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YOU WANT TO FAST WELL... HERE ARE SOME GOOD REASONS TO START
A FAST .....
Why fasting?
"Humans live on one-quarter of what they eat; on the other three-quarters
lives their doctor." - Egyptian pyramid inscription, 3800 B.C.
"Very few people know what real health is, because most are occupied with
killing themselves slowly." - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Ph.D., Hungarian-born
American biochemist; Nobel Prize in physiology and medical science
Before we look at how to fast, let's examine the question: "Why fasting?"
Although hundreds of fasting centers and clinics have existed in most
European countries throughout the 20th century, Americans are still very far
behind the learning curve regarding scientific, therapeutic fasting, as well as
in adopting natural and organic food diets.
Likewise, despite all 3 Fathers of Western Medicine having fasted and
having prescribed fasting (Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus, who declared
fasting "the greatest remedy, the physician within"), the fact remains that
symptoms-oriented trained U.S. physicians are also equally in the dark.
In the U.S., many in the medical orthodoxy continue to take a negative view
of fasting, particularly as a therapeutic tool. But when the medical profession
shifts gears from treating illness to PREVENTING illness, fasting will be
increasingly prescribed.
Harvard-trained M.D., Andrew Weil, in his 1995 bestselling book
"Spontaneous Healing", clearly summarizes what Allopathic Medicine can
and cannot do for you, on pages 225-226: "CAN: "Manage trauma better than
any other system of medicine; diagnose and treat many medical and
surgical emergencies; treat acute bacterial infections with modern
antibiotics; treat some parasitic and fungal infections; prevent many
infectious diseases by immunization; diagnose complex medical problems;
replace damaged hips and knees; get good results with cosmetic and
reconstructive surgery, and it can diagnose and correct hormonal
deficiencies. Allopaths CANNOT: Treat viral infections; cure most chronic
degenerative diseases; effectively manage most kinds of mental illness;
cure most forms of allergy or autoimmune disease; effectively manage
psychosomatic illnesses, or cure most forms of cancer."
Doctor Weil also holds this opinion: "Do not seek help from a conventional
doctor for a condition that conventional medicine cannot treat, and do not
rely on an alternative provider for a condition that conventional medicine
can manage well."
Too often, scientific studies prove nothing. Frequently, the source of the
money dictates the conclusions. Yet, these experiments are all we have to
go by, and are crucially important when we are testing these
potentially-dangerous drugs that may have various hazardous effects.
Fasting and adopting a healing diet designed to help one's condition, on the
other hand, are health-supporting. They will make a healthy person even
healthier.
Fasting - an "operation without surgery"
"Fasting is, without any doubt, the most effective biological method of
treatment... it is the 'operation without surgery'... it is a cure involving
exudation, reattunement, redirection, loosening up and purified relaxation.
While fasting, the patient improves her or his physical health and gains
much. But he or she will have neglected the most important thing if the
hunger for spiritual nourishment that manifests itself during fasting is not
satisfied." said Otto Buchinger, Sr., M.D., Germany's great, self-described
"fasting therapist," who founded the most famous of several renowned,
European Buchinger Kliniks in 1952.
Prolonged, scientific fasting has proven itself, over several thousand years,
as humanity's oldest, fastest and most effective weight-loss, detoxification,
healing and longevity-enhancing modality known to mankind - both curative,
as well as preventive - and here are the reasons why:
Just as hibernating bears and migrating whales, as well as much smaller
beings, including caterpillars, salmon,hedgehogs, snakes, salamanders,
spiders, turtles, tadpoles and woodchucks, do live for many months each
year without eating, your body is brilliantly designed to live on its own
stored substances. Similarly, during skillful, therapeutic and prolonged
juice-fasts (and every reputable fasting book today begins with a warning
that noone should ever undertake a prolonged fast without professional
supervision, initially), your body will brilliantly live on its own stored
substance via "autolysis", or autodigestion. Marvelously, the body
decomposes and burns all the cells and tissue which are aged, damaged,
diseased, weakened or dead.
