half an hour...). I should test this again tomorrow. Drinking another glass of vegetable broth now to see if it raises the pulse and if it gives heart problems.

8.55am: pulse 68bpm.

9.45am: at work. Top of my belly/ bottom of my lungs feels heavy and I can't fill my lungs properly, I can't breathe in all the way. I have had this problem a lot in the recent years. (> Something in the brew (broth) I'm allergic to? Or a delayed (continuous) reaction to the feathers? Feather allergy, according to some website, is really an allergy to dust mites, apparently.)

11.50am: Lungs are starting to feel better.
1.50pm: Chest still feels heavy. (Later note: Is this a new reaction to the second glass of broth?)

11pm: 71bpm, going bed...
72bpm after sleeping on a feather duvet for 10mins (no allergic reaction).

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The Pulse Test - Conclusions So Far

General information on pulse, from various sources:

• Highest normal maximum pulse rate should be not more than 16 beats above morning rate - otherwise it is a sign of an allergic reaction.
• Heart can adjust from working very hard to the resting rate in 1-5 minutes.
• If pulse elevates more than 12 beats above resting rate, you may assume that something you just ate was an allergen.
• Acceleration of pulse is considered 6 beats above normal resting rate.
• A resting rate above 80bpm can be a sign of nervousness, sympathetic nervous system over-activity, or e.g. thyroid problems. Hormones can affect this on women, and also stress and anxiousness. Over 100bpm resting rate may indicate heart problems.
• If you take your pulse 14 times a day and your daily maximum pulse rate is constant (within 1-2 beats) for three days in succession, this indicates that all food allergens/ sensitivities have been avoided on those days.
• If your daily maximum pulse rate varies by more than two beats - for example, Monday 72, Tuesday 78, Wednesday 76, Thursday 71 - you are certainly sensitive, provided there is no infection.
• If your pulse rate taken standing is greater than that taken sitting, this is a positive indication of present allergic/ intolerance tension.

See my book review on Dr. Coca's Pulse Test, which includes a free download link to his book (public domain material).

Analysis of pulse test so far:

• Day 1: Saturday: Pulse rate 64-67 = good, no indication of allergy
• Day 2: Sunday: Pulse rate 63-71 = good, such a small change that it can't be due to food but perhaps something that I inhaled, or leftover reaction from days past. [Update: an allergen in liquid form will raise the pulse less than solid foods.]
• Day 3: Monday: Resting pulse 71-83bpm (105bpm after cycling) = indication of slight sensitivity, but not sure if some measurements were taken when standing up or just having walked.
• Day 4: Tuesday: 64-96bpm. But it is hard to say which of these were measured after walking or standing = no conclusions.
• Day 5: Wednesday: Resting pulse: 70-76bpm, if not counting pulse when just been walking = quite good.
• Day 6: Thursday: 68-82bpm = indication of sensitivity, waking up with 82 pulse is a sign of sleeping with an allergen.

[Later note: These pulse readings were erratic because they were not all taken when sitting down and possibly had been taken after moderate exercise! Refer to my updated pulse test (link below) for how to correctly do this.]

Conclusions:

• From now on I should measure the pulse always after having been sitting down for 5 minutes. (I made some mistakes before, measuring the pulse when standing, after walking, etc. These obviously have an effect on the pulse independently of any allergies/ sensitivities. There erroneous counts have been removed from this diary.)
• My daily maximum pulse rate varies a lot so that's a sign that I either have an infection or am sensitive to something.

[Update: After the juice fast I continued the pulse test, and the results of that experiment can be read here: "Food Intolerance Test/ Knowing Your Pulse")

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Friday 6th April, day off work, Juice Fasting Day 7 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

