Fasting Forum (pt.2): What Works, What Doesn't, & Why — Shane Idleman

What Biblical Fasting Involves

Here's the first question, what is fasting? Hello, right? But that question comes up, okay, what is fasting? Fasting, in the truest sense of the word, biblically speaking, when you hear of intermittent fasting, when you hear of fasting online, different things, it's the body going without any type of nourishment via food or drink.

It's primarily just water. That's the type of fasting they primarily did in the Bible, except for Daniel, he was the exception. So that's really what fasting is. Now, we like to add our little tricks in there, right?

But what about juice and smoothie fasting? Well, just call it your juice feasting, it's not fasting. What about the Daniel fast? It's not the Daniel fast, it's the Daniel healthcare program, right, or the Daniel healthy eating program, which, good, I recommend it.

But fasting is abstaining from food and from juice, from any type of nourishment. I'm gonna get into the juicing in a minute. If you have questions, again, write them down. So here's the main question that comes up, too.

Starting Small and Seeking God in Prayer

Where do I start? Well, don't focus on length just yet. You're not gonna start a seven-day fast tomorrow. Probably, now, maybe people have. Maybe I should be more careful when I say that. But most people, you step out in faith, you don't focus on length just yet.

You say, Lord, what do you wanna do? Begin what I do with a meal or two. Have you ever tried to miss a whole meal and instead pray and read the Bible? I should throw that in there. When you miss a meal, you should spend a time with God.

Miss a meal, that's when I'm gonna pray. I had a whole list of things I wrote down. When I would miss a meal, when I'd feel hungry, I'd pray over all those things. And some are coming to pass. I hopefully can share later when they do.

And so just step out in faith. Don't focus on length. Try to miss a meal. Try to miss two meals. Try to go a whole day if you can. And of course, the question comes up, medication. What about medication?

Medical Supervision and the Limits of Fasting

Well, that's when I also recommend medical supervision. Talk to your doctor. There are some medications that people can't stop. But most fasting experts, they actually have retreats. Up, there's one in Santa Barbara.

There's one in Puerto Rico. I've watched these things. And people, they'll actually get people off of medication and on water only. Because if you're taking medication, most people can't just do water only.

They have to stay on some type of juice or something. And that's a broad term. Medication for what? Medication for high blood pressure? Well, the fasting is going to lower high blood pressure. So I wouldn't do it in conjunction with fasting.

That one can be weaned off eventually, probably. Statin drugs that are not healthy, not good for you, can those be weaned off of as well? Yes, they can. So it depends. But if it's type 1 diabetes, no, you can't wean off insulin.

Because that's keeping you alive. So it depends on what it is and what the illness is and what the situation is. That's why medical advice is very important. Let me just throw that out there because people are curious.

I have many doctors that are friends. I highly respect them. They are trained very well on not a prevention, though. They're trained on fixing the problem. I have a toothache, root canal. I have a sore throat, give me amoxicillin.

I have the tonsils and the adenoids are inflamed in a child, remove them. So they look at prescribing something to take away the pain or ease it. But health actually goes at a deeper level at what's causing it.

So you fix the cause of the problem. You don't just put a Band-Aid on it. And a lot of physicians, they'll tell you they're not well trained in health and area. My physician locally that I love, we go to my, I think you're taking my daughter tomorrow.

A lot of them are overweight. They don't eat well. A cardiologist, I've had to start going to a cardiologist from when I was 24 because I had something called myopericarditis. It's an inflammation of the heart muscle because of strep throat.

So strep throat went from here to here. Wasn't good. Almost, I wouldn't be up here. And I didn't even know if I was good with the Lord. So that was a scary time. So I still see them once in a while. But they're overweight.

They don't know really much. And when it comes to health and nutrition, and I want to ask him, hey, over your coffee pot there in the waiting room, why does it say they do not have before a stress test?

Hello? I mean, well, Shane, they can't have it before a stress test because it elevates, it's a central nervous stimulant. They'll get their heart rate up. It's not good for them when they're under stress.

