Thank you for this beautiful article. In my faith every congregation fasts for 24 hours the first Sunday of every month. They give the money they would have spent on those meals to a fund to share with those struggling to purchase food in that community. We are asked to begin our fast with a prayer and a question. During that Sunday meeting there is no sermon planned, members of the congregation share spiritual truths they have been taught. If someone is struggling with an issue, fasting is something that we go to immediately, I've had family members fast and pray on my behalf during difficult times and have done the same for many others. There is definitely something about putting away the natural appetites that helps us to connect to our Creator and discover guidance, peace, and sometimes solutions or answers.
That is absolutely beautiful, Camilla. Thank you for sharing that with us. I agree, there is something very connecting to our Creator when we fast. It seems a settling of the body, a way to pause the physical and enliven the spiritual. I love that.
I totally relate to the "curmudgeoneity", I'm feeling the same way too, for the same reasons. I "stumbled" on the power of fasting, after a big heartbreak. I would cry for days long, and would eat maybe once or twice a day max. I melted, and some pain in my elbows that had been around for a couple of years went away, plus although I was crying all the time, I was looking good, bright eyes, bright face. Afterwards, I also tested various " fast/keto" diets, and eventually, as you say, found the sweet spot for me. No carbs initially made me feel very good, but eventually stressed out my female body. That's just me. Sharing aside, thanks for bringing up the wholeness involved in fasting, the spiritual connection. I hadn't really thought about it that way, and now that I think of it, that accidental fasting period of my life also coincides with a sort of beginning of awakening. So it makes sense. I'll end this long comment by saying I love your substack, your musings. I got to know you not from Instagram ( I've been fasting of McMedia for a while now! Also essential for one's health and spiritual life), someone shared your substack in an online group I'm part of. I live in Quebec, Canada, so, there, hello fellow contrywoman, please receive my gratitude and admiration for all you do and share with us.
I'm so glad to read your comment and it's nice to hear from a fellow Canadian. I will be in Montreal in early May for our once yearly trip into Joe Beef. Although, it's been almost three years now because, well, we all know why. I appreciate your feedback and hearing how fasting has worked in your life. I don't think going zero carb for a long time commonly works for most, although some seem fine with it. I've been happy to be adding back different foods since my long stint with a solely animal based diet. I like, too, that if I have any sort of negative reaction to anything I eat, usually manifesting as pain and inflammation, I can just go back to eating animal foods for a few days and I feel good again.
Thank you so much for this post, Tara! I'm a new paid subscriber to your Substack, and I love your perspective so, so much. I completely related to what you said about chasing one thing or another in an attempt to heal.
Modern day has us starving for nourishment, depth, connection, intimacy with God and life itself. I so value the level of integrity and intention you put into every aspect of your life, the ways you bring reverence to your relationship with life itself and everything you invite in, as well as everything that you didn't ask for, but is there nonetheless.
Thank you for your beautiful comment, Amy. It's very touching to me that you see integrity in what I share. And, yes, like you say, all that I ask for and all that I didn't, but it's there nonetheless. Thank you for your support! xo
Great essay on fasting… ha! I would not say you are curmudgeon, but I dare say its a great word!!! Your rhythm is flowing and effective for you perhaps that is why the quick sound bites are alarming in mainstream; you can see the fickleness of frenzy and there is no substance there because substance comes from I’ll say it mustering through the mire. Back to fasting, I appreciate the less is more, do you think that because of menopause and the wasting away of muscle? Would you do a 5 day again? I finished a 48 hour fast and felt great, i was looking for a metabolic reset and have done many fasts over the years but menopause is kicking my metabolic but😩😂 and now i will pursue balance…btw, day 2 is the spiritual struggle the self negotiation, the internal bargaining, day 3 is more peaceful and day 4 is
Quiet reverence it is a sacred time to fast. Thank you for your essays and especially the audio, i listen as i work in my kitchen 🤍
Hi Trish, thanks for the great comment! Yes, the fast I’m doing now is a five day fast and I will continue doing these every spring. It just makes sense to me, for me. How is menopause kicking your metabolic butt?😉 p.s. I like your take on the fickle frenzy being the issue and not curmudgeon-dom. I will go with that.
