The Green Yogi

What is and Why do Green Juice Feasting?

 

What is juice feasting? 

 

Juice feasting is making and drinking only freshly made fruit and vegetable juices as well as supplements as described in detail on David and Katrina Rainoshek's website www.juicefeasting.com.  Juice feasting alkalizes, cleanses, rebuilds and rehydrates every cell in your body, changing you on a cellular level. 

 

What is green juice feasting? 

This is juice feasting without the fruit juices.  The juices are made primarily with cucumbers, celery, and bunches of greens.  See here for how to make delicious green juices.  I did a green juice feast for three weeks last November, and I just recently completed a 32 day green juice feast.   

Photo by Rick Lee

 

Why Green Juice Feast?

 

It may eliminate candida and other blood sugar issues

I chose to juice feast with just vegetables and low glycemic fruits (such as cucumbers and red peppers) since I have candida issues, and consuming only low glycemic vegetables starves the organisms that feed off the sugar in the fruit.  In time (three to six months) of only eating a low glycemic diet according to Gabriel Cousens, the candida issues, molds, fungus and any other critters will have nothing to feed from and they will die off.  

Being in Gratitude

Every night while in bed before I doze off to sleep, I live in a few moments of gratitude to everyone and the Universe for everything in my life.  I thank the Universe and all of my teachers and special people in my life.  I am extremely grateful for being in the space where I am now - having the knowledge and experience of consciousness awareness and the raw food lifestyle.  I live in gratitude for this amazing life.

This morning when I woke up, I was filled with an especially high intense feeling of gratitude for the people in my life who have helped me along my journey to a life of blissful being, really.  In less than three weeks, I am about to completely change my lifestyle and my environment and live the magical life of my dreams.  I will be moving from being a math teacher in Connecticut to being in Cape Cod to open a yoga studio and be a Raw Food Coach.  I have lived in a whirlwind of evolution during the past year, and the people who I have met or whose words I have read or whose classes I have taken have guided me to where I am now.  And NOW creates the magical life of the future.

It is with deepest gratitude that I thank the following people for impacting my life significantly, especially within the past year.

• Rama Berch, the founder of Svaroopa Yoga, whose direct and powerful teachings in workshops, retreats and teacher trainings over the past 6 years have opened my heart, removed all bitterness from my being, healed and opened my body and my mind, and awakened my inner energy and true Self through yoga and meditation.

• Gabriel Cousens, the director of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, AZ.  I spent 3 weeks at the Tree of Life summer 2007.  Gabriel's brilliant and detailed teachings on Spiritual Nutrition and Fasting, Conscious Eating, and eating a low glycemic living food lifestyle have given me the knowledge of freedom from candida and blood sugar issues as well as a deeper connection to my Self.  His Spiritual Fasting retreat gave me the experience of green juice fasting (which easily prepared me for green juice feasting) as well as deep meditation experiences, and his profound words and teachings are with me daily.

• Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach, who is the most generous, creative, brilliant teacher and coach that I could have ever wished for.  Karen's direct and enlightening words and teachings in her Raw Coach Training and Business Building workbooks and classes/sessions have empowered me make the jump to live the life that I want to live and to be who I really am - my authentic self.   

How to Create Delicious Green Juices

I've been creating organic green juices for 32 days now.  No fruit, no carrots, no beets, not one high glycemic piece of produce anywhere to be found.  I thought that I'd share some of my tips and discoveries so that you can try to make some delicious green juices for yourself.  I must tell you that I did share one of my creations with one of my students here, and she loved it.  My mother, grandmother, and aunt came to visit a couple of weeks ago and we had a green juice tasting.  I flavored the base green juice with different tastes to create three different juices - parsley, red pepper, and ginger.  They all really liked the juices, and had different favorites.  So, anyone can discover and love green juices.

I do use all organic produce so that I won't introduce more pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides into my body while I am trying to detox my organs.  However, although it is beneficial, it is not absolutely necessary to use organics.  You will still get the many benefits of consuming the juice for high enzyme and nutrient density flowing into your cells and changing you on a cellular level.  But, this topic is for a future post!  Also, take a look at www.juicefeasting.com for an extremely comprehensive study on juices, their benefits, and how to make them using the blender method.  I use a Green Star juicer since it does greens really nicely and since due to its juicing process more nutrients are kept intact.  

