My Juice Fasting Journey

At sixteen years of age, I began the dangerous journey of exploring psychedelic drugs. A bad L.S.D. trip resulted in daily, excruciating headaches. To deal with the pain, I started to use painkillers, tranquilizers, cannabis and alcohol. Five hazy years of my life were devoted to escaping pain through drugs.

I become more reckless in my drug use. With callous disregard for my life, I injected a syringe full of P.C.P. It was a dangerous dose. This injection severely damaged my kidneys, increasing my pain level. Anger and self-hatred turned to hardened resentment. I hated the world, but I had no one to blame but me.

Seven years later after my first experience with drugs, I was forced to live with the consequences of the abuse to my body. My short-term memory was nonexistent. My skin was a sickly yellow. I was constantly tired. My kidneys burned with pain, my leg muscles would spasm and ache while standing. As my job required working on ladders for long hours, I lost my job! It was a dark, dismal, depressed and hopeless existence.

Finally, with no other way out, I got down on my knees in prayer and surrendered my life to God. I repented, gave Him my life and asked Christ to enter my heart. At that moment, nothing happened but five hours later the sound of angels rejoicing penetrated deeply into my cold heart. I would never be the same. Everything changed. I had a burning fire inside. I had purpose, meaning and connection for the first time. I started a new exploration of the spiritual world. Joining a Christian youth group, I made new friends who did not use drugs and supported me through my recovery. I used my experience to help others not go down the same path. I spoke before thousands of students in high schools about the dangers of drug abuse and many made commitments to stop using drugs.

Life now had meaning and purpose, but my body and soul were still damaged. I was still sick. Years of drug abuse had devastated my health. When I heard about fasting, I was at the point where I was willing to try anything. I discovered a book called Rational Fasting describing how a dying man had returned to health. Not only had he overcome a fatal illness through a strict vegetarian diet and fasting, his newfound health surpassed the vitality of his youth. For me, the message shouted out hope.

I continued to study and found books on juice fasting. As a teen I had tried water fasting and ended up vomiting over the toilet on the third day. Juice fasting made sense. I bought a cheap juicer and started experimenting. My favorite was cantaloupe juice. Second was honeydew and third was my veggie combination of carrots, apples, lemons, celery and beet. After several short juice fasts of three-to-seven days, over a one-year period, I felt better physically and mentally. The benefits of these short fast encouraged me. I started working out in the gym and eating healthier. My body healed enough to return to work but I was still tired—standing on ladders caused intense pain in my legs.

A thirty-day juice fast was the turning point in my life. The first few days were difficult, but as I continued I felt much better. At the twentieth day of the fast, I started working fourteen hours per day at hard, physical labor in the hottest summer weather. I climbed the ladders with ease. My energy level drastically increased.

There were other improvements as the fast went on. I needed less sleep, my mind cleared, and my memory was now functioning. Leg muscles returned to health, and back pain lessened due to the healing of my kidneys, leaving me a virile young man.

My life radically changed! For the first time in years I was pain free. Instead of suffering, it became a joyous experience. The healing came like water to a parched, drought-stricken heart. The thirty days of fasting on juice was a miracle that changed my life. Not only was my health renewed, but I also experienced vitality, energy and clarity of mind, and the aging process was drastically reduced. The fast renewed my passion for life and deepened my relationship with God. Next to becoming a Christian, this fast had the second greatest impact on my life.

To go from sickness to health in 30 days was more than I believed possible. Changes so dramatic demanded answers and that hunger for understanding birthed the writing you now hold in your hand. I wanted to understand why fasting healed so powerfully and how to support that healing through diet. I wanted to help others who had health problems. Although I could not spell or type, and had almost no writing skills, a burning passion kept me going.

After the fast, I faced new challenges. Fasting was easy compared to trying to stay on a healthy diet. My compulsive addictive nature changed forms. My war was now with food. Little did I know this was the start of a five-year war with food addiction? After the fast it became even more important to eat healthy, as the fasting had drastically increased my sensitivity to harmful foods. The wonderful clean feeling of the fast faded as I entered the world of eating. I started studying nutrition book what to eat and how to eat in order to support the benefits I had received from the fast. Even with this knowledge I still wrestled with compulsive eating. I decided the problem demanded serious study and effort. I studied books on weight-loss, self-esteem, addiction, coping with failure, goal setting, and every resource I could get my hand on to understand my inability to control my behavior. I started the book, Eating in Freedom, and by the end I was free. Yet even with that knowledge the road through life brought many challenges and failures came and went. I now know that life’s journey has many imperfections and know that humility is the only response to grace for we all fail.

In looking back to my discovery of fasting, I see that it was not an accident. The people who have had such profound effect on my life have not been there by coincidence. There is clear evidence of the Master’s hand. I could say that fasting has given me back health and vitality, but healing is a God-given gift. A small child put the pieces into a jigsaw puzzle as his Father handed him the pieces.

This article was written by, Mr. Tom McGregor, author of Eating in Freedom.