While you may think you know how to fast–by not eating for several days–there’s actually a lot to it.

There is a lot of discussion surrounding the latest (and enduring) detoxification craze. More and more cold-pressed juice bars about popping up and the green juice has become the new morning must-have, can’t-live-without cup (or two) of coffee. Raw, vegan foods are making waves and the no-added-sugar, gluten-free labels are putting the white flour and white sugar culprits where they should be: in the past. But, when it comes to a more extreme method of “internal cleansing”, such as fasting, how far is too far? While it is always a good idea to introduce more greens and fresher, higher-alkaline foods to the diet to take the place of acidic ones, is fasting too extreme? Better yet, is fasting accelerating the detoxification process or, is it doing the opposite?

Fasting is an abstention from food, and sometimes drink, for longer than regular periods. While this is entirely focused on the health benefits of fasting, fasting has religious roots. It is something that has been practiced for centuries, particularly in connection with religious ceremonies. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Taoists, among others, have practiced fasting. The ritual served a variety of purposes, from inducing fertility, penitence, achieving a near death state, purification and reflection.

From the health perspective, which I will focus on, there is no direct answer as to how to fast properly. The bottom line is: it’s not good for everyone and thus may not be good for you. The worst thing people do when they see a well-packaged, aesthetically-appealing looking “detox” juice cleanse or a getaway to an exotic location where they fast for 1 week or more, is that they let their ego get in the way of their true state of being. Fasting is not something to get ideal and ambitious about – it’s a matter of respecting and listening to your body. A fast, or any detox for that matter, should be tailored to your starting point.

Someone who depends on a Standard American Diet (SAD, how fitting!) for sustenance will not endure a fast quite the same way as a raw foodist would. If you are someone who suffers from certain health ailments and regularly consumes processed, cooked, not organic, sugary, salty, meat and dairy-heavy foods, you are already coming from an acidic disposition and going on a fast, cold-turkey, will prove too taxing for your body beyond a certain point and may do more harm the good.

When you fast, your digestive system takes a break from metabolism and instead focuses on other bodily processes. From a health perspective, this is the purpose of a fast – let the body repair itself without expending energy on processing food and other drinks besides, say, water or fruit and vegetable juices. If you’re body is used to an acidic diet, it will begin to release toxins into the blood stream at a rate too fast for your elimination channels to respond to in time. This flood of toxins into the blood stream without an easy exit will cause you to feel noticeably sluggish, full of mind fog, breaking out and constipated, among others. The chances of you getting unmotivated and bee-lining it to the nearest drive-thru to indulge are also more likely in the works.

However, say, instead of fasting all day, you introduce one meal at dinner. You may notice that you will feel better and your body will be able to keep pace with detoxification by introducing something to offset the undulation of toxins into the blood stream. This is a rough example of what a fast can do to people who go hardcore at the onset and what can be done to offset it. The trick is to find the line that leads to progress, not perfection-turned-dangerous.

This isn’t to say a proper fast will be easy, so if it gets hard you shouldn’t quit altogether – it will be relatively trying no matter what, especially since you are teaching your body a new trick – but it is to note that you should be aware of how your body is reacting during the process. If fasting symptoms are a notch above uncomfortable, incorporate a smoothie into the fast or something with fiber to slow down detoxification and the symptoms associated with it.

Moreover, a fast doesn’t have to be a no-drink, no-food game. A fast (better: detox regimen) can be relative to your situation. If you have a highly acidic diet, start a fast that replaces a regular sandwich meal with a salad one. Next, you can replace breakfast with a green smoothie instead of bacon and eggs. After that, you can take out snacking so often. Progress, not perfection! In this way, you are teaching your body to work better and honoring it with greener, more nourishing foods. Relative to your old diet, it is improvement, and your body will inevitably respond in ways better than if you went on a 7-day water fast. When you reach a point where you are happy with your diet and are eating mostly alkaline foods with little processed, animal and sugar-laden products in the mix, then maybe you can consider a short-term, more-intense fast to transition to a new season or take out last month’s trash.

However you do it, make it you! And always consult with your primary care physician before embarking on any type of detox or fast. 

Related on EcoSalon

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Superstar Cleansing with Rainbeau Mars

Photo Credit: Andrew Hyde

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Rainbeau Mars, the health guru, artist, yoga instructor and author, has released her first book called “The 21 Day Superstar Cleanse: A Rejuvenating Lifestyle Program to Help You Feel Younger, Healthier, and Ready to Rock the World!”

EcoSalon caught up with Rainbeau recently to ask her about her book, cleansing and why it works.

Jill Ettinger: A 21-day cleanse! Isn’t that, like forever? Aren’t most cleanses just a few days? Why is this one so long?

