Rejuvenate Yourself
With Fresh Juices, Herb Teas, Broths and Smoothies
Juices, teas, and smoothies are a wonderful source of antioxidants that protect the body from harmful environmental toxins and acidic metabolic waste. These toxins are the compounds that trigger a systematic inflammatory response, which we can minimize with fresh plant foods. Fresh juices, teas, smoothies and broths have been the mainstay of the Bauman College Vitality Fasting Rejuvenation program, held every spring and summer at Stillheart Institute, in Woodside, CA. These healing beverages increase alkaline forming minerals such as potassium and magnesium that cleanse the blood and tissues, heal inflamed tissues, and revitalize digestive and eliminative organs. At a fasting retreat, a person will drink up between 24-32 ounces of juice per day, with the same amount of herbal tea and 12-16 ounces of mineral broth.
At home, to add cleansing elements to your diet, start the day by making 2-4 cups of loose herbal tea. This year we are featuring a warming morning tea of turmeric, ginger, licorice, lemon grass, orange and lemon peels. In the afternoon to keep our energy strong, we will feature a schizandra berry, white ginseng, burdock root tea with organic raspberries. In the evening, we will enjoy a relaxing tea to help us sleep through the night consisting of chamomile, passion flower, spearmint, and hibiscus flowers. At breakfast during the fast, we will enjoy fresh seasonal fruit, alone or in a Vital Scoop™ smoothie, or a warm mineral broth. For lunch, we will feast on the juice from fresh carrots, celery, cucumbers, and an apple or orange juice. Dinner consists of a warm, savory mineral broth from well cooked root and crunchy vegetables, greens, fresh herbs, spices, seaweed, and flax seeds. If you are making tea at home, use 1 teaspoon of loose herbs to one cup of near boiling water, steeped 10 – 15 minutes.
A variety of information, recipes and remedies can be found in the next blog post to provide you with suggestions on how to incorporate more antioxidant rich juices, herbs, and plant foods into your diet in a liquid form. One might ask, “Why aren’t we taking in the fiber from these plants?” In this instance, by liquefying the fruits, vegetables and herbs, we are maximizing our intake of the essence of the plants and making it easier for us to digest and assimilate the healing carotenes, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals. Unless on a fast, you can add any of these beverages to the solid food you are eating at your main meal. These nutritive juices, teas and broths neutralize acids and protect against free radical damage that is caused by excessive coffee, soft drinks, sports drinks, alcohol, tap water, pollutants, and stress.
