Lifestyle

Yoga found me stressed-out and drawn down by routine, uninspired and stagnant, going through the motions of day-to-day life.

She found me on the hamster wheel of compulsive worry and over-thinking, living in the fragile little glass dome of my mind, where intellect and rationality ruled over all else. She saw my reluctance to feel; my avoidance of messy, volatile emotions, as they rattled the cage my mind built so carefully and deliberately around my heart. She found a raging atheist, clinging to facts, and science, and the 3D world out of insecurity and fear that maybe, there’s something unintelligible by the mind—such anarchy was not welcome.

She found me hurting; both for myself and for innumerable others, the mind falling behind on rationalizing the pain away. She found me strong; or rather in pretense of it, as I thought strength came from the ability to keep a straight face, to maintain that sturdy cage around the heart no matter how hard it beat, how much it hurt, how badly it needed to be let out and taken care of.

She found me independent: a product of cowardice, not confidence; barely handling the weight already on my shoulders, sharing my life with others could lighten the load—or, could result in me carrying theirs, too.

That wasn’t a chance I was willing to take.

Yoga welcomed all my pieces, and moved them as one. She saw my pain, and cradled me through many a child’s pose, holding space for my tears. She helped me feel—really truly, feel—the texture of every breath, every effort of my muscles in chair pose, every escapist thought in warrior II, every bit of self-love and security in that fetal pose at the end of the class.

She got me into a headstand: turned my world upside down, to teach me that it’s all about perspective.She nurtured in me a center I can come back to, no matter how hard the pose, how painful my circumstances. She taught me that a handstand is not all that scary, if I let myself work with a partner.

She taught me to balance big postures on small ground: one arm in the air, another holding my foot, back bending into Lord Shiva’s pose with grace, ease, yet strength—it’s possible, she said, as long as you’re grounded in integrity. She taught me that strength is in the vulnerable, raw, brave authenticity that comes through when I am unapologetically me, even when I come in the shape of a sobbing pigeon.

She enticed me in the magic of synchronicity, as every class was somehow crafted just for me, carrying the exact missing puzzle piece of my life, as the universe whispers the wisdom of the day through the lips of the teacher.

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*Dear elephant reader: if you’re single & looking for mindful dating or conscious love, try out our lovely partner, MeetMindful.

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Yoga taught me to open to grace, with the complete, cathartic surrender of a wheel. She helped me see the Divine that I am, breathing and moving in harmony with the universe: my hair mimicking the motion of a thousand trees in the wind, my eyes sparkling with the shimmer of stars—know your worth, she said; never settle for anything less than you deserve.

Being a heady person, I live in a world of ideas. I love that I can interact with thoughts and writings of people all over the world, across time and space, and converse with a mind born a thousand years ago—like we just met for coffee. I find it endlessly fascinating, that an idea can be passed back and forth, molded into different shapes, and woven into a myriad others. And as it stops to be savored by yet another recipient, it transforms and takes on the colors and shapes that this person exudes.

Every brush stroke is painted by a hand so exquisitely creviced by a human life rich with experience.

For us heady people, ‘changing our mind’ is easy: all we have to do is find a key that unlocks a different way of thinking. Someone can give us the ‘right’ idea, and suddenly, all the shapes and colors of the contents of our mind change, shift ground, some atrophy, others become more prominent—and that, is absolutely awe-inspiring.

But just as someone can give us the ‘right’ idea, they can just as easily give us a ‘wrong’ idea, and if taken without discernment, it can inspire a change of the same magnitude, but in the wrong direction.

All of a sudden, the colors of my world get murky, the shimmer of it no longer visible in the dark. The world of ideology is so vast and powerful, yet extremely fragile and volatile, that it demands an exhausting amount of presence and attention to keep it afloat and on the right course.

Living up in the clouds, we have no ground—and this is what I practice for. I practice to gain ground. I practice to get out of my mind, and into my body, so I know what a true feeling feels like: that of my foot on the ground, that of a bead of sweat running down my neck, that of my breath flowing in and out of my being.

I practice so that I have a frame of comparison, against which I measure true thoughts: do they feel as right and solid as my palms on the mat, as undeniable as my desire to get out of warrior II?

The practice reminds me of my center, my core, my grounding stone, and an authenticity so tangible that if I embody it often enough, I never have to doubt myself again.

So that no matter how well-presented, how craftily manipulated, how seamlessly a false thought is slipped to me (all too often by myself), it would be illuminated by my tangible knowledge of truth, and dismissed as unfitting. I have so much to say to the world, I just need to make sure that it’s true.

