Talk to me about fasting

I think giving the digestive system a break is a good idea. 

There are so many ways to go about it.

I can't eat all raw veggies all day or risk stomach cramps so I will cook them in veggie broth. 

I simmer a soup of 4 cans no sodium veggie broth or beef broth with 1 lb organic carrots, 1 whole bunch celery, 2 green peppers, 2 cans organic canned tomatoes with juice (blended in blender), 1 fistful chopped fresh pre-boiled green beans, 3 chopped scallions and add whatever herbs I'm in the mood for and cook. Add water or more broth if it gets too thick with veggies.  I eat it throughout the day and drink filtered water with or without a little fresh lemon juice.  Sometimes I add plain, low fat or non fat yogurt to the soup after I put it in a bowl with some chopped mint - gives it a middle eastern flavor.  

At the end of the day, I might eat a few plain rice cakes and a cup or two of yoplait best life low-fat yogurt.

I've never been able to go a whole day without drinking water, weak green or black tea or else I get a headache.

No sodas, diet drinks, or fruit juice.  Just water and weak teas. 

After a day of this I feel particularly good and my stomach has no complaints.  Plus, you lose some weight. 

I don't know if this is a fast, but my digestive system appreciates not having meat to digest.  Cooked veggies are easy to digest and are good for people with gallbladder and other digestive problems.  The yogurt is also good for the immune system.

This soup does not promote gas but if you are sensitive, leave out the scallions or even the tomatoes for very sensitive stomachs. 

Do not add cabbage or broccoli or beans or regular onions to the soup as they can be gassy.  I don't know if yogurt is a problem if you are lactose intolerant but it doesn't bother me.

Anyone watching Human Body, Pushing the limits on the Discovery channel?  What an informative show.  Last night they were talking about fasting and how it lengthens our lives by 10 years cause it actually heals the heart to have less calories in.  It's been on for a couple of weeks:

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=1.14617.25389.31873.2 

Trigeek,

They're repeating the episode tonight if you have the discovery channel.  I will second or third the opinion that you need to be drinking loads of water during rad time. 

I went back to look at the show and it wasn't fasting, it was about lessening our caloric intake, to cut our calories by half and that will add 10 years to our lives.   They said we actually eat 4000 calories a day.  WHAT????  So cutting it to less than 2000 should do the trick. 

I'd have to look at my actual calories.  I can't believe I eat that much daily.   So if we did eat 2000 daily, wouldn't we love to eat only 1000.  Right.  There goes that 10 years.