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Tag Archives: fasting
Fasting for Weight Loss & Treating Diabetes
To wrap up the fasting series I started last week, I wanted to share an insightful and important video from my personal favorite authority on the subject of fasting: Dr. Jason Fung. I just finished reading his book, The Complete Guide to Fasting, and his insights and history with treating and reversing type 2 diabetes is profound. Given his success using fasting as a mechanism of treatment, it really should be common knowledge and put into practice by the medical community, but unfortunately it isn’t. If you know someone struggling with diabetes, pass this on. My favorite nugget from this video that sums up his argument: “Giving insulin to a type 2 diabetic, is like giving alcohol to an alcoholic.” –XO Raw Girl
Essential Steps to Designing a Fast
This week, we continue the fasting series, with an oldie but goodie post from the past: How to Design Your Fast. Maybe you want to fast for a longer period that intermittent fasting requires, or want to consume fresh vegetable juice for a few days and have no idea where to start. This one is for you boo! Below’s a few steps that will help you plan a successful fast and stay safe during the process. -Xo Raw Girl
Find and fuel your inspiration. Whether it be for detoxification purposes, clarity, spiritual insight, to improve your health, or restore vitality, hone in on your personal reasons to begin fasting. If you are doing a much longer fast up to 7-10 days, you should be prepared with daily reading, quotes, or whatever works for you to keep you focused on your intention. If it’s a spiritual fast, or even if it is not, you may want to make time daily for prayer, meditation, or reflection in nature. When you allow your mind to fixate on your “why” you are more likely to forget that you haven’t eaten anything in hours.
Set the parameters. Decide on the duration of your fast. If you have never fasted before it’s recommended to start with a much shorter period from 24-72 hours maximum. Once you have decided on the length of time, choose your method: are you fasting on vegetable juices, broths, or water? Or perhaps you prefer a partial fast, which could consist of fasting on blended foods, raw foods, or abstaining from specific food groups like the Daniel Fast which removes meat, carbohydrates, and sugar. The simplest definition of fasting, is a commitment to abstain from something. For more marked detoxification results choosing a liquid only fast will give the digestive system more of a break. Water fasting for longer periods (more than three days) should be done under the direct supervision of a medical professional. Make sure whatever method you use that you also consume large amounts of water during your fasting period. There is no set rule to how much liquid you consume a day if you are drinking vegetable juices, broths, or teas. Make sure you have enough on hand to get your fill. Some days you may need more liquid than others. Go with the flow and listen to your body throughout.
Relax your schedule and plan ahead. To prepare for your fast, make sure you’ve got enough groceries and recipes for vegetable juices or whatever method of fast you chose. Even with die-hard commitment if you are fasting and don’t have enough of your preferred fasting food sources, you may leave yourself vulnerable to eating other foods that happen to be in your kitchen, and end up breaking your fast the wrong way. Your fridge should be stocked with more than enough of your preferred fasting liquid or food sources to survive your cravings. During this time respect the process and try to relax your work and activity schedule as much as possible. It’s possible to exercise while fasting, but for beginners and even veteran fasters, it may be ideal to opt for much gentler workouts during your fasting period that encourage detoxification and elimination such as gentle yoga.
Consider some sort of colon cleansing for the duration of the fast. Fasting accelerates the bodies process of eliminating toxins, and if you do not support this process you could end up feeling sick, dizzy, or fatigued during your fast. To avoid this, you can drink at least half of your body weight in fluid ounces of water daily, incorporate enemas or colonics (supervised by a professional), or include a daily dose of magnesium citrate to ensure proper bowel elimination. Enemas or colonic hydration should be cleared by a medical professional, especially if you have any colon issues or gastrointestinal disease.