We only have one planet, and so we should use it wisely. You know, kind of like that saying about our health. Well, some of you may have heard that one, and if not, I believe you still get the gist of it. Think about this: our planet and its resources are like our body in a way, and so harsh treatment will eventually wear it out… Unless, of course, we change our mindset about almost everything. So, what should we do about it?

The Netherlands may have an answer to our predicament. It isn’t a new concept, mind you, but it’s certainly a rather renovated idea. Like the Amish, this project provides the means to be self-reliant, but unlike the simplicity of the Amish, this concept retains high-tech capabilities.

Self-sustainability

When it comes to being self-reliant, we’re talking about whole villages, not just one home. After all, self-sustainable living can be accomplished more efficiently by working together, family with family, friend with friend. That’s why, a community pilot project, the brainchild of ReGen Villages, a California-based developer, will see its completion in 2017. We will see entire villages which will operate from within! How amazing is that! This concept starts just outside of Amsterdam, but plans are to share these innovations with Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Norway.

Power Positive

Basically, what I’m getting at, is the off-grid community plan will use the power of modern technology to create and retain self-reliant wants and needs: growing foods, water filtration and the like.

“Were really looking at starting off as the Tesla of Eco Villages. We are redefining residential real-estate development by creating these regenerative neighbourhoods, looking at first at these greenfield pieces of farmland where we can produce more organic food, more clean water, more clean energy and migrate more waste than if we just left that land to grow organic food or do permaculture there.”

With this idea, ReGen Village can be power positive, able to use its own technology to meet day-to-day needs. It’s more than just depending on your own ingenuity, it’s about having the same amenities as those who live on the grid and yet having the ability to be free from its restraints.

What’s more, is that the surplus energy generated in the Villages can be fed back to the nearby electrical grids. It helps many others as well.

Ehrlich told Fast Company,

“We anticipate literally tonnes of abundant organic food every year- from vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, fish, eggs, chicken, small animal dairy and protein-that can continually grow and yield in the vertical gardening system all year long.”

The project was presented at the Venice Biennale, with design completed by Effekt, a Danish architecture firm. The Village will be constructed in Almere, 20 minutes from Amsterdam, and will initially include 25 pilot homes and 100 in total when complete. Success for ReGen Village means an expansion across all of the Europe and into the Middle East. There are even plans to expand as far as Sub-Saharan Africa and India in the future.

Such an outstanding idea can definitely change the way we care for our planet. With each of us taking the responsibility for what we take and return to the earth, we can have everything we want and need without the over-abundance of chemicals and other pollutants. Maybe the ReGen Village will spread the entire world over, crossing every ocean. Until then, we do what we can to be better.

This is one reason I still have hope for our world.

Blog by Anna LeMind

Anna is the owner and lead editor of the websites Learning-mind.com and Lifeadvancer.com, and staff writer for The Mind Unleashed. She is passionate about learning new things and reflecting on thought-provoking ideas. She writes about technology, science, psychology and other related topics. She is particularly interested in topics regarding introversion, consciousness and subconscious, perception, human mind’s potential, as well as the nature of reality and the universe.

Vegan Nog

Thick, rich, indulgent, and creamy, a little bit goes a long way in this vegan nog recipe. It is a cross between the best tasting smoothie I’ve ever tried and the egg nog I used to drink as a child. I’ll take it!

Adapted from PPK.

Yield: 6 cups

Ingredients:

• 1/2 large avocado, pitted and frozen
• 1 large banana, peeled and frozen
• 1 can of full-fat coconut milk (400ml), chilled in fridge
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 1/4 of a fresh lemon)
• 1.5 cups almond milk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1-3 tsp ground nutmeg (to taste, add gradually)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8th tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Cinnamon stick, for garnish
• 1/4 cup-1/2 cup Bourbon (optional), to taste

Directions: Pit and freeze the 1/2 of an avocado and peel and freeze the large banana prior to making this recipe. Add the liquid ingredients into a blender and blend for about 10 seconds to mix. Now add in your frozen and dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust spices and liquids if necessary. You can adapt it to how you’d like it! Makes 6 cups. Serve with a cinnamon stick (optional). Serve immediately.

Note: This will not keep long, so please make it just prior to serving and serve immediately, very cold. Don’t worry you can’t taste the avocado and spiking it can be fun too…The bourbon is totally optional, but it tastes delicious either way!

