2 apples, 1/2 lemon, 1-2 inches of ginger and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Yum!
It is a recipe I received from Colin Kuntz when he put together a juice fast for me last spring.
Over the past two or three weeks I have been feeling the effects of winter. Don't get me wrong, I love all our seasons, winter included. It is a time for moving inward, putting out less energy, sleeping more, healing, eating warmer foods like soups and stews, connecting at a deeper level with loved ones through board games and books. I also love winter sports and activities. Cross country skiing (my 5 year old daughter did her first 5km loppet this winter!), snowshoeing, toboganning... However by about late February there is a heaviness that seems to overtake me.
This year I fought the heaviness a little too long. I could feel my energy was lower and I just generally felt fatigued. When I say fought it, instead of leaning in to this heaviness and asking my body what it needed I found myself working against it by trying to push harder: exercise more, work more, DO more. What happened, though, was that the lethargy actually seemed to get worse not better! Finally last week I woke Wednesday morning and tuned in. The answer I received from my ever-wise body was "time to juice"! And so I pulled out my Breville Juice Fountain Plus (I don't use an overly fancy juicer! but I've had it for 6 years and it certainly does the trick!) and the GREAT recipe collection Colin set up for me and I started to juice.
Within a day I started to feel lighter, my head clearer, by body more energized. I did take Saturday night "off" as I had a pre-arranged date night with my wonderful husband but Sunday morning I was back on and am going strong this week. The other thing I have done in the past 5 days is actually take a break from "doing" and have settled more into "Being". Less action, less activity, more prayer, journaling, gratitude, creativity and "rich" time. IT is amazing how this shift in focus is actually helping me more than the pushing through and trying harder was doing for me.
Juice cleanses can be anywhere from 1 day to a week, or more! I have a friend that did a 92 day juice "feast"! Though if you are interested in going longer than a week I would suggest you consult with a health care practitioner AND a certified juice therapist such as Colin. I have done several juice fasts over the years and since I have had my protocol from Colin they have become so easy and yummy! I don't have to think, I just pull out my shopping list and menu plans and go. And they taste good, an advantage over the swamp waters of my past.
One last very cool thing about juicing: when you give your intestines a break from digesting food (and still give your body amazing nutrients through the organic juices) you can actually enhance your intuition!
We have in our guts something called our Enteric Nerve Plexus - a nervous system that exists in the walls of the digestive system alone. IT means our gut acts like a little brain itself. We have all heard of "listen to your gut" or "my gut is telling me" or "I feel it in my gut"... well we literally have a brain in there that is speaking to us. But when it gets caked with sludge or inflamed due to poor foods choices like gluten, dairy, sugar, excess animal products and when the nerves in there get impaired by STRESS it is harder to listen to this brilliant part of us.
Cleansing the intestines is an amazing way to get back in touch with this brilliant part of us. Juicing ensure we are meeting our nutrient requirements to sustain us in our day to day lives.
There are lots of great books on juicing out there that can help you if you are interested in a spring cleanse for yourself. Or consult with your Naturopathic Doc and/ or a Juicing Therapist!
Try even 1 to 3 days today ~ Happy Spring Cleansing!