Rainbeau Mars: It’s important to commit for that amount of time because it takes 21 days to actually make or break a pattern, as with all recovery programs. This cleanse  is designed to:

*Make us examine our habits & patterns with clarity, over enough time to make a permanent shift.

* Allow participants the time to make enough good choices to see positive results, without calorie counting or restriction.

* Support us in our commitment to being the best version of ourselves with verbal and visual affirmations.

JE:  How does this compare to the 5 day Master Cleanse? 

RM: That’s like comparing a rabbit with a lion. They’re both animals, but definitely different. The master cleanse can be difficult for many people because they’re reducing their calories so much that when they break the program, often with pizza, they don’t have their metabolism revved up enough keep everything in check after. The Superstar Cleanse is a 21-day zero calorie restriction vegan cleanse, with lots of nourishing, alkalizing, mouth-watering recipes, which are alternatives to addictive and unhealthy foods. Also, with the Superstar Cleanse, there are beginners, intermediate and advanced versions, so we hope that some version of it works for everyone.

JE: It’s nice to have options! Why do people need to cleanse anyway? And what about people who already eat a healthy diet? Should they consider this program?

RM: We accumulate toxins in the air we breathe, and by ingesting foods that contain chemicals, synthetic sweeteners, white sugar, nitrates, antibiotics, and toxic oils creating free radicals. Cleanses works to give our bodies a much-needed break so they get a chance to do what they do best. Live foods and high fiber plant based foods act as a broom, sweeping out pockets of yeast, mold, undigested food and parasites. Even if you eat clean, the Superstar cleanse works as preventive medicine. I eat pretty healthy all of the time, but its just not the same as truly doing this program, which offers a world of benefits each time I do it… Even my daughter does the kids version regularly to give herself a boost and clear her skin. In fact we have about 300 kids participating in 14-day health Challenge as we speak.

JE: Your cleanse is broken into 3 distinct parts (one each week): vegan, raw foods and blended foods. How did you determine these stages worked so well together? 

RM: Since the latter parts of program may be difficult for beginners, it’s designed so that people can ease into the 2 more challenging phases over time. For me, I sometimes skip straight to week 2 or 3 for quicker results. Eating 100 percent live foods is when the detoxification process truly begins and the benefits become obvious, bringing us into a more alkaline and more flexible state. Doing phase 3 the whole time allows me to feel lighter and more part of the solution to our planets problems

JE: Why is veganism so important to the cleanse? 

RM: Most yogis do not eat animals for spiritual, physiological and mental reasons. Plant based foods tend to be more alkaline than acidic and don’t have cholesterol like animals products do. There are many studies linking unhealthy colons with diseases like cancer and diverticulitus. As an alternative, I encourage eating plant based FIBER, which isn’t found in animal products but instead from fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts, which act like a broom cleaning out the system. Plant-based foods, which also don’t contribute to green house gases [as much as animal products], lead us in the direction of what nature intended and readily providing for us, filled with vitamins and nutrients for the system.

JE: You write in the book that when you started eating clean, like the recipes on the cleanse, that you experienced more luck: job offers came to you, for example. Why do you think that is? Have other people reported similar experiences on this program? 

RM: YES AND YES! We are often in our own way, being partially drugged on stimulants, sugars, chemicals, even yeast in our body, coffee or just exhausted from continuously eating foods that we’re allergic to. When I stopped getting in my way all the time, or even for periods of time, that’s when it seemed like the universe opened up for my life. The health and clarity I was creating inside manifested on the outside and this is the case with most people who try it. Each time I do the cleanse, I almost need to slow down the amount of energy coming to me…

 JE: Wow. Sounds amazing! How often can people do this 21-day cleanse? 

RM: I do the cleanse four times a year…Typically once every season. That said… you should never let your diet become a religion or something that you end up feeling superior about or even attached to. There’s a time to cleanse and a time to build, so listen to your body and master how to thrive. Cleanses are an important way to distinguish what your body needs from what it’s addicted to.

JE: You bring a very spiritual (but not religious) tone to the program. You talk about loving yourself as being so important. Is there one overall benefit that you say you value most of all about this program? Either for your body or spirit? Or both?

RM: Good question! I think it’s important to work on ourselves and know who we are so that we can make a contribution. The first question to ask is what would our contribution look like? Food, and healing through it, allows my mind to calm down and feel comfortable with just being. My mission is not about myself at all, but something far bigger and that’s why I can continuously dig into my core stand for the transformation that is possible for us all.

JE: Do you have a favorite recipe from the book? 

RM: Kale Salad is a constant go to… and I like mine the best! You can make it many different ways and it’s so hard to mess up. Lemon, olive oil, sea salt, avocado… add PONZU sauce and I am feeling clean and vibrant. Other then that Vegan pizza…it’s fun and easy and always a crowd pleaser.

