To cleanse or not to cleanse,...

The juice cleanse has gone fabulously. I feel amazing and have experienced a level of clarity and connectedness that is difficult to describe, but amazing to feel. I have to be honest though, we have not ONLY been juicing. I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking we have been surviving on fresh fruit and vegetable juices for the last two weeks, although, that doesn't mean that it can't be done. It certainly CAN be and many many people have done it. Joe Cross of the documentary film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, did a 60 day juice cleanse and inspired many people around the world to do their own juice cleanses, all varied amounts of time and various results.

We decided we wanted to incorporate smoothies and we also began eating a combination of raw and cooked vegan foods. It has been a delicious wonderful experience. I have to be honest though, (it seems like I say that alot) it's not a barrel full of awesome sauce. There is the downside of the feelings associated with detoxifying your body. It is rarely mentioned in all the books and movies about juicing/cleansing, or I just somehow overlooked the mention of the downside because I was so excited about the upside.

Keri felt a little sick accompanied with a pretty nasty headache for almost a whole day about 3 days into the cleanse and we attribute that to the toxins leaving her body. When you do a cleanse it allows your body to release old bacteria, viruses and toxins in your system that need to be flushed out in order to be healthy. Cleansing allows these toxins to be being released into the blood faster than the body can handle comfortably, causing feelings of being sick and a headache in some people.

I didn't really ever have a sick feeling, but I did have a pretty big emotional reaction. On about the 7th day of our clean eating deal, I had an emotional breaking point that resulted in a crying session that lasted about 3 hours. All that crying did end up giving me a pretty bad headache.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300"] protein called neuropeptide[/caption]

The science of the body processing food and emotions is pretty amazing. Emotions create chemical reactions in your body and when you don't deal with those emotions those chemicals settle into the body and are stored there until you deal with those emotions or a symptom occurs. I believe in my case when I began cleansing my body with the juice it stirred up those unprocessed emotions and they came flooding out in my tears.

The nutrients of the juice are so easy for your body to process that it goes into your blood stream in about 10-15 minutes, opposed to the nutrients of solid cooked food which takes about 2-2.5 hours. Plus, your body has to work harder to get what it needs out of that solid cooked food and after all that hard work your body finds less nutrition is available because the heat of cooking food depletes the natural occurring vitamins.

So, with these feelings of being sick, headaches and long crying sessions would I recommend doing a cleanse to others? Absolutely!!! The benefits far out weigh the short period of downside effects. The lightness I feel in my body, the clarity of my brain, the energy I am feeling and the happiness I feel knowing that I am actively doing something for the health of my body is all very amazing and well worth the short period of side affects. It beats the hell out of the side effects associated with medications that doctors are prescribing.

Let's see a little sick with a headache or a session of crying verses anal leakage, lymphoma, anxiety or suicidal thoughts. Hmmm, let me think,... Cleanse!!! Every single time.