Fasting and diets can bring many benefits to our health.
It’s no surprise that nutritionists, holistic practitioners, and even doctors recommend variations of the two. From improved digestion to reducing anxiety and stress, intentional eating can significantly impact our well-being.
However, marketing and big corporations have pushed extreme ideas in the past decades. Intermittent fasting, carnivore diets, and carbo-based foods are just some examples.
I believe balance is key.
Of course, nothing in the middle makes the news. Therefore, there’s a lot of talk around the long-term benefits of these methods as well as their immediate side-effects.
At the end of the day…
The best approach is the one that works for you.
But, to make an informed decision, you must first understand the differences and mechanics.
I’ve tried both fasting and dieting. And, even if I’m not a doctor nor a nutritionist, I think I learned a lot from experience.
So, let me share that with you:
What Is The Real Meaning Of Diet
A diet typically involves removing certain potentially harmful elements from your meals.
It’s best recommended by nutritionists and doctors. They can measure your compatibility with certain foods and create a custom schedule that aligns with your goals. Whether you want to lose weight, heal some skin problems, or regain vitality, the right diet can help you with that.
I use diets as a healing mechanism.
Benefits Of Dieting
Immunity Booster – The right diet can trigger certain hormones that allow cells to recover, thereby strengthening the immune system.
Promotes Longevity – A quicker cell regeneration can potentially contribute to longer life expectancy.
Improves Digestion – A proper diet can enhance digestive function and stimulate the elimination of toxins.
Potential Side-Effects
Weight Gain – Prolonged diets can influence your metabolism. This can start behaving in ways you are not used to and, therefore, lead to the reverse outcome. That’s why having a guide is crucial.
Mental Challenge – Diets can be tricky. They are a mindset game as much as a physical one. Even though diets have an end date, your eating habits should remain. Unfortunately, diets are usually very restrictive rather than a mechanism for habit creation. With habits, you don’t try to restrict yourself from cravings but replace your behavior with a healthy one. Diets are more strict and straightforward, disregarding much of the mental implications.
Nutrient Deficiencies – When you’re eating plant-based meals, for example, you have to substitute for the lack of protein you’d acquire otherwise. Also, you need to eat a lot more frequently to maintain optimal energy levels.
What’s Fasting All About
Fasting, in my opinion, has a spiritual role rather than a physical one.
But at its core, fasting is all about refraining from eating and/or drinking for a set period. Whether it’s for regular daily intervals or several days in a row, fasting implies giving your metabolism a break. It saves the energy required for digestion and shifts it over to stimulate the body’s natural healing ability.
That’s why I see it as a spiritual endeavor. If you’re already planning to heal your physical body, why not support these efforts in the spiritual plane?
Fasting is a way to enhance your connection with the divine consciousness, which also has implications at the physical level.
I use fasting as a cleansing mechanism.
The Benefits Of Fasting
Purification – The mind, body, and soul will benefit from dissolved negative energies and programs. Fasting can help diminish the influence of karmic debts and even remove unwanted entities from your energy fields.
Boosts Immunity – With the body having more energy to heal itself, it goes without saying that your immunity will benefit first.
Detoxification – Fasting helps cleanse the body of undigested food remnants, processed sugars, carbs, and artificial additives, promoting overall health.
Disadvantages Of Excessive Fasting
Risk of Malnutrition – Prolonged fasting can lead to malnutrition. This can manifest through dizziness, fainting, or even more complex health issues such as the degrading of muscles and organic tissue.
Lack of Grounding – Extended fasting can leave you feeling disconnected from the physical world, making it harder to stay focused or present.
Apathy & Fatigue – Excessive fasting can create a sense of constant tiredness and lack of motivation, impacting your ability to function effectively.
Should I Diet or Should I Fast
That’s a great question.
From my experience, I learned that:
Dieting is best used to address a medical condition while fasting to clear the path to divine consciousness.
Now, you can blend the two for optimal results:
- 16:8 is a good example of intermittent fasting where you eat in an 8-hour interval.
- Of course, not mixing certain foods, having less sugar, or balancing your meals can be seen as both a diet and a healthy way of eating.
- Brushing your teeth 4 hours before you go to bed and drinking only water, is another way to fast and ensure you’ll have a good night’s sleep.
Blending the two can yield amazing results, especially if your body is used to a chaotic eating schedule.
When it comes to fasting:
- I take 3 days off each year during the Easter holiday. For me, that’s a high-vibrational time when I can go through a profound cleaning process. I stay at home, eat nothing for 3 days, and drink just a little bit of water. I pray, meditate, and sit in silence.
- But I also practice 24h fasting where I only drink water. Some people do this once a week or twice per month. It’s a less extreme example that most healthy individuals can follow. It allows the body to regenerate and regain its strength and vitality regularly.
IMPORTANT: There’s a reason why I link fasting to spirituality. I know people who would fast for a week but go to work, get angry, and drink coffee. That’s the last thing you want to do. Stress is, without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest enemy for both your physical and mental state. Fasting should be about regeneration, not deprivation. And, like this example, you can easily harm your body through fasting or dieting.
Aim For Balance And Harmony
Regardless of your choice, this should be your main priority.
It’s one thing to have a goal, and another to achieve it at all costs. It’s healthier to work with a few extra pounds than to be thin and stressed out. I’ve seen this more times than I can count.
Therefore, always aim for balance and harmony.
Choose something that aligns with your goals and physical state but also creates a sense of fulfillment. The goal is to enjoy the fruits of your effort, not curse every living day. You want to nurture both your physical and spiritual bodies with healthy elements.
I won’t make any recommendations. But what works for me is turning a diet into a lifestyle and using fasting as a cleansing mechanism.