Damon,
Fasting is like driving a car at more than 100 miles an hour!
Anyone (with a driver's license and a car) can do it but not everyone is qualified nor are all situations the best for doing it (and not all cars can be driven at that speed)!
Notice that there are not certified counselors or medical doctors, here, so don't take everything you read here as the absolute gospel!
If you want professional help, see a doctor and/or a macrobiotic counselor!
Once you have a lot of experience, you will more easily be able to figure out what to do and what are the right questions to ask.
I am neither a doctor nor a certified counselor, but I do have 32 plus years experience with macrobiotics which might be good for something!
Depending on what a person's condition and constitution is, I don't suggest that everyone engage in fasting nor brown rice fasting.
If I were a doctor or a counselor, I would want to give you a physical and get some background information on you, first.
Since no one here has that information, how can you expect anyone to tell you exactly what you need to do?
You have every right to be your own doctor and heal yourself, but before you do so I would suggest that you either find a doctor or a macrobiotic counselor or do much more research on how the body works from a macrobiotic viewpoint before you proceed to heal yourself.
I was very lucky to be introduced to the book, "
Healing Ourselves: A Book to Serve As a Companion in Time of Illness and Health by Naboru Muramoto with Michel Abehsera when I started doing macrobiotics back in 1974.
I strongly recommend getting a copy of that book to understand health from a macrobiotic viewpoint in simple terms.
A more recent (and more comprehensive) book on macrobiotic healing that I also recommend that you look at is
The Macrobiotic Path to Total Health: A Complete Guide to Preventing and Relieving More Than 200 Chronic Conditions and Disorders Naturally by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack
If you don't already have the following cookbook, I also recommend that you get is:
The Self-Healing Cookbook: A Macrobiotic Primer for Healing Body, Mind and Moods With Whole Natural Foods by Kristina Turner
Kristina gives the reader quite a bit of simple but useful information on a variety of healing issues including Cleansing and Rebuiding.
And a fourth book that I recommend that you get is
THE GREAT LIFE HANDBOOK: a practical guide to Health, Happiness, and Freedom by Denny Waxman, that is about to be rereleased as
The Great Life Diet: A Practical Guide to Heath, Happiness, and Personal Fulfillment
If and when you decide to do a cleanse or a fast again, make sure that you body is ready for it and one of the ways to get ready is to follow these guidelines outlined in Denny's book:
"EATING HABITS: (FORMAT OF MEALS)
1. TAKE TIME FOR YOUR MEALS EVERY DAY.
SIT DOWN WHEN YOU EAT WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING ELSE, EVEN FOR SNACKS.
This is the first step towards good health and will help you become more satisified. It is also an expression of your appreciation for food and allows you to receive nourishment most completely.
ALLOW ADEQUATE TIME FOR YOUR MEALS.
The meal requires a minimum time in order to be complete and effective; the same as sleep. It takes at least twenty minutes for your body to adjust and receive nourishment.
EAT SLOWLY AND CHEW WELL.
Eating slowly and mindfully returns you to balance and relieves stress. Chewing is like a pump that circulates all of your body's energy and fluids. It is the internal "body rub". (See step 4).
FINISH EATING THREE HOURS BEFORE BEDTIME.
Your body cleans and repairs itself while you sleep. Your stomach needs to be empty for this process to be efficient.
EAT IN AN ORDERLY MANNER.
Soup is best eaten first or together with the meal. Start the main portion of the meal with heavier, more well-cooked dishes and finish with lighter, less-cooked dishes. Grains are best to eat throughout - from beginning to end. Your beverage and dessert are best to come last.
2. SET YOUR DAILY SCHEDULE.
RISE EARLY AND SLEEP BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
Rise early in order to be more active and discharge more toxins. Sleep before midnight to be more refreshed and recharged. If you wish to be more mentally active and creative, it is allright to go to sleep later - after midnight. Awaken early and nap later in the day to protect your biological vitality. Some physical vitality can be compromised in order to gain mental expansion. Take care not to exhaust all your physical reserves in order to stay up late.
KEEP YOUR MEAL TIMES REGULAR.
Regular meals regulate all of your body's cycles - physical, emotional, mental. They make your energy and life more stable.
DIET: (Content and Quality of meals)
3. EAT 2 OR 3 COMPLETE, NUTRITIONALLY BALANCED MEALS EACH DAY.
Grain and vegetable dishes together at the same meal provide the most complete and balanced nutrition.
Plan every meal around cooked grains and grain products.
COMPLETE AND BALANCE EVERY MEAL WITH ONE TO TWO STAND ALONE, SEPARATE VEGETABLE SIDE DISHES.
