Introduction

Oh my God, who would have thought, me, a foodie, would be here writing a book on fasting?

This has to be the opposite of what I love most in my life. Okay, so it's my husband, Gary, and our two gorgeous Labradors first, but hey, food is definitely a very close second. I love food. I love cooking it, eating it, researching it, discovering it, and experimenting with it. I love the smell and the experiences you get because of it, and it's pretty much what dictates most of what I do and where I go in life. "Oh, let's go here; it's a food festival," or "Wanna check out the farmers' market?" or my favourite, "Let's go check out this new restaurant—I've heard their desserts are divine!" Yes, yes, yes—a foodie I definitely am.

So what on earth is a person who loves food so much doing writing a book about going without the very thing she claims to love? Well, it's like this: I got tired of the people around me dying.

Grandparents, parents, sister, cousin, aunties; lots of death, lots of sickness, lots of people thinking they were doing the right thing, the safe thing, the good and healthy thing, only to find out they weren't. Not even close. In a nutshell: "They just didn't know what they didn't know."

My story goes like this: Once upon a time, there lived a fairly typical girl in a pretty typical life. She worked in the middle of a big city in a really big office building, and she looked forward to her weekends and life outside "those walls" more than anything. She was a party girl and loved being social and going out dancing and drinking and having fun with her friends. She was young, child-free, living on her own, and having the time of her life!

This typical girl came from a big family, seven children in all, pretty much all raised by a single mum. "Hang on a minute, seven children is hardly typical," I hear you say. Yes, in this day and age it might not be, but where I come from and when I grew up, big families were the norm.

This typical girl, with her very big family, with all of her sisters and brother now married and all with children (so it's extra big now) all basically followed the same path. They all grew up with a family doctor, and regular visits were just part of life—like going to the dentist or getting your hair cut.

Whatever the doctor said went. If the doctor said you needed to get a flu shot, you did. If he said you needed to take a course of antibiotics, you did. If he said you needed to take some tests, you did. And if he said you needed to go home and rest, that advice was followed too.

The doctor played a very important role within the typical girl's family. The years went by with the doctor always listened to and everyone always doing as they were told. The doctor's words were never questioned, never put to the test. They existed to be that truth, the one voice that had only your best interest at heart.

This was all well and good until people close to the girl, people she loved more than anything, started getting sick and actually didn't get better. They might have for a little bit, but soon enough something else would be wrong, and off to the doctor they would go again.

It played out like this: The unsuspecting relatives would go to the doctor with a symptom, one that had been getting progressively worse each month, each year. They would go, already fearful, already knowing they should have done something sooner, something to ward off the inevitable, something to alleviate the downward spiral. So they went to the doctor—almost with tail between legs—saying, "I've got such-and-such, and it's been there for ages, and I haven't paid it much attention" (although they had thought about it constantly for days, weeks, months, and sometimes years).

Then the process would begin. Test after test, analysis after analysis, until a conclusion was determined and a treatment plan would follow.

That's when typical girl would get called in. She, along with the rest of her family, would gather around and support whoever happened to be going through whatever treatment had been decided. They would do what they could do—which wasn't much.

Relative after relative would go down this path—until they stopped getting better. Their symptom became many symptoms, and there weren't enough drugs or things they could do to alleviate the pain or the inevitability of their grave situation.

So, typical girl found herself asking, "What is going on? Why do all the people I cherish most in this world get sick and die? Is this it? Is this how life plays out?" Cancer one in two, diabetes following a very close second, heart conditions—is this it? You work through everything in life—relationship bust-ups, job failures, weight issues, self-esteem issues, depression, bullying, money issues—all of those painful experiences that helped you grow like nothing else, only to get sick and die?

You're kidding right, surely there is more? Surely there is a better way? And so, this is where the real story begins. It's about why I, your typical girl with a fairly typical life, made a decision to find a better way, to seriously find a better way and to break the pattern that was being handed down like a `prized parcel of land' from generation to generation to generation. Yes, this is where typical girl made a decision that enough was enough.

