(See Chapt er 9 for more on
fasting.) Maintain your ideal weight by eating small portions of whole foods
including fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds , lentils,
and very small amounts of low-fat dairy product s and lean meats. Studies show that obesity shortens lifespan. Avoid sugar, alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. Research indicates
that high sugar levels speed the aging proces s. Smoking gener ates free
radicals and causes cancer. Cleanse your liver, colon, stomach, intestines, and kidney s.
Keeping these organs of elimination in optimum condi tion will lengt hen
your lifespan. Use the liver cleanse in Chapt er 7 and see Chapt er 9 for a
cleansing plan that will help colon, stomach,  intestines, and kidney s.
This is all great news, but don’t juices and smoothies remove all
that ﬁber? Yes and no. The ﬁber in fruits and vegetables is
removed during juicing when the pulp is separated from the
juice. But you can freeze that pulp and add it to soups, stews,
and baked goods like mufﬁns, and you can blend them into
smoothies. (For more ways to use pulp, see Chapter 13.) Because they’re liquidized or ﬁnely chopped whole fruits and
vegetables, smoothies contain both water-soluble and insoluble
ﬁber from those plants. The ﬁber is simply liquidized so that
you can drink the ingredients, but it’s still there; in fact,
blending hard fruits and vegetables actually saves your
digestive system that job. Bottom line: The National Cholesterol Education Program says
that along with a whole-foods diet and regular exercise, 10 to 25
grams of soluble ﬁber a day will lower cholesterol. Here’s how to increase soluble ﬁber in your diet:
 Drink juice for concentrated boosts of nutrients, but save
the pulp and use it in cooking. Drink raw fruit and vegetable smoothies. Add psyllium, nuts, seeds, cooked beans, bran, and oats to
both juices and smoothies. Eat raw, high-ﬁber fruits and vegetables — apples, oranges,
berries, pears, ﬁgs, prunes, broccoli, cauliﬂower, Brussels
sprouts, and carrots. Include whole grains, legumes, and lentils on a regular
basis. Here are ﬁve ﬁber boosters in this book:
 Banana Breakfast (Chapter 15)
 Berry Nutty (Chapter 15)
 Green Energy Breakfast (Chapter 16)
 Vita-E (Chapter 16)
 Peas and Carrots (Chapter 16)
P r e v e n t i n g  c a n c e r
Cancer cells feed on sugar. In fact, they use vast amounts of
glucose for energy and as building blocks for cell replication. Ever looked at a can of soup or beans or a package of cured
ham? Glucose is right there in the list of ingredients, hovering
somewhere in the top one-third. In fact, most processed foods
contain glucose, among other additives and preservatives. When you eat a constant high-fat diet laced with reﬁned white
sugars and ﬂours and heaps of chemicals, you’re feeding cancer
cells if they exist in your body. And even if they don’t, you’re
operating your complex and highly intricate body systems at a
low level of existence. On the other hand, feeding your cells with pure, absorbable
nutrients from fruits and vegetables releases free radicalﬁghting antioxidants and builds, repairs, heals, and performs a
myriad of other ﬁnely designed functions that are all aimed at
preventing diseases, including cancer and keeping you well. Revving Up Y our Sexy V itality
You’ve got it, baby! If you have it, you likely have a healthy
hormonal balance, because for both men and women, too little
testosterone, which declines by an average of 10 percent per
decade, lessens sexual vitality. The predominantly female
hormones progesterone and estrogen also affect sexual desire
in women, so deﬁciencies result in lower libido. Although hormones are essential, you also need to be healthy
to enjoy a sustained interest in sex. Insomnia, poor diet, drugs,
alcohol, low-grade infections and ill health, and psychological
issues all negatively impact your sexual drive. B a l a n c i n g  h o r m o n e s
Like enzymes, hormones are chemical compounds that are
produced by speciﬁc organs in your body such as the pancreas
or the adrenal glands. Unlike enzymes, hormones are released
directly into the blood stream. The difference between enzymes
and hormones is that hormones carry speciﬁc messages to
cells, and enzymes act as catalysts, assisting in the chemical
reactions of the cells. Some herbs have been used to increase overall sexual vitality. For example, chaste tree berries balance the pituitary gland and
increase sexual energy when it’s low. For testosterone, zinc is important because it assists in
producing both the hormone and sperm. The best juice and
smoothie ingredients for getting plenty of zinc are sesame andpumpkin seeds, parsley, oats, yogurt, turnip, ginger, garlic,
carrots, grapes, and cabbage. Eat scallops, turkey, and shrimp,
as well as raw, cooked, or canned oysters once a week — you
can even include canned oysters in smoothies. To increase progesterone in women, wild yam has shown to be
effective. You can add dried wild yam (found in natural food
stores) to juice and smoothies. S e e k i n g  o u t  s e x y  n u t r i e n t s
Some foods thought to be aphrodisiacs (such as oysters) hold
up under scientiﬁc scrutiny and others don’t. If you’re eating a
whole-foods diet that includes juices and smoothies, you aren’t
overly stressed, and you aren’t taking prescription or
recreational drugs, you should be pretty virile. Probably the single most important thing you can do for your
sex drive is to consume ten fruits and vegetables a day in as
wide a variety as possible. This will provide essential nutrients
that will balance all sorts of conditions, as well as your
hormones. Take for example, Vitamin C. It has been shown to improve
sperm count, sperm motility, and sperm viability in men. It’s
also recommended for both men and women who want to
increase sexual function. If you’re eating a wide variety of fruits
and vegetables, you’ll be getting enough vitamin C for all your
body’s needs. Juicing peppers, kale, strawberries, citrus fruits,
tomatoes, cabbage, and spinach will provide vitamin C.
Boosting Y our Immune System
Your body is a miracle at work. It has several systems that keep
it functioning, and when those systems are working at optimumcapacity, so are you. One of those intricate biological networks
is the immune system. This is your ﬁrst line of defense against
bacteria, microbes, viruses, toxins, and parasites. It consists of
organs (thymus, spleen, tonsils, adenoids, lymph nodes),
lymphatic vessels, and white blood cells. A very long list of damaging compounds — including cigarette
smoke, pollution, soil and air-borne chemicals, free radicals,
yeast, bacteria, fungi, parasites, stress, poor diet and nutrient
deﬁciencies, and drugs (especially antibiotics) — all contribute
to compromising your immunity. F l u s h i n g  a n d  f u e l i n g  y o u r  i m m u n e
o r g a n s
In order to be and stay healthy, strengthening and maintaining a
strong immune system is essential. With a weak or
dysfunctional immune system, infections can invade and
ﬂourish in your body, and other illness and disease, (including
cancer cells and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis
and multiple sclerosis) can develop undetected. If you’re easily
susceptible to colds, viruses, ﬂu, infections, and other illnesses,
this is a sign that your immunity is low. Flushing
Taking a juice fast two to four times a year will not only ﬂush
and cleanse the digestive system, but also allow other systems,
including the lymph and other immune organs, to be cleansed
and brought back to optimum functioning. Juice cleansing
boosts the immune response by helping to keep the immune
system from overreacting and developing autoimmune
responses and by speeding up the ability of the white blood
cells to destroy diseased, damaged, and dead cells. See Chapter
9 for more details on cleansing and detoxifying.Fueling
Regardless of whether you’ve cleansed, starting now, you’ll
want to stop eating high-fat, empty-calorie foods and start
eating a whole-foods, balanced diet. Juicing offers the key to
feeding your immune system because it provides pure nutrients
in an absorbable form without stressing the digestive system. Here’s how to fuel your immune system:
 Eat a high-ﬁber, low-fat diet with rich sources of low-fat
proteins and omega-3 fatty acids like those found in wild
salmon, ﬂaxseed oil, walnuts, and leafy green vegetables. Eat organic foods whenever possible. Get optimum levels of vitamin D from fortiﬁed milk and
milk alternative products, eggs, and shellﬁsh, as well as
from sunlight. Eat a wide assortment of at least ten fruits and vegetables
every day; make sure that one-quarter to one-half of them
are raw. Juice at least twice a day. Include wheatgrass, garlic, ginger, and cabbage in your
daily juice. A v o i d i n g  i m m u n e  d e p r e s s a n t s
The foods you eat either support your immune system and your
body or damage it. Because the gastrointestinal tract keeps out
damaging molecules and pathogenic organisms, like harmful
bacteria, toxins, and viruses, it’s essential to support this
important barrier with the foods you eat (or don’t eat). Here’s a list of some substances to avoid or eliminate if you
want to build a strong gastrointestinal tract and immunesystem:
 Anti-inﬂammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen
(because constant use irritates the gastrointestinal tract)
 Alcohol (because it irritates the stomach lining)
 Red meat and fried foods (because saturated fat increases
inﬂammation, an autoimmune response in your body that
causes all sorts of problems including rheumatoid
arthritis)
 Processed and highly reﬁned foods with added
preservatives (because they tax the immune system by
negatively affecting the gastrointestinal lining without
adding essential nutrients)
 Non-organic foods grown with pesticides (because they
damage the gastrointestinal lining)
 The chemicals in cigarettes (because they add toxic metals
such as cadmium, lead, and mercury to the body, which
severely compromises your immune system)
 White sugar (because it reduces your white blood cells’
ability to destroy germs)
Impr oving Y our Memory
We all need to be able to recall facts, events, and people and we
want to enjoy peak mental performance (including focusing
mentally and utilizing our mental capacities virtually on
demand). Here again, adequate nutrition is the very ﬁrst step to
improving not only your memory, but also your other brain
functions. Free radical damage accounts for a large part of the general
decline in mental performance, as well as causing actual braincell damage and shrinkage of the brain itself. As proteins in the
brain are attacked by free radicals, they’re transformed into
lipofuscin, a brown slime that coats the neurons. As the slime
thickens, memory and other mental functions decline. The good news is twofold:
 Flushing clears sludge in the brain, and fueling with
antioxidants and other phytonutrients stops free radical
damage and feeds the cells brain-building and brain-
protecting compounds. With mental exercise, the neurological pathways in the
brain can be reopened and rebuilt so that memory and
other functions are restored. All this results in improved mental performance, the ability to
learn, increased recall and memory, and clear thinking, with the
result that your train of thought is not impaired and your brain
is working as it should. The brain uses 20 percent of the body’s energy through
carbohydrates. When the brain receives a steady supply of
glucose from carbohydrates in fruits and vegetables for fuel, it
operates smoothly and consistently. Mental confusion,
dizziness, and, in extreme cases, convulsions and lack of
consciousness occur when energy is not supplied in a steady
stream. Foods with a low glycemic index (see Chapter 5) keep
the blood sugar levels from peaking and crashing. Protein (especially tryptophan and tyrosine) is used to build
neurotransmitters, which affect attention and learning
capabilities in the brain. Fats are the major components of the
brain cell membrane, so a diet rich in amino acids and omega-3
fatty acids is vital to a buff brain. Minerals are also important
for brain function. For example, magnesium and manganese are
both needed for brain energy; zinc is essential for protectingagainst aging of the brain; sodium, potassium, and calcium
facilitate the transmission of messages; and iron carries oxygen
to the brain cells and aids in the formation of brain
neurotransmitters. A whole-foods diet that includes plenty of raw fruits and
vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, lentils, and
other foods like eggs, avocados, ﬂaxseed oil, wild cold-water
fatty ﬁsh, berries, and pomegranates protects the brain. F e e d i n g  t h e  b r a i n
The ability to focus and concentrate is important to everyone,
especially as we age. This is because, over time, effects of the
environment, poor diet, and lack of exercise exact a toll on the
brain and the rest of the body. Like all body organs and
systems, the brain performs a myriad of functions and requires
energy from carbohydrates like those found in fruits and
vegetables. It also requires protein and omega-3 fatty acids for
the formation of its cell structure. In addition to speciﬁc foods for the brain, don’t underestimate
the power of sleep to reboot your brain. Avoid sugar because it
depresses the immune function; alcohol because it suppresses
your nervous system and makes you groggy; energy drinks that
make you anxious and irritate the nerves; and soda because it
has been shown to make people depressed and anxious. Here’s a list of some nutrients to include in smoothies and
juices to feed the brain:
 Antioxidants: Vitamins A, C, and E hunt and destroy free
radicals in the brain and the entire body. Consuming raw
fruits and vegetables is the best way to ensure that you get
enough antioxidants to prevent the risk of Alzheimer’s
disease and to slow the progression of memory loss.Speciﬁcally, berries such as wild blueberries, strawberries,
and raspberries have been found to preserve memory and
cut your risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. (See
Chapter 20 for ten antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables.) Protein: Plant protein (from nuts, seeds, legumes, soy,
whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) and small amounts of
low-fat meat such as eggs, chicken, ﬁsh, and dairy
products like low-fat milk and yogurt will supply more than
adequate amounts of amino acids and essential protein for
