Re: defining "wait a while" (day 6 yay)

Some of the answer to this question is going to depend on the length of your fast. The longer the fast, the longer breaking the fast. You will read about many variations on how to do this. Mostly you have to exercise caution in reawakening the digestive system, particularly on a longer fast. You basically want to go from what is easiest to digest and work your way up. Again, this depends a lot on the length of the fast and also on the person, so it can be hard to pinpoint an exact day when you could start eating nuts. But the longer you can break the fast, the better, in my opinion.


I just read the following on fastingconnection.com by the fasting doctor there concerning this issue:

"In the vast majority of cases, we break the fast with a small bowl of ripe pawpaw (Papaya). This tropical fruit has anti-inflammatory properties and contains a lot of self-digestive enzymes. Thus the digestive system returns to work on "light duty", allowing it to slowly re-activate.

IF we have the time, we would stick to this one fruit diet for at least 3 days. If not, we have been able to return to a balanced diet in about 3 days even after a 40 day fast. The single fruit is followed by a variety of fruit, then adding salads, then starches if desired, working up to a balanced vegetarian diet before adding "proteins" and lastly fats. How fast or slow each step is followed depends on biofeedback, available time and clinical judgment again.

IF, however, a patient has a biofeedback for something else, we consider the biofeedback to take priority, provided it is
* Spontaneous
* Not induced by sight, smell, talking about, or any other EXTERNAL cue;
* For ONE, SPECIFIC, NATURAL food low in protein.
* Persistent

A feedback like this most likely indicates that the body has completed an internal "audit" and now knows what it needs."

http://www.fastingconnection.com/forum/General-Fasting-Topics1/3581-Transitio...


This seems to echo what I've read before about the order in which to break the fast: fruits->veggies->starches->proteins->fats.

When I broke both of my longer fasts (of approx. 21 days each), I did diluted juice and then worked my way up to full juice, then watery fruits like oranges and watermelons and then steamed veggies,veggie soups and plain salads. It was close to two weeks after the fast before I really added anything with protein or fat in it.

Many people do oranges to break the fast as well as watermelon, and again work their way up the chain from easiest to digest to hardest.

In comparison, if you broke your fast at 6 days, you could probably be eating nuts 3-4 days later.

Hope this helps.