Autodigestion during fasting
During fasting, your body will "autolyze", or self-digest, its most inferior and
impure materials and metabolic wastes, including: fat deposits, abcesses,
dead and dying cells, bumps and protuberances, damaged tissue, calluses,
furuncles (small skin abscesses, or boils), morbid accumulations, growths,
and amazingly, various kinds of neoplasms (abnormal growths of tissue, or
tumors). In "Fasting and eating for health", Joel Fuhrman, M.D., notes, p. 10:
"The fast does not merely detoxify; it also breaks down superfluous tissue -
fat, abnormal cells, atheromatous plaque, and tumors--and releases
diseased tissues and their cellular products into the circulation for
elimination. Toxic or unwanted materials circulate in our bloodstream and
lymphatic tissues, and are deposited in and released from our fat stores and
other tissues. An important element of fasting detoxification is mobilizing
the toxins from their storage areas."
New cell growth during fasting is stimulated and accelerated as the required
proteins are re-synthesized from decomposed cells (during autolysis). Thus,
your serum albumin reading - blood-protein level - remains constant and
normal throughout your fast, as your body very smartly uses protein and
other stored nutrients where needed. Again, Germany's late Otto Buchinger,
M.D., after supervising over 100,000 juice-fasts, eventually concluded what
is clearly stated in the book, "Fasting: the Buchinger Method", page 22: "The
need for protein diminishes during the fast, until in the second week, it has
been reduced from 100 grams to from 15-20 grams a day, and this amount is,
in fact, quite sufficient while fasting."
Unfortunately, today's most Western diets are heavily loaded with artificial
flavors and chemically-created coloring agents, toxic pesticides, herbicides
and fungicides, and insecticides, and other toxic chemicals which
overburden our bodies.
As this toxic overload accumulates decade after decade, augmented also by
environmental pollution, drugs and medications, it eventually interferes with
normal functioning and our body's elimination becomes impaired. During
fasting, large amounts of these accumulated metabolic wastes and poisons
are, during autolysis, very quickly eliminated through the greatly enhanced
cleansing capability of all the organs of elimination - liver, kidneys, skin and
lungs. Several common symptoms of detoxification seen during this
process could be darker urine, the possibility of catarrhal elimination of
excess mucus ("rhinorrhea" - a mucous discharge from the nose),
continuous discharge through the colon, etc.
Fasting gives your digestive system a rest
For perhaps the first time in your entire life, fasting affords a physiological
rest to the digestive, assimilative and protective organs of your body. Fresh
fruit and vegetable juices require little digestion, and are quickly assimilated
from the upper digestive tract. Therefore, most of the 10% of bodily energy
normally involved in your mastication, assimilation, digestion, and
elimination is freed up. This is another reason you'll feel more - not less -
energy throughout properly-done juice-fasting - unlike the physically
debilitating weakness water-fasters experience.
Additionally, these many fruit and vegetable juices all supply excellent
energy, minerals, vitamins, live enzymes, and other nutrients necessary to
enhance health during the fast. By providing much of the body's daily caloric
needs with easily-digested juices, the release of toxins from the fat cells is
much more gentle and gradual.
Scientific fasting enhances longevity, as Doctor Fuhrman notes in "Fasting
and eating for health", p. 27: "If we restrict the calories an animal can eat, by
underfeeding it or periodically fasting it, we can significantly prolong its life.
In fact, periodically fasting animals can double their natural life span.(1,2)
What about water-fasting?
In his 1999 instant classic, "Radical Healing: Integrating the World's Great
Therapeutic Traditions to Create a New Transformative Medicine," Rudolph
Ballentine, M.D., Founder and Director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in
New York City, does not recommend "water-fasting," which he says "is
more correctly termed starvation," adding the following words of warning:
"The destruction of starvation, and the cleansing and repair that happen in a
well-managed fast, are polar opposites. Unfortunately today, when the
average person is overburdened with wastes and environmental toxins, and
when reserves of essential nutrients are low because of the ubiquity of
'empty-calorie' foods, what is intended as a fast may well end up as
starvation. Your best insurance against such a catastrophe is to do a
juice-fast. Juices can eliminate much of the trauma of fasting."
