For longer fasts (more than 7 days) you will want to set aside four days for the breaking of your fast. The first couple days will be limited to the very basics before you start to add more things. Set aside one to three days for breaking the fast if you’re doing a shorter fast (about a week). The first day will be the day for just fruit juice and maybe some broth. Depending on how you feel, you can move through the steps quickly over the next 2 days. For a one-day fast, set aside one to two days to recover from it. Your system won’t be as stressed, but that doesn’t mean you can just jump in and start eating junk.
Day One: Two 8-ounce cups of fruit/veggie (carrot, some greens, banana, apple) juice that is diluted 50/50 with water 4 hours apart. Day Two: More diluted veggie/fruit juice, with bone broth and 1/2 cup of fruit (pears, and watermelon) every 2 hours). Day Three: A cup of yogurt and fruit juice for breakfast, a snack of 1/2 cup of watermelon and veggie juice, a lunch of vegetable soup and fruit juice, a snack of 1/2 cup of apple, dinner greens with yogurt as dressing and fruit juice. Day Four: A soft-boiled egg for breakfast with fruit juice, yogurt and berries as a snack, some cooked beans and veggies for lunch, an apple and some nuts as a snack, a hardy veggie soup for dinner with fruit juice.
To break the fast, drink one 8-ounce cup of diluted fruit or veggie juice. Avoid the kind that has extra sugars and additives. After all, you just got that stuff out of your system. In 4 hours, drink another 8-ounce cup of diluted fruit or veggie juice.
Try this recipe for chicken stock or beef broth if you’re adventurous and can help yourself from nibbling on meat while you’re making it. You give your body adequate time in between foods because you don’t want to overload your system. It will have difficulty processing and digesting new food, even broths, if you put a bunch of food in it right away.
You will want to start introducing small quantities of fruit around the end of the first day and second day. Some of the best fruits to eat are: melons (especially watermelon), grapes, apples and pears. These are easy on the system.
Introduce this one on the second day, or whenever you introduce the fruit. You want those enzymes in your digestive system as soon as possible, without overloading the system. Make sure that you are using unsweetened yogurt, because sugar (processed sugar, not the kind that’s in fruit) will make you feel worse.
If you get constipated, your stomach is cramping, or feel like you’re going to throw up (or actually throw up) you should go back to drinking the diluted fruit juice and broth. You should pass at least one bowel movement after the first couple glasses of juice. If not, you might need to move on to fruit. You also want to pay attention to the food you’re re-introducing into your diet, because you might discover some food allergies. Pay attention to how the food makes you feel: nauseated, drowsy, makes your mouth or tongue itch, makes you congested.
After eating lettuce and spinach, move on to other vegetables. Eat them raw and cooked. You could even make vegetable soup (but don’t eat the store bought soups, because they have a lot of added sugars and salts and things your body won’t thank you for). Sprouts are also a highly effective vegetable, because they contain lots of minerals and antioxidants that your body needs and easily digests.
Try nuts and eggs once you’ve gotten more accustomed to eating (Day Four for the longer fast, Day Two for the one-day fast, and Day Three for the medium fasts). The easiest way to eat eggs is to soft-boil them or scramble them. Hard-boiled eggs are more difficult for your body to digest.
In the end, the optimum daily eating schedule is 3 meals and 2 snacks. Once you’ve gotten to this point, your body should be back to normal and hopefully feeling better after the cleanse.
Fasters experience this quite frequently after they introduce solids back into their body. During the fast, your digestive system has been resting and inactive. The enzymes in your gut aren’t used to working. Suddenly, they get whole food and have to ramp up from 0 to 60 in a short amount of time. No wonder they crash and burn. The solution to this problem is to stay the course. Most likely, the problem is not with the food itself but with the simple fact that you’re asking your body to do something it isn’t completely ready for. Stick predominantly with fruit and vegetable juices, along with broths and stocks, and occasionally give your body some easy solids. Your body should adjust within a day or two.
Mix together 1 teaspoon of Metamucil (or other fiber supplement) and 1 teaspoon of aloe juice in 8 ounces of water and drink before meals. The fiber supplement and aloe vera are both gentle laxatives which should help you evacuate. Stay away from foods or drinks that cause constipation or make it even worse. Nuts, kale, and coffee, while raw and otherwise good for you, will make your constipation even worse. Stick with easy-to-digest fruits like prunes and vegetables like yams and squash.