• Slept with the feather duvet, woke up with a pulse of 68bpm, at 9am.
• 11.50am, pulse 71bpm
• 12.09am: drank broth
• 12.24am: slight pain in the heart, 78 pulse (accelerated), sitting in the sun by an open window.
• 12.31am, I can breathe properly but pain in my left arm (only a little) and heart feels a little uncomfortable.
• 12.38: pulse 78.
• 12.43: heart beating 'heavier'
• 12.58am: pulse 79bpm - heart beating hard! Can feel it a little in the belly too. No pain but feel a bit stressed out for not external reason. Just been sitting and reading in the sunshine.
• 1.20pm: 67bpm pulse. Drinking fruit juice seems to help the heart.
• 1.34pm: 71 pulse - can breathe well, no heart problems anymore.
• 1.43pm: 68bpm.
• 74bpm, after sitting down at least 5mins, drank some pineapple juice and went to the laundrette. Gonna drink another glass of vegetable broth now to see what happens.
• 78bpm, immediately after drinking the vegetable broth. 80bpm at 5pm. Pulse did not rise after this.
• 9.15pm I have a headache and cold symptoms. Should have done the enema today. I think this is my body trying to rid of toxins and not getting enough help.
• Been cleaning the house today, drinking grapefruit juice and pineapple juice from concentrate, chaga mushroom tea, live green juice with coriander, lettuce, spinach, red radishes, apples... and a juice of a lemon with water earlier, as well.

Saturday, Juice Fasting Day 8 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

9.30 am, pulse 67bpm when waking up.
5.45pm, pulse 75bpm.

At night I had very slight pain in my chest and I figured it must have been another slight form of an allergic reaction. It could have been because of the vegetable juice I drank earlier, which had 87% tomato, carrot, celery, beetroot, parsley, lettuce, watercress, spinach, salt and spice extract. (I know, this is the only juice on the fast that had added ingredients, i.e. salt and spice extract. That is not very good but I thought that one time won't hurt too much.)

[Update: I am not sure whether 'spice extract' may refer to MSG. I know the word 'spices' in the label may mean that it includes MSG...]

I also had a live green juice tonight, with coriander, mixed organic green leaves, apples, a few radishes, etc. The organic mixed greens (and herbs?) had a lot of sulphur in them, I could smell it and taste it also. It's very good, means they are mineralised, but my belly can't often take too much sulphur (MSM for example, or radishes). This time it was fine though.

Bed time: 11pm but wasn't really sleepy so stayed awake for quite a bit.

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Sunday, Juice Fasting Day 9 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Weight today: 55kg

11am upon waking up, pulse 59bpm. New lowest pulse! I wonder if this is because we cleaned the whole bedroom and washed all the covers, so there will be less dust (& dust mites)? Or maybe because of the juice fast any sensitivities I have for food are clearing up. Had fresh, live orange and pink grapefruit juice for breakfast.

One day I would like to have a juice fast like this... (Image courtesy of 123rf.)

2.10pm: 67bpm

Going to do pilates, trauma release exercises, enema, hot bath with hydrogen peroxide, brush my skin, take a cold shower and then relax a bit. Go shop and buy nice juices, work on the website, read a bit or write a book summary (I quite enjoy writing them), relax a bit more... Then I will clean the house a bit and when my boyfriend comes back, watch a movie with him while drinking huge glasses of green juice :) That's my day planned, nice amount of self-pampering there planned in :) I love an antisocial Easter sometimes, can have time for yourself!

I wish I could still fit in Holosync meditation too.... But probably that is enough for the day... that's why my 30-day experiments help with the discipline of these things... the idea is to sort out my diet first, then once that is sorted and I found a comfortable balance where I feel good and energetic, don't lose or gain too much weight, and can afford to keep it up - only then will I add exercise, meditation, other health practices tests, etc. Trauma release exercises are quite sporadic at the moment but will do a 30-day test when I have time as well.

I just read in a book that meditation is one of the best ways to become more happy. I think I'm happy most of the time these days, although I struggle with paying bills, but it never hurts to be more happy! I think meditation is a good time for affirmations and for preparing for the day. Another goal I have is to learn to wake up at sunrise, even at 4am, and to go to bed at 10pm every day - to try to live according to the daylight hours. Apparently this is another way to drastically increase one's energy during the day. But veganism and a non-starchy, non-processed, high-micronutrient diet must be combined with this sleeping practice, it seems, for best results. It doesn't seem that you have to be 100% raw; just vegan, high-raw (for the micronutrients, life force and enzymes), free of dairy and free of processed food and starches, especially sugar and wheat.

Another thing to address, importantly, seem to be allergies. I will write a better conclusion about allergies, complete with book summaries and references, once I have figured my own allergies/ food sensitivities out and made conclusions on them.

