by Elson Haas, MD

Fasting and juice cleansing can be a terrific source of vitality and a great healing tool, when applied to the right individuals and health issues. A good cleanse can remove congestion and toxins, and help you feel more youthful. If your energy is good, but you want to be even healthier, this is a worthwhile approach to a higher level of health. For those of you who are in mid-life and find yourself slowing down more than you want, this can actually remove some of the signs of aging. I have had many positive experiences since I did my first ten-day juice fast in 1975 and lots of good feedback from my patients, as well.

Every year since that first rejuvenating experience, I have fasted for ten days in the Spring. Each March/April, I also personally guide a 10-day Rejuvenation Program in a small relaxed, informal group at my clinic in Northern California – Preventive Medical Center of Marin. This year, for the first time I am adding an online program for people who wish to lighten up and lessen symptoms and help prevent chronic diseases. I truly believe and see improvements from cleanse in my practice.

My preferred program for this process is the Master Cleanser (MC) which consists of a 7-10-day* liquid fast and detox — partly because of its simplicity — which requires minimal shopping and food prep, even with actual juicing, However, I also suggest and use other simple liquid-centered approaches using fresh vegetable juices and also soup broth. Some people may even do smoothies and a steamed veggie supper. Yet paradoxically, eating food in the midst of cleanse often makes people more hungry. The key is to give your body a vacation from habitual foods and do what works best for you and use a lot of liquids to flush toxins from the body.

The Master Cleanse Recipe:
• 2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon (or lime) juice
• 1 Tablespoon** pure maple syrup
• 1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 8 ounces of spring water
*The length of the fast can vary according to your needs, but I suggest a minimum of one week.
**Some people can use more maple syrup for calories if they do not need to lose much weight. Actually, the original formula written about by Stanley Burroughs included equal amounts of maple to lemon, two tablespoons each, but I think that is more sugar than most people need.

Tips for Master Cleanse or any Cleansing Program:
• It is important to drink adequate amounts of liquid. Use the MC formula daily, drinking at least 8-10 glasses, and drink other water or herb teas, especially peppermint or chamomile. Ideally, the amount of liquids we consume daily helps to cleanse the body overall, and likely we need several quarts of fluids.

• Don’t carry your Master Cleanser formula or juice in a plastic container, because the lemon acids can leach the plastic chemicals into your drink.

• Also, the lemonade can leach calcium from your teeth (ascorbic and citric acids bind with calcium to make calcium citrate and calcium ascorbate). This can weaken your enamel if there is frequent contact from regular sipping of the lemonade. I suggest drinking one to two glasses at a time and then rinsing your mouth with water so the lemon and maple syrup do not stay on your teeth.

• Keep the digestive tract clean and clear. Its important to keep the bowels actively moving with laxative teas, enemas, colon irrigation, or an internal saltwater bath described next. Some form of cleansing bowel movement should happen at least every other day after initial clearing.

• Consider trying an internal bath. First thing in the morning, drink one quart of warm water with two teaspoons of sea salt dissolved in it. It washes right through you! For people who retain water easily or for those with high blood pressure, the saltwater flush might be avoided; yet, when it works, it’s great!

• Exercise! Some other activities important for healthy cleansing and for general health include regular exercise and sweating, along with hiking or spending time in nature. The fasting process helps to make us more attuned to our environment. We may be motivated to support a healthier community, and reduce pollution. When we are cleansing, we become much more aware of unhealthy surroundings–chemicals, smoke, and fatty or meat food smells. And we will begin to appreciate more, if we do not already, the aromas of fresh foods and our natural surroundings.

• Spiritual and emotional cleansing. During the transformative process of cleansing our body, the effects spread throughout many areas of our life. There is often improved clarity of mind that develops. Emotional cleansing and subsequent insights also happen. Spiritual awareness is sometimes profound. We are more sensitive to subtle vibrations of people, situations, emotions, and nature. Intuition is enhanced and procrastination disappears. With new energy and focus, we may want to clean up our room, our home, or office, etc. We may even want to reorganize our whole life!

• Healing. Fasting is also very useful for a wide variety of illnesses, including colds and flu, bronchitis, allergies, and gastrointestinal problems. I also suggest other healing therapies during a cleansing program. Massage is very beneficial. Counseling therapy, either psychological or career, may help clarify with new directions; and of course, nutritional guidance is very important. Often though, this healing, counseling and guidance come from within!

• Enhance control over your own health. The self-experience of fasting/juice cleansing is a truly inspiring and educational experience. Most people need to be guided and supported through their first cleanse. Then, in the future, they find they are able to do it on their own, as the process is self-teaching and self-healing, resetting their health state. Once we learn a safe and helpful approach to fasting and cleansing, we know how to apply it to our life. We can then use it for personal healing; with experience we can then inspire guide others in its application and even better motivate friends to join us. I have seen the Master Cleanser program spread through homes, families, and even towns with remarkable effects.

I have to say that after 40 years of medical practice and juice cleansing, the process of fasting/cleansing/detoxification is one of the greatest and most effective healing tools I have found. It is an important component for the prevention of degenerative diseases and a key to transformational and evolutionary medicine and healing.

Transitioning to Your New, Ideal Diet
The cleansing experience offers us a great opportunity to change habits and improve our diet, lessening habits that might be undermining our health and true vitality. To me, that’s the most significant benefit of juicing—how we come back into our life and food choices. Improving our lifestyle is the crucial core for protecting and enhancing our health. Take time to transition back into the diet/eating program that you know in your aids in feeling your best. The cleansing process helps us tune into that specifically. Eat lots of fresh foods, veggies, some fruit, good quality proteins, some nuts and seeds, and generally consume lower amounts of carbohydrates and especially minimal on sugars and flour products -- enjoy the natural flavor of foods with those fresh, new taste buds.

