Five Cases When You Should NOT Do Juice Fasting
Juice Fasting is one of the fastest and most effective methods to help you lose weight and optimize the function of all internal organs. However, it is not for everyone. Please read further to find out when you should not do it.
#1. YOU SHOULD NOT DO JUICE FASTING IF: you suffer from severe adrenal burnout and a high level of exhaustion
Adrenals are a pair of grape-sized glands, located on top of your kidneys, that are responsible for a coping mechanism called fight-or-flight. When you live under stress for most of your life, these glands become exhausted, and you start suffering from low energy. As a result, everything, from cleaning your house to your favourite hobby, may become like a chore. Your libido is non-existent, you crave salt or sweets, and you feel tired a lot of the time. You want to push to complete a project or task, and you end up not being able to get out of bed. You try to push, and you end up with a cold or flu for the 2nd or 3rd time in a row this year. You try harder to push, and you end up being an emotional basket case. At times, you may think you are lazy or crazy, while your doctor says there is nothing wrong with you. And yet all of it is simply due to you having run too hard on your emergency stress management system (=adrenals). Adrenal exhaustion may be aggravated by Nervous System and other Hormonal issues, including thyroid problems, severe menopause symptoms, and sleep disorders (which often equals Stress Management Disorders).
If you suffer from adrenal fatigue, like 90% of people nowadays, it does not mean that you cannot do juice fasting. You can consider juice fasting if you are experiencing some degree of adrenal fatigue. However, if you are severely exhausted, with your nervous system significantly deregulated, and you are emerging from a major period of exhaustion in your life, the Health Reboot program, including meals, may be a better option for you. In severe exhaustion states, fasting may further deplete your energy levels and your adrenal glands (your energy powerhouses).
Just think of your adrenal glands as a battery. To cleanse, you need to use this battery. Cleansing is not free; it requires energy. If you do a juice or water fast, you put yourself into a very fast-paced cleanse, which will require significantly more energy than gentler detox methods. And when you are already severely exhausted, it will be like trying to beat the tired horse, to squeeze more out of it. If you are already low on the "battery (adrenals) and start detoxifying fast, you'll use the remainder of your battery for this process quickly.
What happens if your vehicle sits all winter and you try to boost it? Yes, the battery will stop working. If your battery is drained, you will need to recharge it first; only then can you restart your car. If you suffer from severe exhaustion, you need to do a quality re-nourishment of your body, and only then consider advanced cleansing, such as a juice fast. If you suffer from severe burnout (adrenal exhaustion) and feel that a light health reboot is not enough, we recommend exploring our Go-Deeper Programs and completing a minimum of a 2-week program to allow your body sufficient time to recover and recharge.
While I am not severely exhausted, I experience some fatigue. Can I do juice fasting?
Yes, as mentioned earlier, many people who come to Fresh Start experience a certain level of fatigue. Our Juice Fasting program is designed to support your body through deep healing in the most supportive way. Fresh juices contain a wealth of nutrients that are easily absorbed and highly nourishing for the body. You also get some fibre and protein drinks, designed to stabilize your energy and blood sugar. Plus, blended soups are served every night to provide your body with minerals and grounding warmth.
There are many other very nourishing components in this program, particularly bodywork. Bodywork, such as massages and salt scrubs, included in your program, helps decrease the load on your system and supports your adrenals' rejuvenation. They will still need to do the work, and you may still feel a bit tired in the process and for a few days after, but your adrenals will be greatly supported. Your cleansing program includes rest periods, a moderate number and intensity of activities and enhanced hydration. What helps the most is providing your body with the opportunity to slow down, rest, and get away from the treadmill of life.
#2. YOU SHOULD NOT DO JUICE FASTING IF: you suffer from depression, major anxiety or advanced physical health conditions
Having designed and organized various programs for over 2,500 people over the past 18 years, we have tried every cleanse on the Planet. We guided hundreds of juice fasts and have personally done juice and water fasts. One of the most important things to know about fasting is that it can have a destabilizing effect on both your emotional and physical well-being. During fasting, you may become a basket case and feel like sh*t. Again, we are not discouraging you from juice fasting. It is a cool thing to do, and it can make you feel like a million bucks. But if you suffer from various advanced health conditions and read that a juice fast is going to cure them, throw that book away! If you attempt a juice fast when you are seriously unwell, instead of the expected feeling of exhilaration, you may end up with an emergency hospitalization or in a psychiatric ward. You should not fast if you have advanced health issues and are on multiple medications, if you have recently or currently suffered/ suffer from cancer or undergone chemotherapy, or within 6 months after emergency hospitalization or surgery.
During fasting, you may experience cleansing symptoms that are more intense than those experienced during the gentle cleanse path. You may feel nauseous, experience headaches and become more emotional, angry or weepy. And what's most interesting is that even those who think they are healthy do not always realize how much life stuff they have accumulated, and they get quite surprised when it comes to the surface.
This garbage needs to be released, but you need to be prepared mentally and physically for the experience.
We do not recommend that people with physical and emotional issues (except for minor ones) test their limits, as it is not a safe test.
#3 YOU SHOULD NOT JUICE FAST IF: you are put off by the idea of digestive flushes and colonics, and are not prepared for colon cleansing
We've had guests who are experienced fasters and yet came with massive constipation issues. When they started our program, Juice Fasting was the only thing they believed would help them. We had to use very strong laxatives and other extraordinary approaches to get their colon moving, and when they finally did start removing the accumulations, those were rock-hard and really old feces that were stuck in their colons, probably, for half of a century.
