There is a vast difference between fasting and starving. Starvation will occur ~only~ when the body is forced to use vital tissue to survive.

Date:   2/9/2006 7:08:32 PM ( 18 y ago)

    For most of us the attempt to fast has not been a pleasant experience. Even to go a few hours without food will cause headaches and discomfort. The tongue turns yellow, breath becomes foul, weakness and dizziness set in, which confirms what you already suspected—fasting is unhealthy and dangerous!

Truth is, most North Americans eat in such a way that the body is never allowed to cleanse itself. What many experience in the early stages of fasting is the cleansing of built-up waste. The result of an unhealthy lifestyle.

Human fat is valued at 3,500 calories per pound. Each extra pound of fat will supply enough calories for one day of hard physical labor. Ten pounds of fat is equal to 35,000 calories! This is equivalent to 35 pounds of fish or 192 pounds of carrots, good value for your fat. We carry around a supermarket of reserves, capable of sustaining us for many weeks.

All living things have the ability to survive harsh circumstances. Organisms are able to store nutrients in the fat, blood, bone marrow and other tissues. Camels are capable of storing fat and water in their humps, tadpoles abstain from eating when their legs are developing, subsisting on their tails which are no longer needed. The Mexican Gila Monster stores up reserves in its tail when food is plentiful, and can survive for six weeks when food is scarce. The marine iguana of the Galapagos Islands is named the Vegetarian Dragon because it lives on seaweed. It can abstain from food for over one hundred days. In the Western World, food is plentiful and often rich in calories. Unless involved in exercise, we do not have the opportunity to use up the excessive fat reserves stored conveniently around the expanding waistline.

There is a vast difference between fasting and starving. During the absence of food, the body will systematically cleanse itself of everything except vital tissue. It continually readjusts to make minimum demands on reserves. Starvation will occur only when the body is forced to use vital tissue to survive.

Fasting intensifies healing. Tissues and organs are repaired rapidly. To heal illness the body must pull all of its resources towards cleansing and repairing. To do so, it attempts to reduce or stop digestion by removing the desire to eat. Wounded animals will fast, emerging to eat only after their wounds or broken bones have healed. This is the reason why there is little desire to eat food when sick—the body wants to focus all of its resources on healing.

Our body goes into a state of fasting while we sleep. With great patience, it waits until we start dosing off, and finally, in the sleep state, it begins its miraculous work of cleansing. Upon awakening from this short fast, the tongue is coated, breath foul, skin puffy, and the mind foggy. These are all early symptoms of the body in a state of detoxification, short little holidays taken every night from a life of feasting. Bacon, eggs, a side order of pancakes, and a cup of coffee is a sure way of halting detoxification—of course, you feel instantly better, attributing it to a greasy breakfast. Break-fast is appropriately named, breaking a nightly fast with a morning meal.

One of the blessings you will experience later in a fast is effervescent energy when rising out of bed in the morning. No sleepy dirt or puffy eyes and your hair in perfect place. A breath sweet as the morning mist that flows over hills covered in spring flowers. Fasting, followed by a healthy diet, is the way of rediscovering the birth of a new day.

Ingestion of mucus-forming foods clogs the body's microscopic tubes and membranes. This allows internal waste to build up, increasing the chance of illness. Fasting dissolves this internal mucus, allowing the body’s natural cleansing to occur. It is common, during fasting, for the nose and throat to pass sticky mucus, clogging the sinuses. White strands of mucus may be found in the stool after the first meal.

In December, 1903, under the supervision of Mr. Macfadden, eight athletes entered an athletic contest in Madison Square Gardens. Amazingly, all were on the seventh day of a water fast. Joseph H. Waltering, one of the eight, won both the 50-yard dash and the 220-yard run. Another member of the eight, Gilman Low, won first prize in the strength contest. The following day on the eighth day of his fast, in front of 16,000 well-fed spectators munching on popcorn and peanuts, he established nine world records for strength and endurance that would stand for years.

