Fasting is done for religious as well dietary reasons. It is therapeutic in nature. One has to of course follow certain guideline while fasting. It is not just question of staying away from food. One has to be careful of what one has before the fast, during the fast and after the fast.
Fasting involves refraining from food. It is a difficult task indeed. After all, the temptation to eat is there. It requires a lot of will power. No doubt, one may make a success of it, but the problem arises when one tends to eat more before fasting and do the same after fasting.
Many people have a heavy dinner the night before as they feel they will be fasting the next day and not eating anything throughout the day. This “heavy meal” proves to be heavy on the digestive system, with the food remaining in the stomach throughout the night. Similarly, after fasting many go on binge as they feel they have been deprived of food throughout the previous day or throughout the day. Those who keep a fast throughout the day tend to have a heavy dinner at night. This also proves to be heavy on the digestive system.
Naturally, the question that rises in our minds is what should we eat after breaking a fast? In other words, how should one break a fast? Here are a few tips:
Steps for breaking longer Fasts:
- Have one special meal for every five days you fast.
- Do not have a heavy meal immediately after breaking a fast.
- The special diet should consist of dead fruit juices or perhaps herbal teas. In other words juices which one has bottled or heated to kill enzymes. The enzymes in fresh juices shock the digestive system. Fresh juices that are bottled are pasteurized and the enzymes are deactivated.
- Take pure fruit juice which does not contain any sugar.
- One should try to squeeze the juice by oneself and then heat it up. Simmer the contents for 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature and then let it cool down.
- Grape fruits and acid fruits are the best to have.
Steps for breaking shorter Fast:
In the case of shorter fasts, the bacteria does not get destroyed or the digestive system does not get shut down.
- One meal consisting of fresh fruit each day of the fast. In case, one fast for three days, then the first three meals should consist of fresh fruit.
- One day fast should be broken with fresh fruit.
Other Steps to Follow to Break Fast:
- One can take plain yoghurt after fresh juices. Yogurt has “good bacteria” which helps in restoring the intestinal flora.
- One can break a juice fast by eating small amounts of raw vegetables and fruits for the initial five to about six days helps the digestive system to “waken” up.
- Do not over load the digestive system with food as it causes sluggishness, apathy and depression.
- Eat when you are hungry.
- On the initial day immediately after the fast, one can eat a piece of fruit in the morning. After that one can take a bowl consisting of raw vegetables for lunch.
- On the second day one can have soaked figs or prunes for breakfast. For lunch one can have a small bowl consisting of vegetable salad, which is fresh. For dinner one can have some vegetable soup without salt. In between meals one can have perhaps two apples or fruit salad. This can be had in addition to fresh juices as well as broths.
- On the third day one can have the same menu as the second day. The only addition is some raisins or dates.
- On the fourth day you can come back to your chosen diet. Only one should have small meals, chew the food properly and eat when one is hungry.
Fasting is good for health as it restores the digestive system. One has to follow certain guidelines while fasting. One needs to eat right before and after fasting.