Joe Cross lost 100 pounds and got his health back after a 60 day juice fast. Here, Joe and his nutritionist, Rhaya Jordan, bring you tips for a healthy juice cleanse and what to do to maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep weight off afterwards
Joe Cross became a worldwide sensation after the film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead aired on TV six years ago. It followed Joe’s body reboot in which he drank nothing but juice for 60 days while travelling and filming his documentary around America. Joe lost 100 pounds, said goodbye to chronic urticaria, also known as hives – an autoimmune skin disease that had plagued him for years – and came off the steroid medication he’d been on for the condition for the previous eight years.
Given his success, Joe has released a second book, Fully Charged, and produced another film, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead 2 which explores how to maintain a healthy life style and keep weight off after coming off a reboot in a world full of fast food. The documentary first aired on TV on Tuesday 21st April 2015 and it’s now on Netflix.
Joe and Rhaya Jordan gave Healthista.com these exclusive tips on how to do a healthy juice cleanse and what to do afterwards to ensure you don’t revert to your old eating ways…
TIPS FOR A HEALTHY JUICE CLEANSE
1. Focus on health benefits
‘Many people go into a juice reboot with the aim to lose weight which is a mistake,’ says Joe. Go in with a view of restoring and repairing your health and giving your body a chance to supercharge on micronutrients as it’s much easier to preserve because you’re focusing on a bigger picture, he advises. Plus, you’ll feel the benefits after two to three days.
Going into a juice reboot with the aim to lose weight is a mistake
2. Start off sweet
If you’re coming off a diet full of processed foods and soft drinks, start with a juice such as watermelon, pineapple and ginger, which is a good hydrating juice, suggests Joe. ‘Having juices that are predominately fruit based aren’t recommended for a long time but it’s a good way of slowly introducing more vegetables, like sweet potato and carrots mixed with greens. Then, you can move to juices that are 80 per cent vegetables, 20 per cent fruit’.
If you’re coming off a diet full of processed foods and soft drinks, start with fruit based juices
3. Vegetable broths and herbal teas are your friend
If you’re craving hot food, vegetable broths and herbal teas are the way forward. Joe recommends one of his favourite winter juices, Beet Potato pie, because the sweet potato feels more warming and should, plus it helps with allergies, high cholesterol and migraines. The juice recipe is easy to follow – 1 sweet potato, 1 beetroot, 2 apples and 1 & 1/2 cms of ginger (serves 2).
4. Preparation is key
Prepare as best you can so instead of using a juice fast to get rid of coffee or sugar, get rid of them before, that way you won’t suffer from caffeine headaches or sugar cravings. ‘Don’t do a last supper where you eat your bodyweight in burgers or chocolate ice-cream as it’ll only make it more difficult’, says Joe.
Get rid of coffee and sugar before a juice fast so that you don’t suffer from caffeine headaches or sugar cravings
5. Drink the rainbow
Even though green juices are really popular and fabulous, one of the best tips to get all nutrients is to drink the rainbow so make red or orange juices by adding carrots, oranges or beetroots with some greens. It’s important to keep mixing things up and drinking different juices to expose yourself to a broader range of nutrients.
6. Go at your own pace
How long you do a juice reboot depends on you. Rhaya says that you should trust your body – you don’t have to plunge in to get good effects. A lot of people do well on a hybrid where they juice during the day and come home and eat a meal in the evening or vice versa which can be really beneficial, especially for people with busy lifestyles. Some people will stick to juices once or twice a week which is another great idea. If you really want to pick yourself up, juice for five days because it normally takes three days to start feeling the benefits and feeling good.
Trust your body – you don’t have to plunge in to get good effects
7. Juice seasonally
Rhaya recommends juicing twice a year, however, ‘it’s lovely to do it when the season changes due to different fruit and plants that are in season. Spring is great as people generally want to shed their winter weight’.
8. Check with a doctor
‘A juice reboot isn’t recommended for women who are pregnant of breastfeeding,’ says Rhaya. ‘Also, you need to be careful if you have diabetes, ‘especially if you’re on insulin or medication that works on your pancreas as you don’t want to bring your blood sugar levels down without adjusting your medication’ she explains.
WHAT ABOUT AFTERWARDS? Post juice cleanse tips for staying healthy
9. Balance your sugar cravings
‘When I fancy something sweet, 20 per cent of time I’ll have the cookie or ice-cream but 80 per cent of the time I’m very conscious and I’ll eat fruit or try to not go there which I’m getting better at,’ admit Joe. ‘The majority of the time I’m successful but 20 per cent of the time I fail.’
10. Think long-term
Both Joe and Rhaya make it clear that everyone reverts to bad eating habits but the key is how you deal with it. Joe says that you have to ‘forgive yourself and not concentrate on it. Love yourself and your plants more and you’re 80 per cent there.’
Rhaya says: ‘People focus on one day but you need to think much longer down the line. Many people eat a bit badly and think ‘I’ll eat badly for the rest of the day and start tomorrow’ which is disastrous as you can easily down another 2000 calories. If you go back to old habits, don’t make a big deal out of it because everybody does it. When you do revert, you’ll find that you’ll then eat in your nutritional way for longer. This will happen a few times over a year but you’ll slowly increase your new eating habits for longer periods. Be patient.
If you go back to old habits, don’t make a big deal out of it because everybody does it
11. Have a two day transition period
‘Give yourself at least two days where you’re transitioning between juices and whole foods,’ says Rhaya. ‘A really good breakfast is a green smoothie such as avocado, spinach, whilst incorporating pineapple or cherries to sweeten it,’ she suggests. ‘Eat something raw like mixed salad or coleslaw for lunch and then have something more demanding at evening like fish. If you’ve juiced for longer than five days, spend much longer on plant foods, juices and soups.’
Give yourself at least two days where you’re transitioning between juices and whole foods
12. Incorporate veggies any which way you can
‘If you’re not keen on plant based foods, juices are a great way of incorporating vegetables in to peoples’ diets as a kilo and a half of plants make 500ml of juice,’ says Rhaya. That’s why having a juice a day is a great way to get your veggies in. Another is to add a portion of veg to your plate at each meal. It may take eight times for you to get used to the taste of something you weren’t used to eating in the past.
‘If you’re a veg phobe, pick one that you know is really good for you or something a bit more sweet like carrots and add some honey,’ suggests Joe. ‘It’s better to have that than no veg at all. People think too purely, they’ll have salad with no dressing and get bored of it quickly, but life is too short for undressed salad. It’s about modifying your taste. Persevere persevere, persevere!’
Life is too short for undressed salad
In Joe Cross’s new book Fully Charged, Joe gives seven keys areas to focus on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In each chapter, Joe drills down on each key and gives examples of every day situations that you may face but can overcome. The 7 keys are:
1 – Changing your relationship to food
2 – Changing your diet by increasing your plant intake
3 – Changing eating and lifestyle habits
4 – Understanding the value of support and community
5 – Ensuring you get plenty of sleep and exercise
6 – Being mindful
7 – Respecting yourself
During the years, Joe has met and spoken to a lot of people who have done reboots and found that those who utilise these key areas are the most successful in keeping off weight and keeping on a healthy track. You can find out more in Joe’s book which is available here.
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