Hi Tara-yes, for sure fickle frenzy! As for metabolic butt, ha! Its insulin resistance i notice most! My blood sugars elevate and i am finding that i gain in my belly…its super challenging! I often wonder what,,from a evolutionary perspective God had in store for us, eating two
meals a day has helped, longterm i am wondering if sustainable…but i am staying curious and trying :)!!
Such a great essay. I totally resonate with the ‘do this, do it every day, no! Don’t do it…blah, blah, blah’. It IS exhausting. I was just tested for various hormones and my testosterone came back at 3! 🙈 No wonder I’ve had muscle wasting, pain if I try to exercise, no libido. I’ve been doing carnivore for 3 years with great results at first. Fell off wagon for about 6 mos…bad idea. I’m curious about how fasting helped with your chronic pain. That’s where I am. It’s always a venture figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I’ll admit it’s hard to tease through advice on food/ fasting when I’m trying to balance menopause, Hashi’s, low T etc. You need carbs, no! Don’t fast: too much for your adrenals, not good for your thyroid etc. This essay has got me thinking I may try a little fasting and see how I do, but I don’t have to be so regimental about it. If it works, great. If not, see if tweaking it helps or just toss it out for now.
I admire the rhythm you’ve found, the work you’ve done, your writing etc. You are an inspiration to many, Tara.
Thank you so much, Pam. It's so hard to tease out variables when there's multiple things going on. Did your pain and other issues get worse when you fell off the wagon? I think for me, I have been eating an ancestral diet, without grains, for over 25 years or so now so losing the veg when I went to a solely animal based diet didn't seem all that extreme. I felt better from that alone, but when I did that first five day fast, and subsequent 48-72 hour fasts, I felt like the inflammation just left. It was the two in combination, to be sure. I think too, the detoxification is important. I have had heavy metal testing via hair continuously for years and there was a time when I had to do some detox protocols for high levels of some metals.
Thanks, Tara. Appreciate your input. I didn’t really notice increased pain falling off the wagon. I didn’t go hog wild. Still stayed away from grains, any seed oils, but was eating some cheese, almond crackers and some alcohol. I think alcohol can be a culprit so came off that the end of last year, cleaned up my diet etc. strictly meat and water. Had been doing eggs up until a couple weeks ago. It seems better having removed them. Sheepishly, I’ll share I had saline implants years ago. Little did I know silicone (the casing) has 40+ heavy metals and toxins in it🙈, but I tested positive for cadmium, mercury, arsenic. I share that in the event there’s anyone else that is struggling with illness and can’t find root cause. I know it’ll be a long time probably before I clear all that, if ever. Plus, I had neuroborrelliosis from Lyme 30 years ago. It’s been a wild ride. Again, so appreciate your posts and even reaching back out.
P. S. Loved the post of you ‘creeping’ on your husband with his shirt off🤣. Marriage is a beautiful thing!
I thought you might appreciate this perspective: I am a practicing Catholic where fasting is a virtue (I.e. a good habit) and is primarily for spiritual gain. Fasting is a subvirtue of the cardinal virtue of temperance. Like any habit, it takes practice to be able to perform the act well and when it is performed well it can have profound impacts on our spiritual lives. Firstly, it counters gluttony and sexual vices as it brings the body into submission. It tempers the passions so that you can respond rationally rather than emotionally. As you said, it is good to learn that feeling hungry is not an emergency. It diminishes our attachment to temporal wellbeing and allows us respond more keenly to the spiritual things. It is not surprising to me that something that is good for the soul, will also be good for the body. (Worth mentioning, that virtue is in the mean. So excessive fasting does you no good)
I'm currently in the pregnant and nursing stage of life and so I'm not bound by the church's fasting laws. But I look forward to experiencing the spiritual enrichment of fasting sometime again in the future.
