Juice Feasting™ | The Preparation Course

Getting Juicy: Making 4 Quarts of Fresh Beautiful Juices

Juice Feasting is healing and health through the Fullness of abundance.

We are talking about 12-15 pounds of fresh produce juiced into 1+ Gallons (4 Quarts/Liters) of fresh, live juice every day. You are about to kick ass like an athlete with this amount of juicy nutrition.

Unless you’ve Juice Feasted, you’ve never had the pleasure or benefits of receiving this many plant nutrients in a day in your life. That’s one of the premier reasons Juice Feasting works so incredibly well for so many people, and on so many levels (body, mind, and spirit).

So you want the advanced, inside track our Team gives our private clients? I know you do :) Here we go…

There are TWO main schools of skillful cleansing and healing:

1. The Freedom Approach
2. The Fullness Approach

Juice Feasting skillfully integrates both.

The Freedom Approach asks and acts on the question, “How much can I get rid of, leave out, or move out of the way so my body/mind can get down to the business of natively, naturally healing itself?” Any time you move a toxic or aggravating food out of your diet (say sugar, wheat, dairy, hydrogenated oils, MSG, aspartame, etc.), you are practicing the Freedom Approach to healing and health. Examples of the Freedom Approach also include Water Fasting; Juice Fasting; “Elimination” Diets… these can be very legitimate healing practices when done skillfully.

However, Freedom is only half the picture, and while important, it is less colorful, less exciting, and possibly less nourishing or sustainable than we might like. Another way of putting it: there is a limit to how much we can leave out in our healing and health approach.

The Fullness Approach asks and acts on a different question: “How much can I bring to bear… what and how much can I integrate or bring in to help my body/mind best engage its healing capacities and achieve radiant health?” Any time you integrate a new nutrient-dense food, an appropriate superfood or supplement, start up a new health Life Practice of any kind (yoga, humor, reading, better sleep, healthy relationships, mindfulness, bodywork, psychotherapy, contact with nature - the list goes on and on and on…) you are practicing The Fullness Approach to Healing.

This is the exciting, full, dynamic, colorful, expansive, creative, never-ending and limitless side of health and healing. How many good things can you bring into your life? This is a lifelong endeavor of creative discovery and self-actualization. And it’s the aspect of Juice Feasting you will be most excited about and aware of. Another way of putting it: there is no limit to how much we can integrate in our healing and health approach.

We are here to WAKE UP your native desire for healthy Fullness in your life as a means for healing, health, and self-actualization.

So as you can now see, these two schools or Approaches to healing are beautifully integrated in the Life Practice of Juice Feasting, (which we sometimes call The Cleansing Sweet Spot.)

In terms of Juice Feasting Freedom, many of the foods that “dog” our systems are - by default - off the menu and out of the picture. No hamburgers or pizza, ice cream, coffee, processed sugar, wheat, soy, artificial ingredients, etc. are on the table when you Juice Feast. And you don’t really have to think about these - you’re free. When it comes to Juice Feasting, your mind is happily, dynamically on Fullness.

In terms of Juice Feasting Fullness, we are looking at elements such as: The Morning Practices; 4 Quarts+ of Fresh Live Juice a Day; a Kitchen full of abundant, colorful produce; Supplements & Superfoods; Superherbs; and Life Practices from mindfulness to journaling to healthy movement, meaningful art, music, reading, conversations, relationships, information, and perspectives to light you up and set the wheels of evolutionary healing and development in motion. All elements we cover here in the Juice Feasting Preparation Course.

With that insiders understanding of Juice Feasting, let’s get into the Fullness of Making Fresh Live Juices.

Your Juices Will Be:

+ FRESH/LIVE: Your Juices will be living foods, as fresh as possible. This maximizes the healing benefits and effects of your juices by orders of magnitude beyond pasteurized juices.

