Juice fasting is a wonderful way to get rid of symptoms of PMS and hormone imbalance. Symptoms include breast tenderness, acne, bloating, weight gain, irritability, crying, painful cramping and heavy bleeding. Although the REBOOT helps rebalances hormones, correctly aligning a fast with your cycle will further enhance the benefits. If you plan it just right it may even feel like a breeze!
Track your CYCLE:
Tracking your cycle is a powerful tool to take control of your health, which is why I HIGHLY recommend all women use a period tracking app. I use Period Calendar (Ios & android) Know the length of your cycle and when to expect symptoms is useful for many reasons, but we will leave that for another article.
Times I DO NOT recommend starting a FAST or DETOX?
Do not fast while you are menstruating. Women burn an average of 300 additional calories per day while menstruating, which causes an uptick in hunger. Furthermore, menstruation causes a natural decrease in energy. For these 2 reasons it is recommended to never start a cleanse, detox, or fast just before or during menstruating.
Do not fast the week before your period? For women with a hormone imbalance, the week before bleeding is usually when they are experiencing PMS symptoms. For those not familiar with PMS ( Pre Menstrual Syndromes) the common symptoms are food cravings, intense fatigue, headaches, acne, diarrhea or constipation, bloat, and weight gain. When fasting and detoxing fatigue and other detox related symptoms such as headaches and hunger are quite common, so it is best not to overlap PMS and Detox related symptoms.
RECOMMENDED time to start a FAST or DETOX?
Start fasting 10 days after the first day you bleed, or if you know your cycle well, right when bleeding stops. This is generally a golden window when you feel the best in your cycle. Energy is high and hormones are low. A final tip for those who experience a lot of PMS symptoms a fast right before PMS occurs can reduce if not eliminate symptoms completely by rebalancing hormones.
Happy fasting!