3 Days to Vitality: Cleanse Your Body, Clear Your Mind, Claim Your Spirit

Pamela Serure was a highly successful but burned-out executive when mysterious stress-related ailments including stomach pains, severe headaches, memory loss, and seizures landed her in the hospital. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her. Addicted to painkillers and fearing for her life, she looked to alternative medicine for help. At Mount Sinai Hospital's Department of Environmental Medicine, they found that her liver was being overloaded with environmental toxins. Serure quit her job and fled to the beach, where she proceeded to detox herself using the techniques she learned during her search for a diagnosis. She followed a juice fast, practiced meditation and yoga, and slowly regained her health.

Armed with the wisdom gleaned from her physical and spiritual renewal, Serure built a new career as a highly acclaimed natural health consultant. Serure's cheerleader approach to detoxing has convinced stars such as Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Christie Brinkley, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, and Donna Karan to "get juiced." Although a glance at the title may trigger fad-diet flashbacks, Serure makes it clear that hers is no weight-loss program but a "spiritual jump-start into a new system and a new way of being." The carefully orchestrated juice and broth fast she advises incorporates meditation, ritual, and Eastern practices such as breathwork, skin brushing, and yoga to detoxify the body, mind, and soul.

Although it doesn't delve deeply enough into fasting for those already familiar with the subject, the book is designed to answer beginners' questions and assuage their fears about the process. It also gives the comforting feeling that your own personal guide is right there with you. Serure guides you through each step, from prefasting to breaking the fast, and lists all recipes and supplies needed for easy reference. Her program is so full of motivational pep talks, soothing activities, and guided journal writing that you won't have time to crave that morning bagel. The result, she says, is renewed energy, vibrant skin and hair, and an awakened spirit. --Brina Bolanz