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Peppermint Nog

For the Peppermint Nog version, use the recipe above and simply add 1-2 tsp of pure peppermint extract and do not use the vanilla extract. You could also try using fresh mint leaves for a minty green kick and beautiful mint colour.

Garnish with a candy cane stick and crushed candy cane on top.

Recipe by Oh She Glows 

Check out this 2 minute Chew Tube Video on how to prep for creating the following ‘Orange Miso Rice Wrap’ recipe by Kristin with Inner Glow Nutrition!

http://www.innerglownutrition.ca/chew-tube 

These make an excellent snack for the week and are a great take along for gatherings or camping trips. If you have a food processor you can shred the carrots and purple cabbage. You can find Rice Wraps in your Asian food isle at the grocery store. They are in a clear plastic round package.

Orange Miso Rice Wraps

Yields 6 rolls. 2-3 Rolls per person is suitable

6 Rice Wraps

1 Carrots, Julienned (2 ½-3” long strips, approx. 1/8” thick)

1/4 Small Head of Purple Cabbage

1⁄2 Cucumber, Julienned

1 Container Sunflower Sprouts

1⁄4 Cup Cashews, Crushed

1⁄3 Cup Fresh Cilantro, Chopped

Julienne carrots and cucumbers by slicing into 2 ½-3” long sections, halving, then slicing 1/8” strips. Use mandolin if you have. Boil water for rice wraps. Get our plate that is large enough to fit one round wrap with some depth for water to cover. Pour water over one rice wrap with a small amount of cool water (so you don’t burn your fingers and the wrap doesn’t crack) and leave for 15-20 seconds until pliable in shallow dish/plate. Put 6-8 strips of each carrot/cucumber into middle of wrap, then pile with sunflower sprouts, cilantro, and a sprinkle of crushed cashews. Fold wrap over filling and tuck in sides. Continue rolling. Repeat for rest of wraps.

Sesame Miso Ginger Dressing

Yields: 1 1/4 Cups 

2/3-1/2 Cup Sesame Oil

2 Tbsp Tamari or Nama Shoyu

1/4 Cup Miso Paste

1” Piece Fresh Ginger (approx 4 Tbsp minced)

1 Cloves Garlic

1/4 Cup Orange Juice

1. Blend all ingredients in Blender. Adjust to taste.

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Facebook Link if you want to“Share”:

https://www.facebook.com/SomethingToChewOn 

For more info on recipes, cooking classes and retreats with Kristin Fraser go to www.innerglownutrition.ca . And stay tuned for a new retreat launch as Breathe in Life and Inner Glow Nutrition team up!

Photo by Chad Smith

Amongst the myriad of definitions for the word, most would likely agree that to be a Yogi is to be lovingly immersed in the craft of being alive.

On our mats, we cultivate a wise attentiveness toward the little things like the conscious grounding of our feet, the steady circulation of our breath, the alignment of our spines. Over time, off of our mats, this also manifests as an awareness of grounding into the present moment, the steady circulation of Nature, the alignment of how we may serve the well-being of those around us.

We are so blessed to be able to find and cultivate these things in our own homes, our local yoga studios, our own backyards. But sometimes, we are also well served by venturing out into the wide world, seeing sunrises from new latitudes with fresh eyes, lovingly recalling in ourselves and each other what it is to be Smitten with Life.

Join Graham Parsons and Caitlin Varrin from Yogalife in a very special corner of the world, the lush southwest coast of Nicaragua, for ten days of revivification. New memories & bonds will be made, natural wonders will be seen, amazing food will be enjoyed. Two classes a day will be on offer in a diversity of styles from Yin to Rocket Ashtanga, from conscious dance to the art of Savasana. And off the mat, everything from surfing lessons in the waves on our front doorstep, to rocking contentedly in a hammock after a day well-lived. Also: dolphins.

We can’t wait to practice with you, laugh & co-create with you, root down & uplift with you. Come partake of something special, and re-acquaint yourself with the wonder that’s always quietly humming in the world around us. All we need to do is listen. And get smitten.

To sign up visit breatheinlife.com

Photo via iStock

Like most counselors, Leigh Weinraub was trained in the time-honored talk-therapy style: As the practitioner, she should position herself in a chair across from the patient, who’d be asked to lie down on a couch. “In grad school the professor would say, ‘People have to learn how to sit in their s—if they want to work through it,” she says.

But early on in her career, Weinraub kicked the couch to the curb. One day, while working with an anxious young woman in Chicago, the novice therapist impulsively decided to take their session to the place most conventional counselors would caution her not to: outside, in public.