Isn't life stressful? I'm in a stress test every day. But it just tells you. They don't understand. And I don't want to be too repetitive here, but many of you remember, I went to see my doctor two years ago, I told you this.

And he started pulling out high blood pressure medication. Said, here, Shane, you gotta take this and gotta take this. I said, hold on a minute. Did she use the big cuff for men when she measured my blood pressure?

And he goes, oh, I don't know, maybe not. So he did it. He goes, oh, you're fine. You're fine, you don't need it. Oh, okay, thank you for telling me that. And so you just have to use wisdom because we love the medical industry, but they are not health conscious.

Their focus is on fixing and relieving the issue right then. How many type two diabetes patients are prescribed more insulin instead of what really would help get them in shape? And take that off. I've seen many people get off medication.

There's a good book, The Complete Book on Fasting by Dr. Fung, I think, or The Complete Guide on Fasting. He's not a Christian. He talks about atheism and he recommends coffee. So I have those three things against him.

But it's very, well, let me just, another rabbit trail. The reason people recommend coffee, even during fasting, is because they themselves are addicted. And they don't want to stop it. That's what I've come to find out.

Fasting, Weight, and Underlying Health Problems

So anyway, that's a good book. It talks about how fasting can get rid of these things. A high blood pressure medication. They're given all these medications. Why not lose the weight that's causing it?

Why not stop eating the food and the fuel that's causing it? Why don't we look at the underlying? Because all we're doing is we're getting fatter and sicker and there's more illness. Nobody has answers.

Now kids are getting sicker. Now kids are, who has the answers? Not the medical industry, often. Now again, we go to them. We look to them sometimes. We're not, you don't check our brains at the door.

But you have to compare. What is wisdom? I told you last, I think a while back that my daughter was having a very time sleeping. It was hard. She'd wake up almost not breathing. I'm like, oh, this is terrible.

So we took her to an ears, nose, and throat specialist. They said, oh, her adenoids and her tonsils are huge. They've got to come out. This guy scared the, you know what, out of me. He said, you see this?

He goes, one to 10, 10 is worse. She's like a 12. He goes, you need to schedule, we need to schedule surgery. I think it was in LA. And I'm like, OK, hold on. Wait a minute. Adenoids and tonsils, I mean, knowing with the health background that those actually help in immunization and the body's immune system.

God has given us those for that reason. But of course, her health's on the line. I mean, I'm not going to jeopardize that. So I went home. I prayed about it and a little research. And wouldn't you know it?

When we say no to sugar, no to all that junk, no to this. I mean, no, no, no. You're going to a friend's house, you're eating carrots. And just got the body completely healthy. Also read the power of sleep, right?

The deep sleep. So I would take her on drives around 1 o 'clock. She'd take a nap and let the body. And within a week, she's breathing quietly. Everything's fine. But I almost scheduled that week's major surgery.

Now, but see, there's a time and place for that. Because I don't want the emails going, you shouldn't do. Use wisdom. There's a time and place for surgery, right? There's a time and a place. But it's not the first resort.

It's the last resort. And I hate to tell you this, but the more you get on antibiotics such as amoxicillin, amoxicillin, amoxicillin, your body will then become resistant. And you're eating beef that has full of antibiotics, your body's getting resistant.

That's why they're, do you see these on WebMD and these different things? All these strains, we don't know how to stop it. This is going crazy. Antibiotics aren't working anymore. We need to, I think, is it Cipro, Tony?

C-I-P-R, Cipro? Very, very strong antibiotic that's out there that has a lot of side effects. So just do research. It's wisdom. And we have to use wisdom in this area. So what is fasting? Where do I start?

The Physical and Spiritual Benefits of Fasting

Why should I fast? One lady asked me, why should I fast? How is starving beneficial? That's a good question though, right? Here's what you have to remember about starving. God created us. You're actually not starving for a long time.

Your body actually switches from burning glycogen, which is glucose from carbohydrates, it's stored in your liver and it's stored in your, yeah, your liver and your muscle. It's about, I don't know, 400 grams, let's say, of carbohydrates.