6.30pm - Out of the bath. Heart started beating heavy again in the bath. I knew from before that the heat makes it worse but I thought there was something else causing it. I wonder if the enema could cause it, by moving some toxins in the colon and in the process, getting some of it reabsorbed... But I had no pain in my chest, just a feeling of heavy heart beat, which I could feel in my belly as well.

7.20pm - Just came back from the shop. I had very little juice to drink this morning until now. In the morning I had a juice of three blood grapefruits and two oranges freshly squeezed, then some chaga mushroom, St. John's Wort and passion flower tea. And just before going to the shop I squeezed two more oranges.

I felt a bit anxious and nervous after getting out of the bath and still now I have a heavy feeling in my lungs/ solar plexus/ belly -area. I wonder if this could all still be allergic reactions from the vegetable juice I drank yesterday. Or could the Trauma Release Exercises have unblocked some traumas and this would be the side effect? I know I have had a similar heavy chest feeling before after these exercises.

I'm drinking pineapple juice and apple juice from concentrate now (to save money) and will do the pulse test on some more vegetable juice a little later.

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Monday, Juice Fasting Day 10, day off work

65bpm at 10am (in bed)
66bpm at 3pm after cleaning dust and before drinking veggie juice (ingredients: pasteurised tomato, celery, spinach, salt, spices, etc.)
74bpm approx. 30min after drinking juice > Looks like I have a sensitivity to something in this!

[Update: This V8 vegetable juice also has carrot in it. Also, one of the ingredients on the label of V8 juice is 'spices', which can be a cover-up term for MSG! Not recommended for juice fasting!]

72bpm, some 20mins later.

Tuesday, Juice Fasting Day 11, 10th April 2012 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Juices drunken today:
- Red grape juice
- Pineapple juice
- Grapefruit juice
- Redbush tea
- Chaga mushroom, St. John's Wort and Passionflower tea
- Prune juice in the evening (belly was fine afterwards, slight grumbling)
- No live juices

67bpm at 8.50am (forgot to measure in bed)
74bpm at 9.40pm, after watching a movie

64bpm at midnight: heart feels like it's pumping a little hard, heavy feeling in the throat, can breathe fine though, no pain.
I had some bouncy heart symptoms at midnight and the next morning I had very slight sensations in the heart area, related to this. I cannot figure what this could be linked to. Perhaps it is still left over problems from drinking the veggie juice the other day. Or perhaps it is just my body cleansing old problems and experiencing old symptoms? It has been said by many that during cleansing (fast, raw food diet, etc.) your body can relive old symptoms and also, as it is moving toxins out, the reactions to those can be spontaneously experienced.

[Food intolerance reactions (apart from the pulse) can come with many hours, even days' delay, and in some cases may not even completely clear until three weeks.]

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Wednesday, Juice Fasting (at Work) Day 12

Woke up at 7.20am with a sore throat and a cough. I think these are detox symptoms and a sign that I need another enema. It always seems to help towards feelings of a cold. I also feel quite cold this morning. Pulse in bed was 68bpm. I'm still wondering about the feather cover, whether that affects my pulse. Because one morning it was so low - 59bpm - and never again since!
Pulse 67 at 8am.

But I've got some good results from this fast. My moods feel balanced, my energy is constant and good, workdays go much quicker because I can concentrate so much better (even on boring tasks). Today, when my alarm went off at 5.45am (just before sunrise) I felt completely refreshed. My body wasn't tired at all. But then laziness of the mind decided to lazy in bed til 7.20 and keep snoozing the alarm. But the rested feeling in my body at early hours is a massive achievement for me, as I normally feel drained and achy when the alarm goes off, regardless of how much I slept. This is why I am considering extending the fast by another week, as it seems that it is doing something and healing persistent problems. This makes me so happy!

Image courtesy of Fashion Mum.

Tonight I will try sleeping without the feather duvet. I have slight pain in the heart area again now, a little after waking up...

9.30pm, after cycling home from work I took an enema, and afterwards a bath, skin scrub and a cold shower. I feel so much better now, fresh! I was starting to get detox symptoms again, was quite tired at work - yawning and struggling to concentrate - and felt like a cold was coming on. I was feeling a little cold all day, despite wearing lots of clothes. Also, I had a throat ache and a blocked nose. Last night my nose was very blocked as well, but opening the window and sleeping with fresh cold air in the room helped quickly! My tongue was coated, too, and I had a bad taste in my mouth. Now, thoroughly detoxified, I feel so much better. As if there was no cold or throat ache at all. Amazing how quickly an enema, a hot bath and a scrub can help.