brain power. Omega-3 fatty acids: Adding avocado and walnuts to
smoothies, and ﬂaxseed or cod liver oil to juices or
smoothies, and eating wild cold-water, fatty ﬁsh like
salmon and mackerel will boost these brain-friendly and
essential fatty acids in your body. B-complex vitamins: Folic acid (vitamin B9) is critical for
brain development (so it’s a key nutrient during
pregnancy) and vitamins B6 and B12 help manufacture and
release chemicals in the brain known as neurotransmitters,
the brain’s messengers. Juice dark green leafy vegetables;
use yogurt, oats, and milk in smoothies; and eat sardines,
salmon, ﬁsh, and seafood to get plenty of B vitamins. For top-performing brain food, add wild blueberries,
strawberries, raspberries, or pomegranate seeds to juices
or smoothies; use soymilk, nuts, seeds, or puréed cooked
legumes in smoothies; blend avocado, and walnuts into
smoothies; stir ground ﬂaxseeds into juices or smoothies,
juice dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, Swiss chard,
and kale; and add yogurt and oats to smoothies.Here are ﬁve smoothie recipes in this book that are great for the
brain:
 Red Vitality (Chapter 16)
 Berry Broccoli (Chapter 16)
 Coconut Green (Chapter 16)
 Spicy Tomato Mocktail (Chapter 16)
 No-jito (Chapter 16)
H e r b s  f o r  m e m o r y
Herbs enhance your diet in so many ways, so growing your own
or ﬁnding a great organic source of these important ingredients
will be a deﬁnite asset in helping to maintain a healthy body and
brain. Here are some herbs to stir into juices and smoothies
that help improve cognitive function and memory:
 Peppermint: Clears your mind and helps you focus,
boosting performance. Basil essential oil: Acts as an aromatic nerve tonic, giving
you a calming energy. Ginkgo biloba: Helps to improve blood ﬂow to the brain
and other organs. Medical research has proven its
effectiveness in treating the early stages of memory loss. Use it in smoothies and juices along with a juice cleanse or
fast as an effective memory booster. Sage oil: Helps boost production of chemicals in the brain
that are known to be depleted by Alzheimer’s disease. Rosemary: Prevents mutations in DNA and stimulates
memory.Chapter 9
Juicing to Cleanse or Detoxify
In This Chapter
 Cleansing your body of waste and toxins
 Going deeper to detoxify
Environmental toxins are everywhere: in the water, soil, air, and
food. Even the normal metabolic functions that go on inside
your body create waste and some level of toxins. Eating organic
food and avoiding processed and reﬁned foods helps, but for
anyone living in this fast-paced, stress-ﬁlled, modern society,
regular juice cleansing and detoxifying have become a
necessary part of a healthy lifestyle. In this chapter, I explain the difference between cleansing and
detoxifying and offer guidelines for doing both. Cleansing: Clearing W aste fr om
Y our Digestive System
Cleansing is all about clearing waste from your digestive
system, as well as your organs and other tissues. You use
speciﬁc fruits, vegetables, and/or herbs to stimulate the body to
eliminate stored waste and toxins. Cleansing usually is done
with herbal teas and fresh fruit juices and doesn’t necessarily
involve fasting (complete abstinence from food). In the strictest sense of the term, fasting is abstaining
from all food while drinking only water. Fasting with only
water is a severe step and should be undertaken only with
the help and consent of your health practitioner. You don’t need to abstain from food while cleansing. However,
eating only raw fruits and vegetables (in salads) is the best
support you can give your body if you really want to cleanse at
the cellular level. Eating a high-fat, low-ﬁber diet is one of the
reasons for cleansing in the ﬁrst place, so it wouldn’t make
sense to consume anything other than organic whole foods
while cleansing. The cleansing acids found in fruits
Fruits are well-known tools for cleans ing and deep- cell ﬂushing. Fruits
work as cleansers because of the ﬁber  and acids they cont ain. Among
the acids found in fruit, three are most prevalent; in fact, they give fruit
their distinct tang:
 Malic acid: Perhaps the most important cleansing acid, malic acid
is an important cleanser because it’s antiseptic, protecting the intestines,
kidneys, liver, and stomach. It also increases ener gy level, protects
muscles from fatigue, increases muscle performance,  promotes nerve
functioning, improves mental clarity, and decr eases the toxic effects of
aluminum and lead. Apples are a rich source of malic acid, but malic acid
also is found in apricots, bananas, cher ries, grapes , lemons, peaches ,
plums, and prunes. Citric acid: My mouth starts to pucker when I think of the sour-
tasting citric acid found in lemons, limes, grapef ruit, oranges , pineappl es,
and other fruits. Food chemists use citric acid as a natural ﬂavoring and
preservative. When you consume foods  with citric acid, it’s absorbed into
the bloodstream and excreted in your urine. Tartaric acid: Tartaric acid acts as an antioxidant and laxative and
plays an important part in the cleansing and detoxifying proces s. Tartaric
acid is found in grapes, tamarinds, and bananas . An alternative to the strict fasting is juice fasting, in
which you abstain from food but drink raw fruit and/or
vegetable juices, as well as water, for short periods of time. Technically, you aren’t actually fasting if you’re drinking
juice, but because you’re absorbing nutrients directly into
the bloodstream and feeding and reconstituting the cells
without actually using the digestive system, juice fasting is
considered a form of fasting. C o n s i d e r i n g  t h e  c l e a n s i n g  p o w e r  o f
f r u i t s
Using fruit juice to cleanse assists your body in the work it
already does to eliminate toxic substances. The accumulation of
stress, chemicals, and reﬁned foods can overwhelm the organs
of the digestive system (which is the system most closely
connected to clearing waste). When the digestive system is
overtaxed, waste accumulates and is stored in the liver,
kidneys, colon, gallbladder, fat cells, bones, and other tissues. Stored toxins in your body lead to everything from sluggishness
to disease (if they’re allowed to build up).Here are some fruits used for cleansing:
 Apples: Malic acid draws out heavy metals, such as lead
and aluminum. Pectin forms a gel that absorbs and
dissolves toxins and stimulates elimination. Note: Use only
organic, unsprayed, unwaxed apples. If you can’t ﬁnd
organic apples, be sure to peel them. Cherries: Cherries reduce the acidity of the blood, which
makes them effective for gout and arthritis. You can mix
cherry juice with equal parts apple juice or pure water. Cranberries: Cranberries are a natural diuretic and
bladder and urinary tract cleanser. Mix one part cranberry
juice with three parts apple juice or pure water. Grapes: Grapes are rich in tartaric acid, an antioxidant and
laxative. They stimulate metabolism, which helps burn
excess food and waste. They also stimulate the liver to
increase its cleansing activity. Note: Use only organic red
and green grapes and seeds for juice. Mix grape juice with
lemon juice to reduce the sweetness. Lemons: Lemons are high in vitamin C and citric acid,
making them a strong cleanser. Drink the juice of half a
lemon in 8 ounces of pure water every day upon rising,
before breakfast, to cleanse the stomach and small
intestine. Note: Leave the white pith on for juicing. You can
include one-quarter to one-half lemon with other fruit in
cleansing juices. Papayas: Papayas contain papain, which digests protein,
thus helping prepare the stomach and intestines for
cleansing. Papayas are a laxative and cleans the kidneys,
liver, and intestines. Pineapples: Pineapples are high in bromelain, which
breaks down proteins, thus aiding digestion. Watermelons: Watermelons are high in pure water and are
used as a kidney and bladder cleanser. Use the red and
white ﬂesh, seeds, and rind for juice. D o i n g  a  j u i c e  c l e a n s e  w i t h o u t  f a s t i n g
You can choose to perform a general cleanse or one that targets
speciﬁc organs or systems of the body, and you can do it in a
very gentle way that’s non-intrusive. Simply drink a fruit juice
for breakfast and again midmorning, using some of the fruits in
the preceding section will start to have the desired effect (while
eating a whole-foods diet the rest of the day). You can do this
for several days or for two to three weeks. If you add some of the following herbs, and combine the
breakfast and midmorning juices with a raw vegetable
lunch, a midafternoon vegetable juice or smoothie, and a
light vegetarian dinner, the cleanse will be even more
effective:
 Alfalfa: Puriﬁes the blood; nourishes the cells. Burdock root: Supports the liver, lymph glands, and
digestive system; facilitates cleansing by stimulating urine
and sweat. Corn silk: A diuretic that helps to ﬂush the kidneys. Dandelion leaves: Support the liver, gallbladder, and
kidney. Dandelion root: Cleanses the liver and blood; stimulates
bile secretion; works as a laxative. Licorice root: A laxative that aids in elimination of waste. Milk thistle: Helps strengthen liver cells and bile secretion. Red clover: Puriﬁes the blood; nourishes the cells. Eat only organic whole foods and try to make at least
one meal raw while you’re cleansing. Don’t eat sugar, dairy,
reﬁned foods, meats, and saturated fats during a cleanse or
on the day immediately before or the day immediately after
cleansing. C l e a n s i n g  w i t h  a  j u i c e  f a s t
Brief periods of drinking only fresh fruit and/or vegetable juices
and plenty of pure water can be a healthy way to give your
digestive system a complete rest so that your body can do the
toxin elimination and organ repair work it’s designed to do. Juice fasts are healthy because
 Your cells are being nourished, not starved. Your organs of elimination aren’t working to digest food, so
they can focus on clearing out built-up debris and start to
move toxins stored deep in fat and other tissues. The benefits of a juice fast
Finding the discipline and determination within yourself to
exert self-control and forgo solid food in order to fast on fresh
raw juices for at least one full day is exhilarating in itself. It
spurs conﬁdence that you can have greater control over your
lifestyle decisions and diet. The effect of being cleansed or
feeling ﬂushed actually makes me want to continue eating
lightly and taking juices long after the juice fast is ofﬁcially over. The long-term effect is that it keeps me committed to choosing
a green lifestyle; eating only organic foods; and eating whole
fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, chicken,and ﬁsh (while being careful about the kind and amount of dairy
and meat I consume). Immediately after a juice fast, I always experience a physical
and mental high — the “juice high.” Some people shed pounds
while juice fasting. I tend to shrink around the middle, the
pufﬁness in my eyelids and ankles disappears, the stiffness in
my knees goes away, I enjoy a lot more energy, the skin on my
face tightens and clears, and the dark circles under my eyes are
noticeably lightened. I wake up bright, alert, and with more
calm readiness for all sorts of tasks that I usually put off. It feels
as if a low-grade kind of depression has lifted and I’m content
and happy with my life and myself. How often to do a juice fast
Many people choose to fast using only fresh, raw juice one day
every week. Others choose to use juice fasts when preparing to
focus on a mental task (for example, before studying for an
important test). Most people use the changing seasons or other
signiﬁcant markers (a birthday or other anniversary) to take a
personal time-out and use a juice fast to bring the mental,
spiritual, and physical aspects of their being into balance. Some
people I know actually go on a retreat and combine meditation
with other forms of reﬂection. All these ways of juice fasting are
excellent preventive measures for ensuring overall health,
physical energy, and mental clarity. I enjoy a two- or three-day juice fast every year at around the
summer and winter solstices. How long to fast
As with any new change, it’s always best to start slowly and
build up to longer periods of juice fasting. If you’re new to
juicing, allow at least a month of experimenting with the recipesin this book, trimming your diet to a whole-foods approach, and
ﬁnding your own level of tolerance for the pure, raw enzymes
and phytonutrients your body will be getting before you even
consider a juice fast. If you’ve spent years indulging in a high-
fat, low-ﬁber diet with or without alcohol, drugs, and other
chemical exposure, you’re going to feel the punch of this new
way of living. After you’re used to juicing, start your ﬁrst juice fast with one
or two days at the most. When you see what’s involved and how
you feel afterward, you can decide how often and when you
want to enjoy your juice fast regime. Stick with one or two days
every year or every few months if you like. Or start to increase
the time by one day each fast. You shouldn’t do a juice fast for
more than ﬁve days unless you’re working with a health
practitioner. Juice fasting, step by step
In order for a juice fast to be effective, you need to do it right. In
this section, I walk you through each phase of a juice fast,
starting in the weeks leading up to it. A few weeks befor e the juice fast
I start a few weeks in advance by mentally preparing for a juice
fast. I like to have personal downtime while juice fasting, so I
usually choose to do it over a long weekend. I mark the date on
my calendar and keep the actual juice fast days clear of any
obligations. When I’ve selected and blocked off the actual days
for juice fasting, I focus some mental energy on visualizing what
I’ll be doing to ﬁll the days and evenings and what functions the
fruits, vegetables, and herbs will be accomplishing in my body. The week befor e the juice fastThe week before, I may clean my house, organize my music, or
get in some books I’ve wanted to read. I tell my family and
friends that this is my “cleanse weekend” so they know I won’t
want to have dinner at a restaurant or go to a party. It’s not that you can’t do anything while fasting. I just choose to
do reﬂective things that bring me inner peace when I fast. I
often conduct a juice fast with my husband. One summer, I
enjoyed the process with a close friend at her cottage. T wo days befor e the juice fast
Prepare a list of whole foods, fruits, vegetables, and herbs that