So that's stored and you burn it throughout the day. You eat more, right? You burn it, you eat more. But if you're not burning it, where's it going? Right, it's being stored and stored and stored. So fasting stops that fuel source and the body begins to now switch and begin to burn, it's called adipose tissue, begin to burn your fat as fuel.

And if you take samples in your urine, I know it's weird, but you could do it. There's stuff you buy at the drugstore. It'll tell you what your ketone level is, if it's small, if it's medium. And ketones are fats being burned and utilized as fuel and you can measure that.

That, okay, now my body's in fat-burning fuel mode. And it can stay there for a while. There was a guy, I think he weighed 400 and some, 50 pounds. He fasted 382 days water only. YouTube, they've got the, I think it was the Scotland University.

Can you imagine going, no, and he got down to 180, I think, and then came back up to 195 and died at 90 years old, if I remember correctly. A year. I think they gave him supplementation though, just vitamins, minerals, different things.

But the body, that's what we're doing. Fasting is not starving. You're actually not starving. You're burning the stored fuel like we were designed. But it's so hard because we've been conditioned for the glucose and the glucose is often the addictive stuff, right?

Give me the Captain Crunch. Give me the vegan cookie with 60 grams of sugar. Give me the chocolate with peanut butter. Give me the pasta and you're full of the carbohydrates. So it's not starving. So why is it beneficial?

Well, spiritually, it's very beneficial because you are starving the fleshly appetites. Your appetites, your lust for certain things will diminish during fasting. Every type of lust you can think of is minimized.

That's why it's so difficult because the flesh is literally screaming and we go into it detoxing and withdrawing from harmful chemicals, thinking it's the fasting that's killing me. No, it's usually detox from the harmful things.

Now, also though, you should remember that it is a process. The first two or three days, it's hard. I'm just telling you the truth. And you have to be busy. I kept a little bit busy. I would pray. I would do things.

But you're not always on a spiritual high. You're actually, I wasn't on it the first week. Nope. Why? Because bad moods come in, right? I'm jonesing. I'm getting angry. I'm getting upset. I'm wanting my high.

I'm wanting my sugar. And you're moody, you're upset, you're lethargic, you're tired. That's why would I do that? Because the end result, not the beginning. But once you get through about three, four days, believe it or not, I would cook beef for them and pasta and make dinner for them and go in my office.

I could eat, don't get me wrong, but it's not like you get hungrier and hungrier and hungrier and hungrier and you just explode by day four. Usually, by day four, your hunger has subsided because now your body's burning a clean energy source.

And actually, your body's, your brain, your fat is a very clean energy source. Have you ever heard of essential fatty acids? Essential amino acids? Have you ever heard of essential carbohydrates? There's no such thing.

Right, Tony? He told me this yesterday, too. There's no such thing. Because your body was designed to burn that stored energy, that fat. It's ketones, it's a fat breakdown. So it's not starving. You actually don't starve for quite a while.

Most people, you probably will never feel real hunger return. I've read that it takes sometimes 30 days, 40 days, and then real hunger returns. And when you know it returns, your body knows and it's time to eat.

Because now it's gonna start burning your muscle and your vital organs for fuel. And that's when you get into starvation mode. You see the kids on TV in Africa and these things, just makes me, just breaks my heart that they are literally starving.

But we don't reach that usually in America. See, the thing about food is interesting. Food, first and foremost, is for fuel and to steward it wisely, and then enjoyment comes later. But what do we do in America?

It's the enjoyment. And the other things are on the back burner. You show me in the Bible where food, the primary reason for fuel or for food is for fellowship and eating around the table and coming together all the time.

The whole reason initially was to fuel the body and then to be good stewards of it, not to be gluttonous and different things, and then also have it to be an enjoyment, to give thanks for the things that God has made.

Determining the Length of a Fast

So how long should I fast? I'm gonna have to go pretty quickly or this is gonna be a while. How long should I fast? Well, if we're talking about for health reasons, ideally one should fast as long as it takes to heal or detox.

The goal determines the length. So if I'm fasting for something, if there's a disease or an illness, there's medical supervision, most fasting retreats that I look at online, different things, they're at least three weeks to a month.

