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Fasting - instructions and health benefits
Fasting originally meant to abstain from solid foods and stimulants for a limited period of time, to provide sufficient hydration and to regularly empty the intestine. Fasting is the inner cleansing of the body, but also of the mind. Relaxation exercises, walks in the fresh air, reading a good book - all this support the cleaning process and leads to a good body feeling. In the Christian tradition, fasting begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts forty days. For many today, Ash Wednesday is still the right day to start a fasting cure, with the nature of fasting changing over the centuries.
contents
- effect
- Physiological processes
- Who should not fast
- execution
- The most varied fast variations
- Fasting after Buchinger
- Fasting after Hildegard von Bingen
- Basenfasten
- juice fasting
- Mayr fasting
- Single fast days
Today there are a variety of fasting species. These not only aim to avoid solid foods, but are limited to, for example, only certain foods.
How fasted, everyone determines himself or the treating doctor. Important are the so-called discharge days, which lead the body on the actual fasting, the colon cleansing and the build-up days, in which the organism can slowly get used to the normal, solid food again.
In the past, fasting was commonly used in connection with religion, but today the focus is more on health issues. (Image: Johanna Mühlbauer / fotolia.com) effect
Fasting relieves the metabolism, purifies and cleanses the entire organism. Excess metabolites are broken down, allowing the body to recover. For many, fasting has a pleasant side effect - tumbling one or the other pound.
Physiological processes
Fasting serves to normalize the digestive juices. Thus, the acidity of the gastric juice decreases, the bile becomes initially more, then decreases in the course, semolina and mucus are released. The intestine is emptied and cleaned at the beginning of fasting days. This has a positive effect on the intestinal villi, which are then better able to pass on nutrients.
Furthermore, the excretion is stimulated. Tissues are released, stored substances, often felt by so-called myogeloses, are dissolved. The weight loss is actually just a side effect. Because in the foreground is a re-adjustment of the body, whereby the self-healing powers are stimulated and recovered in this way, not only the organism, but also benefit the soul and mind.
Who should not fast
Not everyone is fit for fasting. If there are pronounced weaknesses and / or cardiovascular or kidney diseases, it should not be fasted. Fasting is also contraindicated in severe conditions such as cancer, acute infectious diseases, and patients with a history of psychiatric or eating disorders. Children, adolescents, pregnant women and nursing mothers should also not fast. If you are not sure, consult with your doctor before starting to fast. In case of existing diseases, a stationary therapeutic fast may be performed in a suitable clinic.
In pregnancy, fasting is generally taboo. (Image: Syda Productions / fotolia.com) execution
Fasting is best when time, rest and some leisure are available. The fasting time is individual - five days, one week, two weeks.
Traditional fasting does not allow solid food. Black tea, coffee, alcohol and nicotine are prohibited on any fasting diet. Sufficient hydration is very important. Still water or herbal tea and at least 2.5 liters of it, are drunk throughout the day. Only then can metabolites really be eliminated.
To prepare for fasting is a colon cleansing with certain salts such as Glauber's salt, Epsom salts or Passagesalz, the latter being the mildest of the three. Hildegard von Bingen recommends a special ginger spice for defecation and other forms of fasting is more the enema of choice.
Enemas are definitely recommended in preparation for fasting, but many people have certain reservations here. (Image: Drobot Dean / fotolia.com) On two or three days before the actual fasting, which are the so-called days of relief, only light food is eaten to prepare the body slowly. The fasting is terminated by the so-called fast breaking, usually in the form of an apple. This is chewed very slowly and consciously. After that, several days of build-up are important, during which the body is allowed to get used to normal food very slowly and gently.
How fasted, everyone determines himself or the treating doctor. As a rule, the feeling of hunger diminishes after a few days. If feeling weak, a teaspoon of honey can help in the tea.
The most varied fast variations
In the past, fasting was quite simply defined - no solid food, much liquid and no stimulants. Of course, this traditional way of fasting still exists, but a variety of fasting variations have been added. Some known species are described in more detail in the following lines.
Fasting after Buchinger
Fasting after Buchinger - or called fasting - is probably the best known way. This consistently dispensed with solid food. The body is switched to low flame, the fat deposits it's up to the collar.
It starts with two days of relief, where only vegetables, fruits and rice are eaten and drunk with tea or still water. The first proper fasting day begins with an evacuation, right after getting up. The bowel cleansing salt is available at the pharmacy. If the digestion does not work so well during fasting, it will be cranked every two days using enemas or chutes.
On the fasting days, a large cup of tea is drunk in the morning (herbal tea, base tea or a special fast tea). A yeast-free vegetable broth or a glass of fruit or vegetable juice diluted with water, is the meal for lunch or dinner, depending on your taste. Enough must be drunk throughout the day. In dizziness or weakness, as already mentioned above, the tea may be enriched with a little honey.
