Fasting for optimum Health

A few thoughts on ways how to decide which fast is for you. Keep the following points in mind when selecting a fasting technique to try:

• It is important to choose fasting techniques that are not too extreme for your current condition. If you are very weak, you should start slowly and plan for a longer cleanse.
• It is important to check your ph levels before fasting, the more acid you are the gentler the fast should be.
• Working closely with a holistic health practitioner who is familiar with fasting techniques can be extremely important for the following reasons:
  • The practitioner can help you choose the type of fasting that meets your needs -- not too extreme, yet not to subtle.
  • The practitioner can advise you of any contraindications that may be important for your condition.
  • If any difficulties arise, an experienced practitioner can more easily adjust or stop the program if necessary.
  • A fast takes a lot of planning and effort. Off-loading some of the planning and effort onto the shoulders of a resort with experienced practitioners will allow you to concentrate more fully on healing, significantly increasing the effectiveness of the cleanse.

The healthier and cleaner you get the healthier and cleaner your choices will become (This is a really good thing!).

If you have never done a fast you want to start with something gentle. A good way to get you used to fasting is do swop one meal a day for a large fresh juice.

After this you could try to have a large juice for breakfast and one for lunch and a vegetable broth for dinner. Just one day a week to start or do one day a week on the Master cleanse.

Once you can do this comfortably you can think about starting a real fast (fasting for 4 days or more).

There are generally 3 types of fast. The fruit fast, the juice fast and the water fast. Plus the breatharian fast, which is only suitable for very few people. The fruit fast includes some form of 'food', normally raw fruit and vegetables. The juice fast does include juices and the water fast, water only.

Apart from these there are a lot of variations and mixtures of all three, many with added herbs to stimulate the cleansing process.

While food, no matter in what form will always slow the cleansing process it is the easiest fast for most people. Even herbs though they might stimulate the cleansing process will never beat the ultimate cleansing technique, a water fast. A water fast of course is not for the fainthearted as is fasting in general not for the weak at mind. It all depends how quick you want to go and how intense you like it or can handle it. For most people a water fast is not recommended in this day and age. Most people would not be strong enough to do a pure water fast for even just 5 days.

While fasting can be extremely healing, it is important to balance the fasting with periods of rebuilding and strengthening using other techniques (e.g., healthy diet, supplements, yoga, support network, etc.). Fasting without rebuilding and strengthening will eventually weaken your system, including your immune system. Therefore, after each fast, take a period of time to concentrate on non-cleansing healing techniques.

Most people should perform no more than three (3) fasts per year. Once you are on your road to healing, you can reduce the number of fasts. After performing any fast, take at least a few weeks to strengthen the body.

You should never attempt to do any kind of fasting if you don't have the time and space. This is one of the most underestimated considerations when cleansing. The body needs time to rest with any kind of fast!!!! Sure we know people who went on 30 day fasts and still went to work, but they have done the ground work of 10 years cleansing with various techniques before they attempted anything like this. And if you have done a lot of cleansing the body will usually have more energy when you fast except for the occasional healing crisis.

When you perform a fast, please try to keep the body warm, comfortable, and feeling as nurtured as much as possible. The more difficult cleanses, are therefore much easier to perform in warmer weather.

When the body is cleansing, whether through a cleanse technique or simply a positive change in lifestyle, you may experience what is called a "healing crises." The healing crises can last as long as a few days (sometimes longer in rare instances). Some of the symptoms you may experience are:

1. Fever
2. Headaches and other aches and pains
3. Fatigue
4. Skin eruptions
5. Emotional irritability
6. Gas
7. Temporary constipation or diarrhoea
8. Temporary stopping of menstruation
9. Yawning
10. Tight muscles

If almost all cases, it is important to not use drugs to suppress these cleansing symptoms, but instead, to encourage the release of toxins from the body (and the expression of emotions to release pent up emotions when necessary). If you are working closely with a holistic health practitioner, as you should be, the practitioner can help you monitor any cleansing symptoms you have to be certain that they are not more than you can handle in your condition.

In cases where the cleansing symptoms need to be reduced and/or toxins are being dumped into the intestines at a large rate (in persons who have had chemical poisoning, for example), it can be helpful to take an action to avoid having toxins reabsorbed into the bloodstream.

This is why it is so important to do Colonics or Enemas during a fast. This technique has been used for hundreds of years in acute conditions to remove toxins from the intestines. Instructions for performing a thorough enema can be found at Enema Info. In some cases it can be extremely helpful to perform a coffee enema to encourage the liver to dump toxins.

Another helpful way of reducing detox symptoms is by ingesting some clay like Bentonite Clay or Zeolite Clay.

If you feel too toxic and need to suddenly go off the fast, a potatoe broth will quickly stop most detox reactions.

You may or may not notice sudden, major health improvements immediately after the fast is finished. In some cases there have been total elimination of symptoms with just one fast. Just remember that internal healing can be taking place even if there is no apparent reduction in symptoms. The reduction in symptoms will come as you slowly build your health using holistic healing techniques.

Also keep in mind that cleansing is a long term process. Yearly cleansing is important and will give you great benefits in the long run. Looking and feeling younger naturally, when everybody else is going for plastic surgery and start complaining about old age symptoms, is a sign that you did something right.

Unless you are experienced in fasting we do not recommend to fast on your own. You should always have someone nearby in case you feel very weak, faint or experience other strong detox reaciton.

So be gentle to yourself, because you deserve the best.

If you have any doubts about the self-healing power of your body, consult your naturopath or health practitioner for advise!