The Juice Cleanse Reset Diet (9 page)

Listen to your body during this phase. You may go through some detox symptoms—like headaches, nausea, or sluggishness—before you feel more energized. You may find you crave processed food, caffeine, or sugar if they are part of your normal diet. If these cravings or other side effects haven’t fully subsided by the last day before the juice cleanse, spend another day or two in the precleanse phase. The
purpose is to prepare you properly to get the most out of your juice cleanse, so take your time preparing. The main goal is to enter the juice-cleanse phase having eaten a diet consisting mainly of fruits and veggies and no processed food.

Congratulations! You’ve made it through the first phase. Now that you have successfully removed processed food from your diet and begun consuming more alkaline foods, you should notice that you’re feeling more energized. Whether you spent two or seven days precleansing, you should be craving more fruits and vegetables. The sludge is beginning to loosen itself from your cell walls.

At this point, your attitude toward food has probably changed somewhat. You are likely getting hungry every few hours, because you have been fueling your body with nutritious food regularly, and your metabolism is speeding up. If you didn’t find “healthy” food tasty before now, we hope some of our recipes have changed your mind. Real food served simply has a lot of flavor, and your taste buds should be waking up to this realization now that the chemicals have been removed from your diet. Are you having fewer digestive issues—gas, indigestion, or heartburn? Your digestive system is starting to reset itself. You may even have started to lose weight or at least some of the puffiness and bloating in your body and face that hides your natural beauty. Take a moment to feel a sense of accomplishment on finishing your precleanse. Regardless of how long you spent in this phase, you did it, and you’re now ready to begin your juice cleanse. Let’s do it!

Now that you have successfully prepared yourself, the next phase is
juice! For the next three days, all of your meals will be liquid. (We’ll discuss this in further detail later in the chapter, but if you don’t have a juicer, don’t worry. You can also cleanse by making smoothies in a blender. Your juice cleanse will just be lengthened to five days.) This phase is when you flood your body with nutrients. Do not think of it as deprivation; it’s whole-food based, but you’ll be drinking your meals instead of chewing.

As with each part of the Juice Cleanse Reset Diet, the juice cleanse presents opportunities for you to reset many areas of your health, depending on your personal priorities. You may be wondering how you’ll be able to tell whether you’re successfully resetting. Here are some of the noticeable benefits:

You may experience all or only some of these benefits, and in some cases, the toxins leaving your body may make you feel a bit worse before you feel better. Here’s what you can expect while you’re resetting each area of your health.

Your attitude will benefit from the mental clarity and sense of well-being derived from this juice cleanse. Abstaining from food, and saving the energy that goes into preparing and digesting meals, leads to a greater level of mindfulness. We encourage you to spend time during your juice cleanse reflecting on what food you put into your body and the effect it has inside and out. Juice cleansing is also the ideal way to reset your thought processes. You might be thinking you could never go one whole day without food, let alone three or five days, but you
can
do it. And we bet that your attitude about food will have changed by the time you finish this phase. While cleansing, you’ll learn to recognize those times when you’re craving food but not actually hungry. The juices will provide your body with all the nutrients it needs. You’ll begin to understand that your cravings are generally related to emotional needs, boredom, stress, and social factors instead of hunger. You’ll feel empowered to find that you can say no to those cravings.

As you feed your body a steady stream of nutrients and it releases toxins, your energy level will rise. By consuming nutrient-dense drinks every couple of hours, your energy will actually increase over the course of the day, and you won’t experience that midafternoon slump.

Your energy is increasing because your metabolism is speeding up. As your body becomes accustomed to receiving nutritious fuel every couple of hours, you will begin burning fat rather than storing it.

Although you have weaned yourself off processed food and chemicals during the precleanse phase, you’re now giving your body nothing but fruits and vegetables in large quantities. Because our bodies were designed to extract and use nutrients from the food we ingest, your body is going to be very happy to find itself inundated with organic nutrition. Once it gets a taste, it will crave more.