Freshly-squeezed and extracted vegetable and fruit juices contain a wealth
of vitamins and organically-complexed minerals. They will also supply the
400 calories or so that is your minimal fuel requirement. Without that
minimum caloric intake, your body begins to break-down protein structures
to get it. What's more, fresh juices have a cleansing effect of their own.
During fasting, a balanced regime of juices should be made from a broad
spectrum of fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Ballentine, who does not recommend juice-fasting for a duration of more
than 3 days without expert supervision, is supported by the fact that none of
the world's best fasting centers and clinics - the majority of which have been
based in Europe, historically - have done debilitating water-fasting over the
past 75 years. Like the world-renowned, self-described "fasting therapist,"
Otto Buchinger, Sr., M.D., who supervised over 100,000 fasts, they've all
done the wiser, more efficient juice-fasting.
Since fasting has never been taught in any of America's 127 medical
schools, allopath doctors - schooled exclusively to deal only with
symptoms, versus the causes which prolonged, juice-fasting more wisely
addresses - hold a dim view of fasting. In fact, most allopath doctors appear
never to have known, or seem to have forgotten, that all 3 Fathers of
Western Medicine practiced and prescribed prolonged fasting - Hippocrates,
Galen and Paracelsus, who declared fasting "the greatest remedy, the
physician within."
Now let's take a look at how to fast.
How to fast
First of all, for reasons given on the Why Fasting? page, I do not recommend
water-fasting, and while juice-fasting I do not recommend fasting for more
than 3 days without supervision. In preparation for our first day of fasting, we
may want to take a few days to eliminate some foods or habits from our diet.
Eliminating alcohol, nicotine, sugar and caffeine if possible is very helpful.
Intake of most nutritional supplements can also be stopped the day before
fasting. Supplements are usually not recommended during a fast. Many
people do well by preparing for their fasts with 3 or 4 days of consuming
only fruits and vegetables. These foods nourish and slowly detoxify the
body so that the actual fasting will be less intense.
Start with a 1-day fast
The first 1-day fast (actually 36 hours, including the nights - from 8 p.m. one
night until 8 a.m. the following day) gives us a chance to see what a short
fast can be like, to see that this is not so difficult and doesn't cause any
major distress.
Most people will feel a little hungry at times and may experience a few mild
symptoms - such as a headache or irritability - by the end of the day, but this
depends on the person and their state of toxicity. Usually, the first 2 days of
fasting are the hardest for most people. Feeling great usually begins around
day 3, therefore longer juice fasts are really needed for the grand
experience.
One of the problems with fasting is that it can be the most difficult for those
who need it the most, such as the regular 3-square-meals-plus-snacks/day
consumers who eat whenever and whatever they want. Often these people
must start with more subtle diet changes and prepare even more slowly for
fasting.
A transition plan which can be used before even going on the 1-day fast is
the 1-meal-a-day plan. The one daily meal is usually eaten around
mid-afternoon. Water, fresh fruit or vegetable juices, and teas can be eaten
at other times. The one wholesome meal is not rich or excessive. It can be a
protein-vegetable meal, such as fish and salad/steamed vegetables, or a
starch-vegetable meal, such as brown rice with mixed steamed greens,
celery, carrots, and zucchini. People on this plan start to detoxify slowly,
lose a bit of weight, and after a few days feel pretty sound. The chance of
any strong detoxification symptoms developing, as might occur with fasting,
is minimal with this type of transition, and the actual fast, once begun, will
be handled more easily, too.
The goal then, is to move into a 1-day fast and then a few 2- and 3-day fasts
with 1 or 2 days between them when light foods and more raw vegetables
and fruits are consumed, and also provide fluids, soups, juices, and a
generally alkaline cleansing diet. This way, we can build up to a 5 to 10-day
fast.