Although I feel good on the juice fast/ juice feast most of the time, these periodic detox symptoms are to be expected and are a sign of the body being busy cleaning house. Let's hope I wake up refreshed tomorrow!

Weight today: 55kg (steady, I'm glad, I'm at my ideal weight now).
Pulse: 62bpm at 9.30pm. Off to relax in bed now, good night!

Thursday, Juice Fasting (at Work) Day 13 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

7.30am, pulse 66bpm. I woke up feeling better than yesterday but throat ache is back and stuffy nose. 10.20am at work, pulse 66bpm. 10.30pm, lying in bed, slept without the feather cover last night and on Tuesday, and will do the same tonight. I'm still blocked up. Drank silver colloid.

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Friday 13th April 2012, Juice Fasting (at Work) Day 14 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

8.15am sitting up on the bed.

This morning I woke up with a throat ache, after having slept without the feather duvet. Last night I had tonsil stones in my throat and felt a bit ill. I drank some weak colloidal silver and, again, (a bit stronger) this morning. Pineapple juice (and ginger) is meant to help inflammation so I've been drinking that for two days. This morning I also had prune juice (a little only, it is a laxative), and grapefruit juice.

I'm not sure if this is a real cold that my body is fighting or if it is 'old symptoms manifesting' before/ while being healed. I hope this does heal my throat problems (cough, post-nasal drip) for good. I will keep with the juice fast a little longer to see the results. Last night my mouth was really coated and had a bad taste to it as well so that would indicate detox. Now the plan will be to break the fast on Sat 21st April, completing 21 days of juice feasting instead of 14, as originally planned. I will see how I feel and how it goes, however. No promises.

It is midnight, I'm waiting for my bath to run. Just finished work on the webpage with raw food t-shirts. I have often searched for those myself online but couldn't find much. Then I found a local t-shirt designer who got interested in the idea! A selection of his (Hold Weight Studios) designs are now available to purchase directly from this site.

My cold symptoms are pretty much gone now, after three days, throat is not hurting anymore. My tongue and mouth feel very 'coated' though so I guess I am still detoxing.

I like the idea of giving my body a proper chance to work on any underlying issues, so I'm glad about the decision to extend the diet. This way I also save money as I am completely broke again until Wednesday! On the third week on a juice fast (whether it is the same on a juice feast I'm not sure) one is meant to have real moments of clarity and occasionally a pink tongue with no coating.

I have now noticed that the cough I have had for a long time is definitely connected to cycling through the city. Whenever I cycle, within 10 minutes I start coughing. I'm curious to see whether this will change during next week. I doubt it will, though. Whenever I am at home, during the weekends, and juice fasting, the cough is not there. I may have to give up cycling to cure this, no matter how odd a thought that is. (How can you move in London without cycling?!)

Pulse 76bpm at 00.30am.
Weight: 55kg (121 lbs, 8.7 stone)

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Saturday 14th April 2012, Juice Feasting Day 15 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

8.30am waking up, pulse 63bpm (lying in bed).

We had visitors for most of the day so didn't manage to write much. Drank some rhubarb and apple juice, plenty of cheap pineapple juice from concentrate, water, and plenty of chaga mushroom tea (maybe too much, because some say too many antioxidants may affect your kidneys, but I'm not too worried about this. Have to check though.). No live juices at all today, was too lazy to make any.

[Update: According to some reports, too many antioxidants in supplement-form is bad, but in natural form, such as chaga mushroom tea, they are fine to have in large quantity.]

Sunday 15th April 2012, Juice Feasting Day 16 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Slept in today, woke up at 11.30am! Woke up naturally at sunrise first, but felt tired so I went back to sleep.

I have also been quite lazy with testing the pulse and that's mainly because I don't really have many food items I can test now that I am just feasting on juices. I will write a separate diary on monitoring foods with the pulse test once I start slowly coming off this juice fast. That said, I will test carrot juice today, and possibly beetroots, to see if I have a food sensitivity to them.

