DIGGING DEEP!
Welcome to our third week :) It’s been amazing to be a part of your journey - we’re feeling so proud, humbled and inspired, and are so ready to delve a bit deeper into the body and this detox process with you!
Once again, we’re looking at a few new approaches that can take us deeper into detox, but let’s start where we are now - recapping and consolidating based on what we’ve done already.
This week, you have the option to approach your days using ANY of the approaches to food you’ve used in weeks 1 & 2, you can go as deep as you like with these approaches (do ask us if you have any questions about how that can look for you).
This course is teaching you to apply the tools and approaches that are right for YOU, so it’s impossible for us to give exact instructions, or a precise plan here.
We are trying to make it as easy as possible to follow, but I know some things may seem unclear, so of course, with anything, please ask if you aren’t sure, or if something isn’t clear :)
OPTIMIZING OUR NEXT FEW WEEKS - SOME TIPS & SUGGESTIONS TO APPLY.
We’re staying with the same approach to our supplementation (the only thing to note is that you don’t have to take your DHA on days you aren’t eating a meal containing fat or cooked foods).
We stick with the same morning structure this week - lemon water first (although you may experiment with between 500ml-1L first thing in the morning now if 1L feels too much).
Emphasis is strong on HYDRATION now, especially for those with detox symptoms.
We’d like for everyone to be drinking a MINIMUM of 2L of juice per day, and if 1L of that can be a green juice, that’s ideal.
If you can manage 2 - 4 liters of juice on:
Fruit + juice only days.
Fully raw days.
Or only one meal a day days.
That would be optimal (unless your body simply doesn’t want the extra juice).
We’re really looking to bring as much structured water into the body as we can - to rehydrate the tissues and cleanse the lymphatic vessels (if you watched the lymphatic system video, you’ll know that the lymphatic vessels within your body would spread around the earth 4X if they were taken out of your body and laid end to end - hence, we need to bring in lots of fluid to clean all those pipes!).
Keep making sure you’re consuming enough, especially with the approaches mentioned above - eat plenty of fruits & drink plenty of juice, energy levels and digestion can be impacted when the body isn’t getting enough calories or nutrients.
FOOR THOSE WITH BLOATING:
MONO MEALS OF FRUIT WILL BE BEST FOR YOU,
and
DRINKING JUICES SLOWLY IS IMPORTANT - drink your juices 500ml at a time if you tend to get bloated.
For everyone, please keep focusing on chewing your food REALLY WELL.
Please try not to eat too late at night, healing happens in the body when it isn’t digesting. Ideally finish eating by 7pm, if you tend to stay up later, then at latest, finish eating by 8.
But the earlier you finish eating, the more healing your body can accomplish whilst you sleep. If you start eating and drinking EARLY in the day, you can aim to finish earlier too.
If you have slow moving digestion, dive into the world of enemas, there may be a lot of congestion in your bowels, and enemas are the most profound supportive detox tool outside of what you eat/drink.
Same for those with heavy detox symptoms, if the colon is holding/accumulating a lot of toxicity, or isn’t eliminating well, you may be reabsorbing toxins back into your bloodstream, which can make you feel unwell.
Remember, the colon is a reflexive organ, it’s connected with every part of the body, so cleansing the colon can make your detox experience SO much more comfortable, and may relieve symptoms all over the body.
If you can, aim for 3 enemas per week, although you can do more than that if you’re feeling good with them, or if you’re doing more than 3 days per week on the deeper food approaches listed in week 2, and 3 (this week).
OPTIONS TO EXPLORE THIS WEEK
So, let’s have a look at a few different approaches that can help you take things further.
To begin with, it’s so important that you don’t push more than what your body and mind would like. If you feel things are too much, or too intense, it’s essential you respect that, and stay with the approaches that feel suitable for you.
These approaches may help you get deeper, but you don’t need to do any of them if it already feels like your body is detoxifying at the level it needs to.
Please respect your process - respect what your body & mind want & need.
If anything isn’t clear, or you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask us in the group!
Let’s have a look at these different options then…
OPTION 1
SAME AS LAST WEEK
Juice / fruit all day + one meal a day - you can use this approach as many days as you like this week.
Fruit + juice days / raw food days (from last week) - this week, you may increase up to 5 days eating only fruits/raw foods, but choose only how many days feels comfortable for you.
OPTION 2
JUICE FAST
If you feel comfortable, you may do a 1-3 day juice fast. This means aiming to drink 4L of juice per day. If your body doesn’t want to drink 4L, that’s okay, save what is left for the next day. But I encourage you to make 4L of juice each morning.
This can be slightly modified too, you can do 3L of juice throughout the day, and one big (or two small) mono fruit meal/s in the late afternoon/early evening.
Juice fasts can be ended as per a normal day - start your morning with water / juices / fruits on the day after your fast, and choose whatever approach suits you best for that day.
A juice fast is a GREAT time to do enemas.
16-24 hour water / herbal tea fast.
OPTION 3
The first thing to say about this option is this - you NEED to respect the process, only do a water fast if you can rest ALL of your fasted period. Please be slow and gentle with all that you do.
Do this approach on your DAYS OFF, not whilst you’re working.
