Start by following the liver cleansing diet for two to four weeks.RECENTLY WHILE TRAVELING IN ANOTHER CITY, MY WIFE, MARY, was standing at a Clinique counter at a department store and struck up a friendly conversation with a couple next to her in line. The middleaged man shared that six months previous he had undergone a monthlong juice fast. Interestingly, he hadn’t fasted at the advice of a medical person or because he had read about it. He simply felt the need to go on a juice fast.
A few minutes into the discussion the man’s wife began painting a picture of the physical changes that took place in her husband’s body as he detoxified. In three or four days of fasting, his skin began to give off a foul odor and emit a dark ashy substance as the toxins deep within his body were visibly released. His amazing symptoms lasted only for a few days.
He continued sharing his story with Mary. By the end of the month of fasting, he felt better than he had for years. He couldn’t remember when he had more energy. He felt truly invigorated, renewed, and cleansed—down to the very core of his being.
“That was just six months ago,” he said. “But I want to go on another juice fast again just to feel that good again.” He was eager to experience the sense of rejuvenation once more. *
I find it uniquely interesting that this man simply felt the need to go on this fast. Apparently his body was extremely toxic. He may have worked in a toxic environment. Who knows? His inclination to go on an extended juice fast may have spared him from cancer or heart disease several years later. It’s impossible to say. But some inner wisdom told him he needed to cleanse his body. I’m glad he listened.
Toxic substances, as we learned earlier, are everywhere. They are in the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, and the food that we eat. They attack us from outside and from within.
We are living in the most toxic time the world has ever known. Our ability to stay healthy is increasingly determined by our body’s ability to detoxify.
The best way to eliminate these toxins from our bodies is to start a detoxification program. Here’s how:
Start by following the liver cleansing diet for two to four weeks.
Take supplements for a healthy liver.
Drink at least two quarts of alkaline water a day.
Get plenty of fiber.
Undergo periodic juice fasting for three to seven days at a time (or longer if monitored by a physician).
Finish up with another two weeks on the liver cleansing diet.
By following this simple program, you can safely and effectively eliminate the dangerous toxins from your body.
Periodic fasting is like periodic house cleaning. You may have a regular routine of house cleaning that includes dusting, vacuuming, mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, and a host of other chores. But once or twice a year, many people go after the hidden dirt and grime. They wash curtains, pull furniture away from the walls, wash windows, scrub out cabinets, and don’t miss a nook or cranny until everything shines.
Our bodies aren’t much different. They need regular, thorough cleanings to function at peak efficiency.
The longer we live on this toxic earth, the more we absorb and collect toxins in our tissues. These toxins are actually stored in the tissues of our bodies, especially in the fatty tissues. The liver also stores some toxins that it cannot break down and excrete. Believe it or not, the metabolite of DDT, called DDE, is present in most people’s fat.
Fasting is an effective way to help your body eliminate these toxins.
The USDA, the Surgeon General, the National Cancer Institute, as well as the US Department of Health and Human Services, all recommend that we eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
The minimum amount of fruits and vegetables recommended a day is five—three vegetables and two fruits. Less than one-third of Americans get the minimum of five servings a day. Because we eat so little fruit and vegetables, many Americans suffer from nutritional deficiencies, including vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Common deficiencies include folic acid deficiencies in both men and women. In fact, 60 percent of older Americans do not get enough folic acid to prevent elevated homocysteine levels, which is a risk factor for heart disease.1
To make matters worse, the most common vegetables that Americans eat are potatoes in the form of french fries, onions in the form of fried onion rings, and tomatoes in the form of ketchup. Even our fresh vegetables are losing their vitamin and mineral content. When we compare the USDA food tables from twenty-five to thirty years ago to the food tables of today, we will see that the nutrient value for over a dozen fruits and vegetables has dropped dramatically.
For example, nearly half the vitamin A and calcium in broccoli have disappeared. In other words, there is about a 50 percent drop in these nutrients in broccoli as compared to the USDA handbook twenty-five to thirty years ago.
Fruits and vegetables are power-packed with phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that prevent cancer, heart disease, strokes, osteoporosis, and most other degenerative diseases.
Do all you can to eat more fruits and vegetables. Since most of us don’t have the time to eat the raw fruits and vegetables, it is much simpler to begin juicing fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.
