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Transition period. Preparation to fast.
When many "bad" habits exist, longer preparations are needed. Eliminating alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and sugar if possible is very helpful, although some people choose to wait until their actual fast days to clear these. Red meats and other animal foods, including milk products and eggs, could be avoided for a day or two before fasting. Intake of most nutritional supplements can also be curtailed the day before fasting; these are usually not recommended during a fast. Many people do well by preparing for their fasts with three or four days of consuming only fruit and vegetable foods. These nourish and slowly detoxify the body so that the actual fasting will be less intense.
New faster should go slowly through the various steps and to avoid being excessive or impatient so that we learn about ourselves in the process. To do this, we need observing or "listening" to our body and even keeping notes in a journal. Get to really know yourself. Then, once we have fasted successfully, we could continue to do one-day fasts weekly or a three-day fast every month if we need them. This helps to reconnect us with a better diet and to remotivate us toward our goal of optimum health.
A juice fast, which I usually recommend, can be longer and is much easier for most people. The fresh juices of raw fruits and vegetables are what most fasting clinics and practitioners recommend
Basically we have to move into a one-day fast and then a few two- and three-day fasts with two or three days between them when low-calorie foods and more raw fruits and vegetables are consumed, and also provide fluids having alkaline origin. This way, we can build up to a five- to seven-day fast. When the transition is made this slowly, even a water fast can be less intense and more profound for those wishing a powerful personal and spiritual experience.
How long all this pre-fasting training period last before coming up to standard 7-14 day fasts 4 – 2 times per year? We concider 1-2 months is enough for this "fast trainings".
Practicing 5-14 fast we strongly suggest medical monitoring and retreating from usual daily life. Best option – to go to some redidential spa (anti-aging resort) with experienced personal supporting you in any needed moment.
Fasting can be the most difficult for those who need it the most, such as the daily three-meals-plus-snacks consumers who eat whatever and whenever they want. Often such people must start with more subtle diet changes and prepare even more slowly for fasting. A transition plan that can be used before even going on the one-day fast is the one-meal-a-day plan. The one daily meal is usually eaten around 3 p.m. Water, juices, and teas and even some fresh fruit or vegetable snacks can be eaten at other times. The one wholesome meal is not excessive or rich. It can be a protein-vegetable meal, such as fish and salad or steamed vegetables, or a starch-vegetable meal, such as brown rice and mixed steamed greens, carrots, celery, and zucchini. People on this plan start to detox slowly, lose some weight, and after a few days feel pretty sound. The chance of any strong symptoms developing, as might occur with fasting, is minimal with this type of transition, and the actual fast, when begun, will be handled more easily, also.
The method of therapeutic fasting
Therapeutic fasting method includes full abstention from taking food and a complex of cleaning and physio-therapeutic treatments carried out simultaneously (enemas, baths, douches) and the special re-feeding nutritional program. There are three basic periods of fasting therapy:
- Preparation period,
- Fasting period,
- Re-feeding period.
In preparation period a complex examination of patients is carried out in order to specify indications and contraindications to fasting (see below). If necessary, the consultations of specialists are prescribed (oculist, gynecologist, dentist, etc), treatment of hotbeds of chronic infection is carried out (odontogenic, tonsiloginic, etc.).
The method of fasting for many of patients seems unusual. That is why the practical usage of the method needs special individual and collective preparation to this sort of treatment. To the beginning of treatment they have to obtain certain minimum knowledge about «fasting for health sake», it is necessary to let them know in a simple way what the method is about, regimen of treatment, they should be taught to cleaning treatment and so on. The patients have to wish to use fasting as a therapeutic method of treatment. That means important guarantee of regimen of treatment maintenance.
FASTING PERIOD:
Full or moist FASTING (without any limitation of taking water) is the mostly widely spread in the clinical practice of fasting. In the preparatory period a complex examination of patients is carried out, treatment of the existing chronic hotbeds of infection. Before first day of fasting a patient does not have dinner. For the night he is given a cleaning enema of 2 liters of water at room temperature. For the next morning a salt laxative 40-50 g of magnium sulfate dissolved in 200 ml of warm boiled water is given. From that period of time food intake is completely stopped.
