Hi, I am new to this forum and just want to say hello. i am a raw foodist (imperfectly though i really want to do raw only and feel this is right for me)... I have a raw-only day count and today is day 5. The main thing I am trying to do is learn to fast and raw foods are a bridge to that. I am doin little fasts of increasing lengths. i am about to start a 30 hour fast tonight... thursday... until saturday morning... anyone else interested in fasting? .. it is so healing as to be indispensable for me ... i am so glad to have found a raw support forum... please write me!!! Love,
chipmunk

Sounds like you are doing it right to me. Working there slowly. I have done the Master Cleanser for 10 days. I have tried juice fasting but it didn't work for me, expensive and it just made me want to eat all the time! Other people do well with juice though.

I prefer water fasts although I have only got up to 5 days on water. I have also done 3-5 day apple fasts, those are great, the pectin in apples is such good fibre.

The key is to transition slowly in my opinion. Do whatever works best for you. Sounds like you've done lots of research.

Regards,

Phil.

--------------------------------------------------

"Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it" (Chinese Proverb)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2007 08:53AM by jadedshade.

Hi chipmunk!
Welcome! This is a great forum for support and inspiration.

I've done both water fasts and juice fasts, and I'd recommend either one of them. Juice fasting is much easier, however, especially as one is transitioning into the raw diet and a lot of detoxification is going on.

I was able to do a 28 day juice fast pretty early on in my 'raw career,' and it was really wonderful. Later I did a 40 day juice fast, after which water fasting was easier. I'm not one of those people that can easily go on long water fasts, however, and I think my next fast is going to be a juice fast.

Right now I'm doing a combination of green blender drinks and fasting with juice or water, since it's summer and it's an ideal time to lighten up and detoxify.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Wow.. Kwan how did you feel at the end of the 40 day fast ?
I had only heard of one other person doing a fast for so long until I read your post and she was seriously weak by the end of hers.

Also how long have you been able to water fast for, and how did you feel by the end of it ?

The 40 day juice fast was the most wonderful fast of all the different fasts and detox regimens I've done. It was GREAT!

By the last 2 weeks of the fast, I was running an extra 15 laps around the circular track at the gym during my half hour jog every day, and I was incredibly energized and totally blissed out in a grounded way. This is something I really want to do again; it was definitely life-changing on every level. I might have had a few moments of weakness here and there during the fast (detox), but 95% of the time I was just filled with life force and jumping for joy.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2007 03:57PM by kwan.

Yep, I'm with Kwan on the fasting. I did a 65 day juice fast two and a half years ago and experienced the same feelings of grounded bliss Kwan mentions. I was so full of energy once I got through the detox bit. I wanted to go on longer because I felt the best I have ever felt in my entire life but my friends got really worried because in the end I weighed only 40 kg and looked like a scarecrow, so I allowed myself to be persuaded to stop. The only thing I regret is that I didn't know enough at that time to know that the way you break a fast is as or maybe even more important than the fast itself and I started eating heavy fatty foods like avocados far too soon.One of these days I plan to do another long fast like that, when I have the time to get through the first three weeks and at a time when it doesn't matter if I look too skinny for a while.

Francis

wow, i've been thinking about fasting again and it's really inspiring to hear your accounts...thanks...xox<3

~~~~~~~~
[www.therawkitchen.blogspot.com]
[www.myspace.com]

a friend of mine says fasting makes you fatter. he said this because of our genetic hunter gatherer genes. since food wasn`t readily available all the time our body will store things as fat for famine times. is this true?
patty

Dewey,
Done wrong, yes, you can gain weight after a fast when you don't want or need to gain weight back. This happens especially if you don't wean yourself off the fast and back onto solid food slowly and carefully: Herbert Shelton is probably the definitive expert on how to do this. Done correctly, especially after a complete, really long fast, your proper weight is achieved and maintained.

I've experienced both success (from fasting correctly) and failure (from fasts that went wrong, where I quit in the middle of a tough detoxification and ate the wrong foods way too fast).

Don't worry; just read up first. You might want to think about juice fasting first and doing a water fast later. I'd recommend Herbert Shelton and Joel Furhman.

I used to be absolutely positive I had the classic hunter gatherer body type. (I used to refer to myself jokingly as a 'cave woman.') I'm 58 and I can tell you that even though I've fasted a lot, I'm still getting wonderful results and I haven't gained weight; in fact I've lost in the hips and thighs, compared to when I was in my 20s and 30s. So... go for it!

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

thanks kwan i`ll check out the pro`s that you mentioned.
patty

You look absolutely great kwan, you're a good example of the benefits of fasting.

I also find that fasting works really well for clearing the mind. Once you get through the first 3 days of feeling woozy and the body goes into fasting mode my thinking becomes so sharp and clear. I sometimes use it when I have a big project to get through that needs a lot of attention to detail.

Francis

kwan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 40 day juice fast was the most wonderful fast
> of all the different fasts and detox regimens I've
> done. It was GREAT!
>
> By the last 2 weeks of the fast, I was running an
> extra 15 laps around the circular track at the gym
> during my half hour jog every day, and I was
> incredibly energized and totally blissed out in a
> grounded way. This is something I really want to
> do again; it was definitely life-changing on every
> level. I might have had a few moments of weakness
> here and there during the fast (detox), but 95% of
> the time I was just filled with life force and
> jumping for joy.


Man that is inspiring
Tell me what kind of juice were you drinking and what kind of quantity ?
Also, why did you stop.. do you think that juice fasting could be a healthy way to live permanently ?

I can't believe kwan is 58 years old, You look fantastic.

yeah, you really look great. I wouldn't have put you anywhere near 58! Inspiration indeed! How often do you feel you need to fast, kwan? Do you fast on fruit/ and or green juices? thanks xox