Slowly break the fast. So you made it to the end of your fast, and you are salivating because you want to bite something! Slow down. Make sure that you spend at least half of the time you fasted coming down off the fast. So for a three day fast, you would take at least a day and a half coming down off the fast. Introduce solids very slowly. Homemade broths, fruit juices, raw fruit, leafy greens, or lightly steamed vegetables can be great foods to transition back into the world of solid foods. Avoid canned broths or soups due to their high sodium content. Eating extremely dense or processed foods, could throw your digestive system into shock so start with lighter foods. Avoid oily deep-fried foods, rich foods with fats, starch, processed sugar, and salt which can cause nausea or headaches if eaten too soon. If you were on a partial fast such as a vegan or raw food fast that included solid foods, you can transition back much quicker.
References:
Koch SM, Uludağ O, El Naggar K, van Gemert WG, Baeten CG. Colonic irrigation for defecation disorders after dynamic graciloplasty. Int J Colorectal Dis. 2008 Feb;23(2):195-200. Epub 2007 Sep 21. PubMed PMID: 17896111; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2134973.
Vollebregt PF, Elfrink AK, Meijerink WJ, Felt-Bersma RJ. Results of long-term retrograde rectal cleansing in patients with constipation or fecal incontinence. Tech Coloproctol. 2016 Sep;20(9):633-9. doi: 10.1007/s10151-016-1502-y. Epub 2016
Jul 5. PubMed PMID: 27380257.
5 Tips for Successful Intermittent Fasting
To continue the discussion from Monday’s post on The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting, I wanted to give you a few tips just in case the spirit moved you to try it! Below are five tips to help you successfully navigate intermittent fasting.
1. Choose a Moderate Eating Window. Extremes with anything, including our diets can be dangerous or at the very least unhelpful. If you are have any blood sugar related issues such as diabetes, hypoglycemia, or glucose intolerance, you may need to fast under the supervision of a physician to be safe. Those with GERD may also need supervision to ensure fasting doesn’t aggravate symptoms. If you are generally healthy it’s important to choose an eating window that is moderate and manageable. Starting with a 10-12 hour window may be your best bet. Another popular window is 8 hours feeding and 16 hours fasting. Remember that you do not need to go to extremes to get benefits from it.
2. Don’t Binge on Junk Food During Your Feasting Period. One of the unhealthy habits some people take on when intermittent fasting is to eat whatever they want during the feasting period, including fast food. Remember that even though you are restricting your time window, your body still needs adequate nutrients to thrive long term. We tend to forget when latching onto anything for short term results what the repercussions could be years from now. It’s ideal to eat well balanced meals full of healthy fats, protein, and a low to moderate amount of complex carbs during your eating window so you don’t binge away your overall cardiovascular health!
3. Take a Daily Multivitamin. Taking your vitamin, with one of your meals during your eating window is a simple way to ensure your body has the baseline nutrients it needs. It’s even more important if we are restricting calories in any way to ensure that the body is still nutritionally nourished. Ideally you should take some sort of daily multivitamin that includes a minimum of 2000 IU of vitamin D, and B12 (especially for vegans) along with an omega-3 supplement.
4. Drink Adequate Amounts of Water & Liquids That Won’t Break Your Fast. Hydration is key to keep our energy and focus up while fasting. Most people get tired throughout the day and assume they are hungry, when 9 times out of 10 they are thirsty! Try to drink at least half your body weight in water, and keep the water glasses coming especially if you feel hunger pangs coming on. Besides plain water other things you can drink while in your fasting window includes: apple cider vinegar diluted water, water with a pinch of sea salt and the juice from a wedge of lemon, coffee (ideally with no added creamers or sweetners), green tea,
5. Exercise Moderately in the Beginning. Continuing exercise while intermittent fasting should not be an issue but as your body adjusts you may want to lighten up a bit on your normal routine and gauge your energy. After a week or two you should be able to go back to full speed. Keep in mind that there are plenty of people using intermittent fasting to build muscle who do very intense workouts while fasting. Do you! And figure out what is going to work best for your body and energy levels. -Xo Raw Girl
References:
Fung, J., & Moore, J. (2016). The complete guide to fasting: Heal your body through intermittent, alternate-day, and extended fasting. Las Vegas: Victory Belt Publishing.
