Fasting means not eating solid food for a specified period of time. It does not mean starving completely or going thirsty. Liquids must always be taken regularly during any fast.

Fasts can be of any length and they serve several purposes. Naturopaths believe they:

• cleanse the system of poisons accumulated from bad eating habits, a poor environment, and suppressed or repressed emotions

• enhance immune functioning and speed up healing

• give the digestive system a well-earned and often much-needed rest.

Fasting is particularly beneficial in the treatment of fevers and acute problems such as skin rashes or digestive upsets. Naturopaths also recommend fasting one or two days a month regularly as an important part of preventive healthcare - often advising timing the best moment by using a biorhythm reading.

Short fasts, lasting no longer than 48 hours, can be safely carried out by most healthy adults without supervision. However, strict supervision is necessary for fasts lasting longer than three days and for those undertaken by the chronically ill. There have been supervised fasts that have lasted for 21 days and more.

Fasts aimed at correcting specific conditions can sometimes seem extreme. Examples are:

• the Guelpa fast - this is a three-day saline fast, often prescribed for rheumatic conditions

• the Schroth cure - also used in the treatment of rheumatism, this method alternates dry days with liquid days over a period of two or three weeks.

Other types of fasts include

• water fasts (in which nothing is eaten and only water is drunk)

• citrus mono diets (where you eat only oranges and drink their juice and water)

• other fruit mono diets (such as a grape fast)

• vegetable juice fasts

The benefits of fasting are said to be enhanced by several processes such as hydrotherapy, deep breathing, and gentle forms of exercise.


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