+ CALORICALLY ABUNDANT: Your 4+ Quarts of Juices will provide your body all the calories it requires for Daily maintenance and energy for the duration of your Juice Feast, be it 1, 30, 60, or 92 Days.

+ NUTRIENT DENSE: Your Juices will be made of 12-15 pounds of fresh produce daily (organic when possible), with a dynamic range of vegetables, fruits, superfoods, and fresh/medicinal herbs.

+ GLYCEMICALLY DIALED: Your Juices will have a glycemic index that is appropriate for your blood sugar levels and degree of health challenges.

+ QUICK TO MAKE: you are able to make it in a timeframe that is reasonable and that you are happy with. You will either use a Vitamix and 2 Nut Mylk Bags or a Juicer of your choice. We recommend the Vitamix/Nut Mylk Bag method.

+ FUNDAMENTALLY SKILLFUL: Your Juices - everyone’s juices - will include these Deep Features: 

==> 2 pounds of Leafy Greens per Day
==> 1 Head of Celery per Day, and
==> 1 Cucumber per Day

These Deep Features of your Juices (2 pounds of leafy greens, a Head of Celery, 1 Cucumber) are the same for everyone, no matter what Surface Features you are adding to your juices (do you like kale? carrots? ginger? garlic? raspberries? These details make up the Surface Features of your Juice, and those Surface Features shift from person to person, and even from Day to Day throughout your Juice Feast, depending on the needs of your body for healing, and the evolving experience you have of the tastes, qualities, and benefits of the expanding dynamic range of your produce.

NOW, let’s look at Glycemic Considerations (how much fruit, how little?) for YOU, best practices for making your Juices, and guidance on making Green Vegetable Juices, Green/Fruit Combinations, and Fruit Juices.

Juicy Prerequisite: Your Blood Sugar Levels

First thing’s first, before deciding what kinds of produce to juice you should have an idea of where your fasting blood sugar levels generally rest, and I’m going to walk you through that right here.

There is a lot of debate out there in nutritional circles about how much fruit we should be eating, what kinds of fruit, when to eat it, etc., etc. Fruit is a wonderful food. It is hydrating, loaded with antioxidants and phytonutrients, people of all ages enjoy it, and by and large it juices very well.

On the Juice Feast, it is very important to know how much fruit juice is appropriate for YOU. When you juice the fruits, the glycemic index of that juice is quite high, meaning that the sugar is going to get into your bloodstream very quickly. If your cells are ready for the sugar, this is not so much of a problem, but for those of us who have health challenges that are aggravated by fruit juices, we need to be prudent.

Those who should minimize or eliminate Fruit Juices from a Juice Feast can be persons with:

+ High blood sugar (pre-diabetes or diabetes)

+ Hypoglycemia (blood sugar swings)

+ Candidiasis: the yeast overgrowth of candida

+ Pre-Cancer or Cancer Diagnosis

Again, everyone should consult their health professionals before beginning a Juice Feast. A person who understands juicing and your particular health challenges can advise you on whether fruit juice is appropriate for you.

The way we determine the appropriate glycemic index of Juices for our clients on a Juice Feast is by taking an average Fasting Blood Sugar using a blood sugar monitor. Here is a good one:

These devices sell for $20-30 at most drug stores or online, and come with 10 free testing strips. The one above comes with 100 free strips - that’s amazing, and will last through your whole Juice Feast if you’re testing your Fasting Blood Sugar first thing in the morning.

With these strips, you can test your Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) each morning for 10 days before the Feast. Write the number down each morning, and take a 10-Day Average. This will tell you if you are having challenges with high blood sugar.

Here is how your 10-Day Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) Averages break down in terms of your health, and how much fruit juice is appropriate for you.

FBS 10-Day Average: 85 or less

You have no problem with blood sugar.

Juice Feast: 1 quart of fruit juice each day is a-okay, unless another health challenge mentioned above suggests otherwise

FBS 10-Day Average: 85 – 100

We will call this pre pre-diabetic.
Your blood sugar is a little high, which is placing an extra burden on your pancreas, and could lead to a compromise of vital organs such as your brain, kidneys, pancreas, and heart in later life which could be prevented by lowering your blood sugar.

