Fasting
It’s one of the best ways to improve your health, cleanse the body of cellular junk, and increase your energy and focus. It’s also uncomfortable and often times challenging to fit into our fast-paced lifestyles of indulgence and excess. For me it’s been something I’ve known I wanted to do but was either too nervous or busy to actually make it happen.
The main benefit I was looking for was that of increased cellular auto-phagy, basically the cleaning up and killing off of old cells within the body in order to maintain homeostasis and prevent dis-ease.
The trick to keeping autophagy going seems to be limiting protein to an absolute minimum which then gives the signal for the body to breakdown old proteins and excrete the wastes involved.
Dave Asprey has a similar approach he calls “Bulletproof Intermittent Fasting” that he recommends be done once a week for general health and longevity of limiting protein to less than 15 grams throughout a day, and eating pretty much just fat and vegetables and some LOW GI fruit to keep yourself satiated as well as to re-feed on quality carbs if you’re doing a ketogenic / low carb approach throughout the week.
This process occurs all the time as our cells respire, age and die, however when we adjust our macro-nutrients and include certain herbs or supplements we can up-regulate the intensity and duration of this process for specific health enhancing effects such as fighting cancer, preventing cancer, cleansing the blood and regenerating tissue among many others.
So when I found out about the Purium 10 day transformation program and learned what it entailed I was intrigued to give it a go.
Checkout the video below for the quick breakdown.
(Don’t mind the slightly over the top nature, the information is solid and this program works.)
Part of why I had been so hesitant to any sort of fasting for more than 24 hours was that I am a very lean individual and have to work hard to build and maintain lean muscle and didn’t want my body to end up catabolizing (breaking down) that muscle for fuel during a fast but this was solved by including 15 of the MAP (Master Amino Acid Pattern) Tablets which are virtually calorie free, rapidly absorbed and delivered to tissue in order to prevent some of the negative effects of rapid fat loss and fasting such as hunger, weakness, headache caused by ketosis, constipation, or decreased libido.
On top of this is included 3 Power Shakes per day combined with an electrolyte supplement, an anti-parasite / cleansing supplement, a shot of tart cherry concentrate in the evening and the inclusion of some flex foods and drinks like 1 cup of Organic berries, 1 apple, 1 avocado, as much cucumber and celery as you want, steamed greens, coconut oil, herbal tea, hot water with lemon and raw honey… You get the idea. Light, clean fruit and veg to supplement the shakes.
I have to say that this was one of the easiest health programs I’ve ever undertaken in that it’s very simple, doesn’t require a ton of planning and gave me a clear and stable mental / physical energy throughout, especially days 4-10 where everything got very synced up and my mind felt sharper than usual.
Seeing as I am a young, lean, athletic individual whose energy requirements may be higher than most – especially those looking to lose more fat – I added extra coconut oil and XCT oil to my shakes (1-2 tbsp) per shake depending on my feeling at the time and was so thoroughly satiated that I never really struggled with cravings, hunger pains, energy crashes etc.
The only thing I felt which stood out was becoming light headed after standing up fast from a squat or a bend while at work. This isn’t out of the ordinary for me as my blood pressure tends to be on the lower side however it was more pronounced during the program, especially the time I forgot to take the SuperLytes.
This is pretty easily remedied with the inclusion of more good quality salt either in food, in water or straight on the tongue, especially if you’re still being active or working on your feet.
My go to recipes which I really came to love and have continued to eat were as follows:
1. A medium sized avocado blended with 2 cloves garlic, pink salt, cayenne, juice of 1 organic lemon, and sometimes a shake of organic turmeric and black pepper that I would sometimes bulk up by blending in a cup of celery or half a cucumber and eat it with a spoon or use the celery and cucumbers to dip. This was delicious and only took 10 minutes to make each morning in my blendtec Twister Jar.
2. A organic apple blended with cinnamon, 1 tbsp coconut oil or 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk and sometimes a tbsp of raw honey to sweeten.
3. Steamed kale (1 cup) with coconut oil, garlic, cayenne, lemon juice and salt.
Outside of this I would just snack on berries, cucumber, celery or an apple and make herbal teas (Detox Tea by Traditional Medicinals) with a bit of added honey and or coconut oil.
Another aspect of fasting that I had resistance towards was that of not being able to workout or do any intense strength training throughout the 10 days.
