Step Nine in the Raw Vegan Hero's Journey

9. I practice juice and smoothie fasting
Inspired by the mythical Hero’s Journey first compiled in The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (photos are of famous, recognizable characters on their own journeys).

Tony Stark a.k.a Iron Man drinking a green smoothie

If you're not including smoothies and juices, especially green smoothies and juices, in your raw vegan diet, you are missing a large component.

-From The Wheatgrass Book by Ann Wigmore: Chlorophyll is the blood of the plant...it is condensed solar energy. Chlorophyll increases the function of the heart, affects the vascular system, the intestines, the uterus and the lungs. It is a tonic which, considering its stimulating properties, cannot be compared with any other.

-From Your Right to Be Beautiful by Tonya Zavasta: Our blood is very similar to green juice. The main difference between a molecule of chlorophyll in green juice and a molecule of hemoglobin in the blood is the central atom. Hemoglobin, the protein that makes our blood red, has iron as its central atom. Chlorophyll, the protein that makes plants green, has magnesium at its center.

-From Heal Thyself by Queen Afua: Chlorophyll detoxes and rejuvenates tissues, cells, blood, arteries, and nerves. The more we consume chlorophyll, in the form of eating green leaves like salad and herbs as well as green veggie juices and wheatgrass, the healthier our skin, hair, and bones, the purer our thoughts, and the more harmonious and healthy our relationships will be. Chlorophyll consumption brings heaven on earth...I would go so far as to say that if a community, a country, or even the world consumes chlorophyll consistently, we would see an end to world famine, dis-ease and war.

People ask me all the time, "How do I get started in raw food?" My answer is, "Add green smoothies and juices to your diet."

Get Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko (www.rawfamily.com) and any book on juicing.

What's the difference between the two?

Smoothies have fiber. All you are doing is blending fruits and vegetables and water, retaining the fiber in them. That fiber has to be extracted by your digestive system, which takes time. Juicing extracts fiber from the fruits and veggies. The digestive transit time is much faster than smoothies. In my opinion, one is not better than the other. They are simply different. (Anyone can feel free to comment about this.)

The most successful fast I did was fourteen days, from March 31 to April 13, 2008. The first seven days I did both smoothies and juices. The last seven days, I only did juice. To read about it, click here: Juicing. Scroll down 6 posts, and Days 13-14: Success! will be there. Scroll down to Inspiration: Terilynn. That is the beginning of the journey.


If you have never fasted before, start for one day. Then perhaps a three-day weekend. Regardless, you need to prepare your body for a fast. Cut down, or eliminate, acid-forming foods: processed foods, dairy, meat, sodas, etc. Eat more salads, and fresh fruits and veggies. You are making your body more alkaline. Trust me, if you go from eating french fries on Thursday to fasting on Friday, you will be hungry, cranky, headachy, and bitchy. Do yourself a favor and ease into a fast. Read as much as you can before you start one.

You will experience emotional breakthroughs you don't expect. When you stop eating, clarity comes rushing in. The mental, physical, and emotional clarity will knock you over.

Relating this to the mythical Joseph Campbell Hero's Journey, the best time to fast is when you are "in the belly of the beast." This is when you are the middle of some crap that feels like it's going to kill you. You can't see straight. Your life, or emotions, are dark. You've had it.

Movie examples of characters trapped in "the belly of the beast":
-Star Wars (the first one): Luke, Han Solo, and Princess Lea are trapped in the garbage section of The Death Star. The walls are closing in on them, literally. C3PO and R2D2 have to stop the walls remotely. The three leads are not physically strong enough to stop the walls from crushing them. Death is imminent. The robots stop the walls just in time.

-Finding Nemo: Marlin and Dory are inside a whale. It's dark. They feel trapped. Marlin believes all is lost. He will never be able to rescue his son. Dory, who also happens to "speak whale :-)", says, "if you promised your son that nothing would ever happen to him, then that's not realistic." Marlin awakens, determined to find Nemo.

-Toy Story: Woody and Buzz are trapped at Sid's house. Woody is stuck in a milk crate. Buzz is strapped to a rocket. Sid plans to explode Buzz the next morning. Their owner, Andy, is moving to a new house that same morning. It appears the toys will never see their owner again. All is lost. But Sid's mutant toys come to the rescue.

In all three examples, the protagonists are either about to die, literally or metaphorically. That is the belly of the beast. What follows is "resurrection." (The last three steps in this twelve step series reflects this truism. Remember, the Hero's Journey is a metaphor for life.)

Fasting will certainly resurrect you. It will heal your pain, and release energy you thought you had lost. It's a critical part of your raw journey. Be gentle, and ease into it when you feel you are ready.

Love,
Althea ◦

Step Nine in the Raw Vegan Hero's Journey