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A new year, a fresh start. It’s that time of the year when gym memberships increase and people may become more mindful of their health, because let’s be real some of us may have overindulged a tad over the holidays?!? For myself I would say that’s an understatement because I was a glutton! If I saw it, I ate it and even when I was full, I ate some more. Oh, the shame.
It’s a new year, time to clean house (my body). Over eating and indulging is very hard on the digestive system, it is tirelessly breaking down food, sorting out the nutrients, sending by products to the colon for elimination constantly, it never get’s a break until our head hits the pillow. And for those who ate a late meal, your body is digesting and not resting. If only there was a way to give it a break!! Well let me tell you there is! And it’s called fasting!!!
Fasting, what is it? And why would I do that?
Fasting is the process by which we exclude food from our bodies for a period of time. There are many variations of it. For all intents and purposes, I will be discussing bone broth fasts. So why bone broth fasts? Why would our bodies benefit from it? A couple points:
- Allows our bodies to take time to heal. Digestion takes a lot of energy, when we allow our digestive system to take a break, other systems in the body can use the allowed energy to restore cells, heal inflammation and clean up any unnecessary waste that has accumulated in our tissues.
- Possibly aid insulin resistance: This is a big one. When we eat and depending on what we eat our blood sugar will rise and fall accordingly like a wave and we don’t want this! We want our blood sugar levels to remain flat and smooth. By fasting we allow our bodies to be more sensitive to insulin, which means it can better transport glucose from our bloodstream to our cells more effectively. So, when we do eat it works better at managing the insulin response, less waves more flat and smooth ones.
Bone broth Fasts
Bone broth is made by simmering the bones from organic grass fed, grass finished beef bones, free range organic chicken bones, or wild caught fish bones. You would want to use joint bones as they especially contain a lot of collagen, amino acids and minerals. Bone broth for fasting is excellent as it is nutrient dense, the collagen will heal an inflamed gut and it’s a good way to ease into more intense fasting as you will still be getting some calories.
Get the Bone Broth Recipe Here!
Navin’s experience, team member at WFC
In the new year at the office we decided to do bone broth fast challenge that was extended to our patients to reset our digestion and to start off the new year in a healthful way. I have attempted bone broth fasts before but by the end of the first day I broke it because, hunger. This time was going to be different, I overindulged during the holidays and I felt like crap. I was tired, sluggish, low energy, I had some skin breakouts. I DID NOT WANT TO FEEL THIS WAY ANYMORE. I needed to do something for myself and my body to allow it to take a break and to heal. The goal, to drink only bone broth for 5 days! I gathered up my ingredients, put everything in my crock pot and has some delicious broth to sip on! Let’s do this!
Day 1 – I was in a good mindset, I brought a thermos of broth to sip on all day at work. Thankfully work was busy enough that I didn’t pay any mind to my grumbling stomach, because yes, I was hungry. By the end of the day, I still was feeling hungry since my body was used to getting solid food, however since the broth still had some calories, I didn’t feel starved. I slept fine, but I did dream about food that’s for sure!
Day 2 – I woke up with a clear mind, I didn’t feel overly hungry and I felt much lighter! Again, I brought my thermos to work and sipped on broth on day. I had energy throughout the day and since my co-workers were also fasting, we all supported each other. I didn’t feel hungry at all! I slept fine.
Day 3 – Woke up feeling majorly hungry and thinking about food. But I really wanted to finish and make it to day 5. I packed my broth and headed to work. I did sip on broth all day, but I missed the feeling of chewing, I really wanted to give in but my co workers assured that my hungry hormones we’re knocking on the door and that really, they would be fine for another couple of days. Day is over and I get home and I walk in to the scent of dinner being made by my husband and it smells fantastic!! At this point I figured I did two and a half days, which I’ve never done before and I was mentally exhausted from fasting, I ate. And it was such a delicious meal! Yes, I didn’t make it to my 5-day goal but by body was telling me that it needed some food, which it completely ok. It is very important to listen to your body and it’s signals.
My takeaway
Overall my fasting experience was a very positive one, I noticed clearer thinking, improved digestion and not feeling sluggish, my palate also changed, and I found that I wasn’t craving sugar like I usually do. I wasn’t even disappointed that I didn’t make it the 5 days because I finally managed to make it more than one day. Will I do it again? Absolutely!! Fasting has so many healing properties and it teaches one to be respectful of your body, our bodies work very hard for us and sometimes they want a vacation too! I will attempt fasting again and I would like to do it quarterly to give my digestion needed rest throughout the year. Fasting is not impossible and I highly recommend it to improve health!
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only, it is not intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any illness or disease. Please consult a professional for your healthcare needs.