Fasting Methods To Heal Your Digestive Glands: Part One
How to fast without feeling hungry and miserable
When you consider fasting, you may think about hunger, pain, discomfort, etc. We hope to help you avoid the unpleasant associations with fasting as much as possible. For those unaccustomed to fasting, the plans laid out in the next two posts will help make the process easier.
This first post will share a technique taught by Russ Sinclair [1] and the second will discuss a plan suggested by Dr. Mercola.
We are not advocating a 40 day fast like those of Moses and Jesus. While long fasts may release toxins out of the cells and tissues of the body, it may not be as effective as short term fasts to heal the digestive system (though we do know a woman who was healed of a chronic stomach condition after abstaining from food for 40 days on doctor's orders). We suggest that it is preferable to take increments of time to repair damage to overworked digestive glands, much like building healthy muscle. Work. Rest. Work. Rest.
Here we will discuss short fasts, no more than 36 hours, that one can work up to gradually.
This particularly kind of fasting involves the consumption of water only in order to heal and rest the digestive glands. No juices allowed, because juice causes work for the digestive glands. We want rest.
It is also beneficial to have an exercise regime (however simple) in place prior to beginning this fasting process. In later posts we will be talking about exercise in detail.
Start Small
Skipping breakfast once or twice a week is a great way to begin training the body to fast. Schedule Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday (or the days of your choice) as your "fasting" days. If this is too much for your system (because you become hungry, have low blood sugar, get a headache, or experience some other uncomfortable symptom), begin by delaying breakfast by an hour on those days. Gradually add an hour to your fast until you hit the lunch hour. This slow acclimation should reduce the discomfort associated with fasting. In addition, your body will begin to heal itself and detoxify gradually.
Notch It Up A Bit
Once your body has become accustomed to fasting for breakfast twice a week, you will gradually work up to a 24 hour fast. At that time, you will only need to fast one day a week. On one (or both) of your fast days, delay eating lunch for one hour. Continue adding an hour of delayed eating until you are able to skip lunch, eventually delaying dinner until you have gone 24 hours without food. You may eat food 24 hours after your last meal, which could be in the evening of the day of your 24 hour fast.
When you reach this stage and it is comfortable for you, the next step is to skip the evening meal completely, going to bed on an empty stomach. When you wake up in the morning you will break your 36 hour fast with your breakfast.
What Next
Once you are accustomed to a 36 hour fast and your body has been demonstrating some signs of healing, you can choose how often you'd like to fast. Perhaps skipping breakfast twice a week works for you. Or perhaps you prefer a 24-36 hour fast once a week (or some combination of your own).
There are other methods of fasting (in fact we will be sharing one in the next post), but this methods seems to be the most reasonable and efficient way to adjust the body to fasting. It is important that you listen to your body throughout the fast. Your body can be your best doctor if you can learn to pay attention to what it is telling you.
Reminders
You should drink plenty of water during your fasts. Water keeps your body hydrated and aids in the elimination of toxins.
Overworked digestive glands need time to rest and rebuild themselves. This takes time, but you should see results in approximately one to three months if consistently fasting.
Fasting detoxifies the tissues, but it is the four systems of elimination – the lungs, skin, kidneys, and colon that actually eliminate the toxins from our bodies. If these systems are not functioning properly, the toxins will resettle into the tissues. It is vitally important that this elimination system be in good working order for fasting to the most effective. On the other hand, it may take some fasting to get these systems up to their prime function.
Moderate exercise should be a regular activity prior to and during fasting so the lymphatic system and blood capillaries can remove wastes from the cells and tissues.
Comfortable, frequent, and consistent fasting over a period of several months is the goal. In short, it needs to part of an overall lifestyle change and should be continued (in one degree or another) for the rest of one’s life.
Next: Healthy Blood Through Fasting: Fasting Methods To Heal Your Digestive Glands: Part Two
[1] Sinclair, Russ. Systemic Health Home Study Course. Part 3: Systemic Fasting 1998