I ended the “single item” eating plan yesterday.

This week, I will be fasting and doing a candida cleanse.

The candida cleanse will actually continue for the next four weeks in some form or another.   For this week and next week, I will be consuming oregano oil (10 drops or so per day in gel caps) to kill off just about everything living in my colon.  The following two weeks will be taking pro-biotics to rebuild friendly flora.  We’ll talk more about that then.

I’m kick-starting the cleanse with a week long fast.  I’ll be taking the oregano oil, drinking well water with organic lemon juice and taking cayenne pepper during the “fast.”   The purpose isn’t direct weight loss.  It’s so that I’m not diluting the oregano oil affects.  It will probably also be more comfortable dealing the the “die off” of my intestinal flora when there is little or no work for them to do anyway.

Fasting is the ultimate “low calorie” diet.   Although I know low calorie diets simply don’t work (they just lower your metabolism and you level off), fasting has a definite healing effect.  It makes my body work better.  Most report the same effects.

It is also interesting that most of the world’s religions include some form of fasting.  Sometimes a health benefit is directly promised.  Sometimes, only spiritual benefits are promised… but those fasting notice the health benefit.

Low calorie dieting almost always leads to binging.  Hunger pangs are just an unavoidable and very compelling reality with human beings.

However, hunger is rarely a problem with fasting.  Fasting shuts down most of your system in such a way that it generally doesn’t lead to hunger.  On day 3 or 4, there is sometimes some hunger, but it isn’t nearly as compelling as the hunger you experience when eating a low calorie diet.

Give it a shot.  You’ll notice most of the weight you lose will come right back when you break the fast… but you’ll also notice that you simply feel better and your body is just plain working better.  You may also notice that weight loss is much easier after periodic fasts.

That is probably because your body doesn’t need to focus on getting rid of all of the toxic material in the food you are eating… and digesting the non-toxic portions of that food.  That frees up your body to work on healing and correcting imbalances… and getting rid of toxins that have been stored safely surrounded by lipids (ie: fats).

Give it a try and see how it works for you. 

-James D. Brausch