In retrospect, it was easy to go 10 days without an intense training session because I had lots of work to direct my attention towards and instead of lifting weights I did lots of abdominal massages and soft tissue work which was very much needed. I tend to do far more strengthening and tightening than lengthening and relaxing, nothing new here for us characteristically tight and rigid westerners who are obsessed with body image and looking strong and ripped because lets face it, if you’re a male between ages 14 and 25 I’d bet that at one time or another, whether it be watching P90X infomercials or inspirational workout videos you’ve aspired to build a muscular, sculpted body and likely have tied a bunch of your self-worth and identity up into that vision.
Along with the program I combined a few add-ons to amplify the effects which were Cat’s Claw Tincture (1 dropper full 2-3 times per day on an empty stomach), Zapping for an hour in the morning (Bob Beck Style), Collodial Silver (after zapping) and then days 8-10 I did a coffee enema with Turmeric and Colloidal Silver to start the morning and simply felt amazing the rest of the day.
I noticed that I did pass some sort of organism/dead looking worm thing on the night of day 10 after feeling like I needed to use the washroom and then only having gas and this thing come out. It was the first time in a long time I’d seen something like that in my stool. In the past, after completing a candida cleanse I did a cleansing enema with some diluted Apple Cider Vinegar and got a bunch of stringy candida residue coming out of me.
If I totally grossed you out with those last paragraphs don’t worry. The more comfortable you can get with accepting the reality of bacteria, yeasts and parasites that live on and in us the more control you’ll have over your own health and in protecting yourself against overpopulation of certain unhealthy ones. You can get great results without any of those additional tools, for me though I can’t help myself from experimenting and stacking modalities together to try and amplify their healing power.
Weight Loss:
On the body composition side of things, I lost about 4-5lbs of pure fat and maybe a bit of water. And an inch off each of my waist, hips, and thighs. Again for me, this wasn’t about weight loss but rest assured if weight loss is your main focus that this program will deliver!
After returning to the gym for my first training session I felt just as strong as I was before and after hitting the weights I was felt great and was pleased with my leanness and volume. And of course, I realize I’m a very long and lean individual and not what most would think of as muscular. The picture below.
When it comes to my body I aim to be like Bruce Lee, strong like steel and flexible like bamboo without unnecessary mass to slow me down and tax my system.
Take Aways: For me the biggest benefit I got from the program – besides the nutritional density – was the awareness and space it created for me to observe my food habits. The ways in which I use food to distract myself, numb myself, or fill myself (physically and emotionally) are patterns that keep me from tapping into my potential. They instill worry, guilt and shame and make me feel inadequate as a health coach and just by not having to cook and eat as much I was able to really tune into them and now since the cleanse has ended I’m more able to catch myself as I spiral down into binge eating.
This isn’t to say I’m perfect or cured, I still struggle and lose focus, but not to the same extent which for me is a huge victory that deserves celebration.
Big changes happen in many small steps and so long as we’re moving towards rather than away from our ideal vision then that’s all we can ever ask for. We need to be grateful for these small steps, recognize our awesomeness, and keep moving forward with a kindness and acceptance – especially towards ourselves.
And so whether you are like me and just want to take your health to the next level, maybe you want to get a better handle on disordered or habitual eating patterns, maybe you’re looking to lose 10-20 lbs, feel better, clear up your skin etc. Then this program can definitely help to kickstart (if you’re just beginning) or accelerate (if you’ve been on the health journey for a while) your progress towards reaching your version of optimal health.
For more information and great concise videos checkout this link and if you’re ready to take action then use
Coupon Code BRYANHARDYHEALTHCOACH to get $50 off anything you purchase whether it be the 10-day transformation kit or a tub of Tropic (Coconut Oil).
Thanks for reading and all the best on your journey!
In Health,
Bryan
Full Disclosure: Purium is a Network Marketing Company and I will benefit if you use my code. This may turn some people off and that said it is a great company with a proven history of changing lives and enriching the planet that produces products of the highest quality while bypassing the retail middle man. This, along with my positive experience of their program is why I am a member who encourages others to give it a try and potentially join my team of wellness warriors!
Update: I don’t do anything with Purium but the code might still save you some cash if you’re going to try some of their stuff anyway, the quality is top notch, it just didn’t fit into my life.
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