Studies by Dr. Valter Longo have found that a three-day low caloric cleanse will reset your entire immune system. Another study from Harvard University showed benefits in heart disease markers after the same kind of cleanse.
Studies have also shown other benefits, including weight loss of up to five pounds. Moreover, the weight stayed off for several weeks afterwards. Other important benefits include an increase in the good intestinal microbiota in the gut.
The two most common gut bacteria in humans are Firmicutes, linked to increased body weight, and Bacteroidetes, linked to lower body weight. After a three-day juice cleanse, the number of Firmicutes dropped significantly and the Bacteroidetes increased, which researchers link to the ease of weight loss.
Another benefit of juice cleansing is that it reduces inflammation. During one of our 10-day detox retreats here at Prama, one person with a severe autoimmune disease had a blood test afterwards, and the inflammatory response was down 50%.
Despite the many health benefits of doing a three-day juice cleanse, some may find it challenging to do it at home alone. Therefore, it is helpful to join a group online for moral support and learning, join a coaching program, or to come to a retreat.
Here’s what you can expect during a three-day juice cleanse at home:
Juice it up yourself. It’s best to juice your own fruits and vegetables. You can buy the juice, but high quality, fresh juices from a store may be more expensive and not as fresh as the ones you make yourself.
Take it easy. It’s best to do the cleansing at home on a weekend or during a time when your workload is low, so that you can easily de-stress during the cleanse. You are encouraged to go for walks, practice yoga, and to meditate for stress relief.
You’ll flood your body with super-nutrients. When you make your own fruit and vegetable juices and drink it slowly to savor its flavors and absorb its nutrients, you will feed your body on a cellular level with easily absorbable super-nutrients. At the same time, your liver, kidneys, skin, and lungs will go into detox-mode and liberate your body from unwanted toxins.
Embrace healing symptoms. During a juice fast, some people experience headaches, fatigue, nausea, or other discomforts. These are “healing symptoms” and signs that your body is getting rid of toxins. It is nothing to be alarmed about, so stay the course, drink more water, perform an enema, and drink fennel tea if you are nauseous. The symptoms will go away, and you will feel so much better afterwards.
Other Blogs Posts
Food and Fasting for Healing and Health
If the body naturally detoxes every day, even while we sleep, why is it still important to detox with a juice cleanse or alkaline superfoods? Because the food we eat is not always healthy or alkaline; it may contain too much acid-producing processed flour, sugar, animal fat, and dairy. When we overeat, too many toxins are left in the body. Stress is another reason; too much work and too little sleep will create imbalances in the body’s digestive ecology.
What’s Really Behind Your Toxic Load?
Scientists have found that microbiomes are essential in shaping the development of innate and adaptive immunity and, in turn, the immune system shapes the microbiome.
So how can we improve our microbiome, which is primarily located in the gut, and thus improve our immune system?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ramesh Bjonnes
Ramesh is the Director of the Prama Wellness Center where lifestyle is considered our best medicine. Ramesh is also a writer, yogi and workshop leader. He studied yoga therapy in Nepal and India, Ayurveda at California College of Ayurveda and is a certified yoga detox therapist from the AM Wellness Center in Cebu, Philippines. He has taught workshops in many countries and is the author of four books, including Sacred Body, Sacred Spirit (InnerWorld) and Tantra:The Yoga of Love and Awakening (Hay House India).