JE: For the person who’s never done a cleanse before and may be fearful of such a commitment, what do you say to them?

RM: Do you want to stay the same? For how long? Everything is our choice. Free will is pretty amazing! And why the planet is so diverse! CHOOSE COURAGE, TRANSFORMATION, BEAUTY, LOVE. Whatever we focus on expands. Lets focus on being part of the solution and being a contribution. We get to Believe it to See it!

Want to give it a try?

Order Rainbeau’s “21 Day Superstar Cleans:Rejuvenating Lifestyle Program to Help You Feel Younger, Healthier, and Ready to Rock the World” now.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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Images courtesy of Rainbeau Mars

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Planning a little detox cleanse before winter’s officially over?

We often associate cleansing with spring or fall, when the weather is in a transition phase and we take the cue to renew our health. Winter is put on the back burner as the season where we cling to comfort, and thus emerge with the love handles and the sniffles to show for it. But, winter can indeed be the season for detoxing and keeping the body clean and lean. Follow these eight cleansing tips and see for yourself!

1. Wake Up to Morning Detox Tea

Give your liver a boost in the morning with a tea elixir that cleanses your system. On an empty stomach, sip on hot tea  mixed with the juice of half a lemon, a dash of cayenne, a dash of turmeric and a dash of cinnamon. Sweeten with stevia or drink as-is. You could also give the morning detox tea more flavor with the addition of an herbal tea bag, such as peppermint or ginger, which are excellent for the digestive system.

2. Drink Your Greens

Shower your cells with living enzymes, nutrients, and alkalizing chlorophyll for breakfast. Drink a juice or smoothie that contains green leaves, which are highly cleansing and a powerful way to improve digestion, as well as having positive effects on every other bodily system. While the green smoothie packs fiber, the green juice will digest more quickly and more directly and quickly affect your blood. Here are two recipes to try. Modify as preferred.

Green Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

Hefty handful of green leafy vegetables such as kale or spinach
½ cup water
1 large banana, peeled
½ cup frozen berries or mango
¼ avocado

Directions

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Green Juice Recipe

Ingredients

6-8 kale leaves, including stems
1 apple
1 carrot
1 lemon
1 cucumber
Stevia to taste (optional)

Directions

Put all ingredients, except for the stevia, through the juicer, beginning with the kale leaves and ending with the cucumber. Sweeten with stevia afterwards and drink after stirring.

3. Embrace Warm Vegetable Soups

Cleansing is all about giving your digestive system a break and letting it relax and strengthen so that your body can focus on other organs and processes. For this reason, soups are an excellent way to pack both nutrients and taste without burdening digestion with chewing and breaking down solid food.

And there is no need for a complicated recipe; simply boil in water or bake your favorite vegetable until softened, put it in a food processor with salt, pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and process with enough of the water until the soup reaches the consistency you like. Broccoli and sweet potato work great for this!

4. Savor Denser Vegetables

Eating light in the winter is harder than in the summer. Cold temperatures demand the warmth that comes from comfort food. But that doesn’t mean you have to indulge in heavy, fatty foods. Instead, take advantage of denser vegetables such as cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, sweet potato, squash, and celeriac to get the bulk without the diet bust. Steam, bake, or sauté them and enjoy them aside a light marinara sauce or a dab of butter and you’ll never feel like you’re missing out.

5. Avoid Dairy

Simply cutting out dairy for a period of a few days or weeks can drastically change how you feel. Some people have allergies and don’t even know it, and that could be the very reason for stubborn weight, sluggishness, or indigestion. Refined and processed milk has its risks, and it’s important to note that while some people handle dairy better than others, in general it is not an ideal food and can curb your health goals. Avoid dairy or switch to goat and sheep milk yogurts and cheeses, which have a lower amount of casein, a hard-to-digest protein prevalent in dairy products. Raw dairy is also richer in healthy bacteria and worth a try if you aren’t planning to cut dairy out altogether.

6. Drink Enough Water

Just because it’s not sweltering outside doesn’t mean you don’t need as much water. Keeping yourself hydrated is one of the most important rules in cleansing. Always carry a water bottle with you and you’ll never forget.

7. Skip the Antiperspirant

Considering it’s chilly outside, the level of sweating is at bay and any aroma is buried under layers of clothes, so not applying a strong antiperspirant or deodorant isn’t the end of the world. Antiperspirants contain aluminum, which stops sweat glands from doing what they do best – sweat, which is another way the body releases toxins. There are fears that the skin absorbs the aluminum and can cause breast cancer, despite further studies needed to draw a definite link. Besides aluminum, antiperspirants and deodorants can contain other harmful ingredients including parabens, propylene glycol, triclosan, TEA, DEA, FD&C colors, and talc. Use winter as an escape from the dangerous effects of most deodorants and antiperspirants on the market and go bare or make a homemade version.