The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ve probably heard about the recent exponential surge in people trying intermittent fasting to lose weight, build muscle mass, and increase energy. I’ve always lived a fasted lifestyle, so when by the time I heard about IF I realized I was already doing it! Intermittent fasting is the practice of consuming your daily calories within a restricted time window. It is not an diet, it is more of an eating protocol. The idea is to get the same amount of calories you would normally eat within your eating window. For example from 8 am to 8 pm, which is a moderate twelve hour window, or the popular 9-5 pm, which allows for 16 hours of fasting and an eight hour window for eating. In our modern age of fad diets and quick nutrition fixes, the practice of fasting remains constant as a tried and true discipline that has been scientifically proven to provide health benefits and unleash the super-charged power to heal conditions.
If going cold turkey on food for days seems too intense for you, intermittent fasting or restricting your food intake to a short eating window in one day, may be a way to still get some of the positive results. Research has proven that intermittent fasting has similar benefits to fasting longer periods when incorporated regularly. One study followed overweight adults with moderate asthma who consumed only 20% of their normal calorie intake on alternate days [5]. The subjects who were able to stick to the diet lost 8% of their body weight over an eight week period, decreased markers of oxidative stress and inflammation, improved asthma-related symptoms, and several quality-of-life indicators.
Another study, found that intermittent fasting was as effective as longer term continuous restriction for improving weight loss, insulin sensitivity and other health biomarkers [3]. Intermittent fasting also improves brain functioning, as a lack of eating for 10-16 hours starts the flooding of ketones in the body, which have been shown to protect memory and learning functionality, as well as slow disease processes in the brain. Going in to full on ketosis, however, does not happen until 2-3 days into fasting with no intake of food.
Dr. Jason Fung, Author of The Complete Guide to Fasting and several other fasting books, has been implementing a fasting protocol to heal clients of Type 2 Diabetes, PCOS, and many other conditions related to glucose intolerance and more. One of my favorite parts of The Complete Guide to Fasting are the testimonials from patients with a range of conditions who tried fasting and were successful in reversing their conditions and coming off of medications. The most insightful thing I took from this book was Dr. Fung’s personal professional revelation that the way we treat diabetes in Western medicine actually leads to further progression of the disease as the medications cause weight gain and the excess weight worsen the condition. He realized that by reducing the amount of insulin in the diet by decreasing the amount of carbs or frequency of eating (fasting being the complete reduction), allows those with glucose intolerance to heal faster and lose the weight. The patients were on a low carbohydrate, high in healthy fats diet, and incorporated two to three days of complete fasting alternating with days of eating. If you or someone you love is struggling with diabetes, I highly recommend you read this book and consult with a physician to help you with a fasting protocol. Doing it on your own can be dangerous if your medication is not also reduced with the practice because your blood sugar levels could get dangerously low.
Last, but not least, one of the most important benefits of any type of fasting is that it activates the parasympathetic nervous system which helps to relax, rest, digest food properly, and enables the body to heal itself. Most of us are taught to try to eat our way to health, when in fact, refraining from food allows the body to repair and restore. If you are struggling with healing or just want to incorporate a practice that can boost your health I highly recommend giving fasting a try. -Xo Raw Girl
References:
- Collier, R. (2013). Intermittent fasting: the science of going without. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal, 185(9), E363–E364. http://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-4451
- Dai, Q., Borenstein, A. R., Wu, Y., Jackson, J. C., & Larson, E. B. (2006). Fruit and Vegetable Juices and Alzheimer’s Disease: The Kame Project. The American Journal of Medicine, 119(9), 751–759. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2006.03.045
- Harvie MN, Pegington M, Mattson MP, Frystyk J, Dillon B, Evans G, Cuzick J, Jebb SA, Martin B, Cutler RG, Son TG, Maudsley S, Carlson OD, Egan JM, Flyvbjerg A, Howell A. The effects of intermittent or continuous energy restriction on weight loss and metabolic disease risk markers: a randomized trial in young overweight women. Int J Obes (Lond). 2011 May;35(5):714-27. doi:10.1038/ijo.2010.171. Epub 2010 Oct 5. PubMed PMID: 20921964; PubMed Central
PMCID: PMC3017674. - Johnson JB, Summer W, Cutler RG, Martin B, Hyun DH, Dixit VD, Pearson M, Nassar M, Telljohann R, Maudsley S, Carlson O, John S, Laub DR, Mattson MP. Alternate day calorie restriction improves clinical findings and reduces markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in overweight adults with moderate asthma. Free Radic Biol Med. 2007 Mar 1;42(5):665-74. Epub 2006 Dec 14. Erratum in: Free Radic Biol Med. 2007 Nov 1;43(9):1348. Tellejohan, Richard [corrected to Telljohann, Richard]. PubMed PMID: 17291990; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1859864.
