What’s the Big Deal about Fasting?

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Since my trip around the world in 2003 and doing my first Detox in Thailand at The Sanctuary I have been a huge fan of downtime and a full-body recalibration once a year, as well as for a bit of peace and quiet and clean out my digestive tract with a short fast.

Fasting is as old as the hills and always gives the mind, body, and soul the huge benefits connected with a total reboot, all within a very short space of time.

Used by Einstein to give his students the added advantage, as the brain functions 100% more efficiently after a fast.

Used by TOP athletes and promoted by Olympic sports coaches to improve the bodies performance and to set up the body to its optimum performance.

_ In ancient Greece, Pythagoras was among many who extolled its virtues. During the fourteenth century it was practiced by St Catherine of Siena, while the Renaissance doctor Paracelsus called it the “physician within”. Indeed, fasting in one form or another is a distinguished tradition and throughout the centuries, devotees have claimed it brings physical and spiritual renewal

Fasting is literally allowing the magic back in as the body re calibrates itself once it is allowed to switch off, have downtime and reboot following a precise protocol. By not digesting solid food for a short period of time, you actually give your body time to heal and clean out what is no longer needed, leaving you with better concentration and more energy.

A 3 Day (72hr) fast is all that is needed to reset your entire body.

Your body will thank you and there are huge benefits all round.

You will have speeded up your metabolism

You will have boosted your immune system

You will have prolonged your life span

You will rejuvenate your skin

You will look younger

Your taste buds get renewed and your tastes change

You will neutralize your biggest cravings

You will promote a thorough detoxification

Your Body can clean house of all the rubbish stored for way too long

You get to access the fat stored and locked away in your cells

You will improve your chances to lose weight

You will improve your insulin sensitivity and

You will help to reverse prediabetes

Hormones take this chance to rebalance

You will boost your cognitive and brain function

You access a great source of energy

You get to absorb the great nutrition you are consuming

You get to have deep mental and physical rest to consider your next steps

You will feel years younger and have much more energy

One of the main reasons I took to fasting was It is easy for me an extremely busy woman to eat well within the designated window for consuming food, still feel fulfilled and satisfied and not depriving myself and know that the body was doing her best for me. Once I saw the results I was hooked.

“For me cooking every day and preparing food was the bain of my life, I cannot believe how much time is spent thinking, planning and preparing food. I much prefer to grab food when I am hungry and do something far more interesting”.

The first step to introduce fasting would be: The longer you wait before you eat breakfast for example, the longer your body can use up yesterdays energy efficiently and access the hormones like Leptin which are only activated by hunger. When Leptin is activated she looks for stored sources of what she can use for your energy. She finds the fat stores and uses these to give you energy.

The second step to fasting would be:  A longer Fasting period that allows your body to turn over the fuel system from Sugar to the stored fat and you must stay consuming fat for the fuel system to work effectively. The moment you return to sugar you are back burning sugar for fuel and will need to start again to teach your body how to get her fuel from fat again. 3 days (72 hours) is all that is needed to re calibrate your body.

You can drop a dress size quite easily. But you need to know what you are doing. If you are hungry you MUST eat. There is a huge difference in an educated and uneducated faster. An uneducated faster will have her body storing more fat.

An educated faster will allow her body to go longer still feel satisfied and lose weight easily.

Since 2004 (for 15 years) I have been running Retreat Biarritz detox and fasting retreats and helping women and men to set up a safe fasting experience at home with the Home Detox Box, helping women and men come off sugar and learn how to eat again with some specific coaching programs and protocols that work for a sweeter healthier life.

What I have seen will surprise you, how much weight as well as heavy thoughts and habits that cause depression and over eating can be lifted off and stay off, after a short fast.

That was Radical!” said Emily,

Remarkable and way easier than I ever imagined.” said Tamsin.

It all happened in my sleep.” Judy exclaimed

If you are wanting to have this to be the last time you ever need to think about your weight or that you can wear the clothes you love again there are certain steps that need to be taken.

Make a decision to do take care of what and when you eat, take some time out to follow a simple cleanse protocol with a short 3 days fast and a guide how to break your fast. This will be the very best thing you have done for yourself in years, and you will feel so much better in days.