“I took a big risk and said, ‘I know it’s 20 degrees, but put your scarf on and let’s get it in motion,’” Weinraub says, recalling the move that quickly earned her a rep as a renegade amongst her Northwestern University colleagues. “As soon as we got out of the elevator and took the first few steps, those jangly feelings totally subsided. She went from sitting in my office with her foot moving 100 miles an hour and her playing with her fingers to the picture of calm. You could sense that she was walking her way out of the parameters that she was stuck in in her life. And because we were side-by-side, we were solving problems together. There’s less of a power struggle, less awkwardness.”

A decade later, Weinraub has built a successful practice rooted in what she calls “Walk and Talk Therapy,” a method that was informed by her background as a top junior tennis player who later coached a Northwestern team to consecutive conference championships and a number-three national ranking. “All my problems were solved while I was moving,” explains the self-described “action-based therapist,” who also sees clients at the Miraval resort in Arizona, and who recently launched her own line of inspiring sportswear, Mind in Motion.

Having treated “thousands” of people in this way, Weinraub says she’s seen first-hand how “getting your mind in motion by taking a walk will get conversation brewing, improve communication, move you more toward truth, get you out of avoidance, get you unstuck—literally physically, physiologically—and simply, improve the quality of your life.”

It may also help save your life. Medical studies warn us that sitting increases our risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and a variety of cancers, along with early death. This is a big problem for a nation who’s on our backsides for an average of nine hours a day, zoning out in front of the TV, scrolling Instagram, and working at an office. That doesn’t even take into account the endless hours spent in our cars.

No wonder Weinraub waxes lyrical about the rejuvenating powers of fresh air: “The frequency of being outside, it opens our eyes up, opens our lungs up, it literally could open our hearts up.” She’s taken therapeutic walks with many a married couple.

“I do almost all of my couples sessions [that way],” she says. “At the end of our hour, I send them off for another 30 minutes [on their own]. I can guarantee they are closer at the end of the walk than they’d be if they were sitting in an office, arguing. Quite a few have said, ‘Now my partner and I don’t go a week without having at least two post-dinner walks, and our communication skills have improved tremendously.’”

It’s not just those in need of therapy who can benefit from getting on board with what Weinraub calls a “movement of movement.” She’s also worked with office-bound employee groups on team-building missions, as well as numerous clients who’ve come to her desperate to slim down. “One said, ‘I’m 50 pounds overweight and feeling terrible.’ I told her, ‘You do not need to hire some trainer and be miserable on an elliptical machine, or go a sit awkwardly in a class you’re not inspired by. Let’s start with walking.’ [We went] from 30 minutes, to an hour, to an hour and a half.”

Then there was a person who was chronically fatigued, suffering from fibromyalgia and depression, and who could barely walk. After starting slowly, “she now she walks [about] 15 miles at a time.”

A big reason why walking-and-talking is so effective: “Because you’re distracted from the puzzle you’re trying to solve,” says Jane Isay, a veteran publisher and author of the forthcoming book,Unconditional Love: A GPS for Grandparents. Isay invites her writers to join her on jaunts in New York’s Central Park, during which they converse about pretty much everything but the manuscript they’re working on.

“The most productive conversations happen when you’re walking with somebody—there’s something about the side-by-side that allows the flow to happen,” says Isay, who was turned on to this theory while working with the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio on his 1994 bookDescartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. Damasio “argues that the emotions are essential to rationality and good decision-making, and they’re all in the body,” she explains. “If you’re staring at someone, you’re concentrating. When you’re being creative, you don’t want to be concentrating. Neuroscience and the anatomy of the brain have shown that the centers of creativity all light up when you’re not concentrating. That’s where your brain gets its renewal.”

Some suggestions for turning traditional sit-downs into more effective walk-and-talks? The next time you schedule a meeting with a work colleague or business associate, suggest getting together at a waterside walkway or running track instead of a trendy cafe. (“You’ll feel way more bonded afterward,” says Weinraub.) Or try doing a conference-call brainstorm while taking a few laps around the block.

“It’s about getting emotional fitness,” Weinraub says. “Take a minute and ask yourself: Who in your life right now is the type of person you want to go in nature with, feel the wind up against your face, and have a 45-minute delving discussion with—who you will know damn well by the end of that time? I promise, you are going to feel better; you’re going to process information; and they are going to push you to grow.”

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This piece is from wanderlust.com, originally published on Sonima.com.