- PAKerndt, P. R., Naughton, J. L., Driscoll, C. E., & Loxterkamp, D. A. (1982). Fasting: The History, Pathophysiology and Complications. Western Journal of Medicine, 137(5), 379–399.
Preparing for Expansion – Spring Cleaning for Body, Mind, & Spirit
Spring is here and summer is right around the corner! We all associate spring with new life, beautiful buds beginning to bloom in the trees, and better weather. I’m sure you have also heard of the term “spring cleaning.” The thing about any kind of growth or new life is that is requires that we get rid of the old to make room for the new. As we move into this approaching new season, make some time to take stock in your own life.
Ask yourself: what personal objects are you holding onto that you no longer need? What associations whether personal or business should be release or transformed? Are there habits that are getting in the way of your success that you need to change? Take some time alone with yourself to journal about these things.
My background is primarily in the world of health and diet, but I believe that how we treat our bodies very much affects our mind and spirit. The equivalent of “spring cleaning” for the body is to take on a detox. Are you feeling sluggish or low energy? Is your skin dull or are you experiencing breakouts? It may be time for a detox. To cleanse the body there are many things you can try including 1) Juice Fasting, 2) Parasite Cleanse, 3) Partial Fast. With Juice Fasting or feasting you would consume fresh vegetable juice for 1-3 days maximum if you are a newbie to fasting in order to give the digestive system a break and allow the body to flush out toxins. A Parasite Cleanse involves taking herbs that you can find over the counter to rid the body of worms that may be sapping your nutrition, energy, and causing other health complications. Everyone should do regular yearly parasite cleansing as you can pick them up from contaminated water, pets, travel etc. On a partial fast, you can choose what food items you want to leave out of your diet and the duration. You could use the mornings to do juices or smoothies, and eliminate all meat or processed foods for a few days. It’s up to you.
I encourage you to think about it because as you release waste or toxins from body, your aura can open up. There’s a lightness that occurs and allows you to think clearer, receive Divine insight, and live your best, most energized life. When you combine a toxin-free body with the power of positive intention, magic can happen. Here’s to your incredible spring-cleaning experience and to all the amazing things that flood your life once you have the courage to release the old! -XO Raw Girl
The Healing Benefits of Water Fasting
During the month of August my fasting regimen went to another level. If you follow this blog by now you know I am a big fan of fasting on fresh vegetable juices which immediately boosts your complexion, rids the body of excess toxins, and can in general give you your groove back. Well, last month was the first time I tried water fasting. Which consists of drinking, you got it, only water all day. I actually chose to drink both coconut water and water and conducted the fasts for no more than three days at a time. Water fasting to me always seemed too extreme, as it does require more of a slow down in your normal activities. With any fast you should slow down if not eliminate all of your hectic schedule so that you actually have time to go within and rest. This need increases tenfold with a water fast, because the healing reactions can be more aggressive, or you may feel fatigued as the body goes into fasting mode. Water fasting for longer periods like 14-40 Days should never be conducted alone; there are facilities that you can enter to go through those longer term fasts in which doctors will monitor your levels throughout and you will be in an atmosphere of complete rest. Many ailments have been reversed with these longer water fasts, simple because they body got an opportunity to reset. For more on this check out the interview at the end of this post, which features two doctors who promote water fasting for health and have healed numerous conditions in their facilities. Some benefits of water fasting include:
- Physical and spiritual healing
- Detox, eliminates toxins from organs, skin, glands
- Strengthens immune system because of break from food; restores stronger immune response
- Scientifically proven to increase lifespan; studies have shown that restricted diets lead to a longer life
- Prevents the onset of degenerative mental diseases
- Improves brain f(x), mental clarity, and ability to focus
- Induces an anti-inflammatory response that helps to heal arthritis in muscles, joints
- Ancient tradition that has healing minor health issues along with more serious chronic ailments
