The Fresh Network Blog

Come and join the juice feast!

Have you been bitten by the juice feasting bug yet? If not, it could be only a matter of time. It's been widely known about in raw food circles for at least a year, ever since Angela Stokes's widely-publicized feast, but suddenly it seems everyone is at it! The signs are everywhere. Do a google search and you will find numerous blogs and personal accounts of people currently juice feasting (or who have previously done so). The Juice Feast Enthusiasts group on leading raw food forum Give It To Me Raw has 117 members, making it one of the most active groups in the community. And just in the last couple of days, two prominent raw bloggers have announced their own forays into the full 92-day experience (this will be explained below!) - Heidi of Raw Food Right Now and Philip from We Like It Raw.

Until two weeks ago I had juice feasting filed under 'Someday, definitely'. Then, without knowing why I found myself drawn to reading everything I could access on the subject and soon started to make it a part of my daily routine.

So what is going on? It's almost as if the '100th monkey' phenomenon is at play among raw food fans worldwide ; )

What is juice feasting?

Juice fasting has been around for decades, and involves consuming only juices and usually much less than your daily calorie requirement meaning (a) you will lose weight pretty rapidly; (b) you will need a lot of rest and might not feel great as the detox can be intense, meaning that (c) you may not be able to work or carry out your usual duties while doing it; and (d) you probably won't be able to continue on the juice regime for more than a month.

Then along came juice feasting.

On a juice feast you consume all the calories and nutrients your body needs; just in the form of juices (4-5 litres a day of them!) rather than solid foods. Though that said, a further difference is that solids are not completely verboten as they are on a juice fast; most juice feasters also consume a range of supplements and superfoods which may include MSM, bee pollen, B vitamins and powdered greens - to name just a few of the possibilities.

Juice feasting is basically about supplying your body with EVERYTHING it needs, but in the most readily absorbable form. Your body has to turn everything you eat into a liquid anyway before it can use it, so you're just relieving it of that work and freeing up the energy it would have expended on that - while supplying it with abundant vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, phytonutrients and enzymes.   

The king of fruits

Five years ago, when I first got into the raw lifestyle, there were no goji berries, no cacao nibs, no raw energy bars, and no raw chocolate bars. In short, there were no raw packaged foods of any kind in the UK (unless you count nuts and seeds). If you wanted raw cookies or bars you had to get busy with the dehydrator and make your own.

But there was one rich, indulgent raw gourmet treat you could get ready-made. Not by some enterprising, ahead-of-its-time raw business, but by nature.

I'd never even heard of it before I hooked up with The Fresh Network and started meeting raw fooders. But once I began moving in raw circles it seemed that everywhere I went people would be going into rhapsodies about this mysterious delicacy.

I am talking about the durian (pictured). It is a fruit that grows in Southeast Asia...but it is unlike any other fruit (or food) you've ever tasted.

How to beat jet lag

I'm writing from New York City – I'm here on some exciting Get Fresh! magazine related business. This seems like a good time to post about air travel and what you can do to make it a more enjoyable experience. The number one thing to remember about flying is that it dehydrates your body more than anything else you can do.

So healthy air travel is all about hydration, hydration, hydration! 

Why? Well, cabin air is substantially drier even than the world's most arid deserts. Optimum atmospheric humidity is around 50%, in the Sahara desert it's around half this, yet on long-haul flights it can fall as low as 1%. In conditions like this there is no way to avoid becoming dehydrated to some degree, but there is plenty you can do to help your body.

Imagine if you could arrive at your destination and feel energetic and raring to go from the moment you hop off the plane? And how much better to return from your trip ready to spring back into everyday life instead of feeling like you need another holiday?   

Nothing tastes as good as health feels

I really love the above expression, which I came across during my time at the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida late last year (I may blog about that experience some time soon – it's not one that can be done justice in a quick aside!)

I started experimenting with high raw in a big way five years ago, and for the first three and a half was lured back to eating things I knew weren't good for me over and over again. The value of this is that I have come to know through first-hand experience how absolutely true the above statement is.

Nothing tastes as good as health feels!

NOTHING!!

No brand of chocolate, no make of ice cream, no gourmet meal in a top restaurant; in short, no 'edible entertainment' whatsoever. Personally I had to try it all to be convinced – and go back for more, many times, just to be 100% sure ; ) Even when I should have known better. I was a slow learner, but I finally got there and once this happens it all becomes much easier. 

Although we are much more than physical beings, we experience our time on this planet through a physical vehicle: the body. This includes not just that which is obviously physical but also the mind, which is rooted in the brain and can only function properly when this organ is given the right fuel and allowed to function without the hindrance of unnatural substances.

No matter what else we are blessed with – including loved ones, worldly riches, success, status and so on – it is impossible to be truly happy, fulfilled and at peace when in poor health, including if this is 'merely' the state of lowered consciousness that is the norm in our society but is actually not 'normal' at all.

You ARE what you eat

One of the things you start to notice when you get into raw in a big way is that you get some verrry funny looks in the supermarket. Why? Well, the average trolley might contain a small collection of fruit and veg in amongst all the packaged cooked food staples. Yours, meanwhile, will be creaking under the weight of piles of fresh fruits and greens of numerous varieties – and not a lot else!

I remember the days when fresh foods used to be the supporting act in my shopping trolley and diet, secondary to the loaves of bread, packs of pasta, rice, potatoes, ready meals, dairy products and various synthetic 'treats'. But you know what? When you truly realize the meaning of the phrase 'You are what you eat' there's only one kind of shopping trolley you want, and it's the one that makes people look at you like you're off your trolley!

Spring is in the air...

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, Wednesday was the day of the spring equinox, the alleged end of winter. Here in the UK it certainly didn't feel like it, with freezing temperatures and even snow in many parts of the country!

But officially speaking, spring is here and if we are well, it will bring with it a subtle or not so subtle increase in energy. As all ancient cultures on the planet knew, if we give the body what it needs at this time, we will be reaping the benefits for a long time to come. The two equinoxes are golden opportunities for detoxification because they are the times in the year when the energy to clean house is most readily available and our whole system is in 'letting go' mode.

If we assist the body in its natural desire to detoxify around the time of the equinoxes, we can enjoy better health for months as a result. But there is so much confusion about what is the right way to do this!