Naturopathic doctors Rudy and Jeanie Davis have developed a sensible do-it-yourself detoxification plan that they have successfully used for over a decade to help patients regain their health. Their 21-Day Challenge consists of three weeks of eating a well-balanced nutrient-dense diet followed by a three-day water fast.

The 21-day diet supercharges the cells of the body with nutrients from a range of super-foods and kick-starts the body’s cleansing process.

The three-day water fast, which follows the 21 days of healthy eating, frees up energy that would normally be spent on digesting food and provides your body with time to use the nutrients you took in during the 21 days to repair and rebuild tissues.

Rudy Davis says, “People who have gone on this program say it has changed them forever.” Are you tired of doing the same things with the same poor results? Are you interested in changing your life? Then maybe it’s time you tried the 21-Day Challenge.

Part 1: The 21 Day Program

Here is what you need to do for the 21 days leading up to the fast.

1- Increase Water

For 21 days increase the amount of water you drink to 6 cups per day. The brain is 85% water and even slight dehydration can raise stress hormone levels which, over time can damage both the brain and the body.

2- Increase Raw Food Intake

Cooked foods dominate most eating plans. To vitalize your body and begin the restorative process, begin eating more raw foods than cooked. Raw foods should make up eighty to ninety per cent of your diet.

Cooked foods slow down life processes and accelerate aging. Eliminate all animal products, sugar, white flour, heat-damaged oils, and all processed foods.

3- Eat Less

You should eat about two to three cups of well-chewed food per meal; no more.

4- Consume Foods That Provide Optimal Nutrition

Eat a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.

• Choose organic foods as much as possible.

• If you can’t get organic foods or can’t afford to buy organic foods, ask the Lord to bless your food. He can make it better than organic.

5- Consume Good Fats

DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is an omega-3 fatty acid making up a large portion of the grey matter of your brain. Fatty acids are half the weight of the brain. During the 21 days of optimal nutrition, eat only good fats. Don’t eat any margarine, butter, mayonnaise, or vegetable oil.

Include only cold-pressed nutritional oils to ensure optimal nutrition for your brain. If you’re not getting enough essential fatty acids, you’re not experiencing optimal brain activity. A good source of balanced fatty acids is Udo’s DHA Oil Blend. The DHA comes from seaweed, not fish.

Other sources of good fats to include in your diet for 21 days are avocadoes, cashews, brazil nuts, flaxseed, green leafy vegetables, olive oil, walnuts, and sacha inchi oil. Sacha inchi oil is 54% omega-3. You can use it on your skin or eat it. Try putting it on your salad or on toast.

6- Keep a Proper Balance of Carbohydrates, Amino Acids and Good Fats

Eat a wide variety of foods. Chew all your food until it is as smooth as apple sauce. Digestion begins in your mouth. When you chew your food until it is smooth and well-mixed with saliva, you save your other digestive organs from doing extra work. The saliva in your mouth contains ingredients that make the nutrients in food available to your body.

7- Choose Brain Healthy Foods

Incorporate brain-boosing foods into a diet plan to ensure that you include them in your diet regularly. Foods that boost brain health supply the brain with antioxidants, glucose, and essential fatty acids. Some of these foods are: blueberries, cherries, apples, nuts & seeds, carrots, edamame, spinach, and avocados.

8- Avoid Snacking

Drink fresh vegetable/fruit juice combinations instead of snacking. Juices are not solid foods and won’t stretch the stomach. You can have 4-5 cups of freshly made juice per day.

Remember, there is a difference between juice and a smoothie. Juice is made in a juicer which removes the pulpy fiber from the fruit or vegetable. A smoothie is made in a blender and is a whole food. Juices can be drunk between meals. Smoothies are part of a meal and should be included with your meal.

9- Increase Consumption of Dietary Antioxidants

Antioxidants clean up free radicals. Normal, unheated food molecules have pairs of electrons. When heat destroys some of the paired electrons, these food molecules become unstable, free radicals. When free radicals steal electrons from cells in your body, they cause tissue damage. Antioxidants provide missing electrons to free radicals thus preventing further tissue damage.

Numerous studies have shown that increasing antioxidants from fruit and vegetables significantly reduces the risk of developing cognitive impairment.

Here are some excellent sources of antioxidants:

• Berries,

• Spinach,

• Broccoli,

• Beets,

• Cherries,

• Oranges,

• Avocadoes,

• Red grapes.

