92-Day Juice Fast Q&A: “Why do you juice fast?

Today is day 46 of my second 92-day juice feast. To my surprise, since I started sharing juicing pics and tidbits on Instagram and Twitter, I’ve been flooded (in a good way) with questions about juicing and fasting.

Although theglobalgirl.com is primarily a fashion blog, I always intended to share about nutrition since it’s such a huge passion of mine! But to be honest I hadn’t planned on sharing in detail about my juice fast because I just didn’t think anybody would be that interested. I was wrong! I’ve been getting a lot of questions and requests to share my insights, tips and experience. It’s exciting to see that there is such tremendous interest for what is to me one of the most powerful healing tools available to us.

Today’s question is from @claudushia:
[quote style=”1″] Why are you doing a juice fast? You’re itty bitty. Don’t people usually do a juice fast to loose weight? [/quote]

First off I like to say that I am juice “feasting” instead of juice “fasting”. And it’s more than a play on semantics. This small difference has played a big role in me even considering embarking on such an amazing journey. One of the main hurdles I faced for many years in regards to juice fasting was basically the negative connotation of deprivation and lack associated with it. I had read so much about the benefits of going on a juice fast. Of giving our body a much needed break from the all consuming digestive functions and allowing our body’s built-in healing mechanism a chance to dedicate itself 100% to clearing dead and damaged cells and creating new healthy ones. It really made sense and I knew deep inside that this was something that would be tremendously beneficial to me. I had witnessed countless amazing stories of healing and transformation from individuals who had been on a juice fast. And that alone should have been enough of a motivating factor. But… I just could not imagine going without “food” for any period of time let alone three long months. Going without “food”, is one of the most common misconceptions about juice fasting when in reality for most of us it’s perhaps the first time in our lives that our bodies receive true nourishment on a cellular level. I know this sounds like a contradiction. I will elaborate more on that in an upcoming post.

There are lots of different schools of thought regarding fasting in general and juice fasting in particular but frankly most of them did nothing for me. I found it tough enough psychologically to “survive” on fruit and vegetable juices alone, so the common emphasis on caloric restriction (meaning you need to keep your intake of food to a strict minimum by diluting your juices in water) was a major deterrent. After much searching, I eventually came across the concept of the 92-day juice “feast” (as pioneered by John Rose) which takes a radically different approach in that rather than restricting your intake of juice you actually intake large quantities of juice (between half a gallon to a gallon of juice a day) and basically approach fasting as an act of abundance rather than an act of restriction. That totally clicked with me.

That being said, I didn’t jump into a 92-day juice feast over night. It was the culmination of a gradual and natural process. I started out with the “breakfast” fast. This practice alone over the course of several years made an amazing difference healthwise. I then did several 3-day and 5-day juice fasts (mostly orange juice fasts) over the course of a year before feeling ready to embark on my first 92-day juice feast… It seemed impossible! And I’m still in shock that I completed it and that I’m back for more!

So in answer to the question, I am juice feasting for optimum health and optimum well being not weight loss. As a matter of fact, I loose very little weight on extended juice fasts. I’ve found it to be an amazingly powerful healing tool to release environmental toxins, toxic emotions and trauma on a cellular level. I’ve also found it to be a profound spiritual experience. For me it’s an amazing way to reset and release whatever might stand in the way of realizing my full potential. It is really hard to put it into words… To me it’s a practice that transcends food and the physical body. It is way bigger than that. I could never find the courage to do something like this purely for appearance sake (although I never feel more beautiful than when I’m fasting). I love my solid food wayyyy too much!