Use celery and cucumbers for a base because celery and cucumbers are mild tasting, create a lot of juice, and have their own individual benefits.  Then, just add whatever fresh greens are available.  I travel to The Berkshire Coop to buy my organic greens.  I typically add one milder tasting green such as romaine, green leaf lettuce, escarole, and then I add one darker green to really get the benefits of the nutrition found in the darker greens.  You can add darker greens such as spinach, kale, red kale, lacinto (dinosaur) kale, collards, bok choy, or swiss chard because the darker the green, typically, the more nutrients it has.  You can also add an entire package of sprouts (or grow your own) because sprouts add a really delicious light flavor as well as being packed with enzymes and protein.  I really feel an immediate boost in energy when I drink a juice made with sprouts.  Then add low glycemic fruit/vegetable/herb flavorings such as red peppers, daikon root, radish, parsley, cilantro, fennel, ginger, lemon, tomato or whatever you see that you like. At times or every time, also add Himalayan or Celtic salt (highly mineralized salts), cayenne, turmuric, or kelp granules.  However, the simpler you make your juice, the easier it is to make, the faster it is to make, and the more inclined you'll be to make it on a regular basis.  The combinations are endless. Play with it and have fun!   

Please share any questions you might have.  Try making a juice, and post your recipe!  I'd love to hear how it goes!

The Green Yogi's favorite green juice recipes: 

1Q:  1 head celery, 1 cucumber, 1 package of baby spinach, 1 package of pea shoots. 

1Q:  1 head of celery, 1 cucumber, 1 bunch of brocolli, 1/2 lemon, 1/2" ginger

1Q:  1 head of celery, 1 cucumber, 1 bunch of Romaine, 1 bunch of lacinto kale

Tip:  Rotate the ingredients in the juicer so that the juicer runs smoothly, the celery will push in the greens, and it will create less foam on top of your juice.  For example:  Push in 2 celery stalks, then a handful of spinich, then a slice of celery, and then repeat.

  

Changes in Being: Part I - Green Juice Feasting Day 30

As I mentioned in my last post, one change in my self that I have noticed is that I am staying calm during times of extreme business and what would typically be a very stressful and an overeating time for me.  Drinking green juice (and eating greens in general) is an amazing way to become calmer and more at peace with everyday stresses that may occur.  Doing a green juice feast puts one on the fast track to peace and stillness of mind.

Physical changes I've noticed in the past 30 days:  My hair (which has always been extremely thin and fine, and has been thinning) is growing fast and seems to be healthier.  There have been two occurrances when after having the juice, my eyes burned slightly and watered a bit, and then I could see better.  My reading eyesight has improved quite a bit (I am nearsighted and wear contacts), and I wear reading glasses although I can see without them.  Now, things are not as blurry without the reading glasses.  I believe I've lost about 15 pounds.  I'm not one to typically weigh myself, but I can guess about how much I weighed before I started by the way my clothes fit me.  I weighed myself this weekend :).  The skin on my face especially feels very smooth and is clearer.  My eyes are getting brighter, clearer, and more green :).  I also noticed this weekend that my joints in my feet and hands are more loose and flexible.  My knuckle joints move every which way - backwards easily and even sideways if I gently move them with my other hand.  I don't recall this ever happening in detox before!  My joints are cleaning out.  My fingernails are very hard, and I also typically tend to rip them off when I get very stressed with time (as I typically would be now), but I haven't done that either.  Most of the time, I am filled with high calm energy.  One of my friends recently said out of the blue that I looked radiant!

Today's organic green juices:

1Q: spinach, celery, cucumber, lacinto kale

1Q: spinach, celery, cucumber, lacinto kale, alfalfa sprouts

1Q: spinach, celery, cucumber, lacinto kale, alfalfa sprouts, parsley

Juicing Tip: Above made with 3 cucumbers, 2 heads celery, 1 package alfalfa sprouts, 1 bunch spinach, 1 bunch lacinto kale, 1 bunch parsley.  Make all of the juices at once by alternating the veggies through the juicer.  Make the first quart.  After that is made, add in another veggie "flavoring" such as the alfalfa sprouts.  Then add the parsley bunch to the last quart.  Note:  one bunch of parsley in one quart has a very strong parsley flavor.  I love it, but I'm the green yogi.  :)  1/2 a bunch per quart might be best. 