Can you believe that? Staying there for three weeks to a month of water only? But see, the ailment determined the length, how sick they were. I mean, if you've got multiple sclerosis or cancer, it's going to probably be a longer time.

Now for spiritual reasons, that's why you take it to the Lord. You pray and you ask for direction and you follow through. And now also on this area of how long you should fast, I don't have, I'm not gonna tell you, well, two days or three days, take it to the Lord.

Start with something small and work up to bigger things. But also for those who are gonna go long, you have to remember the refeeding phase. Oh, oh, this is bad news if you're not ready. Refeeding will mess you up if you're not prepared.

Because everybody's, okay, it's been a week, it's been a week, I'm going to In-N-Out Burger. That's the worst thing you can do because you will get sick. People have died from refeeding the wrong way.

They just, and I tried, I was pretty good. I had a lot of vegetables and then I went, okay, I need to leave the kitchen because this is not gonna be good. Because once you stimulate that desire again, after nine, 10 days of water and I start to eat again, oh, mamacita, right?

That's what they say in Mexico. And it's, oh, it's just like, what is this? I'm going to attack everything in the kitchen. But it's a good picture of how appetite works. See, it's suppressed. It's suppressed.

Everything, all types of appetites. I don't want coffee anymore, I don't want sugar. Suppressed. But once you fuel it again, I had to leave the house, honestly. And I came back, had some more, and had some more, and oh, this is, and I got an upset stomach on fruit and vegetables and nuts.

How is that possible? Because too much, too much. It's actually been said, and I believe it now, that refeeding for a few days is actually harder than the fasting itself. Because how do you eat a couple oranges and then you stop for three hours?

Have a papaya and stop for three more hours. You're using wisdom there. Now, I've talked about this before. I mean, I've prayed about this, and I don't know the answer. I don't know how they broke fast back then.

How did Moses break a 40-day fast? Or Elisha? We don't know, because it doesn't tell us how they did it. But now we know to use wisdom. I'm sure they knew, but their diets were much more cleaner, in my opinion, back then, so maybe it wasn't as hard.

Recovering After Failure and Practicing Wisdom

How do I get back on track if I fall? Well, just like children, we are growing in our walk with the Lord. Infants learning to walk don't quit. When they fall, they get back up. Eventually, you will walk where you used to fall.

So how do I get back on track? I've blown it. You get back up and you start walking forward. All my fasts, just about, I've blown it. I mean, this one, this 21-day, this 22-day, I started three days, right?

Three days, 1 ,200 calories, got my diet real clean, and then I went four days water, was doing great, and then, wouldn't you know it, the toothache from hell hit right there, upper one. I remember, oh my, mm.

So am I gonna cave in, get on amoxicillin, get a root canal, and start eating again? It was a very hard time. So I had, for a few days, I had a little bit of food till I figured out what I was gonna do.

So am I gonna blow it? No, I'm not gonna blow it. So I got back on track, started fasting again, water only. As of now, the pain's gone, everything's gone. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. See you, go to the doctor.

And I think they're just doing a checkup or something, but I'm not gonna do anything until I need to. But I'm not naive, I know cavities. I've seen cavities definitely repair themselves because the enamel that has been ripped away because of bad diet can be rebuilt again.

The vitamins and the minerals, the tooth can be restored. It's just like a bone. When you break your bone, how does your bone repair itself? Why is the tooth any different? Now, root canals are a different monster, though.

They're deeper, there's more damage done, but I'm just in a holding pattern for now, trying to just wait on God. Many of you know the dangers of root canals, right? You have a dead tooth stuck in your mouth and it can bring in a lot of toxic things.

I have two, so there's not much I'm doing about it. I'm not gonna pull them out. But all the more reason to fast and eat healthy, right? I mean, I've got, I know people, they're like, they think the chemtrails that people are spraying, right, chemtrails over California, all these chemicals are falling, right?

There's chemtrails, root canals, all, well, I'm just like, well, all the more reason to fast and take care of your body then. But that's just an excuse for them to go to In-N-Out Burger or Burger King.