ACTIVATE YOUR DIGESTION WITH 1 TO 2 VEGETABLE BASED SOUPS EACH DAY. With lunch and/or dinner is best.
Buy the highest quality organically grown, unrefined and naturally processed foods.
LIFESTYLE
4. MAKE YOUR DAILY LIFE ACTIVE.
WALK OUTSIDE FOR 30 MINUTES EACH DAY.
Walking outside at a comfortable pace, with a natural stride produces the best results. It can be a combined 30 minutes.
GIVE YOURSELF A DAILY, HOT TOWEL BODY RUB.
Gently rub your entire body with a hot, damp, cotton face cloth (wash cloth) for 10-15 minutes morning and/or night, or both.
Do this consistently and separately from your bath or shower. It is best to do it standing in front of your bathroom sink basin after bathing.
The body rub is the secret of the fountain of youth; it winds back your biological clock. The body rub together with thorough chewing will make you younger in body and mind, day by day.
LIFE RELATED EXERCISE IS BEST.
It provides the most benefit for lasting health. Cleaning your home, cooking, shopping, gardening, sex, dancing, walking, bathing - these are some of the most basic examples of natural, daily life activities that best circulate your energy, blood and lymph. Emphasize these over more artificial forms of exercise - especially repetitive, pounding activities like "stair master" and "running".
CULTIVATE AND TAKE TIME FOR HOBBIES; activities which bring joy, enhance creative expression.
5.CREATE A MORE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.
You can think of your home as a recharching station. It is a place to relax, return to balance and enrich your life.
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GREEN PLANTS, especially in your bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms, and office or work space.
WEAR PURE COTTON CLOTHING NEXT TO YOUR SKIN as much as possible. Emphasize natural plant based materials for all your clothing as much as possible, substituting wool or silk at times.
USE NATURAL MATERIALS TO FURNISH YOUR HOME such as wood, cotton, wool, bamboo, grasses, rattan etc. in your home furnishings. Minimize plastics, metals, leather and other more extreme materials to create a more relaxed, clean environment.
6. MAKE YOUR MACROBIOTIC PRACTICE WORK FOR YOU.
Keeping to the format of meals improves your ability to make healthier food choices.
If you keep the format you can follow these principles at home or in a restaurant.
KEEP A DAILY MENU BOOK FOR AWHILE to help you become more objective about your macrobiotic practice.
7. CULTIVATE THE SPIRIT OF HEALTH.
Have openess, curiosity, and endless appreciation for all of life, including difficulties.
Be flexible and adaptable in your health practices.
Develop a strong will and the determination to create your own health.
Be accurate in your practice. Check in regularly with more experienced, healthy practitioners to update, refresh and refine your practice.
Create a good macrobiotic as well as general support network.
LEARN TO COOK WELL. THIS IS THE STARTING PLACE TO YOUR FREEDOM AND STRENGTH.
Good cooking, like most physical activities and arts, CANNOT be learned from reading or watching alone. It must be transmitted from skilled, experienced people, in person. Take time to study cooking with a good teacher."
After you've created a good solid foundation then you might be able to take on the cleansing process and experience little, if no, negative results.
Does any of this make sense to you?
Thank you, very much.
Bruce Paine
Quote:
Originally Posted by damon
Hi,
After doing lots of reading and research on the brown rice fast, I took the plunge 9 days ago. This was my first time doing any form of fasting. I limited myself daily to 3 bowls of organic brown rice (gas cooked sometimes, pressured cooked in an Ohsawa Pot other times) and about 3 cups of twig tea. I stuck with it religiously for 7 straight days until finally calling it quits when my gums became sensitive to dental floss and when starting to notice discoloration in my inner eye sockets (a sign of deficiency?). I otherwise felt normal and mostly the same for the entire duration of the fast; perhaps I didn't have as much to detoxify as I originally thought? In any event, it was much easier than I was expecting, although I certainly attribute that to the homework I'd done in preparation.
What I didn't expect was what I'd go through when coming off the brown rice fast. Yesterday evening I developed a splitting headache and felt REAL discomfort whenever moving my eyes around. This morning the headache was gone but the discomfort when moving my eyes returned! Shortly thereafter I began feeling light headed and now anything I eat just passes through me.
Did I miss a chapter or something on how to come off a brown rice fast? I'll admit that I snuck two dairy-free cookies yesterday, but I've otherwise resumed a pretty standard macro diet. Are these sort of after effects common and to be expected? Has anyone else gone through anything like this??
Wishing he was still brown rice fasting,
Damon
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