Do yourself a HUGE favor and follow the Home Detox Box a DIY kit that you can follow at home for the easiest way to start with a fast, with me in your corner and get support whilst you navigate how to have a brand new relationship with your food and clean start with your body.

Delivered to your Door – Home Detox Box

Making a world of difference to how you wear your body and how she feels on you.

Your Body Your Best & Most Valuable Outfit.

Fiona Robertson

Detox : The Sweetness of Doing Nothing

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“The Sweetness of Doing Nothing” is an attitude. It is a mindset. It is the opportunity to live freely and enjoy the simple things life has to offer, whether it is a beautiful sunset, a child’s laugh or a long nap outside on a warm summer afternoon

In Italy they have a saying, “il dolce far niente“. It means “the sweetness of doing nothing”. Italians live this phrase. It is ingrained in their very nature. To them, time is not something that can be spent, wasted or passed. It simply IS. Every moment holds the possibility of goodness. Sweetness. Pleasure. Not because of how much we squeeze into it, but because of the beauty that fills life itself. Goodness, blessings and pleasure are in every moment, we just need to pause long enough to notice

If you are anything like me, waking up and wondering what you can achieve today or rushing to start to work, feed the kids, animals and read my e-mails then you have forgotten the sweetness of life. But I hear you say who will do it if I don’t do it. WHO? I have to get this and that done to earn the money to live.

I used to agree with you. I am a super multi tasker, set me a goal and will do it, I will more than do it, achievements are everything, they make me feel secure, important and appreciated. But as I rush around getting irritated with the obstacles in my way, wasting my time, I got stressed and angry. Now, I can’t let it out because I am offering the persona of Calm and Balanced and in control. Ha Ha.

Oh what a mess! Then I was asked to take a morning off every week for the next four weeks just to do nothing. I replied “You don’t know me I laughed, how would I possibly make up that time? “

But I was set a challenge so I did it, so off I go disbelieving anything would come of wasting a morning with no phone, no note book to make notes, just me, my self and I. Sitting by a river doing nothing except enjoying life as the water drifted by and the birds flew about me. What a rush! A calm rush. I downloaded and emptied my head and as I walked back to the car I saw something that made everything worth while, a Kingfisher. A totem animal that sent ne the message Kingfisher’s medicine guides in seeing into the depths of emotions and into the un/subconscious. His lesson goes much deeper than what is on the surface.
This is another opportunity to balance masculine and feminine energies. He aids communication and reaching higher spiritual energies along with the ability to express ideas with coherence. He will instruct how to remain grounded in the earth and be comfortable in doing so. Take time for yourself in quite solitude connecting to Mother Earth. Kingfisher presents a time of prosperity, love, warmth, and a new found peace of mind.

.I was so happy and was far less irritated at anything that was put in my way or wasted my time.

You can make a choice as I have, to open yourself up to the gift of self time or get sick with exhaustion, depression, ruin your loving relationships and sooner or later not be able to function at all let alone at your normal speed and efficiency.

In my quiet time I have had some brilliant ideas and I have taken action on all of them and they are brilliant. So it seems the less I do the more focused I can become.
So that was the sweetness of doing nothing? I am now ready for more and I have planned for myself a 5 day Vision Quest in nature with just water and a tent to really get in touch with nature, quiet time and my inner self.

I consider myself a pretty social person, but I’ll admit now that I recognise when I need my “ Time out” Private time” down load time” call it what you will but you need it more than you think

Those precious periodic HOURS away from everyone and everything. After a long period of running retreats, some busy weekends with family and friends as wells as my on line coaching clients, a deadline to reach for an article and news letters etc then a short holiday away visiting people. All the voices in my head were too much, the chaos, the noise I hit a feeling I was familiar with but until now would have ploughed through. I was on the threshold of irritable, and a version of myself I don’t like. If your lucky you will notice this side of yourself and gently remind yourself to retreat for a time until you feel fit for society again. So after a brief period of seclusion (usually walk or hike in nature or a sit by the river watching the river run by, I’m as good as new. In short, a bit of regular solitude keeps me civilized. I try and weave this into every week now and I long for it like an affair when I just want my private time and private thoughts.

Recent studies show that there is a very definite need to go it alone once in a while. Solo time, is apparently good for the brain as well as the spirit. New research suggests that we remember information better when we go it alone. You know yourself that when you are pushed and it seems impossible to come up with a new idea, or answer a problem just drop it, walk away and come back to it with a fresh look and it all falls into place. Well that is what we are talking about here.

