Juice Feast, Days 9 - 12

I'm wrapping up day 12 and am happy to say that I've reached a personal best. My longest cleanse prior to this juice feast was a 10 day Master Cleanse is 2008. I cannot say that this has been easy; in fact, I've almost ended or modified this several times, but continue to hang in there. One of the problems is that I get chilled to the bone after drinking a juice, even though I wear extra layers of clothing, drink hot tea & try to get more exercise. The saving grace is my infrared sauna. This is one of the best investments in my health that I've ever made. I've had it a few years now and even though it's as small as a tiny closet I use it regularly during cold months - especially now that I'm juice feasting. For info into the health benefits of infrared sauna see my report here .

One of the main reasons for embarking on this cleanse was to improve my eye health. My clogged oil glands,(which, by the way came with the cancer but did not leave with it), cause discomfort, dry eyes and sensitivity to light. These conditions have worsened with this cleanse. A few nights ago I woke to a burning sensation and tearing in my left eye. The tears kept coming for several minutes bringing some relief. It wasn't exactly painful and I somehow felt that something good was happening. Since then it's happened off and on in both eyes, to a lesser degree.

The photosensitivity seems to have progressed and feels worse now than ever before. As I write this I'm wearing sunglasses because the light of the computer is too bright. My eyelids are a little inflamed and there's an oily substance being released, which may be the cause of the burning sensation. It seems as though my body is trying to clear the blocked glands, which is great but the process is no fun. If it doesn't ease up soon I may modify the cleanse to slow down the detoxification process.

I've cut back on the number of juices to 2 1/2 - 3 quarts. I feel stuffed on more than that and I realized that my caloric needs are not the same as others who flourish on 4 qts per day. In addition to the juices I'm still taking bee pollen, chlorella, green powders, and 1 tbsp of hemp oil and/or coconut oil. I haven't felt any hunger to speak of in days.

I haven't had an enema since day 7, nor have I been taking the recommended herbal laxative. My elimination has been very efficient and I'm surprised at the return of formed, rather than loose stools. Incredible.

For the past two days I have a taste in my mouth, something like metal. I think this is a great sign that my body is ridding itself of old debris. The metalic taste affects the taste of the juices, but I can live with that.

I'm sure I can make it to the 2 week mark, which is in 2 days. At that point I will decide whether to continue the feast as is, or modify it a bit.

Spring Cleanse Resumed

I've decided to make this a relatively simple cleanse by eliminating all fat from my diet for the next ten days. This will give my body a bit of a digestive break while allowing it to easily assimilate the nutrients from all the fruits, vegetables and juices I'll be consuming. With less digestive work to do my body will be able to divert that energy to cleansing and healing.

I did great on Saturday with the Master Cleanse and yesterday was also a good day, although I had a little olive oil in a dish I made for a family function. Since I want this to be a completely fat-free cleanse I've decided to start over with today as day#1.

My day was simple with a wheatgrass juice first thing this morning, a green smoothie for breakfast and dinner, with fruit in between when I felt hungry. The bulk of my calories on this cleanse will come from fruit to keep me energized.

Rest is also an important part of my cleanse and today I took a three-hour nap! I haven't done that in years and it felt incredible. I may not be able to do that everyday but I've given this cleanse priority on my schedule for ten full days so I should be able to get in at least a few cat naps. All the benefits of my healing regimen are minimized without proper rest so I'm making it a goal to get adequate sleep consistently, not just during a cleanse. I'll post again in a day or two.

Long Time No Post

My winter crops


It’s been such a long time since my last post and lately I’ve received emails from people wondering how I’m doing. Well, I’ve been doing great – just too busy to even think about posting. Since this is day one of my spring cleanse I decided that now would be the perfect time to resume posting. I was going to wait until after the holiday on Tuesday but when I woke this morning I felt ready and eager to begin.