Sacredness of both self and Universe...thank you for reminding that meaning.
Now I will have more reason.
I never had longer 24 h fast except once, 7 day (water only). It was not hard, and I still remember that feeling of love for all and everything, which came on day 4. Still I did not get "motivated" to repeat, although the urge of spring/autumn equinox fasting was popping out constantly.
No, I didn't reduce food. I think you know how I eat usually, I just stuck to that. I never eat three hours before bed so that remained as well. I know some people say to prepare by lightening foods and stuff but I've never done that. I just stop eating.
Thanks for sharing your personal experience with fasting, something I'm fairly new at. I love your description of the connections interwoven between mind, body, and spirit. I recently retired after a 45-year career that encompassed nursing and teaching -- both inside jobs. Now that I have the opportunity to be outside on my 2 acres, hugging trees, etc., I can barely bring myself inside for the "desk" work. Being outside as much as I want seems to have helped me develop a fairly comfortable way to fast, one that my body, mind, and spirit seem comfortable with -- generally a 24-hour period once a week. Thanks for the reading list!
Beautiful Teresa! You know, I love being outside when I'm fasting too. Everything seems joyous and deeply resonant. I'm happy to hear that you have your place to connect too.
Hi Tara -- as I was reading your words, specifically as you got into some benefits of fasting, I was HOPING you'd mention the spiritual aspects. So glad that you did!
I am in my late 60s now, but once in my late 20s, and once again in my early 30s, I fasted on water (no salt) for 14 days.
To say that it was transformative and PRIMARILY a spiritual experience, is a gigantic understatement! I recall walking around outside one day and., all of a sudden, I felt this extreme, powerful and intense connection to EVERYTHING around me. I was not so much cognizant of any specific things (birds, trees, people, whatever...) that I was part of or connected to, but just that it was ALL somehow the SAME energy that was just manifesting in different ways & forms. The eyes & brain create(d) the apparent differences, but the heart & soul know no such boundaries or divisions! Fasting showed me there were/are none.
I have not done water fasts since then, but do occasionally create a concoction of broth, raw egg yolk, spirulina, Himalayan salt, butter and some liquid minerals. I drink that for 5-10 days, as my only sustenance (though what I have learned is that our food is only a medium or a "carrier" of our true sustenance, which comes from God, ultimately!).
Thanks so much for reminding me of those earlier, extraordinary times & experiences!
This!!! Yes, let’s talk about fasting, and resets and detoxing and body wisdom and all the things! This quote really sticks out for me: “What if we move to eating foods without an ingredient label at all and then maybe taking a break from eating every now and then when our bodies think that might be the thing to do?”
After years of figuring things out, I learned that body wisdom is the only way to eat - i.e. when your teeth hurt from eating or drinking something, your body is saying no. Body wisdom is that - listening to your body when it comes to food and fasting.
My first intentional fast was the master cleanse. Went ten days only taking fresh lemon juice with water, with a dash of cayenne pepper and maple syrup. I drank an 8 hour laxative before bed each night, meaning the poop train would arrive promptly in 8 hours, and then woke up to drink 2 quartz of salt water. I felt amazing! So I committed to fasting once every season (always at the start of the season) for various amounts of days switching to water only or dry fasting (which is what fasting really is…taking nothing). Fasting is so trendy, the language is incorrect. A water fast is technically fasting from water not with water but I digress.
