Leading Up to the Fast

If you have never fasted before, you undoubtedly have many questions about it. But since fasting is not yet a regular part of medical practice, it may be difficult for you to seriously consider it. This is unfortunate because fasting can have a powerful effect in reversing pathology and establishing a foundation for health. Fasting is not an all-encompassing solution to every health problem, but it has great promise to bolster the recovery process for many ailing people.
In order to make an intelligent decision about fasting, you need reliable information that is accurate, factual, and scientific. It is good to talk to people who have fasted and to doctors who are experienced in the use of fasting. Dr. Herbert Shelton (1895-1985), who was one of the founders of the American Natural Hygiene Society, probably had more experience with fasting than anyone else who ever lived.
Think twice before accepting condemnations of fasting from those who know nothing about it and have no experience with it, whether they a physicians or lay persons. if you objectively look at the evidence about fasting, you will see that it has improved health and life for countless people under a broad range of circumstances.

Benefits of fasting
Like when you go to sleep at night, your body immediately goes about the tasks of repair and recovery from the wear and tear of the day's activities. This period of digestive rest allows your body to devote more of its energy to its nightly repairs and restoration. When fasting is combined with rest, your body treats it as an extended period of renovation and renewal.
During fasting, your senses become more acute, including taste, smell, and hearing. Your body naturally begins to normalize itself from years of abuse.
More specifically than an overall normalization of the body, fasting promotes detoxification, resolves inflammatory response, reduces blood sugar, increases fat break down, promotes weight loss, lowers blood pressure, promotes the return of a healthy pallet/diet, helps overcome addictions, and boosts immunity.

Absence of hunger
Your next question might be, "won't I be hungry all the time?" The surprising fact is that after one or a few days of fasting, most people experience little or no desire for food.
The desire to eat is dictated by a combination of physiological and psychological factors. It is thought that hunger is triggered by the activity of certain brain cells within the "appetite center" of the hypothalamus which respond to the blood glucose level.
During fasting, the body begins to burn fat as a fuel, and the appetite center becomes temporarily desensitized to blood glucose. This makes it possible to fast without a gnawing hunger.
Most people report little desire for food while fasting. They do not have a powerful, overwhelming urge to eat. This helps make it possible for most people to fast comfortably for several weeks or longer.

Fasting, NOT starving
There is an important difference between fasting and starving. Fasting is a period of abstinence from food during which the body's nutrient reserves are adequate to meet the body's nutritional needs. Starvation can occur only if you abstain from food beyond the point where you have sufficient nutrient reserves.
The differences between fasting and starving are unmistakable.

Will I experience discomfort?
While fasting, everyone tends to experience some "locomotor weakness," which refers to the withdrawal of energy from the muscular system as the body tries to conserve energy.
In general, those who are large tend to remain more energetic than those who are smaller. The body enforces an earlier slowdown of caloric expenditure in those who have the least reserves.
Symptoms may arise during fasting, such as headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and skin eruptions.These all are related to the increase in your body's eliminative activities during the fast, and they are considered to be constructive. Dr. Shelton used the term "orthopatbic," which means "right suffering," to describe these events. Nevertheless, they can be uncomfortable and distressing.
The vast majority of people are able to fast for a sufficient period of time without major discomfort.The most frequent complaint from people who are fasting is that they are bored. But, if you take it just one day at a time (and don't decide ahead of time how many days you will fast), you can get through your first fast without too much difficulty.

Keep in mind the basic steps of Water Fasting:

1. Preparation: You must be mentally and emotionally prepared. Know that it will be highly beneficial and enter the fast without fear or anxiety. Use the buddy system or be in daily contact with an experienced faster.

2. Rest: Reduce mental, sensory and physical activity to a minimum to conserve energy and expedite toxin release.

3. Activity: You may enjoy walking in a leisurely pace but other than that keep activity to the bare minimum.

4. Warmth- The faster’s resistance to cold is lower in most cases than when they are eating. Chilling inhibits elimination, so it is important to keep warm- especially the feet.

5. Water- Drink soft spring, rain, filtered or distilled water only and only when you are thirsty . This allows the kidneys to rest. Do not drink the water iced. This also slows the elimination process down by chilling the system.

6. Bathing- To be performed daily or as often as needed. It should be of short duration and neither too hot or too cold. If the faster is too weak to bathe, a sponge bath may be taken.

7. Sunbathing- Sunshine is an essential nutrient factor in both the plant and animal nutrition and is helpful while fasting. Do not overdo this. Keep the sunbathing short to begin with–5 minutes each front and back and each day work up one extra minute per side to a maximum of 30 minutes. If the fast continues past 21 days cut the time to 8 minutes/side.