Today I'm doing a pure fast.
What's a pure fast you ask?
Well, I have received a number of emails asking my opinion on various detox diets. Since my area of expertise is definitely NOT in the area of detoxification, I took the weekend to review some of the literature.
I wasn't able to find any support for consuming massive amounts of fiber, lemon juice, or weird spices and their ability to 'detox' your body. In fact, what I've found suggests that (depending on how you describe 'detox') the best detox diet possible is, you guessed it, fasting.
If you are trying to detoxify your body then you one of the best things you can do is simply give your body sometime without any food, allowing your own repair systems some free-time to get their work done.
A typical Eat Stop Eat style 24 hour fast will already give you some great detox benefits.
However, I'm going to go once step further and say that a pure fast is the absolute best detox diet. Especially if you think beyond the traditional GI cleanse and think about an actually total body cleanse, including the removal and repair of damaged proteins, lipids, and other cellular structures from your body (a process that kicks into high gear when you are fasting).
A pure fast is where you only drink water, tea and black coffee during your fast. No diet pop, No artificial sweeteners in your tea and coffee and no gum.
So if you really want to be strict about it, you can take an Eat Stop Eat fast and every once in a while turn it into a pure fast where you can fast without food or additives like artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners.
This allows your body ample time to remove and replace damaged tissues and cells without having to deal with the digestion of any new foods, or possible complications that might occur due to chemicals like aspartame*.
*note: I didn't find any conclusive evidence that aspartame negatively effects the detox effects of a fast, I'm simply suggesting the 'why chance it approach'
I don't think you need to be this strict with your fasting all the time. So since I am currently fasting about once every five days, I'm going to make every other fast a pure fast just to try it out.
I'll let you now how it goes.
BP
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