Juice fasting provides nutrients to your body
Again I do not recommend a water fast. A juice fast is much easier for most
people. The fresh juices of raw vegetables and fruits are what most fasting
clinics and practitioners recommend. The juices provide calories and
nutrients on which to function and build new cells, and also provide
important enzymes contained in these vital foods. (Food enzyme theories
are discussed at length in Dr. Edward Howell's book "Enzyme Nutrition")
Raw foods are considered the healing force in our diet because they contain
active enzymes, which are broken down once foods are cooked. Many
consider a raw-food diet the most healing and most nutritious diet.
For the begining faster, it is best to go slowly through the various steps and
to avoid being impatient or excessive so that we learn about ourselves in
the process. To do this, we need to make a plan and put it into effect,
observing or listening to our body and even keeping notes in a journal. Get
to really know yourself. Then, once we have fasted successfully, we could
continue to do 1-day fasts every week or a 3-day fast monthly if we need
them.
In general, diluted fresh juices of raw organic fruits and vegetables are best.
Here you can use your imagination and create juices which are both healthy
and delicious. You can get some ideas on my juicing recipes page, but the
possibilities are endless. You can also get some solid knowledge on juicing
in the juicing for health section, as well as the juicing books page.
Cleasing the colon during fasting
Fasting clinics often suggest that enemas be used daily to help cleanse the
colon, while fasting. With these, usually filtered water alone is used to flush
the colon of toxins. Instructions on how to do an enema can be found here.
Although when fasting, replace the coffee with filtered water only.
Herbal laxatives are commonly taken orally during fasting. These include
cascara sagrada, psyllium (in my opinion the best price on the internet for a
high quality psyllium supplement is here), senna leaves and Licorice Root.
The "saltwater flush" is useful for those who can tolerate it. A solution of 2
teaspoons of unrefined sea salt is dissolved in a quart of warm filtered water
(not distilled) and is drunk first thing in the morning on every other day
throughout the fast to flush the entire intestinal tract. Whatever colon
cleansing method is used, keep in mind that regular cleansing of the colon
and intestines is a key component of healthy and stress-free fasting.
The amount of vegetable and fruit juice you drink will determine the
intensity of the cleansing. Drinking small amounts of juice supplies fewer
calories, which increases the intensity of detoxification. The more intense
the cleansing, the greater the discomfort. Juice fasting allows you to have
control over the process of elimination. However, when the body enters a
cleansing crisis due to toxins in the blood, no amount of juice will eliminate
the discomfort. You must wait it out.
Breaking the fast
It is important to make a gradual transition back into our regular diet, rather
than just going out to dinner after a week-long fast. Breaking a fast must be
planned and done carefully and slowly to prevent creating symptoms and
sickness. It is suggested that we take a few days to move back into our diet,
which is hopefully a new, more healthful diet. Our digestive system has
been at rest, so we need to go slowly and chew our foods very well.
With juice fasting, it is easier to make the transition back into foods. A raw or
cooked low-starch vegetable, such as spinach or other greens, can be used.
A laxative-type meal, such as grapes, or soaked or stewed prunes, or
cherries, can also be used to initiate eating, as it is important to keep the
bowels moving. Some experts say that the bowels should move within 2 to
3 hours after the first meal. If not, take an enema. Some people may want to
do a saltwater flush (drinking a quart of water with 2 teaspoons of unrefined
sea salt dissolved in it) before their first day of food.
However you make the transition from fasting to foods, go slowly, chew
well, and do not overeat or mix too many foods at a single meal. Simple
vegetable meals, soups or salads can be used to start.
During fasting, it is essential to plan times to meditate, doing some mild
exercise, get fresh air and sunshine, clear our intestines, get massages, take
aromatherapy mineral baths, clean our house, brush our teeth, and more.
One of my favorite sources for massage oils is the Chopra Center. Good luck
with your fasts and let me know about your experiences on myspace!