And, whilst she couldn't change the past, she couldn't bring people back who had died, nor change what everyone else did with, and in, their lives with regards to health and sickness, she absolutely could change what she did and how she viewed health and looked after her own body.

Now you have some context as to why I have been unconsciously propelled into this space. I haven't found my way here because of any real sickness; I haven't discovered a lump, I haven't had any tests, nor has a psychic told me I really need to do something about my energy field. I am just a typical girl who enjoys life and all the bounty it offers, and I am not someone whose driving force comes from a diagnosis.

The passion I have comes from the very sad fact that by the time I was thirty-six, I had already witnessed the death of my mother, father, sister, aunty, cousin, and both sets of grandparents. The thing is, every one of them died by their own hand; they all had stuff going on in their bodies that they truly could have prevented through making diet and lifestyle changes. All of these beautiful people who were a part of my life, who had stories to share, lives to live, and families to be part of, died because they were all just too scared and—sad to say—too ignorant.

They blindly followed when their hearts told them otherwise; they ignored their own bodies when little symptoms led to bigger wake-up symptoms—led to death. They didn't understand that their bodies were trying to communicate to them, working to keep them alive with every lump, bump, rash, cough, ache, pain. They didn't understand that their bodies were helping them survive, not trying to kill them. And so they perished, but not in a romantic die-in-your-sleep way; they suffered horribly for months and sadly even years. When their time was done, they didn't even have bodies that could allow an open coffin at their funeral. Only the eyes of those close to them, who loved them regardless of their withered frame, their now-unrecognisable features, and their dark and lifeless eyes, would see them in this state.

Each and every one of these family members just didn't take responsibility for his or her own body; they chose to stay ignorant and let fear run the show.

That may sound harsh, but the stripped-bare truth is that they just didn't know what they didn't know, and in the end, their well-meaning doctors ran out of drugs and options to help them. By the time they had surrendered to trying nature's medicine, it was far too late; death had already taken hold.

In this day and age, we have far more options. We only have to ask better questions, and we will get a myriad of responses. The thing is, when you are scared and tired and in pain, that can be the hardest thing in the world to do—to ask better questions. So you go along with "whatever is best"—but for whom? Is it best for the doctor you are seeing, your partner, your family, or your well-meaning friends?

Often, the decision is too hard and overwhelming to make, so you just do what you do, with the limited knowledge you have, and those close to you support you as best they can.

But what if we really understood what was going on in our own bodies? What if we knew what to do when we noticed the first signs of trouble? What if we trusted that our bodies could actually heal themselves if they were supported on the journey?

So that is the driving force behind this book, the book I never ever thought that I would write. It's my way of reaching out to you, to your friend, to your mother, sister, cousin and aunty; it's my way of inspiring you to walk a different path and to be open to another way. I also write it to challenge and expand your thoughts and get you to stop for a moment, take a breath and connect in.

It's me, your typical girl, wanting SO much more for you and your life and for all of those who are connected with you. Just a typical girl with a typical life who has discovered (or is that remembered?) an ancient truth we all have within us which is to heal and rejuvenate our body. It's me reaching out to you from a place of wisdom to say:

"Hey, what if there was another way, what if this amazing body of ours could actually heal itself, yep, wouldn't that be nice?"

So, welcome to the world of juice fasting by a typical girl.

The fast story

What on earth is fasting all about? Is it just some spiritual thing that doesn't have a place in the `real' world? Surely it can't be good to go without food, you will surely die - won't you?

Okay, here's what I have discovered about fasting. To fast is to make strong!

When I fast-en something to something else, it makes it stronger, it increases the strength of the original thing and so, when we fast we make our body stronger.

That doesn't make sense to most people as most people know that to fast means to go without, to abstain from all of the things you love, how can that make you strong? Well, hang here with me for a bit and I will show you.

There are loads of different fasts you can do, from taking in nothing but air to nothing but watermelon and everything in between, but they all have a few things in common - it's a diet and lifestyle change. It is time out from your standard routine (whatever that is), to give your body an opportunity to do what it is best at: Rid, Repair and Rejuvenate!

