Ramadan Kareem to all my Muslim friends around the world!

Ramadan is the holy month of fasting for all Muslims, and this year it falls in Spring, making it particularly powerful (it starts one month earlier each year, so cycles through the entire 12 months every 12 years). It is a time for spiritual growth through expanded space consciousness by finding gratitude for the blessing of food, water, breath and life. It comes through withdrawl of the senses and delay of gratification by creating space physically, emotionally, energetically and spiritually.

In other traditions, religions and spiritual paths we find fasting in many forms. In fact, although fasting may seem like a very foreign, even frightening prospect for many of us in our over-abundant societies of glut and waste, fasting is a natural and essential part of human existence.

Biologically we haven't progressed beyond our earliest human sapiens ancestors, despite living in drastically different environments. Our bodies still need the rhythmic pulse between expansion and contraction, times of plenty and times of scarcity. It is essential for us to truly thrive.

Our bodies developed a process called autophagy to keep us disease-free. Autophagy is where the body does its own house cleaning - it searches for dead cells, areas that need repair, toxic build-up and accumulation of undigested matter and cleans up and clears out. 

When undigested matter builds up in our system (in Ayurveda it's called 'ama'), it accumulates and causes a sticky residue to firstly line our stomach, decreasing our digestive fire. Then it seeps our into our blood stream and causes inflammation in joints, organs and tissues. This chronic inflammation is the cause of all auto-immune diseases, and results in failure of our natural immune function.

It is also known to prevent and reverse diabetes type 2 and heart disease, and may have a preventative effect on cancer, Alzheimers, and other life-threatening diseases.

Autophagy can only activate when we have no food in our stomach, when we create space. However, modern society has tricked us into believing we constantly need to be ingesting in order to survive (based on its own need to constantly market and sell for profit). Here is how we block autophagy:

• eating too many meals per day

• snacking between meals

• eating late at night

• eating heavy meals at the end of the day

• eating too much of the wrong kind of foods

Here is how we activate autophagy:

• spacing our meals

• reducing the number of meals we have

• eating earlier and lighter in the evening

• not snacking

The amazing thing with autophagy is that once it gets to work you don't feel hungry! Fasting is not necessarily uncomfortable, unpleasant or scary. For many people it feels like a sigh of relief, a moment to pause and relax the entire system. If you've never even considered fasting, I invite you to open your mind to the possibility that this might make you feel better.

I want to share three options for fasting that you might want to experiment with. If you've never fasted, start with the first, and observe how you feel. If you have some experience with fasting already, you might try the second, or even third option. Whichever option you choose, try it for a week and see how you feel (Note : if you suffer from eating disorders, please do not fast, as it can trigger the deeper emotional causes of these disorders.)

1) Sip hot water

Rather than cut anything out, try ADDING IN. Sipping hot water help to 'melt' ama, the toxic residue of undigested matter. This will help your digestive fire, or 'agni' as it's called in Ayurveda, to grow stronger to help you digest better. It's a win-win. Make this easy by preparing a thermos of hot water to carry with you. 

2) Meal space / no snacking

Ensure that you space your food a minimum of four to six hours apart (which means maximum three good meals a day for those eating more, and NO snacking). This can feel like a challenge if you comfort eat.

3) Intermittent fasting (IF)

This takes meal spacing a step further - we naturally fast at night anyway, with IF we simply extend that window of fasting time.  Eat your last meal by 6pm, something light like a soup or salad, and then have your breakfast around 8am. This gives you a 14-hour fasting window. Meal-space your other meals during the day. You can extend your IF from 14-10, to 16-8, or even 18-6, depending on how comfortable you are with fasting. 

Sip hot water throughout your day with all options - it is a great way to keep ama at bay no matter what your other eating habits. You can also spice it up according to what you feel you need. Here are some ideas (and image below) courtesy of my own teacher, Cate Stillman:

Better Digestion Water (VPK)

• 1 quart boiling water

• 1/3 tsp. fennel seeds

• 1/3 tsp. cumin seeds

• 1/3 tsp. cardamom seeds

No More Bloating Water

• 1 quart boiling water

• 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

• 1/4 tsp. cardamom seeds

• Pinch hing (asafoetida)

• Pinch black salt

Sweet Emotions Water

• 1 quart boiling water

• 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

• 1/4 tsp. cardamom seeds

Cooling Water

• 1 quart room temperature water

• 8 slices cucumber

• 1 tbsp cilantro leaves

• squeeze lime juice

Spicy Mucus Buster Water

• 1 tsp. shredded fresh ginger root

• pinch of cayenne

• pinch of cloves

Morning Shocker Water

• 1 tsp. shredded fresh ginger root

• A few slices of jalapeño pepper

Getting healthy is about finding balance and ease - ease to prevent dis-ease. Our society is so far out of balance but we no longer question its excesses. We have been manipulated and brainwashed into believing 'more is more' when in fact the opposite is often closer to the truth. 

Liberate yourself from the lies that commercial food production has propagated in order to sell more, make more profit. YOUR HEALTH IS NOT THEIR PRIORITY. 

Experiment and find out what feels good for your body. You might need to work through some emotional discomfort to get to the truth - most of us have a lifetime of eating as a habit to comfort ourselves, numb awkward emotions, or kill boredom. Try to get honest about why you eat, and when. Do you even know what real hunger feels like? 

I'd love to hear from you on this - as usual drop me an email by clicking here, or sharing in the thread on my Facebook page here. 

Wishing you all a wonderful week of expanding space consciousness, and once more RAMADAN KAREEM to all who are celebrating this holy month,

With love,

Sara