Fasting and Juice Fasting

Fasting, or abstaining from food, is by far the quickest and most effective way to detoxify the body and allow it to throw off the toxic residues that accumulate in the tissues and bloodstream.
It allows nature to take its course by awakening the body’s powerful cleansing and healing abilities, helping to cure disease, restore health, and prolong life.

Dr. Norman Walker, who practised periodic fasting and consumed fresh raw juices daily during the fasting period. To consume fresh cold pressed juices during a fast is a great way to maintain energy and nutrient levels.

Abstaining from food allows the body’s innate detox mechanisms to function at full capacity, in turn strengthening the immune system and taking the load off the digestive system. When fasting, all of the energy and enzyme power that the body normally uses to digest and process food is instead diverted to digesting toxic debris and acid wastes, while the digestive system itself remains dormant so no new wastes are produced.

Fasting also triggers the production of human growth hormone in the pituitary gland and releases it into the bloodstream where it circulates throughout the body and repairs damaged tissues, regenerates organs and rejuvenates the entire body. By stimulating secretion of human growth hormone, fasting not only helps cure disease and repair the body, it also restores vitality and prolongs life-it’s the body’s natural anti-ageing hormone.

Fasting has been practiced for thousands of years with 74 references being made to it in the bible in regards to Jesus who fasted frequently, sometimes for as long as forty days. Fasting is safe and until all toxins are eliminated, there’s simply no way that our bodies can rebalance and repair themselves.

There are many different types of fasting programs with varying degrees of intensity and duration. The most intensive fast is to drink nothing but water supported with some cleansing supplements such as bentonite clay and psyllium husks. This can be too extreme for most people and without colonic hydrotherapy sessions, the kidneys may become overloaded with toxins if they don’t pass out of the system effectively due to a clogged colon. This may in turn cause health problems.

Consuming fresh juices during a fast gives the digestive system a rest without sending the body into the most intense reaction. Most people need to start slowly and prepare the body well beforehand if going on a water fast, but juice fasting combined with colonics and the supervision of a skilled naturopath is beneficial for the average person.

The ideal duration for a fast is 7-10 days, as it takes exactly 7 days to completely purify the bloodstream and cleanse the lymphatic system of all residual wastes, however 2-3 or even 1 day fasts are a great way to start preparing your body for periodic cleansing.

The Healing Crisis

Usually on the third day of a juice fast, clients experience the unpleasant symptoms of the “healing crisis” that fasting triggers. Depending on how ‘toxic’ you are, these symptoms may range from feeling nauseous, tired and irritable to yellow eyes and skin, bad breath, coated tongue, and pain in the liver region.

This “crisis” marks the midpoint which means that the worst part of the fast is over, and that the healing stage is beginning. It is important to fast at least until you reach this stage otherwise you will not succeed in fully correcting the root causes of your ills.

A three day fast is sufficient, and some people stop after the 3 days and start to eat light foods, however to achieve a major cleansing of the bowels and bloodstream, and to rebalance the internal organs and partially detoxify the tissues it’s necessay to stay on the juice fast with colonics for 7 days.

After the healing crisis has passed, most people who are juice fasting in conjunction with colonic treatments, saunas and massage start to feel really amazing as their skin starts to glow and they feel lighter and more energised. They report feeling clearer in their mind aswell as their body and seem to generally have an optimistic disposition.

Semi-fasts using water and supplements, plus vegetable or fruit juices and a clear broth to provide energy and nutrition are easier to handle and they also provide excellent cleansing and healing results.

While fasting for 7 days will detoxify the entire body, it will not remove the 3-10 kilos (or more) of tough, toxic, mucoid matter that becomes deeply impacted in the bowel wall from years of poor dietary and lifestyle choices that begin in childhood.
The only way to rid your body of this toxic sludge is to dredge it out with a series of colonic irrigations done in conjunction with a fast combined with the use of the following specific supplements.

Fasting Supplements

It is very important to drink at least 2 litres of pure filtered water daily throughout a fast, even if you’re drinking raw juices and broth, to flush the toxins from your body via the kidneys. In addition to water, listed below are a few very effective supplements that you may like to consider taking whilst fasting to speed up the detoxification process, help remove the mucoid layer, and to promote rapid healing and blood purification.

Psyllium Husks

Psyllium is the single most important supplement for cleaning and clearing the digestive tract, particularly the lower bowels. Once consumed with plenty of water, psyllium forms a dense, mucilaginous bolus that sweeps like a broom throughout the entire digestive tract, loosening and eliminating pockets of impacted putrefactive waste and mucoid sludge from the deep folds of the colon. Psyllium helps regulate bowel movements, removes toxic residues from the colon, and accelerates the entire detox process. It is ideal during fasting as it’s bulking properties help curb hunger by making the stomach and intestines feel ‘full’.

Liquid Bentonite

Also known as ‘clay water,’ bentonite is a super-fine colloidal form of volcanic ash consisting of micro-molecules that are five hundred times smaller than water molecules. These molecules saturate the blood and bodily tissues and their negative charge attracts and neutralizes positively charged toxic molecules lodged deep in the tissues and fluids of the body which can then be carried away in the bloodstream for excretion. A single molecule of bentonite can absorb two hundred times its own weight in toxic wastes making it an extremely effective supplement to take during detoxing or fasting along with psyllium husks.

Green Super Foods

Green super-foods are any purified food concentrate made from the freshly extracted juice of young cereal grasses such as wheat, rye, and barley, or from water plants and green algae such as spirulina and chlorella which are grown on the surface of unpolluted lakes. These foods contain high concentrations of organic chlorophyll which is one of nature’s most potent blood purifiers and tissue cleansers. It also helps to oxygenate the bloodstream by increasing its haemoglobin content, enhancing detoxification and boosting iron levels.
Green foods also contains the full range of essential amino acids required for reproducing cells and repairing tissues, as well as all the vitamins, minerals and enzymes that the body needs to cleanse and heal itself.
Since green foods are highly concentrated extracts of living plants, they’re loaded with enzymes and can be easily digested without any need for additional energy or enzymes from the body. Their nutrients are rapidly released into the bloodstream and swiftly delivered to the cells and tissues in the body producing no acid wastes-an obvious advantage during detoxification. They also provide sufficient metabolic energy to help counteract the food cravings that often arise during fasting.

Lemon Juice

Fresh lemon is the only food in the world that is anionic, which means it carries a negative molecular charge. This does not apply to any other citrus fruit and the juice must be consumed fresh mixed with water on an empty stomach to retain its detoxifying properties. Lemons are very alkalising for the body and provide strong antioxidant benefits.
Lemon juice has a natural affinity for the liver and stimulates bile production which helps us digest food and absorb nutrients. It is one of the most powerful detoxifying supplements of all and can easily be added to any detox program.

Probiotics

These are the “friendly flora” of the digestive tract which help us digest food, assimilate nutrients, and process digestive wastes.
About 80% of our immune system is located in the gut so it is extremely important to build up the healthy flora to strengthen our immunity against infections, pathogens and to prevent food allergies or intolerances.
A primary goal of any fast is to clear the bowels of all bacterial colonies (good and bad), eliminate the wastes in which they breed, then repopulate the entire intestinal tract with fresh colonies of friendly flora.
Taking a high-potency powdered probiotic supplement is the quickest and most effective way of recolonising the gastro-intestinal tract and should be taken shortly before eating your first food after breaking a fast and continued for a month to ensure that the healthy flora are well established.

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