- Increases metabolism; promotes weight loss
- Drastically improves mind over body will power; and portion control
- Increases energy in some cases as energy is diverted from digestive process
- Deepens connection with spirit and nature
7 Days of Raw Begins March 1st!
Dearest Veggie Lovers,
If your a fan on the Facebook page you know we are counting down to March 1st, when Blackveganlove.com and I will be hosting a 7 Day Raw Fast. The challenge is completely FREE all you need to do is like the Facebook page and stay tuned to the blog for new updates, recipes, and inspiration to make it through the fast. Spring is just around the corner, so this is a great way to get your all natural glow on, or jumpstart your health goals.
Just in case you are a complete newbie to raw foods, here’s a brief summary by my buddy Aiya of blackveganlove.com:
Raw Food = uncooked, unheated, enzyme active, nutritionally dense, goodness straight from Mother Nature herself. So whether it’s fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, pseudo grains, sprouts etc. none of them are prepared on a stove, in the oven, or heated beyond the 105-120 degree F range in a dehydrator. Vegan Raw Foodists create their dishes by blending, mixing, dehydrating, cutting, juicing, freezing, pureeing and chopping their food to come up with dishes that are both tasty and nutritious.
Hopefully you will be inspired to join in with us! If so, make sure you start planning your grocery list now and start stocking up on fresh organic fare before Saturday. -XoXo Raw Girl
The Social Media Fast
Last Sunday I was feeling for spiritual and life reasons like I felt a fast coming on. Before I could clearly set that intention, at church my pastor spoke a word that rattled me up enough to try something new. Ever heard a sermon or talk and you feel like someone is speaking directly to you? This was the case last Sunday, and I had to stop myself from squirming in my seat, because then I’d be sure everyone would know the message was hitting home with me. My pastor was talking about fasting, and how for some giving up foods isn’t really that challenging (I squirmed), and that fasting is about SACRIFICE, and we should be creative in finding things that take up our time. During a spiritual fast then, we replace the things that were taking up our time with things that bring us closer to God (prayer, meditation, reflection etc).
He then went on to say he had ideas about some things that we could give up in our modern world that would cause more of a sacrifice. The first thing he suggested was social media. Imagine if you prayed or meditated as much as you were on Facebook. Interesting right? Obviously your relationship with God would strengthen tremendously, in that time you would’ve been lurking on pages, liking posts, and adding friends. As soon as the words social media escaped his mouth my heart skipped an extra beat and I was bordering on hyperventilating at the thought of giving up Facebook and Twitter. I mean, I’m a blogger for gosh sakes! Social media is one of my primary means of communication. At that moment I knew, there was my challenge. At first like any addict, I was like I’ll do two days, okay maybe three. Finally realizing that this actually may cause some sort of breakthrough for me I decided seven days seemed unfathomable, and therefore, I had to do it. I scheduled all of my blog posts posts for Raw Girl, and also posts for Facebook and Twitter in advance for the week. I ceased all the rest of my Facebooking and Tweeting on my personal pages and also was not allowed to read other peoples posts, read or reply to comments, or check any notifications.