But we should be proactive, not reactive. So here's a biggie, I'm not gonna stay too long here. You guys have heard me talk about this. Can I drink coffee, tea, or soft drinks when fasting? You want me to say yes really bad, don't you, right now?

You know the answer, come on. No. If you want two good books, they're both, they're not Christian books, The Truth About Caffeine, and then another one is Caffeine Blues, Wake Up to the Hidden Danger of America's Number One Drug.

So read those if you want more information. But in a nutshell, those who are addicted to coffee recommend coffee during a fast. I think that's a bad idea because not only are you letting in all these chemicals, all these things into your body, into your heart, into your bloodstream, you're fasting, it's actually pretty dangerous to fast on water only and stick with caffeine.

Not only that, it's a central nervous stimulant. So your heart's working harder and harder and harder. So you're gonna fast from nothing, just have water, and then have a lot of caffeine, coffee, caffeine?

Coffee. Right, so it just doesn't work. The whole point is detox and to rest and to slow down and to give your digestive tract a break and to calm your heart and to remove toxins. Why are you putting in something that is going to actually counteract all of that?

And there are people who, they just can't give that up. So I, and here's my struggle, this is actually funny. For the first, I think, couple weeks, was it two weeks? First two weeks of the fast, guess what I kept having?

Coffee, yeah, I thought God was gonna bless my fast even though, yeah, I know, I know you want me off of this addictive thing, but I'm gonna stick with it and you're still gonna honor my prayers because I'm fasting.

No, you have to start with what you know to be the first thing God wants you to work on. That's usually the addictions. That's usually the addictions. Because how are we gonna fast and hold on to our addiction?

Right, does that, does it make a lot of sense because that's the whole point of fasting is to get rid of the addiction and to get rid of the flesh having the final say. Also, water's so crucial to health.

From removing toxins to hydrating every cell, it's a vital resource. And coffee is a diuretic, you know what that is, right? It actually pulls out the water from the cells. So always just remember that about water and coffee and try to substitute one for the other.

That's why I said take a week or two to wean off. Can you imagine, okay, I'm stopping everything tomorrow. You would be a mess. We'd have to check you in somewhere. Throw away the key. I'm gonna read, do you know what the diagnostic and statistical manual is for mental disorders?

It's a big manual that lists all the mental disorders. Well, it lists caffeine-related disorders in it. Anything over 500 milligrams is, they believe causes mental disorders. So they talk about caffeine intoxication, caffeine-induced anxiety disorder, caffeine-induced sleep disorder.

All of these lead to angry outbursts, severe anxiety, and extreme irritability. Even psychologists know it who aren't Christians. That's why we call it the Christian crack, right? It's a Christian crack.

So anyway, since caffeine runs, I know everybody's getting convicted right now, it's okay. Since caffeine runs along the same biochemical pathways in the brain as cocaine, opium, and amphetamines, quitting can be a nightmare.

What they mean by the same biochemical pathways is there's something, it's serotonin. It sends this ah signal, right? Oh, I just smelt in the morning. It was so bad for me, I would start at night, getting ready for the morning cup.

Like, is it 4 a .m. yet, is it 4 a .m. yet? I could smell it before it's even brewing. My mind, the day before, is ready for the morning addiction, and it was really hard getting off. So I would just encourage you to do what you can in that area.

Coffee, Caffeine, and Other Drinks During a Fast

What about health drinks when I'm taking fasting? Well, again, what is fasting? Water only. Many people like to drink two or three kibbuchas a day. Kibbucha has a slight alcohol content. I can feel it on an empty stomach when I used to have those.

It's got sugar, it's got caffeine. So you can, but fasting is really fasting from all those things. What about the great LaCroix drinks? No calories, right, no calories, and natural flavoring. Well, number one, we don't know where they got their water.

Number two, you don't know if the aluminum's seeping in. You don't know where they got their natural flavor. So that's just my two cents. I told you it's gonna be a really convicting message. So stick with water, water.

Now, those drinks, LaCroix, I probably had three or four on a fast because I'm like, okay, it's either this or I'm going to Tutti Frutti, yogurt, right? So it takes the edge off a little bit. So I'm not giving you permission to indulge.

