Into the last week...

Well, here we are at the end of my last juicy Tuesday ;) by this time next week, I’ll be back in the world of solids...I am starting to look forward to it a bit by now…juicing has begun to feel a bit more of a challenge without optimal equipment here these last few days and the thought of just eating something again, like watermelon, rather than all the extra effort of juicing it, sounds like fun ;) we’ll see…
Here are a few more pictures from the beautiful Ometepe island in Nicaragua where I passed this last weekend…

Today I have had:

200ml (.75 cups) water
250ml (1 cup) mandarin juice with hemp oil
700ml (2.75 cups) watermelon juice
250ml (1 cup) cane juice
600ml (2.5 cups) water of old coconut
1.5 litres (1.5 quarts) celery/pineapple/red pepper juice
200ml (.75 cups) water
1 pack sugar cane sticks
1 tbsp green powder
1 tbsp coconut oil
½ tsp dulse granules
1 litre (1 quart) chard/celery/pineapple juice

which makes…about 4.9 litres of liquids today or…1.3 gallons...
I felt very run down and weak this morning, after 4 days or so without fresh celery or greens…I got it together to go to the supermarket and get what I needed. As soon as I had the celery juice I started to feel lifted and balanced…wow…it really is great stuff…different friends have been saying lately how that’s the one juice they would not go without and as little as I like the flavour of it, I could really resonate with that feeling today – it really is SO hydrating...
The kitchen in my place has become suddenly and quite disturbingly full of fruit flies…I have done my best today to minimize their interest in being there – putting all produce away, throwing all rubbish out immediately, cleaning surfaces thoroughly etc, yet…they still seem to think it’s a great place to be…hmmm…if anyone has any recommendations/top tips for convincing them to leave, I’d be very interested to hear them…

Ok, a glut of questions for today…

- how thick-thin are your juices? and are smoothies allowed from time to time?
Thickness of the juices depends, naturally, on the ingredients. In general though, for cleansing purposes, the thinner, the better. Any ‘thicker’, more pulpy juices such as might be obtained from mango or papaya, will only serve to slow down the cleansing process.
Smoothies are not recommended in this particular cleansing programme, as again, they are just slowing down the cleansing process with the fibre they still contain. This cleansing is about taking a break from solid foods/fibre.

-have you made any colonic hydrotherapy during the fast or do you think it works automaticly on the same basis with only the feast?
I have been doing enemas throughout this juice feast, with great results. The idea is to use them to keep everything flowing through – creating a ‘vacuum’ in the colon by cleaning it out encourages the body to dump out more old toxins from the small intestines and elsewhere. I have not received any professional colonics during the course of this feast, primarily as I am in Costa Rica and there do not seem to be many colon hydrotherapists practicing here…I definitely think they would be beneficial though - yes, the feasting certainly cleans us out to a great degree, but the colon cleansing really helps the process along...

-if green organic vegetables are not everytime avialable do you reckon that you can swap it with selfgrown Wheatgrass, Spirulina etc.etc.?
Yes, you can swap other things in for the greens on occasion, but I would not really recommend making that a constant feature of your juice feast, especially if you’re intending to feast for a long time (i.e. more than a couple of weeks). Home grown sprouts, micro-greens and so on will of course be great, but dried things are not really an ideal substitute for fresh greens.

-are raw nut-seed milk allowed during the feast?
Nut and seed milks are not used during this feasting process. They are mucus-forming and again would slow down the cleansing.

-have you tried to make some dry or water fasting from time to time (once at week?) between the many juices days to allow your body to enter in stronger in contact with the spiritual part and get more emotional-mental stability? Do you think it could be integrated if desired?
I have not been having water or dry days during this feast. I do not feel at this point in my life that is something I would really want to choose for myself. My metabolism is quite sensitive and I feel that water or dry fasting would be very demanding for me. That is not to say that others may not find it beneficial as part of their cleansing process. Certainly there are days when I desire to have more/less juice, but at this point, water and dry fasting do not hold much appeal for me. A concern for me about anyone mixing that in with the feasting process is that the body may receive confusing messages about whether or not it is going to get physical nutrition or not and the fluctuation between intake might in the end be more disturbing to your system than beneficial.

Thanks for all the questions. In fact, the answers to all these kind of common queries and more are found in my new ebook, ‘A Juice Feaster’s Handbook’ which is on pre-order at the moment for $10 and will be released next week… (remember, all those who pre-order now are entered into a prize giveaway to win yummy raw treats like snack bars, goji hearts and raw chocolates ;)…

One love,
Angela. xxx