Re: Diet for breaking a 10 day water fast

What ChrisB wrote is definitely the standard advice that most internet articles endorse (and I believe its how Shelton did it?) - I would like to mention that Fasting and Eating for Health (and Fuhrman's more detailed advice in the members section of his website) advises that high water content high nutrition fruit (oranges, melons, watermelon, pears, and apples are all mentioned either in Fasting and Eating for Health or by Fuhrman in the members forums), and vegetables (steamed zucchini only as far as I've seen - discourages salads for a few days).

Since Fuhrman has supervised many fasts that way, there is clearly nothing ill advised about choosing high water content fruit over vegetable or fruit juices. I believe both means of breaking a fast probably have certain advantages and disadvantages (starting with juice for instance i think can be a psychologically easier way of easing ones way back to eating - it also is useful in clarifying that juice consumption is a diet not a fast - moreover it probably has the potential advantage of restarting one's digestive tract before reintroducing food - whereas high water content fruit has the advantage of slower release of sugars, fiber content that restarts normal digestion faster, and depending on how the juice is made a potentially better micro-nutrient profile)

Given this I think it comes down to personal preference.

But whatever you do, don't break your fast with one of those harsh meals that people on the fasting for weightloss forum use - anything but fruit and vegetables (juiced or raw or lightly steamed) with carbohydrates will risk refeeding syndrome and you'll get sick quickly, sometimes really sick - any kind of dense protein or fat will put a strain on your kidneys and you wont be able to digest it. Tweet