• dead lifting 950 lb. three times in four seconds
• leg lifting 1,800 lb. 18 times in 18 seconds
• back lifting 2,500 lb. five times in ten seconds

Dr. Ehret who was an avid faster, walked for ten days through the mountains, fasting on water. Bragg, another fasting enthusiast, walked 30 miles, across Death Valley, in July during a fast. It was an invigorating walk for Bragg, but for the ten athletic college students who went with him through the blistering heat, it would be an experience which they would never forget. Enjoying his first stroll so much, he decided to hike another 30 miles the next day. Not bad for a great-grandfather!

Why does fasting have such a powerful effect in healing the body? Fasting dissolves diseased cells in a systematic manner, leaving healthy tissue. The result is a thorough cleansing of the tube, membrane and cellular structures. There is a remarkable redistribution of nutrients in the fasting body. It hangs on to precious minerals and vitamins while disposing of excess elements and inferior materials.

There should be no doubt that fasting is not only healthy, but a physical blessing. Yet, this healing is just a fringe benefit to the true value of fasting. Fasting can reach down to affect the very core of your relationship with God.

There is much to be said for the effects of fasting on the brain and senses. The brain is sharper when hungry. When University of Chicago students fasted for seven days, while attending classes, mental alertness increased and their progress in school work was cited as remarkable. The universal testimony of fasters is that their thinking is enhanced.

The lymphocytes seek out the dirtiest toxic residues which have accumulated in the cells as a result of years of unhealthy eating. They burn this toxic filth as fuel. This reaction is a double-edged sword—the body is finally able to rid itself of damaging carcinogenic pollutants which have built up in the system, but at the same time the burning of this unclean fuel results in physical discomfort, you are ridding yourself of health-robbing poisons. As the fast progresses, you will become cleaner and energy will increase, yet changes can happen within hours, passing from a cleansing crisis due to toxin elimination, to an energy peak.

While fasting, the blood sugar level drops below 70 mg/dl. To restore the blood to the normal glucose level, liver glycogen is converted to glucose and released into the blood. This reserve is enough for half a day. The body then reduces the basal metabolic rate (BMR). The rate of internal chemical activity in resting tissue is lowered to conserve energy.

Fats, composed of transformed fatty acids, are broken down to release glycerol from the gliceride molecules and are converted into glucose. Ketones are formed by the incomplete oxidation of fats. It is suspected that the ketones in the blood depress the appetite by affecting the food satiety center in hypothalamus. You may feel hungry for the first few days of the fast. This effect is temporary. The desire to eat will disappear. The body embraces the fast as the digestive system is able to take a much-needed rest, focusing all of its energies on cleansing and healing.

It is easy to forget that you are fasting, especially during a juice fast. On the latter part of an extended fast you can experience more energy, clear mindedness and healing than you have had since childhood. Appetite returns only when the body has finished its internal cleansing. Lack of hunger may last 40 to 60 days, depending on whether you are on water or juice.

An interesting phenomena may occur during an extended fast. Old injuries may become irritated and painful. This is a result of the body's increased ability to heal during fasting. If you had broken your arm 10 years ago, there would be scar tissue that has built up around the break. At the time of the break, the body's ability to heal was directly related to lifestyle. If you lived on a junk food diet, the body's natural healing ability was compromised. A child's broken arm will heal much more quickly than the arm of an 80 year old. This is because the child does not have years of toxic build-up.

During fasting, the body's healing process is at optimum efficiency. As the body scours for dead or damaged tissue, the lymphocytes enter the older damaged tissue surrounding the break, secreting substances to dissolve the damaged cells. These substances irritate the nerves in the surrounding region and cause a reoccurrence of aches that may have disappeared years earlier, completing the healing process.

During a cleansing crisis, all of the chocolate bars, French fries, and potato chips enter the bloodstream, not a pleasant experience. But your body is finally able to rid itself of years of accumulated, damaging substances. During water fasting the process of catabolism is more intense than in juice fasting. Lowering the calorie intake intensifies cleansing. When the toxic residues enter the blood, they affect mind and body functions. Ketones, an intermediary metabolic product, may accumulate in the blood to high levels and cause ketoacidosis. Combined with high levels of urea, resulting from protein metabolism, this state can cause intense discomfort, headaches, back pain, dizziness, weakness and nausea; more commonly known as a cleansing crisis. The greater the quantity of toxins in the blood, the worse you will feel.

