For most, fasting remains a curiosity, for others a lived experience and for others still a very unappealing idea. So, should we go for it or not? Before deciding, let's take stock.
What is fasting?
By definition, fasting means "to deprive oneself or be deprived of food". Fasting is in all cases, not eating any solid food and being content to consume liquids, most of the time, water, herbal teas, herbal or fruit juices according to the diet observed. The objective is to put your body to rest without risking dehydration. The duration of a fast can range from 24 hours to several days. But, before that, it is necessary to take stock with your doctor or naturopath on your general state of health. You should not start such a diet when you are tired.
Fasting for all?
Fasting is completely forbidden for pregnant women, people with kidney failure, heart disease, diabetics, people with infectious diseases or under medical treatment (because fasting implies not taking medication), people suffering from severe or non-severe eating disorders (this diet risks disrupting the eating behavior of a person already suffering from such disorders), people who are psychologically depressed, and people who are immunocompromised.
The contraindication is relative and temporary for people in a period of convalescence or those who are tired, those who have a great need for energy due to very demanding physical work or forathletes (the real ones!). All will refrain from embarking on a fast at this time in their life. They will wait until they have regained good vital energy before considering it.
In any case, we approach this dietary restriction by having taken care of our liver beforehand (we pamper it with ahealthy diet (more basic than acidic because fasting causes temporary acidification), good hydration, a daily boost with a hot water bottle placed on the liver (in order to support it, especially in winter), good breathing (yes, yes, it can be worked on), good physical shape with daily exercise (the better quality muscles we have, the less fasting will melt them).
Why is it good to fast?
Fasting will allow the body to draw on its reserves and get rid of what it does not need. A sort of internal bonfire, this practice allows you to consume excess sugars and fats, while preserving good resources and reserves.
But be careful…
Be careful, fasting can sometimes trigger violent reactions such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, pimple breakouts, migraines. Because the body has started a major cleaning and this is not always done gently. Hence the importance of being accompanied during this period of great detoxification, only a health professional will be able to tell you if it is a passing reaction, corresponding to the drainage of the liver, or if it is a disproportionate and too exhausting reaction that requires stopping the treatment.
Fasting, but accompanied
You can practice alone at home, planning a real rest during the treatment but (we repeat!) it is essential to consult a health professional before, during and after. The ideal, and even luxury, is to start during a treatment, a group retreat, but again by carefully selecting the place and the accompanying staff. The organizer must first have you fill out a health questionnaire, organize an interview with you to find out what your motivations are, what the context is and to better understand your lifestyle.
Intermittent fasting, lighter?
It is very fashionable and consists of cleaning and purifying your body. On the same principle as a total fast of one to several days, it is limited to a deprivation of food for 12 to 16 hours. Concretely, it is like skipping a meal but consciously, not because you stay glued to your desk with your nose in your screen. And by adopting a good clean and balanced diet besides. You can have dinner and go straight to lunch (skip "breakfast") the next day. By depriving it of a meal, the body will systematically draw on its sugar reserves first. It finds it in the blood and/or in the liver. It is the long fast, which will draw on fat reserves (from 2 or 3 days of fasting depending on metabolisms). If, depending on your lifestyle, it is easier to skip dinner, you have a snack around 5:00 p.m. and the next meal will then be breakfast. On the other hand, we continue to hydrate! Intermittent fasting can be practiced over a week if we want to lose weight or regularly, once a week, if we feel that we are gaining in digestive comfort and overall well-being.
The mono-diet, a gentle little fast




This is surely the ideal solution for a gentle diet. The principle is simple: you only eat one food or a family of foods for one or more days. It is a fast that does not bear its name but which has many advantages, starting with that of familiarizing you with the very idea of excluding foods but gradually. It is also a psychological preparation when you consider one day a "real" fast! The physiological advantage of the mono-diet? the deep rest of the digestive system. By concentrating on a single food, digestion is facilitated, less expensive and less tiring. The mono-diet is beneficial on an energetic level (it restores a measurable tone), on a digestive level (it boosts digestion in the long term), it increases concentration and eliminates feelings of heaviness and the post-meal energy slump.
We focus on one food such as one or more fruits (mono-diet of apple, banana or both), a cereal such as buckwheat or rice or quinoa (or both alternately), one or more cooked vegetables, broth or vegetable juice. We banish cold in favor of room temperature which facilitates digestion. The contraindications are the same as for fasting, even if it is more demanding.
In conclusion, yes to fasting which corresponds to a need to cleanse one's body but it is never done lightly, without prior assessment with a health professional. More reasonable, the mono-diet and intermittent fasting, two gentler approachesto Clean Eating (Healthy Eating). But whatever the method chosen, the main thing is to remain faithful to the values of eating well every day, all year round (healthy, seasonal, local, raw, organic) and with joy!