Juice Journey

Aimée and I have done a juice fast for the last five years in the spring. We will start our fifth fast tomorrow, and I've decided to blog through the month to help me remember and share the experience. The first time we observed this fast we were living in Houston. We went for about 10 days; now we are fasting for a full month. The first couple days will be smoothies only. After the soft step down from solids, in the mornings we will have water and a mix of freshly juiced lemons, cayenne pepper, water and organic maple syrup. Lunch and the evening meal will be a freshly juiced vegetable and/or fruit mix, and if the hunger gets to me, water or herbal tea in the evening. At the end of the fast we will again have a day of smoothies before moving back to solid food. That's it. As part of the fast we cut out all caffeine and alcohol... I'm enjoying a small glass of distilled scottish goodness tonight. Tomorrow I become a teetotaler. The basis for this month long juice fast is a book called "The New Detox Diet" by Elson Haas. 

We started this juice fast to help detoxify from a touring musicians diet that is often less than ideal. I fully expect to have a blazing headache for the next couple days as I experience withdrawl from my morning coffee addiction. Since the main purpose of this fast is to detoxify I usually avoid taking a pain reliever... After three days of feeling pretty lousy, I usually start feeling pretty good. The surprising part of the experience is that once I push through the first week I often feel more content and satisfied than I do when I'm not fasting. Maybe there's something to this whole "fasting and prayer" thing.