you’ll be consuming before, during, and after the juice fast. Shop for, clean, and store them so they’re ready when you need
to prepare the light, raw meals and use them in the actual juice
fast. The day befor e the juice fast
Eat only raw foods and don’t eat any dairy or meat products. You can prepare a smoothie for breakfast and a fruit or
vegetable salad using a dressing of one part raw nut or avocado
oil to two parts lemon or lime juice for lunch and dinner. Snack
on raw fruits or vegetables and raw, unsalted nuts and seeds. If
you have a Vitamix, you can prepare a hot soup using
vegetables. For recipes for raw meals, check out Raw Food For
Dummies, by Cherie Soria and Dan Ladermann (Wiley), and
Clean Up Your Diet, by Max Tomlinson (Sterling Publishing). During the fast
You’re mentally ready and you have all the ingredients for your
day or two of juice fasting. Now it’s easy: Simply make yourself afresh juice four to six times every day. You can choose to have
only fruit or only vegetable juices, or you may decide to have
pure fruit juices until noon and then vegetable (or a
combination of fruit and vegetable) juices after noon. The
important thing is that you don’t eat anything during the days
of the fast. Drink eight glasses of pure water or water with pure lemon juice
added and, if you like, herbal teas. Light exercise such as
walking, stretching, dancing, gardening, or yoga is great during
juice fasting. You can go to work if you need to and you can
socialize — just don’t do strenuous exercise/work or put
yourself in a stressful situation. To facilitate toxin release, do the following:
 Every morning of your fast, use a dry loofah sponge or a
natural bristle brush to dry-brush your body all over. Take a shower and then rinse under cool water. Every morning of your fast, take a warm water enema. Be sure to drink a minimum of eight glasses of water
every day. Drinking eight glasses of water during a juice
fast is critical in helping your body to dilute and eliminate
toxins. Each evening of your fast, take a full-soak bath. Fill the
tub with hot water that’s comfortable to sit in and add 1
cup of baking soda and the juice of 3 lemons to the water. Immerse your entire body in the water for 30 to 90
minutes, topping up with hot water as the water cools. You may experience headache and slight depression during a
juice fast, especially if you’re used to coffee and alcohol or junk
foods loaded with chemicals. These feelings will pass, but itcould take three or four days. By juice fasting and allowing your
digestive organs to rest, the toxins stored in them and in other
body tissues are released back into your bloodstream where
they can do damage all over again. But because you aren’t
eating solid food, your kidneys, liver, gallbladder, and spleen
can deal with the reappearing waste. Pure water is essential in
helping to dilute and move these chemicals out of your body. You also may experience minor aches or sore muscles,
temporary exhaustion, loss of appetite, runny nose, acne, body
odor, and bad breath. These symptoms will pass, and you’ll
begin to have the opposite reaction — your skin will clear and
other minor irritations will disappear. If you feel more than
uncomfortable during a fast, discontinue it and resume a light,
whole-foods diet. The day after the juice fast
You did it, congratulations! You feel great, like you could do this
forever. Or maybe you’re ravenous and feel as if you could eat a
horse. Either way, go gently back to eating and promise yourself
that this is the start of a healthy lifestyle. The day after the juice fast, eat only raw foods and don’t eat any
dairy or meat products. You can prepare breakfast, snacks, and
a fruit or vegetable salad as explained in “The day before the
juice fast,” earlier. Detoxifying: Ridding Y our Body of
T oxins
While cleansing zeroes in on clearing your digestive system of
toxic waste from various causes, detoxifying focuses solely on
ﬂushing toxins like heavy metals and other chemical substances
from your tissues and organs.Although cleansing is great, you may want to take it one step
further to actually detoxify your body. Although the terms
cleansing and detoxifying are often used interchangeably,
detoxing is a program that targets speciﬁc toxins and areas of
the body and is usually longer and more intense than cleansing. The body processes toxins through the kidneys and liver, and
excretes them through the urine, feces, breath, and sweat. When those organs and ﬂushing mechanisms become clogged,
the body begins to store dangerous toxic substances in the
kidneys, liver, fat, and even bone cells, among other places. Although it’s always best to avoid breathing, drinking, or eating
toxic chemicals, you can’t always do this, so that’s where a
thorough detoxifying program comes in. Detoxing is always helpful, but there’s not much point in
doing it if you’re only going to return to a lifestyle full of
toxic substances (both in the foods you eat and in the
environment you live in). If you’re not serious about making
changes to your diet and your home, you should probably
skip the rest of this chapter. I d e n t i f y i n g  t o x i c  s u b s t a n c e s
High amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), herbicides,
and pesticides (such as DDT) have been found in the livers of
people who are exposed to them. Your kidneys are susceptible
to toxins as well, which can cause weakness, sluggishness, and
poor performance. When these organs slow down, and
especially if the colon becomes congested, toxins will be stored
or (in the case of an ill-functioning colon) leak back into the
bloodstream. When one or all of these digestive organs are
compromised, nutrients are not absorbed and your entire body
suffers, with malnutrition a real threat.So, how can you tell if you have high levels of toxic substances
in your body? You should have a pretty good idea if you smoke
or take drugs or eat a poor diet. And the symptoms listed in the
following section will help you to pinpoint some of the
symptoms of toxicity. But if you still want scientiﬁc proof, several laboratory tests are
useful in detecting toxins in the body. For example, hair mineral
analysis measures chronic exposure to heavy metals, while
blood and fatty tissue samples may be tested to measure toxic
chemical exposure found in food. If you’re concerned and want
to have some concrete indication of the buildup of these
damaging elements, consult your healthcare provider to
determine the best way to proceed. Table 9-1 lists some of the most prevalent toxic substances that
are present in our bodies in varying quantities depending on
your work, diet, lifestyle, and environment.U n d e r s t a n d i n g  w h y  y o u  s h o u l d  d e a l  w i t h
t o x i n s  i n  t h e  b o d y
Everybody is exposed to chemicals through pesticides,
antibiotics and hormones in food, chemicals from food
packaging, household cleaners and detergents, food additives,heavy metals, pollution, drugs, cigarette smoke, recycled air
(through air conditioning that reroutes chemicals from building
materials), and a host of personal care products (including
perfumes, soaps, and shampoo). Although any one of these things in small doses isn’t horrible,
it’s the cumulative load, called the body burden, that has been
collecting in your cells (if you’ve done nothing to stop it) that
becomes dangerous with age. This accumulation of toxins is
linked with hormonal imbalance, impaired immune function,
nutritional deﬁciency, and an inefﬁcient metabolism. Because
toxins are stored in fat cells (mostly because they are stable
and don’t release the deadly chemicals into the bloodstream or
other tissue, unless you cleanse or lose weight), the body
begins to retain water as a precaution for diluting the toxins
within its tissues. It follows that the more toxic you are, the
more weight you gain and retain. If you suffer from nine or more of the following conditions, a
detox program may be beneﬁcial for you:
 Lacking energy for daily tasks; feeling tired, sluggish, or
lethargic
 Having difﬁculty concentrating on tasks or staying focused
 Easily catching colds, ﬂu, and other viral or bacterial
illnesses
 Having bad breath or body odor
 Having allergies or the tendency to get congested, stuffed
up, or have post-nasal drip
 Experiencing bloating, gas, or indigestion after eating
 Having dark circles under your eyes
 Having eczema, acne, or psoriasis Often going for more than one day without having a bowel
movement
 Usually drinking less than three cups of water every day
(or drinking from plastic bottles on a regular basis)
 Usually eating meat two or more times a day
 Eating reﬁned, processed foods and less than one serving
of vegetables a day
 Smoking or living with a smoker
 Being exposed to industrial chemicals either by using
them as solvents or cleaners, in the water or air, by
swallowing them, or through accidental poisoning
If you have any of these symptoms, talk with your healthcare
provider because they may be related to other serious illnesses. If you’re considering a detox program, especially if it will
last more than a few days, consult your healthcare provider
so that your health isn’t compromised due to preexisting
conditions. Z e r o i n g  i n  o n  t h e  b e s t  d e t o x i f y i n g  j u i c e s
Simply moving to a whole-foods diet and adding one or two fruit
and vegetable juices to your daily routine will go a long way
toward ﬂushing your systems and tissues. Table 9-2 lists some juice and smoothie combinations and the
organs they target. Combine three or four fruits and/or
vegetables with 1/2 teaspoon dried herb in a juice or smoothie
and vary the combinations each time. Use these detoxifyingjuices in a daily juicing program or in a speciﬁc detoxifying
program like the one outlined later in this chapter. D e t o x i f y i n g :  T w o  p l a n s
In this section, I outline two detox blueprints for you: a 5-day
and a 28-day plan. If you’ve never cleansed or undergone a
detox program, start with a one- or two-day juice fast (see
“Juice fasting, step by step,” earlier in this chapter) and see how
you feel afterward. If you prepare mentally and set aside the
time for juice fasting, it will introduce you to the amazing effects
of working with your body to allow it to come back into balance. When you know what to expect from a cleansing program, you
can move on to a longer detox period. If you cleanse regularly,
you may want to try the ﬁve-day plan. The 28-day plan givesyour body deep cleansing and detoxing so that your digestive
system can be reset and rid of poisons, waste, and sludge. The longer you stick to a detox plan, the more waste and
poisons will be eliminated. If you’ve been on antibiotics or
smoked for a long time, your body will beneﬁt from a longer
detox program. When it comes to detoxing, the important things to
remember are the following:
 There is no rush to detox. Your body has already started
to heal if you’ve added fresh raw juices and smoothies to
your daily diet. It’s just as important to establish clean, healthy food
habits as it is to detox. In fact, detoxing comes as one of
the last steps in the move toward a healthy existence. For your mental well-being, you need to start slowly and
add challenges as you master each small step so that by
the time you’re ready to detox, you’re sure to complete the
program. Start slowly and ﬁnd your happy balance, which may
only ever be two or three days of cleansing or detoxing. When you’re detoxing, you may experience runny nose, nausea,
sore throat, diarrhea, acne, bad breath, or mild fever as the
poisons are drawn out and take one last swing. These minor
irritations will pass in a day or two, so stay the course and let
your body regenerate and reset itself. Just as with cleansing, you can use dry-brush techniques
before your morning showers, warm water enemas, and
baking soda/lemon soaking baths to help your body rid
itself of toxins (see “During the fast,” earlier in this
chapter). Light exercise is essential because it helps the
lungs and circulatory systems clear themselves. Check Table 9-2 and be sure to have at least two herbs on hand
to add to juices and smoothies. Milk thistle is particularly
helpful in breaking down fats in the liver. Probiotic yogurt with
Lactobacillus acidophilus and biﬁdus bacteria helps to replace
digestive bacteria in the gut and is essential if you’ve recently
been taking antibiotic drugs. One cup of probiotic yogurt, three
times a day for the ﬁve days, is appropriate. A five-day detoxifying plan
In this section, I outline a ﬁve-day detoxifying plan, step by step. The week befor e the detox
A good detox deserves a good refrigerator, pantry, and
cupboard cleanse. You can’t eat what isn’t in your kitchen, so
keep only foods that are fresh, whole, and organic. Junk,
processed, and reﬁned foods are the very foods that are
poisoning you, so clear them out of your house at the beginning
of your detox plan. Start doing the following — and continue these steps
throughout the entire detox: Do at least 30 minutes of light exercise throughout the
entire detox. Stretch-ing, yoga, walking, dancing,
swimming, or playing a non-competitive sport are good for
breathing, stretching, and relaxing. The goal here is to help
ﬂush poisons through the lungs, muscles, and lymph
system. Eat only organic fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts,
seeds, probiotic yogurt, chicken, and ﬁsh. Drink eight cups of water every day. Add the juice of half a
lemon to each glass because lemon helps to stimulate liver
function. Stay on all medications throughout the detox. Be sure to
check with your health provider about going on a
detoxiﬁcation plan. Eliminate alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, salt, and any
recreational drugs. Eliminate sugar and reﬁned foods (for example, candy,
cake, crackers, sodas, white bread, pasta and other wheat
products, all dairy products except probiotic yogurt, and
all non-organic soy products). Eliminate junk and fried foods (for example, food in bags,
boxes, jars, or tins; packaged, salted, or preserved meats,
pickles, condiments, or processed cheese; frozen foods;
and all fried foods). During the detox
Continue the habits you started the week before the detox. You can make fresh, raw salads, eat raw nuts and seeds, drink
herbal teas, and have legumes and whole grains (such as
amaranth, brown rice, and quinoa) when indicated in the planeach day — usually at noon or for dinner. Recipes for detox
dressing and tea are in the nearby sidebar, “Detox recipes.”
