Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. 3 John 1:2
In the last blog we covered why fasting is good for your spiritual health. Simultaneously it has numerous benefits for your physical health.
Science is proving over and over that intermittent fasting and long term fasting is good for your health. As Christians we should not be surprised at this. Biblical wisdom also supersedes man’s wisdom.
As I researched how I could improve my outcomes with hairy cell leukemia, fasting kept resurfacing. The Metabolic Approach to Cancer authors write…
Periodic fasting is absolutely critical to human health and disease avoidance. There is not a person alive who cannot start by fasting at least six hours a day. Perhaps in regard for its powerful, multilevel benefits, fasting is integrated into every major religion around the world. It is the primary published and research-supported approach to detoxification, and offers several other well-documented benefits, including immune system regeneration.
Fasting is one of the best and most innate ways the body can heal itself.
Eight Reasons to Make Fasting Part of Your Life
Fasting is a proactive way to prevent disease.
Statistics report half of all men and a third of all women in the United States will develop cancer in their lifetime.
Personally, I don’t want those stats to affect my children or your family either if there are ways it can be prevented.
I often lament that natural remedies cost more than the general population can afford but guess what fasting is free! Anyone can do it!
Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Mark Mattson writes, “Many things happen during intermittent fasting that can protect organs against chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, age-related neurodegenerative disorders, even inflammatory bowel disease and many cancers.”
Fasting is healing if you already have a diagnosed illness.
Check with your doctor to see if it is right for you. Fasting even aids in making chemotherapy more effective.
Do this under doctor’s supervision. You can find a list of practitioners who are recommended through The Metabolic Terrain Institute of Health and Terrain Certified here.
Fasting enhances clearer thinking.
Fasting can clear brain fog and sharpen the mind. Many people who fast report clearer thinking and improved moods, which can benefit your brain-gut connection and increase your overall happiness. Read more here.
Fasting helps our bodies detox.
This is called autophagy. Think of it as helping your cells take out the garbage. It’s a natural cleaning out process that begins when your cells are stressed or deprived of nutrients. Read more here.
Fasting enhances our enjoyment of food.
Most people notice when they are fasting, food smells are more intense. When you “refeed”, pay attention to food flavors and textures, you will find a heightened sense of enjoyment from your food.
Sometimes we are just too busy to really savor our food!
Fasting helps women helps women balance their hormones, especially those who are in perimenopause or menopause.
When I hit 45, I started gaining weight although I was still eating a paleo type diet and walking almost everyday.
Not until I started a habit of regular fasting was I able to drop over ten pounds that kept slowly creeping on. For me, a 36 hour fat burning fast is effective.
Fasting improves sleep.
Fasting helps reset circadian rhythms. It acts as a good stressor, similar to an acute immune or inflammatory response.
Fasting is good for your gut microbiome.
Read more here.
Types of Fasts to Consider According to Dr. Mindy Pelz
Intermittent fasting – Going 13-15 hours without food. This fast is great for those of you who are new to fasting!
Autophagy fasting – Autophagy starts at 17 hours of fasting, and is great for brain and hormonal health.
Gut reset fast – 24 hours of fasting! I know this may seem challenging, but at 24 hours we start to reboot the gut!
Fat burner fast – 36 hours of fasting! When we hit 36 hours, we force our body to start to burn stored fat.
Dopamine fast – 48 hours of fasting and you reset your dopamine receptor sites in your brain!
Immune reset fast – 3-day water fast, which was very popular by Dr. Valter Longo. He discovered that after 72 hours of fasting, new white blood cells were formed.
Tips for Effective Fasting
I hope you are ready to get started! Fasting will benefit your whole being in so many ways!
- Consider cleaning up your diet first. The cleaner your diet is, the easier it is to fast and the less detox symptoms you will encounter.
- Be aware of detox side effects and what you can do
- Start with intermittent fasting before trying any longer fasts.
- Try bone broth during your fast. There are mixed reviews on whether you are breaking a fast with bone broth, but I find it comforting during my fast. I add salt and it curbs cravings at the same time replenishes.
- Break your fast the right way.
- Do not drink juice or do a juice fast! It raises insulin and defeats the purpose.
Fast with fat drinks. In The Metabolic Approach to Cancer, they recommend using a “keto clean green drink” of green tea, lemon juice, and melted coconut oil. It is better than it sounds and you can start by adding a little stevia! Bonus -green tea is known to decrease hunger as well!
Resources
Books available through the Fasting Method
Dr. Mindy Pelz, for women Fast Like a Girl is ingenious.
Love the Believe Big podcast as it combines spiritual and physical health. Listen to this episode on Fasting.
Making bone broth will be of great benefit to the health of your family. We use it to cook with in many recipes, but adding salt and doing a “bone broth fast” is wonderful as well.