Foods and Juices that Detoxify the Body Best

Your body will heal with whatever foods grow near you, so you don’t need to go to the Himalayas to find healing foods. After all, God provides healing for the rich and the poor. But some foreign import foods have such exceptional health-giving properties, that if you can afford it, they will be a great benefit for you:

• Beet juice. Fresh or powdered beet juice provides your body with the ingredients for creating good blood. If you have a food dehydrator, you can slice beets thinly, dehydrate them and grind the dehydrated beet slices to powder. You can sprinkle beet powder on salads or add it to meals. Drying only destroys 2-5% of the nutrients if you set the heat between 116 and 119 degrees. Having dried beet juice on hand ensures that you have beet juice when you want it.

• Powdered chlorella. It doesn’t smell great or taste great, but you’ll hardly notice it in a smoothie and it provides super-potent nutrition for your body.

• Acai berries. Your body can use the nutrients in acai berries to build new stem cells. (You can learn more about this in the DVD, Your Body’s External Thermometer.) Stem cells are needed for repairing tissue cells in your body. So, if you’re going to do some repairing over those three fast days, get acai berries.

• Wheatgrass juice. Use either fresh or powdered wheatgrass juice. It is 70% chlorophyll, which is considered to be the blood of plants. Chlorophyll closely resembles human red blood cells and supplies enzymes which do the work of rebuilding and repair in our cells. Wheatgrass juice can be an important addition to your diet if you’re concerned about building healthy blood.

• Spirulina is a blue-green algae that contains 4000 nutrients. It smells like fish, but it supplies green chlorophyll to your body which can stimulate the creation of new blood cells.

• Chlorophyll. You can make your own chlorophyll drink simply by juicing a variety of fresh greens. Fill a quart jar with the juice and sip it for supper. Swish it around in your mouth, chew it and swallow it and by morning you’ll feel like you’ve given your body a whole blood transfusion.

• Blueberries are very high in antioxidants and are great for promoting bowel health and protecting your body from free-radicals.

• Dried apricots help the body to retain and redistribute moisture to all your different cellular networks. Unless the moisture remains in the cells, your body will not have cells that are functioning optimally. Use organic dried apricots.

• Maca root. Powdered maca is made from a South American root vegetable. It rebalances the endocrine system, which is your body’s hormonal system. It has a slightly sweet flavor. Add a tablespoonful to your smoothie.

• Goji berries are a complete protein, containing all 9 essential amino acids from which your body can build every protein it needs. Try eating dried goji berries with raw cacao nibs to take away the bitterness of the cacao.

• Cacao packs the highest concentration of antioxidants of any food on the planet. It feeds your brain and stops free radical damage.

Unless you understand food, you cannot understand disease. (Rudy Davis, ND).

Part 2: Three-Day Fast

with regular exercise, you are ready to go on a three-day water fast. A three-day water fast will give your digestive organs a rest, which is very important for the healing of your body. Rather than spending time and energy digesting food, your body can focus its time and energy on repairing damage.

Warning: Do not fast more than three days without qualified supervision.

A Case Study on Fasting

Dr. Herbert Shelton had amazing results from fasting patients in his care. In his book, Fasting Can Save your Life, he documented the case of a patient he referred to as Mr. AB.

Mr. AB fasted for 42 days under the supervision of Dr. Herbert Shelton. During that time, his body healed itself of many diseases that people generally consider to be incurable. Mr. AB suffered from asthma for 13 years and even though he was receiving medical treatment, he continued getting worse. So he checked into Dr. Shelton’s clinic. Dr. Shelton took away all of Mr. AB’s medications and gave him water and nothing else. He got no food in any form. All he got was water. The first night Mr. AB was at the clinic, he had an asthma attack around 3:00 am and called for the doctor. Dr. Shelton checked him over, said he’d be alright and told him to go back to sleep. The asthma attack passed. Mr. AB went back to sleep and never had another asthma attack.

Within 24 hours, all asthma symptoms disappeared. Mr. AB was getting rehydrated after years of being chronically dehydrated. In most cases of asthma, it’s dehydration that is happening. When the lungs are dehydrated, they produce mucous to keep the alveoli, the tiny air sacs of the lungs, from drying out. The thick mucus in the lungs produces asthma symptoms. People with asthma are prescribed drugs which they inhale through a puffer. In the case of Mr. AB and many others, the simple solution to asthma is adequate amounts of water.