I'm just telling you that you're truly up here to not master this perfectly. Just water only, yeah, for 21 days. Why can't you do it? I didn't even smell food. I wasn't tempted. What's wrong with you?

But see, it's how our mind works. So anyway, supplementation, I would avoid. People ask about supplements on fasting. Nothing works better than fasting. Nothing is even a second, comes in a close second.

What I mean by supplements, you know, garlic, what's a big popular thing now, turmeric, black seed oil, all these different supplements, supplements, supplements, I just focus on water and let your body heal itself because what people don't realize, some might disagree with this, but even those supplements, to some degree, can be toxic on the body.

You don't have to take a lot of supplements because that body is now trying to rid, you know, you have tons of supplements. Your body's now trying to remove those elements from the body as well. So supplementation's an area, I mean, I had everything, right, probiotics, ginseng.

I could sit here and list 25 names. I'd spend so much money on this stuff. But nothing compares to fasting. And there's a time and a place for it. Sometimes those, is that the popular one, turmeric? Right, I have it at home, I just can't remember.

But if you put that on things, it will sometimes cause the body to react to it in a positive way and begin to help with inflammation and different things. So I see how it works, but you don't wanna take that during a fast when you're on an empty stomach especially.

Now, remember this, no one has the truth, no one has the market on the truth in this area, and science is always catching up. So use wisdom, how is the body designed? People even ask me about, there's things I can buy at the store, you know, it's like lemon concentrate.

And a couple drops equals 50, like 50 lemons. Well I ask the question, is my body designed to eat 50 lemons at one time? I don't know if that's a good idea. So you just look at how the body was created.

Why Juice Fasting Is Not Water Fasting

Now here comes a major question, major, major, major. What about juice fasting? What about juicing? Shane, come on, the reason I like juice fasting is because I can still get food. But it's not fasting, it's juice feasting.

You're juicing, you're not fasting. Now our body uses close to 50 of its energy to digest. Did you know that? 50 of all your energy, it's called, there's also base metabolic rate, BMR, basal metabolic rate, it's the rate at which your body burns energy.

Majority of that energy is digesting food. So when you take in juice, guess what? Your body's still digesting. The enzymes, the gastric juices are still working to digest that. Granted, it's a lot easier than steak and potatoes, but it's still not giving your body a rest because it's still juicing.

Now this is, I know this, I differ from some people on this. Again, this is why, it's just my message. You wanna listen to Dr. Axe, you can listen to him or anybody else. But the concern I have with juicing is because if there's too much fruit, that's a lot of sugar.

Fructose is sugar, you're taking in a lot of sugar. Usually if you juice, I might do an apple with a lot of greens because it's not limited juice. So if you're just taking in tons of juice and tons of sugar, the benefit is many people lose weight, they look healthier, they do better.

So it's definitely work sometimes, but often when they come off, there's a sugar problem. They've overworked the pancreas and the insulin releases. That's a whole nother topic. But there's just too much sugar.

What about orange juice? Well, if you get orange juice at a store, you are basically drinking sugar water. How can you say that? Well, let me tell you I can say that. It's pasteurized, you know what that means?

It's heated up so everything's killed. That means even the good stuff's killed, number one. Number two is when you juice, you remove what they call cofactors. You remove enzymes, you remove very important fiber, the fiber that helps with digestion.

Did God create an orange so we could just squish it out and drink the juice? Or did he create it so you take the pectin from an apple, you take the fiber, you take the enzymes, you take all the cofactors in the whole fruit.

So personally, I don't juice too much. I'm a fan of the whole orange, not the juice from 50 oranges because we weren't designed that way and that's a lot of juice. Wow, there's so many rabbit trails. Just tell me if I'm going too long.

You've all heard of the glycemic index, probably many of you, some of you. If I take an orange, when I eat that orange, that juice of that orange along with the fiber and the pulp and all the things makes the release of sugar, insulin, the glycogen, it slows it down because it's got all of that to help in the digestion of the juice.

