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.

An Overview of Healing

This post is in response to a comment left by Amanda who requested that I give a summary of my healing journey, including the ups and downs, over the past two years. It's been quite a trip and it's not over yet, even though I've been cancer-free since January 2008. As I've achieved a greater state of health I've become more in-tune with the needs of my body and I have a better understanding of the connection between my physical and spiritual well-being. This journey is not a temporary phase of my life, as I once thought it would be, but rather a lifetime committment to reach my greatest potential on all levels of body, mind and spirit. This opportunity wouldn't have presented itself had I not been diagnosed with cancer and chosen an alternative natural path to healing.

I've remained faithful to a plant-based diet since early 2006 which I believe is the most important contributor to my healing. It wasn't always easy to stay the course but my desire to reverse the cancer kept me motivated. My exams at three-month intervals showed that the cancer had stabilized and the tumor markers were slowly declining. Despite all my good efforts there were a few times when the markers were unpredictable - up a little, then down a little on the next visit, then up again. That sometimes felt defeating, but I understood that this type of bloodwork isn't always reliable. It's more cause for concern when the tumor marker continuously rises by many points at a time. That didn't happen for me but I still sometimes had doubts, and that's when it was tough to remain patient and faithful to my protocol. Keeping a possitive outlook was at times tricky but it became much easier when my tumor markers started to plumet.

I didn't start to see an uninterrupted downward trend in my tumor markers until I started fasting one day each week and then switched to a high-raw diet. (80-100% raw). I believe this helped my body to detoxify on deeper levels than were possible with mostly cooked food. Fasting once a week wasn't easy but I felt it was important to periodically divert my body's energy from digestive tasks to deeper healing. With habitual practice fasting became easier. I've since gotten out of the habit of regular fasting but I keep trying.

It took a period of several months for me to switch to 100% raw. My first attempt at 30 days raw was a huge struggle. I felt deprived mainly because I missed the grains. I continued to research, learning more about how to prepare raw foods, what to have on hand, etc. and in early 2008, after several months of being high-raw, I transitioned to 100%. It's now my preferred way of eating.

Here's a picture of the residual nodules on my neck that was taken about a year ago.







...and this was just a few weeks ago.


It's hard to tell if there's much change since the lighting is different.
These nodules may be scar tissue, I'm not sure. They were noticeably larger and brighter pink when the cancer was still active and spreading. This is about all that's left and they're stubborn. I've tried therapeutic doses of enzymes, daily infrared sauna sessions, and countless other attempts to dissolve them, but they're not yet ready to budge. They are a reminder to me that my body has other important rebuilding work to do and will get to these later. Stay tuned for my next post when I'll write more about raw foods, my dry eyes and supplements.