The idea of starting a blog mainly came about from Darcie and I planning to start a 7 day juice cleanse as of this morning. I put up a few posts about it over several social media platforms and was encouraged to have received a lot of feedback from friends - some asking questions, some sharing recipes and their thoughts. I then decided that I could create a blog for anyone that is interested in following my journey as I take on “The 7 day Juice Cleanse.”
So, without further ado...
THE 7 DAY JUICE CLEANSE
Somewhat sporadically, Darcie and I decided that we would start a juice cleanse as of this morning. We had been toying with the idea for a couple of weeks, but as we have learnt from previous dietary adjustments, we thought we’d better do a fair amount of research on juicing before we jump into putting this idea into action.
A lot of people (myself included) tend to attach a negative connotation to juicing. This is probably due to the Hollywood inspired “Loose 7 kilos in 7 Hours with this Strict Lemon Juice Diet” - most commonly seen on the front cover of Gossip Magazine.
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| Darcie preparing some juice!!! |
During my limited time working in a cafe in the Inner Suburbs of Melbourne, I experienced first hand the typical juice detox participants. I saw way too many middle aged women jump into a juice detox without anywhere near enough knowledge. Consequently, they were drinking highly processed, high sugar content bottled juices and wondering why they were feeling like shit (not too mention the woman that ordered a cream filled pumpkin soup thinking it counted as juice).
So, needless to say, Darcie and I did not want to follow the same route as people like that (nothing against them, they just didn’t have access to the right information).
As a result, I put on my geek nutrition hat and did a heap of research on how to adopt a healthy juice cleanse. I will share some more scientific/nutrition based information in later blogs but I will give you a quick background on why we even thought about juicing in the first place.
Initially, after reading Rich Roll’s “Finding Ultra,” I was attracted to experimenting with a juice cleanse. He claimed that after completing a juice detox he felt completely revitalized and it was one of the main reasons behind him becoming Plant Powered.
On top of that, I have done a decent amount of research on fasting in cultures, most notably Native American. Native Americans are generally adopt a fast when partaking in a Spirit Ques. I have a lot of research to do on Spiritual Visions but from my limited understanding I believe that one of the reasons for hallucinations could be related to fasting. My under-developed hypothesis is that reducing digestive stress created by eating solid foods (particularly those high in fibre) could result in the production of melatonin in the pineal gland. **
Back to the story...
We basically jumped into the juice cleanse. After a couple of weeks of procrastinating and ever changing start dates to try to suit our convenience, Darcie finally brought an end to it and insisted we start on Monday.
This was at 8pm on Sunday night.
We did some last minute research, and found 3 recipes we thought would be both healthy and tasty. W rushed to the supermarket and bought all the produce we needed at 9pm. Unfortunately, due to time constraints we had to shop at Safeway. This meant had to make a few supplements due to lack of produce at Safeway (namely celery). I’m not a huge fan of shopping at chain supermarkets, something I will go into deeper at a later date.
Here are the 3 recipes we chose to take us through our first day.
(We both decided that we would try to incorporate a lot of green due to the health benefits and nutrient density of green leafy vegetables).
Happy Green
1 Cucumber
2 Celery Stalks (replaced with Rhubarb)
2 pears
1/2 Rock Melon
6-8 Kale leaves (replaced with Silverbeet)
1/2 Lemon
3cm of Ginger
Green Produce
4 Carrots
1 Cucumber
1 - 2 Cups of Spinach (replaced with Silverbeet)
1/2 Lemon
1 Apple
1 Pear
Green Lemonade
3 Cups of Spinach (replaced with Silverbeet)
1 Lemon
1 Cucumber
1 Pear
1 Apple
**We used Organic Fuji Apples this time around
I also had an extra juice after lunch because my brother bought it for me at work, thanks Gabriel. Not entirely sure what was in it but I tasted celery, lemon, ginger, carrot, apple and maybe orange and beetroot.
It’s hard to describe how I’m feeling now (it’s 8.30pm). I am surprisingly energized but in a weird way. To give you an idea, I’m energized enough to do a lot of thinking but not energized enough to leave the house. It is like my stomach and digestive system are craving something to eat but my body already has enough nutrients and vitamins in it to function. It’s kind of like there is an internal battle going on inside of me between whether I am satisfied or whether I am hungry.
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| The Pineal Gland |
Darcie put her experience like this, “It feels like I want to bite into something. I have gotten so used to eating at certain times throughout the day, so it is like I am breaking that habit at the moment.”
In terms of the spiritual results of this cleanse, I feel like I am vibrating on a somewhat altered state of consciousness but again, I can’t pinpoint it. Maybe it is that I am more open, as can be demonstrated by me putting this blog out there. There was a moment today when I was walking along outside and felt like I was a lot lighter and on the brink of astral projection. I’m very interested in monitoring the spiritual effects of this (if there are any).
Darcie and I were both ready to have a negative experience today (as we read the first two days of fasting can be like breaking heroine addiction). So, for what we were expecting, what we are experiencing now is not too bad at all.
So where to from now...
This afternoon I bought some organic produce down at my local shop that we will use to make some juices tonight in preparation for tomorrow.
In tomorrows blog I’m going to talk about the benefits of organic produce along with some other interesting facts of juicing and plant nutrition.
I hope this blog has interested you in some way, shape or form and hopefully you can come back tomorrow to check out our progress.
Peace out,
Matt
** Do your research on this! From my understanding, the pineal gland will only emit melatonin and DMT due to two factors:
i) when the body is under no stress (ie sleeping)
ii) when the body endures high amounts of stress (ie running an Ultramarathon)
My question then is, can reducing dietary stress, along with other factors, contribute to the secretion of melatonin in the pineal gland?
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