The truth is, fasting is terrific way to restore our health.
It goes hand-to-hand with cleansing, and something we should
do occasionally from time to time.
We need to take a break
from food once in awhile, and should be done by people with
specific ailments such as arthritis, digestive disorders,
and diabetes.
So when should you fast? You should fast during these occasions:
- If you have arthritis
- If you have coated tongue
- During the Equinox to mark the start of a season (Most people
cleanse during this time too)
- If you have the cold/flu. It gives your body a chance to
rest, and restore its health. If you have a cold or flu, never
overeat. Just drink lots of liquids and juices.
- If you don't feel hungry
- If you have constipation problems.
There are bad times to fast as well. In particular, you should
not fast during these occasions:
- If you just had a surgical procedure and are recovering
from it. You need food for your body to rebuild. When you
are hospitalized, you usually aren't eating much anyway, so
fasting is not needed.
- If you're trying to rebuild. If you are finished with cleansing,
or close to finished, you need to rebuild your body, and start
eating powerful foods such as beef.
- If you're too skinny. Fasting will just make you even more
skinnier, which will not be good.
- If you don't produce a lot of bile. If you fast, you may
form more gallstones.
There are many types of fasts, and it can get confusing as
to which one to do. For the most part, it's rather simple.
Any of them works, and you need to conduct kinesiology and
ask yourself what type of fast you wish to do. A water fast,
though is something I would not recommend to most people,
unless you have a naturopathist looking after you.
Juice Fast
- A juice fast involves simply drinkinng fresh squeezed vegetable
and fruit juices. Don't drink pasteurized juice whatsoever.
Commercially package juice is okay ONLY if it is 100% organic.
Otherwise, avoid it at all costs. If you're juice fasting,
make sure you are diluting the juice by at least 40% or
so.
3 Day Fast
- In the first day, you consume no solid foods whatsoever.
You just drink some fruit juice, such as grape juice. You
may also drink veggie juices such as carrot juice. In the
second day, you eat just broths. And finally, in the third
day you drink just vegetable juices. You may repeat this
3 day fast again if you feel you need to.
Dry Fast
- An extremely easy fast. All you have to do is drink just
1 quart of fresh water everyday. This flushes your system.
Don't do this for more than three days though.
Tea Fast
- Just drink herbal teas such as peppermint and dandelion
tea. This type of fast is known for healing ailments. If
you drink parley tea during this fast, it will completely
flush out your kidneys, and help edema. If you want to help
your lymphatic system, drinking nettle tea would be best.
- Kichadi
This is such a great food, and fast. I do this often for a
few days prior to colon or liver cleansing. It really reenergizes
your system, and prepares your body for a complete detox.
- 100% Healthy Foods
During the holidays, most of us eat junk food half of the
time. Afterwards, it's best to switch to a 100% organic,
healthy diet that consists of fresh veggie, fruits, and
good fats. Cheating is something we all do during the holiday
season, we just need to get back on track, and eating just
organic foods for a week afterwards is great for our body!
- Master Cleanse
A colon cleansing regimen that involves taking a lemondate
drink, alongside with a series of salt water flushes. The
problem I have with this colon cleaning internal cleansing
regimen is that you shouldn't be consuming so many lemons
every single day.. It puts such a burden on your liver!
Fasting for Weight Loss?
Unfortunately, I wouldn't suggest doing any water fasting
if you want lose weight. It simply is not effective, as
you lose just water weight. On the other hand, if you do
lose any body fat while fasting, you lose it waaay too fast.
As a result, your skin contains these ugly pouches, that
is quite dangerous (you need a surgical procedure to remove
it!).
How to Prepare for a Fast
First, you need a juicer machine. This is a must. You can't
rely on buying juice from the supermarket as most of these
are pasteurized and will make you feel even worse. Second,
you need to buy only organic fruits and vegetables. This
might mean spending a bit more money, but it's worth it.
You never know what normal fruits contain. Buy herbal teas
such as dandelion, and peppermint tea.
How to Break a Fast
One of the golden rules when fasting is to break the fast
extremely slowly and carefully. If you don't, you might
just have ruined all the health benefits of fasting. In
the first day after the fast, simply drink vegetable juices,
and cooked fruit. You may also drink some spicy tea.
Gradually add cooked foods, but make sure you mix them with
lots of spices. Oatmeal is also a good food to eat afterwards.
Later, you may eat stuff like steam vegetables. A few days
later, you may eat any solid foods.
This article was written by Angela Chang, a herbalist, writer,
and blogger. Visit her website at Isagenix
and Colon Zone.
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Fasting
for health