A FAST .....
Why fasting?
"Humans live on one-quarter of what they eat; on the other three-quarters
lives their doctor." - Egyptian pyramid inscription, 3800 B.C.
"Very few people know what real health is, because most are occupied with
killing themselves slowly." - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Ph.D., Hungarian-born
American biochemist; Nobel Prize in physiology and medical science
Before we look at how to fast, let's examine the question: "Why fasting?"
Although hundreds of fasting centers and clinics have existed in most
European countries throughout the 20th century, Americans are still very far
behind the learning curve regarding scientific, therapeutic fasting, as well as
in adopting natural and organic food diets.
Likewise, despite all 3 Fathers of Western Medicine having fasted and
having prescribed fasting (Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus, who declared
fasting "the greatest remedy, the physician within"), the fact remains that
symptoms-oriented trained U.S. physicians are also equally in the dark.
In the U.S., many in the medical orthodoxy continue to take a negative view
of fasting, particularly as a therapeutic tool. But when the medical profession
shifts gears from treating illness to PREVENTING illness, fasting will be
increasingly prescribed.
Harvard-trained M.D., Andrew Weil, in his 1995 bestselling book
"Spontaneous Healing", clearly summarizes what Allopathic Medicine can
and cannot do for you, on pages 225-226: "CAN: "Manage trauma better than
any other system of medicine; diagnose and treat many medical and
surgical emergencies; treat acute bacterial infections with modern
antibiotics; treat some parasitic and fungal infections; prevent many
infectious diseases by immunization; diagnose complex medical problems;
replace damaged hips and knees; get good results with cosmetic and
reconstructive surgery, and it can diagnose and correct hormonal
deficiencies. Allopaths CANNOT: Treat viral infections; cure most chronic
degenerative diseases; effectively manage most kinds of mental illness;
cure most forms of allergy or autoimmune disease; effectively manage
psychosomatic illnesses, or cure most forms of cancer."
Doctor Weil also holds this opinion: "Do not seek help from a conventional
doctor for a condition that conventional medicine cannot treat, and do not
rely on an alternative provider for a condition that conventional medicine
can manage well."
Too often, scientific studies prove nothing. Frequently, the source of the
money dictates the conclusions. Yet, these experiments are all we have to
go by, and are crucially important when we are testing these
potentially-dangerous drugs that may have various hazardous effects.
Fasting and adopting a healing diet designed to help one's condition, on the
other hand, are health-supporting. They will make a healthy person even
healthier.
Fasting - an "operation without surgery"
"Fasting is, without any doubt, the most effective biological method of
treatment... it is the 'operation without surgery'... it is a cure involving
exudation, reattunement, redirection, loosening up and purified relaxation.
While fasting, the patient improves her or his physical health and gains
much. But he or she will have neglected the most important thing if the
hunger for spiritual nourishment that manifests itself during fasting is not
satisfied." said Otto Buchinger, Sr., M.D., Germany's great, self-described
"fasting therapist," who founded the most famous of several renowned,
European Buchinger Kliniks in 1952.
Prolonged, scientific fasting has proven itself, over several thousand years,
as humanity's oldest, fastest and most effective weight-loss, detoxification,
healing and longevity-enhancing modality known to mankind - both curative,
as well as preventive - and here are the reasons why:
Just as hibernating bears and migrating whales, as well as much smaller
beings, including caterpillars, salmon,hedgehogs, snakes, salamanders,
spiders, turtles, tadpoles and woodchucks, do live for many months each
year without eating, your body is brilliantly designed to live on its own
stored substances. Similarly, during skillful, therapeutic and prolonged
juice-fasts (and every reputable fasting book today begins with a warning
that noone should ever undertake a prolonged fast without professional
supervision, initially), your body will brilliantly live on its own stored
substance via "autolysis", or autodigestion. Marvelously, the body
decomposes and burns all the cells and tissue which are aged, damaged,
diseased, weakened or dead.
