How to Fruit Fast with Apples

An apple fruit fast, also sometimes called an apple cleanse, is an easy fast to begin, or sustain, your internal cleansing routine. It's easier to do than many of the other fasting methods because you ARE eating something. If you've ever fasted on liquids, you know how important that feeling of solid food becomes.

Fasting on apples alone will give you all the benefits of any other fasting method. Your digestive and other bodily systems can slow down and rest and heal, allowing the chance for stored toxins and waste materials to be expelled.

At the same time, emotional issues, mental patterns, "stuck" places in your life, become clearer and feel more manageable. This is a great time for inspirational reading and/or meditation.

You will lose weight with a fruit fast, but most of it will be water weight and will return when you end your fast. (See Fasting to Lose Weight for the particulars.) For most though, there can be a sustainable loss of weight if you remain open to the changes fasting can create and pay attention to your food choices afterward.

The amount of weight loss depends on how long you fasted, your particular body chemistry, and a host of other criteria. The results can be unpredictable, but 2-6 pounds for 1-3 days of fasting is fairly common.

How long should you fruit fast?

This is up to you, but anywhere from 1-3 days is really ideal. If this will be your first fast of any kind, start with one day. Of course, there are those who go much longer, but it is recommended you do a lot of cleansing and detoxing with short fasts and/or cleansing diets before attempting long-term fasting.

Short-term fruit fasting is just fine for a slow, almost painless, cleanse and detox. No, you won't be rid of every toxic element in your body, but you will have cleared out quite a bit. And even just a day off of your normal eating routine will reveal a lot about your eating habits and patterns. The day AFTER your fast, you'll be assessing your food choices in a new light.

These short fruit fasts can become a regular routine for you, if you want. And they'll serve you well, helping you to keep focused on what is important in your life, as mental and emotional clarity shine on all aspects of your life. One day per week and/or 3 days per month is a good ongoing routine for this purpose.

You can work a 3 day fast around a work schedule and squeeze it into the weekend, by starting on Friday with a normal, but light, breakfast. This should give you sustenance for the day's work. Begin apple fasting at Friday's lunch. Reserve Saturday and Sunday for rest and quiet. Break the fast Sunday night with a light meal of cooked vegetables or a salad and resume a normal light breakfast Monday morning.

How to do an apple fruit fast

1. You actually begin the day before, by eating a light dinner, a salad or vegetables or rice. Don't "stock up" on food out of fear of being without the next day or you'll just be making it harder on yourself. And, if you're a coffee or caffeinated beverage drinker, cut those back as far as you can; you won't be drinking them during your fast.
   
   
2. Plan on 3-4 apples per day, organically grown if possible, and ripe, not green. Take time for your "meals": sit down, enjoy the apple, savor the taste, be quiet and notice your bodily reactions, chew slowly and well.
   
   
3. Drink at least 2 quarts of water throughout the day. It should be room temperature or warmer. You can add fresh lemon to the water if you like; it will help with cleansing and give you a little flavor. If you feel chilled or crave something warm (maybe because you're missing your coffee), gently warm the water.
   
   
4. Take it easy for the day, be kind to yourself. Take naps when and if you feel like it. Light exercise like stretching, walking or yoga are good. It's a good time to read something inspirational, but stay away from reading that takes you away from yourself, or wraps you in complex plots, or is at all stress provoking.
   
   
5. There's no need for enemas, you can leave the bowels alone. If you want, you can add a psyllium husk cleanse to your routine by adding 1-2 tablespoons of natural psyllium (available in most pharmacies, even Wal-Mart, in the laxative section) to one of your glasses of water. Do this once per day. This will aid in your bowel movements and will absorb and help eliminate any stagnant material in the bowels. Or you can wait til after you've broken your fast to take the psyllium.
   
   More information on colon cleansing options can be found here.
   
   
6. The day you break your fast, ease into food a bit slowly. Perhaps some other fruit besides apples for breakfast and salad or soaked brown rice and vegetables for lunch, and then normal eating after that if it was a one day fruit fast.
   
   For a three day fast, continue eating lightly throughout that fourth day, only resuming normal foods around midday to evening of the fifth day. Once you've returned to normal foods, continue to be aware of what you're choosing to eat and why.

How will you feel during your fruit fast?

Everyone is different, but most often people feel as if they have the flu. Common symptoms include feeling achy, tired, having a headache, diarrhea, stuffy head, sore throat, cough, and body odor.

This is because, just like having the flu, your body is doing battle with elements it wants gone. In the case of fasting, you are releasing, decomposing, and eliminating stored toxins and inferior materials. Take these symptoms as a sign that your body knows how to heal itself.

See here for a list of conditions that can show improvement from even a short fruit fast.

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