Focus: Fasting

Most of us tend to eat too much and too rich foods. Treat your body and especially your digestive organs with some rest from time to time. Detoxification programs, such as fasting, are great to cleanse the entire system and flush out unwanted toxins.

Learn more about the art of feeling light. 

One should always prepare for fasting

For five-day fasting, a three-day preparation is sufficient. However, if you wish to fast for a week or ten days, the preparation time should be longer. The preparation process slowly relieves the body of all accumulated waste substances. In the three days before the actual fasting begins, your diet should consist of boiled vegetables, soups, salads, fruit, and yogurt every once in a while. Heavy or fatty foods should be avoided.

What is fasting food like?

There are different approaches to fasting. Most people go for only liquid food. All beverages, except for teas and water, should be made out of fresh fruit and vegetables, with no additives except for salts and herbs used for soups.

Sprouts cocktail: beats, carrots, apples and sprouts. – Strength cocktail: celery, greens and spinach.

For breakfast and lunch, you should have two glasses of fruit or vegetable juice in different combinations. Dinner, however, should consist of vegetable juice only. You may also have clear vegetable soups for lunch and dinner. Added herbs will make it less monotonous. During winter the soup should contain less salt, whereas in summer you can add more due to sweating.

You should drink a lot of water and tea, especially if you have a feeling of lack of energy and slight nausea. Honey lemon water gives you energy by raising blood sugar levels. This is also a good drink to have during light sports activities.

Sometimes stress, burdens and certain past events become evident during this intense detoxification. It happens that some people have an aversion to fresh juices. If so, you might want to consult a nutritionist to discuss further options, such as eating limited solid foods.

Fasting is not a weight loss regime – the importance of after-care

Fasting is way more than just a tool for weight loss.

A lot of people start a fasting cure with only a weight loss effect on their mind. Of course, during fasting, you indeed lose weight, but if you do not follow the instructions for fasting after-care, the famous yo-yo dieting effect is inevitable.

Thus, the so-called “strengthening days” after fasting are absolutely crucial. The number of strengthening days should be the same as fasting days. During this time your system will slowly be reintroduced to solid foods.