 When a juice or smoothie is indicated, refer to Table 9-2. For example, on Day 1, you’re told to drink a Constipation
Support fruit or vegetable smoothie. So, you can make a
smoothie made from three or four of the ingredients listed
under the Fruits and/or Vegetables column. Detox recipes
Throughout the detox, you can eat salads with a dressing made of the
following ingredients:
 1/3 cup avocado or nut oil
 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Just combine all the ingredients in a jar, cap with a tight-ﬁtting lid, and
shake the contents until they’re well blended. You can also enjoy a detox tea made of the following ingredients:
 4 parts dried, ﬁnely chopped dandelion root
 4 parts dried, ﬁnely chopped burdock  root
 2 parts dried crushed fenugreek seeds
 1 part dried crushed milk thistle seeds 4 parts ground licorice root
In a bowl, combine the herbs and mix well. Transfer to a dark glass jar
with tight-ﬁtting lid and store in a dry cupboar d. When you’re ready  to
make the tea: For every cup, allow 1 teaspoon of tea blend. Add to a
teapot and cover with boiling water. Cover the teapot  with a lid and steep
for ten minutes. Sweeten with honey if desired. Drink eight glasses of lemon water throughout the day every
day. Day 1
 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with fresh
fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Kidney Flush fruit juice. Lunch: Eat a salad of fresh, raw vegetables with the detox
dressing (see the “Detox recipes” sidebar) and whole
grains if desired. Midafternoon: Drink a Liver Cleanse vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat grilled or steamed ﬁsh, a bean salad with
detox dressing, and steamed or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie. Day 2 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Liver Cleanse fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Kidney Flush vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat a bean salad with detox dressing and steamed
or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie. Day 3
 Morning: Drink a glass of warm water with the juice of 1/2
lemon. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Kidney Flush fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Liver Cleanse vegetable juice. Dinner: Drink a Bladder Support vegetable juice. Early evening: Drink a cup of detox tea (see the “Detox
recipes” sidebar). Day 4
 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Liver Cleanse fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Kidney Flush vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat a bean salad with detox dressing and steamed
or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie. Day 5
 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with fresh
fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Kidney Flush fruit juice. Lunch: Eat a salad of fresh, raw vegetables with detox
dressing and whole grains if desired. Midafternoon: Drink a Liver Cleanse vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat grilled or steamed ﬁsh, a bean salad with
detox dressing, and steamed or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie. After the detox
After ﬁve days of a coordinated effort to rid yourself of some
pretty nasty chemicals, you’ll feel clearheaded, leaner, and
perhaps a bit lightheaded. Go slowly, adding whole foods by
gently expanding the foods you had on Day 5. A 28-day detoxifying plan
Why would you want to put yourself on a four-week restricted
detox plan? Maybe you’ve experienced the juice high from juice
fasting or detoxing for shorter periods of time, and you’re
emotionally, physically, and mentally ready for a full-on deep-tissue detox. Maybe you saw the beneﬁts of the ﬁve-day
detoxifying plan and you know that all it takes is about 28 days
to change a habit, so you ﬁgure the longer detox will help you
permanently change to healthy eating habits. If you’ve
experienced long-term toxicity levels, you know that it takes a
long-term approach to rid yourself of the chemicals that are
interfering with your autoimmune responses or other similar
conditions. Whatever the reasons, the extended plan is still ﬂexible enough
to meet your individual needs. It’s based around seven days
that are repeated four times. Although it looks simple, there are
actually a whole range of raw soups and salads that you can
make that include lentils; beans; ancient grains; black, red, or
brown rice; other whole grains; nuts; seeds; and a wide variety
of fruits and vegetables. Max Tomlinson’s Clean Up Your Diet: The Pure Food
Program to Cleanse, Energize, and Revitalize (Duncan Baird)
is an excellent book that provides several programs and
recipes based on a whole-foods diet. This plan is designed to give you three days of juice fasting and
four days of very light meals. You should feel lean and light, but
if you’re hungry, drink a vegetable juice. Try not to eat or snack
on solid foods on days 3, 4, and 5. Drink eight glasses of lemon water throughout the day
every day. Day 1 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with fresh
fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Kidney Flush fruit juice. Lunch: Eat a salad of fresh, raw vegetables with detox
dressing and whole grains if desired. Midafternoon: Drink a Liver Cleanse vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat grilled or steamed ﬁsh, a bean salad with
detox dressing, and steamed or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie. Day 2
 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Liver Cleanse fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Kidney Flush vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat a bean salad with detox dressing and steamed
or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie. Day 3
 Morning: Drink a glass of warm water with the juice of 1/2
lemon. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Kidney Flush fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Liver Cleanse vegetable juice. Dinner: Drink a Bladder Support vegetable juice. Early evening: Drink a cup of detox tea. Day 4
 Morning: Drink a glass of warm water with the juice of 1/2
lemon. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Liver Cleanse fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Kidney Flush vegetable juice. Dinner: Drink a Bladder Support vegetable juice. Early evening: Drink a cup of detox tea. Day 5
 Morning: Drink a glass of warm water with the juice of 1/2
lemon. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Kidney Flush fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Liver Cleanse vegetable juice. Dinner: Drink a Bladder Support vegetable juice. Early evening: Drink a cup of detox tea.Changing your environment to reduce
toxins
The whole point of cleansing and detoxing is to rid your body  of chem icals
and wastes that have been stored in organs  and tissues. After you’ve
cleaned up your diet, the rational next step is to reduce toxins in your
environment. You can do that by
 Using nontoxic cleaning alternatives at hom e and in the ofﬁce
wherever possible
 Choosing natural ﬁbers (wood, metal, and glass) over plastics and
synthetic materials for home furnishings
 Removing from your home any curtains, ﬂoor ing, rugs, or toys that
are made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
 Not using aerosol sprays for cleaners, foods , or cosmetics
 Finding natural alternatives for toxic materials (for example, white
vinegar for window and glass cleaning or castor or mineral oils in place of
synthetic lubricants with solvents)
 Choosing water-based latex paints instead of lead- based paints
 Having your furnace, ﬁreplace, or gas heat er check ed regul arly to
prevent leaks of deadly fumes
Greenpeace has a great website that offers lots of tips on living a green
lifestyle: www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/multimedia/goodies/green-
guide/green-lifestyle . It’s not a stretch to go from cleaning up your
own body to cleaning up the Earth. Day 6 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Liver Cleanse fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Kidney Flush vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat a bean salad with detox dressing and steamed
or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie. Day 7
 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with fresh
fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Kidney Flush fruit juice. Lunch: Eat a salad of fresh, raw vegetables with detox
dressing and whole grains if desired. Midafternoon: Drink a Liver Cleanse vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat grilled or steamed ﬁsh, a bean salad with
detox dressing, and steamed or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie.Part III
Getting Juiced
In this part . . . This part gets started with ingredients and juicing tips. When
you know what you can and can’t juice and how to use juices in
lots of different recipes, you’ll be raring to go. The rest of the
part provides dozens of juice recipes — for both fruit andvegetable juices. And the part ends by giving you ideas of what
to do with your juicing leftovers.Chapter 10
Juicing Ingredients and Techni ques
In This Chapter
 Stocking up on ingredients for juicing
 Mastering the juicing technique
 Cooking with juices
I know what it’s like to bring the juicer home and take it out of
the box for the ﬁrst time. You’re probably excited and a bit
nervous. If so, you’ve come to the right chapter. Here, I start out
by telling you what to look for in terms of juicing ingredients. Then I explain how to make juices — there’s nothing to be
intimidated by, trust me. Finally, I close the chapter by telling
you how you can use those fabulous juices you’ve made in a
variety of dishes — everything from sauces to soups and more! If you’re new to the world of juicing, this chapter will help you
start your juicing journey on the right foot. Juicing Ingr edients
Fruit, vegetables, herbs, sprouts, and grasses — that’s the
extent of ingredients that you can juice. In this section, I walk
you through the wide variety of ingredients that fall into these
categories. I also show you some healthy ingredients you can
add to juices. (For more information on shopping for fresh
produce, check out Chapter 4.) F r u i t s  a n d  v e g e t a b l e sNature has conveniently color-coded the major phytonutrients
into four major shades — orange/yellow, red, blue/purple, and
green — and each is brimming with healthy components. Spread your 9 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables among the
four color groups, and you’re guaranteed to be following the
best possible diet for good health. What you can’t juice
A juicing machine or juice extractor removes the juice or liquid from fruits
or vegetables by force. And because the machi ne is doing the squeez ing
and separating of the pulp and juice, you can juice many hard fruits and
vegetables that you couldn’t juice by hand. Still, there are a few fruits and
vegetables that simply can’t be forced into giving up their precious liquids. You can use these fruits and vegetables in smoothies but not in juices:
 Avocado: Avocado is a great source of omega- 3 fatty acids and,
when ripe, it blends nicely, making smoothies and dips cream y and
smooth. But if you try to juice it, it will only jam your juice machi ne. You
can add avocado to fresh juice, though — here’s how : In a blender ,
combine 1 cup fresh juice with 1/2 avocado, cut into chunks. Blend until
smooth. Pour this mixture into the rest of your juice and mix well. The
avocado will make the juice thick and cream y.
 Banana: Bananas are high in potassium, but they gum  up the
working parts of the juicer when you try to juice them . To add bananas  to
your glass of fresh juice, follow these steps: In a blender , combine 1 cup
fresh juice with 1/2 banana, cut into chunks. Blend until smooth. Pour this
mixture into the rest of your juice and mix well. Rhubarb: Rhubarb leaves are high in oxalic acid and inedi ble, but
the stalks contain such tiny amounts of the toxic acid that most peopl e
can eat small amounts of rhubarb stalks in pie and jam without
experiencing problems. However, becaus e of the amount  of fresh rhubar b
required to make one glass of juice, the amount  of nutrients and the toxic
oxalic acid is concentrated and much higher  than if you eat the stalksraw. Juicing rhubarb could cause a react ion of stomach irritation and
kidney problems, so you’re better off leaving it for smoothies and rhubar b
pie. Winter squash: Winter squash is just too hard to juice. In fact, you
can damage your grating basket or blades  if you try to juice raw squas h.
