Digest Number 709 -zsuzsa fasting

[Guest guest]

Hi Zsuzsa

 

I was considering doing the fasting master cleanse, at least for a short period

of time. I am very rarely hungry have had a hard time with my colon and losing

weight. Even though I have been 90 to 100% raw for 6 months now, I have not

lost one pound. Do you think that this fast will help? What do you normally do

when you are fasting just lie around and rest? what if you have small children?

Let me know your thoughts. Do you just start to eat again when you get hungry?

How do you know that you are truly hungry enough to start eating?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Denise

 

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[Guest guest]

I posted this a few days ago, but it has not appeared among the

messages to the list, at least not on the website, so I'm trying

again to send it. I apologize if duplicative.

 

Hi Denise,

 

I had read the posts about the " master cleanse " , and debated whether

or not to comment. I knew that doing so will begin another

controversy, and once again I'll be in the eye of the tornado. I

knew also that since I've written a bit about fasting, someone might

ask me a question about the MC. Thank you for doing so, and I guess

I'm right back in the thick of it again .

 

I would like to clarify what fasting is. Fasting is above all, a

thorough total physiological rest. It is not just not eating. Simply

depriving ourselves of food does nothing beneficial. It is the

complete rest of the body which is the only thing that does us good.

The body needs rest in order to cleanse and heal. We need sufficient

rest continually in our lives. But during the fast, the body is

doing extraordinary cleansing and healing, and so needs total rest.

 

One of the reasons to refrain from eating during the fast is to also

rest the digestive organs, because the body's efforts during the

fast are concentrated on elimination, not on digestion, and any

nutrition during the fast would not be digested and/or would hamper

the cleansing and healing of the body during the fast.

 

An important point about fasting is that it should not be done

therapeutically, meaning that one should not simply decide to fast,

choosing the beginning and end and duration of the fast, nor to try

to do it in order to get rid of a particular condition. This does

not do any good, as it is not doing what the body wants. We are

conditioned by the medical paradigm to regard the body as an object

to be manipulated, imposing our will on it, but that works against

the body.

 

The body in reality has incredible wisdom and intelligence, and it

is the body alone which knows exactly what it needs and when, and

will lead us to it. And only our body knows what it needs, no one

else does. Our job is to listen to the body, to get out of the way,

and obey the intelligence within us which is concerned with

preserving and maintaining our total health, and improving it as

much as possible, at all times.

 

The body alone is able to cleanse and heal, nothing and no one else

can do anything to help us with cleansing or healing. What we need

to do is to listen to the body, to when it wants us to fast, and

when, and for how long. And when it wants us to fast, we consume

nothing except pure water, and only if and when we are thirsty. We

give the body the other conditions of life, such as fresh air,

warmth, a bit of sunshine, and total rest, eyes closed. That is all

that a fast is, just total rest, no activity, and no nutrition at

all.

 

We cannot make our bodies cleanse and heal, our bodies do cleansing

and healing all the time anyway. They cleanse and heal while we are

eating our natural dietary, and there is no need to deprive the body

of food when we are hungry. Eat as the body directs us. The only

reason we stop eating during a fast is because the body at times

needs to do extraordinary cleansing and healing, and at those times

will cease normal activity. At those times, we must fast, and the

body lets us know when it is time, by ceasing hunger.

 

There is no in-between, between full nutrition, and fasting, in

Nature. " Cleanses " , " juice fasts " , etc., are simply inventions by

humans, and are unnatural and counter to health. We cannot improve

on Nature, we cannot know better than Nature. We are conditioned all

our lives to look for the next " new " , " improved " , product all the

time. That may work with automobiles and with detergents, but it

doesn't work with our bodies. By trying to improve on Nature, we go

in the opposite direction from Nature, away from that which brings

health.

 

Health is such a simple thing! Health is what we have by default, it

is not something we have to work at. Health is what we have when we

don't screw it up, lol. All we really have to do is to understand

what our bodies are trying to do, and then let them do it, not

interfere. The body is a self-cleaning, self-repairing, self-healing

organism. We don't need to do anything else. And anything else we do

will actually impair our health instead of accomplish the

improvement that we seek.

