Fasting is a great way to lose weight, detox your body and gain health. By fasting you allow your body to take a break from digesting food and focus on healing and cleansing. Here are a few simple steps you shoudl take to ensure that your fast is productive and done corectly.

There are a couple different types of fasts you can do. You can choose to do a juice fast, using only freshly extracted raw juices, or you can do a water fast. If this is your first time fasting I strongly suggest doing a juice fast. Water fasts have intense cleansing benefits, but should not be done by a fasting novice. A juice fast is extremly beneficial to your health and is much easier to handle for your first fast. I recomend using a masticating juicer to extract the best possible juice. A good example of this type of juicer is a Champion or Green Star juicer. If these juicers are out of your price range you can always get a less expensive juicer to start out with and then upgrade it later when you are able to. The most important thing is to be able to make the fresh juices for your fast.

Now you need to decide how long of a fast you want to do. If this is your first time I recommend three to seven days of actual fasting. Three days is the minimum time frame to give your body a break and get some good results. Of course the longer you fast the better your results will be, but you don't want to overdo it either. Decide what is feasible for you, set the day that you will start, and mark it on the calender.

Before you begin your fast you need to prepare your body. Three days before starting your fast cut out all meat and dairy products from your diet. Elminate all fried foods and sugar. Two days before your fast cut out all breads, pasta, potatoes, and other starches. On the day before your fast eat only fresh raw fruits and vegetables. Now your body is ready to begin your fast.

While you are fasting try to take it easy. If you can, pick a time when you will not be doing anything major. Obviously you do not want to do a fast while you are on vacation or running lots of errands. Remember you are giving your body a rest. You may have severe detox symptoms. Listen to your body, and if you need to rest then rest. Drink as much fresh fruit and vegetable juices as you want. You want to make sure that you are really hydratating your body. Keep a container of water handy as well to sip throughout the day.

Breaking Your Fast:

It is extremely important to break your fast properly. I can not stress this enough! You have just given your body a well needed break to do some cleaning out. If you stuff a bunch of garbage back into your system than you will destroy all the good you have done and could get very ill. You want to break your fast gently. On the first day after your fast start your day with some juice. Around mid-morning or so have some juicy fruit. For lunch have some more juice and some additional juicy fruit. If you find that your body is handling food well then have a nice salad for supper. Stick with just raw fruits and vegetables and fresh juice the first day of breaking your fast. On the second day after your fast you can start adding in light cooked food as your body tolerates it if you desire. If you plan on adding meat back into your diet you may do so on the third day after your fast.

This article is meant to be a brief overview on fasting. There are a lot of really great books devoted to the subject as well. Before you decide to do a fast do as much research as you can so that you understand all that is involved.

*I hope that you have enjoyed this article on fasting. I have personally done two 7 day fasts and one 30 day fast. I plan on doing another extended fast in the near future.