Mr. AB had an enlarged prostate for six years. Within six days, it was normal again. Mr. AB had sinus problems for over 13 years. Within 25 days, his sinuses were cleared. He felt great because he could finally breathe clearly again for the first time in many years. Mr. AB had been completely deaf in his left ear for 6 years. After 36 days of fasting, his hearing was completely restored. In fact, his hearing was so sharp he could hear the ticking of a lady’s small watch at arm’s length.

We usually think of deafness as being an irreversible condition. But that is not always the case. After 36 days of fasting, Mr. AB’s body cleared out the clogged arteries leading to the ear which restored blood flow to the ear. And suddenly, he could hear again!

Mr. AB was impotent when he checked into the clinic. He was no longer impotent after 42 days of water fasting. At that point, the staff at the clinic put Mr. AB back on solid foods.

Warning: Do not fast un-supervised for more than three days. If you want to fast for more than three days, get a professional who is well trained in water fasting to help.

Why Mr. AB Had Such Remarkable Results

Digestion absorbs a massive amount of energy. When the body is not burdened with the task of digesting, it can spend its energy healing. The body has its own healing system. Often all we need to do is get out of the way and let the body heal itself.

The good news is, you don’t have to go on as radical a fast as Mr. AB went on to get good results. You can get really good results from a three-day water fast following 21 days of super-nutritious eating. When you go on this 21 day program, you begin by putting massive amounts of nutrients into your body. Then during your three days of water fasting, your body begins cleaning the system and repairing. Remarkable healing can result.

Once you’ve tried it, you could be so impressed with your results that you might want to do it again. You can repeat the 21 days of optimal eating and follow up with a 3-day fast again. You’ve got nothing to lose but disease. Feed your body and let it heal itself.

Why Fast?

Why would anyone choose to go without food for any length of time? Isn’t eating regularly one of the body’s most basic needs?

Many people choose to go without food for a given period of time for the health and spiritual benefits associated with fasting. You might think that fasting is a radical, new thing, but fasting has been around for a long time. There are many examples of fasting in the Bible.

Jesus is our example in all things. We know that Jesus fasted for 40 days and He didn’t die. We can follow Jesus’ example in fasting but remember: if you would like to fast for longer than three days do not do it without qualified supervision.

Physical Benefits

Have you ever lost your appetite during times of stress or illness? When your body is dealing with a crisis like severe stress or an illness, it will often shut down the hunger drive in order to focus energy on dealing with the problem. Instead of spending precious energy on digestion, your body will use this self-induced time of fasting to reestablish balance.

Even when you are not fighting an infection or a crisis of some kind, daily life exerts stress upon every cell in your body. Cells are damaged by stress hormones produced by your own body, poor food choices, environmental radiation, and a whole host of other events that are part of life on this planet.

When you choose to go without food, you allow your body to deal with the cumulative damage caused by daily living.

They should commence to relieve nature of the load they have forced upon her. They should remove the cause. Fast a short time, and give the stomach chance for rest. Reduce the feverish state of the system by a careful and understanding application of water. These efforts will help nature in her struggles to free the system of impurities. But generally the persons who suffer pain become impatient. They are not willing to use self-denial, and suffer a little from hunger (Counsels on Diet and Food 304).

So often, we eat too much and work too much and we don’t have balance in our lives. To get the results you’ve never had, you’ve got to do what you’ve never done.

Spiritual Benefits

Are you enjoying life? If you’re not enjoying life, there’s something wrong. Jesus said,

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11: 28-30).

If you’re feeling un-rested and out of control, then obviously what you’re doing is not the will of God for your life and something needs to change. Fasting can help you see where you need to make changes and how to change.

God is not looking for perfectly healthy people. He is looking for perfectly surrendered people. If you want to cooperate with God and are ready to make a fresh start, God will help you prepare your body to be a fit habitation for the Holy Spirit.

We are told in Romans 12:1-2 to present ourselves as a living sacrifice that God can use:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

A surrendered body gives you that mind that hears the promptings of the Holy Spirit readily. Your conscience is your ability to realize that there is a moral and ethical aspect to your actions, combined with the urge to prefer right over wrong. That’s the voice of God speaking to you.

