Fasting is an age old practice which has been used across the world for generations to help the body cleanse and restore health on physical, emotional/spiritual, and mental levels.
It is known to assist the body in quickly surfacing and then eliminating the causes of dis-eases within the body, ranging from depression to excessive fat reserves.
Fasting often meets resistance within the conventional medical world, but the test of time provides the credit needed to consider this method of health care as a valuable, beneficial tool.
I'm not going to get too much into the history of fasting but will focus on the practice, techniques and benefits.
Fasting has appeared as a tool in nearly every major religion on the planet, and is advocated by most natural and alternative health practitioners.
Fasting is simply abstaining from food.
What a person takes into their body while on a fast may vary, but in any case a person on a fast never ingests any type of solid food during the fasting period.
As the body is freed from the work of digesting food it turns its energy toward cleansing and rebuilding.
The toxins form the environment, our food, clothes, work environments etc.
are stored readily in the fatty tissues of the body.
While fasting the body breaks down the fat cells as it enters a process called ketosis.
During ketosis the toxins are pushed into the blood stream and then discarded through the body's natural elimination channels.
Fasting is divided into short, medium and long term fasting.
A short term fast ranges from fasting for a single meal, fasting between certain hours of the day (eg.
between 5pm and 8am), or fasting for up to three days.
A medium fast lasts from three days to ten days, and a long fast last form ten days to thirty plus days.
The experience of a fast is unique to the individual fasting and their current level of physical health and the physiology of their body.
However, there are common themes among the experiences of faster which are beneficial to be aware of.
Fasting is often accompanied by physical and emotional hardships which are commonly referred to as detox symptoms.
These generally fall into the occurrence of depressed/ tired feelings, headaches, body aches, nausea, light headed, weight-loss, and increased eliminations through the body's natural channels (bowels, skin, lungs, mouth, nose, urine).
Detox symptoms decrease and disappear as the undesirable matter in the body is eliminated.
Also, detox symptoms subside as the person resumes ingestion of solid food.
This is because the energy the body uses to seek out, liberate and then eliminated toxins in the body while on a fast is now being utilized to digest and assimilate food.
Fasting in today's fast paced work environment can be a challenge.
If you are committed to a heavy workload, a short term fast perhaps between certain hours of the day over a period of a week, or a three day weekend fast would be the best for you.
This way your body will have ample opportunity to cleanse and rebuild, but you will not experience drastic fluctuations in energy levels and can maintain a normal workload.
If you have lots of free time, or have a vacation coming up, this is a good time to try a medium or long term fast.
If you are very ill, pregnant, or have chronic medical conditions, it is wise to do short fasts, and preferably with the guidance of an alternative health care provider who is familiar with fasting.