| CELEBRITY GOSSIP AND TRENDS IN WEIGHT LOSS... |
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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.Good
luck
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.Good
luck
| The tools and information on the this site are intended as an aid to weight loss and weight maintenance, and do not offer medical advice. If you suffer from, or think you may suffer from, a medical condition you should consult your doctor before starting a weight loss and/or exercise regime. If you decide to start exercising after a period of relative inactivity you should start very slowly and consult your doctor if you experience any discomfort, distress or any other symptoms. If you feel any discomfort or pain when you exercise, do not continue. The tools and information on the this site are not intended for women who are pregnant or breast-feeding, or for any person under the age of 18. © 2010 Prothinspo, Pro-Thinspo.com, Prothinspo.com and Prothinsposhop.com All rights reserved. "PROTHINSPO" is a trademark of Prothinspo Incorporated. All rights reserved. All content on this website should be considered for entertainment purposes. |
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