60 Day Juice Feast – Day 40

Day 40! 40 is kind of a special number… I remember reading about people who did 40 day fasts and it seemed like such a feat, to go that long without food. While feasting is very different than fasting, it’s sort of surreal to think that I’ve gone 40 days now on liquids..

Today’s Feast, in order of consumption:

32 oz. green juice w/ lemon, ginger, cayenne, turmeric and salt

32 oz. spinach/parsley/apple juice w/ spirulina and salt

2 TBS coconut oil

32 oz. orange/grapefruit juice w/ 1 TBS MSM
2 TBS bee pollen

28 oz. parsley/apple juice

Mmm today we went on a really long Sunday afternoon walk. The weather was perfect – sunny and warm – a light jacket was enough. We ventured down along a creek, a beautiful area with massive trees. It was so rejuvenative and long walks like that feel so good for the body! Soon after returning I had my first parsley juice, mmmm!

Disclaimer for the next part of this blog:

If you are of the male gender (or female, I suppose), and the natural bodily cycles of half the world’s population somehow disturb you, then please read no further.

Menstrual cycles. I am finding that the longer I am raw, and even on this juice feast thus far, my cycles have become increasingly mild. Before I got into any sort of natural health, I had very heavy cycles – usually about a week with a heavy flow and a lot of other symptoms such as intense cramps, back pain, headaches, fatigue, and crazy cravings. When I developed the eating disorder my cycle actually totally disappeared for over a year.However, even since it came back, and as my diet gets more pure and my body more healthy, it is amazing to see the changes in this part of my life. These days, my cycle is maybe three days, a very light flow, and I have: zero cramping, zero cravings, the exact same energy level, no headaches, no back pain (occasional, very mild soreneness). I literally barely notice I am even having it. As I said, since starting this juice feast, I would estimate my menstrual symptoms have decreased another 15% (to try to put a measurement) than they were before the juice feast (and even then, they were mild). I truly don’t believe we HAVE to go through this dreaded thing called PMS symptoms, and we CAN change our experience of our cycle by adopting a purer diet, natural lifestyle. Because my cycle arrives with near to zero side effects, I feel gratitude every time for this womanly experience.

Some of you may be familiar with the fact that our cycles are actually a way for our body to purify. Although our reproductive system goes through a major purification, our bodies actually take toxins from other places as well, release them into our bloodstream, and they are expelled during our menstrual cycle as well. In fact, as I understand, the reason many women have cravings during this time is that toxins are released into the blood stream for elimination, and we always crave what circulating in our bloodstream. Thus, it makes sense that if we’re not releasing residual junk food residue or what have you, we will not crave it. If your body is releasing sugar back into the bloodstream to get rid of it, you will likely crave sugar. These cravings also often happen to people when they do any sort of purification of their diet – it could be transitioning from meat eating to vegetarian, from non-organic foods to organic, from veganism to live food veganism, or when someone choosing to juice fast or juice feast. From the understanding that menstrual cycles purify not just the reproductive system, but the entire bodily system, we can see that the less toxic our bodies are, the less intense our experience of our menstrual cycle will be – our bodies don’t have to work so hard to try to detoxify our incredibly toxic bodies. It doesn’t matter if the toxins in our body are from our food, our air, our water, our skin and hair products, our cleaning products, or anything else – the more we eliminate the toxins from our lifestyle, the less toxic our bodies will be and the smoother our monthly cycles will be. It is actually believed by some that a woman’s menstrual cycle is a major factor in why women tend to live longer than men – we have a monthly opportunity to cleanse and detoxify our system.

Soooo… if you’re suffering from PMS symptoms, you don’t have to! That time of month can be an effortless, easy experience of gratitude for an opportunity to cleanse!

As far as the diet part of it goes, if you’re trying to go for the next step in yours (meat to vegetarian, nonorganic to organic, live/raw foods, or during a juice fast, feast or other cleansing program), and you are finding yourself craving less than optimal foods/drinks, try as best you can to abstain from them. Cravings usually won’t last long if you take measures to calm them. Do what you have to do to get through the discomfort and/or cravings. Drinking a lot of water is super important during the monthly cycle, because your body is detoxing and water will help to dilute the toxins as they are being dislodged and eliminated from your system. Although this is just a theory of mine with no backup, taking NCD (Natural Cellular Defense) or some other form of zeolite may also help to maximize the detoxification of the body. If anyone has suggestions that has worked for them, I’d love to hear what they are. If you absolutely HAVE to eat something that you know is not the best for you, have as small amount as possible and then continue to take measures to mellow your cravings. Don’t ever get into guilt if you end up eating or drinking something that is less than optimal for you because you crave it – be thankful that it was available to you when you needed it. As time goes on, if you’re slowly purifying your body through natural living, pure food, water, and air, and cleansing, then the cravings will likely become milder and milder each month.

Happy Cycling… Happy Mooning… both of those sound goofy… Happy Menstruating?

Courtney