TYLER TOLMAN BLOG
Fasting | To Lose Weight, Rebuild and Strengthen Your Body
Fasting | To Lose Weight, Rebuild and Strengthen Your Body
A lot of people ask me if they can use fasting to lose weight? Although fasting is often seen as a way to lose weight (which is true!) it’s a really actually a process to clean and strengthen the body. The word fast or “Fasten” means to hold strong, to strengthen and to abstain from food. If you fasten something to a wall, you hold it there strong. It’s by far the fastest way to heal the body and there’s different types of fasting that I want to share with you here.
Some people will say they are fasting from a certain food, which means to exclude it. For example someone might fast from meat. Some say they’re on a juice fast, referring to just drinking juices. However the true definition of a fast is just drinking water, abstaining from all forms of nutrient intake.
Where does Fasting Originate From?
Every single mammal on the planet will naturally do a fast when they become sick or injured. A deer that breaks his leg will find a stream or somewhere with water and simply lay down and drink water until that leg is healed. They do this because fasting saves energy that can then be channelled into the repair of their wounds. The body also proliferates stem cells during a fast that have the ability to regenerate damaged and weak tissue anywhere in the body, according to USC (University of Southern California).
If the digestive system is in constant use, it takes a minimum of 60 to 75% of our energy to do it’s job! When you fast all that energy is freed up to be used in healing and repairing. So maybe humans should follow their instincts and do what every other mammal does in nature when they are sick – take rest and fast.
If a human being has digestive issues, chronic fatigue, or any condition creating a feeling of “less than optimal”, some sort of short fasts should be considered as part of a healing plan. Some conditions may require close monitoring and I have assisted thousands of people even with diabetes and adrenal fatigue through a fast (known to be the sensitive cases with fasting).
How Long Should I Fast For?
Hippocrates (Father of Modern Medicine) would say it’s better to fast for a day, than to take a medication. In fact he said that to eat while you are sick, is to feed your sickness. A brilliant observation in my opinion.
So if you start feeling nasal, or some form of sickness coming on, listen to that, then rest and fast. It doesn’t matter how healthy you are, everyone is still prone to sickness. If you expose yourself to something toxic in the environment or in foods you’ve been eating it’s a natural process for the body to produce mucous to collect and kick that toxic stuff out! You can help that process along by simply fasting for a single day (I recommend following my protocols when fasting to keep things moving).
Another format for fasting that I’d recommend is to consider stints of seven days. By this I mean start with 7 days, then assess how you feel before continuing for another 7 days. Ask yourself: What’s going on? What’s coming out? How do I feel? If you want to go deeper do another 7 days of fasting.
The ideal length of time to fast is different for each person and for what is required to return to health. You may be better doing a series of short fasts, others need a really deep long fast. Socrates was known to fast for 10 days at a time for optimal well-being. Pythagoras fasted for 40 days and 40 nights just before his examination at Alexandria.
The number 40 is very interesting. In roman numerals it’s represented by the letters XL. XL literally means to excel. It’s believed 40 days living on water would literally cleanse all impurities from the body. You would literally strip even genetic propensities for disease by cleansing the entire body. Now that’s pretty hard core and if you feel called to do this then go for it. However, be sure to seek out some expert advice, this requires a lot of preparation before even starting, plus someone guiding you the entire time.
If you decide to do this, you can message me for advice. Before considering a water fast you certainly would want to be doing some juice fasting beforehand, and getting very educated about the process.
Hull Biological labs at the University of Chicago have fasted hundreds of humans 60-90 days and found that a fast of 40 days is not detrimental to health and in fact improves many conditions. I recommend doing some research of your own to investigate all the qualities of fasting if you are truly interested. Science has coined a phrase based on their research called “Rejuvenescence” (return to youthfulness and vigor).
Juice Fasting - Liquid Light
The process of juice fasting is really amazing because you’re still taking in the whole food nutrition. You’re taking that piece of fruit, that vegetable and you’re compressing and extracting the pure nutrients. Interestingly the word nutrition means process of light (nut = light, rition = process). So nutrition is nothing more and nothing less really than a process of light.
Exposing our bodies to the sun is a process of taking in light that sparks of nutritional processes like the body synthesizing vitamin D. Plants will literally position its leaves to face the sun. The collected sunlight nourishes the plants and this energy is channeled into the fruits or vegetables that plant produces. The colour of the fruit or vegetable produced will be manifested from that light. An orange or a red apple or purple grape all have these specific colours that act like signals and attract us.
Juice fasting allows us to take in this pure form of nutrition to nourish us and allow the digestive process to rest and the detox process to kick in. I highly recommend your juice fast contains a good balance of fruit and vegetable juices. Sign up for my Free Resources to find some delicious juice recipes to help you out.
During a juice fast you still have energy, still feel great and you’ll be optimal, except in cases where you are toxic and need to clean all this out first. Your body is going to receive more light and may even go to the point where it is ready for a period of water fasting.
Why Exclude Fibre, Isn't it Healthy?
A lot of people would say what about the fibre you’re missing out on during a juice fast? I would like to point out here that yes, fibre is amazing. The fibres in fruits and vegetables work like little scrubber brushes going throughout your body. This will help clean your colon, scrubbing out all that filth and darkness. But the whole foods will only go so far in cleaning us out and then to go to a deeper level a juice fast is required.
When just taking in juices you are letting that liquid light nourish you without the body having to constantly use high amounts of energy for digestion. Instead letting that energy be channelled into deep healing and repair and strengthen the body from the inside out.
If you want to know more check out a webinar (from the archives) I gave on Fasting Benefits, Fasting Tips and How To Fast.
Thanks for reading!