Fasting is an exceptionally ancient, and powerful, approach to healing many common disease conditions. It allows the body to rest, detoxify, and to heal. During fasting the body moves into the same kind of detoxification cycle that it normally enters during sleep. It uses its energy during a fast, not for digesting food, but for cleansing the body of accumulated toxins and healing any parts of it that are ill. As a fast progresses the body consumes everything that it can that is not essential to bodily functioning. This includes bacteria, viruses, fibroid tumors, waste products in the blood, any build up around the joints, and stored fat. The historical record indicates that human beings are evolutionarily designed to fast. It is an incredibly safe approach to healing and the body knows how to do it very well.

The Physiological Changes of Fasting

Many of the most dramatic changes that occur in the body during fasting take place on the first three days of the fast. These occur as the body switches from one fuel source to another. Normally, the primary form of energy the body uses for energy is glucose, a type of sugar. Most of this is extracted or converted from the food we eat. Throughout the day, the liver stores excess sugar in a special form called glycogen that it can call on as energy levels fall between meals. There is enough of this sugar source for 8-12 hours of energy and usually, it is completely exhausted within the first 24 hours of fasting. (However, once the body shifts over to ketosis or fat as fuel, this new fuel is used to also restore the body’s glycogen reserves.)

Once the liver’s stores of glycogen are gone, the body begins to shift over to what is called ketosis or ketone production – the use of fatty acids as fuel instead of glucose. This shift generally begins on the second day of fasting and completed by the third. In this interim period there is no glucose available and energy from fat conversion is insufficient but the body still needs fuel. So it accesses glucose from two sources. It first converts glycerol, available in the body’s fat stores, to glucose but this is still insufficient. So it makes the rest that it needs from catabolizing, or breaking down, the amino acids in muscle tissue, using them in the liver for gluconeogenesis, or the making of glucose. Between 60 and 84 grams of protein are used on this second day, 2-3 ounces of muscle tissue. By the third day ketone production is sufficient to provide nearly all the energy the body needs and the body’s protein begins to be strongly conserved. The body still needs a tiny amount of glucose for some functions, however, so a very small amount of protein, 18-24 grams, is still catabolized to supply it – from 1/2 to 1 ounce of muscle tissue per day. Over a 30 day water fast a person generally loses a maximum of 1-2 pounds of muscle mass. This conservation of the body’s protein is an evolutionary development that exists to protect muscle tissue and vital organs from damage during periods of insufficient food availability.

From the third day onward the rate of the breakdown of fatty acids from adipose or fat tissue continues to increase, hitting its peak on the tenth day. This seven day period, after the body has shifted completely over to ketosis, is where the maximum breakdown of fat tissue occurs. As part of protein conservation, the body also begins seeking out all non-body-protein sources of fuel: nonessential cellular masses such as fibroid tumors and degenerative tissues, bacteria, viruses, or any other compounds in the body that can be used for fuel. This is part of the reason that fasting produces the kind of health effects it does. Also, during this period of heightened ketosis the body is in a similar state as the one that occurs during sleep – a rest and detoxification cycle. It begins to focus on the removal of toxins from the body and the healing and regeneration of damaged tissues and organs.

Fasting and Healing

Fasting has been found to help a number of disease conditions, often
permanently. There have been a number of intriguing clinical trials and studies treating numerous disease conditions with fasting. Here are some of those findings.

* In one clinical trial of hypertension and fasting, 174 people with hypertension were prefasted for 2-3 days by eating only fruits and vegetables. They then participated in a 10-11 day water only fast, followed by a 6-7 day post fast in which they ate only a low-fat, low- sodium vegan diet. Initial blood pressure in the participants was either in excess of 140 millimeters of mercury (mm HG) systolic or 90 diastolic or both. Ninety percent of the participants achieved blood pressure less than 140/90 by the end of the trial. The higher their initial blood pressure the more their readings dropped. The average drop for all participants was 37/13. Those with stage 3 hypertension (over 180/110) had an average reduction of 60/17. All those taking blood pressure medication prior to fasting were able to discontinue it. Fasting has been shown in a number of trials like this one to be one of the most effective methods for lowering blood pressure and normalizing cardiovascular function. Blood pressure tends to remain low in all those using fasting for cardiovascular disease once fasting is completed.

* Fasting is exceptionally beneficial in chronic cardiovascular disease and congestive heart failure, reducing triglycerides, atheromas, total cholesterol, and increasing HDL levels.

* Fasting has been found effective in the treatment of type II diabetes, often reversing the condition permanently.

