By the Way, During A Fast, You Don't Eat....

A lot of dreams last night and all about energy....not much of a surprise in that one as yesterday was a deeply energetic day where I did a lot of work on my energy field (Closing Energy Leaks is a blessing!) and felt fairly good about it all.

Today is day 6 of my cleanse and in case you are wondering I would like to clear up one tiny issue - when you are fasting, that means you do not take in ANY solid foods. At all. Period. Not one morsel crosses your lips - or the game is over.

Fasting with water (herbal tea, water, lemon juice, maple syrup, black pepper) is a liquid only fast and very specific. The reason I mentioned this is because this week I opened up the newspaper as I was spreading it on the floor for the puppy to play with (LOL) and saw a curious article...

An 'expert' was being interviewed on fasting and they even had a menu posted along the side with the meals you were able to eat during your fast. How cool is that??? You get to believe you are fasting while eating a ham sandwich for breakfast.

What a load of crap. And do people actually stop and think to themselves - 'hey, but I thought fasting was going without food, taking in only water for a period of time'. I certainly hope someone else questioned the logic and misinformation being given out here.

What's more, this expert (who was not a clinical nutritionist), has most likely never ever done a 'fast' (at least without that light breakfast, lunch and dinner) and is now commenting on what the rest of us should be doing. It's no wonder people are confused and left wondering about all of this.

By the way, the light menu this person was referring to is termed calorie restriction, which is something different altogether...

So, if you are planning to do a fast (and I hope you do) a couple of things to remember, you will be emptying out and cleaning up your body tissues with clean water. The herbs come in to balance, restore and revitalize your body systems as they work gently in concert with internal function. The other ingredients are aids and supports for body organs. 

Get my book The Pagan Diet: Food, Fast & Feast if you want to start cleansing, fasting and detoxing while either losing weight, healing inflammation, restoring and balancing function and generally cleaning up the debris built up in your cells.

And there is no food involved during the cleanse phase, because, well, eating is not fasting!

April

If you live in Ireland, order the book from me, I would love to hear from you!

The Time In Between

This coming weekend is what I consider to be time 'in-between' - it is not fasting time or a cleanse, it's officially part of a holiday and therefore usually connected to a feast of some kind. Of course this weekend is the August Harvest festival or the tail end of Lughnasadh and an important part of the journey.

Fasting is not the be all, end all, however, it is the single most powerful tool in our belts when it comes to rapid detox, clean shifts of energy and huge personal change. Thus it serves a mighty purpose in our lives and can be done often to keep us sharp mentally and spiritually. 

Physically, I cannot stress this enough - when you want to heal anything, infection, excess weight, inflammation and dysfunctions - fasting using clean water is the only way forward. Each of these conditions (and the high blood pressure, sugar imbalance, high cholesterol that goes along with it) can  be related back to deeply embedded toxins, once gone, the situation reverses. Simple.

This then takes us back to the time in-between, I have met many people who would like to think that they can fast and then afterwards eat normally and they don't necessarily need the feast times. But, I beg to differ, we do actually require them on all of these same levels - energetic, spiritual, physical and emotional and for all the same reasons.

Why? Perhaps one of the most important reasons is to adequately replenish the spirit with clean, wholesome foods, especially those which are homemade with love and care. Fasting is meant to be an intense time of work that you do on yourself, stripping down and removing layers of built up toxins. A natural follow on to this would be a short time of nurturing the body with plenty of wonderful foods.

Secondly, feasting or honouring the feast time is entirely about celebration, ritual and ceremony, which  is important for the human spirit. The inner connections to these days and dates of the calendar run as deep as the ley lines of the earth, most of these have been largely forgotten and discarded as we have allowed others to conduct sacred rituals on our behalf.

Coming back to ceremony and sacredness is part of the rites of passage into the world of spirit - the only spirit you want to connect with in this place is your own. These rituals are far more important than we may realize at the beginning, taking time to ground ourselves within a new reality.

A significant factor in all of this is the fact that energetic connections between people and their food have largely been eroded and replaced by poisons from processing, alcoholic drink and the presence of chemicals, forcing those of us who are choosing to follow a higher path to make these drastic changes to diet and lifestyle written about in my blogs. 

Finally, feasting is also a social activity, the intensity of the fasting or cleanse has passed, now is a time to party, dress up and dance, do things together as a family or even on our own. This phase is all about connecting with the energy of your food and through this food, the land and water flowing within it. 

Feasting brings us back to simpler times, clean energy and strength of spirit - a vital part of the spiritual journey. Have a lovely weekend, 

Happy Feasting!

April

Lughnasadh Ceremony by candle light 

There is a method here...

For those of you who have my book(s) on diet, exercise and life etc, and for those who are currently reading and following The Pagan Diet, just a little bit more on the importance of following a healthy diet.

When you start to make changes to your diet, your body shifts into higher gear, I call it 'detox mode' as well. I realize that there are many people out there who follow intermittent fasting in some form or other - taking time out to just drink and take a break from all that digesting of food.

What is different with my methods is that it comes down to one basic thing - if you put rubbish in, you will get rubbish out. You simply cannot expect to clean your body while your beverage of choice is full of caffeine, or your snack on your food day is full of sugar or processed something or other.

These are NOT foods, they are anti-nutrients, which cost you energy to digest. When you are fasting drink clean water, the Master Cleanse juice, herbal tea etc. Otherwise you are bathing your delicate internal tissues with chemical laden goup. 

The days that you are eating you are boosting your immune system, replenishing your reserves, repairing body systems and adjusting your metabolism in positive ways. Once again this is not the time to fill up on junk, rubbish or anything else that is not really food.

Even on your planned feast and celebration days - there is no excuse to start abusing your body and consuming unhealthy junk foods. I enjoy my meals thoroughly and am not deprived of anything - cookies, cakes, sweets and treats of all sorts. They are just made with natural, healthy ingredients and taste great! 

Once you start incorporating fasting into your lifestyle, your tastes will change and you will crave healthier foods, until then - use some discipline and pass on the sugar.

Have a lovely day,

April