My longest “fast” (meaning I took no solid food and drank master cleanse mixture or dry fasted) was 33 days long…it was a journey for my physical and mental health. I wanted to feel what true hunger felt like and it feels like thirst for food. I waited until my body told me to eat and I did (tight throat and salivation), which was before my 40 day goal. Interestingly enough, during that fast when I would meditate, I tasted meat in my mouth several times. I had been a vegetarian for 13 years at that point and while in meditation my body told me to eat meat. My body wanted it so I incorporated back into my diet after my fast. And no, I didn’t get sick after not having it for so long. Probably because I ate real food, whole, organic, etc. I typically don’t eat meat in public though, meaning at restaurants and such, because it’s not clean. Side note: I wasn’t one of those crazy cult-like veg heads. My life partner eats meat and I cooked it for him even though I didn’t eat it myself during that 13-year time period.
I haven’t fasted more than 24 hours in the past couple of years. My body doesn’t want to right now. After experiencing its amazing effects though, I see fasting as a necessary prescription when I need to clear my energetic and physical body. The advice I’d like to share is that every fast is different. Some fasts require you to sit still and expend very little energy. Some fasts will finally loosen up that trauma that’s been sitting in your body for years. Some fasts will make you cranky and you have to know that loosening toxins into the bloodstream does not feel good. Some fasts will energize you and make you feel brand new. Some fasts will cause weight loss. There are so many factors to consider when fasting! Just know that every fast produces different results which depend on many environmental issues.
One of the best books I read about fasting is “The Mucusless Diet” by Arnold Ehret. Not everything in that book will work because it may not align with what your body wisdom tells you to do or how your ancestors ate. Another great one is “Fast and Grow Young” by Walt Goodridge. I love re-reading these books in a biblical way, revisiting them to either reaffirm, remind, or remove something because I’ve evolved and gained more wisdom.
Ugh, I could talk about this so much more, haha. I think it’s great to read about other folks experiences. I definitely feel like a professional faster but I know there’s always more to know. I think I’ll look into some of the books you suggested! Thanks, Tara!
Thank you for this beautiful article. In my faith every congregation fasts for 24 hours the first Sunday of every month. They give the money they would have spent on those meals to a fund to share with those struggling to purchase food in that community. We are asked to begin our fast with a prayer and a question. During that Sunday meeting there is no sermon planned, members of the congregation share spiritual truths they have been taught. If someone is struggling with an issue, fasting is something that we go to immediately, I've had family members fast and pray on my behalf during difficult times and have done the same for many others. There is definitely something about putting away the natural appetites that helps us to connect to our Creator and discover guidance, peace, and sometimes solutions or answers.
That is absolutely beautiful, Camilla. Thank you for sharing that with us. I agree, there is something very connecting to our Creator when we fast. It seems a settling of the body, a way to pause the physical and enliven the spiritual. I love that.
I totally relate to the "curmudgeoneity", I'm feeling the same way too, for the same reasons. I "stumbled" on the power of fasting, after a big heartbreak. I would cry for days long, and would eat maybe once or twice a day max. I melted, and some pain in my elbows that had been around for a couple of years went away, plus although I was crying all the time, I was looking good, bright eyes, bright face. Afterwards, I also tested various " fast/keto" diets, and eventually, as you say, found the sweet spot for me. No carbs initially made me feel very good, but eventually stressed out my female body. That's just me. Sharing aside, thanks for bringing up the wholeness involved in fasting, the spiritual connection. I hadn't really thought about it that way, and now that I think of it, that accidental fasting period of my life also coincides with a sort of beginning of awakening. So it makes sense. I'll end this long comment by saying I love your substack, your musings. I got to know you not from Instagram ( I've been fasting of McMedia for a while now! Also essential for one's health and spiritual life), someone shared your substack in an online group I'm part of. I live in Quebec, Canada, so, there, hello fellow contrywoman, please receive my gratitude and admiration for all you do and share with us.
I'm so glad to read your comment and it's nice to hear from a fellow Canadian. I will be in Montreal in early May for our once yearly trip into Joe Beef. Although, it's been almost three years now because, well, we all know why. I appreciate your feedback and hearing how fasting has worked in your life. I don't think going zero carb for a long time commonly works for most, although some seem fine with it. I've been happy to be adding back different foods since my long stint with a solely animal based diet. I like, too, that if I have any sort of negative reaction to anything I eat, usually manifesting as pain and inflammation, I can just go back to eating animal foods for a few days and I feel good again.
