The medical debate around de-toxing, Personal thoughts And so, yet another writing opportunity fell into my lap. I finally get to vent my spleen. My blog administrator asked me to do a blog post devoted purely to juicing. Thankfully, as has been the case in the past, she has given me carte blanche to come up with my own ideas. At this stage, I am almost certain that many of you have covered this topic quite extensively. Even so, many of you may be wondering if it is really worth the effort, and the risk, to go on a so-called juicing detox. What is the detox? And I can read on this subject until the smoothie cows come home, and we will still not have covered all the contentious bases. So, without further ado, let me just share with you my thoughts on juicing and its associated practice of doing the detox. I really think that it is essential that we fully understand and appreciate the slang definition. This definition is nothing short of an abbreviation of ‘detoxification’. And by this is essentially meant that you are cleansing your body of harmful toxins and dirt accumulated during the processes of eating. There will, of course, be a much larger accumulation of such toxins and dirt if you happen to be a junk food addict. Or were. I think it’s safe to say that most of my readers are turning into health food junkies, and that’s a great thing. Should you cleanse on just juice? Since we first communicated and after many months of reading, I debated this question on a personal level. I have come to the personal conclusion that not, under any circumstances, is it a good idea to attempt a marathon juice cleans or detox. By marathon, I mean anything from the crazy idea of fasting on juice from thirty days to up to sixty days. I do, however, believe that a three day juice fast is not insurmountable. Not only as a healthy, cleansing fix, it can be a short spiritual journey as well. But do exercise care when attempting this. If your health is still vulnerable, say for argument’s sake, you are still heavily overweight; it is a better course of action to first have a heart to heart with your consulting medical practitioner. He will have the final say on the matter. And what he

Spiritual and hygienic concepts, on veganism, The heart of the matter You know, I had been looking forward to this writing opportunity for quite some time. For a long time now, I have had my own thoughts on what I consider to be clean eating. When addressing the hygienic aspect of what is clean eating seems logical and easy enough, but it remains a sensitive and contentious matter when you consider this from the spiritual (or religious) side. I digress from the way I introduced myself right from the start. I wonder if anyone can remember. I seem to recall saying that I prefer to be as forthright as possible, but here I have given the appearance of being soft. Perhaps that is not a bad thing. But now back to my bold side. I’ll forget about being mindful of those who consider themselves to be secular to the core and will pay full homage to those who have taken the time, trouble and discipline to remain as clean as possible in due consideration of their cultural, spiritual and religious requirements and beliefs. So, what is clean eating? I am attempting to give an explanation in the most rudimentary manner as possible. These spiritual and religious philosophies, really, readers, you have to admit, go hand in hand with giving due and serious consideration to your personal health and hygiene. Think about it as coherently as possible for a moment. Let’s take the matter of preparing and consuming meat. Isn’t it true that under the watchful eye of the appointed laymen, meat is properly prepared to be as hygienic as possible for human consumption? In doing that, you also find that meat that is prepared authentically has minimal levels of fat and bacteria. Also, in striving to adapt to the organic lifestyle, you’ll be adopting similar practices to the religious fundamentalists and spiritual devotees. That’s not a bad thing, is it? Say what you will, eating is a ritual I take my hat off to those who decided to give the vegan eating practice a committed go. Under the previous sub-heading, I used the reference to ‘fundamentalism’ deliberately. I honestly believe that this connotation has been widely misunderstood by most secularists across the world. Do look up this term in a good dictionary and absorb its proper and true meaning. You could just say then, that committed and devoted vegans are