Fasting period is dosed out individually depending on the age, nosological form, condition of patients, how he bears fasting. Achieving of «ketoacidotic crisis» is considered advisable, that for the majority of patients at full fasting can be observed on 7-9 day. As usual, 12-14 days of food intake abstinence is enough. In the case of bronchial asthma, polyartritis, psoriasis and some other diseases resistant to a drug treatment and at good endurance of fasting therapy is advisable to extend the fasting period to 18-21 days. Longer period of fasting is not advisable because usually badly endured by patients.
Patients take no less then 1-1,5 L daily of boiled water or slightly brewed non-sweet tea (mint decoction, wild rose decoction, alkaline mineral water). Consumption of coffee, alcohol and smoking are strictly prohibited. From the first days of treatment drug intake mostly must be canceled. The regimen of patients as usual active. The major part of the day is recommended to spend to a free air (walking, sun-and air baths). Night sleep should be enough (no less then 8-9 hours), in a well ventilated room. A complex of strengthening (massage, gymnastics, swimming), physiotherapeutic (sollux, electrophorus, salt-coniferous baths, etc) and cleaning (everyday enemas with 1-1,5 l of water at room temperature, circular douche, Sharko douche) treatments are carried out, prescribed individually depending on nosological form and condition of patients.
"Fasting" doctor examines patients daily, check the pulse and the arterial pressure. The dynamics of patients’ condition and their endurance of fasting are recorded in-patients file. Patients should fill a self-observation form. Accumulated clinical experience and laboratory tests say that 3 basic stages of fasting can be distinguished.
1 stage (of food excitation)
Lasts first 2-3 days. In this stage the following symptoms are typical: hunger cravings, headaches, weakness, breach of sleep. They very often have acute reaction on look and scent of food, on conversation about eating. Sometimes pain in epigastria area, sucking pain in stomach, feeling of discomfort and aggravated peristalsis of intestines are noticed. In water used for enemas considerable quantity of faces masses is observed. Quick loss of weight is noticed in this 1 St stage of fasting, especially in persons with excess eating (daily weight loss up to 1-2 kg), mainly due to loss of water. In this period a very important role plays distraction of patients from thoughts about food, walk on a fresh air, psychoprofilactic work of a doctor (talks about advantages and benefits of fasting). It is desirable for the patients to be in one ward and together begin fasting. That would be advisable to have in the ward those patients who have already undergone treatment by fasting.
2 stage (ketoacidosis increasing)
Start from 2-3 days of fast and continues to 7-9 days of fast. In this period the feeling of hunger deadens. The scent of acetone from the mouth and metallic aftertaste in the mouth appears, the tongue is covered by white-grayish patch. Sometimes common weakness, drowsiness in day and breach of night sleep, more rare sickness and vomiting are observed. Usually, the first experience of fasting is most difficult. Those patients are recommended to limit temporary their physical activity (to call off massage, piscine, physiotreatments), to spend more time on the fresh air, to drink alkaline mineral water. Everyday weight loss is 0,3-0,7 kg and is caused by beginning of active breaking up of fats. Moderate bradicardia (48-60 beats per minute) is notices, the blood pressure drops. Some patients may suffer ortostatic collapse (syncope) especially those who are usually hypotonic. The patients should be warning about importance of slow getting up from he bed, they should avoid sharp movements. If blood pressure is consistently lower than 80/60 it is not recommended continuing fasting.
The content of buffer bases (subcompensating metabolic acidosis), glucose (moderate hypoglycemia), potassium and urea decrease. The level of common lipids, cholesterine, kreatinine, indirect bilirubin, AlAT, AcAT is increasing. The content of keton bodies is increasing in urine and reaches it's maximum on 7-9 day, that corresponds to the period of «ketoacidotic crisis». After this crisis the condition of patients significantly improves.
