Fasting - Water or Juice?

Question

I want to fast to detoxify my body and give my new healthy eating habits a kick-start. I need some advice from people who have fasted before. How long should I fast? Should I do a water or juice fast? What can I expect during my fast?

Answer 1

Wow. You have a lot of different answers here and most of them are wrong.
Fasting is actually an ancient practice to heal the soul and cleanse the body. There's nothing wrong with it as long as you do it properly. Having said that, I beg you - DO NOT do a water fast. Those are dangerous and too harsh for your body. When on a water fast, the stored-up toxins in your body resurface. It sounds like a good thing, but without vitamins and minerals, those toxins cannot be flushed out of your system (which is why you're fasting in the first place). When the toxins come up to the surface and have nowhere to go, you can become quite sick.
A juice fast is much safer in general. The *fresh* juices contain vitamins and minerals that can whisk away the harmful things that are in your system. You should drink a combination of water and fresh fruit and vegetable juice. DO NOT drink that sugary crap found in the store. To properly do this fast, you need access to a juicer so you can make your own. If you get tired of juice, you can always make vegetable broth and drink that from time to time. Bring carrots, celery, onions, cabbage, potatoes and other veggies to a boil. Let them boil for about 45 minutes. Pick out the veggies and drink the broth. It mixes things up a bit. :-)
It's also important to transition yourself onto and off of the fast. This should take at least a week on each side. On the first day of transition, you want to eliminate junk food such as chips, pretzles, cookies, cakes, ice cream, etc. On the next day, eliminate red meat. On the next day, stop eating pork. Continue progressing until you stop eating chicken/poultry, fish, dairy products, breads and pastas. By the last day of the transition, you should only be eating fresh fruit and vegetables. Only by eliminating the sources of those toxins will you get them out of your system. Once you start the fast, it's as if your body has a little extra help in getting rid of the bad things.
After the fast is over (you should really only fast for about a week), slowly transition youself back to solids. You might want to eat homemade vegetable soup all day for the first day as your body is not used to solid foods. Then go for salads and gradually build back up to your normal diet; adding meat and animal products at the very end.
I wish you well and I hope that info helps!

Answer 2

Fasting is very safe and healthy when done in moderation. The most important thing to make sure of is that you have enough body fat before you start.... I say that mostly because fasting isn't as good of a way to lose weight and if you are too low on body fat, it's possible to get undernourished... and I don't know where you're coming from ;-)

That being said, I have fasted many times, and the most important thing to remember is that the hunger pains DO stop. It may take 6-12 hours, but they will stop.
I remember my first long fasting event with my youth group (40 hours, IIRC). By the end of the first night, everyone was starving, talking about how much they wanted to eat ___ or how they can't wait to eat ___ (which REALLY annoyed some others. LOL!). By the time the fasting was over, most of those people were bummed out because they weren't hungry anymore.

Basically, your brain realizes you won't be getting food anytime soon, so it stops telling you that you're hungry. It's a defense mechanism that helps prevent people from going insane when they can't eat for long periods of time.

As long as your willpower can last until that time is up, the rest is a piece of cake. I actually had a harder time remembering that I wasn't supposed to eat than I had trying not to eat. LOL!!

As far as the liquid to take, some people say drinking juice "isn't really fasting", but some say as long as it's not food.... that's your choice. Make sure it's a pure juice with no preservatives if you do, though (especially if you want to remove all toxins).

Answer 3

*I am so in the same boat with you, in fact I will leave some links for you to check out about fasting and some recipes and then you can decide what you would like to do :)
I myself would like to try the lemon fast, I will leave a link to that as well.*

http://www.falconblanco.com/health/cleansing/lemoncleanse.htm

~Preparation for Fasting

Beginning a fast anytime may be all right in certain cases which are not affected by serious chronic diseases. But in a diseased condition, it is much safer to prepare the system for the fast through a low protein diet rich in positive mineral elements, or better still through a raw food diet and through systematic natural treatment. Large amounts of negative pathogenic materials eliminated from the tissues and thrown into circulation must be neutralized by the positive alkaline mineral elements and eliminated from the system. These neutralizing and purifying elements can be introduced into the system only through a fruit and vegetable diet, low in starch and protein matter and rich in the positive alkaline mineral elements. When the natural diet and treatment have purified the system sufficiently then the physiological and psychological moment for fasting has arrived. The system is not in condition for the digestion and assimilation of food. Therefore fasting becomes imperative.



Kinds of Fasts
The Regular Fast : No food, but sufficient water to quench the thirst to dilute the pathogenic materials and thereby facilitate elimination through the skin and kidneys.

The Dry Fast : This means total abstinence from food and drink. It is a powerful method for promoting elimination of morbid matter and disease taints.

The Seven Day Fast : Cannot produce any harmful or weakening results.

The Long Fast : Extends from one to seven or more weeks, according to individual indications and the vitality of the patient.


Fruit Juices in Fasting

Fruit juices are rich in mineral salts which are necessary to neutralize the negative pathogenic substances with which the circulation is flooded during the fast.

Besides having a neutralizing and eliminating effect, they are splendid tonics and antiseptics and are rich in vitamins which sustain and stimulate the vital activities. Fasting, therefore, is much easier to endure and more pleasant when the diluted fruit juices are taken.

Fruit juices should not be taken pure or in large quantities because in this form they may excite the digestive process. There is no danger of this, however, when they are taken in dilute form; for instance, add the juice of half an orange or half a lemon to a tumbler full of cold water. The water should be of natural or room temperature. Ice Water should not be used under any circumstances.

Answer 4

Water is better for your body but juice gives you calories. I would personally mix it up and drink both.

Don't fast for more than a 2-4 days. Your body will be pretty starved by then and you don't want to have it go too long without food.

You will probably be hungry and irritable throughout your fast. Fasting isn't the wisest decision, because you're basically starving yourself, and your body stores excess fats.

Answer 5

Niether...If you desire to shed some pounds you have got to do it evidently it takes a bit of extra time however do that... Meals its all within the component and no seconds and seem on the meals consultant and permit it's your map... everynight stroll a couple of kilometers and lay off the greasy fried and deep fried meals steer clear of takeout and stroll each time feasible and youll be so hott the fats shall be burnt black! and its the healthful method water and juice fasting can result in mal nutricion which is able to lead you to poisons and too can lead you to speedy demise....or a coma and passing out and dehydration is it fairly valued at that? desire i helped chocolates christina xoxo

Answer 6

Do a juice fast. The withdrawal symptoms are much less. For more info - http://www.secretnaturalremedies.com/juice-fasting-detoxification/

Answer 7

You probably shouldnt fast, however, if your going to, you should drink cranberry juice. Pure cranberry juice, not the concentrate or cocktail, they are full of sugar.

Answer 8

i dont know everything about it.However you should have juices in there so your sugar wont drop to low.i wouldnt do it over 24 hrs.However im no doctor.

Answer 9

water

Answer 10

i think water is better. juices always have extra crap in them.