~~~~~~~~
[www.therawkitchen.blogspot.com]
[www,myspace.com]

Hey everybody,
Thanks for the kind words! (Hugs) That was one of my 'good' pics. ;-p

I feel like I should do a long fast at least once a year. (I usually do, but sometimes I don't get around to it.) I like to do one long fast yearly plus a week or two every quarter. It detoxifies the body and helps me to not have any cravings for foods that I shouldn't be eating. I don't always do the quarterly fasts, but I try.

My first long juice fast wasn't done correctly-- I think I even had some bottled juice! (I was naive and ill-informed), but I did manage to juice vegetables (mostly carrots) and vegetable combinations, and some fruit, probably a lot of apple and apple-carrot. I remember adding parsley in there somewhere, too, and maybe spinach. My 40 day juice fast in the '90s was great. I had it down to a science then, and I had a lot of carrot juice, carrot combinations (one of my favorites being carrot with a little ginger or lemon), and pineapple/greens. I'm sorry to say I can't remember much else about it. Pretty sure I juiced oranges too. I drank a healthy amount of juice-- probably about 4 quarts or more a day.

Interestingly, I've never done well with the MasterCleanse. I tried it when I was younger and got all wacked out on it. Always felt like my teeth would disintegrate or something.

I think my first attempt at fasting was around 1977. (That dates me a little bit, huh?!, lol.) I really didn't understand how to do a proper fast till the mid-1980s, however, when I finally got myself a juicer and made carrot juice and some really funky tasting vegetable combinations. My favorite to juice was pineapple, but that's a bit expensive. (Pineapple juice is great, by the way, if you are trying to lose weight.)

I don't fast all that often, but I seem to always have a plan in the back of my mind for doing a fast 'sometime soon'. It's something that takes a bit of discipline and orchestration, and so I only get one really long fast in once every year or two, but I have better luck with short fasts. I probably do 3-4 of them a year. My last long fast was a 14 day water fast that I did on my camping trip last year. Since then, I've tried to juice fast-- I think I made it for 6 days and quit, and I vaguely remember starting maybe a couple other really short water fasts during the winter, which I didn't complete to my satisfaction.

I'm going camping for 2 weeks starting tomorrow, and I wish I could do a water fast, but I kind of promised my husband I'd avoid it this year, because I'm a really boring companion when I'm fasting-- I just lay around, reading books and meditating. He likes to take advantage of our little ocean oasis and walk around and explore the island, and if I'm water fasting I don't feel like moving that much. So I'll be eating dried fruit and nuts this time, and maybe I'll try a couple of 36 hour water fasts or something like that, so he can still enjoy my company and I can still detoxify.

I'm really getting psyched to do a long (45+ days) juice fast when I get back from my camping trip, especially now that I've found a market where I can get organic carrots and other produce really inexpensively. In recent years I've opted for water fasting, but I think it's time for a juice fast, and I'm more than ready for it.

Lightform--
>do you think that juice fasting could be a healthy way to live permanently?<

Yes, I'd like to think maybe we can! I feel like the 'optimal human being' on a juice fast, and it's always hard to go back to eating solid food. Not sure what would happen to the teeth and alimentary canal on a really, really long juice fast, however. I'm very drawn to the Taoist philosophy and practices that lead to evolving into a 'real person,' and a lot of modern Taoists are gravitating to juicing, water fasting and gradually getting off the 'food grid' (they call it 'bigu') so they can live more and more off prana or life force, and have really long, healthy, natural lives.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]