Hello! 👋🏾

You’ve embarked upon an amazing fast for your mind, body & spirit. And you’ve successfully completed it. Congratulations, I am so proud! During your fast you obviously experienced hunger. But you may have also experienced some headaches, maybe muscle pains and even some fatigue. That's all part of this process, don't let it alarm you.

Throughout history, people have practiced fasting for spiritual, health or religious reasons. You are among those in the world that have taken this intentional journey.

Now, move slowly and thoughtfully as you start eating again. You don’t want to overwhelm your digestive system and undo the great effects of fasting.

First of all, don’t break your fast at night because you’ll be unable to burn many calories while you sleep. Also, a loaded cheeseburger ain’t the move at all! In fact, don’t break your fast with red meat because it’s more difficult to digest. If you crave meat, don't worry, it will be waiting for you in later meals.

During your fast, your metabolism went into a particular state where it adapted hormonally and physiologically. You have more growth hormones & elevated luteinizing hormones, this all promotes testosterone plus triggers the cells’ self-digestive duties. You also likely went into a state of ketosis, which makes your liver change fatty acids into ketones and energy. Lastly, your intestines and gut have adapted to the lack of food, so it preserved the digestive processes and will take a moment to re-adjust to eating solids again.

I encourage taking half the number of days you fasted as a guide to reintroduce solid foods. For example, if you fasted for four days, take two days to ease your way back into eating. I recently did a 14 day Yogi Juice Cleanse, so I took 7 days of reintroducing foods to my body to give it some time to get ready.

Secondly, drink lots of water and cook some bone or fish broth. Broth’s are amazing because they have a ton of electrolytes and are packed with collagen.

• Collagen protein is what most of your body is made of – your joints, nails, hair & skin – it helps to keep you more youthful and elastic.
• Drinking broth after your fast will also better help you to absorb electrolytes and minerals. Your gut has been cleaning house for a while and is now ready to use the nutrients from the broth as well as the foods you’ll be eating.

Personal tip: cook all the leftover bits of the fish broth, like the head, the fins and bones so you could get all those extra omega-3 fatty acids, which are tremendously good for your brain and heart. 

You'll wanna do this for the first couple days, especially if you’ve been on a longer fast. The less sugar in these liquid broths, the better, as sugars can create bloating and digestive irritation.

If you’re vegan or vegetarian try:

Apple cider vinegar – it balances healthy pH levels, kills off bad bacteria in your gut, stabilizes your blood sugar and improves overall health.

• 2 tbsp of raw apple cider vinegar
• 1 half of lemon squeezed into hot water
• 1 pinch of cinnamon for better blood sugar stabilization
• 1 pinch of sea salt

Again, if you don’t wanna do broths and you’re not down with apple cider vinegar then you can also consume some MCT oil

MCTs get converted into energy faster because the fatty acids in it bypass the liver and go straight to the blood stream. This is great because you’ll also prolong the effects of fat burning and stay in ketosis  even after having eaten calories. Also eat soft-cooked foods like vegetables, since these are easier to chew & digest.

After you’ve drunk your lemon water and broth, then you should wait for about 15-30 minutes to let your gut absorb the nutrients.

When you finally eat solid foods, your first meal should only be around 500 calories max.

One suggestion is: 2-3 eggs, half an avocado, some nuts and spinach. Or maybe 1 can of sardines, anchovies OR small canned mackerel with some salad and olive oil. Believe it or not, Sardines are a natural multivitamin with tons of nutrients. Chew your food very thoroughly to make sure its easily digested. Regardless of what you choose to eat, be intentional. Don’t waste all the good thats been done by making a series of emotional decisions and enjoy the new start on life that you've earned.

God bless you and be well!