Why body needs fasting?
Human body works in two regimes: assimilation and cleansing (the same as detox). When we eat the body is meant to absorb nutrients from food. The problem is that modern food, because it is so far away from its natural form, is very low in nutrients and full of toxins. Not only has food a lot of chemical additives and salt, but it is also cooked in oil and is eaten in a wrong combination of animal protein and complex carbohydrates, flushed by good amount of different drinks that dilute our stomach juices. All this contributes to fat and toxin accumulation and metabolic damage. The body manages to get rid of some toxins during digestion process as well, yet such elimination happens only partially as digestion itself takes too much of body’s energy.
However, the body has another regime of functioning that starts working as soon as the digestion stops – it is cleansing. In order to describe the digestion and cleansing processes, famous naturopathic doctor Herbert M. Shelton in one of his books about fasting, provides the analogy of tap water flowing in two directions: bathroom and kitchen. If you open the water in the kitchen its pressure in bathroom is going to drop, the same happens with our bodies: when we eat, the energy for detoxification is dropping down. But as soon as you stop eating, the energy is released in its full extent in order for the body to do its job. The major cleansing that happens to our bodies is during our night time sleep, when the consumption of food is stopped, however, due to our detrimental eating habits, nighttime detox is not enough for us to be healthy and that’s why we need to fast.
What type of fasting is the best for detoxification?
Water fasting is one of the most famous and commonly practiced forms of fasting, can be safely implemented for from 3 to 5 days only (1). This assures a “soft” detoxification process which is easy for your elimination organs – the liver and kidneys to process.
If you plan to fast for longer period of time then vegetable and green juice fasting will be my highest recommendation. During this form of fasting the digestion process continues working to small extent, that slows down detoxification. It also has another advantage: The minerals in greens and vegetables help eliminate toxins out without harming liver and kidneys.
So what are the signs our bodies give us that we have to switch to fasting mode?
1. Rigorous hunger even if you are eating a lot
If you eat a lot and still fill hungry this means that your metabolism is damaged to such extent that your body has hard time assimilating food. Have you ever noticed that overweight people are always hungry and can not resist being without food for even a small time period? Their metabolism is slowed down by fat cells that are creating a mechanical barrier hindering the blood from reaching tissues and grasping all the nutrients necessary for normal functioning of the body. During fasting the amount of fat is reduced and the blood circulation is improved.
On the other hand you might have met people, who are always feeling hungry, are eating a lot, but facing difficulty gaining weight. This problem is mainly faced by active meat eaters. Their bodies are intoxicated from incomplete metabolism of animal protein: human body needs only 60 grams of protein daily, more contributes to metabolic damage and chronic inflammation. Fasting can fix this issue by removing toxins and restoring natural metabolism.
For more on metabolic damage please view my blog: “How to restore broken metabolism by understanding its root cause?”. For overcoming hunger please visit my blog: “4 tips to stop hunger on a diet”
2. Low energy
Low energy is the first sign that your tissues are not getting enough oxygen. The reason for this might be wrong diet causing blood deficiency, also high level of body toxicity can hinder blood circulation (2). Some people are afraid that fasting will deteriorate the quality of their blood, everything is the other way round: during fasting, the damaged blood cells are destroyed for the construction of new ones. As a result blood becomes more purified and more functional. This process is called “Autophagy”.
3. Increased amount of sleep
No doubt sleeping pattern varies from one person to another, but at the same time it is directly proportional to the amount of cleansing body has to perform after wrong eating. It is very easy to test by removing gluten and animal protein and switching on mainly fruit and vegetable diet for 3-4 days. You will immediately notice your sleep ameliorating. However, it is not a guarantee that your sleep will automatically improve during fasting as the cleansing process is stressful, but after fasting is finished you will feel yourself better in many ways, including sleep.
4. The disease itself
Diseases might vary according to genetic predisposition and age, however the true reason for all forms of illnesses, starting from infections finishing with chronic inflammation, headaches or eczema, is damaged metabolism caused by wrong diet. Metabolic damage destroys cells, hinders their normal functioning and makes them vulnerable to bacterial and viral attacks. Besides denatured and dead cells, bacteria feeds on mucus in our bodies. The reason for mucus formation is our bad diet as well – human gut is trying to protect itself from cooked food by mucus production. From gut mucus spreads in all body including lungs and is responsible to bad colds and lungs diseases we experience from our childhood.
Fasting represents a nice opportunity not only to recover sooner but also to detoxify from mucus. During bad cold, when viruses attack the body, they “dilute” mucus and we start sneezing. if you fast while being sick you will win in two ways: 1) You will assure fast recovery by depriving bacteria and viruses from food 2) You will easily detoxify your body from mucus by releasing energy for cleansing and healing.
However if you are suffering from chronic inflammation or any other chronic disease, fasting should be performed very carefully, because, during healing process the disease tends to switch from passive into an active form. This might cause pain and discomfort. I myself have committed this mistake when trying to heal chronic inflammation with long term dry fasting. This journey is described in my blog: “My 3+5+7 days experience of dry fasting”.