I'm a fairly healthy person and "walk my own talk" in the field of natural health, but let me tell you, I had to mentally prepare for the 40-day juice fast that my husband and I completed last summer. These are some of the things we learned from our research and by doing the fast.

General Juicing Rules:

? Drink freshly prepared juice and do not store the juice for over 24 hours. If you can?t drink it immediately, put it into a glass jar (filled to the top) and put a lid on it to prevent oxidation. Juice rapidly loses therapeutic and nutritional value during storage.

? Raw fruits and vegetables are not always compatible when eaten together. Apples are the exception. You can also mix pears with Jicama.

? Melons should be juiced by themselves. Making the entire meal melon is an option.

? Avoid using pre-bottled or sweetened juices. All the live enzymes are inactivated when they are pasteurized.

? Juices don?t stimulate acids to be released from the stomach, but orange and tomato juice are high in acids and you may want to mix these juices with other less acidic ones.

? I?ve read that cucumbers may not be good to mix with other vegetables as they are in the melon family, but it seems to work fine for us. We do limit cucumber to less than 25% of the total volume however.

? Don?t add more than 25% green juice to your vegetable juices (unless you have a barf bucket handy!)

? Juicing Greens?you might want to do this in between harder vegetables, the juice sludges at the bottom and doesn?t pour out easily if you juice them first. For example, I juice a couple of carrots, then a bunch of parsley, then cram a couple more carrots in after the parsley to get the juicer moving again.

? Dilute all fruit juice with water (one part juice to 2-4 parts water) and drink throughout the day. We?ve found that 2 cups fruit juice blended with ? tray of ice cubes comes up to 4 cups?the perfect dilution and it?s frothy cold.

? Vegetable juices need not be diluted.

Tips for a Better Fast:

? Your pre-fast diet should include several days of higher volumes of raw fruits and vegetables. You may also want to add the ?Excelsior? drink to your diet ahead of time. See recipe below this section.

? Get plenty of exercise outside is best to get that oxygen flowing.

? Sunbathe if possible?10-20 minutes of direct sun per day.

? Take hot and cold alternating showers or baths.

? Sleep with a window open so that you can get lots of clean fresh air.

? Use Enemas?A fast does not always help eliminate impacted waste materials from the colon, so plan a colon-cleansing regimen. Enemas can cleanse when taken once or twice a day. Fasting without the aid of enemas allows toxins in the colon to be reabsorbed. This can poison the body and the organs of elimination (particularly the kidneys) which become over-burdened and damaged. For complete instructions on how to take an enema, see the link in the resource box.

? Avoid negative influences. Do not listen to terrified relatives and ?friends? who will warn you that you will pass out at any moment and starve to death. Stop reading all the grim reaper parts of the newspaper and turn off the news. It will be there when you complete your fast. Focus on positive, wonderful thoughts and surround yourself with uplifting music, books, and movies.

? Continue with normal activities, but minimize overly strenuous physical or mental work.

? No coffee, soft drinks, cigarettes or anything else by mouth. Your health care supervisor may prescribe some nutritional supplements depending on your case. Many clients say this is the easiest way to quit smoking.

? Do not chew gum while fasting. Avoid mints and hard candies. They promote the release of digestive enzymes and makes you really hungry. Following the fast, there is a loss of appetite for caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, sugar, and junk foods.

? Cut back on some supplements and medications. If you are over 65 you will want to take your daily vitamins (if you are on them) during the fast. You will need to discuss this with your health care team as to which medications should be continued with a fast. Usually most medications and supplements are withdrawn during a fast, but exceptions occur?especially when they have to do with the endocrine system (e.g. Insulin, thyroid, heart medications, etc.) And even though juices provide lots of nutrients, some physicians recommend use of an abbreviated list of vitamins and minerals for elderly fasters.

? If you are hypoglycemic, have someone supervise your fast. You may need to add a protein drink to your program or add some egg white powder to your juice.

? If you wear dentures, keep them in during your fast so that your gums will not shrink.

? Do take time out for naps if necessary.

Fasting dips: A fasting dip occasionally happens during fasting as toxins are loosened and cleansed from the body, cell by cell, even within deep tissue. At certain times of your fast you may experience feelings of weakness, discouragement, negativity and an overpowering urge to just want to quit (We sure did!) Little things may seem like big things and emotions, memories and hurts you have harbored from the past are trying to come out. During these times, breathe, meditate, talk to someone who has experienced fasting, pray and do an enema. Tomorrow things will look different. You will have regrouped and can continue the process until your goal is complete.

You can read about our entire 40-day fast by going to our Juice Fast Blog, our daily journal of what we juiced, how we felt, and how it went, at: http://www.naturalhealthtechniques.com/CoachingCorner/juice_fast_blog.htm

Dr. Denice Moffat is a practicing naturopath, medical intuitive, and veterinarian working on the family unit (which includes humans and animals) through her phone consultation practice established in 1995. She has a content-rich website at http://www.NaturalHealthTechniques.com and free internationally distributed monthly newsletter and has personally done several water-only fasts and one 40-day juice fast.