Being Calm in the Midst - Day 28 Green Juice Feast

It's been a busy two weeks since my last post.  I know that I have never been this busy or done so many things at once.  Yet, this is the first time in my life while doing many things at once that I have not felt stressed.  At all.  I am the calmest I have ever been in the midst of it all.  Presently the school year at boarding school is winding up to the end.  We had AP's during the past two weeks and since I teach AP Calculus, I gave more extra help to my students in preparation.  I have been finishing off a yoga teacher training, and my plans were due the week before.  I will be leaving the boarding school at the very end of this school year to move to Cape Cod to open a yoga studio and live food coaching business, so I've been getting prepared for that and starting to pack since I am moving the day after my commitments end at the school to start my new life.  I've also been setting up things and purchasing things for my new business and new life.  I am enrolled in a business building program with Karen Knowler that has ongoing homework.  (I took her Raw Food Coach Training in March this year - absolutely fabulous course and Karen is the best coach and mentor ever!)  Of course, being a school teacher at a boarding school is more than full time, and I am dedicated to teaching the students to the best of my ability.  And, I am green juice feasting on top of it all!  I know that it is the greens that are keeping me steady, calm and full of uplifting energy.  I feel just fantastic, and my attitude towards it all is ever positive.  I do what I can, and I know that once school is out, I will be able to catch up on some things.  I do the best I can with the time I have, juggling, and working with priorities.  In the past, in the recent past, this type of pressure would have led me to cooked food or overeating on quick raw foods such as nuts and raw energy bars.  But, with the greens, I don't have cravings, I don't feel the pressure, and the life energy keeps building.  It is truly amazing and magical.

I must note that I do love the school that I am at, I love teaching math to the excellent students, and I love the people here.  Last night, one of my good friends who is also in my yoga class for the faculty and staff here (Yes, I teach yoga once per week too!) gave a going away party that really was the best party ever for me.  As an amazing parting gift, my yoga class and friends bought me the 60 yoga blankets back from the school that we use in class to start my business at the Cape.  I feel such love and gratitude!  Thanks a million to all of my friends!  These are exciting times....   The yoga that I teach is Svaroopa yoga and big colorful plaid blankets are used as yoga props.  This style of yoga is life-changing in so many profound ways.  More to come....

Today's organic juices:

2Q:  cucumber, kale, celery, package of alfalfa sprouts, escarole

2 large green drinks from the Berkshire CO-OP:  kale, spinach, celery, cucumber

Photo by Rick Lee

Limes and candida - Green Juice Feasting Day 14

  One of the main reasons that I decided to embark on this journey of juice feasting, green juice feasting in particular, is because I have been highly sensitive to sugar for years and although I have not been tested, I surmise that I have had a candida problem for most of my life.  When reading raw food books and experimenting with types of raw food diets, I have been highly influenced by Gabriel Cousens at the Tree of Life and his books, Rainbow Green Livefood Cuisine, Spiritual Nutrition, and his latest, There is a Cure for Diabetes.  I spent three weeks at the Tree of Life last summer and participated in three fantastic programs:  Spiritual Fasting, Zero Point, and Conscious Eating.  The spiritual fast consists of drinking four glasses of green juice per day.  If a person has blood sugar problems, this fast is a terrific starting point since it eliminates all sugars and resets the body.  I did not crave sugars at all once on the fast.  After the fast, I continued to eat Gabriel's Phase I low glycemic diet for a while, and I may have continued to do so for 3-6 months as he recommends at that point, but life happens.  While there, after the fast - once I was eating, I couldn't resist the raw desserts.  Then, onward to Sedona for a couple of days after that, and I couldn't resist the raw desserts at Bliss Cafe and Chocolates.    After that, I did pretty well with sticking low glycemic, but I did have a few dates while I was in yoga teacher training in California.  But, I stayed 100% raw the entire time.  I was away from home traveling for 5 weeks, and was 100% raw for 3 months.  During the fall, when I returned to my teaching job, due to time issues and stress, I was not able to stay 100% raw and even ate dairy products occasionally.   It took me until the beginning of 2008 to go 95-100% again, but none of this has been my desired low glycemic Phase I Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine that Gabriel recommends.  I have taken on-line candida tests, and I am off the charts.  I had anemia when I was a child, and was on anti-biotics.  I'm sure that was the start of the candida issues.  As a young adult I had yeast infections.  I've always been highly sensitive to perfumes - I can't be around them.  My recent physical symptoms have included extreme itchyness of the skin especially after eating dried fruits or even oranges, tooth and gum sensitivity, foggy brain, and tiredness.  At times in the past 6 years when I've been eating a high raw diet, I ate too many dried fruits and raw bars.  During 2004-2006, I was not as raw at times as I would have liked to be, and I ate sugary desserts occasionally due to wanting to conform at my place of employment.  I now know that bouncing back and forth from raw to non-raw is not healthy for the body on a cellular level (thanks to Matt Monarch).  And this post is supposed to be about limes!!  Well, I have found that since I've been doing this green juice feast, that when I have 1/2 lime in water (just in the past 2 days), I get just a little itchy - my nose itches, and I get just a little tooth sensitiviy, and sugar (fruit and dried fruit) cravings.  I must note that I have not had these symptoms at all since about the 2nd day into this green juice feast.  Gabriel does mention that people with blood sugar issues may not tolerate lemons or limes.  I think that lemons are okay for me.  I don't think that limes are. 

