Don't know anything about juice fasts B/C I have never done one.
I have done multiple water fasts. 1, 3, 5, 7, 21 day fasts, with nothing but distilled water. Paul Bragg recommended distilled water, I suppose because it tends to attract the toxins better than other water. The bad thing is it also leaches minerals from your body.
He also was down on any salt, claiming that it ends up in your joints to crystalize and cause arthritic symptoms, as well as being bad for your heart. I think he was only thinking about
table salt that is devoid of any nutritional value, as well as having been bleached and other moisture preventing
additives added. I certainly agree with him about the
table salt , but doing another fast I would consider using
Sea Salt as a way to replenish the minerals lost from fasting. Maybe a 1/4 teaspoon in a 10
oz of water per day.
According to him, when you consume anything but water your body has to expend energy to digest it, taking away from the detoxing effort that you are trying to accomplish. He must have known something about it, he lived I think to be 91 when he died in a swimming accident.
Of course all of this is for naught if you are going to consume toxins in your diet after fasting by eating conventional fruit and vegetables, eating meats that aren't grass fed and has the
Antibiotics , and hormones. Same for milk and other dairy. Whatever toxins you can keep out of your body, you won't have to detox.
The shorter
Water Fasts are better for you than the longer ones. Recommended
1 day a week
3 days a month
5 to 7 days a quarter.
The first 3 days are the hardest on a long water fast, then it becomes easier. After 5 days the energy is unbelievable. I was working at least 40 hours a week in a pretty strenuous job, and after 5 days of fasting I would go home and run 2 1/2 to 3 - 7 minute miles, plus doing exercises, and would still be looking for something to do.
You can make it a lot easier if you incorporate self hypnosis. It's easy to learn, and in conjunction with visualisation techniques, you can start a week or two ahead of the fast, and reprogram your subconsious that on a near future date you will start your fast for whatever amount of time you decide on without any hunger problems, and that it will be easy. While you are in the hypnotic state visualize exactly how the fast will go, and how you want it to go for the duration. You continue this throughout the fast.
To show how powerful visualation is, In a book by Maxwell Maltz "Cyber cybernetics",(196?) he claims that a college basketball team was divided in to 2 groups. One group actualy practiced throwing free throws with the ball, while the second group only practiced by visualizing throwing free throws. Both groups improved by a percentage point or two of the other.