Living Yoga: Yoga and raw foods for radiant health and energy

Fasting for Health
by Ellen Livingston

"Fasting is a period of comprehensive, maximal rest augmented by abstinence from all foods." (Graham, Douglas N., Hygienic Fasting, 2001, p. 2.) This is the type of true fast I am writing about here, in which only pure water is taken in, to satisfy thirst. Notice Dr. Graham's emphasis on rest. In order for the body to direct maximum energy toward healing during a fast, sufficient rest is critical. This means rest on all levels: physiological, sensory, psychological, emotional, and digestive.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D., describes fasting as, " . . . the voluntary abstinence from all food and drink, except water, as long as the nutritional reserves of the body are adequate to sustain normal function. This is a state of relative physiologic rest." (Fuhrman, Joel, M.D., Fasting and Eating for Health, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1995, p.8.)

Fasting is not starving! The body is wise and knows how to live off of its plentiful reserves, consuming excess fats and waste proteins and converting them to glucose to use for fuel, and always carefully conserving all vital tissues. A trained fasting supervisor knows how to recognize the many signals the body gives when it is running low on available reserves, and requires re-feeding. Even very slim people carry enough nutrient reserves in their tissues to safely fast for a significant period of time without even remotely engaging in the biologic processes of starvation. Today the term "fast" is often used very loosely to describe a whole variety of dietary programs, which generally involve abstaining from certain food items, or taking in only certain juices or powdered formulas, etc. in an effort to cleanse the body, usually carried out while still working and tending to the demands of daily life. While some of these approaches can be beneficial, I want to make it clear that in this article I will be discussing the safety and benefits of a program of deep rest on all levels, while ingesting the required water only.

Therapeutic fasting works because the obstacles to healing are removed, and the body is enabled to fully express its capacity to self-heal. Health is our normal state, and is maintained through healthful living. The human body is always, always doing its best to create the state of perfect health that it innately knows. Unfortunately, we get in the way. We feed our bodies all manner of improper food-stuffs, we take in all kinds of toxins, and we allow ourselves to become chronically stressed and dangerously enervated, leading ourselves into a state of chronic acidosis toxemia.

It is only a matter of time before the toxic load we have created overwhelms our body's normal ability to maintain its desired homeostasis, and the often uncomfortable symptoms of disease appear, indicating the heroic efforts our body must now make to reduce the toxic overload. At this point we usually find a way, either through drugs, medicinal herbs or other ingenious interventions, to suppress or override the uncomfortable symptoms so that we can feel better quickly and maybe even continue our unhealthful habits. Unfortunately, we usually have not removed the cause of disease, and true healing does not take place. Remember that the body is a self-regulating, self-healing organism, when provided with healthful conditions. Any person with any symptoms of dis-ease is a likely candidate for a fast, because the body heals itself most rapidly while fasting and resting. The digestion of food taken in daily requires a tremendous output of energy. Other physical, psychological and emotional demands we put upon our bodies and minds also use up tremendous amounts of precious energy.

All this activity can drain the body of energy that might otherwise be used to fuel the healing processes in an overly toxic body. This state of overall enervation causes the body to accumulate acids faster than it can eliminate them, leading to the aforementioned acidosis toxemia. During a true fast, the sources of hyperacidity are eliminated, and the body can come back into balance.

Consider what Dr. Joel Fuhrman has to say about the benefits of an extended period of fasting: " . . . the blood pressure will drop, the level of retained metabolic wastes will fall, and the blood vessels will begin to soften and rid themselves of hard sclerotic plaque. . . . The tissues throughout the body's systems will begin to purify themselves and the rejuvenation process of the fast will have begun. . . . Within a short period of time, allergic and mucus-filled individuals clear their nasal passages, asthmatics breathe easier, arthritis sufferers report their pain is resolving, and cardiac patients begin to have increased circulation to their hearts. . . . Fasting has been repeatedly observed to alleviate neuroses, anxiety, and depression. . . . The body's wondrous ability to autolyze (or self-digest) and destroy needless tissue such as fat, tumors, blood vessel plaque, and other nonessential and diseased tissues, while conserving essential tissues, gives the fast the ability to restore physiologic youth to the system. By removing or lessening the burden of diseased tissue, including the fatty tissue narrowing the blood vessels, fasting increases the blood flow and subsequent oxygenation and nutrient delivery to vital organs throughout the body. . . Fasting enables the entire system to focus on the elimination of superfluous tissue and the retained waste that it was unable to break down and remove in the feeding state." (Fuhrman, Joel, M.D., Fasting and Eating for Health.)

Other physiologic changes during a fast include significant weight loss, low (but steady) blood sugar, a slowed respiratory rate, and heightened sensory and kinesthetic awareness. On a supervised fast, the person's overall condition is monitored daily, and the length of the fast is subject to many factors and thus is determined along the way, not beforehand.

Fasting is more comfortable than most people imagine. Because fasting enables "cleansing" of the internal system, overly toxic individuals may experience some initial symptoms of detoxification such as headaches, dizzyness, fatigue, cough or excess mucous, skin eruptions, diarrhea or other discomforts as the toxins become mobilized for removal. Usually these symptoms (which by the way do not occur in those who are in excellent health) subside after the first few days, and hunger also typically goes away by the second or third day.

Throughout the subsequent days or weeks of the fast, occasional symptoms may arise temporarily as the body continues to mobilize and eliminate toxins. The body is wise, and will always use the safest, gentlest methods of elimination when possible. Mostly, the faster will have the opportunity to enjoy a state of rest and a mostly comfortable, if fascinating, healing process, given the properly supportive fasting environment. It is important to trust in the body's wisdom, and to know that to the extent that it still has the vitality to do so, the body will always move itself toward a state of greater health when provided with the right conditions, and the body has the perfect agenda for this truly awesome accomplishment.

If you are interested in learning more about fasting, stay tuned for my upcoming posts about my experience. Recommended reading: Herbert Shelton, Fasting Can Save Your Life.

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