Last year, Jason Vale exhorted a 28 day Juice detox through several social media and this year has seen a flood of recommendations to do 3 or 5 day juice detoxes with some businesses offering to ship out the juices to you.  I had a good handful of new clients arrive for an appointment in late January 2015, having attempted a Juice detox but who had to cease on finding themselves feeling unable to get warm and not feeling a lot better as promised.

Why would that be? Mainly, it’s because the Liver is your main heat producing organ, it warms the blood for you. During a Juice fast, the high potassium juices start to clear excess sodium and acid wastes from the cells and these are carried by the blood to the liver for detoxification.  Your amazing liver filters no less than 1700 litres of blood a day and detoxifies it!

However, we are a bit like trees, in January it’s still Winter and our sap isn’t rising either! Expecting the liver to keep you properly warm in winter and carry out a major detoxification programme is pretty tough on it. Winter is so hard for the body with the damp, cold and dark.

At the beginning of February we move into the Wood element in the Chinese Five Elements and Spring commences, as it does in the beautiful natural Pagan calendar and then the Liver, which is ruled by the Wood element will start to respond to Nature’s call to wake up and slough off Winter’s waste build up.

Even so, I wouldn’t recommend commencing a full on Juice Detox until equal daylight to night comes back on or after the Spring Equinox which is March 20th this year.  The light and warmth support the liver and body in letting go and cleaning up to enjoy the rest of Spring and the Summer .  However, you can do a lot now to start to prepare your body for a Spring Juice Detox just with diet.  Here’s a few thoughts to start off, my top ten:

1. Gradually cut down and then cut out caffeine, it’s a dehydrating substance that causes internal stress due to it’s impact on the adrenals, a huge anxiety trigger if you already have external stress going on.
2. Cut out alcohol, equally dehydrating and a classic cause of weight gain.
3. Detox your cupboards of any processed ready made foods.
4. Ditch or reduce substantially, dairy, wheat and sugar, three of the most inflammatory foods in the Western diet.
5. Sip your way through two litres of the cleanest water you can afford, every day.
6. Include at least 5 and preferably 9 – 10 vegetables, a little of that being fruit in your daily intake… preferably fresh rather than canned or frozen.
7. Keep it simple, start by changing breakfast one week, then lunch the next, then dinner the following week.
8. Do have just one fresh raw juice or smoothie daily or every other day at least.
9. Include a raw salad with one of your meals, for example alongside a warming soup or stew.
10. Walk briskly for 20 minutes a day in the fresh air.

If you can make the changes above you will support your body in feeling much more energised, relatively quickly! There are some recipes on my website.  Make a start on this Sunday’s January 10th Capricorn New Moon, a new moon is a great time to make a new year beginning for a healthier you!