The researchers explain that we’re inherently “distracted” and “’multitasking’” in the presence of others – attuned to their responses as well as the task at hand. This energy causes stress on the body and especially the Kidneys as multitasking is using adrenalin and over working is a prime way to exhaust ourselves.

In tribal cultures with traditions like vision quests, many tribal societies support the power and necessity of solitude. Time away from the tribe is seen as a test of self-sufficiency as well as a time of growth. The individual returns to the group stronger, wiser – with more to offer the group as a result of the seclusion.

Our modern culture couldn’t be more different. These days we’re also impelled by the technological imperative to stay connected. People take laptops on vacation, their smart phones to bed with them. With the constant access to virtual if not actual socialization, experts wonder if we’ve forgotten how to be completely alone, wholly cut off for a time. Can we truly submerge ourselves in solitude when we’re fighting the urge to check email or Facebook “one more time”? I see this all the time at our retreat as people come to retreat and yet say they have work to do and cannot live a day without being connected. The feeling of being indispensable is killing us. The ones who do take the time to disconnect get the value of self time far better and respect the time for not having to wear a face or smile for the world, they experience far deeper emotional breakthroughs and clarity of mind. I encourage silence for a day or morning, as it is a great way to drop into the nothingness that we so need.

In my coaching practice when I guide people through a detox week at home, or with me at the retreat, I have some easy ways to get you into a quiet space with yourself. This needs to be taught more often than not. I have several coaching exercises that keep your attention on a simple task that opens you up to nothingness in the safety and comfort of your own environment. Often at home we have tasks or hobbies that we do that end up being purposeful. I am one of the worst to recognize that every task must have a purpose, I wake up and say what can I achieve today. Doing the garden is a hobby of mine it is like a meditation until I set a goal or agenda to it,. Then, somehow, what I like to do becomes something I had to do, which became work which became a drag.
I still really like gardening. But I have this way of needing to find “purpose” in what I do with my days that sucks the enjoyment out of everything. Why do I do that? ? Oh, I want so badly to just do what I love without an agenda. Without thinking of how I could be better utilizing my time or how I could make money at it or how I could use it to help or heal people. I wish, in all of this Work Ethic or motherly and womanly guilt, I could consistently find a way to see the sweetness of doing nothing.

Time to slow down.. We know the necessity of slowing down on the surface of it all, but how will I slow down, I will guide you. The detox (to use the word) is a time to stop all exterior activity and assimilation of stuff. All distractions but just to be with yourself. To honor yourself. Shut out all distractions such as TV, Chatter from books, people, computers, advertising, being marketed and sold to every second of the day, feeling judged, fashion choices, food choices, choices everywhere.
Yes the detox is a time to fast and not eat and the necessary time and space clean the physical body but it is more, so much more if you will allow it to be.

I can show you how to stop the chatter and get clarity, find your way through it all. I will show you how to design your own divine detox at home. If you want to experience it with a friend for support, or if you want to dive in and relish all the wonderful possibilities of solitude, privacy, which I encourage , guide and support you to do. I can help you set your intentions for the detox, I can help you to prepare, and help you to come out of the detox and re enter society, make better choices in what and how you eat and consume from your environment that align better with your spirit..

The home detox box is a detox that you can do at home for all the physical benefits that it brings but if you dare to go deeper you can get a huge benefit as well from the down time it provides. The program is easy and simple to follow and with some simple guidance you can turn the detox into a time of personal growth and connect with yourself rather than your normal buzzing, chattering environment.

We use alone time, the period of a detox as personal down time to process our relationships and recalibrate our sense of self. In solitude, we can return to our center. The detox as I see it is the physical challenge of fasting as well as to clear away the rubbish of your life. You create the chance to listen to your own thoughts during those days. to use the time to reflect on the past year – what’s it’s meant for me – and to simply just be.
Detoxing and some quiet solitude reminds us of what is essential to our identities. It inspires deeper deliberation and allows for the perception of more subtle sentiment. It gives us the chance to take inventory and hear the messages from our bodies and our emotions.
So, we can home in on what is vital to our well-being and what we will take with us to return to the world.

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