Autodigestion during fasting
During fasting, your body will "autolyze", or self-digest, its most inferior and
impure materials and metabolic wastes, including: fat deposits, abcesses,
dead and dying cells, bumps and protuberances, damaged tissue, calluses,
furuncles (small skin abscesses, or boils), morbid accumulations, growths,
and amazingly, various kinds of neoplasms (abnormal growths of tissue, or
tumors). In "Fasting and eating for health", Joel Fuhrman, M.D., notes, p. 10:
"The fast does not merely detoxify; it also breaks down superfluous tissue -
fat, abnormal cells, atheromatous plaque, and tumors--and releases
diseased tissues and their cellular products into the circulation for
elimination. Toxic or unwanted materials circulate in our bloodstream and
lymphatic tissues, and are deposited in and released from our fat stores and
other tissues. An important element of fasting detoxification is mobilizing
the toxins from their storage areas."
New cell growth during fasting is stimulated and accelerated as the required
proteins are re-synthesized from decomposed cells (during autolysis). Thus,
your serum albumin reading - blood-protein level - remains constant and
normal throughout your fast, as your body very smartly uses protein and
other stored nutrients where needed. Again, Germany's late Otto Buchinger,
M.D., after supervising over 100,000 juice-fasts, eventually concluded what
is clearly stated in the book, "Fasting: the Buchinger Method", page 22: "The
need for protein diminishes during the fast, until in the second week, it has
been reduced from 100 grams to from 15-20 grams a day, and this amount is,
in fact, quite sufficient while fasting."
Unfortunately, today's most Western diets are heavily loaded with artificial
flavors and chemically-created coloring agents, toxic pesticides, herbicides
and fungicides, and insecticides, and other toxic chemicals which
overburden our bodies.
As this toxic overload accumulates decade after decade, augmented also by
environmental pollution, drugs and medications, it eventually interferes with
normal functioning and our body's elimination becomes impaired. During
fasting, large amounts of these accumulated metabolic wastes and poisons
are, during autolysis, very quickly eliminated through the greatly enhanced
cleansing capability of all the organs of elimination - liver, kidneys, skin and
lungs. Several common symptoms of detoxification seen during this
process could be darker urine, the possibility of catarrhal elimination of
excess mucus ("rhinorrhea" - a mucous discharge from the nose),
continuous discharge through the colon, etc.
Fasting gives your digestive system a rest
For perhaps the first time in your entire life, fasting affords a physiological
rest to the digestive, assimilative and protective organs of your body. Fresh
fruit and vegetable juices require little digestion, and are quickly assimilated
from the upper digestive tract. Therefore, most of the 10% of bodily energy
normally involved in your mastication, assimilation, digestion, and
elimination is freed up. This is another reason you'll feel more - not less -
energy throughout properly-done juice-fasting - unlike the physically
debilitating weakness water-fasters experience.
Additionally, these many fruit and vegetable juices all supply excellent
energy, minerals, vitamins, live enzymes, and other nutrients necessary to
enhance health during the fast. By providing much of the body's daily caloric
needs with easily-digested juices, the release of toxins from the fat cells is
much more gentle and gradual.
Scientific fasting enhances longevity, as Doctor Fuhrman notes in "Fasting
and eating for health", p. 27: "If we restrict the calories an animal can eat, by
underfeeding it or periodically fasting it, we can significantly prolong its life.
In fact, periodically fasting animals can double their natural life span.(1,2)
What about water-fasting?
In his 1999 instant classic, "Radical Healing: Integrating the World's Great
Therapeutic Traditions to Create a New Transformative Medicine," Rudolph
Ballentine, M.D., Founder and Director of the Center for Holistic Medicine in
New York City, does not recommend "water-fasting," which he says "is
more correctly termed starvation," adding the following words of warning:
"The destruction of starvation, and the cleansing and repair that happen in a
well-managed fast, are polar opposites. Unfortunately today, when the
average person is overburdened with wastes and environmental toxins, and
when reserves of essential nutrients are low because of the ubiquity of
'empty-calorie' foods, what is intended as a fast may well end up as
starvation. Your best insurance against such a catastrophe is to do a
juice-fast. Juices can eliminate much of the trauma of fasting."