For the next three days, you’ll give your digestive system a complete break from its normal daily task of breaking down your food so that you can really absorb and use all the great nutrients that you crave. It takes approximately eighteen hours for your body to eliminate one meal. If you normally eat three meals a day, your digestive system is working around the clock! With a diet of liquids for three days, your digestive system gets to rest, focus on removing toxins, and heal itself. At the same time, the juices will flood your body with live enzymes, nutrients, and vitamins, further speeding the detoxification and healing processes. Digestive problems, such as chronic bloat and discomfort, will be all but a memory. Juice cleansing is an optimal
way to give your body a break while feeding it all the nutrients it needs. If you are using a blender to make smoothies, your digestive system won’t completely shut down, but you will be making the job of digestion much easier by blending your food into smoothies.

Although the reason for doing a cleanse is not to lose weight, you’ll be pleased to notice that you’re dropping excess pounds during your cleanse and afterward. As your body releases toxins, your abdomen will become leaner and less bloated. Your healthier cravings will help you continue to lose or maintain your perfect weight after the cleanse, too.

You wash your face and body every day, probably more than once. You moisturize with expensive products and creams, but from a beauty perspective, cleaning your insides is even more important than caring for the outside. Those built-up toxins from the environment and food will clog your pores and make your skin dull, your hair limp, and your face puffy. By removing those toxins and filling your body with nutrients, your beauty will also increase. Over time, your nails will be stronger, your hair thicker, and your complexion clearer. The radiance will shine through!

During the juice-cleanse phase of the diet, you may experience some detox symptoms. If you do experience symptoms (some people call this a “healing crisis”), it may be a sign that your cells are releasing toxins more quickly than they are being eliminated. Detox symptoms display themselves differently for each person, but they may
include headaches, fatigue, nausea, rashes, or temporary bloating. While your body is capable of working through this on its own, the more you do to assist your body in the elimination of these toxins, the more quickly the symptoms will dissipate. Here are some ideas that will help you deal with any detox symptoms that come up.

Dry brushing, which opens up your pores for toxin elimination, is one of the easiest, least expensive, and most effective things you can do to improve your skin. Try to do this daily before showering or bathing to increase the benefits of your reset and improve the quality, tone, and texture of your skin. Dry brushing stimulates the lymphatic system to release toxins and mobilizes fat cells by breaking up toxic deposits of stored fatty tissue (aka cellulite). Consistent dry brushing reveals healthier, smoother, more youthful-looking skin.

Use a natural (nonsynthetic) brush, with stiff yet nonabrasive bristles. Make long sweeps starting at your feet and moving up the legs toward your heart. Next, from there, brush from the arms toward your chest. Avoid circular, back and forth or scrubbing motions. On your stomach, move the brush in a counterclockwise movement. Be careful not to brush too hard. Your goal is to stimulate your skin without causing irritation.

Spending time in a sauna is a relaxing way to wake up your cleansing organs, work up a sweat, and burn extra calories. Because your skin is your biggest organ of elimination, breaking a sweat is a great way to eliminate toxins. Infrared saunas, which generate heat on a cellular level, are our first pick. If you don’t have access to an infrared, any sauna will be beneficial!

Be sure to consume lots of water on days that you use the sauna. Consuming water helps replenish your electrolyte levels and keeps
your body in balance. For an extra energy boost, try immediately following your sauna session with a cold shower.

If you don’t have access to a sauna, a detox bath is fantastic alternative that gives you equal results. Soaking in a sweat-inducing detox bath is a surefire way to quickly release impurities and acidic waste through your skin. Combine 2 cups of Epsom salts, 1 cup of baking soda, and a few bags of ginger tea or 2 tablespoons of ground ginger to a warm bath. You may also consider adding 1 cup of apple cider vinegar. Soak for 20 to 30 minutes.

Consuming only cold beverages lowers your core body temperature and your body has to expend extra energy to keep warm. Adding herbal teas will help regulate your temperature and also provide the added benefit of supporting your detox with herbs. Herbal teas containing milk thistle, lemongrass, or dandelion root help support your liver in flushing toxins out of your body. Mint, anise, and ginger all soothe your stomach. Herbal teas containing senna or cascara sagrada are plant-based laxatives that will encourage elimination to push toxins through and out.