Please realize that fasting is not for everyone. I do not advise juicing or fasting therapy for people with deficiency problems such as fatigue, anemia, immune weakness, nutritional deficiency, or underweight issues. Nor is it suggested for pregnant or nursing mothers, or for youngsters. I only encourage juice cleansing with congestive-type problems and inflammatory issues, such as frequent colds, allergies, hypertension, constipation, back pains, or headaches. If detoxification is needed, there are other ways to do this through dietary shifts and herbal medicines as outlined in my book, The Detox Diet.

Other Resources for a Spring Cleanse
For those interested in fasting, or more accurately, cleansing, you can also follow the program in the Spring section of my book Staying Healthy with the Seasons. For more personal guidance, you could find a local health practitioner with fasting experience, or I can do individual consultations or guidance through my clinic – Preventive Medical Center of Marin (www.pmcmarin.com).

BOX?
My 10-day Spring Cleanse Class Online starts Saturday, April 28
Join me for a live webinar – plus two more opportunities to interact online with me during the 10-day course – consult the “Detox Doc” and get invaluable group support, a private Facebook page for participants as well as smoothie recipes, detox tips and more.
Check out the course and sign up HERE 

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Let's take a look at 6 herbs that can add essential nutrients to many of your recipes. Bring health to you, your family and friends! All recipes provided by Delicious Living.

Dill
Ancient cultures believed dill, a member of the celery and parsley family, to be a symbol of good luck and wealth. Current research promotes dill seed for anticancer properties.

Roasted Tilapia with Dill and Garlicky Baby Kale

What are doing to ourselves? We've become tech-zombies! We are staring at our computers, we are staring at our smartphones and we're not really looking for information are we? In the 10 hours and 39 minutes we are staring at our many tech screens we are missing real life. We are missing the true meaning of being social! Social media has its benefits, but it really steals our lives and places us in an imaginary world with walls that don't really exist. Take a look at this infographic and see if your day is full of wasted time or are you making your time work for you and others. 

Source: Delicious Living

by Ward W. Bond, PhD

​When we think of cranberry, we think of a glass of red juice or we think of a woman with a urinary tract infection. But why should men be drinking cranberry juice or taking a cranberry extract?

When men are over the age of 55, in most cases the prostate gland will enlarge. The enlargement of the prostate is called benign prostatic hyperplasia. This type of prostate enlargement isn't thought to be a precursor to prostate cancer. With this condition, the urinary stream may be weak, or stop and start. In some cases, it can lead to infection, bladder stones, and reduced kidney function.

Cranberry juice or extracts will not reduce the size of an enlarged prostate, but when the prostate is enlarged and urine flow is weak the urine will stay in the bladder longer. This is due to the bladder not emptying out completely during urination. This is the reason men will have to go to the bathroom more. It’s not because they need to pee more, but because when the bladder is not completely empty, you have the urge to go more times until the bladder is empty.

The reason for cranberry is to prevent the urine that sits in the bladder from causing infection and it could very well lower the risk of bladder cancer. Bladder cancer occurs mainly in older people. About 9 out of 10 people with this cancer are over the age of 55. The average age at the time of diagnosis is 73. Overall, the chance men will develop this cancer during their life is about 1 in 27.

So my simply drinking organic cranberry juice each morning or taking a cranberry extract daily can help improve bladder health and prevent possible infections or even cancer when men are dealing with an enlarged prostate gland.
​Men, you need to get yearly prostate check ups to ensure optimal health and to prevent more serious problems in the future.

by Ward W. Bond, PhD

One question I receive monthly is, ‘What is a Prayer Cloth?’. You see, I serve at Lakewood Church under Ms. Dodie Osteen and serve on her Prayer and Healing Team. We pray for the sick and hurting once a month. Hundreds come from all over to have Ms. Dodie pray with them. She prays for each person individually and she gives them a small prayer cloth to take with them. What I see is how many people ask me, ‘What is this?’. They are referring to a small piece of cloth. I’ve been asked so many times, I felt compelled to write this article to explain the power of a prayer cloth.

The Bible gives us many scriptures relating to the healing power of Christ. What many do not know is that His power can be transferred through objects. Take a look at what these scriptures tell us about prayer cloths.

Acts 19:11-12 ESV “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of [the Apostle] Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.”

Luke 8:43-48 ESV “And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed.”

As you can see this power is very real and tangible. We see from these examples of scripture that His healing power can be stored in cloth and when someone touches the cloth by faith they receive that power into their body for healing, deliverance, conviction of sin to lead them to salvation. 

There are thousands of stories of people who have placed a piece of cloth that they themselves have prayed over or someone gave them that was prayed over. The prayer cloth can be placed in a purse, wallet, under a pillow, on a person in the hospital, sewn in clothing or hidden in a car to help lead someone to salvation or bring conviction of sin to break the chains of alcohol, drugs, pornography, etc.

​His power is alive and it’s real! Christ rose from the dead and His spirit lives in those who proclaim Him as their Lord and Savior. The beauty of His power is that it is transferable from the laying on of hands upon another or simply praying over a piece of cloth or clothing and given to another directly or be hidden in their area to bring change of everlasting healing and everlasting life.

There's power in His name and power in His blood. And there is power in the very thing His power touches. 

The Diabetic You film documentary is produced by Celebrity Chef and World Diabetes Advocate Charles Mattocks. This very powerful and moving doc depicts the truth about untreated diabetes and how the medical industry is not doing enough to help those with Type 2 Diabetes. If one can't afford life-saving medication, what will they do? Watch now. Coming to PBS. Ward Bond, PhD was also listed as one of the producers of this documentary.