| Nutritional Programs: Nutritional Program for Fasting | |
Work and be creative—and make plans for your life. Staying busy is helpful in breaking our ties to food. We also need time for ourselves. Most fasters experience greater work energy and more creativity and, naturally, find lots to do.
Cleanup—a motto during fasting. As we clean our body, we want to clean our room, desk, office, closet, and home—just like "spring cleaning." It clearly brings us into harmony with the cleansing process of nutrition. If we want to get ready for the new, we need to make space by clearing out the old.
Joining others in fasting can generate strong bonds and provide an added spiritual lift. It opens up new supportive relationships and new levels of existing ones. It will also provide support if we feel down or want to quit. Most people feel better as their fast progresses—more vital, lighter, less blocked, more flexible, clearer, and more spiritually attuned. For many, it is nice to have someone with whom to share this. Call our clinic or another that offers this service.
Avoid the negative influence of others who may not understand or support us. There are many fears and misconceptions about fasting, and they may affect us. We need to listen to our own inner guidance and not to others’ limitations, but we also need to maintain awareness and insight into any problems should they arise. Being in contact with fasters will provide us with the positive support we need.
The economy of fasting allows us to save time, money, and future health care costs. While we may be worried about not having enough, we may already have too much. Many of us are inspired to share more of ourselves when we are freed from food.
Meditation and relaxation are also an important aspect of fasting to help attune us to deeper levels of ourselves and clear the stresses that we have carried with us.
Spiritual practice and prayer will affirm our positive attitude toward ourselves and life in general. This supports our meditation and relaxation and provides us with the inner fuel to carry on our life with purpose and passion.
Conclusion
Fasting can easily become a way of life and an effective dietary practice. Over a period of time (different for each of us), through newly gained clarity, we can go from symptom cleansing to prevention fasting. Ideally, we should fast at specific times to treat symptoms and/or to enhance our vitality and spiritual practice. (See the cleansing schedule in the General Detoxification program.) Otherwise, we should support ourselves regularly with a balanced, wholesome diet. This diet may change somewhat through the year as we experience different needs, and occasional fasting or feasting may be valuable. We also must maintain good digestion and elimination.
Fasting is needed more frequently by those who have abused themselves with foods or other agents so readily available these days. We all need to return to the cycle of a daily fast of 12-14 hours overnight until our morning "break-fast," and then find our own natural pattern of food consumption. This usually means one main meal and two lighter ones. For low-weight, high-metabolism people, two larger or three moderately sized meals are probably needed. If we eat a heavier evening meal, we need only a light breakfast, and vice versa. Through awareness and experience, we can find our individual nutritional needs and listen to that inner nutritionist, our body.
Choosing healthful foods, chewing well, and maintaining good colon function minimize our need for fasting. However, if we do get out of balance, we can employ the oldest treatment known to us, the instinctive therapy for many illnesses, nature’s doctor and knifeless surgeon, the great therapist and tool for preventing disease—fasting!
(Excerpted from Staying Healthy with Nutrition ISBN: 1587611791)
| Elson M. Haas, MD is founder & Director of the Preventive Medical Center of Marin (since 1984), an Integrated Health Care Facility in San Rafael, CA and author of many books on Health and Nutrition, including ...more |
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