What a revelation! It’s amazing how automatic the reflex to check Facebook and Twitter is for me. I had to literally catch myself mid-typing from going to the urls. LOL. By the end of day one, I was amazed at how productive I could be without the distractions of social media throughout the day. Now that I’ve passed the seven day test, my eyes are open to my bordering on addiction to all things social media and I am determined to continue limiting my time on social media pages. Maybe I’ll stick to checking only on certain days. One things for sure, we are in a new world where technology rules all, and it is up to us to create some balance, especially if we are determined to live a life that is in tune with Mother Earth and the Source that governs all. -XoXo Raw Girl
How to Break a Fast! Increasing Mindfulness & Maximizing Your Benefits
Dearest Readers:
If you have not check out past posts on Fasting please do. My personal go-to for the first day of breaking a fast is to eat simple liquid foods, like fresh fruit juices: watermelon juice, fresh pineapple juice, fresh squeezed orange juice, or vegetable broths (miso is usually my broth of choice because it is a light fermented food that promotes good bacteria). Depending on how long the fast–for instance if the fast was longer than 3 Days— I will stay on liquid/blended meals for two days and then begin to introduce solid fruits. When you introduce solids be sure to savor your food and chew thoroughly so it’s easier for your body to break it down. Savoring your food is a part of “mindfulness,” and includes taking a moment to enjoy the taste and flavors, and having a deep gratitude to the Source for providing your meal. Breaking your fast is crucial to retaining the benefits you worked hard for, and keeping your body in balance. Go slow, listen to your body, and plan ahead. -XoXo Raw Girl
So a friend of mine calls me the other day and says to me “Nicola I just love what you guys are doing with Raw Girl and you have inspired me so much that I’ve embarked on my own liquid fast.” I was ecstatic. There is nothing better than hearing that something that you are a part of has inspired another to take control of their health. When I asked her how long she had been fasting, she told me that she was on day eight! I felt so uplifted to hear the news, because I have been on extended fasts myself in the past and after day three it really becomes easy sailing from there. Not only that, there are tons of mental, physical, and spiritual breakthroughs which can occur during extended periods of fasting. She was amazed at her progress, just was a little unsure of how to incorporate solids back into her life. At this stage in the game, the biggest and probably most CRUCIAL step in maintaining the benefits of a fast is how to go about incorporating solid foods again.
Fasting of all sorts is an amazing way to take control of your health but also presents a great opportunity to improve your relationship to food. My own personal journey with fasting was born out of a need to address a serious binge eating problem that I would occasionally have due to what I thought was simply a psychological deficiency (but later found out it may have had more to do with a nutritional deficiency). Fasting was something that I just started to do because I was blown away by the benefits, but I wasn’t resourceful enough at the time to be strategic about the way that I introduced solid foods back into my life. Which, I quickly discovered through experience is a crucial element to reap the overall benefits of the fast.
When our bodies go into a fasting state, especially for prolonged periods of time longer than three days, then the digestive system goes to sleep. All of the energy that the body was using to digest the foods that you’ve been constantly eating suddenly is now diverted into a deeper cleansing of the body. It’s sort of like that extra time you suddenly have during spring break (if you’re in school) and you get to finally get into the nooks and crannies of your living space to clean everything out that you didn’t have the time to get to before. The biggest mistake that people make when breaking fast is eating a big, hard to digest meal. To your digestive system, It’s a lot like being awakened from a deep soothing slumber with a bucket of ice being thrown at you. Not gentle, and um…not easy to digest. Again, your system has been diverted from its usual digesting duties, and its very important that it is gently reintroduced to simple easy to digest foods like simple fruits or vegetables. This is in order to give the digestive system time to start producing the enzymes again needed to get the job done which had ceased to be produced upon fasting. Failure to do this can result in the digestive lining becoming irritated and even damaged if this process is not respected.
Here are a few rules of thumb and tips for breaking a fast correctly:
- You should spend at least 1 day breaking fast for every 3 days of fasting
- Write out a “breaking the fast” plan and be ready to implement( Buy food before hand and have a systematic plan in place to avoid eating whatever is available/overeating)
- Drink lots of water between meals
- LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. If you are still feeling full when it comes time to eat again, don’t force yourself to eat, just drink some juice or some water and let your body do its thing.
