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The ancient tradition of fasting is filled with examples of famous teachers. Paracelsus advocated it as a way to treat illness, Jesus fasted for spiritual release from worldly temptations, and Gandhi abstained from food as a means of nonviolent protest. These notable figures spent days, weeks, or even months without food and sometimes water. Although those were extreme cases, everyone does a mini-fast every day from the time they go to sleep to their first meal after they wake up. Occasionally extending these daily fasts to several days (and supplementing with fresh juices) can bring long-lasting physical and spiritual benefits.

A Way to Detox

One of the best reasons to fast is to clean up bowel toxicity. "Today's world is unbelievably toxic, and fasting is the most profound way to detoxify the body," says Gabriel Cousens, M.D., director of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, Arizona, and author of Conscious Eating. Cousens notes that, on average, babies are born with more than 200 toxins, 180 carcinogens, and 120 neurotoxins in their bloodstream, the majority of which have been passed on from their mother. And most adults have a lifetime of accumulated toxins—from pollution, processed foods, medications, over-eating, cellular and metabolic waste, and stress—that impair the digestive and eliminative systems. In fact, people over 40 tend to have between five and 25 pounds of buildup in their colon, according to Bernard Jensen, M.D., a pioneer of the holistic health field and an authority on iridology and bowel management.

This buildup can wreak havoc on the body. "Intestinal toxemias are the most important primary and contributing causes of many disorders and diseases," says Anthony Bassler, M.D., a professor of gastroenterology at Fordham University and New York Polyclinic Medical College, who conducted a 25-year study on colon health.

Fortunately, nature has a simple yet powerful remedy: fasting. "Fasting and a natural diet, though essentially unknown as therapies, should be the first treatments when someone discovers that he or she has a medical problem," says Joel Fuhrman, M.D., board member of the National Health Association and author of Fasting and Eating for Health.

And according to Cousens, there are also beauty benefits to fasting—it stimulates new cell growth and turns on the "youthing" genes that restore health, reverse the aging process, and increase longevity.

Different Cleanses

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to fasting: one that advocates drinking only water and one that includes juice. Although both can be done at home, many experts recommend that water fasts be done under medical supervision only. Fortunately, guided juice fasts are also available, both in European clinics and spas (such as the renowned Dr. Otto Buchinger Clinic in Germany) and at spas in the United States (including the Hippocrates Health Institute and The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center). "Both methods alkalize, cleanse, and detoxify the body systems," notes Cousens. "Juice fasting has the advantage of adding vital minerals and nutrients, which lend added energy for complementary activities such as yoga, meditation, and walking."

Before beginning any fasting program, it's important to check with a professional healthcare provider. Certain people—including diabetics, pregnant women, nursing mothers, those who are malnourished or have bulimia, and those who have cardiac arrhythmia or kidney disease—should not fast.

To ease her clients into fasting, Patricia Bragg—a naturopathic doctor and daughter of Paul C. Bragg, creator of the Bragg Natural Health Method—recommends a weekly 24- to 36-hour distilled water fast. This allows her clients to comfortably experience the detoxifying, rejuvenating, and cumulative benefits that fasting can bring. Bragg notes that once they have done these fasts regularly for three to five months, her clients can then safely move on to seven-day water fasts.

What to Expect

According to Cousens and Susana Lombardi—co-founder of We Care Spa, a juice fasting retreat in Desert Hot Springs, California—a seven-day juice fast is good for both beginner and veteran fasters.

During such a fast, the body's systems and organs—especially the lungs, kidneys, skin, liver, and bowels—are no longer expending energy to digest and eliminate incoming foods and toxins, which allows the organs to rest and devote time to breaking down stored fat, abnormal cells, and diseased tissue. Starvation never occurs because the body re-metabolizes and uses stored nutrients. The leftover waste is then dumped into the bloodstream to be eliminated through the skin, lungs, bladder, and bowels.

For the first few days, this increase in detoxification can cause body odor, rashes, and a coating on the tongue, with flu-like "healing symptoms" ranging from headaches, muscle aches, dizziness, diarrhea, and fatigue to waves of anger, sadness, and fear. All of these surfacing toxins are more easily released with the assistance of massage, light exercise, and professional colonic hydrotherapy or enemas. By the third day, hunger typically will have faded, and the desire for and attachment to food will have diminished, freeing the mind and spirit for contem-plation. The last few days of the fast are often accompanied by a renewed sense of joyful well-being, physical vitality, flexibility, strength, mental clarity, and awareness.

Natural beauty will also begin to reappear. "Gone are pale or dry and crepe-like skin; wrinkles; puffy, dark circles under eyes; and cellulite—replaced by a glowing, peachy complexion, vibrant eyes, and a toned body that can only come from renewed inner health," says Lombardi.

The purification that results from fasting often leads to appreciation for the miraculous human body, compassion for oneself and others, and a deeper connection to spiritual truth and inner wisdom. Although one fast alone is not enough to detoxify the body and mind completely, it will begin to reveal how true health feels. The practice of fasting opens a path to boundless health and spiritual growth and allows one to move beyond the limiting desires and diseases of the mind-body complex. For some, this freedom also strengthens communion with the divine. As Gandhi so eloquently put it: "Fasting will bring spiritual rebirth ... the light of the world will illuminate within you when you fast and purify yourself."

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