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

1. Increase Water Consumption

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

2. Increase Raw Food Intake

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, flaxseed, walnuts, green leafy vegetables, brazil nuts, olive oil, 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 these 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.

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.

Read ahead to find more important info on foods and juices to detoxify your body.

This article is adapted by Tammie Burak from Rudy and Jeanie Davis' lecture Life in the Fast Lane. Tammie Burak is a freelance writer who enjoys writing about topics of faith, health, nature, and education. She writes for both children and adults.