The Gallivanting Green Girl

This is the program outlined by the We Care Spa, my fave fasting retreat in Palm Springs, CA. Check it out sometime if you have a chance. They also sell their products online for all you DIY-ers.

Please check in with your doctor if you do it at home.

After all, the whole point is to be healthier!

Have one of the following 12 drinks every 60-90 minutes. Use only distilled or purified water:

1. 2 capsules of enzymes and a glass of water
2. 1 Tbsp chlorophyll and a glass of water
3. 1 cup of vegetable broth (might as well make it organic since you’re going through the trouble to detox)
4. 1st Detox Drink: water, organic apple juice and intestinal fiber cleanser (you can get this at any health food store or Whole Foods)
5. 1 pint vegetable juice (freshly made or at least 100% juice): carrot, celery, beet, cabbage
6. 2nd Detox Drink: water, organic apple juice and intestinal fiber cleanser
7. 1 cup lemon water (1 fresh-squeezed lemon) and 1 capsule each of garlic, parsley and capsicum (if you can’t find this, substitute with a couple dashes of cayenne pepper in your lemon water)
8. 1 cup energizing tea (yerba mate or green tea)
9. 1 cup blood-purifying tea (lapacho or Pau d’Arco)
10. 1 cup of tea for liver and kidneys (parsley and dandelion)
11. 3rd Detox Drink: water, organic apple juice and intestinal fiber cleanser + 20 drops of colloidal minerals followed by 3 capsules of acidophilus
12. 1 cup herbal laxative

For Best Results:

• 1 Tsbp. castor oil treatment the first day (mied with 4 oz. organic prune or apple juice)
• Sign up for a week’s worth of daily colonics (if you live in Chicago, Healing Quest Center is the bomb)
• Do some kind of “impact cardio” for 10 minutes 3 times a day (jumping jacks, skip rope, run, whatev – just bounce!)
• Take a sauna or steam bath daily
• Do skin brushing twice a day
• Walk 20 minutes and do a detox bath daily
• 45-minutes of yoga stretches, breathing and relaxation daily will help the detox process
• Repeat this program 4 times a year
• Check out my post on Fasting Survival Tips

BREAKING THE FAST:

The way you break the fast is REALLY important. Seriously, people have died breaking a fast the wrong way so don’t go nuts mowing down fried food at your celebration party just yet.

For at least 3 days, eat very small meals of fruit and fresh vegetables. Yes, I know you’ve been starving but you’ve gone through all this trouble already and if you stick to the program, trust me, you won’t even be hungry anyway.

It’s amazing what your body is ready to give up when you finally start taking care of it!

For all those who’ve asked and/or decided to join me, here’s the We Care Spa fasting program for the next 7 days.

If you have the time and the means, I highly recommend going away to a lovely spa and turning this into a treat rather than torture. But if you’re up for a do-it-yourself detox at home, here are some survival tips to help get you through:

If you’ve never fasted before, you might want to get a thumbs-up from your doctor. The whole point is to get healthier.

Find a buddy to do it with and hold each other accountable. We used to charge each other a drink for every infraction…but that only encouraged cheating. Now we exchange 10 things we love and every cheat means something goes on EBAY. Cruel but effective.

Stock up on all the products you need before you start and set them up on your kitchen counter.  You can get everything at Whole Foods, health food stores or online. Check out some of the links on this page for resources.

Clear out all the temptation from your kitchen – it’s much easier to suck down veggie juice when you don’t have to reach past the champagne to get to it.

If your office has a kitchen, bring your stuff there too.  It doesn’t take any longer to make a cup of tea or a detox drink than to grab a cup of coffee. Caution: although this is great water-cooler conversation, I recommend sharing general information only – no one needs (or wants) to know about your personal cleansing results.

Put post-it reminders on your fridge, cabinets, mirrors, etc. Mine say “Go ahead – guys love a toxic fast ass!” You might choose to be kinder to yourself. Whatever works.

Schedule the program in your BlackBerry and set up reminder alarms. If you stick to the program and the schedule, you won’t even be hungry.

Block out the time on your calendar in advance and take a break from the social scene. It won’t kill you to drop out for a week or two. Be a little mysterious and let everyone speculate about all the fabulous things you must be doing. And while you’re at it,  go ahead and DO some of those fabulous things that you never have time for so you’ll have all kinds of interesting things to talk about when  you re-emerge.

Schedule appointments for massages, colonics, yoga classes and all the other lovely things that you’d do at a spa.

Be creative and make it FUN.

