Long Fasts When 'Normal' Weight Advice Please

This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by TracyJ 10 years, 4 months ago.

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scottyrunner

6:57 pm
8 Aug 14
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Hello everyone,

I am new to the website and I was looking for some advice.

I am not doing this as part of diet to lose weight. Sure I want to lose a bit to get down to 18.whatever BMI but I am technically at a normal weight.

I want to do this once a year as a detox for my body, mind and spirit. I also want to do it as a reminder of those starving across the globe.

I have done some day fasts in the past and I would like to build up to doing about 2 to 3 weeks fasting where I would have my essential vitamins and minerals in liquid form like potassium, iron, calcium etc and I’ll use some lemon or lime juice and salt for electrolytes. I hope to repeat this once a year.

My main worry is doing it being a normal weight. Is it really unhealthy for me to do this for spiritual purposes?

Many thanks
Scotty

TracyJ

9:48 am
11 Aug 14
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Hi scottyrunner,

Not sure you’re in the right place here really. Not everyone here is solely concerned with weight loss and a lot of people are using the fastdays simply for the IGF-1 health benefits but there aren’t many ‘spiritual’ fasters here I’m afraid.

I have come across the type of fasting you describe but it is not one of the ones that Michael described in his documentary and I don’t know for sure (because I’ve never read the 5:2 books) but I don’t think Michael & Mimi cover this type in the books either.

I had a work colleague who regularly (once or twice a year at least) did 10-15 day fasts for spiritual &/or detoxing reasons and was pretty evangelical about the benefits of doing them. However, she had been doing it for years and had built up to the longer period over time. She also had a very specific ‘coming off the fast’ process in order not to shock the body, so I think you DO need to thoroughly research what you plan to do, if you’re going to do more than the ‘4 day fast’ that Michael tried in the documentary.

My colleague said that the fasting often brought out sensitivities to food that she had not been aware of before, so she saw it as a good opportunity to identify foods that did not really ‘agree’ with her but she was usually able to eat without realising they weren’t good for her. Some of her reactions to foods were very physical (rashes etc.) and you’d probably need to ensure that you did that kind of long fast and the experimental reintroduction of foods (during the ‘coming off the fast’ period) at a time when you didn’t have any outside pressures or events that would interfere with your process (or need to look pretty for).