Freshly-squeezed and extracted vegetable and fruit juices contain a wealth
of vitamins and organically-complexed minerals. They will also supply the
400 calories or so that is your minimal fuel requirement. Without that
minimum caloric intake, your body begins to break-down protein structures
to get it. What's more, fresh juices have a cleansing effect of their own.
During fasting, a balanced regime of juices should be made from a broad
spectrum of fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Ballentine, who does not recommend juice-fasting for a duration of more
than 3 days without expert supervision, is supported by the fact that none of
the world's best fasting centers and clinics - the majority of which have been
based in Europe, historically - have done debilitating water-fasting over the
past 75 years. Like the world-renowned, self-described "fasting therapist,"
Otto Buchinger, Sr., M.D., who supervised over 100,000 fasts, they've all
done the wiser, more efficient juice-fasting.
Since fasting has never been taught in any of America's 127 medical
schools, allopath doctors - schooled exclusively to deal only with
symptoms, versus the causes which prolonged, juice-fasting more wisely
addresses - hold a dim view of fasting. In fact, most allopath doctors appear
never to have known, or seem to have forgotten, that all 3 Fathers of
Western Medicine practiced and prescribed prolonged fasting - Hippocrates,
Galen and Paracelsus, who declared fasting "the greatest remedy, the
physician within."
Now let's take a look at how to fast.
How to fast
First of all, for reasons given on the Why Fasting? page, I do not recommend
water-fasting, and while juice-fasting I do not recommend fasting for more
than 3 days without supervision. In preparation for our first day of fasting, we
may want to take a few days to eliminate some foods or habits from our diet.
Eliminating alcohol, nicotine, sugar and caffeine if possible is very helpful.
Intake of most nutritional supplements can also be stopped the day before
fasting. Supplements are usually not recommended during a fast. Many
people do well by preparing for their fasts with 3 or 4 days of consuming
only fruits and vegetables. These foods nourish and slowly detoxify the
body so that the actual fasting will be less intense.
Start with a 1-day fast
The first 1-day fast (actually 36 hours, including the nights - from 8 p.m. one
night until 8 a.m. the following day) gives us a chance to see what a short
fast can be like, to see that this is not so difficult and doesn't cause any
major distress.
Most people will feel a little hungry at times and may experience a few mild
symptoms - such as a headache or irritability - by the end of the day, but this
depends on the person and their state of toxicity. Usually, the first 2 days of
fasting are the hardest for most people. Feeling great usually begins around
day 3, therefore longer juice fasts are really needed for the grand
experience.
One of the problems with fasting is that it can be the most difficult for those
who need it the most, such as the regular 3-square-meals-plus-snacks/day
consumers who eat whenever and whatever they want. Often these people
must start with more subtle diet changes and prepare even more slowly for
fasting.
A transition plan which can be used before even going on the 1-day fast is
the 1-meal-a-day plan. The one daily meal is usually eaten around
mid-afternoon. Water, fresh fruit or vegetable juices, and teas can be eaten
at other times. The one wholesome meal is not rich or excessive. It can be a
protein-vegetable meal, such as fish and salad/steamed vegetables, or a
starch-vegetable meal, such as brown rice with mixed steamed greens,
celery, carrots, and zucchini. People on this plan start to detoxify slowly,
lose a bit of weight, and after a few days feel pretty sound. The chance of
any strong detoxification symptoms developing, as might occur with fasting,
is minimal with this type of transition, and the actual fast, once begun, will
be handled more easily, too.
The goal then, is to move into a 1-day fast and then a few 2- and 3-day fasts
with 1 or 2 days between them when light foods and more raw vegetables
and fruits are consumed, and also provide fluids, soups, juices, and a
generally alkaline cleansing diet. This way, we can build up to a 5 to 10-day
fast.
