There is a nebulous, natural medicine technique that is very safe and heals the body easily of many ills. In spite of this fact, it is shunned and feared more than drugs and surgery, both of which, kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. I frequently find myself wondering what makes people choose the more dangerous methods of medicine that typically are a mere mask of symptoms, and actually fear the easy and natural methods of medicine (chiropractic and naturopathic) that have very few negative side effects.
Keep in mind that I have been a street EMT for over 18 years in my employment w/ the Phoenix Fire Department and I can confidently attest to the importance and need for modern medical interventions for trauma or late stage illness. There are clearly many issues that require dramatic interventions to extend the suffering of people who cannot turn their lives around to embrace the wellness lifestyle. Some people must have insulin or metformin for uncontrolled, advanced diabetes while others must have Atenolol or Corzide to treat uncontrolled blood pressure.
But, these major health issues can be turned around with the simple techniques that I alluded to in the opening paragraph. That technique is fasting.
Without creating a tome, I now will describe the basics of fasting. Don’t eat for a few days.
There, now that you are an expert, we can explore a few nuances of fasting that make a big difference in the short process of fasting to assist the body in curing disease processes, getting into keto, and losing weight.
First, on short fasts you can get away w/ something called ‘Dry Fasting’ where you even stop drinking water for a day or two. I am not a fan of this method because it makes no sense to stop the purifying effect of dilution in cellular processes and you don’t really gain anything by dehydrating yourself.
For any fast longer than one day, it is better to do what is called ‘Water Fasting’. Here you stop eating but continue drinking lots of water. By ‘Lots of Water’ I mean, one to two gallons a day during the summer and a gallon or so during the winter. This isn’t rocket science when we are doing fasts up to 7 days. Most people can work up to this length of time with a few practice fasts of 1 to 3 days over 2 or 3 months. Eventually we can take the plunge and fast for an easy 5 days.
How you’ll feel:
The first day is easy if you just keep busy. The second day is a challenge primarily because the body is going to complain quite a lot about not having a food fix; sort of like a cat that will cry whenever it doesn’t get what it wants. But, when you get past the second day, the third day is quite a nice experience. Once you get past the easier hunger signals that come around during the morning, noon, and night everything feels normal and you start to think straight. It is like a day of euphoria as the brain starts to clean up and burn ketones rather than sugar. The fourth day is more of the same; euphoria and ease when it comes to resisting the urge to eat. And it is even easier if you can stay away from friends and family while they are eating food. You will find that the most difficult part of fasting is the absence of social interaction. There is a clear connection between eating and socialization. After all, eating together is a sign of social cohesion and successful hunting. Humans are not meant to be alone. We are social animals and we get great joy from eating with friends and families. This is truly the most difficult thing about dieting and fasting.
So, fasting, it’s easy and it’s very salubrious. Drink lots of water and take some time for yourself for a few days so that you can stay away from the dinner table. It’ll do your body good and you’ll lose weight. In the next blog I’ll try to describe the physiological changes that benefit our bodies w/ fasting and how frequently we should do it.
Here’s to your health.