Juice Feast: 1 quart of fruit juice each day is possible, but mix in green superfood powders, and drink mid-day.

FBS 10-Day Average: 100 – 115

Pre-Diabetic.
This may be a surprise to you. However, close to 100 million Americans are pre-diabetic. This means that your cells are not taking up sugar efficiently, probably because they are toxic. This level needs to come down or you could develop diabetes within 10 years, according to the American Diabetes Association. This is possible.

Juice Feast: All Green Vegetable Juices with a little carrot, apple, and lemon. You need exercise!

FBS 10-Day Average: 126 and over

Diabetic.
Please see a health professional knowledgeable in the reversal of diabetes with an Integrated Nutrition Approach. Do not attempt a Juice Feast on your own, and only begin once you have professional guidance. Juice Feasting Founder David Rainoshek, M.A. wrote There is a Cure for Diabetes with Gabriel Cousens, M.D., and has years of experience working with diabetics to remove the underlying causes of their blood sugar issues and move them out of and beyond a diabetogenic physiology. Please contact David if you are diabetic and need professional coaching.

Juice Feast: All Green Vegetable Juices with low or no root vegetables, apples, berries, and lemons. Integrated use of nutritional supplements, superfoods, superherbs, and health practices to repair damage and remove the underlying causes of diabetes. Supervised by a health professional. Do not attempt to come off blood sugar medications without professional guidance. Please read There is a Cure for Diabetes by Gabriel Cousens, M.D. and David Rainoshek, M.A.

Okay, that covers Glycemic considerations of your Juices. With that in mind, let’s look at preparing your Juices.

To Make Beautiful Juices:

+ Gather amazing produce in sufficient quantities

+ Have a High Speed Blender (Vitamix)

+ Have 2 Nut Mylk Bags and 2 Bowls (each with a Nut Mylk Bag in the bowl)

+ Be up early enough in the morning to make 4+ Quarts of juice before work

+ Have a partner or friend help you, if possible

+ Pour your juice into wide-mouthed glass mason jars to store for the day

+ Store your juice in a cool area, preferably in a fridge

+ Realize that you are making enough juice for your nutritional needs for the Day, in very little time!

Allow 90 minutes to make your 4+ Quarts of Juice for the first few Days of the Feast. You will get faster, until you hit about 45 minutes from start to cleanup.

Remember: you do not have to prepare food or sit down to eat for the rest of the day! In some ways, Juice Feasting is a workaholic’s delight: food prep for 1 hour, and then you are done for the day. Drinking juice takes mere minutes. For busy people (who isn’t?) this is HUGE. Yuge. Yoooge.

Katrina and her Dad making green juice for a Juice Feast with a blender and nut-mylk bag. It’s fast, easy, quick to clean up, and our favorite way to make green juice. Look at Dad’s smile!

Making Your Juice: Instructions

These are just general instructions, and we trust that you will soon develop your own system of juicing and discover what works best for you. We found the best way to make our daily juice is as follows.

First we gather all the produce we are going to use for the day. This includes the Deep Features of Your Juices:

==> 2 pounds of Leafy Greens per Day
==> 1 Head of Celery per Day, and
==> 1 Cucumber per Day

In addition to this you can bring in your Surface Features: root vegetables, apples, lemons, ginger, garlic, herbs, berries, citrus, watermelon, and so on. You can check out our Grocery List download at the bottom of our Grocery Shopping page for a full idea of the beautiful produce you will be working with.