(For the difference between a food sensitivity and an allergy, read the book by Antony J Haynes, entitled: The Food Intolerance Bible. The basic difference is that an allergy manifests very soon after eating a food, whereas food intolerance can manifest days or weeks later, and be more difficult to detect. Many doctors are inclined to treat the symptoms with medicines, when it is often not necessary. The symptoms can consist of fatigue, sinusitis, irritability, migraines, food cravings, inability to lose or gain weight, etc.)

2pm, pulse: 70bpm.

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Juice Feasting Day 17 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Monday, 16th April 2012

More detox today... I didn't sleep enough last night and so felt tired. But also, it was very cold at work, the aircon was kicking, or at least it felt like that. I started getting cold symptoms in the afternoon and a slight headache in the evening. My mouth was proper coated again, too. Then I started feeling like I had a little temperature maybe around 9pm. Slightly achy legs and arms. My skin was looking a bit rough today and eyes were a little red as well. My face also started getting some spots yesterday. But despite the spots and the rough look, my skin feels extremely smooth. And my emotions are well balanced, feeling good on that front.

It is 11pm now, I just took a warm bath with hydrogen peroxide, and washed my hair with sea salt and tea tree oil, no conditioner (an experiment). I have been doing the "no-poo method" on washing hair for maybe 1-2 months now and it works so much better for me than shampoo. Normally I use bicarbonate soda (baking powder) with three drops of tea tree, wash with cold water, and apple cider vinegar diluted in water for conditioner. It works extremely well for me, my hair is not frizzy anymore. But you need to study the method before trying because there are many different versions for different hair types. And keep in mind, there is a transition period of a month or two before it really starts working well... (The main reason it works is because you avoid the SLS, which is a very harmful chemical for hair and almost all shampoos have that as a main ingredient.)

So now, after the bath, I feel better again. But extremely tired. So heading to bed very soon. But my nose is pretty blocked and since yesterday I've been feeling pretty phlegmy again.

I made a juice with lots of carrots, celery, apples, and some lettuce, ginger and lemon - live and fresh. But I also tried to pH test my pasteurized juices. It seems that orange juice from concentrate (at least) is acidic. It was a gardeners' colour-based pH test so I can't say the exact ph value but based on the colour chart maybe around pH 5. Fresh juices are said to be alkaline. I wonder if orange juice is alkaline when it is fresh and if it is the pasteurization of the juice that makes it acidic - or if orange juice just is acidic full stop. I have to test more juices.

Been very lazy with pulse readings today, forgot to take any. I should have at least tested it before and after the carrot juice because carrot is one of the main foods I want to test.

(Warning, this is a bit gross...) I hope this detox goes by tomorrow morning and I don't have to take another enema! I really don't like them... although the procedure is easy, the problem last time was that it made me feel very dizzy, nauseous, and weak, exactly the same way I feel when I have diarrhea. As soon as I got the water out, I felt normal again. I get the same feeling during periods (menses) as well when I often get belly problems and diarrhea. [Update: I realised later that adding sea salt to the enema water helps to make it a lot more comfortable.]

And while on the gross topic... I should also mention that I still get bowel movements after more than 2 weeks on the juice fast. Not every day but occasionally. I thought it was very strange first but then I read what Dr. Paavo Airola had to say about the intestines/ colon being an organ of detox as well, where waste matter is deposited into it from the intestinal walls. In any case this is a good sign because it means my body is eliminating old waste - maybe renewing my cells?!?!

[Update: I finally figured out how to take an enema quickly and easily: Why and How to Take an Enema.]

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Juice Feasting Day 18 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Tuesday, 17th April 2012

Today I feel like I'm soon ready to break the fast. I'm getting a bit bored of it. Until now it's been very easy but now I feel like starting to eat some tasty meals again, instead of just drinking juice. Yet I still don't feel hungry.

I have the same cold symptoms still, although much less strong than yesterday. This morning I felt fine. But I feel tired - I think I didn't really sleep enough tonight, or yesterday. But it was quite easy to wake up in the morning, and I made some live carrot, celery, lettuce, lemon and ginger juice.

1.45pm, lunch break. 81 pulse - is this because I had carrot juice for breakfast? I had small (barely noticeable) tinges in my in the heart area this morning when cycling to work. (Pulse in the evening at 8pm was 64bpm.)

