A Sunday Detoxifying Fast

Even though most of my posts are about food, this one is about the opposite of food! It's about fasting and its ability to keep the body and mind fresh and toxin-free.

Too much food...

This week, I made breakfast and lunch every day, and cooked a hot meal each night. I ate all of those things, too. For those of you who know me, that is very excessive eating for me. By Thursday, I told Tristan that next week we'd have to eat more salad and raw vegetables, and by Friday I felt like I was literally "full" of food, weighed down internally and externally by the insane amount of food I have eaten this week. My insides felt like they couldn't process all of the food I had eaten during the week (I accidentally typed 'weak' there...freudian slip?). Friday night I went on a bike ride with a friend, hoping to get the GI track moving in the right direction. Saturday morning I did yoga with Tristan with the same goal in mind. By the end of yoga, I had a headache, felt hot in my head, and nauseated. I think the exercise and yoga pushed all of the leftover goods around in my body and forced me to release toxins into my system.

When I could barely walk from the truck to our front door because of my screaming headache, I knew I needed to fast. I spent all day yesterday on the couch, and am happy that today is fasting day.

About Fasting

I've heard that we typically have a pound or so (probably more for meat-eaters) of undigested food in our GI tract at a given time. Regular fasting (and drinking water, eating fiber, etc.) helps eliminate all of this waste before it becomes toxic to our system.

When I was a yogi, I used to fast 2-4 times per month. Twice a month I would fast "dry", meaning not taking any solid or liquid food (not even water). The other times I would eat fruits and drink liquids (even milk back then). I never got sick, always had beautiful, glowing skin, and lots of energy. And, I remember most fondly, I could eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Of course, I was a few years younger back then, too, so the ailments of age hadn't set in yet.

Fasting resets the system. When the body is purified, it has more resources for fighting illness, thinking clearly, and performing its functions without interference from toxins in the blood and organs.

Starting the fast

I start the morning with a ball jar full of warm water with the juice of half a lemon and a teaspoon or so of salt. The salt in the water prevents the fluid from absorbing into the system (so the salt doesn't get absorbed either, which is a good thing). The water passes all the way through the GI system, using the lemon water to break down organic particles, and out the bowels. It literally makes the trip all the way, taking toxins and waste with it. Ideally I would start each day with a lemon water cleanse. But I really, really like my coffee first thing in the morning, what can I say? (I'm even drinking a little bit now that my lemon water has done its job to help the rest of it pass, and also so I don't get a caffeine-withdrawal headache later on).

Cleaning on the cellular level

I remember hearing about another benefit of the lemon water is that due to its salinity level, it creates an osmosis effect that cleans the body on the cellular level. The cells in the body have little waste receptacles, and when the salt water pulls water out of the body and cells, these little waste receptacles empty out. I wish I could site the source of this information but it's something I read years ago and have always trusted it's validity, given my good fasting experiences.

I remember the first time I fasted, the mucuous in my nose was literally orange-ish colored. That was the hardest fast because I wasn't used to feeling hunger. But after that first one, it got a lot easier. The feeling of hunger just reminds me that my organs are doing their jobs during the cleansing experience.

The temptation to eat or drink

So imagine you are mid-fast, it's noon and you start to feel hunger. What would a nice refreshing glass of water do? It would mix with the toxins that your body has already eliminated into the GI tract, and wash them back into the body when that water is absorbed in the intestines, bloodstream, etc. I had a friend who broke a fast with a bowl of soup, resulting in a big migraine. I couldn't help thinking it was because all those toxins re-entered her system. It's therefore very important to break the fast properly.

Breaking the fast

So during the rest of the day, my body will use its digestive powers to clean out what is already in there wasting away. I may do a dry fast, I may have some fresh juice, but by the end of the day I will have detoxed. But only halfway. The fast really begins in the evening, when I go to bed. During sleep, my body finished the fasting process, and in the morning, I will take another full jar of salty lemon water. Since it's been a while since I have fasted (a few months at least), I'm afraid of what will come out the other end once I have my lemon water tomorrow. But I will like knowing that my body is cleaner.

I have heard it suggested to break the fast with lemon water, and then after that works its way through, to eat a banana (without chewing it too much) to absorb the leftover toxic stuff, and then salad/roughage to "sweep" the system clean. Of course, the official breakfast should be juicy fruits and simple foods.

A monk from Ananda Marga once told me, "When you fast, you stop listening to the body and start to listen to your soul." Jesus spoke of fasting as a way to get closer to God.

But today, I'm fasting because I was feeling gross. And now, 2pm on fasting day, I feel much, much better. I have much more energy because my body has spared the energy it would have used in digestion. We went on a bike ride through the neighborhoods (to look at houses that we can't afford), and now I feel complete. The circulatory system is now engaged.

There are many other physical and mental benefits of fasting, but as usual I've written too much already : )

I am planning on doing my next fast on Oct 17, which is an official "Ekadashi" (a day in the lunar phase whereby fasting is most beneficial according to some Eastern yoga practices). There are two per month, so if the next one doesn't happen, I'll always have more opportunities later.