How I Feel About Fasting…

I was in my 20s when I picked up the book, The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose, which introduced me to colonics and a host of other health-related hacks I became obsessed with including juice fasting, food combining, infrared saunas, dry brushing, trampolines and unadulterated sunshine. At the time, I was struggling with a quarter life crisis wondering if desk work was my life sentence. I was also extremely anxious about the consequential desk bod that could quickly result from sitting on my ass all day under fluorescent lights, breathing in recycled air, eating all the snacks and birthday cake (it’s always someone’s g**damn birthday!) and holding in my pee, shit, laughter and conversation for fear of appearing unproductive or God forbid….social. Everything about office life felt counter-human and ironically counter-productive for the evolution of the human species. So while obsession with desk detox landed me in my profession, which I am FOREVER grateful for because I really had no idea where life was taking me (I was just hoping it was far fucking away from a desk), my obsession over the years has transitioned into a deep appreciation for all things natural, holistic, balanced and self-empowering.

This is the only desk I ever loved.

When I began my detox journey, I was obsessed with getting it all out: the years of greasy Cuban food and soda I was raised on, the excessive alcohol and late night loaded nachos I consumed throughout college, four years of birth control, the occasional antibiotic or OTC medication and the overall stagnation every cell of my being was experiencing. I couldn’t have been more motivated to refrain from compounding the toxic load on my body before it started seeping into my bloodstream only to become some sort of rare cancer or far worse…premature aging or irreversible weight gain. My first fast was the Master Cleanse, which consisted of 10 days of consuming nothing but lemon water sweetened with maple syrup and spiced with cayenne pepper. This was delicious for the first few days, but my delight quickly turned to revulsion: a pattern I became all too familiar with on my quest to find the perfect detox. My next obsession became juice fasting after learning that not only will you feel light and skinny during and especially after the fast, but the enzymes and the nutrients in the juices are actually breaking down the old matter that is clogging your system while hydrating the body with some serious nourishment that will have you glowing from the inside out!

That said, juice fasting fucking sucks. I fucking hate it. I do believe in the merits of food combining regarding fresh vegetable and fruit juice in that juice should only be consumed alone and on an empty stomach (otherwise, you may experience some intense bloating coupled with putrid-smelling farts). The only time I like to recommend a juice fast is 1) post-colonic, a good time to let your digestive tract rest for the rest of the day and 2) when you truly feel like it and do not feel like you are forcing starvation upon yourself.

I also believe in the merits of intermittent fasting in the sense that we don’t need to be eating all the live long day if we don’t feel like it. In fact, I believe eating on a contrived work schedule is contributing to the detriment of our health. As mammals, we are designed to eat and in a position to receive nutrients when we are relaxed and have calming hormones coursing through our system (dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin). We are not designed to be eating when we have stress hormones (adrenaline, cortisol) coursing through our body. Have you seen a wild animal hunting and snacking at the same time? Probably not. Have you ever seen an obese wild animal? Me neither. So I always suggest that clients fast when stuck at the computer (unless they’re planning their next vacation, which is what I always seemed to be doing at my desk job) and eat when they can remove themselves from work mode for ten minutes to truly enjoy their food, a practice now called mindful eating. I am a super slow eater and I know I can eat a meal comfortably in ten minutes unless I’m in good company (then that might turn into three hours).

One thing I have never tried is water fasting, where you can only consume water for a period of days. Water fasting has been proven to stimulate autophagy (cellular rejuvenation) and lower risk of chronic disease. A surgeon client of mine has seen water fasting reverse diabetes! I still have no interest in consuming nothing but water all day long, but I did finally find a fast proven to promote autophagy, healthier looking skin, weight loss and a changed relationship with food.

Backed by 20 years of science and more importantly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Prolon is a 5 day “fasting mimicking diet” that will allow you to reap all the benefits of an intense water cleanse while actually eating food. I have already done the Prolon fast twice and I felt immediately like myself again after the very first time. I recommend planning the fast around a busy week where you don’t really have much time to sit down and eat throughout the day. I tend to eat heavier in the evening, so I would plan it around my busier work days and save all of the soups for evening time. You can spread the food (which consists of soups, nut bar, olives, crackers) throughout the day however you like. They provide a suggested schedule, but I found that following the schedule (which I did the second time) made me feel hungrier rather than eating how I normally eat (heavier in the evening). I find this gentle, yet effective fast really helped me quickly feel like myself again after this long ass winter / fake spring. I will be starting another fast this Sunday and would love for you to join! Click here to purchase.

The Vanity Mirror

For such an appropriately beautiful word, “vanity” has a bad rep. If you know me personally or have read or listened to any of my interviews, you know I unapologetically got into my line of work ten years ago for vanity and vanity alone. I had no digestive issues, no major recovery, no comeback story. I just wanted to look my best and I learned that detoxing is the most natural and sustainable means to achieving optimal outer beauty.

It’s healthy to care about your appearance. Vanity can actually play a role in disease and humiliation prevention. Had we never looked in the mirror, certain cancers and liver disease would go undiagnosed, weight would creep on faster, repulsive whiteheads (and greenheads) would remain undisturbed and coagulated mucus would have time to harden and stick to the walls of our noses. Needful to say, vanity is a fragile tight rope resting between healthy and unhealthy obsession.