All the people around me drinking coffee and eating cakes and snacks at work... I feel like they are on this ready-paved route where how life pans out is pretty much set. At least in terms of the broad strokes. "Everyone gets ill, we all have to die, life is short." And they live their life according to the mantra that it is short.

And I feel like I have stepped outside of this route. In so many ways. My life does not look any different from them from the outset but it is very different. And I've only started this extreme health journey some three years ago.

The difference is that I have reason for wild amounts of hope and my heart is pretty much at peace. Of course there are things I want to achieve and worldly, everyday things, that sometimes weigh on my mind. But underneath that I have a fundamental sense of peace. I understand now that life is miraculous and that human beings are capable of truly amazing things. And that brings me so much hope. It puts things into perspective. But I also have this restless feeling where I crave to learn and experience more. I know this is probably a time before big changes start happening in my life. I say this because I don't feel I have a calling for my current day job but I do feel that my world has just started to open up in a new way. In a very new and refreshing way. And I think this is happening to many other people at the same time.

At the very least I attribute the excitement that can be felt by many at this moment in time as the true information revolution, which was made possible by the internet. What the internet reveals, however, is a more complex world and more amazing people and miraculous discoveries than anyone could have imagined before. And the challenges become clearer through the world-wide dialogue. But it is the skills and dedication of the people behind the internet, which is the miracle.

00.30am, went to bed.

Blueberry juice with coconut water and MSM powder on the rim? (Image courtesy of Betty Crocker/ Flickr)

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Juice Feasting Day 19 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Wednesday, 18th April 2012

I woke up this morning at 6.15am with diarrhea. And last night there were lots of crumbly noises in my belly. I mean lots! [Later note: this might have been the beginnings of my period. Normal symptoms for me.] Now it is 7.50am, I am feeling very cold - also at night I was a bit cold although under cover. Apparently feeling cold is to be expected on the juice fast. In my case this is definitely getting worse over time. It is getting close to the new moon now, some say that this is the most energetic time of the lunar cycle and the body is able to detox best at that time. Saturday will be the day of the new moon, the same day that I also break my fast.

Weight: 55kg
Pulse: 69bpm (sitting up)

I made a huge bottle of live apple, lettuce, orange, celery, lemon, ginger and fennel juice to take to work with me this morning, in addition to drinking another big live juice for breakfast, which had similar ingredients and one large raw beetroot.

9pm, 65bpm pulse. 2 minutes after drinking live carrot, celery, red pepper, green pepper, broccoli, apple, orange -juice.

10.40pm, pulse 72bpm. I feel so much better after taking an enema and a hot bath, skin scrub and a cold shower. But to be honest, I think the enema probably did it. I was feeling quite ill and tired today, my tongue was coated, and I was feeling very cold all day at work. I went to the sunbed also (I go sometimes for vitamin D and the benefit on the skin, but very rarely and for short duration) and started to feel a little dizzy afterwards.

I had a realization about the enema. If you put about 1 tea spoon of sea salt in about 1 liter/ 1 quart of enema water (and this time I had half a lemon squeezed in too) it is very easy to take an enema!. At least it was for me today! I was looking online for reasons why enema makes you nauseous and found out that the salt helps to make the water similar to the fluids of our bodies. The enema was easier to retain, I had no discomfort, and none of the horrible nausea, dizziness etc. as I did last time. Actually I had very little dizziness but it didn't matter at all. So the secret to a comfortable enema seems to be to add 1 tea spoon of salt in it! Also, without the salt, apparently, less of the water gets flushed out of the colon and more tends to be absorbed.

I had beetroot juice this morning and the enema water came out red! That would have been kind of scary if I didn't know that beetroot does that. But also, according to some reports this is a sign that my hydrochloric acid levels are low... or, hmmm... in fact, I just read in Paavo Airola's book that hydrochloric acid does not get secreted when drinking fruit juices. I have to find out about this. But generally, if hydrochloric acid levels in the stomach are high (which is good), the beetroot gets digested so efficiently that the red colour does not come through in the stools and urine. Note, however, that almost no-one in the modern world is that healthy as to have such strong stomach acid (and heart burn stomach acid is a completely different story).

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Jump to: Conclusions, How to Improve the Juice Fast Next Time, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, The Pulse Test, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 21, Breaking the Juice Fast, Second Day Off Fast.

