The simple guideline to 'break fast':
2. Start your day with a glass of room temperature water
3. Wait 15 to 30 minutes, then eat a piece of fresh fruit.
4. If you don't regularly eat a good quality yogurt, drink homemade kefir, or have taken antibiotics in the past year, this is also a good time to take a Probiotic. Buy a good quality one and wait at least 20 minutes before eating your breakfast; you may take it when you eat your piece of fresh fruit however.
4. If you don't regularly eat a good quality yogurt, drink homemade kefir, or have taken antibiotics in the past year, this is also a good time to take a Probiotic. Buy a good quality one and wait at least 20 minutes before eating your breakfast; you may take it when you eat your piece of fresh fruit however.
5. Enjoy a breakfast of God’s foods.
Why this is important:
What you eat is essential but your daily routine is very critical too. Do you know that the word ‘breakfast’ holds invaluable information about a good routine? Literally breakfast means to break the fast. Let me explain and then give you some practical tips.
Fasting is not something that we talk about much or do regularly in the United States. During fasting, or the absence of food, the body will systematically cleanse itself and is able to direct the most energy towards the processes of detoxification.
The body uses tremendous energy to digest food, and when fasting, this energy becomes available for purposes such as healing and repairing. In the fasting state, the body scours for dead cells, damaged tissues, fatty deposits, pollutants, toxins and other impurities that it burns for fuel or neutralizes and expels as waste. Each night during sleep we have a chance to fast and detoxify our bodies.
Practicing a daily fasting routine is a very easy way to positively impact your health. To do this, eat a healthy dinner each evening about 3 hours before going to bed. Do not eat anything more before bed. This is very important to allow your stomach time to digest your dinner and for this digested food to be well on its way through your digestive track before you go to sleep.
Your body can then devote more energy to cleansing and repairing while you rest. Ideally, allow yourself 7 or 8 hours of rest each night. If you usually eat after dinner you will probably be very hungry the first few nights, but these hunger pangs will soon pass as your body becomes accustomed to your new routine.
The most beneficial way to ‘break your fast’ when you arise is to drink 8 to 12 oz. of room temperature water. Drink it when you first get up so it can help flush and cleanse your digestive track. Wait 20 or 30 minutes before eating if you can. For a few weeks in the spring, squeeze in a slice of organic lemon or add 1 tsp of organic raw apple cider vinegar with a little raw honey to the water for a greater cleansing effect. Next eat some fruit while making breakfast. It digests quickly and will continue the cleansing process. Think about how you break your fast and begin your day in a healthy way!
Breaking a fast is my favorite meal - not for the actual breakfast foods but because I'm hungry! Being a morning person too boot doesn't hurt. So a probiotic helps in morning digestion, but what foods help in this process instead of taking pills?
ReplyDeleteVery good question. The Probiotic is the only supplement I recommend for everyone, though this would not be needed if you received enough 'good' bacteria in your food. Unfortunately, that is very hard to do. You have to be making and regularly eating your own yogurt or kefir, and fermented foods if you wish to replace the Probiotic pill with food. Most yogurt purchased in the store is loaded with sugar (not good) and has minimal live bacteria. You also can no longer purchase real fermented foods in the store, such as sauerkraut, pickles, or kimchi. These foods are made sour with vinegar and sugar, rather than with live bacteria. In today's world overloaded with antibiotics, replenishing the good bacteria in your gut regularly is essential. I will provide more information in this area (that is why Probiotic is underlined).
DeleteI've heard there are many health benefits to raw apple cider vinegar. Is that a good thing to do regularly as a part of your morning routine? I wondered since you mention using it only in the spring as a cleanse. I've very excited about your blog!
ReplyDeleteThough many would say it is fine to do year round (and in fact very beneficial), I would not recommend it. (If anyone is and it is working for you - great!). One thing to think about when drinking either lemon water or water with raw apple cider vinegar, is the effect on your tooth enamel and your esophagus and stomach lining because these are acidic. It is thought that they cause an alkalizing effect in the body (which is good), but they are still acidic going down. (Many raw foods have this same alkalizing effect which is why fruits and vegetables are so good when detoxing.)
DeleteI think there is a much better way to regularly (even daily) use raw apple cider vinegar. Make an oil and vinegar salad dressing instead. My 'simple' recipe is:
1 Tbl good quality organic olive oil, 1/2 Tbl raw apple cider vinegar (I use Braggs), about 1/2 tsp Gomasio (Eden Organic), a grind or two of good quality sea salt and pepper. This way you are still using it raw and perserving the beneficial qualities but eliminating the detrimental effects of drinking it. Also, you are getting all the nutrients from a fresh salad!
Thanks - your excitement and interest is encouraging to me :).