It is not uncommon to hear a person say that they’ve completely lost control of how they eat. They relate how they have had times and periods of their life when they knew they were doing great regarding how, what and when they ate.
However for various reasons, many valid, they quit being attentive to their diet and their eating habits have become unrestricted.
When we realize this has happened it’s actually good. We have an awareness that there is a problem. And this is the first step in finding a solution. Solutions come in many forms.
Some people can immediately turn the situation around and instantly start eating properly. But for many of us this is too abrupt and difficult. If that is the case there is an easier, time-tested way to once again regain control of our appetites and diets. The answer is through and age old method called fasting and cleansing.
Fasting is a term that we’ve heard that dates back to biblical ages. Although some of the stories of that age talk of fasting for months at a time I am not proposing anything anywhere near that drastic.
The fast’s that will be discussed in this article are easy, short and simple to perform.
Cleansing is a term that we’ve heard more recently. In many cases it can be considered to be the same as fasting. For our purposes fasting and cleansing will be used interchangeably.
It is helpful to think of fasting as something we do regularly and over the time of our lifespan. And I believe it is a way that we can gradually regain our self-discipline, self-confidence and dignity. Along with this, of course, will be improved health benefits.
A first step in fasting may be to actually add something to our nutritional regime. This would be to drink a proper amount of water. Water can actually be an appetite suppressant for many people.
A large percentage of the population is under hydrated and they mistake thirst for hunger. So instead of drinking water they eat which leads to poor consequences. It’s important to measure our water daily. Women need to drink 2 to 3 liters of water a day.
Men need to drink 3 to 4 liters of water a day. Make sure that you are drinking just water. Juices, coffee, alcohol and even tea should not be considered substitutes for the proper amount of water.
Next in regaining control of our diet by cleansing is to consider the type of foods we eat. It is becoming known that eating too many grain type carbohydrates is harmful.
Grain carbohydrates are foods like cereal, bread and pasta. There are many references that go deeply into the deleterious effects of eating these types of high starch foods.
A medical neurologist, Dr. David Perlmutter, has even taken the step to say that “carbs are killers”.
So a gradual gentle step toward eating properly might be to look at our meals over the course of each could week.
We could pick a meal each day of the week that would include no starchy carbohydrates. We still could have good proteins, fats and vegetables at that sitting and be completely within excellent nutritional guidelines.
Think how much control this would start to give us over the course of the next 365 days of our life.
As we gain more self-control another fasting step might be to take one day every couple weeks or even once a month where we ate only vegetables and a very nutritious protein/fat combination like an egg or a protein shake.
If we only did this twice a month it would add up to 26 days over the course of the year. Once a person has done this for a couple months they will begin to feel that they are in charge of their eating habits leading to more self-empowerment, motivation and progress.
In the previous sentence I mentioned having eggs as a good nutritional source. In the past several decades I believe eggs have gotten a bad rap.
They are castigated as something we should eat sparingly. Yet eggs are one of the only items that contain all the essential amino acids which are necessary building blocks of protein.
Also eggs are a good source of the fat that we need in production of our hormones and the fat that makes up a large percentage of our nervous system including the brain.
Eggs should not be excluded from our menus but should be an essential ingredient of our weekly meals.
For many people taking the aforementioned steps will help them to know they can take the next action I am recommending.
It is incredibly powerful to take 10 days every six months to fast by having a combination of cleansing drinks, protein shakes and sensible, but limited meals.
There are a number of products and programs that are well researched and reviewed that are available to help do this.
As we take easy steps over time to have control of what we eat we gain control and self-discipline. Fasting should be considered as a way for us to be in charge of our circumstances and not let circumstances determine our fates.
If a person will take the suggestions mentioned in this article for a year, I dare-say, that not only will they be much healthier but they will realize how it has helped them become more self-confident, happy and empowered.
It will have become a powerful way of life for them that they can continue all their days.
abderahmaneh 