But the nutrients are exceptional, so to juice squas h, you can soften
chunks of butternut or acorn squash by lightly steam ing them  before
juicing. Nuts, seeds, and grains: Nuts, seeds, and grains aren’t suitable for
juicing, but you can ﬁnely chop them  and add them  to fresh juice as a
protein boost. Orange/yellow
Alpha- and beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene are the biological
pigments that give orange/yellow fruits and vegetables their
color. Studies show that orange/yellow plant foods protect
against cancer and stroke. Eating one or two every day will
guard against heart disease, cancer, and other modern ailments. Here are some great examples of orange/yellow fruits and
vegetables you can juice:
 Apricots
 Bell peppers
 Cantaloupe
 Carrots
 Grapefruit
 Lemons
 Mangoes Nectarines
 Oranges
 Papayas
 Peaches
 Pineapple
 Plums
 Pumpkin
 Squash
 Sweet potatoes
 Tangerines
 Yams
Red
Seven of the top 20 antioxidant fruits and vegetables are red. Anthocyanins (the bright red, purple, and blue pigments found
in plants), cancer-ﬁghting ellagic acid, and vitamin C, among
other things, are high in this color group. Just like the heat and
emotion they represent, red fruits and vegetables are essential
to the daily diet, so plan to include one or two of these balls of
ﬁre in your daily juice or smoothie regimen. Here are some examples of red fruits and vegetables you can
juice:
 Apples
 Beets
 Bell peppers
 Cherries Cranberries
 Plums
 Pomegranates
 Raspberries
 Red onions
 Grapes
 Strawberries
 Tomatoes
Blue/purple
Bright blue/purple vegetables get their pigment from
anthocyanins and beta-carotene, both excellent cancer-ﬁghters. Aim to include one blue-purple fruit or vegetable every day. Here are some examples of blue/purple fruits and vegetables
you can juice:
 Bilberries
 Blackberries
 Blueberries
 Concord grapes
 Eggplants
 Elderberries
 Purple carrots
 Purple potatoes
 Purple tomatoesGr een
Chlorophyll is the pigment that gives green fruits and
vegetables their color. Green foods are good sources of
carotenoids (vitamin A precursors), including lutein and
powerful antioxidants. Green vegetables tend to score lower on
the glycemic index chart (see Chapter 5 for more on the
glycemic index), so they’re a good balancing addition to juices. Juice the following green vegetables in small amounts once
you’re enjoying a wide variety of new vegetables:
 Asparagus
 Bell peppers
 Broccoli
 Brussels sprouts
 Cabbage
 Collard greens
 Kale
 Musk melon
 Mustard greens
 Spinach
 Swiss chard
 Dark green vegetables are powerful laxatives. Start with
a ratio of one dark green vegetable to four to six other
vegetables, and don’t introduce dark green vegetables until
you’ve enjoyed a wide variety of new vegetable colors and
tastes because they’re strong and potent.G r e e n  g r a s s e s ,  h e r b s ,  a n d  s p r o u t s
Cereal grasses (from barley, rye, buckwheat, and wheat) and
sprouts (from beans and lentils) are nutrition powerhouses
because they contain all the nutrients necessary for growing the
mature plant. Wild weeds and cultivated herbs offer a wide
range of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, with
chlorophyll as an added bonus. Use them fresh, or whisk
powdered greens (available at natural food stores) into juices. If you’re interested in growing your own grasses and
herbs and sprouting your own seeds so that the nutrients
are at their peak when you juice them, check out Container
Gardening For Dummies, 2nd Edition, by Bill Marken,
Suzanne DeJohn, and the Editors of the National Gardening
Association (Wiley). Not every juicing machine can efﬁciently extract juice
from grasses, herbs, and sprouts, so if you’re buying a
juicing machine, look for one that can handle these delicate
sprigs. If you already own a good juicer but want to enjoy
juices from grasses, herbs, and sprouts, look for one of a
few inexpensive and hand-turned, strictly grass juicers. Here are some of the edible grasses, herbs, and sprouts to add
to fruit or vegetable juice for the beneﬁts they bring:
 Alfalfa sprouts
 Barley greens
 Buckwheat greens Lentil sprouts
 Parsley (Note: Pregnant women and people with kidney
problems should avoid parsley juice.) Purslane
 Watercress
 Wheatgrass
H e a l t h y  a d d i t i v e s
If you’re anything like me, you’ll end up mostly taking your
juices straight — with no ice, and with nothing stirred, shaken,
or whisked in. But every once in a while, you may want to add
something to your juices, and that’s where this section comes
in. Don’t overload your juices with additives. Instead, choose one
additive from one or two of the following groups per glass of
juice. Group 1: Bran, ﬂaxseed, hemp, and wheat germ
• Bran: Add 1 tablespoon of ground oat bran or wheat
bran per glass of juice. • Flaxseed: Whole ﬂaxseeds pass through the body
virtually intact without releasing their nutrients and
fats, so you want to make sure to use ground ﬂaxseed. Flaxseed contains alpha linolenic acid (ALA), which
the body uses to produce omega-3 fatty acids. Add 1
tablespoon ground ﬂaxseed per glass of juice. • Hemp: In many places, hemp seeds are illegal (because
of their connection to marijuana), but they’re a great
source of protein, ﬁber, and omega-6 and omega-3 fatty
acids. Start with 1 teaspoon and work up to 1
tablespoon of hemp seeds in juice daily. If hemp seedsare unavailable, use wheat germ and up to 1
tablespoon of hemp oil. • Wheat germ: The germ is the tiny core of the grain. It
contains nutrients for the plant. Two tablespoons
deliver 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of ﬁber, and about
1.5 grams of unsaturated fat. Add 1 tablespoon wheat
germ per glass of juice. Group 2: Herbs and spices
• Cinnamon: Cinnamon can help moderate blood sugar,
which is good news for diabetics and people who are
weight-conscious. Cinnamon is an antioxidant and
inhibits ulcers, as well as being helpful in reducing
joint pain and muscle stiffness. Add 1/4 teaspoon of
ground cinnamon per glass of juice. • Basil: Basil is calming and works as an antidepressant
when used in medicinal quantities. For juicing, use
three to six fresh leaves of basic, or whisk in 1/4
teaspoon fresh chopped leaves to each glass of juice. • Garlic: Garlic’s antioxidant, antibacterial, heart
protecting, and anti-cancer properties give it healing
power. Juice one peeled clove of garlic for each
serving of juice. • Ginger: I use ginger to treat headaches, nausea, and
vomiting, but ginger has anti-inﬂammatory and
antioxidant properties, so you may want to add it to
drinks often. Use 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated raw
ginger or a pinch of ground ginger per serving of juice. • Licorice: Well known as a soothing throat and stomach
medicine, licorice supports the immune system. It also
has anti-inﬂammatory and anti-tumor properties. Use
1/4 teaspoon ground licorice root per juice serving. • Oregano: With its powerful antioxidants and minerals
— including magnesium, zinc, potassium, iron, boron,and manganese — as well as vitamins A and C,
oregano is an important healing herb. Add 1/4
teaspoon of ﬁnely chopped fresh leaves (or a pinch
dried) per serving of juice. • Rosemary: Use rosemary in small amounts (1 fresh
sprig juiced with grasses or a pinch freshly chopped)
for a zing of fresh citrus-menthol ﬂavor and lots of
chlorophyll. • Thyme: I grow and use thyme in cooking because of its
antioxidants. Use 1/4 teaspoon ﬁnely chopped fresh
thyme leaves per juice serving. • Turmeric: The anti-inﬂammatory properties of
turmeric help alleviate arthritis and joint pain, so add
it to juices after exercising. Turmeric also ﬁghts
tumors and is an antioxidant. Blend 1/4 teaspoon of
ground turmeric per juice serving. Group 3: Supplements
• Bee pollen: Bee pollen is loaded with vitamins, amino
acids, minerals, trace elements, and enzymes. Start by
grinding bee pollen in a blender and then whisk 1/2
teaspoon into a glass of juice. • Propolis: Bees mix a resinous sap from trees with wax
and use it for general hive maintenance; this sap is
called propolis. With its ability to ﬁght infection and
its antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-ulcer, and antitumor
qualities, propolis is great for humans, too. Whisk 1/2
teaspoon into a glass of juice. • Brewer’s yeast: As a rich source of the B-complex
vitamins and with essential amino acids and minerals
including chromium, brewer’s yeast is a good natural
supplement.
_OceanofPDF.com_Juicing_and_Smoothies_For_Dummies_-_Pat_Crocker.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        (See Chapt er 9 for more on
fasting. ) Maintain your ideal weight by eating small portions of whole foods
including fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, lentils,
and very small amounts of low-fat dairy product s and lean meats. Studies show that obesity shortens lifespan. Avoid sugar, alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. Research indicates
that high sugar levels speed the aging proces s. Smoking gener ates free
radicals and causes cancer. Cleanse your liver, colon, stomach, intestines, and kidney s. Keeping these organs of elimination in optimum condi tion will lengt hen
your lifespan. Use the liver cleanse in Chapt er 7 and see Chapt er 9 for a
cleansing plan that will help colon, stomach,  intestines, and kidney s. This is all great news, but don’t juices and smoothies remove all
that ﬁber. Yes and no. The ﬁber in fruits and vegetables is
removed during juicing when the pulp is separated from the
juice. But you can freeze that pulp and add it to soups, stews,
and baked goods like mufﬁns, and you can blend them into
smoothies. (For more ways to use pulp, see Chapter 13. ) Because they’re liquidized or ﬁnely chopped whole fruits and
vegetables, smoothies contain both water-soluble and insoluble
ﬁber from those plants. The ﬁber is simply liquidized so that
you can drink the ingredients, but it’s still there; in fact,
blending hard fruits and vegetables actually saves your
digestive system that job. Bottom line: The National Cholesterol Education Program says
that along with a whole-foods diet and regular exercise, 10 to 25
grams of soluble ﬁber a day will lower cholesterol. Here’s how to increase soluble ﬁber in your diet:
 Drink juice for concentrated boosts of nutrients, but save
the pulp and use it in cooking. Drink raw fruit and vegetable smoothies. Add psyllium, nuts, seeds, cooked beans, bran, and oats to
both juices and smoothies. Eat raw, high-ﬁber fruits and vegetables — apples, oranges,
berries, pears, ﬁgs, prunes, broccoli, cauliﬂower, Brussels
sprouts, and carrots. Include whole grains, legumes, and lentils on a regular
basis. Here are ﬁve ﬁber boosters in this book:
 Banana Breakfast (Chapter 15)
 Berry Nutty (Chapter 15)
 Green Energy Breakfast (Chapter 16)
 Vita-E (Chapter 16)
 Peas and Carrots (Chapter 16)
P r e v e n t i n g  c a n c e r
Cancer cells feed on sugar. In fact, they use vast amounts of
glucose for energy and as building blocks for cell replication. Ever looked at a can of soup or beans or a package of cured
ham. Glucose is right there in the list of ingredients, hovering
somewhere in the top one-third. In fact, most processed foods
contain glucose, among other additives and preservatives. When you eat a constant high-fat diet laced with reﬁned white
sugars and ﬂours and heaps of chemicals, you’re feeding cancer
cells if they exist in your body. And even if they don’t, you’re
operating your complex and highly intricate body systems at a
low level of existence. On the other hand, feeding your cells with pure, absorbable
nutrients from fruits and vegetables releases free radicalﬁghting antioxidants and builds, repairs, heals, and performs a
myriad of other ﬁnely designed functions that are all aimed at
preventing diseases, including cancer and keeping you well. Revving Up Y our Sexy V itality
You’ve got it, baby. If you have it, you likely have a healthy
hormonal balance, because for both men and women, too little
testosterone, which declines by an average of 10 percent per
decade, lessens sexual vitality. The predominantly female
hormones progesterone and estrogen also affect sexual desire
in women, so deﬁciencies result in lower libido. Although hormones are essential, you also need to be healthy
to enjoy a sustained interest in sex. Insomnia, poor diet, drugs,
alcohol, low-grade infections and ill health, and psychological
issues all negatively impact your sexual drive. B a l a n c i n g  h o r m o n e s
Like enzymes, hormones are chemical compounds that are
produced by speciﬁc organs in your body such as the pancreas
or the adrenal glands. Unlike enzymes, hormones are released
directly into the blood stream. The difference between enzymes
and hormones is that hormones carry speciﬁc messages to
cells, and enzymes act as catalysts, assisting in the chemical
reactions of the cells. Some herbs have been used to increase overall sexual vitality. For example, chaste tree berries balance the pituitary gland and
increase sexual energy when it’s low. For testosterone, zinc is important because it assists in
producing both the hormone and sperm. The best juice and
smoothie ingredients for getting plenty of zinc are sesame andpumpkin seeds, parsley, oats, yogurt, turnip, ginger, garlic,
carrots, grapes, and cabbage. Eat scallops, turkey, and shrimp,
as well as raw, cooked, or canned oysters once a week — you
can even include canned oysters in smoothies. To increase progesterone in women, wild yam has shown to be
effective. You can add dried wild yam (found in natural food
stores) to juice and smoothies. S e e k i n g  o u t  s e x y  n u t r i e n t s
Some foods thought to be aphrodisiacs (such as oysters) hold
