The Business of Fast Breaking

Credit: Maxfield Parrish

After a 3 Day Green Juice Feast I broke my fast on a medium cucumber sliced in thin chips and sprinkled with a pinch of dulse flakes. I allowed my body to digest that then warmed a quart of water and blended that with a spoonful of miso.  A couple of hours later I felt hungry and I sliced another cucumber and topped it with a bit more dulse. Finally after two more hours I wrapped up my eating extravaganza with a medium salad, no dressing. I added many water-containing vegetables (a tablespoon each of beets and carrots for flavor) and nutritional yeast. This is the best fast-breaking I've done in awhile.

Unbelievably for breakfast this morning I had kale salad (kale, garlic, sesame seeds, lemons, miso, nutritional yeast and a pinch of Celtic sea salt). I took it to work for lunch and it became breakfast. I ate another helping for dinner and I decided I am going to go with greens for breakfast for awhile and see where that takes me. I don't know if I have a crush on greens right now or if it's truly the breakfast of champions.

I am always delighted by fasting because of the surprises it brings.  This green juice cleanse took away a lot of cravings for things I've been trying hard to give up. If a bowl of kale salad satisfies me more than sugary snacks well then for better or worse it looks like I'll help myself to a big bowl of kale salad in the AM. I amused myself tonight as I made my salad and I thought back to the things I ate as a kid for breakfast (pancakes, sausage, eggs, cheese, coffee) and all too often I was admonished for not eating enough. I wondered and called my mom to ask her what she would have done if I'd asked for kale salad for breakfast. She laughed--neither one of us knew what kale was until green smoothies!

Kale Salad (Breakfast of Champions?)

3 Day Green Juice Feast

Credit: Maxfield Parrish

I picked up my second set of juices from New Family Naturals on Friday. On the first full day I questioned myself over and over: Why am I fasting? I had persistent thoughts to eat. It's always a bit funny to track my irrationalities; shortly after the last fast I wanted to fast again and now that I'm doing it, my thoughts say they want to eat.

After not fasting for a period I decided I wanted to prepare myself better for my upcoming Juice Feast and do several short fasts to gain more experience in breaking the fast properly (my biggest challenge) and I realize that short fasts, while they provide this opportunity, are more difficult for me because of the constant adjustments to false hunger pangs that rise in the few initial days before going away completely until it's time to break the fast. For this reason oftentimes it's simply easier on me to do longer fasts.

All in all, this is a unique fast for me in that it is a strictly green Juice Feast. I simply couldn't stand the idea of drinking anymore carrot or beet juice so I called Toya and upgraded my package to the low glycemic green juices. The juices were made with: cucumber, celery, kale, zucchini, parsley, lemon, lime, spinach, spring mix and cabbage. They are tasty and satisfying.

I opened my fast by lighting soy Evergreen candles and reciting Gabrielle Alizay's Self-Healing Flame and another candle to recite her Home Purification Flame ritual. My day goes a bit like this: the first thing I do is take a quart of warmed water with lemon juice and MSM. Actually I put the powder MSM in my mouth and swallow it with the first drink. For me, it seems to ruin a good glass of lemon water when it's mixed in with it. While sipping on this I soak my feet in an ionic footbath. During which I also drank a quart of herbal tea. While soaking I read Bernardo LaPallo's (111 years of age and still going) book Age Less, Live More. I appreciate his practical approach to living a good life. After the footbath I do a coffee enema. While doing the coffee enema I oil swish with coconut oil and a few drops of tea tree oil and read some more.

I've been taking two digestive enzymes before each juice and taking probiotics occasionally. I'm also taking 1 TBL bee pollen,  1 TBL hemp oil and wearing a B-12 patch. I have also been using the rebounder for 15 minutes daily and the FAR infrared sauna for an hour (at lower temperatures which cause me to sweat nicely but not wear me out). I've been doing light housework and school work and I feel great. My goal for this short Juice  Feast is to appreciate my environment and clear any blockages in my home.

My evening consists of dry skin brushing, an enema and oiling my skin before scrubbing it off in a cool lukewarm shower. Finally I enjoy some down time and put on my magnetic sleep mask and take a melatonin nugget. As I am vegan I am mindful to take melatonin which states it's suitable for vegetarians. This melatonin is synthetic however other forms of melatonin are made of animal products.

So far, so good.

Reversing Gray Hair

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I love inspiring stories. A few of the beautiful healers I continue to be inspired from are: Ann Wigmore, Tonya Zavasta and Donna Gates. What do these three ladies have in common? Even in their 50's and onward they all continued to retain their natural color--sans gray hair. As I wind down from graduate school I am getting more serious about reversing my gray hair.

What causes gray hair?

There are many beliefs on the causes. Some common beliefs included heredity, toxins, stress, poor nutrition and a natural part of aging. For me I notice when the gray hairs come in it is usually because I am not taking the best care of myself. I have to tell you, at the moment I've never had so much gray hair!

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My plan of action starts with More Precise Hair Care and continues with daily Scalp Tonic. I also finger massage my scalp with some therapeutic pressure when I wash and also when I use scalp tonic. One key ingredient in stimulating new hair is mustard oil. If you try mustard oil be sure to dilute it with another oil first.

I am adding in more scalp stimulation with the Rolling Bed of Pins (also good to help rid the body of cellulite when rolled on the thighs) and occasionally I run the Tei Spa Oxyderm over my scalp. Sometimes this seems like a lot of things to do! When I think that I also recognize I am willing to do more. I heard a Donna Gates interview in which she talks about implanting minerals at night before bedtime to reverse freshly sprouted gray hairs.

I tried it last night and I began to think I might be getting either a little crazy or I've just become more driven to have even better health. I once tried Ann Wigmore's secret to maintaining her natural color into her 80's: wheatgrass implants, but I found wheatgrass too strong for me at the time. Perhaps my quest for no gray hair will lead me back to wheatgrass. Only time will tell. One thing for sure, in my instance I believe my gray hair is reversible. In fact gray hair coming and going is a good indication of how I am treating myself and the current state of my health.