Allow me to back up a little bit before I get into my cleansing plans. First, for those who have asked - I’ve been cancer free since January 2008, just over one year now! I have my tumor markers checked every 4 months and last time the reading was at 17, which was great news because the normal range is 0–40. I’m due for my next check-up in early June, and my next thermascan will be in August. (If you’re not familiar with thermography you should be! It’s an alternative to mammography which you can read about in my report below this post. I've mentioned it before on this blogsite and I'll continue to do my best to get the word out about thermography).

My diet is still “high-raw”, which in my case means that 95-100% of my food is uncooked: fruits, vegetables, greens, sprouts, nuts, seeds and juice. Last year (or was it the year before? I’m losing track) I had blood work as well as hair and urine analysis and found out that I had high levels of heavy metals including mercury in my system. These toxins were interfering with my body’s absorption of nutrients and the test results also revealed that I had an underactive thyroid, hormone imbalances and many deficiencies, including iodine, vitamin D and iron.

I had all the mercury amalgam fillings removed from my teeth (they were over 25 years old and releasing vapors into my system). I’ve also been taking natural supplements (versus synthetic) and although it will take my body time to rebuild there is improvement with my thyroid which now tests normal. In June I’ll see how I’m doing with the other deficiencies. The point I’d like to make here is that I should have been tested for toxins and deficiencies when I was first diagnosed with cancer – especially iodine and vitamin D. That would have aided and likely sped up the healing process.

Even though I’ve been doing great I’m ready to take my health to the next level. I still have residual nodules on my neck, although they’re much fewer in number and barely noticeable now. My back was completely covered with these nodules when the cancer was still spreading but it's now completely and beautifully smooth and clear. The oil glands in my eyes are still clogged (I don’t understand the connection but that condition came with the cancer) and my eyes are still extremely sensitive to bright light – especially sunlight. I believe that with periodic cleansing these conditions will improve as my body continues to heal.

The winter was long and cold and I got into the habit of eating dense foods far too often – nuts, seeds and avocados – especially around the holidays when I made rich nut-and-date-based desserts. Not surprising this type of food took a lot of energy for my body to digest and my stamina declined. I resolved to do a spring cleanse to clear out the winter debris and congestion and increase my energy levels.

In January I started growing wheatgrass so I could have 2–4 ounces of the potent juice daily. That’s helped with cleansing but there’s nothing like a fast to really re-boot the body. I’ve looked forward to a rest and a fast, especially since I’ve been way too busy, sleeping less and feeling run down for more than a month. Last week my eyes were so tired that I burst a blood vessel which turned half of my eye dark red. It looked horrendous and caused my already sensitive eyes to be even more so. I wore shades for nearly a week. That episode and other signs of fatigue made me eager to start a fast.

I don’t know yet how long or what type of cleanse I’ll do, but I’d like it to be at least ten days with a few days of fasting. Today I’m doing the Master Cleanse fast, which is lemonade made of fresh lemon juice, maple syrup, cayenne and water. (Because of the maple syrup it’s not raw, but is mineral-dense). I drank one quart today and felt wonderful. I didn't experience any hunger, perhaps because yesterday I ate only fruits and vegetables without any fats, in preparation of the fast.

Sunday and Monday I plan to eat only fruits and vegetables, (no fats), followed by a water fast of one to three days and plenty of good rest. I’ll gauge how I feel each day and plan accordingly, and I’ll post regularly during the ten-day cleanse. That’s it for today.

Spring Cleanse - Day 10 wrap-up

I successfully completed my 10th day without too much effort. Yesterday I only drank 1/2 gallon of the lemonade. At some point in the afternoon I lost my taste for it and switched to water. This morning I broke my fast with papaya but surprisingly it was very unsatisfying. Despite my hunger the fruit left an unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth. I'll try more fruit later.

All in all I'd have to say that the fast was a worthwhile experience although the skin nodules that I had hoped would begin to dissolve have not budged. Nonethless, I trust that my body has its priorities and will get to that task when it's ready. Today I resume my raw diet, certain that my intelligent body will digest these "tumors" in its own time. I'll also continue to chronicle this next phase of my healing journey with weekly posts.