Thank you so much for this post, Tara! I'm a new paid subscriber to your Substack, and I love your perspective so, so much. I completely related to what you said about chasing one thing or another in an attempt to heal.
Modern day has us starving for nourishment, depth, connection, intimacy with God and life itself. I so value the level of integrity and intention you put into every aspect of your life, the ways you bring reverence to your relationship with life itself and everything you invite in, as well as everything that you didn't ask for, but is there nonetheless.
Thank you for your beautiful comment, Amy. It's very touching to me that you see integrity in what I share. And, yes, like you say, all that I ask for and all that I didn't, but it's there nonetheless. Thank you for your support! xo
Great essay on fasting… ha! I would not say you are curmudgeon, but I dare say its a great word!!! Your rhythm is flowing and effective for you perhaps that is why the quick sound bites are alarming in mainstream; you can see the fickleness of frenzy and there is no substance there because substance comes from I’ll say it mustering through the mire. Back to fasting, I appreciate the less is more, do you think that because of menopause and the wasting away of muscle? Would you do a 5 day again? I finished a 48 hour fast and felt great, i was looking for a metabolic reset and have done many fasts over the years but menopause is kicking my metabolic but😩😂 and now i will pursue balance…btw, day 2 is the spiritual struggle the self negotiation, the internal bargaining, day 3 is more peaceful and day 4 is
Quiet reverence it is a sacred time to fast. Thank you for your essays and especially the audio, i listen as i work in my kitchen 🤍
Hi Trish, thanks for the great comment! Yes, the fast I’m doing now is a five day fast and I will continue doing these every spring. It just makes sense to me, for me. How is menopause kicking your metabolic butt?😉 p.s. I like your take on the fickle frenzy being the issue and not curmudgeon-dom. I will go with that.
Hi Tara-yes, for sure fickle frenzy! As for metabolic butt, ha! Its insulin resistance i notice most! My blood sugars elevate and i am finding that i gain in my belly…its super challenging! I often wonder what,,from a evolutionary perspective God had in store for us, eating two
meals a day has helped, longterm i am wondering if sustainable…but i am staying curious and trying :)!!
Yup! I really like you! Cool. New here and staying. Thanks, Tara!
Haha, that's great! Glad you're here Maddie :)
Thanks, Tara! 😻🌿🍃✍️
Such a great essay. I totally resonate with the ‘do this, do it every day, no! Don’t do it…blah, blah, blah’. It IS exhausting. I was just tested for various hormones and my testosterone came back at 3! 🙈 No wonder I’ve had muscle wasting, pain if I try to exercise, no libido. I’ve been doing carnivore for 3 years with great results at first. Fell off wagon for about 6 mos…bad idea. I’m curious about how fasting helped with your chronic pain. That’s where I am. It’s always a venture figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I’ll admit it’s hard to tease through advice on food/ fasting when I’m trying to balance menopause, Hashi’s, low T etc. You need carbs, no! Don’t fast: too much for your adrenals, not good for your thyroid etc. This essay has got me thinking I may try a little fasting and see how I do, but I don’t have to be so regimental about it. If it works, great. If not, see if tweaking it helps or just toss it out for now.
I admire the rhythm you’ve found, the work you’ve done, your writing etc. You are an inspiration to many, Tara.
Thank you so much, Pam. It's so hard to tease out variables when there's multiple things going on. Did your pain and other issues get worse when you fell off the wagon? I think for me, I have been eating an ancestral diet, without grains, for over 25 years or so now so losing the veg when I went to a solely animal based diet didn't seem all that extreme. I felt better from that alone, but when I did that first five day fast, and subsequent 48-72 hour fasts, I felt like the inflammation just left. It was the two in combination, to be sure. I think too, the detoxification is important. I have had heavy metal testing via hair continuously for years and there was a time when I had to do some detox protocols for high levels of some metals.