8. Lather Up with Coconut Oil

Winter leaves the skin dry and moisturizing is key to keeping it supple and smooth. Most commercial lotion products, however, contain ingredients that do more harm than good. The skin is the body’s largest organ and is like a sponge in that it absorbs whatever is applied to it, toxins included. Take this as a cue to go as natural as possible. Virgin coconut oil is an excellent choice, not only because of its pureness but also for its emollient and antibacterial properties.

Photo Credit: Vanessayavonne

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A firsthand account of a one-time colonic.

The billion dollar weight-loss industry is booming like acne on a hormone-riddled teenage boy, and there are no signs of it slowing down. As long as there are wedding dresses to fit into, bikinis to look good in, and ex-boyfriends to make merry, products and services promising the svelte figure of a prepubescent girl will have a lucrative place in our world.

As a victim of 20 years of I-have-no-discipline-and-I-procrastinate-eating-healthily-but-need-to-be-thin-this-weekend dieting research, I’m here to bestow some useful yet non-expert advice: never get a colonic for weight loss.

If someone told me I could lose weight by crawling on all fours through hot coals every morning, I’d have some seriously callused kneecaps and a keen hatred for BBQs. Similar to donuts, cheese, and a good glass of wine, weight loss snake-oil is a weakness of mine that borders on addiction. When you live in a weight-conscious city like Los Angeles, searching for a miracle weight loss cure is modus operandi. From grapefruits and cabbage soup, to cayenne pepper and lemon juice, to infomercial exercise products to carb-cutting and the good ole chew and spit – I’ve tried it all short of anorexia and foreign diet pills.

So when my friend told me how she lost “5 pounds of feces” in one colonic session it was no surprise that I was on her therapist’s table in a bunless gown with no underwear on before I could Google the word “colonic.” Had I researched the treatment like a normal person before making the appointment, I would have discovered that colon hydrotherapy utilizes special equipment and tubes to inject water into your colon via your rectum. This is the kind of information you want to know before it’s being done to you.

As I innocently lay on the table, Sonja, a Ukrainian woman with more hair on her forearms then on her head, started snapping on latex gloves and lubing up a 6-inch plastic disposable tube attached to what looked like a giant electric toothbrush with a hose attached. Quickly I begin to scan the walls for any sort of diagram illustrating how this process worked, or for some sort of certificate or diploma; I figured if my manicurist has one, this woman should, too.

“Roll over,” she said in her thick accent, the smell of onions and sauerkraut from her lunch distracting me long enough not to realize what she was doing. SLURP. The plastic tube was in.

I’m going to avoid any sort of medical terms because I don’t know any, and the experience was not what I would describe as medicinal or healing in any way. In layman’s terms, it felt like my body was a water balloon and she stuck a hose up my ass to fill it. Before I could come up with an excuse as to why I couldn’t continue with the treatment, 100-degree water started to pump through the tube. “This is going to fill your body cavity.  The more the better, so let me know when you can’t take it anymore,” she said.  At first I felt a calming warmth, but was then overcome with a feeling of the worst case of diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, and a hatred for all things beautiful all at once.

Sweat started to drip down my face.

“STOP!” I yelled.  I couldn’t take it anymore. Then she told me she was going to release the water, and to keep an eye on the tube to see what was coming out of me. The excitement on Sonja’s face felt out of place; it was like she was giving me a sonogram only it wasn’t a baby we were looking at, it was a turd. There it was. Christmas dinner from 1983, gone. I was attempting to find the positive in this traumatic situation, but no amount of “mind over matter” thinking, dim lighting, faux flowers, potpourri, or Yanni playing softly on the ipod dock speakers in the background over the hum of the poop machine could make this entire experience okay. She was able to repeat the inflation and release process two more times before I cried “uncle” and threw in the towel. She then attempted to console me by telling me that first-timers always struggle.

SLIP. The tube was out.

When I got home, I ran to the computer to read up on what miracle I had coming to me now that I was done suffering. According to Wikipedia, “No scientific evidence supports the alleged benefits of colon cleansing. The bowel itself is not dirty and improperly prepared or used equipment can cause infection or damage to the bowel.” What the *@$#?  Not only did I not lose a pound, but I spent the next three days farting water.

As an intelligent woman who knows better, I’m embarrassed to say I succumbed yet again to the false hope of an easy weight loss answer. I am not going to blame colonics, my friend, Sonja, or even the weight-loss industry because it’s not evil. Like the tobacco industry, it’s built on people’s conscious decisions to ignore the truth. In the end, I deserved to be out $125 and to have a memory burned so deep into my soul that I quiver whenever I start my electric toothbrush or see a lawn hose.

Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Image: His_beautiful_girl94

The post Consciously Avoiding Colonics…And Never Felt Better! appeared first on EcoSalon.