From: klotz@lclark.edu (Gretchen Klotz)
Subject: Re: Food for Fasting
Organization: Lewis & Clark College, Portland OR
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 22:26:55 GMT

In article <Bz9to8.K7o@apollo.hp.com> heff@apollo.hp.com (Jeff Oesterle) writes:
>
>So, I'm planning on fasting in a couple of weeks, and I'm wondering
>what the best way to go about it is.

Supervised by a physician (whether allopath or naturopath), especially if
it is your first time and/or you want to do it for more than 1 day.

>The options available seem to be water only, varieties of juices, 
>and/or vitamins.  I've heard different recommendations, and would
>like to get more information.   A FOAF who studied nutrition as an
>undergrad seems to think that drinking juices would be worse on the
>ole digestive system than drinking just water.  Does this make sense?

There are several different schools of thought for fasting, and plenty of
books to tell you all about them.  Different physicians have different
opinions.  You need to trust your instinct about whether something will
work for you, and during the process must allow your body the final word
about continuing. 

I went on a supervised juice fast in September, and it was great!  I hope
to repeat this process once (or twice) each year, and intend to make it a
more spiritual experience now that I know what to expect psychologically
and physically.

The fast I did was a 13-day process: 3 days of preparation (bulking/
"broom sweeping" diet), 5 days of juice and water, and a 5 day
reintroduction period.  The naturopaths I went to have been offering this
service for at least 8 years, and they're not the only ones who do fasts
in Portland.  We had regular group meetings and check-ins with the 2
doctors. 

I worked all of the days that I drank only juice (2 quarts of vegetable, 1
quart of fruit and *a lot* of water) and didn't notice an adverse affects.
I'm hypoglycemic, so I was very concerned that I wouldn't be able to
maintain my energy level.  The only thing I noticed was that I didn't get
tired after lunch since my energy wasn't all going to digesting my biggest
meal of the day!  (Which is why they told us not to take vitamin pills --
our bodies work *very hard* at digesting capsules and absorbing the
nutrients.)

Different bodies respond differently to a big change in diet.  Fasting can
be a wonderful way to clean out your system, to help you pinpoint a
specific food-allergy or food-related problem, to learn more about
nutrition and honor your body, and to have a deeply spiritual experience. 
Elf-Kin is right that your metabolism may not be suited to fasting, or to
a particular kind of fast.  That's why it's important to educate yourself
as much as possible before the fast, and to do it under a physician's
care. 

- Gretchen

P.S.  "Fasting" does not equal "starving."  Don't let people confuse you. 
The naturopaths who supervised the fast I did in September told us not to
talk to anyone about it so we wouldn't have to deal with their confusion
about these 2 words.  I did tell folks, and made sure to say "I'm on a
*supervised* *juice* fast" so they wouldn't freak out.  Worked fine with
everyone except my mom.  Oh well!

P.P.S.  More information via email if you're interested, but it may take
me a week to respond...
-- 
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