Growing up, my brother and I shared a bathroom. To his dismay, I would annoyingly spend an hour before bed each night indulging in my facial routine followed by a close up analysis of every pore and hair on my face, tweezer in hand. Thank God I never had one of those magnifying mirrors. I would have spent half of the evening mutilating my face!

Upon reflection, my vanity seemed to mark the beginning of my obsession with all things bathroom-related. I remember when my mother redecorated the bathroom and threw up a flattering mauve wallpaper because only then did I realize the significance of a room’s lighting. You’d think this made me feel good about myself (or at least pursue photography), but it only made me question whether the flattering reflection was an accurate depiction of my true appearance as I migrated to a different mirror for comparison. Needless to say, I was a textbook case of someone suffering from dysfunctional vanity that  perhaps led to a mild case of body dysmorphia.

bathroom vanity

A quick google search reveals that we spend about 1.5 years in the bathroom in a lifetime. I’ve experienced an inverse relationship between the amount of time spent in the bathroom and clear skin. A healthy diet is the ultimate skin routine promoting healthy bowel movements (ie detoxification), which requires little time on the bowl. Additionally, less time staring in the mirror, washing/stripping your skin, slathering on toxic products and picking/squeezing encourages skin regeneration and repair. Ironically, a low maintenance daily routine is the key to clear skin. Less is fucking more.

Often I am asked what I use on my skin, which is why I developed the Skin Cleanse on my services menu. You can subscribe to the Skin Cleanse newsletter on the Gravity Colonic Prices page for my full skin regime and recommendations. Spoiler alert: it involves a plant-based, dirtbag lifestyle. Products last forever in my medicine cabinet because I only oil cleanse my face 1-2 times per week. While I don’t believe in the consumerism surrounding commercial skin products, I am a fucking sucker for all things natural. Currently, my fave skincare is Marie Veronique’s line because she incorporates both probiotics and essential oils that smell divine in each product. Probiotics are naturally found on our skin and serve as a protectant. This is why washing your face 1-2 times EVERY FUCKING DAY is no bueno.

In summation, I encourage you to look in the mirror only to embrace your beauty.  If you’re hating what you see, I dare you to embark on a mirror fast while adopting the healthy habits I share in my Skin Cleanse newsletter. True beauty is truly skin deep…like 25 intestinal feet deep. Watch your skin clear up and your innards beauty shine through your pores. Namaste.

xoxo jen

 

Fasting & Feasting

It’s taken almost ten years to adopt a lifestyle of fasting where I’m not obsessing, starving, yo-yo dieting, or more importantly, anxious and isolated. I blame the “all-or-nothing” ego of my 20s for these demented thinking patterns. But at the same time, my 20’s enthusiasm landed me on the most rewarding, alternative career path I could have ever imagined for myself as an ass plumber. So I’ve gained a healthy appreciation for comfortable fasting, or what the masses call intermittent fasting.

About ten years ago, I picked up Natalia Rose’s Raw Food Detox Diet book, which changed my life overnight for better or for worse. I speak more to this on the Free Spirit Academy Podcast (episode 20). Rather than slowly transition into this new cleansing lifestyle as the book suggests, I quickly began juice fasting all day until dinner for the sake of vanity. Then for dinner, I would just about eat the kitchen sink thinking I could eat as much as I desired as long as it was “clean.” Additionally, I would throw in a 3-5 day juice cleanse every so often to wipe my slate clean. Little did I realize that this lifestyle was slowly becoming less of an exciting path to everlasting beauty, but rather one to disordered eating. I found myself binging in the evenings until I felt uncomfortably bloated because I knew I would not be eating solid food for another 24 hours. This is not how one should fast.

healthy fasting

 

Intermittent fasting is a hot topic lately, but this is nothing new. What is new is the amount of fucking food we’re shoving in our faces. Our ancestors were not able to go to a store where there is so much food available, the store actually has to throw out most of the produce everyday! In fact, they were forced to fast because food was so scarce. Mark Mattson, head of the National Institute on Aging’s neuroscience lab, argues that fasting and then “feasting” has actually helped evolve the species and make us smarter. In Scientific American, studies have proven that intermittent fasting has proven more effective than calorie restriction in preventing cancer, cognitive decline and weight loss.

Intermittent fasting can mean fasting for a few days at a time, just eliminating a meal or two per day or simply not snacking between meals. I do not fast for days on end anymore. Alternatively, I enjoy comfortably fasting for 12-14 hours each day (this includes not eating in your sleep!). I find myself juice fasting or smoothie “fasting” until dinner on days where I have a packed schedule of clients and am running on adrenaline all day. Those days seem to fly by! My reward is then a huge avocado salad with a veggie burger, maybe some crackers and vegan cheese followed by some chocolaty treat and a huge dump in the morning. The idea is to know when you’re truly full and satisfied, not to deprive yourself. Once you’ve reached the point where you are comfortably full in both your thoughts and your stomach, you have achieved comfortable fasting. Now prepare to live to 120.

xoxo jen

Categories: Fasting