Usually fasted for at least five days, but the fasting should be completed after 14 days at the latest.
Fasting after Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard von Bingen, the abbess who lived in the Middle Ages and whose life was naturopathy, also dealt with fasting. Health aspects, but also spirituality were important to her. Thus, she describes that in fasting the concentration is completely self-directed, the mind becomes clear and the access to one's soul can be found again. Man comes back into harmony with himself.
Fasting after Hildegard von Bingen is a gentle variation. The discharge days consist of fruits and vegetables. The removal is carried out with so-called ginger-mixed powder (ginger, galangal, Zitwer), which is much gentler than the salt variant: In the morning, you can leave a teaspoon to melt on an empty stomach in the mouth. During the whole Lent this should be done daily. According to Hildegard von Bingen, this powder only brings out the "bad" and the good stays in the body. In addition, she recommends an enema with warm water or fennel tea every two days.
Herbal tea and especially fennel tea should be drunk, as it is very basic and has a positive effect on the intestinal flora. Small amounts of spelled coffee are also allowed. Once or twice a day a vegetable broth with spelled is eaten. Hildegard von Bingen recommends getting a heart wine (parsley-honey-wine) for fasting, which can serve well in fasting crises (weakness, low blood pressure, etc.).
Dinkel usually plays a special role in fasting diets after Hildegard von Bingen. (Image: Björn Wylezich / fotolia.com) After about five days, the break of the fast follows - the transition to the normal diet. This fast break is done with Hildegard von Bingen with a baked apple, which is prepared with honey, cinnamon and sweet almonds. Important is the chewing. Each bite is chewed thirty to fifty times and well salinated. The diet in the following days is a light diet with spelled, fruits and vegetables. In the first week is waived animal.
Basenfasten
Basenfasten means to abstain from foods that are metabolized in the body sour. Fruits and vegetables, raw or cooked, herbs, mushrooms, seeds and kernels, seedlings, almonds, walnuts, cedar nuts, macadamia nuts and pistachios are allowed. For example, breakfast consists of stewed fruit, refined with nuts and seeds. At lunchtime, a colorful salad or a variety of steamed vegetables are served, preferably with seedlings as well. Both raw vegetables and raw fruits as well as fruit and vegetable juices are only allowed until around 2:00 pm. The dinner must be easy to digest, for example in the form of a vegetable soup. Also with this form of fasting, the hydration is important, at least 2.5 liters of still water and / or herbal tea are recommended here.
The colon cleansing, which most people fear, is also recommended here as an inlet with lukewarm water.
In the case of base fasting, as the name implies, the basic element is in the foreground, since too much acidic food damages the body and can lead to a variety of symptoms such as headache, tension, fatigue, but also chronic diseases.
juice fasting
The juice is also used to cleanse the body of slag. The various juices supply the body with many vitamins and trace elements. Juice fasting is one of the gentler forms of fasting. The diet consists exclusively of liquid - freshly squeezed juices or organic juices from the health food store or the health food store. Eventually, the diet will be enhanced by a clear vegetable broth. Look for enough still water or herbal tea. Also with this type of fasting discharge days, a defecation and build-up days are needed.
Juice fasting counteracts the over-acidification of the body and supplies the body with important vitamins. (Image: fahrwasser / fotolia.com) Juice fasting counteracts hyperacidity and lowers blood pressure, which means that the heart and circulation are somewhat relieved. Likewise, slags are flushed out of the body. The difference to other forms of fasting here is the "filling up" of the body with a lot of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. That makes you really fit.
Mayr fasting
Mayr fasting is also known as the milk-bread cure. The cure traditionally begins with a tea-fast for seven to fourteen days. During this time, refrained from solid food, at noon a vegetable broth and otherwise only drunk tea. Then the milk-semmel-cure begins. This lasts between two and four weeks. The daily intake of Epsom salts and a stomach massage ensure regular defecation. For breakfast and also for lunch, stale white flour or Dinkelsemmeln, well chewed, together with milk, which is added spoonwise. In the evening only tea is allowed, also spoonwise.
The gastrointestinal tract largely comes to rest even with this form of fasting. For this reason, for example, whole-grain shrimps must not be used, as they would stimulate the intestine too much. The Mayr cure is not performed at home but in special clinics.
Single fast days
Not everyone wants and can fast for days. But who still wants to relieve their own body from time to time, fasting for a day, for example, once a week or even once a month. For fasting juice or eating fruits and vegetables is recommended. Coffee and stimulants are shunned on these special days. Drunk, as with all fasting, sufficient still water or herbal tea. A provoked defecation is not necessary here. (Sw)