By juicing fresh fruits and vegetables, the juices are separated from the fiber and are quickly digested, absorbed, and assimilated by the body. Juice every day to be sure you get plenty of fruits and vegetables. Eight ounces of carrot juice provide the carotenoids that are equal to approximately one and one-half pounds of carrots. It would take quite a bit of time to prepare and eat that many carrots every day.
Another excellent way to get adequate amounts of vegetables is through Green Superfood. (See Appendix D.) One scoop is approximately equivalent to six servings of vegetables. I recommend this at least once a day in the morning.
When you get in the daily habit of juicing fruit and vegetables, you can be sure you’re getting the recommended three to five servings of vegetables a day and two to four servings of fruit a day that you need. Not only will you learn to love starting your day with delicious fruit and vegetable juices, but also you will dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, and macular degeneration.
Give your body the fuel that it craves most—fresh fruits and vegetables—in a form that is easily digested, absorbed, and assimilated. You can do this through freshly squeezed juices.
Fresh juices are full of enzymes. Enzymes are actually organic compounds or catalysts that increase the rate at which food is broken down and absorbed by the body. Fresh fruits and vegetables are extremely high in enzymes. These enzymes are destroyed during cooking and processing. Bottled and packaged juices are pasteurized, which destroys the enzymes. Fresh juice contains living digestive enzymes that are important in breaking down foods in the digestive tract. This preserves your own body’s digestive enzymes. This, in turn, gives your digestive system a much-needed rest so that it can repair, recuperate, and be rejuvenated.
Eating fats, protein, and starch puts a lot of strain on the digestive tract. Recall eating a large T-bone steak and potato with butter or sour cream along with bread and a dessert. Did you get sleepy an hour or two later? That was because that large meal sat in your stomach for hours as the body expended tremendous energy to digest it.
Cooked, starchy foods such as mashed potatoes, breads, and pasta contain no enzymes. Therefore, they draw from the enzymes that are produced in the pancreas and deplete your energy.
However, when you drink freshly juiced fruits and vegetables that are teeming with live enzymes, valuable pancreatic enzymes are preserved, giving your pancreas a break.
Juicing pineapples even gives you extra enzyme energy. Pineapples contain the enzyme bromelain, which has been used for decades in treating inflammatory problems such as arthritis, improving wound healing, aiding digestion, and numerous other clinical and therapeutic applications.
But the most important nutrients in fresh fruits and juices are the phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are simply plant-derived nutrients that contain antioxidants. Here are some of the incredible things these mighty plant nutrients can do:
Prevent and fight tumors and cancer
Lower cholesterol
Increase immune function
Fight viruses
Stimulate detoxification enzymes
Block the production of cancer-causing compounds
Protect the DNA from damage
Many of these phytonutrients are found in the pigments of the fruits and vegetables, such as the chlorophyll of green vegetables, the carotenes or carotenoids in orange fruits and vegetables, and the flavonoids in berries.
Approximately one out of two men and one out of three women in the United States will at some time develop cancer in his or her lifetime. Consuming cruciferous vegetables every day in the form of juices is one of the best ways to protect your body from cancer.
Selecting Your Vegetables and Fruit for Juicing
To prepare your juice for fasting it’s important to select the vegetables and fruit that will do you the most good. So let’s take a brief look at the major categories of phytonutrients so we can make the healthiest selections.
First, let’s look at the carotenoids. There are more than six hundred.
Carotenoids are the fat-soluble pigments you find in red, orange, yellow, and dark green fruits and vegetables. Carrots, watermelon, pink grapefruit, sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, spinach, kale, collard greens, cantaloupe, and yams are bursting with carotenoids. Half of these healthy wonders have the added ability to convert into vitamin A in our livers.
For years, nutritionists taught that the most powerful carotenoid was beta-carotene, which is what you find in carrots. Today, we know that other carotenoids have even greater antioxidant and anticancer powers.
The great thing about carotenoids is you can never overdose on them. If you take more than your body needs, then the excess will simply not be converted into vitamin A. Instead, it will be stored in your body’s fatty tissues and even organs.