Despite the common misconception that juice fasting can cleanse the digestive system, it is far from the truth. Juice is an excellent detoxifier on a cellular level, but it lacks fibre. When it enters your cells and extracellular fluids, juice acts as a dissolver. It basically dilutes the toxins. However, it does not have a substance to effectively move them out of your body, especially through the digestive system. This is why many people who start juice fasting or other types of cleansing without a component of colon cleansing start experiencing massive headaches.
We had a guest who did a well-known herbal home cleanse, and after 10 days, she ended with inflammation of the liver. The reason was a lack of hydration and the absence of the proper colon cleanse. We also observed a green smoothie cleanse, during which people experienced severe headaches. After the facilitator added coffee enemas to the program, this issue had disappeared.
There is so much more that needs to be done to remove the toxins rapidly and safely. Bodywork, colonics, and digestive flushes are all essential components of proper toxin removal. Segmented cleansing is ineffective and may be hazardous.
This is why, if you juice fast, you need to be willing and able to follow our methods of colon cleansing.
#4 YOU SHOULD NOT DO JUICE FASTING IF: you have severe impairment of the digestive function or other major eliminative organs
Your body operates differently when fasting, and the transition time (=time your food is processed) to "normalcy" in how your bowel works after the fast takes a bit of time. Most people who have done juice or water fasting are aware that one of the challenges is the potential of experiencing constipation. While our program is structured to assist your bowel with proper movement during the fast, if you come with severe, long-term constipation or diarrhea, juice fasting may not be the best option for you until the issue is resolved. If this is the case, it may be beneficial for you to join our Go-Deeper programs, which can help improve the function of your digestive system.
In cases of long-term constipation, your digestive system needs to be prepared for fasting effectively. While diarrhea is typically not a contraindication for juice fasting, we need to ensure that you are not extremely sore and can handle some flushes and elimination through your colon. In extreme cases of diarrhea and constipation, as well as advanced digestive conditions such as Crohn's, Go-Deeper Program's may be a better option, because it is much more customized to support individual health issues.
In addition to colon function impairment, you should not juice fast if you have a recent failure or an advanced disease of any major organ, such as the heart, lungs, liver, small intestines, or pancreas, as a juice fast may aggravate your symptoms and overload the weakened system with toxins.
If you experience occasional constipation or diarrhea, it does not mean you cannot do a juice fast. Because we use a combination of flushing and cleansing drinks, toxin-binding drinks and foods, and colonics, these methods help facilitate the rapid removal of toxins from your system and minimize detox symptoms. We also have additional supplements and methods that can be used if you need assistance with bowel movement during the program.
#5 YOU SHOULD NOT FAST IF: you do not tolerate discomfort or hunger well
Juice and water fast methods have been used for a long time in Eastern Europe and China, where people are accustomed to more hardcore cleansing methods.
On the other hand, we here, in North America, are real tough cookies… After our guests leave their rooms, we find more than one dry pizza in the chest of drawers, more than one package of store-bought food left in the garbage cans… We even had to drive to the store once to buy Cheerios to save the life of a guest who became suicidal due to not being able to eat her usual foods.
The most courageous guests have victoriously shared with us about their during and post-program night outings for "ribs", after which they hurt and farted for multiple days but were fully satisfied and comforted by their favourite goodies. And we felt privileged to wave to a few of our especially "dedicated" program participants pulling up to the Drive-Through in the nearby town…
This may sound humorous, but it is no joke. All of this happened while having three times a day, aesthetically prepared, gourmet, hand-crafted food.
No matter how great the benefits of positive lifestyle changes, we had to face the reality that food plays a much more critical role in our lives than just nutrition. In times of stress, food provides us with a sense of safety and comfort, bringing back positive childhood memories of belonging and being nurtured. On a physical level, it gives us familiarity with food ingredients. These result in a feeling of physical and emotional comfort (even if only in the short term).
So, if you choose to do a juice fasting, you need to be prepared to feel a bit hungry and to be able to withstand the temptation of getting food. You will also need to have discipline to gradually transition back to food when home, avoiding heavy foods, as premature consumption may make you very sick and even end up in the hospital. Again, our juice fasting program includes some supporting foods and drinks that help alleviate satiety issues. Our juice fast programs conclude with a proper exit, including meals, but you should still be prepared to deal with increased hunger and continue a slow food reintegration process in the first few days.
Summary: Juice fasting is an amazing, deeply cleansing, and healing therapy. It helps you lose weight effectively, reset your metabolism, and nourish and rehydrate your cells. But like anything, it has its own pros and cons. If you consider juice fasting, please be aware of 5 main reasons when juice fasting may not be optimum: 1) severe adrenal burnout, 2) advanced physical and emotional issues (ex. depression, severe anxiety, PTSD, acute grief, post-chemo, you are on multiple meds etc.); 3) if you are not open or cannot do digestive system cleansing such as colonics and digestive flushes; 4) if you have long-term constipation or severe diarrhea, (those need to be addressed prior) or if any other major organ is severely affected 5) if you have such a strong attachment to food that you cannot skip meals or imagine not eating.