3 stage (compensated ketoacidosis)
Is starting from the 7-9 day and continues to the end of fasting period (14-21 day). The organism of patients is totally adapted to the conditions of full fasting. The symptoms of diseases are usually significantly decreases or disappear completely. The content of glucose, cholesterol, potassium, urea, bilirubin is normalizing in blood. Increase of activity of AlAT and AcAT not more then 1,5-2 times beyond normal. If the increase of AlAT, AcAT is somewhat more, especially in combination with increase of common bilirubin, the medical fasting should be stopped.
Daily losses of weight gradually decreases and makes 0,2-0,5 kg per day in the second half of fasting period. Naturopathic symptoms of correct medical fasting in this time are as follows: gradual cleaning of the tongue from patch to it's root, gradual disappearance of unpleasant smell from the mouth, the feeling of constant dryness in the mouth is changing with moist. The clinical criteria of accomplishment of the fasting period are as follows:
- appearance of feeling of hunger and dreams on food subjects;
- full cleaning of the tongue from patch;
- absence of faces masses in water after enemas;
- improvement of clinical symptoms of diseases.
RE-FEEDING PERIOD
For persons with cardiovascular diseases, obesity, osteochondrosis it is useful to be on juice-fruit-vegetable diet.
For persons with diseases of digestive system, bronchial asthma, skin allergies use of sparing hypoallergenic diet is recommended. In case of medical fasting under outpatients’ conditions use of an adopted variant of re-feeding diet is possible. The main principals of re-feeding are fractional food intake, gradual broadening of a diet, exclusion of salt. As usual, after a small portion of food intake patients feel satiation very quickly, that is why it is recommended to take food by small portions every 2-3 hours. In case of overeating at this period a syndrome of "food overloading " can be observed. Sickness, vomiting, unpleasant feeling in epi- and mesogastria can be noticed. In this case lavage of the stomach along with laxative is necessary. In case of spontaneous "food overloading" patients are recommended to abstain from any food during one day. After that the rehabilitating nutrition continues according to the usual scheme.
According to the clinical experience the are 3 main periods can be distinguished in the re-feeding period:
1st stage (asthenia period) lasts first 2-4 days
The following symptoms are common: weakness, emotional instability, and quick fatigability. Sometimes a feeling of discomfort or ache in epigastria appears, due to aggravation of motorics intestine. The symptoms of cardiac arrhythmia (extrasistole) are noticed rarer. During this 1st stage of re-feeding the organism move from endogenic nutrition to normal ecsogenic nutrition and such metabolic transition can be difficult for the organism. That is why patients are prescribed ward regimen or confinement to bed, all physiotherapeutic treatments, massage, gymnastics and cleaning enemas should be called off. Depending on the type of the diet fruit or vegetable juice (apple, pears, peach etc) diluted in two with water should be prescribed, or rice or wheat water and gruel on water without salt and sugar (buckwheat porridge, rice and millet porridge). The body mass of the patients during this 1st stage of re-feeding continues to decrease. On the third-forth day of re-feeding, independent stool appears, otherwise a cleaning enema should be prescribed.
2nd stage (intensive rehabilitation)
The length of this stage depends on the length of fasting period (usually it is a 1/2 of fasting period). Patients notice improvement of general feeling, appetite appears, the mass of the body increases. All blood biochemistry is normalizing and acetone disappears in the urine. The exercises must be implemented (walks, gymnastics). From the 5-7th day patients have buckwheat, millet, oatmeal porridge on milk, vegetable puree, bread, butter, kefir, curds, nuts, honey. All hard little part of food should be thoroughly chewed. The intake of meat, fish, eggs and mushrooms as well as salt are not recommended. At this stage rarely under skin edema is observed, first of all under eyes. This occurs due to use of common salt or products with it’s high content (herring, brown bread, cheese, carnichons, etc). It is recommended to keep to achlorid diet, to use diuretics (decoction of leaves of bearberry, fruits of juniper, leaves of red bilberry, birch, etc)
3d stage (normalization)
Is characterized by restoration of all physiological functions, stabilization of mass of the body, transition to normal nutrition.
The length of re-feeding period is equal to the length of fasting period.
fasting, fasting practice, preparation to fast, therapeutic fasting, fasting period, clinical, ketoacidosis, food excitation, food overloading, asthenia, anti-aging plan.