Your blood pressure can vary during a water fast (not for everyone), as the electrolyte balance in the blood changes, this means you may get dizzy when standing up - you MUST stand up slowly to avoid getting dizzy. Your energy levels may also be impacted.
Go from lying down/resting, to seated with a straight back, take a few breaths seated, and THEN stand up SLOWLY.
If you are living in an environment where you have friends or family that worry about you, or have created tension or stress around what you’re doing, don’t use the water fast for more than 16 hours. This practice is not well understood, and doing it will likely cause more problems than it’ll solve!
These fasts are also a good time to do enemas.
This approach means drinking only water or herbal teas/infusions (or both) for 16 - 24 hours.
If using herbal teas/infusions, you may add some lemon/lime and/or honey, if this helps you pass the day.
You should drink a minimum of 2L of water / herbal teas during your fast (if more than 18 hours), it can be a greater quantity too - sip throughout the day, don’t chug lots of liquid all at once. There is no limit to how much you drink, simply follow your body.
LET´S SEE HOW A FAST WOULD LOOK
Let's say you plan to do a 24 hour fast where you won’t be eating for most of Saturday - you should try to finish eating by 5:30pm on Friday night.
You won’t take your supplements during the fasting period.
When you break your fast, it’s essential you drink SLOWLY.
This means at 5:30pm on Saturday, you’ll have completed 24 hours fasting, and will be able to break your fast then.
If your fast is less than 20 hours, you can continue with any approach to your day that you like, as long as you drink 2L of juice.
Now, when breaking your fast (if it’s more than 20 hours), there are 2 options I suggest for you:
1.5L of green juice - cucumber, celery, apple, lemon parsley & cilantro, or, 1.5L of fresh coconut water - at 5:30 PM (or earlier if less than a 24 hour fast).
If hungry after your juices, you may follow with a simple salad containing sprouts, grated carrot, tomato, cucumber, mixed greens, a little drizzle of olive oil, ¼ - ½ an avocado, lemon, herbs, salt & pepper. And if desired, a boiled or steamed potato, or a roasted sweet potato. Eat at around 7pm (if a 24 hour fast, if less than 24 hours, eat earlier if you can).
1.5L green juice or coconut water (as above) at 5:30pm (or earlier if less than 24 hours).
Mono meals of fruit, or more juice, until you feel satisfied - watermelon, melon, oranges, pineapple, grapes, papaya are best choices for solid fruits.
Try not to over eat solid food, as your digestion will be less strong after 24 hours without eating.
You may try one 20-24 hour fast this week, or 2 16-20 hour fasts.
SO LET´S GET INTO IT
OPTION 4
DRY FASTING
You may try a 12 - 16 hour dry fast this week too if that feels of interest.
This is also best done on a day that you don't have to work.
A dry fast simply means not eating or drinking for a period of time - ingesting nothing.
During a dry fast, our body gets a complete rest - our organs don't have to process any food or liquid, which allows deeper healing to happen in the digestive system and organs of digestion.
Dry fasts are also a great way to reduce inflammation in the body, they really encourage the body to clean and replace the fluid spaces between the cells. Essentially, you are sucking out the fluid from all different parts of your body - because your body needs to use it (alongside some potential toxins or waste contained in that fluid) - and then when you rehydrate with juices, you’re filling those spaces with all the good stuff.
Now, if you do decide to try 12-16 hours this week…
The best way to begin a dry fast is after a fruit or juice day, because the extra hydration makes the dry fast much easier.
Take it slow, don’t push it too far if you feel really weak or tired - if it becomes unmanageable, stop your fast as recommended below.
To break a dry fast, the best way is always water, followed by green juice (similar to juice listed above for water fasting) or fresh coconut water, always including some lemon in both. PLEASE DO NOT BREAK A FAST WITH HEAVY OR DENSE FOODS.
Break your dry fast by drinking SLOWLY; this is essential.
So, let’s look at an example dry fast, of 16 hours:
Let’s say you finish eating or drinking at 7pm on Friday.
The fast starts from when you finish eating/drinking.
So you would not eat or drink until 11am on Saturday morning (16 hours later).
You would break your dry fast with 500ml - 1L lemon water (drunk slowly, over 30 minutes+).
Followed by your green juice (2L, split in two portions of 500ML if you tend to get bloated, drunk throughout the day).
After that, you can either move to a mono fruit meal, continue with juices, or eat a dinner of your choosing (the day after a dry fast it’s important you drink MINIMUM 2L of juice).
After you’ve taken your juice, it’s a good time to do an enema.
For the rest of the day, you can take whichever approach to eating that you like.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
You may notice interesting things happening in your body during dry and water fasts, you might feel a deep sense of relaxation, or notice that your system is functioning differently - see if you can tune into what's going on whilst you fast.
Water fasting days are a very good time to do an enema/s.
Never do an enema whilst on a dry fast, wait until you have rehydrated at least 2 litres of fluid after the fast ends (for dry fasts of more than 20 hours), but it is very good to do an enema after a dry fast.
Both water and dry fasts can be very helpful for anyone with lots of bloating or inflammation (anywhere in the body).
Any questions, let us know!
Some ideas and inspiration to get you cooking and preparing amazing, healthy and delicious food :)