Inside the blender: Colorful Bee pollen about to get blended with raspberries and blueberries.

Dear Steve: I am interested in doing the future juice cleanse with you. Do you have any recommendations or suggestions about doing this and maintaining a high enough caloric intake to not lose weight, or at least not much? I don’t really have any to lose and have pretty low body fat at the moment.
-Lisa

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Sproutman working with the Powerful Good 4U Blender

Dear Sproutman,
I am interested in your online cleansing class- I kind of need to know (roughly) how much money I might have to spend on fruit and vegetables. ( How much variety and quantity)  Also, are there additional supplements or powders or other products that I will need to buy? — Kathryn H. Kansas City, KS

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Sproutman® in Boston Live & in Color!

at the

www.bostonveg.org/foodfest

Detox Depot – The Kwik Kleanse Strategy. Take 7 Days and Feel Fabulous. 2 session webinar: Wednesday, Oct. 26 & Wednesday Nov. 2, 2011 @ 8PM EDT. Online Web Seminar led by best-selling author Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® author of Power Juices Super Drinks.

Juice Fasting & Detoxification. A Juice Cleansing Adventure. Drink Up! Lose Weight! Clean Out! A 7-10 Day Cleanse. 3 Sessions: November 7, 11 & 14; 8PM EDT. Online Web Seminar led by best-selling author Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® author of Juice Fasting and Detoxification. Power Juices Super Drinks. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a cleanse. I’ve been on a whirlwind schedule for the past couple of months and with all the pressures of travel, lecturing, and exhibiting, attention to my body’s needs has been less than optimal.

Sure, I keep a very clean diet, even when I travel. But I’m subject to the same challenges as anyone. Traveling, conventions and conferences, family gatherings, holiday meals,…all these present temptations outside my regular diet. My level of discipline with matters of food and health is pretty high, but I’m not a machine. Every day I’m presented with dozens of food decisions and I don’t get them all right…not every one everyday.

Here’s an example.
Recently, I spent all day at a regional Vegetarian Festival. You would think that the food there would be pretty good. I started traveling there at 7am and I returned home at 7pm. During that time, I was either on the job talking to hundreds of people or in my car traveling. If you’re hungry at conventions, you either eat what you bring along or you visit the adjacent food vendors. In this case, the food there was largely from those health food manufacturers big enough to send over free samples. And there were 3 Asian restaurants selling soy meats. You know what these are—vegetarian versions of chicken and beef foods, veggie shish kebobs, even faux shrimp.

Unfortunately, in this case, they were just as fried, oiled, and spiced as their meat counterparts. Sure it was vegetarian, even vegan, but that doesn’t mean it’s healthy. You could be on a diet of donuts, spaghetti, and cake and call it vegetarian. Vegetarians without education and principles can get into trouble. It’s one thing to be fighting for animal rights and it’s another to create a diet based on sound precepts and quality nutrition. A vegetarian/vegan diet that includes food that is fried, microwaved, canned, has artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, and is grown with pesticides and GMOs is just as unhealthy as the standard American diet (SAD).

And then there was also…The family outing at the New York City Chinatown restaurant. (Really I am not trying to make a case against Asian cuisine.) Ordinarily, I can find plenty to eat in an Asian restaurant. But not this time. Usually, I like to say “grace” before a meal. But at this meal all I could say was “grease!”

Finally there was the holiday meal which included contributions by several family members. It was a smorgasbord of colorful selections, but many of them did not fit into my normal diet. Especially the desserts. I keep a low sugar profile. Sugar is one of the danger areas of the modern diet and I even believe that it feeds cancer cells. We can go on about this one; sugar is a topic unto itself. All I’ll say here is what you already know—sugar can be addictive. Once you get started, it’s hard to stop. That day, like the Sirens who enchanted ancient Greek sailors toward their destruction, I was shipwrecked by sugar.

I believe these are challenges we all face. So if you are feeling the need to cleanse, the question becomes, how to do it? Just one bad food-day is not enough to throw your health out of whack. But there are many reasons you might feel the need to cleanse.

Sure, you love food. But are you finding it less gratifying? Are you feeling a little heavy? Sluggish? Tired? Bloated? More headaches than usual? Too much stress? Or are you just not paying enough attention to your health? If you’re experiencing any of these…it’s time for a cleanse!

I’m starting one next Wednesday (Oct. 26) as soon as I get back from delivering the key nutrition address at the International Sprout Growers Association convention at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

These are just a few of the many cleansing ingredients we’ll put in our smoothies. Cleansing and delicious.

Then, on Nov. 7, I start a guided fast. This is a 7-10 day cleanse and we meet over 3 times over the internet. Personally, I prefer to juice fast because it enables me to accomplish the most results in the shortest period of time. I do encourage everyone to try fasting because most folks are truly surprised at how doable it really is. The biggest challenge is the social-psychological fear of going without food. But if you do it right, hunger pangs largely subside after one day and totally after the second or third. From then on, there is absolutely no struggle about not eating. And fasting is definitely not starving—not even in the medical sense. What does happen? Your body commences a well deserved vacation. It starts its inner spring cleaning. First we meet to discuss what we’re going to do, what tools we will need, and how we’re going to start. Next we meet and everyone shares what they’re doing and how they’re feeling. At meeting #3, there is more sharing and feedback and a lesson on how to properly reintroduce food and extend the benefits of cleansing into the ongoing diet.

Think about it. You visit the dentist a couple of times per year to clean out the accumulating food build up. You know that if you don’t keep it up your teeth will decay and your gums will recede. But what about the accumulated food that builds up in your intestines? In your liver and gall bladder? Your pancreas? Your kidneys? These are your closest friends, yet we ignore them. Americans take better care of their cars than their bodies. We readily schedule a tune up or an oil change. But what about scheduling a tune up for your body?

Why not? Join me for an inner oil change. It’s right online. Just be in front of your computer and telephone. This is an ideal thing to do with a group and a guide. I want to take you to the place where you feel lighter, healthier, happier, and stronger. I’ll meet you there.
—Steve Meyerowitz

Here are a few comments from past cleansing graduates.

“I was embarrassed at times, during the fast, when people saw the age reversal in my face. They wanted to know what I was doing to keep young. Sometimes, I would just try to look tired, minimizing the attention they were giving me.”

“The most remarkable part of doing the juice-fast was that it did not interfere much with my normal work/personal life, so I did not have to take any time off. I’d learned earlier that this cannot be done with water-fasting.”

“My metabolism appears to be more efficient. I occasionally eat and drink “a lot” (do much traveling on Company expense), but do not gain the weight I would normally gain (pre-fasting).”

“My vision improved drastically…Wish I never had to eat again, so I could maintain the mental and physical alertness that came with the FAST.”

Check out my FAQ page

Dear Sproutman,  Really appreciate your book on Food Combining and have quick question.  How would you classify protein powders? Egg protein powder is easy. What about Pea protein and Rice protein?

- Dr. Bruce Cohen

Sproutein - A Sproutman Recommend Sprout Protein Powder available on Sproutman.com

Dear Bruce,  The pea and rice protein powders are usually isolates. In other words, in that case they are an extract or a concentration of the protein in those foods. So even though the foods are not described as protein foods, the powders need to be classified as proteins in terms of their food combining.

- Steve