Good Luck – and let me know how it goes!

Ok, so just two days into my fasting prep I started to contemplate the irony in detoxing with fruits and veggies that were probably covered in more pesticides and other “funk” than I could hope to clear out in a couple of weeks.

I’m not a big fan of commercial produce washes because a) they are insultingly expensive ($4+ for the ones I found); and b) those plastic spray bottles aren’t very environmentally friendly. (See, I’m making progress!)

So I consulted a few of my eco-conscious friends – who were very happy to hear that I was doing something with celery other than sticking it in a Bloody Mary – and they all concurred that a mixture of water and white vinegar will do the trick. Yup. Seriously, that’s it. Put three parts water + one part vinegar in a spray bottle (yes, this is ok because you’ll REUSE it!), spray the fruits and veggies, rinse and voila!

There you have it: clean AND green!

Supposedly researchers say it’s even better than using a scrub brush – which is awesome because those things will totally jack up a good manicure!

PS – don’t forget to recycle the vinegar bottles

It’s THAT time of the year…

Actually, I’m about 6 weeks late. I usually try to do this quarterly (at the change of seasons) but alas, I was off gallivanting in France and Italy during that time and well, what can I say? I’ll work on detoxing my priorities some other time…

For someone who loves food as much as I do, dietary restrictions or restrictions of ANY kind are just plain brutal. But I have to say, I’m looking forward to the next two weeks because I know how amazing I’m going to feel after I survive this little mini-cleanse. My friends think I’m crazy so for those of you who are going to yell at me about not needing to lose any weight, let me remind you that fasting is NOT a quick (or easy) weight-loss plan nor is that the goal - although after all the snacks I’ve been eating lately thanks to you-know-who, it will be a most welcome side benefit…

I don’t profess to be an expert on fasting, cleansing, detoxing, or any other health-related subject. I just know what works for me and believe me, if it didn’t there’s no WAY I’d voluntarily give up food! I check in with my doctor regularly and I highly recommend the same for anyone who wants to try a fast for themselves. Incidentally, she thinks I’m crazy too, but she always encourages me to stick with it because I’m the healthiest person she sees all year!

Want to join me? Ok, here’s the plan for the next 8 days:

Eat: Only raw or lightly-steamed fruits and veggies, preferably organic and locally-grown. This may sound like torture but you’d be surprised at how many yummy raw food recipes you can dig up when you have to. There are probably some great raw food restaurants in your area as well. Try not to think of this as cruel and unusual punishment – you are embarking on a new culinary adventure! (Fortunately, you have a valid round-trip ticket…)

Drink: In addition to tons of water (add fresh lemon juice when you can), try to squeeze in the following supplements to facilitate the cleansing process:

• 3 oz. prune juice in the morning
• 3 oz. aloe vera juice at lunch
• 1 cup of laxative tea after dinner
• 2 Tbsp of olive oil at bedtime

Do: Here are a few more suggestions to help prepare for the full-on fast next week:

• Walk at least 20 minutes a day - it’s important to keep your metabolism and circulation up but also to be mindful of overexertion. If you’re used to working out for several hours a day it’s hard to keep up that pace on nothing but fruit and veggies if you’re not used to this diet. Having said that, there is a whole subculture of vegan and vegetarian athletes who seem to do just fine. I’m not enlightened enough to go totally meatless yet, but I’m doing my best.
• Take a detox bath daily - If you have the luxury of time and a tub, you can get some great detox bath powders online. We Care Spa carries a whole line of products that are perfect for a DIY-Detox at home.
• Dry-skin brush daily - The skin is responsible for 1/4 of the body’s daily detox. In addition to facilitating detoxification, dry brushing also exfoliates dead skin and stimulates the growth of new soft skin. There are several other benefits including cellulite removal, tightening the skin, and muscle toning but I’ll have to save that for another post.
• Avoid oils and lotions - Dry brushing expedites the removal of toxins through the skin, but all those wonderful oils, lotions and potions that lock-in moisture will lock the toxins in with it. So if detox is one of your goals, let your skin do what it’s supposed to do. Hey, no one said this was gonna be glamorous.

Once you’ve gotten through this week – especially the first day or two – you will be amazed at how NOT hungry you are! And all this will prepare your body for the main event: the 7-day fast.

If anyone plans on joining me let me know. It’s SO much easier with a buddy!!! But choose wisely – lest you find yourself partnered up with someone who believes with all her (or his) heart that an organic limoncello martini with orange garnish is a sanctioned libation.

Save those for your celebration toast – I do!!!