Fasting Log: Day 8
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[For “Fasting Log: Day 7,” click here.]
FASTING LOG: DAY 8
Amazingly, another pound gone! I’m now 132.8 lbs.! Where is all this coming from? I don’t look all that different from day to day anymore.
But, I just noticed this morning that even my ankles are slimmer. I fit into all my old suits, except the slimmest pants I bought after my last fast.
I feel much more calm and peaceful this morning. I had amazing lucid dreams about the future. In one of them, I was traveling around the world and listening to everyone who cared to share their stories with me, and I shared my stories with them. Everything felt exactly as it should be. There was no hurry. No place either of us had to be. They were glad to have a sympathetic ear, and I was touched and honored they trusted me enough to tell me their troubles or their life aspirations. Each time, we walked away from each other feeling lighter and somehow changed by the experience of sharing the other’s hopes and dreams.
I just lay awake for a while, trying to hold onto the precious images and feelings. Yes, I think I’ll keep fasting—now and again. To have dreams like that, it’s worth it!
WHY SHOULD WE FAST?
BeiYin writes: “Probably the most important reason is that the body uses quite a bit of energy to digest food. And, when fasting, this energy becomes available for other uses. In the fasting state, the body will scour for dead cells, damaged tissues, fatty deposits, tumors, abscesses, all of which are burned for fuel or expelled as waste. The elimination of these obstructions restores the immune system functionality and metabolic process to an optimum state.”
“Fasting restores good digestion and elimination; and, peristaltic action is quickened. Fasting allows a deep, physiological rest of the digestive organs. And, the energy saved goes into self-healing and self-repairing. By eliminating obstructions, by cleansing, detoxification, and purifying the intestines, the blood, and the cells, we can overcome many of our physical ills or handicaps as well as getting a boost in energy. Fasting not only removes obstructions and helps the body to heal itself, it is also rejuvenating and life-extending. These resulting benefits can have lasting affects in your mental and emotional health.”
“The other very important aspect is that your self-awareness will be elevated. If you are sick and depressed, then this might be the most important thing you can try in your healing program because it gives you, immediately, an energy boost and increased awareness, which might allow that you see things more clearly, allowing you the first step out of your sickness and onto the path of recovery. While fasting, you become more aware of your body process, your life, and with everything you are doing. It becomes a period where you can evaluate all that you’re doing more objectively. And, you naturally have more time for contemplation because you aren’t using time amassing, preparing, eating, eliminating, and cleaning up—all which is used to prepare food. You become more aware of what you body likes and doesn’t like when you start to eat again. You gain self-confidence in your ability to control your life process—to set a goal and carry out an intention.”
For, the incredible benefits of fasting for mental clarity, see “Fasting Log: Day 3.”
HOW FASTING HEALS US
BeiYin write: “During a fast, a metamorphosis occurs. The body undergoes a tearing down and rebuilding of damaged materials. For this reason, fasting is famous for its ability to rejuvenate and give the body a more youthful tone. Why does fasting have such a powerful effect in healing the body? Fasting dissolves diseased cells in a systematic manner, leaving healthy tissue. The result is a thorough cleansing of the tube, membrane, and cellular structures. There is a remarkable redistribution of nutrients in the fasting body. It hangs on to precious minerals and vitamins while catabolizing on old tissue, toxins, and inferior materials.”
“Each cell of your body is a complete living entity with its own metabolism. It needs a constant supply of oxygen and sufficient nourishment. When due to nutritional deficiencies, sluggish metabolism, sedentary life, overeating, and consequent poor digestion and assimilation of food, lack of fresh air and sufficient exercise and rest, our cells are deprived. They start to degenerate. The normal process of cell replacement and rebuilding slows down. And, your body starts to grow old. It’s resistance to disease will diminish. And, you become ’sick.’”
“Animals will naturally fast when they are sick or injured. And, when we are ill, our hunger diminishes. If we get out of the way and allow nature to take its course, we will find that we can heal from any problem. Since the dawn of recorded time (in fact, since before the word ‘doctor’ came into existence) priests provided sanctuaries where people could go to fast—whereas, modern medical practitioners admit that they have no cures—only drugs that mask the symptoms, while causing yet other symptoms to appear.”
BeiYin quotes Dr. Rai Casey, who had this to say about all the fasts he personally supervised: “I had a medical practice for 20 years in NYC, supervised hundreds of long fasts, and I found that the physical healing or weight loss was but a pleasant side effect. What really happened is that the person got in touch with their higher self, their true self, and came to the experience that healing can take place at every level, simply by letting go and allowing Mother Nature to do her work.”
BeiYin also writes that fasting can benefit the following conditions: “Although fasting is not recommended in every situation, (cancer of the liver is one instance where fasting is contraindicated [fasting is NOT for liver cancer]), in many situations, fasting is the only known solution. Fasting has been beneficial for arthritis, asthma, high blood pressure, lupus, chronic fatigue, colitis, Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis, spastic colon, irritable bowel, cases of paralysis, neuritis, neuralgia, neuroses, and mental illness, as well as many others. Fasting will also break down tumors; and, for this reason, many have overcome cancer with fasting [but NOT liver cancer, or the other conditions directly below].”
Other medical/mental/emotional conditions that may be dangerous for a water fast include: hyperglycemia; hypoglycemia; chronic heart condition; or, schizophrenia. If you have any of these conditions, BeiYin recommends you consult with a fasting expert and/or be monitored throughout your fast.
Finally, BeiYin also believes fasting can free us from excessive reliance on doctors: “How many of us believe that when we get sick, that a doctor is going to save us from pain and death? We just assume that the technology is going to be able to repair us when we break down by giving us a pill, a treatment, or a surgery. We are so alienated from our bodies that we think that a doctor knows more about us than we do. The reality is that doctors don’t have the cures that we need. What is offered by the traditional system of healers is only the possibility to treat our symptoms, never being able to cure or root out the cause.”
“When we take these kinds of treatments to suppress our symptoms, then that cause—which is the underlying reason we are sick—goes unattended. Then, in fact, our illness continues to grow. We will never be healthy until we take responsibility for our own health. We need to stop blaming the outside for making us sick—whether it is corporations, a person, our immediate environment, or a government—and, to recognize instead that our sickness is a symptom telling us something inside needs to be addressed. For sure, there are outside influences that we can’t control. But, there is much that we can control by taking responsibility for ourselves and working to change our habits.”
TO BE CONTINUED …
More on the benefits of fasting, the possible side effects, and how I’m doing in the next installment of my Fasting Log. If you want to share your own fasting experiences or, perhaps, your concerns, please do so in the comments below!
[For “Fasting Log: Day 9,” click here.]
[For entire “Fasting Log,” click here.]
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