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If cleansing is new to you, keep your first experience short and easy. This 2-step approach to diet and juice fasts is very basic. CHOOSE ONE OF THESE APPROACHES:

Eat a cleansing diet for 3 to 7 days.

Juice fast for 2-5 days directly after a cleansing diet of 2 to 3 days.

The goal of the cleansing diet is to lighten your digestive system's load and to alkalize your body by cutting out acid-forming foods, balancing your body's pH. A juice fast accelerates this process, cleaning out your entire system. For encouragement, recruit a "cleansing buddy" or join a cleansing support group. Set aside some time, perhaps take time off from work, and prepare for a wonderful lightness of being.

The Cleansing Diet (3 to 7 days)

Keep your meals small and simple to give your digestive system a break. Finish dinner at least 3 hours before going to bed and take a 20-minute walk after eating.

Fill up on vegetables, either raw or lightly steamed [raw and juiced are best]. Avoid starchy vegetables like potatoes in favor of ones high in water and fiber, particularly broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumber, eggplant red bell peppers, okra, onions, garlic, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, lettuce and greens of all kinds. Eat at least one salad a day. Enjoy whole fruits 2-3 times a day, particularly: apples, grapefruits, oranges, plums, strawberries, cherries, nectarines, and peaches. Go organic! This is no time to be eating pesticides.

Eat small amounts of vegetarian proteins like tofu, tempeh, beans (if you digest them easily), raw almonds, walnuts, and pumpkinseeds.

Limit carbohydrates to no more than 1/4 of your plate and keep them whole grain. Emphasize alternative grains like brown rice [wild rice is better], quinoa, millet, buckwheat, and amaranth. Carbohydrates to avoid: bread and pasta (even wholegrain breads, which can be difficult to digest) and common allergens like wheat and corn. Sprouted breads, in the frozen section are more digestible. (Chew well! Starches are mainly broke down in your mouth by salivary enzymes.)

Flavor foods with lemon, sesame seeds (toasted and ground) crumbled kelp, cayenne, garlic and ginger. Banish refined salt and avoid soy sauce and mustards!

Limit oils to 1 tablespoon twice daily. Focus on those oils rich in essential fatty acids such as organic flaxseed oil (which is high in metabolism-raising omega 3-fatty acids), olive oil, and canola oil [keep refrigerated after opening]. Avoid bottled salad dressings: Make your own instead, with fresh flaxseed oil (keep refrigerated) and lemon juice.

Upon waking, and between meals, drink a mug of hot water with the juice of one-half lemon to help kidney and liver elimination.

Drink 8 to 14 glasses a day of pure [spring] water at room temperature. Sip consistently. Do not drink water with meals. Other beverages to drink in addition to water include herb teas; freshly squeezed juices diluted half-and-half with water, and unsweetened cranberry juice.

Eliminate dairy foods, including butter & cheese.

Eliminate animal protein (particularly red meat, chicken, pork, and eggs) in order to alkalize your body. For some people, a small amount of fish, like whitefish or salmon, is acceptable.

Eat at home. If you must eat out, make sure the food follows the above guidelines.

Take a vitamin supplement in the morning and a mineral supplement at night. Also, take a GLA supplement (90mg.) or evening primrose oil supplement (500mg.) twice daily. [This is optional. The master cleanser and Dr. Goss’s olive oil fast and some juice fasts are exceptions. This is an instance where you’d research or go to healing practitioners to determine your needs.]

Boost your body's own cleansing with herbs and fiber. Make your own herb combination.

NO-NO LIST: Saturated fats, sugars, artificial sweeteners, salt, additives, stimulants, caffeine, decaf coffee, dairy products, refined foods, packaged or processed foods (e.g., snack foods like cookies and chips - avoid even fat-free versions), spices, mustards and herbs (except cayenne, garlic and ginger). Minimize natural sweeteners and baked goods like muffins and breads.

Deep cleaning option: Extend the cleansing diet a few more days (up to 1 0 days), eating only vegetables, fruits, flaxseeds, and [spring] water. [Dr Goss’s juice diet (as suggested for use with the PAR-K SLIM PAK) can be permanent. I have spent 17 health giving days on the Master Cleanser Lemonade diet. Many spend 30 or more days on cleansing fasts, for as many reasons.)

