Fasting/ Cleansing Frequency

gymjunkie

How often should one fast to maintain optimal health and wellness? I realize that this is different for each person, but for someone with very regular “sufficient and efficient” bathroom visits who also maintains a pure, 100% raw diet of only fresh vegetables (excluding starch-like items such as corn and parsnips),non-sweet fruits, and some soaked or sprouted legumes and whole grains, how long and how frequently should he/she perform fasts or cleanses? Your feedback is most appreciated! Thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

Freesia

I really think it depends on the person.
There are many reasons for fasting.
If it’s for weight loss, then you can safely water fast regularly. For instance, I have reduced my weight by 2 dress sizes over a period of 5 months with intermittant water fasting… 10 days at a time.. every month or 6 weeks (or there abouts). Most people have enough reserves to fast for a much longer time, but constraints of family, work ,etc can get in the way.. so the 10 days is very do-able.
If you need a major cleanse, or if you are suffering from illness, perhaps a longer water fast is due. It really depends on the reason. Perhaps see a natural hygienic doctor conversant with water fasting if illness is an issue for you. There are some certain cancers, and metabolic situations where fasting is not advised.

I rather like doing 10 days over the shorter fasts. My own personal belief is that short fasts of 3 days or less really muck around with blood sugar levels… , not giving the body time to go into ketosis, where the body then depends on it’s own reserves to heal, mend ,shed weight, etc
I have heard of some european octogenarians who are in excellent health.. and have been all their lives.. that if they over indulge in food, say for instance they are one kilo overweight, they then fast for a day or two till they’ve lost that weight to maintain health…and healthy weight…I thought this sounded quite prudent and will try to live by this principle too once I’ve reached my target weight… ((5kgs to go)
I really enjoy fasting, it frees me from shopping, preparing, cleaning dishes, etc.. and I can devote my time to other pursuits. What a lot of people don’t realise is that water fasting comes without any hunger pangs because after a day or so there is no stimulus to eat… and voila!.. no hunger. This is a great fear of many people but really.. how many of us know what true hunger is?

Your age and exposure to environmental/ food related toxins would also have to be factored into your length-of-fast equation,

I don’t bother with so-called juice fasts anymore, I’ve done so many 30 day juice fasts over the years and definitely find water fasting to be superior.
These are just my musings on the subject.!