* Because of its long term effects on metabolism, fat stores in the body, leptin, and disease conditions associated with obesity, fasting has been found to be one of the most effective treatments for obesity.

* A number of studies have found that fasting is beneficial in epilepsy, reducing the length, number, and severity of seizures. Fasting is especially effective for helping alleviate or cure childhood epilepsy.

* In a 1988 trial of 88 people with acute pancreatitis, fasting was found better than any other medical intervention. Neither nasogastric suction or cimetidine were found to produce as beneficial effects as those from fasting. Symptoms were relieved irrespective of the etiology of the disease.

* A number of studies have found that fasting is effective for treating both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Fasting induces significant antiinflammatory actions in the body and researchers found decreased ESR, arthralgia, pain, stiffness, and need for medication.

* Autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rosacea, chronic urticaria, and acute glomerulonephritis have all responded well to fasting.

* Severe toxic contamination has been shown to be significantly helped with fasting. Clinical trials have found that people poisoned with PCB experienced “dramatic” relief after 7-10 day fasts.

* Poor immune function improves during fasting. Studies have found that there is increased macrophage activity, increased cell-mediated immunity, decreased complement factors, decreased antigen-antibody complexes, increased immunoglobulin levels, increased neutrophil bactericidal activity, depressed lymphocyte blastogenesis, heightened monocyte killing and bactericidal function, and enhanced natural killer cell activity.

* Other diseases that have responded to fasting are: psychosomatic disease, neurogenic bladder, psoriasis, eczema, thrombophlebitis, varicose ulcers, fibromyalgia, neurocirculatory disease, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, bronchial asthma, lumbago, depression, neurosis, schizophrenia, duodenal ulcers, uterine fibroids, intestinal parasites, gout, allergies, hay fever, hives, multiple sclerosis, and insomnia.

* The historically lengthy claim that fasting increases life span is beginning to garner some support in research literature. Regularly repeated 4-day fasting has been found to increase the life span in normal and immunocompromised mice.

* Although the use of fasting in the treatment of cancer is controversial, there is some emerging data SHOWING that fasting helps prevent cancer. Intermittent fasting (2 days weekly) has shown an inhibitory effect on the development of liver cancer in rats.

People Who Should Not Fast

Although most people can fast, there are a few who, because of special
conditions, should not.

* People who are extremely emaciated or in a state of starvation
* Those who are anorexic or bulemic
* Pregnant, diabetic women
* Nursing mothers
* Those who have severe anemia
* Those with an extreme fear of fasting
* Those with porphyria. Porphyria refers to a genetic metabolic defect that affects the body’s ability to manage porphyrins. Porphyrins are a group of compounds that combine with iron to produce blood, are involved in the control of electron transport systems, and, within mitochondria, are intricately involved in the production, accumulation, and utilization of energy. Porphyria can cause malfunctions in the liver, bone marrow, and red blood cells and produces a wide range of symptoms including seizures.
* People with a rare, genetic, fatty acid deficiency which prevents THE INITIATION OF KETOSIS. This is a deficiency involving the enzyme acetyl-CoA, a mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation enzyme, that is essential to ketosis. Those with this deficiency who do fast can experience severe side effects, including hepatic steatosis, myocardial lipid accumulation, and severe hypoglycemia.

A Note on Pregnancy, Children, and Fasting

Although many fasting texts suggest that pregnant women not fast, those that have been found to suffer side effects were also diabetic. Ketosis during pregnancy can seriously harm the fetus if the mother is diabetic. Fasting during pregnancy if a woman is not diabetic has not been found harmful to either mother or fetus. However, fasts for nondiabetic pregnant women should be no longer than 2-3 weeks duration and be monitored by a health care provider. Children, even infants, can also fast without complications if the fasts are of relatively short duration. For infants 2-3 days, children 1-2 weeks depending on age. These fasts should also be monitored by a health care provider unless of short duration. The need for infants and young children to fast is rare.

Those Who Should Fast Under Health Care Supervision

While most people can fast safely there are some that should do so only under the supervision of a health professional experienced in fasting for healing.

* Those with serious disease conditions
* Pregnant women
* Infants and young children
* Type I diabetics
* Those with insufficient kidney function
* Those who are extremely afraid of fasting yet wish to do so anyway
* People with a high toxic contamination level of DDT. DDT is stored by the body in a highly concentrated form in fat tissue. Fasting can release huge levels of DDT into the bloodstream as the fat stores are released. This can be quite dangerous.

Written by Stephen Harrod Buhner of Gaianstudies.org