Re: My post-fast plan... feedback please!

"Does this sound like a reasonable plan for the first week of my refeeding (following a 28 day fast... only 5 days to go!!)

Breakfast: Apple. Watermelon.

Lunch: Apple. Banana.

Dinner: Apple. Avocado.

I will still continue to drink plenty of water. I do not plan to do a whole lot of juicing, but will break the fast with juice for breakfast on the first day, not introducing solids until lunchtime.

...
Any feedback on my plan would be very welcome. I know it's quite limited on foods, but these are the fruits I've really been craving. I am not a big fan of vegetables and feel that psychologically, I need food rather than juice. So yes, I recognize that it lacks variety, but I cant help but feel that after 28 days on water, I am entitled to enjoy my favourite produce!!"

Hi Lilac :),

Instead of having the same plan for day 7 as you have for day one, it is important to consider that day 1 is an extremely delicate day and that by day 7 your body will be quite a bit further along in it's digestive capacities. Whatever i am having, i will be having a lot less of it on day one than on day 7.

I believe through experience and through the experiences of many others that whole fruits on day one (unless you were to reach genuine hunger) will cause you to weaken rather than strengthen, this through over challenging your digestive system at a time when it is sound asleep. Whole fruits are a digestively simple food, but are nowhere near as simple as juice. Fiber is good under normal circumstances, but not in the earliest stages of breaking a fast. 28 days after fasting, our body deserves and requires the very simplest of foods to give it a chance to awaken and re-adjust.

Psychologically you want whole fruits, but physiologically, unless your are different from the majority of people, your body is most likely not ready. If you are in a hurry to get your strength back, which is natural and understandable, perhaps it seems counter-intuitive, but the best way to accomplish this is to take it very slow, enjoying only juices in the first several days. Food that is more than your body is ready to digest, whole fruits as an example, by overtaxing your digestive system will likely send you backwards in strength, not forward.

Thus I would highly recommend juices alone for several days, but if you were determined to have whole fruits, i would have perhaps one total cup of watermelon on the whole of day 1, 2 cups at the most if your body is not struggling with it.  Watermelon while not as digestively simple as juice is perhaps the simplest of all fruits. Whether you are having juices or whole fruits, subsequent days bring slight increases in what you are digestively capable of.

 Dr. Shelton on Breaking the fast and Re-feeding:

"The care that must be exercised in breaking a fast is in proportion to the length of the fast and to the general condition of the fasting individual. The approved plan is to break the fast on liquid food, using for this purpose fruit juice, or tomato juice, or watermelon juice, or vegetable broths. Fruit juice--usually orange juice--is used most often.

   Orange juice, grapefruit juice, or fresh tomato juice are excellent with which to break a fast. Watermelon juice or the juice of the fresh pineapple or of fresh grapes may also be used. A half a glass may be given at the start. After an hour, another half glass may be given. Juice may be given every hour the first day. The second day a whole glass of juice every two hours may be employed. On the third and fourth days give the whole orange or grapefruit and on the fifth day other foods may be added. Large meals should not be attempted in less than a week. These instructions are for the long fast. A short fast requires less care in breaking and is usually followed for several days by an eliminating diet."

This is another post i made on the topic of re-feeding in WaterDesign's 42 day experience: http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1629187#i


Great job on 23 days and wishing you all the best :).