Enduring a cleansing crisis is the hardest part of the healing process. Unless called to a water fast, when in a cleansing crisis, sip melon juice, carrot juice, or herbal tea with honey and wait it out. Do not eat during a cleansing crisis. The body is overloaded with the work of removing toxins. Digestion will make matters worse. Using the enema kit and drinking juice will help. Focusing on the Lord during a cleansing crisis will give you strength and determination. After the body rids itself of this toxic cargo, you will experience a wash of health!

When the cleansing crisis is over, the body has been able to eliminate toxins that have accumulated for years. Now comes the reward; boundless energy, clarity of mind, soft supple skin, emotional stability and loss of cravings for unhealthy foods.

The experience is similar to driving an old car that has needed major repairs. The brakes squealing, paint peeling, and engine knocking. You pick the car up after a week in the garage, it shines with fresh paint, new brakes, shampooed interior and a finely-tuned engine. It’s like rediscovering your car all over again.

We should not be surprised at the physical benefits of fasting. Jesus fasted and His short time on earth is a road map to mankind on how to live in freedom and in the blessings of God. Following in His footsteps will always lead to God’s fullness and joy. Yet fasting’s benefit to the body is only the beginning of the story. There is a great spiritual authority in fasting. An authority needed now more than any time in our history.

Juice Fasting 

(Excerpt from Fasting To Freedom)

For your first fast and for the purpose of healing disease we recommend a juice fast over a water fast. Fasting on water has become a near impossible exercise for a body that has been nurtured on poisons. 

Cells are like tiny sponges, they absorb what you breathe, eat, drink and apply to skin. As a result of man-made chemicals and processed foods the body's natural ability to fast has been compromised. Water fasting becomes a hellish experience.  Juice fasting has a greater ability to encourage healing, compared to fasting on water. Juice fasting cleanses the body while supplying a dramatic increase in vitamins, minerals and enzymes.

The juice of fruits and vegetables is filled with healing, cleansing properties which allow the body to gently and safely detoxify. Juice fasting has become an effective stepping-stone to water fasting.

Benefits of Juice Fasting

Radiating with God-given power, ruthlessly attaching itself to anything harmful in the body, giving it the heave ho. A living fuel that takes no digestive energies from the body, allowing the body's entire focus to be on healing and rejuvenation. Packed with vitamins, minerals, living enzymes, antioxidants, phytochemicals, yet low enough in calories to force the body to cannibalize on its filthy waste, propelling you to vigorous physical health and clarity of mind. Sure, there will be periods of toxic crisis, but once you learn not to fear them, they can bring an exciting anticipation that your body is going through a deep cleansing that we call The Babylonian Bends.

Toxins out

1. Eliminate life-robbing food that hinders the body's God-given recuperative abilities.

Nutrients in

2. Ingest nutrients that energize the body's natural regenerative abilities.

For most health conditions, juice fasting is the best method to transform health. Through juice fasting, thousands of individuals have been freed from serious diseases such as cancer, leukemia, arthritis, high blood pressure, kidney disorders, skin infections, liver disorders, alcoholism and smoking.

This system of removing waste and supplying a full spectrum of nutrients has an advantage over any weight-loss program.

How long should I fast? The Lord will lead you. Do not be afraid if you are taken on a fast involving 20, 30 or even 40 days. Longer juice fasts enable the body to cleanse toxins that have been accumulating in your cellular tissues from birth. The length of juice fasting can range anywhere from three to forty days. Thirty days is the standard therapy used by health sanitariums in Europe.

The amount of juice you drink will determine the intensity of cleansing. Drinking small amounts of juice supplies fewer calories, thereby increasing detoxification. The more intense the cleansing, the greater the discomfort. Juice fasting allows you to have control over the process of elimination. However, when the body enters a cleansing crisis due to toxins in the blood, no amount of juice will eliminate the discomfort. You must wait it out.

Juice fasting can include fresh juice, herbal teas, sweetened with honey or Sucanat, vegetable broth, Barley Green, wheatgrass juice, and supplements helpful to your specific condition.