Next, we prepare our produce for the method of juicing that we will be using. This includes washing, and chopping and peeling. Note that it is not necessary to peel organic produce, and you DO want to juice the peels as that is where much of the nutritional value of the food is found. Even watermelon peel is highly nutritious, and if it is organic, you can juice the whole melon and enjoy the chlorophyl you will be getting from the green skin. You will want to peel things such as citrus though! It is also usually unnecessary to de-seed anything, as these will be removed in the juicing process. If you are using root vegetables (carrots, beets) that still have their leafy green tops, be sure to include them in your juice as they are incredibly nutrient dense foods.

Using a Vitamix Blender with a Nut Mylk Bag

For our Green Vegetable Juice we prefer to use our Vitamix Blender and Nut Mylk Bag (See the Juice Feasting Kitchen for all that info). It’s FAST, cleanup is easy, and it’s fast. Did we say it’s fast?

About 45 minutes from start to cleanup for 4 Quarts of Juice. (Allow 90 minutes for your first few Mornings - most everyone gets this time quickly down to about 45 minutes within a week of Juice Feasting. If you’re not yet, you’re about to be a Juicing pro.)

We use the Henry Ford Method for Making Juice: batch your processes. Get everything out all at once, chop everything all at once, wash everything all at once, juice everything all at once, strain your juices all at once, pour into Mason Jars all at once, and clean once and you’re done.

For this method you will want to chop celery, cucumber, and other vegetables such as red pepper (one inch bits usually work). The size you will need to chop things into will depend on the power of your blender. There is no need to chop your leafy greens.

Put about a 1/2 cup of water (or coconut water!) at the bottom of your blender and add your chopped celery. Blend on high for 10 seconds. Pop the cap. Add more chopped vegetables and leafy greens, blend again on high for just 10 seconds. We are breaking open cell walls to release the juices, not absolutely utterly pulverizing the produce to a microfine level…

You should now have a thick pre-juice pulp about the consistency of apple sauce. Pour this into a Nut Mylk Bag positioned over a large bowl in the sink (we use our big salad bowl and it holds about 4 quarts of juice).

Now go back to your Vitamix, add another 1/2 cup of water (or coconut water), and repeat the process again. Pour into your second nut mylk bag in your second bowl.

Now go back to your Vitamix, add another 1/2 cup of water (or coconut water), and repeat the process one more Vitamix-full.

Add half the blended produce to one Nut Mylk Bag, and half to the second Nut Mylk Bag.

Rinse your Container, place it on the base of the Vitamix.

Now SQUEEZE. Both bags, both bowls, in the sink. It is fun, and you will get nice strong hands! It should take about 2-3 minutes to squeeze all 4 Quarts of Juice from the Nut Mylk Bags.

Once you are done squeezing, you can discard the pulp. You have just extracted an amazing cocktail of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, and most of what is left is fibre. Remember, your leftover juice pulp is very precious to the soil, and composting is a very noble endeavor.

You now have abundant, glorious Green Vegetable Juice that you can pour into your Vitamix to use as a pitcher. Then use that Vitamix pitcher to pour the Juice into your Quart-sized wide-mouthed Mason Jars.

We like to add our Green Superfood Powder Complex, Blue-green algae, Kelp Granules, and Hemp Seed Oil at this point, and then cap our juice off, shake it up, and it is ready for us when we need it, no more messing around.

Juicy Tip: For Amounts on the items we just listed to add to your Juices, see The Juice Feasting Timeline. It’s a must-see, and gives you a brilliant 50,000-foot overview of what you can integrate over the course of a Juice Feast of any length.

Using a Juicer

When you are using any juicer, make sure you have cut your produce down small enough to fit into your juicer. This will prevent things from getting stuck as you feed them into your juicer. Your juicer will then extract the juice from the solids, and send them both out into separate containers. If you are juicing large quantities of produce, it can be a good idea to stop after a while, remove the screen and moving parts from your juicer and rinse them off, removing the pulp that has built up. This will prevent your juicer from over-heating.

