Essential fasting recommendations

Fasting is an action of complete or partial renunciation of food, done with the intention of beneficial self-transformation. This definition highlights several degrees or forms of fasting from the outset, starting from the mildest form, in which no meat, alcoholic beverages or exciting foods of any kind are consumed, to the most severe form, which is also the most complex in its health implications, namely complete or black fasting. The latter involves abstaining from all food for one or more days. During the period of complete fasting, only the consumption of water is allowed and even indicated.

"Champions" of the post

Despite the declared scepticism of some promoters of the so-called "modern" diet towards all these forms of fasting, there are numerous testimonies that prove that fasting can even be integrated as a way of life and, moreover, exceptional curative effects have been achieved, diseases considered by allopathic medicine as very serious or even incurable have been cured.
This is how people such as the Japanese doctor George Oshawa, who highlighted the great health effects of the grain-based diet, Rudolf Breuss with his natural juice belts and Ernst Gunter with his raw food diet, became famous, both for their work and for their formidable results.
The aim of this presentation is, among other things, to dismantle the deep-seated prejudice among many people that food is the only viable source of vital energy and that any deprivation of certain foods is a serious impediment to our health and integrity. For such rigid and closed-minded people, fasting or dieting is a real calamity. For them, religious fasts are nothing more than mere superstition without any scientific basis. Yet even such beings, unfortunate in their lack of understanding, end up clinging desperately to the very thing they vehemently criticise, namely fasting, if they become ill and find that the treatment prescribed by the doctor is not having the desired effect. To all these people and others, we can reply that, according to studies, the human body has energy reserves for two or three months! There are also countless believers who have managed to fast for the entire 40 days before Easter, without their vitals suffering in any way. But perhaps the most eloquent example is that of the Christian mystic Therese Neuman who lived without food for many years, demonstrating to the world the existence of a higher, spiritual way of energy intake into the finitude, apart from food.
The questions that may then arise in the reader's mind are:
"How could these beings maintain their vitality and all the functions of the body in perfect condition by fasting for such a long time?"
"Are they outliers, or can each of us achieve similar things?"
In seeking the answer to these questions, which may even be considered fundamental to human knowledge, some will hasten to say: "If they can, so can I. Tomorrow I'll start!" thus embarking, completely unprepared, on a full fast. There is a risk that they will be discouraged from doing so by various difficulties. Such human beings, although enthusiastic at first, can easily give up and become real opponents of fasting, because of a lack of understanding, incomplete or partial understanding of the principles on which fasting is based and of the correct way to approach it.

Preparing for the post (entering the post)

As a general recommendation, it is necessary to avoid sudden entry into fasting, regardless of the form chosen, as well as overloading the stomach on the evening before the first day of fasting. Many people make the mistake of eating a very large and rich meal on the evening before fasting, believing that it is necessary to make serious 'reserves' before this 'severe effort' called fasting.
However, such a habit has been found to lead to numbness, drowsiness, morning feeling of a heavy tongue and unpleasant taste. Instead of enjoying the beneficial effects of fasting, feeling light, lively, refreshed, clear-headed, we will feel heavy, frustrated by the lack of food, digestion will be hampered and we will experience an unpleasant feeling of intestinal discomfort.
As far as fasting is concerned, before the actual fasting period it is necessary to eat food that is as light as possible, but still nourishing. If we have chosen, say, a day (24 hours) of black fasting, then it is sufficient to eat a lighter meal on the eve of fasting.
If we want to follow one of Oshawa's macrobiotic diets, then, before starting the actual diet, we must gradually introduce the yang grains indicated in the diet into our daily diet, possibly combined with other foods. In this way we will gradually accustom our body to the new type of diet and it will be much easier to carry out the diet.
A similar approach is taken with the introduction of fruit and raw vegetables into the diet by gradually introducing them into the diet.

Leaving the post

The same rule of moderation, of graduation, applies to leaving fasting. It must not be sudden, with a large meal. Specialists recommend that, when leaving the fast, one should start with a salad of fresh vegetables (cabbage, carrots), and only after half an hour can other foods be eaten, but under no circumstances meat, alcohol, caffeinated drinks, margarine, canned food or any kind of heavy food. Nutritious and hearty foods such as dairy products, eggs, peanuts, nuts should be eaten only after the second meal. In total, the recovery period after fasting lasts two days.
When returning from the 10-day Oshawa diet, eat yang cereals to begin with, but cooked with vegetables. Overindulgence, eating too much food and over-stimulation of taste are excluded. For those who have not yet adopted the lacto-vegetarian diet, it is not recommended to eat meat until 10 days after the end of the diet. The transition back to a normal diet will be gradual and in this case takes 3-4 days. It is important to mention here that the Oshawa diet can bring about such radical and beneficial changes in the person who practices it correctly and consistently that they can then naturally opt for a purer and healthier diet.