This is very important, so I will reiterate: spend at least 1 day breaking a fast for every 3 days that you fast. After all the hard work and discipline you’ve exercised in fasting, it’s so worth the extra push to break fast correctly, and in the process renew your appreciation for the food you are consuming. Fasting has been such an amazing journey for me, which is ongoing and ever evolving. Since I began, the process has dramatically improved my relationship with my food and portion sizes. Learning how to be truly mindful with my food has played a big role in that. I encourage you to plan a customized fast which fits your needs; there are so many options for you to choose from that will increase your energy, vitality, and health! – Nicola, Signing in for Raw Girl
For more on Fasting check out these past posts:
Raw Girl’s 40 Day Soul Fast
“Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food.” ~Dallas Willard
About two months ago, I kept getting a “hunch” that I needed to do a fast. Not a fast for health reasons. A fast to confirm and deepen my relationship with God, the ultimate force. Right at that time, a friend of mine who is actually a meat-eater, was doing the Daniel fast for 40 Days. The Daniel fast is based on the prophet Daniel’s diet that consisted of only fruits, vegetables, and drinking only water for a period of 21 days. Additional restrictions include no wine, no breads, meat or sweeteners.
I knew my soul was craving a 40 Day fast and after speaking to my friend I thought that was it, I would do a Daniel fast for 40 Days too! But in the weeks after my encounter with her, I allowed myself to get lazy about it. It’s too long I thought. Then a couple of weeks later God made it pretty clear that I was not going to get away with avoiding a 40 Day fast. I was in New York at the beginning of May, and another friend who knew nothing about my desire to fast and subsequent laziness, gave me a Christian book called The 40 Day Soul Fast. I almost laughed out loud. AHA! Here was another sign, and this time I knew that I could not ignore it. The next day, May 7, 2012, I began my 40 Day journey. During the 40 Days I chose to be 100% raw and read excerpts from the book, as each chapter was dedicated to a day of the fast. Funnily enough, at the exact same time by happenstance, my mother and father decided to embark on a vegan fast together for 40 Days.
During the fast, at times I would feel like I was going through the motions. Probably because I was. I ate raw food, focused on prayer, meditation once a day, attended Bible study, read the book, listened to an awesome CD of gospel tunes made for me by a friend. Nothing seemed to be HAPPENING. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I continued to go day by day and eventually my impatience was replaced with devotion to being present and engaged. The fast ended on June 15th and it seemed to happen so suddenly I was left wondering what I had gained although I had noticed the immediate effects of meditating. Now a week following I have been inundated with daily blessings, miracles, and a deep sense of peace. It’s an amazing sense of grace that has emerged from feeling an intimate connection with THE SOURCE. Post-fast, I am continuing to cultivate that relationship with continued daily practice of meditation. Health is beyond just the body, it’s the soul/spirit, body, mind. All must be nourished in order to create optimal wellness, so it’s important to find what mindfulness practice works for you an incorporate it.
I happen to be Christian, and in the Bible the power of fasting is advertised regularly through the struggles and triumphs of many biblical figures. Across all religions examples can be found of how fasting unleashes extraordinary power and connection with THE FORCE. The great news for veggie lovers is that the way we eat already connects us with the divine flow. My mother, who after fasting for 40 Days on a vegan diet has now become a vegan, said that she is amazed by how at peace a vegetable diet has made her feel. Yes, we are what we eat, and when we eat plants we become one with the stillness of nature. A raw food lifestyle can accelerate your spiritual journey even further, intentionally or unintentionally. Years ago when I went raw and also happened to begin meditation simultaneously, I experienced an increase in synchronicity, heightened energy, and noticed that things I desired or thought about seemed to be drawn effortlessly to me. All that said, fasting is not for the faint of heart. Listen to your body, mind, and soul. If you are feeling cluttered, overwhelmed, disconnected, want to break bad habits, or just want to discover or renew your relationship with the Divine source, I highly recommend a spiritual fast. -XoXo Raw Girl
For more insights on fasting, check out this past post Wise Ones on Fasting.