Thanks, Tara. Appreciate your input. I didn’t really notice increased pain falling off the wagon. I didn’t go hog wild. Still stayed away from grains, any seed oils, but was eating some cheese, almond crackers and some alcohol. I think alcohol can be a culprit so came off that the end of last year, cleaned up my diet etc. strictly meat and water. Had been doing eggs up until a couple weeks ago. It seems better having removed them. Sheepishly, I’ll share I had saline implants years ago. Little did I know silicone (the casing) has 40+ heavy metals and toxins in it🙈, but I tested positive for cadmium, mercury, arsenic. I share that in the event there’s anyone else that is struggling with illness and can’t find root cause. I know it’ll be a long time probably before I clear all that, if ever. Plus, I had neuroborrelliosis from Lyme 30 years ago. It’s been a wild ride. Again, so appreciate your posts and even reaching back out.
P. S. Loved the post of you ‘creeping’ on your husband with his shirt off🤣. Marriage is a beautiful thing!
Thank you for this reflection.
I thought you might appreciate this perspective: I am a practicing Catholic where fasting is a virtue (I.e. a good habit) and is primarily for spiritual gain. Fasting is a subvirtue of the cardinal virtue of temperance. Like any habit, it takes practice to be able to perform the act well and when it is performed well it can have profound impacts on our spiritual lives. Firstly, it counters gluttony and sexual vices as it brings the body into submission. It tempers the passions so that you can respond rationally rather than emotionally. As you said, it is good to learn that feeling hungry is not an emergency. It diminishes our attachment to temporal wellbeing and allows us respond more keenly to the spiritual things. It is not surprising to me that something that is good for the soul, will also be good for the body. (Worth mentioning, that virtue is in the mean. So excessive fasting does you no good)
I'm currently in the pregnant and nursing stage of life and so I'm not bound by the church's fasting laws. But I look forward to experiencing the spiritual enrichment of fasting sometime again in the future.
I loved reading your comment, Yasmin. It's beautiful. What a rich and connecting practice. Thank you for sharing that with us all. xo
Sacredness of both self and Universe...thank you for reminding that meaning.
Now I will have more reason.
I never had longer 24 h fast except once, 7 day (water only). It was not hard, and I still remember that feeling of love for all and everything, which came on day 4. Still I did not get "motivated" to repeat, although the urge of spring/autumn equinox fasting was popping out constantly.
My love, may I ask, did you prepare for your first fast? Begin to gradually reduce food intake etc?
No, I didn't reduce food. I think you know how I eat usually, I just stuck to that. I never eat three hours before bed so that remained as well. I know some people say to prepare by lightening foods and stuff but I've never done that. I just stop eating.
Thanks for sharing your personal experience with fasting, something I'm fairly new at. I love your description of the connections interwoven between mind, body, and spirit. I recently retired after a 45-year career that encompassed nursing and teaching -- both inside jobs. Now that I have the opportunity to be outside on my 2 acres, hugging trees, etc., I can barely bring myself inside for the "desk" work. Being outside as much as I want seems to have helped me develop a fairly comfortable way to fast, one that my body, mind, and spirit seem comfortable with -- generally a 24-hour period once a week. Thanks for the reading list!
Beautiful Teresa! You know, I love being outside when I'm fasting too. Everything seems joyous and deeply resonant. I'm happy to hear that you have your place to connect too.
Hi Tara -- as I was reading your words, specifically as you got into some benefits of fasting, I was HOPING you'd mention the spiritual aspects. So glad that you did!
I am in my late 60s now, but once in my late 20s, and once again in my early 30s, I fasted on water (no salt) for 14 days.
