Fasting with liver qi stagnation

[daojones]

I was thinking of doing a juice fast retreat for a number of days, but i have a longstanding case of liver qi stagnation and I know that fasting isn't a good idea when one has liver qi stagnation. Was wondering anyone's thoughts on if I would actually benefit from doing a long juice fast given the qi stagnation.

[soaring crane]

well, what are your symptoms?

 

(sidenote: after much too much experience with fasting, I don't agree with it in general anymore)

[Spotless]

I don't believe I know much about liver Qi stagnation, but I have done many fasts and have never had anything but excellent and pain free experiences. Most of my fasting info can be easily found in other fasting posts here.

 

If the fast will be only for say 5 days, I would recommend just water with enema but overall be well read on the subject so that you are fully prepared for the sequence of events. The first day should be a breeze, the second day should be quite easy as well. You should not be out and about on the third day and you will probably want to shower twice or more. By the forth day you should be feeling really great and by the fifth day you should be feeling wonderful.

 

Typically fasting will do wonders for complete recalibration.

Most of my juice fasting was for 18-23 days. Recently after years of Juice fasting, I have gone back to what I originally started with and that is a plain water fast (all fasting with enema - other wise I would never recommmend fasting). I do not consider not eating for one or two days fasting - I would call it "not eating" for a day or two and for that an enemas regime is not necessary.

 

Some "systems" offer strong expelling flushing mixtures with lots of seeds and things to clear you out - but even then - about 5 days into a long fast you should be irrigating that area as lots of foul stuff is collecting.

 

Fasting is a vacation for your entire space - your cleaning systems get to go to town on you with out all the noise and traffic from everyday consumption.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Spotless

[thelerner]

The first day should be a breeze, the second day should be quite easy as well. You should not be out and about on the third day and you will probably want to shower twice or more. By the forth day you should be feeling really great and by the fifth day you should be feeling wonderful.

I don't know, for mere mortals who are doing there first water only fast, often the first day isn't easy, the second is hard, the third can be worse. You want to keep pets and small children away, lest your hunger overwhelm and you lose one of them. Spotless is right it does get easier as you go along.

 

I'm exaggerating (slightly), fasting has many good points. Be careful doing it though, no strenuous exercise and keep your schedule to a minimum. Take it easy, listen to your body.

[soaring crane]

I don't know, for mere mortals who are doing there first water only fast, often the first day isn't easy, the second is hard, the third can be worse.

 

I've done a lot of fasting in the past and with me, the third day was when it got easy and the euphoria would set in. After that, it was just normal. It's a good experience, but I don't think it really pays off in the long-term. (I'm talking about three-week fasts with nothing but a little vegetable broth and mineral water). I'm thinking now about having one fasting day a week. I think this is natural. One of my teachers has been doing this for a while (he also gets up at 3am, and never eats anything after 12pm. I'm not about to do that).

 

Btw, fasting just one time in your life (I've read) turns on certain genes that are responsible for slowing the metabolism and retaining fat. It's a survival response and once it's activated, can't be turned back off. It might hokum, but it makes sense from a biological standpoint.

[Zhongyongdaoist]

Btw, fasting just one time in your life (I've read) turns on certain genes that are responsible for slowing the metabolism and retaining fat. It's a survival response and once it's activated, can't be turned back off. It might hokum, but it makes sense from a biological standpoint.

 

This is the Starvation Response, which you can read about here:

 

Starvation Response on Wikipedia

 

In Chinese medicine fasting is generally frowned upon, it weakens the stomach and spleen weakening the digestion, and does nothing for Liver Qi Stagnation. The end result is that since many problems related to Liver Qi stagnation are Liver/Spleen disharmony, one will come out of the fast basically worse off than when one started.

 

Get yourself this book:

 

Between Heaven and Earth

 

Advice which I have given over and over here and learn about Chinese Medicine. It is a good introduction to Chinese therapeutic diet and the basic Chinese Patent Herbal Medicines and also has a very useful self-evaluation questionnaire.