Juicing Book

So I have been following your Juicing Responsibly for the last couple weeks and it has really helped, thank you!

My first juice after purchasing the juicer was apple, carrot, beet, garlic, ginger and after drinking this juice (about 8–10 oz) my vision was completely blurry. It was like for this the entire day. I ended up googling my symptom and ran into you saying that I just put as much sugar in my body for 10 men... ooops! Hypoglycemic state for sure! I was a personal trainer for years and knew all about this, however i did NOT know the difference between vegetables that grow above ground & below ground and how the below ground ones are higher in sugar... thank you!

I am definitely experimenting with a lot of different recipes but wanted to hear about two specific needs i am looking for:

1. A good detox juice
2. A good cold remedy juice

I appreciate all your help and boy do some people have this juicing thing wrong. Every where I turn, there are these high sugar recipes — terrible!

People who take to heart my approach of responsible juicing really find it beneficial. Instead of making juicing the lifestyle, people begin to make juicing part of their lifestyle. When juicing becomes part of the lifestyle, then people begin to juice responsibly because they are no longer trying to cure everything in one big dose. Instead they begin to see how lifestyle as a whole is important to health.

Although I've been promoting responsible juicing for a while, the actual concept really developed when I saw an interview with Dr. Atkins, the famous author of the The Atkins Diet. Dr. Atkins did not like juicing because juicing placed too much sugar in the body too fast. When I thought about what he was saying, I thought indeed he was correct. However, what he didn't mention was that juicing could be done responsibly because I felt sure that he was referring to individuals who juiced in excess or who juiced primarily high sugar content vegetables and fruits. So while watching that interview, while I agreed with Dr. Atkins, I also felt that Dr. Atkins was ignoring the fact that juicing could be done responsibly. That is, in responsible doses with an awareness that juicing, although made from whole foods is in fact a processed food. It was at that moment that the phrase responsible juicing came to me.

Juicing, when done responsibly, can help provide our body with extra nutrition but when done incorrectly can over power our body as you have discovered and can cause many different problems including the hypoglycemia you felt.

There are a lot of high sugar recipes everywhere and a lot of people focus solely on fruit juices. But when juicing, we want to focus more on vegetables and only have fruit juices as a treat. Cranberry juice might be the one exception to this rule because people who suffer from problems like urinary tract infection get better results from cranberry juice than actually eating cranberries. But nonetheless, as a general rule it is better to eat your fruits than to juice them.

High sugar juices are everywhere and for some, this is where they need to start while they allow their body, taste buds and mind to adjust to low sugar juices. But even when starting and you are juicing more sweet tasting juices, you want to juice in lower doses so you do not overwhelm your body and then transition to less sweet juices until you get to the point where no sweetness is needed.

So, saying all of that, for a general detox of the body — and this is going to sound very basic but it's a constant theme that I promote — the answer is variety. Juicing a variety and changing your juicing blend every 3 or 4 days will provide your body with the varied nutrition it needs to help all parts of your body without over stimulating any single part. The beauty of variety is that you indirectly support the whole body instead of taking a singular approach to health.

With that said, I actually prefer the gentle vegetables for cleansing the body. It sounds really boring, but I personally believe there is great power in the simple cabbage or broccoli. However, any green vegetable you juice will have some detoxifying effect on the body.

While things like wheatgrass are promoted quite heavily, I find that this can often overpower the body. In small doses or smaller doses, it's okay but for many it can be too much for the body to handle. Thus, I like the simple vegetables. Everything from cabbage to dandelion leaves to parsley and celery can all benefit the body in terms of detoxification. So think variety and you will ultimately serve the whole body rather than serving a single aspect of the body.

The western herbal medicine approach is a singular one ... that is, if you have something wrong with your liver, take something for your liver. For me though, I am influenced more by the Chinese herbal approach which says — if something is wrong with your liver, take herbs for your liver plus support other aspects of your body because the body works as a whole and when you support other parts of the body, it will help the liver too.

It's also important to really focus on drinking enough water too. Without water, your body cannot properly detoxify. It's also beneficial to drink alkaline water and there are now ceramic alkaline water filters on the market which are a lot cheaper than previous alkaline water purifiers.

Now, when it comes to preventing colds, that is quite easy. In many ways, the simple answer is ginger. One of the best vegetables for helping to prevent colds.

Actually, if we look at this a little deeper then we can begin to see an interesting cycle begin to happen. In the winter we need more fire or yang energy in our diet to keep our body warm. In the summer we need more cooling or yin energy to keep our body cool. During spring and autumn we need a more neutral energy to prepare our bodies for transition winter to summer or summer to winter. Realizing this, more ginger should be added to juices in the winter while less ginger would be used in the summer. Ginger is often used to balance the cooling effects of most vegetables.

My article on feng shui juicing talks a lot more about this. There is a chart that allows you to see which vegetables are cooling and which vegetables are warming. But the simple answer to your question about preventing colds is ginger — one of the best remedies. Realizing that ginger (or garlic) is good for preventing colds, we must also remember that these same vegetables should be avoided if there is a fever. When there is a fever, the body is already hot and so we must focus on cooling the body.

I realize that this may not sound pleasant, but one of the best way to know if your body has a good balance of yin and yang energies is by watching your bowel movements. If the stools are hard or dry, then you have too much fire (yang) energy in your body. The fire is burning up the moisture in body which in turn leads to dry or harder stools. If the bowel movements are too soft or watery then your body has too much yin or cooling energy causing too much moisture to be in the bowels. But if the bowel movements create stools which are neither soft nor hard, but contain a nice balance of shape yet are just a little soft, then you have the right balance of yin and yang. I do have to say that this is not a definitive indication of whether your body is in balance or not, but it definitely gives us good insight as to the balance of our body.

Now, in addition to taking more ginger in the winter time to help prevent colds, I also like to use the homeopathic remedy known as Mucococcinum. I find this an excellent remedy for helping to prevent colds. But of course, if you abuse and punish your body then even taking something like ginger or Mucococcinum will not be able to save your body from ever getting sick. But when you take care of your body, then ginger and Mucococcinum begin to enhance your body's ability to stay healthy during the winter.

Have you been wanting to do hatha yoga (stretching) but have found it either too difficult or you are not that flexible? If yes, and even if no, watch Jesse do some pure hatha yoga routines.

Unlike flow yoga, each pose in pure or traditional hatha yoga is held for a few minutes. While holding the pose, you focus the mind on the stretch. When you focus the mind, that's when you find silence.

Jesse is not flexible — never has been and probably never will be flexible like others. But it doesn't matter. In pure hatha yoga, how flexible you are makes no difference. It's all about loving the pose and focussing the mind on the stretch.

If you want to learn pure hatha yoga, now you can by following Jesse on a series of hatha yoga routines.

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