I watched a documentary about a month ago called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, about a man named Joe Cross who decided to pursue a 60 day juice fast to see what kind of health benefits he could reap from it. He traveled 3,000 miles, interviewing others about their health, armed with his juicer, and even found another man who had the same health condition he had and convinced him to go on a juice fast as well. Pounds dropped from both of them, and their health conditions improved tremendously, dropping the amount of medication they had to be on. The documentary started a community called Reboot Your Life, where those who are interested can learn more about juice fasting and participate in several juicing programs. A juice fast can be beneficial for your body and your wallet.
When you’re fasting, traditionally you don’t eat. A juice fast, what you would eat you consume by drinking. You gather fruits and vegetables, put them in your juicer, and get your daily nutrition that way. Fruits and vegetables are where we get a lot of our vitamins and minerals, but unfortunately, when cooked, they lose a lot of their nutrients. Juicing them keeps a lot of the healthy properties intact, and your body will get those things as opposed to the negative things we get from food like excess fat, sugar and sodium.
Our society is one that consumes too much junk. From trans fat, to too much meat, and empty calories from beverages. We then wonder why our bodies slow down, we feel sluggish, and constantly find ourselves sick. We are polluting our bodies with poor diets. We completely forgot about the campaign for “5 a day” calling for at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. We choose instead, to receive our fruits and veggies from concentrated, sugary, buttery versions. We don’t receive the same benefits that way, so a juice fast is a great way to give your body what it really needs.
Your wallet is suffering from your diet too. It’s so easy to fall for fast food value menus that only call for spare change to feed you, but that adds up. Eating unhealthy is a bit more expensive than you think. A $20 pizza here, a $7 burger there, and constantly paying for 3 for $9 sodas will have your wallet feeling just as fatigued as you are. Many people believe eating healthy (or in this case drinking healthy) is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Visiting your local farmer’s market will give you healthy fruits and vegetables to drop into your juicer, and an even more cost efficient way is to grow the items in your own garden. While some things take years to grow, like fruit trees, you can grow things like squash, zucchini, cucumbers and beets relatively quickly.
Participating in a juice fast can increase your health and your wealth. You’ll find yourself with more natural energy, so say goodbye to the daily cup of coffee. You’ll find yourself feeling healthier, and if you’re like Joe Cross, you may be needing less medication which means less money to pay out for that. You don’t have to be as aggressive and do 60 days; try between 3 days and a week and see how you feel and how your finances did. You may make a regular thing!
Briana Myricks is a 20 something freelance writer and blogger. Striving for financial independence as a newlywed, she blogs about young married life at 20 and Engaged.