Everyone is different.  If you decide to embark on a similar journey, listen to your body's signals.  One of the things that it took me years to learn was not to be dogmatic about the raw food diet.  I would bounce around exactly following different methodologies from the different raw food experts.  Once I started listening to my own body, I set up myself up for being successfully raw.  I hope to stay green (low glycemic) raw for 3-6 months, starting with this green juice feast.  I haven't set a time-line on the feast.  I know I will go for at least 30 days.

Today's organic green juices:

1 ½ Q: bunch of collards, package of salad greens, 2 cucumbers, 1 head of celery, kelp, cayenne

1 ½ Q:  1 bunch kale, ½ red cabbage, package of broccoli sprouts, 1 bunch of celery, 1 hothouse cucumber,1 head of bibb lettuce.  Grateful for it, but not the best tasting ever!  Tasted like a strange cabbagy  flavor – too strong.  I’ve made other cabbage juices that came out great – so it must have been that this combo just was too brassica family.  Perhaps the broccoli sprouts pushed the brassica taste over the edge.  Nice purple – green color though.  Added Himalayan salt and cayenne.

Photos by Rick Lee

Being Green - Juice Feasting Day 13

As I progress on this juice feast, being green gets easier and easier.  In the past two days, I have decided that I don't really even want extra veggies/herbs for flavorings such as fennel or tomatoes.  I really just enjoy the plain green juices.  My present favorite is cucumber-kale-celery-spinach. I do like broccoli-cucumber-celery-lemon-ginger still, the last time I made it.  I'll have to see the next time.  I'm liking getting to know the distinct flavors of the green vegetables themselves.  Collards for example have a sharp spicy taste.  Broccoli juice is not bitter at all, and the above is a nice light green juice, and I feel light after drinking it. (photo by Rick Lee here)

Yesterday was the first day that I felt detox in a while. (I did feel extremely tired on day 3.)    Yesterday I was cold, had deep chills, my nose ran some, my eyes watered a lot, and I was tired.  I also felt emotionally out of sorts, testy and somewhat negative (I am typically very positive).   When I woke up this morning my tongue was heavily coated, and I had a hard time getting out of bed as if I had dairy or cooked food. 

I met with one of my friends last night.  She brought her cooked food, and I drank my green juice.  We had a nice time just talking without worrying about the food.  In the past, we've gone out to eat, and I've typically ordered cooked veggies (which has been a compromise to my self) and salad.  This time, I just mentioned I was on a juice feast, no problem whatsoever, and we didn't make food the focus of our visit.  And, I didn't have to say let's not make food the focus of our visit.  It just naturally occurred.  I believe it's due to my newly confident attitude about being 100% raw and of course being 100% on a green juice feast. 

  Today, I had really high energy and felt like I could just get everything done.  Really high positive energy.  (I am presently doing many things - phasing out of an old life/job and starting up a new life/business - at the same time.)  Raw food, and especially this green juice feast gives me the high energy and will to be able just keep going and doing.

Focus on being your self.  Being your Self.  The more you can heal yourself inside and outside and be who you really are, the better the world and people around you will become.  The time is now.

Today's organic green juices:

At the Berkshire Co-op here:  (2) large celery, cucumber, kale, spinach

1 1/2 Q:  head of celery, bunch of collards, 2 cucumbers, package of spring greens, 1/4 t kelp, pinch cayenne.  Pretty spicy and sharp.  Caution: Not for beginners to drinking straight green juices!