Clean Eating and (GASP) Fasting

Hello friends. It's hard to believe that I've made it through my first work week of clean eating unscathed! Planning on Sunday really set me up for success. Now, the  most important thing will be to keep that schedule up. Oh, and here's the next catch...

Fasting.

Yup. My clean eating plan/ 30 Day Cleanse includes one day per week of fasting.

Here's the deal. I'm a skeptic. I wanted to know WHY I had to go a full day without eating. What are the benefits? I get HANGRY. You have no idea. Worse than the actors in the Snickers commercials.

So, I jumped on the information super highway to find out all I could about fasting. Intermittent fasting has lots of buzz worthy chat happening. But it's tough to know what you should believe. I've got some great advice coming from my local experts. Ben (you've heard me mention him before, right?) has done his research. He believes in this program, and fasting is part of it. Many religions incorporate fasting into their practice, and many believe that in addition to being a sacrifice or atonement, it also provides clarity of thought and spirit.  I don't know about all of that, but the health benefits are becoming known outside of the religious arena.

In summary, fasting for one day (36 hours seems to be the most effective) gives the organs responsible for detoxifying your body a break from digestion. That means since they aren't working to break down the food you're eating, it can reallocate energy to secondary tasks, like flushing your cells of unwanted toxins and burning fat (did you know that many of the toxins in your body are stored in your fat cells?! GROSS!).  Here's a link to a study that looked at the benefits of alternate day fasting - but I'm not quite ready for that level of intensity just yet. But it's good to know that there is some good science behind this plan!

Tied with a clean eating program, intermittent fasting is a great way to help your body switch gears, clean up your system, and boost your body's efficiency.  Obviously, this isn't without some controversy - and maybe it's not for everyone. But so far, I feel great and I'm making conscious, healthy decisions and this feels like a great way to catapult me into a new way of thinking about food.

So, tomorrow I will find ways to keep myself busy, I will drink my allotment of Cleanse For Life (R), and I hope that I continue to feel great.  My husband is excited for all the projects I'm going to tackle tomorrow!

I worked out hard this week (and I'm still feeling it, in my cheeks - and not the ones I smile with) and so far the first week has been less painful than expected. We'll see about tomorrow - I'll be sure to post and let you know about how it goes.

Time to enjoy a movie with my hubster, and a great night's sleep. Looking forward to a challenging day tomorrow and will hopefully find some fun ways to get and stay organized.

<3 Jen