Modified Juice Fasting

You may consider modifying the fast by including quarter slices of avocado or banana to slow the cleansing process. Modified juice fasting is good for those with health restrictions such as diabetes or hypoglycemia. Bananas and avocados are slow to digest and maintain a stable blood sugar level. Their high calorie content slows the intensity of the fast and, because they are easy to digest, the body still devotes energy to cleansing.

The natural healing ability of juices reinforces the compassion that God has for supplying our physical needs.

Common Physical Reactions To  Fasting

(Excerpt from Fasting To Freedom)

BACKACHES. Back pain may increase due to toxins in the lower intestine. The blood vessels that draw nutrients from the colon are very close to the nerves of the spine. Back pain often decreases after elimination of the toxins. Back exercises also can relieve some pain. A cold pack also will help. Using the enema kit will be the best remedy.

BAD BREATH. Waste passes through the lungs which are an eliminative organ. Brushing the tongue with a tooth brush, using dental floss and rinsing with mouthwash will reduce bad breath.

CANKERS. These may develop from a toxic buildup in the mouth. Unhealthy bacteria increases between the teeth. The tongue becomes coated with waste. To stop cankers, gargle with sea salt mixed with water several times daily. Dabbing the sore with tea tree oil or vitamin E quickens the healing process.

COLD VIRUS. Mucoid is the perfect food for viruses. Toxins weaken the immune system. When large quantities of toxins and mucus are in the blood due to a fast, they can cause a susceptibility to colds. To fight a cold, continue fasting to eliminate the mucus. Reduce the liquid intake and drink lemon juice. When your body is clean from mucus, you will never catch a cold again.

BLACKOUTS. During fasting the body conserves energy. The heart pumps slower and blood pressure lowers. Standing or moving quickly from a resting position will cause the blood to flow to the legs. For a few seconds, the brain may not get enough oxygen, causing blackouts and dizziness. To stop a blackout get down on one knee or sit. Lowering your center of gravity will instantly stop a blackout. Blackouts are more frequent during water fasting.

MUSCLE TIGHTNESS. The muscles may become tight and sore due to toxin irritation. The legs can be the worst affected as toxins accumulate in the legs. A self massage, hot baths, stretching and exercising will help to release the toxins.

NAUSEA. When waste is released too quickly by the lymph glands, some of the toxic overload is taken by the liver and secreted with bile into the stomach. This causes nausea. Drinking water or carrot juice will dilute the bile and toxin mixture helping to flush it from the system.

NERVOUSNESS. The elimination of toxins can irritate damaged nerves. Exercise will relieve tension. Use quarter slices of avocado to slow the fast.

SKIN DISTURBANCES. The skin may become oily as rancid oils are purged from the body. People with problem-free skin may have a few days of pimples or boils. A pallid complexion is also a sign of waste in the blood. When cleansed of mucus and toxins, the skin will be healthy, soft and unblemished.

TIREDNESS. Tiredness is normal during water or restricted juice fasting. If the tiredness is too much, increase the quantity of sweet juices like melon and carrot juice.

HYPOGLYCEMIA. Do not juice fast unless you use bananas and avocados to balance the blood sugar level. (refer to How to Get Well and Hypoglycemia: a Better Approach by Paavo Airolea)

KIDNEY PROBLEMS. Fasting can irritate damaged kidneys due to the amount of toxins they filter. Try short juice fasts of 3 to 5 days before progressing to longer fasts. Avoid high-protein meals, refined flours, commercial oils and fats. (refer to How to Get Well by Paavo Airolea)

LIVER DISEASE. The liver can become toxic due to abuse. If the liver is badly degenerated, cleansing must be done in stages. Start with short juice fasts and lead to fasts over five days. Avoid heavy proteins, refined flours and fatty foods. Eat meals of fruits or vegetables between the fasts. (refer to How to Get Well by Paavo Airolea)

AGING. There is no such thing as being too old to fast--it is exactly what the body needs to feel young again. Shorter fasts are recommended to start. Assess your physical state as you proceed. If juice fasting becomes too intense, bananas and avocados will lessen the intensity by slowing the cleansing.

You will most likely be without hunger throughout the fast. The absence of hunger can last days or weeks making the fast easy to stay on. 

Fasting tip: Dizziness
You may experience dizziness, if you do get down on one knee and the dizziness will stop immediately. 

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