up under scientiﬁc scrutiny and others don’t. If you’re eating a
whole-foods diet that includes juices and smoothies, you aren’t
overly stressed, and you aren’t taking prescription or
recreational drugs, you should be pretty virile. Probably the single most important thing you can do for your
sex drive is to consume ten fruits and vegetables a day in as
wide a variety as possible. This will provide essential nutrients
that will balance all sorts of conditions, as well as your
hormones. Take for example, Vitamin C. It has been shown to improve
sperm count, sperm motility, and sperm viability in men. It’s
also recommended for both men and women who want to
increase sexual function. If you’re eating a wide variety of fruits
and vegetables, you’ll be getting enough vitamin C for all your
body’s needs. Juicing peppers, kale, strawberries, citrus fruits,
tomatoes, cabbage, and spinach will provide vitamin C. Boosting Y our Immune System
Your body is a miracle at work. It has several systems that keep
it functioning, and when those systems are working at optimumcapacity, so are you. One of those intricate biological networks
is the immune system. This is your ﬁrst line of defense against
bacteria, microbes, viruses, toxins, and parasites. It consists of
organs (thymus, spleen, tonsils, adenoids, lymph nodes),
lymphatic vessels, and white blood cells. A very long list of damaging compounds — including cigarette
smoke, pollution, soil and air-borne chemicals, free radicals,
yeast, bacteria, fungi, parasites, stress, poor diet and nutrient
deﬁciencies, and drugs (especially antibiotics) — all contribute
to compromising your immunity. F l u s h i n g  a n d  f u e l i n g  y o u r  i m m u n e
o r g a n s
In order to be and stay healthy, strengthening and maintaining a
strong immune system is essential. With a weak or
dysfunctional immune system, infections can invade and
ﬂourish in your body, and other illness and disease, (including
cancer cells and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis
and multiple sclerosis) can develop undetected. If you’re easily
susceptible to colds, viruses, ﬂu, infections, and other illnesses,
this is a sign that your immunity is low. Flushing
Taking a juice fast two to four times a year will not only ﬂush
and cleanse the digestive system, but also allow other systems,
including the lymph and other immune organs, to be cleansed
and brought back to optimum functioning. Juice cleansing
boosts the immune response by helping to keep the immune
system from overreacting and developing autoimmune
responses and by speeding up the ability of the white blood
cells to destroy diseased, damaged, and dead cells. See Chapter
9 for more details on cleansing and detoxifying. Fueling
Regardless of whether you’ve cleansed, starting now, you’ll
want to stop eating high-fat, empty-calorie foods and start
eating a whole-foods, balanced diet. Juicing offers the key to
feeding your immune system because it provides pure nutrients
in an absorbable form without stressing the digestive system. Here’s how to fuel your immune system:
 Eat a high-ﬁber, low-fat diet with rich sources of low-fat
proteins and omega-3 fatty acids like those found in wild
salmon, ﬂaxseed oil, walnuts, and leafy green vegetables. Eat organic foods whenever possible. Get optimum levels of vitamin D from fortiﬁed milk and
milk alternative products, eggs, and shellﬁsh, as well as
from sunlight. Eat a wide assortment of at least ten fruits and vegetables
every day; make sure that one-quarter to one-half of them
are raw. Juice at least twice a day. Include wheatgrass, garlic, ginger, and cabbage in your
daily juice. A v o i d i n g  i m m u n e  d e p r e s s a n t s
The foods you eat either support your immune system and your
body or damage it. Because the gastrointestinal tract keeps out
damaging molecules and pathogenic organisms, like harmful
bacteria, toxins, and viruses, it’s essential to support this
important barrier with the foods you eat (or don’t eat). Here’s a list of some substances to avoid or eliminate if you
want to build a strong gastrointestinal tract and immunesystem:
 Anti-inﬂammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen
(because constant use irritates the gastrointestinal tract)
 Alcohol (because it irritates the stomach lining)
 Red meat and fried foods (because saturated fat increases
inﬂammation, an autoimmune response in your body that
causes all sorts of problems including rheumatoid
arthritis)
 Processed and highly reﬁned foods with added
preservatives (because they tax the immune system by
negatively affecting the gastrointestinal lining without
adding essential nutrients)
 Non-organic foods grown with pesticides (because they
damage the gastrointestinal lining)
 The chemicals in cigarettes (because they add toxic metals
such as cadmium, lead, and mercury to the body, which
severely compromises your immune system)
 White sugar (because it reduces your white blood cells’
ability to destroy germs)
Impr oving Y our Memory
We all need to be able to recall facts, events, and people and we
want to enjoy peak mental performance (including focusing
mentally and utilizing our mental capacities virtually on
demand). Here again, adequate nutrition is the very ﬁrst step to
improving not only your memory, but also your other brain
functions. Free radical damage accounts for a large part of the general
decline in mental performance, as well as causing actual braincell damage and shrinkage of the brain itself. As proteins in the
brain are attacked by free radicals, they’re transformed into
lipofuscin, a brown slime that coats the neurons. As the slime
thickens, memory and other mental functions decline. The good news is twofold:
 Flushing clears sludge in the brain, and fueling with
antioxidants and other phytonutrients stops free radical
damage and feeds the cells brain-building and brain-
protecting compounds. With mental exercise, the neurological pathways in the
brain can be reopened and rebuilt so that memory and
other functions are restored. All this results in improved mental performance, the ability to
learn, increased recall and memory, and clear thinking, with the
result that your train of thought is not impaired and your brain
is working as it should. The brain uses 20 percent of the body’s energy through
carbohydrates. When the brain receives a steady supply of
glucose from carbohydrates in fruits and vegetables for fuel, it
operates smoothly and consistently. Mental confusion,
dizziness, and, in extreme cases, convulsions and lack of
consciousness occur when energy is not supplied in a steady
stream. Foods with a low glycemic index (see Chapter 5) keep
the blood sugar levels from peaking and crashing. Protein (especially tryptophan and tyrosine) is used to build
neurotransmitters, which affect attention and learning
capabilities in the brain. Fats are the major components of the
brain cell membrane, so a diet rich in amino acids and omega-3
fatty acids is vital to a buff brain. Minerals are also important
for brain function. For example, magnesium and manganese are
both needed for brain energy; zinc is essential for protectingagainst aging of the brain; sodium, potassium, and calcium
facilitate the transmission of messages; and iron carries oxygen
to the brain cells and aids in the formation of brain
neurotransmitters. A whole-foods diet that includes plenty of raw fruits and
vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, lentils, and
other foods like eggs, avocados, ﬂaxseed oil, wild cold-water
fatty ﬁsh, berries, and pomegranates protects the brain. F e e d i n g  t h e  b r a i n
The ability to focus and concentrate is important to everyone,
especially as we age. This is because, over time, effects of the
environment, poor diet, and lack of exercise exact a toll on the
brain and the rest of the body. Like all body organs and
systems, the brain performs a myriad of functions and requires
energy from carbohydrates like those found in fruits and
vegetables. It also requires protein and omega-3 fatty acids for
the formation of its cell structure. In addition to speciﬁc foods for the brain, don’t underestimate
the power of sleep to reboot your brain. Avoid sugar because it
depresses the immune function; alcohol because it suppresses
your nervous system and makes you groggy; energy drinks that
make you anxious and irritate the nerves; and soda because it
has been shown to make people depressed and anxious. Here’s a list of some nutrients to include in smoothies and
juices to feed the brain:
 Antioxidants: Vitamins A, C, and E hunt and destroy free
radicals in the brain and the entire body. Consuming raw
fruits and vegetables is the best way to ensure that you get
enough antioxidants to prevent the risk of Alzheimer’s
disease and to slow the progression of memory loss. Speciﬁcally, berries such as wild blueberries, strawberries,
and raspberries have been found to preserve memory and
cut your risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. (See
Chapter 20 for ten antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. ) Protein: Plant protein (from nuts, seeds, legumes, soy,
whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) and small amounts of
low-fat meat such as eggs, chicken, ﬁsh, and dairy
products like low-fat milk and yogurt will supply more than
adequate amounts of amino acids and essential protein for
brain power. Omega-3 fatty acids: Adding avocado and walnuts to
smoothies, and ﬂaxseed or cod liver oil to juices or
smoothies, and eating wild cold-water, fatty ﬁsh like
salmon and mackerel will boost these brain-friendly and
essential fatty acids in your body. B-complex vitamins: Folic acid (vitamin B9) is critical for
brain development (so it’s a key nutrient during
pregnancy) and vitamins B6 and B12 help manufacture and
release chemicals in the brain known as neurotransmitters,
the brain’s messengers. Juice dark green leafy vegetables;
use yogurt, oats, and milk in smoothies; and eat sardines,
salmon, ﬁsh, and seafood to get plenty of B vitamins. For top-performing brain food, add wild blueberries,
strawberries, raspberries, or pomegranate seeds to juices
or smoothies; use soymilk, nuts, seeds, or puréed cooked
legumes in smoothies; blend avocado, and walnuts into
smoothies; stir ground ﬂaxseeds into juices or smoothies,
juice dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, Swiss chard,
and kale; and add yogurt and oats to smoothies. Here are ﬁve smoothie recipes in this book that are great for the
brain:
 Red Vitality (Chapter 16)
 Berry Broccoli (Chapter 16)
 Coconut Green (Chapter 16)
 Spicy Tomato Mocktail (Chapter 16)
 No-jito (Chapter 16)
H e r b s  f o r  m e m o r y
Herbs enhance your diet in so many ways, so growing your own
or ﬁnding a great organic source of these important ingredients
will be a deﬁnite asset in helping to maintain a healthy body and
brain. Here are some herbs to stir into juices and smoothies
that help improve cognitive function and memory:
 Peppermint: Clears your mind and helps you focus,
boosting performance. Basil essential oil: Acts as an aromatic nerve tonic, giving
you a calming energy. Ginkgo biloba: Helps to improve blood ﬂow to the brain
and other organs. Medical research has proven its
effectiveness in treating the early stages of memory loss. Use it in smoothies and juices along with a juice cleanse or
fast as an effective memory booster. Sage oil: Helps boost production of chemicals in the brain
that are known to be depleted by Alzheimer’s disease. Rosemary: Prevents mutations in DNA and stimulates
memory. Chapter 9
Juicing to Cleanse or Detoxify
In This Chapter
 Cleansing your body of waste and toxins
 Going deeper to detoxify
Environmental toxins are everywhere: in the water, soil, air, and
food. Even the normal metabolic functions that go on inside
your body create waste and some level of toxins. Eating organic
food and avoiding processed and reﬁned foods helps, but for
anyone living in this fast-paced, stress-ﬁlled, modern society,
regular juice cleansing and detoxifying have become a
necessary part of a healthy lifestyle. In this chapter, I explain the difference between cleansing and
detoxifying and offer guidelines for doing both. Cleansing: Clearing W aste fr om
Y our Digestive System
Cleansing is all about clearing waste from your digestive
system, as well as your organs and other tissues. You use
speciﬁc fruits, vegetables, and/or herbs to stimulate the body to
eliminate stored waste and toxins. Cleansing usually is done
with herbal teas and fresh fruit juices and doesn’t necessarily
involve fasting (complete abstinence from food). In the strictest sense of the term, fasting is abstaining
from all food while drinking only water. Fasting with only
water is a severe step and should be undertaken only with
the help and consent of your health practitioner. You don’t need to abstain from food while cleansing. However,
eating only raw fruits and vegetables (in salads) is the best
support you can give your body if you really want to cleanse at
the cellular level. Eating a high-fat, low-ﬁber diet is one of the
reasons for cleansing in the ﬁrst place, so it wouldn’t make
sense to consume anything other than organic whole foods
while cleansing. The cleansing acids found in fruits
Fruits are well-known tools for cleans ing and deep- cell ﬂushing. Fruits
work as cleansers because of the ﬁber  and acids they cont ain. Among
the acids found in fruit, three are most prevalent; in fact, they give fruit
their distinct tang:
 Malic acid: Perhaps the most important cleansing acid, malic acid
is an important cleanser because it’s antiseptic, protecting the intestines,
kidneys, liver, and stomach. It also increases ener gy level, protects
muscles from fatigue, increases muscle performance,  promotes nerve