In addition to our Vitamix, we also have a Breville Juice Fountain. It is not necessary to have both a blender and a juicer, but we find they both do different juicing jobs with their own set of skills! The Breville Juice Fountain, for example, makes the best orange juice in the world, bar none! We recommended that you research the different types of juicers and blenders out there and decide which one best suits your needs and budget. For more information on types of juicers and blenders, see our Juice Feasting Kitchen page.

I (Katrina) made my first home made juices on a $7 juicer that I found at a thrift store, and they were amazing and delicious and made me feel very healthy and happy. It was a little lacking in power and style, but I was so pleased at the price, that this did not matter to me.

If you are at all concerned with the oxidation of your juices, or the rate at which they start to break down, it is important to note the superiority of a good juicer over a blender.

Although we believe a fresh, raw, organic juice is still a power house of nutrition and enzymes while using a blender, even after a couple of hours, if you are healing from a very complicated health issue you will want to consider a top notch juicer, and be sure to drink all your juices immediately after they are made. Oxidation occurs as a result of air (oxygen) exposure, and it begins the process of that food breaking down. Of course with a blender, your juice is going to have more exposure to air, as the blender sucks air down into it’s container and whizzes it up with your produce. A high quality juicer minimizes oxidation. Taking into consideration time requirements, your health realities, and budget, you should be able to feel wonderful about any decision you make with regards to which method you choose to make your juice.

Remember, the most important thing about a Juice Feast is drinking FRESH, LIVE juice, and using a blender is much more efficient and accessible, so please don’t be concerned that you will get less out of your Feast by doing it this way! You will still be getting more nutrition in one day than most people get in a whole week!

Drink juice as you are juicing! Get nutrients into your system early in the morning so that you don’t find nagging hunger jumping on you in the late morning. We like to say, drink your Juice early and often. Full details and instructions on excellent Juice drinking practices are on A Day in the Life of a Juice Feaster, and what I offer there is exactly the guidance I give my private clients.

Once you have your 4 Quarts you are done! Drink that 1st Quart right away, and congratulate your self on making such beautiful juices! Now you just have clean up, which should take about five minutes, and then you can move on to experiencing your day as a Juice Feaster.

Put all of your juices into the fridge or a portable cooler so they will keep for the day.

Some Wonderful Juice Combinations :)

Each day of a Juice Feast includes 4 quarts of juices or more, mostly Green Vegetable Juice with fruit juice if your blood sugar and health realities can tolerate it.

Green juices contain up to 50% protein, and have a low glycemic effect. Greens are building foods, and are the most mineral dense foods available. The Chlorophyll in plants and the Hemoglobin of our blood are nearly identical. The center of the chlorophyll molecule is Magnesium, whereas the center of the Hemoglobin is Iron. Chlorophyll-rich foods build your blood! [Green juice with Young Coconut Water (which is identical to blood plasma) is equivalent to a blood transfusion.] For each quart of green juice, mix the juice of 1-2 apples to taste. The center of your green juices is celery juice – organic sodium!

Green Vegetable Juices

Celery/Kale/Parsley/Arugula/Spinach/Cucumber/Apple
Green juices are best made in the Vita-Mix or other powerful blender. Add ½ cup water to the blender, and place 1 stalk celery in. Blend on high for 10 seconds (to a pulp), then add everything else. Pour into a straining bag, squeeze, and drink.

Spinach/Parsley/Celery/Cucumber.
Spinach makes for a very smooth green juice! It is also very high in iron, and makes your red blood cells very happy, as well as being one of your best sources of coenzyme Q10.

Spinach/Celery/Cabbage/Cucumber/Green Pepper/Alfalfa Sprouts.
This juice calms the entire digestive tract in addition to replenishing vital electrolytes. An excellent post-exercise juice, or after any digestive upset.

