Posts Tagged ‘water fast’

WATER FASTING

Water fasting is a well debated topic. It is something that should be approached with extreme caution, especially if you are going to try it for an extended period of time.

In the world of diets there is a schizophrenic element to all of the advice. The conflicting dietary recommendations are enough to drive you crazy. I became disillusion after trying many of the various diets, in a quest for better health.

Being adventurous, I embarked on many very questionable lifestyle diets. The first one was a fruitarian diet, starting with the water fast at a well known retreat. This was a 30 day only water diet, followed with a fruitarian diet.

RETREAT

The retreat I chose was in the Florida Keys. Everyone at the retreat was supposedly fruitarians. That was until they got an overwhelming urge for some chips or protein. There was no medical supervision. Weakness was your constant companion, though you were told you should be able to paddle a boat, walk a few miles, and jump on a trampoline. Sleep eluted you because you were running on empty.

OWNER

The best part is how they diagnose your health condition. The owner was a chiropractic doctor, and not in a position to know by looking at you the extent of your issues, it is a hit or miss game. Since my diagnosis was a congested liver, it covered everything.  He was in no position to diagnose any underlying problem.

His liability should have been the issue and because the stay is voluntary this doesn’t come up.  Suffice it to say reserves have to be good to fast for an extended period of time.

When you are done fasting and that is at the discretion of the director of the facility, you start a fruitarian diet. Getting your strength back on a fruitarian diet is the next issue you will face. The other is you lost minerals on the fast. Now add a high sugar fruit diet and watch your smile go as you become a periodontal candidate. This is one way to become disillusioned with extreme dietary intervention. There are people that claim great successes with both water fasting, and a fruitarian lifestyle. They are the individuals who have strong constitutions, and some of them say one thing and practice another.

TRUTH

The chiropractor that conducted the fast shows off his feats of strength. He shows the signs of aging from a receding hairline to wrinkling.

I have seen people on the hunter gather diet look better and perform well on feats of strength. Yet, everyone is impressed with the promised of pristine health. The truth shows, and turning a blind eye to what you may or may not want to see, does not make a diet good. 

Most people do not hear from  individuals that these approaches have failed to deliver the expected results. The hype from the gurus and followers is where you find the information on these diets. There is always another side to any program, but finding examples of these mishaps are not always easy to locate.

I think both points of views should be represented. There is always a danger to not understanding that everything has its drawbacks. The fruitarian diet by itself does not present the panacea for every ailment known to mankind. These diets happen because of allopathic medicines insistence that nutrition has little to do with health. In an attempt to improve how we feel we turn to alternative programs to compensate for this failing. By focusing of a single minded approach we are also embarking on a path that recommends a seriously flawed view