functioning, improves mental clarity, and decr eases the toxic effects of
aluminum and lead. Apples are a rich source of malic acid, but malic acid
also is found in apricots, bananas, cher ries, grapes, lemons, peaches,
plums, and prunes. Citric acid: My mouth starts to pucker when I think of the sour-
tasting citric acid found in lemons, limes, grapef ruit, oranges, pineappl es,
and other fruits. Food chemists use citric acid as a natural ﬂavoring and
preservative. When you consume foods  with citric acid, it’s absorbed into
the bloodstream and excreted in your urine. Tartaric acid: Tartaric acid acts as an antioxidant and laxative and
plays an important part in the cleansing and detoxifying proces s. Tartaric
acid is found in grapes, tamarinds, and bananas. An alternative to the strict fasting is juice fasting, in
which you abstain from food but drink raw fruit and/or
vegetable juices, as well as water, for short periods of time. Technically, you aren’t actually fasting if you’re drinking
juice, but because you’re absorbing nutrients directly into
the bloodstream and feeding and reconstituting the cells
without actually using the digestive system, juice fasting is
considered a form of fasting. C o n s i d e r i n g  t h e  c l e a n s i n g  p o w e r  o f
f r u i t s
Using fruit juice to cleanse assists your body in the work it
already does to eliminate toxic substances. The accumulation of
stress, chemicals, and reﬁned foods can overwhelm the organs
of the digestive system (which is the system most closely
connected to clearing waste). When the digestive system is
overtaxed, waste accumulates and is stored in the liver,
kidneys, colon, gallbladder, fat cells, bones, and other tissues. Stored toxins in your body lead to everything from sluggishness
to disease (if they’re allowed to build up). Here are some fruits used for cleansing:
 Apples: Malic acid draws out heavy metals, such as lead
and aluminum. Pectin forms a gel that absorbs and
dissolves toxins and stimulates elimination. Note: Use only
organic, unsprayed, unwaxed apples. If you can’t ﬁnd
organic apples, be sure to peel them. Cherries: Cherries reduce the acidity of the blood, which
makes them effective for gout and arthritis. You can mix
cherry juice with equal parts apple juice or pure water. Cranberries: Cranberries are a natural diuretic and
bladder and urinary tract cleanser. Mix one part cranberry
juice with three parts apple juice or pure water. Grapes: Grapes are rich in tartaric acid, an antioxidant and
laxative. They stimulate metabolism, which helps burn
excess food and waste. They also stimulate the liver to
increase its cleansing activity. Note: Use only organic red
and green grapes and seeds for juice. Mix grape juice with
lemon juice to reduce the sweetness. Lemons: Lemons are high in vitamin C and citric acid,
making them a strong cleanser. Drink the juice of half a
lemon in 8 ounces of pure water every day upon rising,
before breakfast, to cleanse the stomach and small
intestine. Note: Leave the white pith on for juicing. You can
include one-quarter to one-half lemon with other fruit in
cleansing juices. Papayas: Papayas contain papain, which digests protein,
thus helping prepare the stomach and intestines for
cleansing. Papayas are a laxative and cleans the kidneys,
liver, and intestines. Pineapples: Pineapples are high in bromelain, which
breaks down proteins, thus aiding digestion. Watermelons: Watermelons are high in pure water and are
used as a kidney and bladder cleanser. Use the red and
white ﬂesh, seeds, and rind for juice. D o i n g  a  j u i c e  c l e a n s e  w i t h o u t  f a s t i n g
You can choose to perform a general cleanse or one that targets
speciﬁc organs or systems of the body, and you can do it in a
very gentle way that’s non-intrusive. Simply drink a fruit juice
for breakfast and again midmorning, using some of the fruits in
the preceding section will start to have the desired effect (while
eating a whole-foods diet the rest of the day). You can do this
for several days or for two to three weeks. If you add some of the following herbs, and combine the
breakfast and midmorning juices with a raw vegetable
lunch, a midafternoon vegetable juice or smoothie, and a
light vegetarian dinner, the cleanse will be even more
effective:
 Alfalfa: Puriﬁes the blood; nourishes the cells. Burdock root: Supports the liver, lymph glands, and
digestive system; facilitates cleansing by stimulating urine
and sweat. Corn silk: A diuretic that helps to ﬂush the kidneys. Dandelion leaves: Support the liver, gallbladder, and
kidney. Dandelion root: Cleanses the liver and blood; stimulates
bile secretion; works as a laxative. Licorice root: A laxative that aids in elimination of waste. Milk thistle: Helps strengthen liver cells and bile secretion. Red clover: Puriﬁes the blood; nourishes the cells. Eat only organic whole foods and try to make at least
one meal raw while you’re cleansing. Don’t eat sugar, dairy,
reﬁned foods, meats, and saturated fats during a cleanse or
on the day immediately before or the day immediately after
cleansing. C l e a n s i n g  w i t h  a  j u i c e  f a s t
Brief periods of drinking only fresh fruit and/or vegetable juices
and plenty of pure water can be a healthy way to give your
digestive system a complete rest so that your body can do the
toxin elimination and organ repair work it’s designed to do. Juice fasts are healthy because
 Your cells are being nourished, not starved. Your organs of elimination aren’t working to digest food, so
they can focus on clearing out built-up debris and start to
move toxins stored deep in fat and other tissues. The benefits of a juice fast
Finding the discipline and determination within yourself to
exert self-control and forgo solid food in order to fast on fresh
raw juices for at least one full day is exhilarating in itself. It
spurs conﬁdence that you can have greater control over your
lifestyle decisions and diet. The effect of being cleansed or
feeling ﬂushed actually makes me want to continue eating
lightly and taking juices long after the juice fast is ofﬁcially over. The long-term effect is that it keeps me committed to choosing
a green lifestyle; eating only organic foods; and eating whole
fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, chicken,and ﬁsh (while being careful about the kind and amount of dairy
and meat I consume). Immediately after a juice fast, I always experience a physical
and mental high — the “juice high. ” Some people shed pounds
while juice fasting. I tend to shrink around the middle, the
pufﬁness in my eyelids and ankles disappears, the stiffness in
my knees goes away, I enjoy a lot more energy, the skin on my
face tightens and clears, and the dark circles under my eyes are
noticeably lightened. I wake up bright, alert, and with more
calm readiness for all sorts of tasks that I usually put off. It feels
as if a low-grade kind of depression has lifted and I’m content
and happy with my life and myself. How often to do a juice fast
Many people choose to fast using only fresh, raw juice one day
every week. Others choose to use juice fasts when preparing to
focus on a mental task (for example, before studying for an
important test). Most people use the changing seasons or other
signiﬁcant markers (a birthday or other anniversary) to take a
personal time-out and use a juice fast to bring the mental,
spiritual, and physical aspects of their being into balance. Some
people I know actually go on a retreat and combine meditation
with other forms of reﬂection. All these ways of juice fasting are
excellent preventive measures for ensuring overall health,
physical energy, and mental clarity. I enjoy a two- or three-day juice fast every year at around the
summer and winter solstices. How long to fast
As with any new change, it’s always best to start slowly and
build up to longer periods of juice fasting. If you’re new to
juicing, allow at least a month of experimenting with the recipesin this book, trimming your diet to a whole-foods approach, and
ﬁnding your own level of tolerance for the pure, raw enzymes
and phytonutrients your body will be getting before you even
consider a juice fast. If you’ve spent years indulging in a high-
fat, low-ﬁber diet with or without alcohol, drugs, and other
chemical exposure, you’re going to feel the punch of this new
way of living. After you’re used to juicing, start your ﬁrst juice fast with one
or two days at the most. When you see what’s involved and how
you feel afterward, you can decide how often and when you
want to enjoy your juice fast regime. Stick with one or two days
every year or every few months if you like. Or start to increase
the time by one day each fast. You shouldn’t do a juice fast for
more than ﬁve days unless you’re working with a health
practitioner. Juice fasting, step by step
In order for a juice fast to be effective, you need to do it right. In
this section, I walk you through each phase of a juice fast,
starting in the weeks leading up to it. A few weeks befor e the juice fast
I start a few weeks in advance by mentally preparing for a juice
fast. I like to have personal downtime while juice fasting, so I
usually choose to do it over a long weekend. I mark the date on
my calendar and keep the actual juice fast days clear of any
obligations. When I’ve selected and blocked off the actual days
for juice fasting, I focus some mental energy on visualizing what
I’ll be doing to ﬁll the days and evenings and what functions the
fruits, vegetables, and herbs will be accomplishing in my body. The week befor e the juice fastThe week before, I may clean my house, organize my music, or
get in some books I’ve wanted to read. I tell my family and
friends that this is my “cleanse weekend” so they know I won’t
want to have dinner at a restaurant or go to a party. It’s not that you can’t do anything while fasting. I just choose to
do reﬂective things that bring me inner peace when I fast. I
often conduct a juice fast with my husband. One summer, I
enjoyed the process with a close friend at her cottage. T wo days befor e the juice fast
Prepare a list of whole foods, fruits, vegetables, and herbs that
you’ll be consuming before, during, and after the juice fast. Shop for, clean, and store them so they’re ready when you need
to prepare the light, raw meals and use them in the actual juice
fast. The day befor e the juice fast
Eat only raw foods and don’t eat any dairy or meat products. You can prepare a smoothie for breakfast and a fruit or
vegetable salad using a dressing of one part raw nut or avocado
oil to two parts lemon or lime juice for lunch and dinner. Snack
on raw fruits or vegetables and raw, unsalted nuts and seeds. If
you have a Vitamix, you can prepare a hot soup using
vegetables. For recipes for raw meals, check out Raw Food For
Dummies, by Cherie Soria and Dan Ladermann (Wiley), and
Clean Up Your Diet, by Max Tomlinson (Sterling Publishing). During the fast
You’re mentally ready and you have all the ingredients for your
day or two of juice fasting. Now it’s easy: Simply make yourself afresh juice four to six times every day. You can choose to have
only fruit or only vegetable juices, or you may decide to have
pure fruit juices until noon and then vegetable (or a
combination of fruit and vegetable) juices after noon. The
important thing is that you don’t eat anything during the days
of the fast. Drink eight glasses of pure water or water with pure lemon juice
added and, if you like, herbal teas. Light exercise such as
walking, stretching, dancing, gardening, or yoga is great during
juice fasting. You can go to work if you need to and you can
socialize — just don’t do strenuous exercise/work or put
yourself in a stressful situation. To facilitate toxin release, do the following:
 Every morning of your fast, use a dry loofah sponge or a
natural bristle brush to dry-brush your body all over. Take a shower and then rinse under cool water. Every morning of your fast, take a warm water enema. Be sure to drink a minimum of eight glasses of water
every day. Drinking eight glasses of water during a juice
fast is critical in helping your body to dilute and eliminate
toxins. Each evening of your fast, take a full-soak bath. Fill the
tub with hot water that’s comfortable to sit in and add 1
cup of baking soda and the juice of 3 lemons to the water. Immerse your entire body in the water for 30 to 90
minutes, topping up with hot water as the water cools. You may experience headache and slight depression during a
juice fast, especially if you’re used to coffee and alcohol or junk
foods loaded with chemicals. These feelings will pass, but itcould take three or four days. By juice fasting and allowing your
digestive organs to rest, the toxins stored in them and in other
body tissues are released back into your bloodstream where
they can do damage all over again. But because you aren’t
eating solid food, your kidneys, liver, gallbladder, and spleen
can deal with the reappearing waste. Pure water is essential in
helping to dilute and move these chemicals out of your body. You also may experience minor aches or sore muscles,
temporary exhaustion, loss of appetite, runny nose, acne, body
odor, and bad breath. These symptoms will pass, and you’ll
begin to have the opposite reaction — your skin will clear and
other minor irritations will disappear. If you feel more than
uncomfortable during a fast, discontinue it and resume a light,
whole-foods diet. The day after the juice fast
You did it, congratulations. You feel great, like you could do this
forever. Or maybe you’re ravenous and feel as if you could eat a
horse. Either way, go gently back to eating and promise yourself