There is no better way to prepare a sharp mind with the ability to respond to God’s gentle voice than to embark on the 21-Day Challenge and follow-up with a three-day fast.

Getting Ready for the Three-Day Fast

There are several things you can do to get the best results from your fast.

1- Plan for It

Check your calendar and be sure that at the end of the 21 days, you have no commitments and can plan three days that will be as stress-free as possible. Your body needs to rest and rebuild during your three water fast days, so arrange to have some time away from work. You might even want to go away for three days and do something completely different and relaxing.

2- Prepare Psychologically

Your brain reacts to all situations whether they are real or created only in your mind. Even though the situations may not be real, your mind, by default, makes your body think they are; and your body responds accordingly.

Preparing psychologically is the most important thing you can do to get ready for your fasting days. If you’re not prepared for the journey, don’t go. If you haven’t counted the cost, don’t do it.

Facing Opposition

You will likely face some opposition to your get-healthy plan. Often family and friends will say things like, “If you don’t eat you’ll die,” or “If you stop eating, you’ll get weak.” People don’t like change and tend to fear what they don’t understand. Do your best to educate those closest to you and help relieve their fears.

How You Will Feel

The fact is fasting for three days won’t kill you. You might feel hungry the first day. You might even feel weak. If you feel weak, rest.

Sleepiness can happen if your body is doing major restoration work in your vital organs. If you liver isn’t working right, for example, you might have an overwhelming urge to sleep so that your body can repair damaged cells in your liver. If your body feels tired, give it the rest it needs.

We don’t need to fear what’s good for us. We should fear what’s bad for us.

Guidelines for the Three-Day Fast

After taking 21 days to supercharge your cells with powerful nutrients, your body will be ready for three days of fasting. To get the greatest benefits from your fast minimize distractions, do some non-strenuous exercise, breathe deeply and have a positive attitude.

Minimize Distractions

• Take the 3 days off from work,

• Unplug the TV,

• Don’t read the newspaper,

• Get rid of any annoyances or hindrances that might prevent you from resting and relaxing.

Exercise

Focus on gentle exercise like light walking and deep breathing during your fast. You should not do anything that requires massive amounts of energy.

Other Recommendations

• Make sure you’ve got lots of fresh air in the building you’re in so you can breathe deeply throughout the day.

• Spend time outdoors, if possible.

Different Kinds of Fasting

If you feel you cannot do a water-only fast, consider trying one of these fasts. Your body will still receive nutrition, but it will also have some extra energy to devote to healing and repair work. The same guidelines given for doing the three-day water fast apply to each of these fasts.

Juice Fasting

You can enjoy fasting on freshly made juices for a whole day, a whole week or as long as you can do it.

Mono-food Fasting

A mono-food fast is when you choose one food for its nutrient qualities and eat only that one food for the length of your fast. Consult a book like The Whole Foods Companion, which tells you the nutrients different foods contain. Then choose the food you want to use for a day or two and watch your body go to work. Some foods that are especially good for mono-food fasting are:

• Black grapes. Organic, black grapes with the seeds are a perfect food and great for mono-food or single-food fasting. Chew the seeds up really well to give your body the micronutrients contained in the seeds.

• Pears. Pears have about seven grams of fibre and are especially good for the digestive system. You need at least 25-30 g of fibre every day. Two pears give you over half the fibre you need for the day and cause good bowel movements. The skin of pears contains quercetin, which makes them a good choice for dealing with cancer and Alzheimer’s.

• Melons are fantastic for cleaning the kidneys. Rudy Davis, ND, says, “I’ve seen blood pressure go from 185/135 to 110/70 with just melons, in three days.” Melons are excellent for cleaning out the kidneys and rehydrating the system. Melons are different than any other foods, because of their rapid digestion time. Here is the rule for melons: Eat them alone, or leave them alone.

One-Day- A-Week Fasting

Some people incorporate regular, short-term fasting into their lifestyle. You can choose water, juice, or mono-food fasting and do it one day each week. If you choose to do this, your body will benefit from a regular rest from digestive work and will be able to routinely commit energy to tissue repair.

There are some who would be benefited more by abstinence from food for a day or two every week than by any amount of treatment or medical advice. To fast one day a week would be of incalculable benefit to them (7T 134).

As you embark on this positive lifestyle change, consider the benefits not just for yourself, but also for those around you and for the glory of God.