CLEANSING FAST WITH A JUICE FAST (2 to 5 days)

The cleansing diet prepares your body and mind to ease into this 2 to 5 day juice fast. If you’re in good health, you can generally undertake a fast lasting up to seven days. Remember: Most people lose all sensation of hunger after three days of fasting. You’ll feel so good that you won’t want to eat! Consult a health care professional for help with serious health conditions or with longer fasts.

[Contact New Body Products at 800 638 4372, tell them you heard about them through VEGIHEAL, and ask them about the Tuesday and Thursday Free Wholistic Health Seminars in Compton, CA. Seminars can be arranged for your location. Find out if your current health care professional(s) know about how to use a variety of healing knowledge in your treatment. Do they give you personalized, consistent care. If they don’t, consider getting additional expertise in their specialty areas. At NEW BODY WEST in Los Angeles, CA, ask for Iridologist Don Binns. Either office can refer you to wholistic healing practioners. In Pasadena, CA we’ve successfully used the resident acupuncturist at the Phoenix Pharmacy and wholistic center.]

Replace meals with diluted, fresh-squeezed juices, not water, for 3 to 5 days. (Do not use sweetened fruit juices.) The rich nutrient content of fruit and vegetable juices aids healing: the juices’ alkalinity helps restore your body’s pH balance and neutralize the acidic toxins released during cleansing. Certain fruit and vegetable blends can help specific health problems.

Combine fresh juices with homemade vegetable broths, herbal teas, and purified water. The minerals in the broths restore proper balance to all the body's tissues and increase oxygenation. To make a broth, simmer potatoes, carrots, celery, and beets in pure water for at least an hour, then strain.

Cleansing herbs and fiber help sweep debris from your colon. Many people also rely on hydrotherapy to help their bodies cleanse with fewer reactions such as dizziness or low energy.

You don't have to stop working during a fast, but do take it easy! Allow plenty of time for rest, for relaxing walks and for inner work like meditation.

End your fast properly. This may be your greatest challenge of all! You will need several days of transition or you may undo all of your healing. Start eating solids gradually, and take small amounts of apples, soaked prunes, salads, vegetable soup, and juices. Listen to your body! Gradually work your way up to foods like nuts, potatoes, and whole grains. To get your bowels moving again after a fast, take a fiber supplement and acidophilus. [Yuck, we’d suggest the salt water method in The Master Cleanser or Senna Tea or CKLS.]

Fasting Benefits

After three days, your body begins burning and digesting its own diseased, damaged and dead tissues and cells.

Fasting also dramatically increases the creation of new cells; your skin will show it.

Fasting gives your digestive system a well-earned vacation! (Juices require hardly any digestion.)

When your body shifts energy from digestion to detoxification, all of your eliminative organs work at a much faster rate. (The concentration of toxins in the urine is up to ten times higher!)

Fasting normalizes and rejuvenates your entire body, including your nervous system, your glands and hormone secretions, and your tissues' biochemical and mineral balance.

It Shouldn't Hurt!

When done properly, a faster cleanse leaves you strong and rejuvenated. A few symptoms might develop that signal your body is, indeed, detoxifying. Just relax and appreciate your body's cleansing process if you develop any of the following: headaches, bad breath or body odor, dizziness, irritability, skin eruptions, cold or flu symptoms, or low energy. These symptoms are minor and will soon pass. Many people find that chlorophyll-dch vegetable juices and parsley help to neutralize bad breath or body odor. If you experience a more severe cleansing reaction, however, it's generally a sign that you are cleansing too quickly. Slow down and cut back on the amount of cleansing herbs you are taking. Even if you have minor detoxing symptoms in the beginning, you will soon move into a stage of much greater balance and strength. Nurture yourself. You might feel agitated and angry as your liver flushes out. In Chinese medicine, anger is considered to be stored in the liver.

Chew Well & don’t rush

Good digestion begins in your mouth, where you produce 1-2 pints of saliva a day. Starches like bread and pasta will constipate you when you don’t chew them well enough.