that this is the start of a healthy lifestyle. The day after the juice fast, eat only raw foods and don’t eat any
dairy or meat products. You can prepare breakfast, snacks, and
a fruit or vegetable salad as explained in “The day before the
juice fast,” earlier. Detoxifying: Ridding Y our Body of
T oxins
While cleansing zeroes in on clearing your digestive system of
toxic waste from various causes, detoxifying focuses solely on
ﬂushing toxins like heavy metals and other chemical substances
from your tissues and organs. Although cleansing is great, you may want to take it one step
further to actually detoxify your body. Although the terms
cleansing and detoxifying are often used interchangeably,
detoxing is a program that targets speciﬁc toxins and areas of
the body and is usually longer and more intense than cleansing. The body processes toxins through the kidneys and liver, and
excretes them through the urine, feces, breath, and sweat. When those organs and ﬂushing mechanisms become clogged,
the body begins to store dangerous toxic substances in the
kidneys, liver, fat, and even bone cells, among other places. Although it’s always best to avoid breathing, drinking, or eating
toxic chemicals, you can’t always do this, so that’s where a
thorough detoxifying program comes in. Detoxing is always helpful, but there’s not much point in
doing it if you’re only going to return to a lifestyle full of
toxic substances (both in the foods you eat and in the
environment you live in). If you’re not serious about making
changes to your diet and your home, you should probably
skip the rest of this chapter. I d e n t i f y i n g  t o x i c  s u b s t a n c e s
High amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), herbicides,
and pesticides (such as DDT) have been found in the livers of
people who are exposed to them. Your kidneys are susceptible
to toxins as well, which can cause weakness, sluggishness, and
poor performance. When these organs slow down, and
especially if the colon becomes congested, toxins will be stored
or (in the case of an ill-functioning colon) leak back into the
bloodstream. When one or all of these digestive organs are
compromised, nutrients are not absorbed and your entire body
suffers, with malnutrition a real threat. So, how can you tell if you have high levels of toxic substances
in your body. You should have a pretty good idea if you smoke
or take drugs or eat a poor diet. And the symptoms listed in the
following section will help you to pinpoint some of the
symptoms of toxicity. But if you still want scientiﬁc proof, several laboratory tests are
useful in detecting toxins in the body. For example, hair mineral
analysis measures chronic exposure to heavy metals, while
blood and fatty tissue samples may be tested to measure toxic
chemical exposure found in food. If you’re concerned and want
to have some concrete indication of the buildup of these
damaging elements, consult your healthcare provider to
determine the best way to proceed. Table 9-1 lists some of the most prevalent toxic substances that
are present in our bodies in varying quantities depending on
your work, diet, lifestyle, and environment. U n d e r s t a n d i n g  w h y  y o u  s h o u l d  d e a l  w i t h
t o x i n s  i n  t h e  b o d y
Everybody is exposed to chemicals through pesticides,
antibiotics and hormones in food, chemicals from food
packaging, household cleaners and detergents, food additives,heavy metals, pollution, drugs, cigarette smoke, recycled air
(through air conditioning that reroutes chemicals from building
materials), and a host of personal care products (including
perfumes, soaps, and shampoo). Although any one of these things in small doses isn’t horrible,
it’s the cumulative load, called the body burden, that has been
collecting in your cells (if you’ve done nothing to stop it) that
becomes dangerous with age. This accumulation of toxins is
linked with hormonal imbalance, impaired immune function,
nutritional deﬁciency, and an inefﬁcient metabolism. Because
toxins are stored in fat cells (mostly because they are stable
and don’t release the deadly chemicals into the bloodstream or
other tissue, unless you cleanse or lose weight), the body
begins to retain water as a precaution for diluting the toxins
within its tissues. It follows that the more toxic you are, the
more weight you gain and retain. If you suffer from nine or more of the following conditions, a
detox program may be beneﬁcial for you:
 Lacking energy for daily tasks; feeling tired, sluggish, or
lethargic
 Having difﬁculty concentrating on tasks or staying focused
 Easily catching colds, ﬂu, and other viral or bacterial
illnesses
 Having bad breath or body odor
 Having allergies or the tendency to get congested, stuffed
up, or have post-nasal drip
 Experiencing bloating, gas, or indigestion after eating
 Having dark circles under your eyes
 Having eczema, acne, or psoriasis Often going for more than one day without having a bowel
movement
 Usually drinking less than three cups of water every day
(or drinking from plastic bottles on a regular basis)
 Usually eating meat two or more times a day
 Eating reﬁned, processed foods and less than one serving
of vegetables a day
 Smoking or living with a smoker
 Being exposed to industrial chemicals either by using
them as solvents or cleaners, in the water or air, by
swallowing them, or through accidental poisoning
If you have any of these symptoms, talk with your healthcare
provider because they may be related to other serious illnesses. If you’re considering a detox program, especially if it will
last more than a few days, consult your healthcare provider
so that your health isn’t compromised due to preexisting
conditions. Z e r o i n g  i n  o n  t h e  b e s t  d e t o x i f y i n g  j u i c e s
Simply moving to a whole-foods diet and adding one or two fruit
and vegetable juices to your daily routine will go a long way
toward ﬂushing your systems and tissues. Table 9-2 lists some juice and smoothie combinations and the
organs they target. Combine three or four fruits and/or
vegetables with 1/2 teaspoon dried herb in a juice or smoothie
and vary the combinations each time. Use these detoxifyingjuices in a daily juicing program or in a speciﬁc detoxifying
program like the one outlined later in this chapter. D e t o x i f y i n g :  T w o  p l a n s
In this section, I outline two detox blueprints for you: a 5-day
and a 28-day plan. If you’ve never cleansed or undergone a
detox program, start with a one- or two-day juice fast (see
“Juice fasting, step by step,” earlier in this chapter) and see how
you feel afterward. If you prepare mentally and set aside the
time for juice fasting, it will introduce you to the amazing effects
of working with your body to allow it to come back into balance. When you know what to expect from a cleansing program, you
can move on to a longer detox period. If you cleanse regularly,
you may want to try the ﬁve-day plan. The 28-day plan givesyour body deep cleansing and detoxing so that your digestive
system can be reset and rid of poisons, waste, and sludge. The longer you stick to a detox plan, the more waste and
poisons will be eliminated. If you’ve been on antibiotics or
smoked for a long time, your body will beneﬁt from a longer
detox program. When it comes to detoxing, the important things to
remember are the following:
 There is no rush to detox. Your body has already started
to heal if you’ve added fresh raw juices and smoothies to
your daily diet. It’s just as important to establish clean, healthy food
habits as it is to detox. In fact, detoxing comes as one of
the last steps in the move toward a healthy existence. For your mental well-being, you need to start slowly and
add challenges as you master each small step so that by
the time you’re ready to detox, you’re sure to complete the
program. Start slowly and ﬁnd your happy balance, which may
only ever be two or three days of cleansing or detoxing. When you’re detoxing, you may experience runny nose, nausea,
sore throat, diarrhea, acne, bad breath, or mild fever as the
poisons are drawn out and take one last swing. These minor
irritations will pass in a day or two, so stay the course and let
your body regenerate and reset itself. Just as with cleansing, you can use dry-brush techniques
before your morning showers, warm water enemas, and
baking soda/lemon soaking baths to help your body rid
itself of toxins (see “During the fast,” earlier in this
chapter). Light exercise is essential because it helps the
lungs and circulatory systems clear themselves. Check Table 9-2 and be sure to have at least two herbs on hand
to add to juices and smoothies. Milk thistle is particularly
helpful in breaking down fats in the liver. Probiotic yogurt with
Lactobacillus acidophilus and biﬁdus bacteria helps to replace
digestive bacteria in the gut and is essential if you’ve recently
been taking antibiotic drugs. One cup of probiotic yogurt, three
times a day for the ﬁve days, is appropriate. A five-day detoxifying plan
In this section, I outline a ﬁve-day detoxifying plan, step by step. The week befor e the detox
A good detox deserves a good refrigerator, pantry, and
cupboard cleanse. You can’t eat what isn’t in your kitchen, so
keep only foods that are fresh, whole, and organic. Junk,
processed, and reﬁned foods are the very foods that are
poisoning you, so clear them out of your house at the beginning
of your detox plan. Start doing the following — and continue these steps
throughout the entire detox: Do at least 30 minutes of light exercise throughout the
entire detox. Stretch-ing, yoga, walking, dancing,
swimming, or playing a non-competitive sport are good for
breathing, stretching, and relaxing. The goal here is to help
ﬂush poisons through the lungs, muscles, and lymph
system. Eat only organic fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts,
seeds, probiotic yogurt, chicken, and ﬁsh. Drink eight cups of water every day. Add the juice of half a
lemon to each glass because lemon helps to stimulate liver
function. Stay on all medications throughout the detox. Be sure to
check with your health provider about going on a
detoxiﬁcation plan. Eliminate alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, salt, and any
recreational drugs. Eliminate sugar and reﬁned foods (for example, candy,
cake, crackers, sodas, white bread, pasta and other wheat
products, all dairy products except probiotic yogurt, and
all non-organic soy products). Eliminate junk and fried foods (for example, food in bags,
boxes, jars, or tins; packaged, salted, or preserved meats,
pickles, condiments, or processed cheese; frozen foods;
and all fried foods). During the detox
Continue the habits you started the week before the detox. You can make fresh, raw salads, eat raw nuts and seeds, drink
herbal teas, and have legumes and whole grains (such as
amaranth, brown rice, and quinoa) when indicated in the planeach day — usually at noon or for dinner. Recipes for detox
dressing and tea are in the nearby sidebar, “Detox recipes. ”
 When a juice or smoothie is indicated, refer to Table 9-2. For example, on Day 1, you’re told to drink a Constipation
Support fruit or vegetable smoothie. So, you can make a
smoothie made from three or four of the ingredients listed
under the Fruits and/or Vegetables column. Detox recipes
Throughout the detox, you can eat salads with a dressing made of the
following ingredients:
 1/3 cup avocado or nut oil
 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
Just combine all the ingredients in a jar, cap with a tight-ﬁtting lid, and
shake the contents until they’re well blended. You can also enjoy a detox tea made of the following ingredients:
 4 parts dried, ﬁnely chopped dandelion root
 4 parts dried, ﬁnely chopped burdock  root
 2 parts dried crushed fenugreek seeds
 1 part dried crushed milk thistle seeds 4 parts ground licorice root
In a bowl, combine the herbs and mix well. Transfer to a dark glass jar
with tight-ﬁtting lid and store in a dry cupboar d. When you’re ready  to
make the tea: For every cup, allow 1 teaspoon of tea blend. Add to a
teapot and cover with boiling water. Cover the teapot  with a lid and steep
for ten minutes. Sweeten with honey if desired. Drink eight glasses of lemon water throughout the day every
day. Day 1
 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with fresh
fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Kidney Flush fruit juice. Lunch: Eat a salad of fresh, raw vegetables with the detox
dressing (see the “Detox recipes” sidebar) and whole
grains if desired. Midafternoon: Drink a Liver Cleanse vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat grilled or steamed ﬁsh, a bean salad with
detox dressing, and steamed or raw vegetables or grains. Early evening: Drink a Constipation Support vegetable
smoothie. Day 2 Morning: Drink a Constipation Support fruit or vegetable
smoothie. Eat a bowl of fresh fruit. Midmorning: Drink a Liver Cleanse fruit juice. Lunch: Drink a Skin and Lymph System Cleanse vegetable
juice. Midafternoon: Drink a Kidney Flush vegetable juice. Dinner: Eat a bean salad with detox dressing and steamed
or raw vegetables or grains.
Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and lean meats.
What are some recommended foods to include in your diet to support your immune system?
10 to 25 grams
What is the recommended daily intake of soluble fiber?
Peppermint, basil, ginkgo biloba, sage, and rosemary
What are some herbs that can help improve cognitive function and memory?
Start with a 5-day juice fast, then gradually introduce whole foods and gradually increase the duration of the fast.
What is the recommended way to do a detox program?
Avocado, banana, rhubarb, and winter squash
What are some foods that are not suitable for juicing?