TYLER TOLMAN BLOG
Fasting | How to Prepare For an Extended Fast Optimally
Fasting | How to Prepare For an Extended Fast Optimally
Lots of people ask me how to prepare for an extended water fast.
This is a great subject to discuss as preparation is so important for any fast but especially an extended 10-day water fast. To not prepare would be like trying to run a marathon with no training. It’s going to make an already challenging task pretty punishing.
Just like the level of training you need to do to complete a marathon depends on your current level of fitness, the preparation you need to do for a water fast depends on your current diet and lifestyle.
Know Where to Start to Plan and Prepare For a Water Fast
If you are coming from a place where you have a good lifestyle, with a diet high in fresh whole foods then you can start off by doing intermittent fasting.
By this, I mean not eating before 12 noon and not eating after say 6pm. This gives your body the time it requires to assimilate what you’ve eaten and do a little bit of daily detoxing before the next meal comes in. If you want you can even take that down to 23:1 which is fasting for 23 hours and just eating for one hour a day which is what I often do.
Then I would go to juice fasting. Maybe in the first few days having one or two smoothies as well if you wish, then move into doing just juices for maybe 3-5 days. Continue to keep to the timing that is consistent with whichever intermittent fasting pattern you have chosen.
Juice fasting is a great way to prepare for a water fast as you are taking in a lot of liquid that is going to hydrate and nourish you big time. It’ll set up your body with loads and loads of nutrients, micronutrients, phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals all entering the body but at the same time allowing your digestive system to have a break.
In my personal experience of juice fasting, typically by day 3, 4, or 5, I get over the juices and ready for water fasting anyway. I find this happens to a lot of other people too. So based on that experience, I think the most natural way to start a water fast is by doing 3 to 5 days of juices first.
The Most Essential Thing to do Before Any Fast - Clean Your Colon
Cleaning out your colon is essential preparation for any fast, especially if you don’t have the best of diets. You literally have to clean out the crap that is sitting inside you, because when you’re fasting, the digestive system slows right down and eventually stops.
This is why I created the 4 Day Colon Cleanse. It’s the perfect way to clean the colon and prepare for fasting. It’s a mix of bentonite clay, psyllium and chia seeds that I recommend taking every 2 hours, 5 times a day, for 4 days. At this regularity, the colon cleanse material bulks up drawing out toxins and starts to pull everything through the digestive system – kind of acting like a scrubbing brush, sweeping out any stuck material.
During the 4 Day Colon Cleanse I recommend you have maybe 2-3 apples per day as well. If you don’t want to do the colon cleanse then eat a 100% raw diet of fresh fruits and salads at least for one week and then go to juices as a preparation for your water fast.
Having support during an extended fast is really important. If you have a serious health condition or just want to experience an extended and facilitated FAST, check out my Healing Hub in Bali.
Otherwise, prepare well and enjoy the process.
Thanks for reading!
