Juice Fasting For Weight Loss and Health

Juice fasting has the surprising benefit of very rapid weight loss. I know a man who entered a juice fast for health reasons and lost one pound a day for 28 days and to within five pounds of his target weight. This is a typical experience. You feel so much better about yourself as you see such dramatic results in an area that has been a constant battle for so many years of your life. You are encouraged to go farther and improve the way you dress and the way that you relate to people with a confidence that you haven't had for a long time.

You may lose several pounds a day at the start of the program. As your body comes closer to your ideal weight, this process may slow down, averaging out to be about a pound of weight lost per day or more. Juice supplies calories. If you are not losing weight, you may reduce your calorie input by reducing the amount of high calorie vegetables that you are juicing such as carrots, or you may substitute water for some of the juice in your diet. Some advocate diluting your juice with water. Diluting can reduce the strong flavor of some juices that can be objectionable to some people. Weight loss is a function of your metabolism, so weight loss may slow down because you don't have work so hard to carry around so much extra weight.

Health is more than diet. Don't concentrate on losing pounds, which may be inconsistent as your body retains water in the fat cells for a short period. The body may periodically dump this water, keeping you up all night. Don't be frustrated as this happens. It averages out. Instead of recording a daily weight loss on a chart, concentrate and think about other health issues. Staying physically and spiritually active will direct your energies in a more profitable direction. Remember, it took a long time to develop the problem and as your body, in its own time and way, accommodates the changes, you will realize the new energy that you have from the casting out of the stored toxins that your body stored in your fat cells. As with all healing, the joyful work of restoring a cleansed body takes its own time.

Some supplements are appropriate to use during this kind of weight loss program. However stimulating herbs can be very damaging to your body as it is excited by chemicals that are 20 times more powerful that a cup of coffee. The excess stimulation damages your body's ability to fight disease and your nervous system undergoes heavy stress. Remember that you are changing your lifestyle, so diet and exercise are the elements that you can live with for the rest of your life. If you develop these life changing attitudes and practices, even when you are elderly, you can easily incorporate these healthy practices in your life.

R.D.