Studies have shown that the more carotenoids you take in through your diet, the lower your risk of developing cancer. Wow! That’s phyto power!2
Lycopene
Lycopene is a carotenoid found in the red pigment of carrots, tomatoes, pink grapefruit, and watermelon. This is a powerful antioxidant that reduces the instance of certain cancers. A study following more than 47,000 individuals found that men who consume large amounts of tomato-based foods each week had significantly lower rates of prostate cancer.3
Lycopene is also protective against cancers of the GI tract, including the esophagus, stomach, colon, and rectum.
Lutein
Another very important carotenoid is lutein. This healing substance is found in most yellow fruits and vegetables, such as yellow squash and corn as well as spinach and collard greens.
Lutein protects the eyes from macular degeneration—a major cause of blindness in older individuals.
Other carotenoids
Most of us only know about beta-carotene. We feel that we’re getting all we need in our daily vitamin pill. But hundreds of other carotenoids exist, including alpha and gamma carotene, astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, and cryptoxanthin. Astaxanthin has been known to protect against cataracts, macular degeneration, and blindness, as well as sunburn, reducing oxidative damage to DNA, inflammation, and reducing risk of cancers such as breast, colon, bladder, and mouth. Astaxanthin, which occurs naturally in certain algae, is the new super carotenoid. You can find it in most health food stores.
We’ve only begun to scratch the surface in our research about them. But by juicing lots of raw, fresh vegetables, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, collard greens, and spinach, we give our bodies a vast array of different carotenoids. Each one of these wholesome vegetables adds another layer of protection from cancer and other degenerative diseases.
Carotenoids and smoking
Even though carotenoids have enormous cancer-fighting properties for nonsmokers, they work just the opposite for smokers.
A large study completed a few years ago showed that supplementation with beta-carotene actually increased the instance of lung cancer in smokers. The National Cancer Institute has repeated this study with similar results.4
Because of these two startling studies, smokers are warned never to take beta-carotene as a supplement. Odd, isn’t it? Supplements of betacarotene decrease the incidence of lung cancer in nonsmokers. I believe if the study had used a symphony of antioxidants such as lipoic acid, CoQ10, vitamins E and C, a glutathione-boosting supplement, grape seed extract, and pine bark in addition to the beta carotene, the results would have turned out quite different.
Every time a smoker puffs on a cigarette or cigar, he plants a seed for lung cancer. How true the Bible is when it warns that the seeds we sow are the plants we will reap. (See Galatians 6:7.) If you continue to smoke, you will eventually harvest disease—disease that is even fueled by beta-carotene.
I once heard a preacher say, “You can still smoke and go to heaven, but you’ll just get there a lot sooner!” So, stop smoking and start juicing. Juicing is one of the best ways to break an addiction to cigarettes.
Cruciferous vegetables are cancer blasters. They include cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, watercress, turnips, and radishes. These cancer fighters contain more phytonutrients with anticancer properties than any other family of vegetables.
The word cruciferous comes from the same word root as crucifying, which means “to place one on a cross.” Oddly, the flowers of cruciferous vegetables contain two components that appear similar to the shape of a cross.
The potent cancer-fighting phytonutrients in the cruciferous vegetables family include indoles, isothiocyanates, and sulforaphanes, which are sulfur-containing compounds. They also contain phenols, coumarins, dithiolthiones, and glucosinolates, as well as other phytonutrients that are yet to be discovered. Indoles, especially indole-3-carbinol, are potent cancer antagonists. Sulforaphanes stimulate liver detoxification enzymes. Isothiocyanates induce production of detoxification enzymes by the liver, and they prevent damage to the DNA. Studies have correlated a high intake of cruciferous vegetables, especially cabbage, with lower rates of cancers, especially cancers of the breast and colon.5
Broccoli sprouts have the highest concentration of these protective phytonutrients. Select young broccoli sprouts that are about three days old. They contain twenty to fifty times more of the potent phytonutrient sulforaphane than mature broccoli.
Juicing cruciferous vegetables on a regular basis can help your liver to detoxify from pesticides, chemicals, drugs, and other pollutants. However, if you juice excessive amounts of cruciferous vegetables or juice them every day long term, they can inhibit thyroid function to a degree. So moderation is the key, and if you do decide to juice cruciferous vegetables daily for months or years, I recommend that you periodically have a thyroid blood test (TSH).