So it's a low on the glycemic index compared to full-on juice. In other words, if I take a drink of juice, pancreas, insulin, boom, sugar levels, everything goes sporadic because it's just too much. But if you take an apple, the fiber, the pectin slows down the absorption rate of the juice and it enters the bloodstream at a much more natural level.

That's why I would rather have an apple than a whole bunch of apple juice. And I know it's, I'd rather have an orange juice at the store than a Dr. Pepper, don't get me wrong, but if you're grabbing the orange juice, you're not gonna get a lot of the vitamins and different things.

Now, I won't get on another rabbit trail here, but sugar, I forgot to say this about sugar. Sugar actually competes with your cells for the uptake of vitamin C. So when your cell wants the vitamin C, your sugar will come in there and bind to the cell instead and you won't have that vitamin C.

So if we're getting a lot of sugar, a lot of, okay, orange juice, but the vitamin C, but if that sugar, that fructose, is causing a problem there and not allowing the cell to bind to the vitamin C, there could be an issue there.

So I know it's maybe frustrating for some people, but that's just my take on it. I wouldn't juice too much. The benefits are good if you wanna start out, if you're on medication. I still encourage it, but it's not fasting.

Because you're, these guys I watch, they're like, and you make sure when you're juice fasting, you drink as much juice as you can. I'm like, that's not fasting. That's keeping the body in a constant state of sugar, right, unless you can drink all vegetables.

Have you ever tried that? Mm. Bad, bad stuff. But it's good, healthy. So eat the whole, the whole beet. Eat the whole celery when you can, versus juicing. But if you need to juice fast, you want to do one, go for it.

It is hard, and there's benefits, of course, but it's not fasting. So what do I eat when I stop fasting? Well, the longer the fast, the more careful one must be when refeeding. If somebody goes three weeks or four weeks, they're gonna take about a week just to refeed correctly.

Did you catch that? You can't just have some fruit one day and then go pay a pizza the next. You'll do some damage. So you have to factor into your fasting, refeeding. And my thought is, fasting is a wonderful opportunity to begin a new beginning.

Why go back to the same stuff that caused the problem? So many people go, oh, I can finally start having coffee now and my favorite donut, and I can stop by Carl's Jr. and make, what was the point of fasting?

See, fasting complements a healthy lifestyle. It doesn't take the place of it. Just like the person who thinks they can take a pill to fix their diet problems. So fasting should encourage healthy eating after that because we're taking care of this gift God has given us.

Who Should Fast and How Children Should Approach Food

So who shouldn't fast? Well, of course, pregnant women, nursing moms, those who are very sick and ill and kind of wet. You think of this person who already look like they're very skinny because of maybe a debilitating disease.

You think of the people who are in the concentration camp. You look at that kind of image. Those, you don't, that kind of fasting is not good for those type of people. That's why, again, medical supervision is important.

Somebody came up to me recently and said, kids shouldn't fast either. And I said, well, it's true. But if a child, I mean, my daughter, 12 years old, wanted to fast for a day, so I let her. I mean, she's not gonna die.

It's actually probably benefits to that. And the problem is, kids aren't underfed today. Come on, they're overfed. And if they're not overfed, then they're malnourished because they're not getting all the vitamins and minerals and different things.

How many kids truly get a couple carrots, a couple apples versus Skittles, Pop-Tarts, and Dr. Pepper? I mean, that's normally what is being given to children. So I don't think kids should fast, but I don't think we have to force feed them.

When my kids, it's funny, I don't know if I should tell them this, but I will. When we had arguments in the past, right? Well, the kids are hungry and they need to eat. They don't need to eat. They don't need to eat.

They're not gonna die. They can go a couple hours without food, right? And when they're ready to eat, they'll finally have that apple, or they'll finally have that carrot, right? So I'm not quick on kids gotta eat every three hours.

Let them eat when there's genuine hunger, when they need to eat. I think we're sometimes feeding too much. The three square meals a day, where did that come from? I mean, have you ever heard of Hershel Walker, the football player?

He eats one big meal at night. Big, socky guy. I know athletes that'll eat two meals, two o 'clock and six o 'clock. Top gymnast in the country, that's it. We can run on a lot less fuel than we're giving our body.