Juice Feasting Day 20 (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Thursday

10.45am: I feel very fresh this morning. No cold symptoms whatsoever. But although I had a good night's sleep last night, I feel tired. Maybe it was the carrot juice last night. I had very slight tinges in the heart this morning - but generally these symptoms too are a lot better. I love feeling fresh like this! Amazing what a difference an enema can do.

Problem is that I am getting quite bored now of drinking juices. I think it is a good time to stop this weekend. Saturday and Sunday I will be easing back into a normal diet.

I feel like my menses are starting. Slight belly ache but not bad at all. Already felt a bit like that yesterday. Maybe thus the tiredness.

9pm - Tomorrow will be the last day of the juice fast.

I got my period today. Some pain, been using wild yam cream on my belly and legs - it helps. I could stay at work fine, however, which is a HUGE difference from my last period, which was a little before the juice fast.

A month ago I had to leave work because the period pain was too much. I felt sick, dizzy, moody, was in a really bad shape. When the pain eventually subsided after putting on lots and lots of cream and lying down, I fell asleep, and when I woke up I still felt like I had been hit by a truck!

And today I only had to use very little of the cream as well. I was feeling uncomfortable but easily well enough to stay at work. Although I still feel tired and had some diarrhea earlier, as usual during the period/ menses. Going to bed early.

I pH -tested freshly squeezed orange juice and (separately) apple juice (yesterday) and they both came out acidic! I thought that all the water-rich foods were alkaline but was wrong, apparently.

[Later update: I have now reviewed what foods are acid and what are alkaline... I found a chart on the Energise for Life Website: www.energiseforlife.com. If you sign up for their mailing list, you can download three videos and the acid-alkaline chart for free. In any case, this is what it says, in broad terms:

- Highly alkaline foods: greens
- Moderately alkaline: Tomato, lemon, lime, some beans, some greens, avocado, beetroot, onion, radish, ginger, garlic, cabbage
- Midly alkaline: Most other vegetables, incl. new baby potatoes, rhubarb, peas, avocado oil, coconut oil, flax oil, goat milk, most herbs and spices, grapefruit, coconut
- Neutral/ midly acidic: Brazil nuts, pecan nuts, hazel nuts, some beans, cantalope, currants, fresh dates, plum, watermelon, amaranth, millet, freshwater wild fish, rice milk, soy milk
- Moderately acidic: fresh, natural juice, ketchup, mayonnaise, butter, most fruits and berries, brown rice, oats, rye bread, wheat, wholemeal pasta, ocean fish, etc.
- Highly acidic: The usual culprits: alcohol, coffee, meat, sweetened fruit juice, black tea, cocoa, jam, jelly, mustard, vinegar, yeast, dairy, vinegar, syrup, but also: honey and mushrooms.

> Funnily, Ross Bridgeford, the author of the site, comes to the conclusion that we should not eat very much fruit at all! In total, he advises eating only 20% of the food groups: mildly acidic and moderately acidic. He claims this to be a high energy diet - I will have to look into this more - but I won't give up my fruit!]

In conclusion, I feel surprisingly good considering I have my periods. I've been without caffeine and on the juice fast now for three weeks - and little before starting I had a period which was very painful and difficult. This is a great result in such a short time! I look forward to what happens in one month's time when I've been on a high-raw diet following this fast.

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The Final Juice Fast Day! (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Friday

10pm bedtime. This is day 21 of the juice fast. It was a difficult day. Not because of cravings - although I do miss eating nice meals - but because of how I felt. In the morning I was feeling quite good - I took the bus to work for once and was at work early. But in the afternoon (midday?) I started feeling progressively worse. Although I must say that in terms of the menses it's a small miracle that has happened - no pain today! (See yesterday's notes as well.)

By the time I was sitting on the bus to get home from work I was feeling nauseous, I had quite a bad headache, was feeling tired, and I had ear ache in my left ear. Also my throat was hurting, nose was blocked and gums (teeth?) in the mouth were feeling 'tense' and slightly hurting.

I have also started to lose my taste for the carton juices - especially orange and citrus - I feel like I get a headache just thinking about drinking those.