Even the American Cancer Society recommends eating cruciferous vegetables regularly to decrease your risk of cancer.6
Flavonoids are another group of powerful phytonutrients. They are found in plant pigments, especially blackberries, blueberries, cherries, and grapes. More than four thousand different flavonoid compounds give fruits and vegetables their beautiful red, blue, and purple color. They are also found in vegetables such as broccoli, tomatoes, and peppers.
Isn’t it interesting that God placed these beautiful colors in different fruits and vegetables that provide protection from most diseases? Our eyes are actually drawn to the beautiful colors—the brilliant oranges in carrots, the bright reds in tomatoes, the brilliant greens in spinach and other green foods, and the brilliant purples and reds in the berries. Really, a big bowl of fresh vegetables is a beautiful sight. Seeing these brilliant flavonoids should entice us to eat them regularly. However, most of us choose dead, processed, man-made foods that are high in sugars, fats, and salt and are devoid of these protective phytonutrients.
Flavonoids and younger-looking skin
Flavonoids can keep your skin looking younger. This is because they play an enormous role in the formation and repair of collagen. Collagen is the major structural protein in the body, and it is also the most abundant protein found in your body. It actually holds the cells and tissues of your body together.
Collagen tends to degenerate with age and slowly collapse, which is why our skin begins to sag as we get older. However, the flavonoids found in berries, cherries, grapes, and a host of other fruits and vegetables help to maintain the integrity of your skin’s collagen. Therefore, it helps to keep your skin’s collagen from degenerating and collapsing with age.
By simply juicing berries and grapes every day, you can get enough flavonoids to nourish your skin’s collagen and slow down the aging process.
Flavonoids also help protect you against heart disease.
Grape seed extract and pine bark extract
Two flavonoid powerhouses are grape seed extract and pine bark extract. They have twenty times as much free-radical scavenger power as vitamin C and fifty times more than vitamin E. The flavonoid phytonutrient in these two extracts is called proanthocyandins. The flavonoid in grape seed extract comes from the seed of the grape, and the flavonoid in pine bark extract comes from the bark of the anneda pine tree.
Quercetin
The bioflavonoid quercetin is a powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antihistamine that can help your body fight allergies. Allergic conditions include allergic rhinitis, eczema, hives, and even some cases of asthma. Quercetin inhibits the release of histamine. Thus, it acts as an antihistamine—but it’s all natural! Quercetin is found in onions and apples. No wonder the old saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” is true since apples contain quercetin.
Not only are fruits and vegetables full of power-packed flavonoids, but many vegetables also contain chlorophyll. Let’s look.
Chlorophyll comes from the green pigment in plants. Just as the life of a person is in the blood, so the life of a plant is in the chlorophyll. In other words, chlorophyll is like the plant’s blood.
Chlorophyll is very high in magnesium. It’s vitally important for photosynthesis, which is the way plants convert light into energy. Foods that are high in chlorophyll include greens such as beet greens, spinach, collard greens, parsley, and other deep green vegetables. Wheatgrass, barley grass, alfalfa, spirulina, chlorella, and blue-green algae are plant “superfoods.” They are superfoods because of their high chlorophyll content.
These superfoods are also high in flavonoids, which gives them anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and antiviral effects. Various algae, including chlorella, spirulina, and blue-green algae are very high in carotenoids. In fact, spirulina has about ten times the concentration of carotenoids as carrots. These different algae also contain nearly all the essential amino acids along with practically every mineral and trace mineral that your body needs! Green Superfood contains all of these high-chlorophyll foods. (See Appendix D.)
Chlorophyllin
Greens such as spinach, collard greens, beet greens, cilantro, and parsley, together with the superfoods, are very high in chlorophyllin. Chlorophyllins fight cancer by inhibiting many different carcinogens. Chlorophyllin can help reduce the cancer-causing substances, called heterocyclic amines (HCAs), in cooked meats and fried foods. They even help to reduce the carcinogens in cigarette smoke. They also help to protect DNA from radiation damage.
Not only are green foods packed with this vital substance, but also the magnesium levels they contain give them a double punch. Magnesium helps to cleanse the GI tract. As a matter of fact, it works similarly to a mild laxative. Therefore, green foods help your body remove toxins from your GI tract so they are not reabsorbed.