Carrot/Alfalfa Sprouts/Leafy Greens with/ Spirulina, Chlorella or Algae/Garlic/Cayenne Pepper. Give your heart a boost with these heart muscle building ingredients! Garlic is known to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Cayenne supports the vascular system by preventing abnormal blood clotting and stimulating the breakdown of fibrin. Blood building chlorophyll is abundant in both algae and alfalfa. Magnesium, the most important mineral for the heart muscle, is found in spirulina, chlorella, and alfalfa sprouts. And carrots and cayenne protect the heart from disease and free radicals by being top sources of vitamin A! What a way to love your heart!

Green & Fruit Juice

Apple/Celery/Cucumber/Greens
Cucumbers mix well with celery in a juice. The organic sodium of the celery helps to transport the water-rich cucumber juice into the tissues, creating more hydration. One of the most beautifying and cleansing of all juices combines celery, apple, and cucumber together.

Spinach/Apple/Celery
Known as a pipe cleaner to many, this juice has a good sodium/potassium balance, making it a very balancing drink. The spinach, as with all greens, is best juiced in the blender and squeezed through a nut mylk bag.

Fruit Juice

Below are some great, favorite Fruit Juice Recipes. Remember that if you are having a pint or a Quart of straight Fruit Juice during your Juice Feast, make it the 3rd Quart of the Day. By that time, you have been up and active and working for hours, and can better handle the glycemic load of this amount of raw/live fruit juice.

ALSO, GREEN UP YOUR FRUIT JUICE to add nutritional depth to it, while still enjoying all the sweetness. Add in a Tablespoon Vitamineral Green or Pure Synergy, and possibly a Tablespoon of Spirulina, Chlorella, or E3Live to your Fruit Juice (for ease of use, those links go to Prep Course discussion sections on those elements of your Juice Feast).

Pineapple
Consumed straight, pineapple juice acts as a liver flush/cleanser. Pineapple contains copious amounts of the enzyme Bromelain, which is a potent anti-inflammatory. Shave the outside of the pineapple, and juice the entire fruit, including the mineral-enzyme rich center.

Grapefruit/Orange/Lemon
This is a great drink for cellulite and fat reduction. It tastes fantastic on a hot day, is very alkalinizing despite its tart flavor, and is ideal for mixing in MSM Powder, given the high vitamin C content of this drink.

Orange/Raspberry. This is an extra special treat, not to be made a staple juice on your Feast. First make your orange juice, then pour it into your blender with fresh or frozen raspberries and blend up. Then squeeze through a Nut Mylk bag for an amazing, liquid sorbet!

Watermelon Juice: For this we also use the blender/nut mylk bag method. Simply chop up your watermelon, peeling it as minimally as possible as there is loads of chlorophyl in the green skin. Place it in the blender, and blend. You do not need water to get this juice started, you are using WATERmelon! It is a good idea to not mix your melon juice with any other as melon digests very quickly, but you will be fine if you add some lemon into your watermelon juice. This is one of our favorite combinations, very refreshing. Watermelon is the champion fruit on a Juice Feast, as it provides such abundant amounts of juice for very little effort, while still being chock full of goodness. Watermelon juice flushes acid from the system and renews the blood, making the skin look and feel better.

Master Cleanser
The easy, “I’m tired or too busy to make another juice” juice. 28 oz distilled water, 5T Lemon Juice, 5T Honey (local, raw), 1/10th tsp 90,000 heat unit Cayenne. Begin with less cayenne and build up. This is a fall-back, don’t make it a regular drink on your Juice Feast. The Green Vegetable Juices you are making are FAR more nutrient-dense, cleansing & healing than Master Cleanser.

Be creative! You will most likely discover your favorite juice combinations and stay fairly close to them over the course of your Juice Feast, so enjoy your wild mixes at the beginning of your feast!

For a fun way to keep up with your culinary juice creativity, go to Keeping Track and download the Daily Quick Journal at the bottom of the page!

Also see Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Healing Juices by John Heinerman.

==> Before you begin to make your first juice in the morning, you can make yourself a lovely quart of Morning Water with Lemon and MSM in it: making juice once you are re-hydrated is much more fun.