“I’m not going to Starve myself!”

“Fasting makes your body store fat!”

I’m sure you have heard similar statements made when you talk about Fasting For Health. There are many misconceptions when it comes to fasting. Lets take a look at the top 2

Fasting is Starving yourself

The easiest way to prove this wrong is to look at the definitions:-

Starving
To suffer or die from extreme or prolonged lack of food.

Fasting
Going without food, wholly or in part, for a predetermined period of time.
As you can see Starving is to suffer from a lack of food. This is not a choice you just do not have enough food to survive. Fasting is when you choose to not eat food or a certain type of food for a set period of time. In essence If you stop eating at say 7pm at night and don’t eat breakfast until 7am you are fasting for 12 hours. Thus the term Break – Fast being the first meal of the morning.
I personally don’t have Breakfast until mid day as I let my body fast for 16 hours a day. This allows a period to fully detox the body of any nasties it may have picked up. So in the morning I only have Herbal Teas (non Caffeinated.. crazy I know) and Water. After a week of two doing this it is great. Works really well for people who don’t like eating much when they wake up.

If I eat when I wake up it speeds up my metabolism

This little diddy comes from the general consensus of people trying to sell you diet books. It works on the theory of ‘The Thermic Effect of Food’ which has no doubt been proven. What it means is that when you eat food your body has to use energy to burn it. They say up to about a 10% increase in your basal metabolic rate. Now this happens when you start to eat for the day. For example if I start at Mid Day this effect will take place. If you eat at 7am the same system is in action.

What People don’t seem to realize is that the amount of additional calories you are shoveling in to your self in the morning because you just have to eat are no where near covered by the slight increase in your metabolism.

Another point to note is that people say you start your metabolism up when you eat. If that were true the population of the world would be dead. As if you metabolism stops you die. I bet you are thinking that this is starting to get interesting. If you want to learn more the book that opened my eyes was called ‘Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilion’

I have used his method before which does work well but what I really got out of the book was that fasting can be part of a day to day diet and it will enhance your lifestyle. It really amazed me what we are being told and the lies of the general media on this topic. Well it is here if you want to check it out. Even reading his information page teachs you some smart facts about Fasting For Health.

Fasting For Health – What to Do?

I truly believe this is something we all must work out. I have listed a few type of fasting that you can try below and you will find information on our site and others about the different methods (over time as I write them of course).

Water Fasting
This is commonly what is thought of when it comes to fasting. I have managed a 4 day water fast but wimped out any further. I hope to go to 7 Days this year. After about 3 days you do not feel hungry the hardest part is being around friends with food. So it is good if you can take a week off, read a book and just relax. This is great if you drink caffeine as it gives your body a break.

Juice Fasting
This is the best sort for starting off in fasting. It allows you to drink Vegetable and Fruit drinks. Usually a 7 Day Fast on Juice is easy to achieve and will help with digestion as well as metabolic speed. A couple of quick tips on Juice Fasting.

- Where possible add some Wheat Grass and other Superfoods from this List
- Try to drink The Fruit Juices in the Morning and Vegetable Juice at night.(Trust me on this)
- Try doing a Magnesium Flush on the first 2 days. It involves having a bout 2 grams of Magnesium each morning. It is a great Colon Flush.

Daily Fasting
After all the methods this is what has worked for me. I fast from 8pm at night to 12 the next day. Giving me a 16 hour window each day with no calorific intake. I have trained my body to expect food at mid day and have a couple of bits of in season fruit and then a Tuna Salad or similar. I then usually have a few snacks through the afternoon and finish with a protein rich meal at night. Works a treat.

Intermittent Fasting (Weight Loss)
This is what the Eat Stop Eat book talks about. It is based on the theory of Fasting 2 Days per week for 24 hours. By doing this your calorie intake is much less while letting your body detox at the same time. I used it initially to kick start my weight loss.

Individual Food Fasting
This is nice and simple and is exactly what is sounds like. It is a great way to have a break form Caffeine, Alcohol and White Carbs(Flour, Rice, Potatoes).

Spiritual Fasting
This is really just Water fasting for a longer period of time where you look at adding some meditation and a lot of time for your self. It is said to be great for healing disease as because you really centre yourself and take the digestive load off the body you can use that energy to heal. I know people who have fasted on water for 60 Days at a time and they love the feeling it gives them.

I hope that gives you a good overview of some points when it comes to Fasting. Enjoy and keep an eye out for more articles coming up on Fasting For Health.

** Update from 2nd of January 2010 **

Although I still Recommend Fasting for Health in small doses due to my study I will only use it for short 1 – 7 Day Clear out Cycles. Not for long periods of Extended Time.