I took an enema, and the water that came out was almost clear! I also took a hot bath with hydrogen peroxide, brushed my skin, and made some silver colloid and gargled with it, drank it, and put a few drops in my ears. [Later update: the next morning I felt fine again!]

Breaking the Juice Feast (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Saturday

10pm. 69bpm pulse. First day off the fast today. I woke up at 9am and went for a walk to get a cup of fresh organic coffee..... for my enema! Hehe.... not for drinking, if you do the coffee enema correctly, the caffeine won't even go to your circulation. It is a powerful liver cleanser, and I had good success with it, but I will make another page about enemas for those interested, so you don't have to feel queasy reading this!

Article: How and Why to Take an Enema (including Coffee Enema Liver Cleanse)

So I went for a walk, drank a small 'Innocent' berry smoothie, and didn't feel like eating much all day. Later on, I drank some apple and plum juices, and finally broke the fast with this fruit salad:

Mixed berries from frozen, apples, tangerines, few cherry tomatoes, some dried blueberry powder (commonly available in bigger food stores in Finland), a few cut-up dates, ground cacao nibs, spinach leaves, lemon juice, black pepper, oregano - it was quite experimental!

In the evening I had a slight headache but I was not tired. I went to bed at 3.30am, pulse was: 63 bpm.

All and all, I feel like this fast has been a very good experience. I have learned a lot and got quite a few good results. I have also convinced myself of the fact that fasting cheaply and while at work is completely possible and doable! In fact for me it was a way to save money and to focus better at work, among other things. More on the conclusions of this fast at the top of this post.

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2nd Day Off the Fast (21 Days Juice Fasting)

Sunday 22nd April 2012

Woke up at 10am, pulse 61 bpm.

It is 1pm now, just had two glasses of pineapple juice and making black (wild) rice now, cooked with broccoli, spinach and mushrooms. I will eat cooked foods this week and test my pulse in relation to the foods I eat.

My next raw food challenge will be a high-raw diet this time, with certain supplements (depending on what I can afford), and with emphasis on high energy, not losing too much weight and developing a daily habit of eating well, healthy and high raw. I will leave out all dairy products as well, at least for some weeks to see how my allergy symptoms respond.

I feel good today, rested, happy, and eager to eat my rice dish!

Black rice, broccoli and mushrooms with garlic and onion, all cooked separately. Mixed in a bowl with a little raw spinach and cherry tomatoes. Olive oil, vegetable stock, black pepper and nutmeg used with cooking. All mixed in a bowl with soya sauce, lemon juice and some raw honey mixed in.... tasted very good!

2.20pm. Right, this was an interesting experiment. I made the rice dish (see above), ate it, and straight after started coughing. My pulse before the meal was 73 bpm, and now, just after finishing the meal, it is 76 bpm [update: soon after it was 74 bpm again]. While cooking it, my nose already started running - but that could have been the onions and the garlic. I ate too much but once you start, you really can't stop! Not after three weeks of not having any cooked starches (which are my main weakness). But perhaps I need some of those for energy, anyway.

But now my belly feels too full and I feel tired. Perhaps rice dishes every once in a while are fine but I just get problems now because of the juice fast, and my belly has shrunk. Perhaps I ate too big a meal too fast.... but I thought that it is better to eat a big meal at midday than in the evening. We'll see what happens anyway.

5pm, 72 bpm, and my belly seems a bit bloated! But it could be because it's the last day of my period... I feel very energetic, though. The problems of tiredness and belly feeling heavy went away in 10 minutes.

[Later note: Looks like I ate too big a meal too soon after the fast, it was too acidic and also, I may have a general problem with grains, including rice. This could either be a specific weakness in my digestion, or it could be that grains are not a very good type of food for anyone. There is a debate on this under way in the nutritionist circles.]

8pm, pulse 65bpm

Jump to: Conclusions, How to Improve the Juice Fast Next Time, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, The Pulse Test, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17, Day 18, Day 19, Day 20, Day 21, Breaking the Juice Fast, Second Day Off Fast.

Books on Water and Juice Fasting

How to Keep Slim, Healthy and Young with Juice Fasting: The Age-old Way to New You! by Dr. Paavo Airola

View on Amazon

The Transformational Power of Fasting: The Way to Spiritual, Physical and Emotional Rejuvenation by Stephen Harrod Buhner

View on Amazon USA

More life-changing natural health books here.

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