High-chlorophyll foods are effective antioxidants, cancer and tumor fighters, as well as virus fighters. Green food preparations, such as Green Superfood, can be added to your freshly squeezed morning juices. (See Appendix D.)
Other important phytonutrients are the allium compounds. Garlic contains the highest concentration of these phytonutrients. Allicin is the main allium compound and is what gives garlic its strong odor. Garlic actually has over a hundred different compounds, and they are probably the reason garlic has so many therapeutic effects.
For instance, garlic helps to promote Phase Two detoxification of the liver. It protects against cancer. It has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antiparasitic properties as well. It also helps to detoxify the body of heavy metals such as lead and mercury, and it strengthens the immune system.
Cooking and processing garlic robs it of many of these incredible disease-fighting properties. That’s why I recommend juicing garlic to get all its health benefits.
Ellagic acid is found in strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and black currants. This powerful healing substance has been shown to inhibit cancer that has been chemically induced in rats.7
Ellagic acid also blocks against the cancer-causing effects of many different toxins, including compounds in cigarette smoke called PAH. It also protects against damage by toxins to chromosomes, which are our genetic blueprint. Finally, ellagic acid is a powerful antioxidant and can actually increase glutathione levels.
A new method of determining a food’s antioxidant capacity is called ORAC (oxygen radical absorbency capacity). Foods with the highest ORAC scores have the greatest ability to neutralize free radicals. Fruits are at the top of the list. The top five foods on the list are prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, and kale. Strawberries are number eight. Broccoli is number fifteen, and tomatoes are number forty-two. Isn’t that amazing that blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries have a higher antioxidant capacity than most all other fruits and vegetables? (If you eat raisins, make sure they are organic since raisins are usually high in pesticides.)
Vitamins and Minerals Through Juicing
Even though the majority of Americans appear to be healthy, most are not. The majority of Americans are actually taking inadequate amounts of vitamins and minerals.
For example, Americans commonly don’t get enough magnesium in their diets. The government says each one of us should get 310–420 milligrams of magnesium a day, but few of us do. Vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, are very high in magnesium. By juicing green vegetables every day, or by taking Green Superfood, you will be sure to get all the magnesium you need.
Mineral deficiencies are even more common in the standard American diet than vitamin deficiencies. It’s also common for women to get too little iron and calcium in their diets.
One of the most common nutritional deficiencies in the world is folic acid deficiency. One reason for this is that we simply don’t eat enough vegetables. In addition, some medications, such as birth control pills, contribute to this deficiency. Alcohol and stress can play a part also. Nevertheless, adequate folic acid is vital to good health; without it we stand to increase our risk of heart disease by having elevated levels of homocysteine (a toxic amino acid).
Folic acid is necessary for DNA repair, and it keeps your immune system strong. Studies have shown that high doses of folic acid can eliminate most of the precancerous cells on women with cervical dysplasia.8 Dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach and collard greens, are excellent sources of folic acid.
Even though severe vitamin C deficiency and scurvy are extremely rare in the United States and other countries, marginal deficiencies are relatively common. I believe this plays a role in the development of diseases such as heart disease and cancer. Excellent sources of vitamin C include freshly juiced citrus fruit such as grapefruit and oranges. Other sources include kiwi, strawberries, broccoli, and brussels sprouts.
Vitamin C is easily lost during both cooking and storage of the food. Vitamin C from natural sources contains bioflavonoids, which enhance the effect of vitamin C.
Juicing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables will assure you of getting enough of most all vitamins and minerals.
These are just a few of the recent nutritional breakthrough discoveries found by researchers. Nutritional medicine is still in its infancy, but what we’ve learned thus far is truly exciting.
Without a doubt, many more important phytonutrients will be discovered and will offer more protection against cancer, heart disease, and other degenerative diseases.
But don’t wait for scientific proof—start juicing today. Nevertheless, I want to encourage you to begin using these powerful phytonutrients every day by daily juicing fresh fruits and vegetables. They will play a major role in your detox fast, but don’t stop there. Determine that after your fast is over you will make juicing fresh fruits and vegetables a part of your daily breakfast routine.
The research that we have already should convince each of us of the overwhelming healing power and health benefits of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables. Don’t wait for more studies. Start making use of this lifesaving wisdom right now!
* This is a dramatized account of a true story.