Now whilst there are loads and loads of fasts that you can do, this book is about juice fasting - the sweet nectar of fruit and vegetables - or more deliciously named, `liquid sunlight'. It's all about giving your body juices that are simple and easy on your digestive system, which provide your body with everything it needs to get the job done and perform at its optimal best!

So, why do it?

For most people, fasting of any sort usually kicks in when illness is present. But, truth be told, in ancient times, periods of fasting were built into normal life. There was a lovely balance between work, rest and play. Which means that in our modern super-charged world, where often balance is hard to come by, we need fasting more than ever before.

Why is it so important to include a form of fasting into our life? It's all about good health and longevity - that's why!

Everyone knows that animals stop eating if they get sick. If you have a pet, you will know this to be true. In fact dogs will go out and eat grass to make themselves throw up if they have something in their stomach that isn't good for them - it's innate within them. Babies are the same. They go off their food and tend to sleep a lot more. It's like they are hard-wired to do this even as very young beings. Thing is, they know how to support their body. They know that going without food gives their busiest system - their digestive system - a break, so that all of that energy which usually goes towards breaking down food can be utilised elsewhere in the body to rid, repair and rejuvenate.

The body loves having the opportunity to do some internal cleaning because it truly loves to run at its best, all of the time, not just some of the time. So, when we give it a break from digesting food, we give all of those cells that pretty much run flat chat all day a chance to divert their energy elsewhere and go on a `cleaning frenzy'.

No matter what type of fast you do, they all do pretty much the same thing, which is cleanse toxins from our body. Once that is well underway, the cells also do some other really cool stuff: they cruise around looking for any sites in need of some repair and then what happens as a result of this is even cooler - you have way more fully functioning cells doing their thing, which means you now have loads more energy to do what you love to do, which is live life! All of this happens quite by magic really, but the actual fact is the micro-nutrients in fresh, cold-pressed juice provide all the energy to stimulate the detoxification process, by clearing waste from your systems. This is an important process as it allows our body to breathe and naturally cleanse itself. As I said, it is innate within us!

Fasting as a way to heal dates back thousands of years. Not only that, many religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Eastern religions still use fasting as a healing process for spiritual purification and communion with God. Fasting effects not only our physical being, but our mental, emotional, and spiritual self as well.

It's like when you put your car in and they do a total overhaul: tyres are checked, oil and water levels topped up, new wipers are put on etc. Your body is YOUR vehicle, it houses your spirit and every now and then, depending on your lifestyle (how hard you drive it), you just need to give it a service. Juice fasting is an easy and effective way to do that.

I can't imagine our kidneys saying "Hey, I've been working 24/7 for 40 years now. I reckon I am entitled to some long service leave," and off they go into the sunset with the liver in tow!!!

No, none of our organs do that. They plug away 24/7 without a break, mostly not really getting what they need to do their job (kinda like a chef in a kitchen without any modern conveniences, you get the job done, but ... how stressful can it be to not have the right tools or products at your disposal).

So, after all of that hard work on a constant basis, with no real break, all of our organs become a bit tired, overused, inflamed and pretty much just need a moment to repair and recharge.

Fasting gives our body a chance to clean up its act because it is not expending energy towards the digestive organs. When we fast, all of the chaos created at a cellular level from a bad diet, exposure to toxins in our environment and an unhealthy lifestyle gets to be released - kinda like having a super huge spring clean, only internally!

Here are some cool trailblazers:

• Pythagoras (ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician) understood the impact that a clean body has on the brain and insisted that all prospective students fast for six weeks before he would tutor them.

• After Gandhi (father of the Indian independence movement) was assassinated at 77, his doctors commented that his organs looked like those of a 35 year old. Their only explanation was the extensive fasting he had done.

• Plutarch (ancient Greek historian) said, "Instead of medicine, fast for a day."

This remains excellent advice. At the first sign of a cold or flu, or any other acute illness, if you will take to your bed and cease eating, your body will have the opportunity to cleanse and heal itself much more quickly.