To say that it was transformative and PRIMARILY a spiritual experience, is a gigantic understatement! I recall walking around outside one day and., all of a sudden, I felt this extreme, powerful and intense connection to EVERYTHING around me. I was not so much cognizant of any specific things (birds, trees, people, whatever...) that I was part of or connected to, but just that it was ALL somehow the SAME energy that was just manifesting in different ways & forms. The eyes & brain create(d) the apparent differences, but the heart & soul know no such boundaries or divisions! Fasting showed me there were/are none.
I have not done water fasts since then, but do occasionally create a concoction of broth, raw egg yolk, spirulina, Himalayan salt, butter and some liquid minerals. I drink that for 5-10 days, as my only sustenance (though what I have learned is that our food is only a medium or a "carrier" of our true sustenance, which comes from God, ultimately!).
Thanks so much for reminding me of those earlier, extraordinary times & experiences!
Long Post!
This!!! Yes, let’s talk about fasting, and resets and detoxing and body wisdom and all the things! This quote really sticks out for me: “What if we move to eating foods without an ingredient label at all and then maybe taking a break from eating every now and then when our bodies think that might be the thing to do?”
After years of figuring things out, I learned that body wisdom is the only way to eat - i.e. when your teeth hurt from eating or drinking something, your body is saying no. Body wisdom is that - listening to your body when it comes to food and fasting.
My first intentional fast was the master cleanse. Went ten days only taking fresh lemon juice with water, with a dash of cayenne pepper and maple syrup. I drank an 8 hour laxative before bed each night, meaning the poop train would arrive promptly in 8 hours, and then woke up to drink 2 quartz of salt water. I felt amazing! So I committed to fasting once every season (always at the start of the season) for various amounts of days switching to water only or dry fasting (which is what fasting really is…taking nothing). Fasting is so trendy, the language is incorrect. A water fast is technically fasting from water not with water but I digress.
My longest “fast” (meaning I took no solid food and drank master cleanse mixture or dry fasted) was 33 days long…it was a journey for my physical and mental health. I wanted to feel what true hunger felt like and it feels like thirst for food. I waited until my body told me to eat and I did (tight throat and salivation), which was before my 40 day goal. Interestingly enough, during that fast when I would meditate, I tasted meat in my mouth several times. I had been a vegetarian for 13 years at that point and while in meditation my body told me to eat meat. My body wanted it so I incorporated back into my diet after my fast. And no, I didn’t get sick after not having it for so long. Probably because I ate real food, whole, organic, etc. I typically don’t eat meat in public though, meaning at restaurants and such, because it’s not clean. Side note: I wasn’t one of those crazy cult-like veg heads. My life partner eats meat and I cooked it for him even though I didn’t eat it myself during that 13-year time period.
I haven’t fasted more than 24 hours in the past couple of years. My body doesn’t want to right now. After experiencing its amazing effects though, I see fasting as a necessary prescription when I need to clear my energetic and physical body. The advice I’d like to share is that every fast is different. Some fasts require you to sit still and expend very little energy. Some fasts will finally loosen up that trauma that’s been sitting in your body for years. Some fasts will make you cranky and you have to know that loosening toxins into the bloodstream does not feel good. Some fasts will energize you and make you feel brand new. Some fasts will cause weight loss. There are so many factors to consider when fasting! Just know that every fast produces different results which depend on many environmental issues.
One of the best books I read about fasting is “The Mucusless Diet” by Arnold Ehret. Not everything in that book will work because it may not align with what your body wisdom tells you to do or how your ancestors ate. Another great one is “Fast and Grow Young” by Walt Goodridge. I love re-reading these books in a biblical way, revisiting them to either reaffirm, remind, or remove something because I’ve evolved and gained more wisdom.
Ugh, I could talk about this so much more, haha. I think it’s great to read about other folks experiences. I definitely feel like a professional faster but I know there’s always more to know. I think I’ll look into some of the books you suggested! Thanks, Tara!