Juice fasting provides nutrients to your body
Again I do not recommend a water fast. A juice fast is much easier for most
people. The fresh juices of raw vegetables and fruits are what most fasting
clinics and practitioners recommend. The juices provide calories and
nutrients on which to function and build new cells, and also provide
important enzymes contained in these vital foods. (Food enzyme theories
are discussed at length in Dr. Edward Howell's book "Enzyme Nutrition")
Raw foods are considered the healing force in our diet because they contain
active enzymes, which are broken down once foods are cooked. Many
consider a raw-food diet the most healing and most nutritious diet.
For the begining faster, it is best to go slowly through the various steps and
to avoid being impatient or excessive so that we learn about ourselves in
the process. To do this, we need to make a plan and put it into effect,
observing or listening to our body and even keeping notes in a journal. Get
to really know yourself. Then, once we have fasted successfully, we could
continue to do 1-day fasts every week or a 3-day fast monthly if we need
them.
In general, diluted fresh juices of raw organic fruits and vegetables are best.
Here you can use your imagination and create juices which are both healthy
and delicious. You can get some ideas on my juicing recipes page, but the
possibilities are endless. You can also get some solid knowledge on juicing
in the juicing for health section, as well as the juicing books page.
Cleasing the colon during fasting
Fasting clinics often suggest that enemas be used daily to help cleanse the
colon, while fasting. With these, usually filtered water alone is used to flush
the colon of toxins. Instructions on how to do an enema can be found here.
Although when fasting, replace the coffee with filtered water only.
Herbal laxatives are commonly taken orally during fasting. These include
cascara sagrada, psyllium (in my opinion the best price on the internet for a
high quality psyllium supplement is here), senna leaves and Licorice Root.
The "saltwater flush" is useful for those who can tolerate it. A solution of 2
teaspoons of unrefined sea salt is dissolved in a quart of warm filtered water
(not distilled) and is drunk first thing in the morning on every other day
throughout the fast to flush the entire intestinal tract. Whatever colon
cleansing method is used, keep in mind that regular cleansing of the colon
and intestines is a key component of healthy and stress-free fasting.
The amount of vegetable and fruit juice you drink will determine the
intensity of the cleansing. Drinking small amounts of juice supplies fewer
calories, which increases the intensity of detoxification. The more intense
the cleansing, the greater the discomfort. Juice fasting allows you to have
control over the process of elimination. However, when the body enters a
cleansing crisis due to toxins in the blood, no amount of juice will eliminate
the discomfort. You must wait it out.
Breaking the fast
It is important to make a gradual transition back into our regular diet, rather
than just going out to dinner after a week-long fast. Breaking a fast must be
planned and done carefully and slowly to prevent creating symptoms and
sickness. It is suggested that we take a few days to move back into our diet,
which is hopefully a new, more healthful diet. Our digestive system has
been at rest, so we need to go slowly and chew our foods very well.
With juice fasting, it is easier to make the transition back into foods. A raw or
cooked low-starch vegetable, such as spinach or other greens, can be used.
A laxative-type meal, such as grapes, or soaked or stewed prunes, or
cherries, can also be used to initiate eating, as it is important to keep the
bowels moving. Some experts say that the bowels should move within 2 to
3 hours after the first meal. If not, take an enema. Some people may want to
do a saltwater flush (drinking a quart of water with 2 teaspoons of unrefined
sea salt dissolved in it) before their first day of food.
However you make the transition from fasting to foods, go slowly, chew
well, and do not overeat or mix too many foods at a single meal. Simple
vegetable meals, soups or salads can be used to start.
During fasting, it is essential to plan times to meditate, doing some mild
exercise, get fresh air and sunshine, clear our intestines, get massages, take
aromatherapy mineral baths, clean our house, brush our teeth, and more.
One of my favorite sources for massage oils is the Chopra Center. Good luck
with your fasts and let me know about your experiences on myspace!