Fasting: Letting your body heal
What do we know about fasting?
Fasting is a spiritual practice as old as time. Literally every main religion and every ascended master that is world known mentioned fasting in one way or another. I will not deep dive into describing how and when they were mentioned, you can just Google that if you are curious. There are so many sources and texts out there on the subject.
I want to focus on my experience with it, the benefits which are both physical and spiritual, and current trends.
But first, let’s start with the culture of eating and gathering around food. Nowadays, food is a way for people to gather and spend time together. Our society has become obsessed with what makes us healthy and keeps our weight in check. It’s an addiction, a codependency. For the longest time, this was mainly a women’s issue but as the food quality decreased and opinions of doctors, media and other well respected health gurus diverged, this is now a source of focus for both men and women. As technology makes everything more and more accessible by grocery deliveries, “healthy” fast food and Keto diets, etc. we are “hunting” less and less for our food, we sit more, and our energy becomes stagnant which leads to disease. We are eating often and we are eating calorie dense foods vs nutrient dense foods. What does that do to our bodies and more importantly to our etheric bodies? This cycle and behavior is slowing down our metabolism, making all bodies, physical and etheric, perform sub-optimal.
I started getting into intermittent fasting late last year, I bought an amazing book that I absolutely love, but that I did not read until 4 months ago. I browsed it artificially and said to myself “This is easy and I know what I need to do”. I did 16/8 which means I fasted for 16 hours, ate during an 8 hour period. It wasn’t hard to do and I practiced it up until June of this year and then I was guided to read the book, The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung. I also read through all the mainstream religions and their take on fasting.
I was born Greek Eastern Orthodox, though I no longer associate with this religion and its practices. I do remember as a child, before Easter, my family and I would fast for 40 days, and we would only eat plant based food. In the Muslim religion, there is the 40 day fast before Ramadan, no eating until sundown for 40 days, and so on.
Ever since I bought this book, I really wanted to do a 48 hour fast. I was intrigued and at the same time scared. I’ve heard the preconceived notions that fasting makes you cranky, lightheaded and all around puts you in a bad mood. I’ve also heard people saying “That’s so hard. I couldn’t do it.” and I believed them. I took those words and made them my own. It took me 8 months to build up the courage to do a 48 hour fast. I ended up going for 72 hours the first time I did and I wasn’t cranky, foggy or dizzy. I felt energized, focused and light. Of course I’ve experienced some headaches, mild dizziness and the temptation to break my fast, and I believe the latter had more to do with my programming in relation to fasting than anything else. If I bothered to read the book cover to cover, I would have come across the section that talks about what happens to one’s sodium levels in the body. By day 2 your electrolytes are off balance hence the dizzy spells since you are not ingesting any sodium. There is a way around it and it’s such an easy fix, drink a couple of low sugar electrolytes drinks throughout the rest of the fast. The headaches and dizziness improved and so did my overall well-being. I continued my workouts and meditation but on the 3rd day I took it easy.
The second time I did the 72 hour fast it was easier, so just like anything else practice makes the master.
This is what happens by the second day of fasting: your body begins a deep detox process in which it gets rid of sick and old cells in your body, this is called autophagy. Autophagy is the body's way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer and healthier cells. Depending on your overall health, the symptoms of lethargy, headaches, etc. may be more severe but in my case they were short lived. I’ve been eating a whole food plant based diet for years so my system was in pretty good shape.
My favorite part about doing the 72 hour fast is that my days have more freedom. I am not thinking about what I will eat next, do I have to cook, go shopping or do dishes. This gives me more time to focus on meditation, reading and listening to my body more closely, going within on a deeper level.
Depending on what your diet is like you can spend up to 30% of your energy digesting the food you eat. During fasting you can use that 30% on creative projects, getting stuff done faster and last but not least give your body a break from digestion and filtering the substances you put in your body. You are giving your body time to regenerate and heal. If you have preexisting conditions, always check with your doctor before attempting to do an extended fast.
If you are generally healthy and have no preexisting conditions here are some tips on how to try a 48-72 hour fast:
Eat your last meal at 5pm and begin your fast.
Drink water, tea, coffee (if your goal is to give your gut a break, take the coffee out of the equation) with no sugar or milk.
After day 1, drink 1 to 2 electrolytes drinks (make sure they are low in sugar) I recommend Nuun hydration.
If you absolutely feel like you need to eat something because your headaches are not going away, soak 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in a glass of water for 15 minutes and drink it.
Try and take a break from your supplements and medications if it’s safe. The goal here is to give your body a break from processing so that it can focus on the cleaning and regeneration process.
Get plenty of sleep, go to bed early and read a book or meditate.
If you want to workout make sure you stay hydrated. Getting dizzy is a sign of dehydration and not a lack of fuel in your system.
Don’t tell your friends and family you are fasting. Some people mean well, but you do not need people to tell you “That’s going to be so hard. I couldn’t do it”
I now do a 72 hour fast every month and continue doing the 16/8 2 to 3 times a week. My goal is to do a 5 day fast by the end of the year.
Remember, our ancestors were fasting for longer periods of times, food was not as easily available as it is today so fasting was as normal as getting coffee from Starbucks. In a way I think our ancestors were much better off, they ate whole food full of nutrients, they hunted for their food (which means they exercised on a regular basis) and their food was fresh and not pumped up with drugs and preservatives to keep it edible. If they could do it, so can you!
Give your body a break so it can heal on its own.
Share your comments below and happy fasting!