 

Another thing to understand is that during fasting, after 3-4 days,

hunger disappears, and the body goes into autolysis. When the body

is not getting any outside nutrition, it begins to break down and

digest the reserves of fat and muscle, though it does not touch any

essential fat or muscle--it is only if someone goes past the point

of the return of hunger, which the body signals unmistakeably, that

the body begins to run out of reserves and then begins to use the

essential fat and muscle, and that is called starvation.

 

But the autolysis of the reserve, or non-essential, fat and muscle

does not occur when there is ANY nutrition coming into the body,

whether it is herbs, or juice, or maple syrup, or lemon, or anything

else. And in order for any long term fast to be of benefit, the body

must autolyze the reserve fat and muscle reserves found throughout

the body, in every organ, as it is in the reserve fat and muscle

that the toxins are stored.

 

Additionally, during the fast, when properly done, by total rest,

and consuming nothing but pure water (which has no nutrition), the

body is being nourished adequately by the autolysis. When we instead

consume juice, or herbs, or water with syrup and lemon, or any other

substance, it is incomplete nutrition, and results in malnutrition

when done for long periods of time, since the body is deprived of

adequate nutrition.

 

These practices called " cleanses " , " juice fasts " , etc. are not

fasting, but can instead be thought of as restricted diets, and are

actually in fact enervating. Many of them stimulate the body via

herbs and enemas/colonics, and in any case, they wear out the body

by feeding the body inadequately, while the person forces their body

to perform normal activities.

 

I too was completely a product of the indoctrination into the

medical paradigm, the concept that we can manipulate our bodies into

health, despite the fact that I had been vegetarian for many years,

and that I eschewed drugs. I was always very busy when I was sick,

taking tons of herbs and other substances, inhaling steam,

continuing normal activities. When I look back now, it amazes me the

way I viewed everything.

 

I began my raw journey with a " cleanse " . There were not so many

options in 1990, and I only knew of a handful of people who were

even raw. My " cleanse " had the works: juice, herbs, colemas,

bentonite, psyllium, colonic bifidus implantation,

gallbladder " flush " , etc. I really thought I was benefitting from it

at the time, and continued to think I had for years afterward. I had

seen many things occur on it, and had felt very energized during it,

but I realized eventually that these were just the body's reactions

to the substances and the stimulation, and that it was in fact

enervating.

 

I read a bit about fasting after I began to learn about Hygiene, and

while I thought fasting was a nifty idea, I considered it starvation

and felt I could never do it even for one day. Needless to say, that

changed, and I won't bore you with the details here. But I too had

planned to do a long arbitrary fast, looking into fasting retreats,

planning it for when I had time off. Fortunately, my body had other

plans, and when it forced me to do a long fast, I had to obey. I had

done numerous short fasts (usually 1-1/2 days), as directed by my

body, both before and after my long fast.

 

Denise, you've brought up some very important questions. I would

advise you to read about fasting. The Hygiene information about

fasting will answer all your questions. First, I would suggest that

you read " Fasting Can Save Your Life " , by Herbert Shelton. This book

is readily available through most libraries as it has been a best-

seller, and also can be purchased new or used in bookstores as well

as on-line, at amazon.com among many other places. Also, you can

find " The Science and Fine Art of Fasting " , purchased new or used,

possibly available at libraries, and definitely available on-line.

 

Also, please read on-line for free one of Dr. Shelton's book on

fasting, " The Hygienic System, Volume III " , which discusses fasting,

at

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020127shelton.III/02012

7.toc.htm. Additional books by Dr. Shelton to read free on-line are

available at:

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/0201hyglibcat.html.

 

Finally, and extremely importantly, please go to Dr. Bernarr's

website, www.healself.org, and read his wonderful informative

articles on fasting for free. Dr. Bernarr has an understanding of

fasting more thorough than anyone else, in my opinion. He also has

articles which address various subjects relating to the colon and

weight.

 

All the best,

 

Zsuzsa

 

 

rawfood , juiceplus.denisejanzen@j... wrote:

>

> Hi Zsuzsa

>

> I was considering doing the fasting master cleanse, at least for a

short period of time. I am very rarely hungry have had a hard time

with my colon and losing weight. Even though I have been 90 to 100%

raw for 6 months now, I have not lost one pound. Do you think that

this fast will help? What do you normally do when you are fasting

just lie around and rest? what if you have small children? Let me

know your thoughts. Do you just start to eat again when you get

hungry? How do you know that you are truly hungry enough to start

eating?

>

> Thanks for the help.

>

> Denise