Although the duration of individual fasts will vary from person to person, a water fast lasting between three days and five days is usually all that is required to help someone feel "clean" and ready to eat healthy foods again. Beginners should always fast with supervision. An hour-and-a-half massage is very beneficial each afternoon of the fast. Meditation is also important for relaxation.

What Happens When We Fast
Fat stores make up most of these non-essential tissues. At the start of a fast, glycogen reserves in the muscle and liver cells are broken down to maintain blood glucose levels. To conserve the glycogen stores, glucose becomes restricted to the central nervous system, mainly the brain. Rather than take glucose from the brain, the body begins breaking down the fatty acids in adipose (fatty) tissue, then moves on to the oxidized glucose in red blood cells, bone marrow, white blood cells and other sources, then amino acids in muscle fibers.

Within 10 hours from the last meal, approximately 50 percent of muscle fuel is coming from fat, not protein. This switch from protein to fat is important because body protein is necessary to supply the brain and other vital organs. In other words, to prevent a protein-depletion scenario, the brain begins to bum fat, thus producing ketones (byproducts of fat metabolism). This process reduces the glucose requirement and the rate of protein breakdown. The length of time a person may safely fast depends on the amount of stored fatty tissue. This is one of the reasons why it's important that you remain calm during a fast.

One study that documented a clinical use of fasting appeared in Clinical Ecology (Vol. II, No. 3, Summer 1984). The article, "Fasting & rheumatoid arthritis: A multicenter study" by George F. Kroker, M.D., et al, looked at 43 patients with classic rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. The patients went on a six-day water fast in a controlled, supervised environment. Patients were monitored for major symptoms of arthritis, using standard measuring methods. The symptoms measured included tenderness, swelling, grip strength, pain, functional activity and joint mobility. According to the study results, all of the patients significantly improved in all areas during the fast.

Some of the conditions that respond favorably to a properly supervised fast are cardiovascular disease (which covers an enormous number of related illnesses), arthritis, asthma, noninsulin-dependent diabetes, ulcers and digestive disorders, lupus, skin problems (including cysts, tumors and kidney stones), quitting smoking and obesity. Conditions that are not receptive to fasting include advanced cancers, insulin-dependent juvenile diabetes, and conditions that have required prolonged steroid use.

There is a strong undeniable spiritual component to fasting that defies explanation. Dr. Bill Bright, who founded Campus Crusade for Christ in l951 at UCLA and was awarded the 1996 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion (which Mother Teresa won in 1973; Dr. Billy Graham, in l982), has devoted his life to the spiritual aspect of fasting. In 1994, at 72, Bright did his first 40-day fast. When he accepted the $l million for the Templeton Award, he promised to use it in its entirety to promote the combined power of fasting and prayer among Christians, nondenominationally.