Derek Ralston - Transformational Fasting: Reconnect with Yourself, Get Healthy, and Find Your Purpose

Derek Ralston has written a simple to read, yet informative book on the benefits of fasting and how to best achieve them. The fasting practice described in this book is an antidote to the everyday distractions we face in modern times. I recommend Transformational Fasting if youre interested in the healing benefits of fasting combined with cultivating mindfulness.

GUS CASTELLANOS, M.D., TEACHER OF MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION AND RETIRED NEUROLOGIST AND SLEEP SPECIALIST

While I've practiced intermittent fasting for over two years now, I feel like this book was a bit of a revelation for me. My intention to do intermittent fasting has more to do with my unhealthy food habit and not practicing clean eating of nutritious foods. While I've managed to lose over 20 pounds over the last couple of years, part of me still sees fasting as a way to make up for my dietary sins. Derek has done a great job of revealing the concepts of the inner conversation that one needs to have with oneself. After reading this book, Im very inspired to do my three-day transformational fast.

ANAND VIJAY, DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING AND ATLANTA SITE LEADER AT PAGERDUTY

What the eyes are for the outer world, fasts are for the inner.

Mahatma Gandhi

Intermittent fasting is popular for a reasonit works. Skipping breakfast gives you more focus and energy and makes you healthier. But in terms of fasting for personal transformation, theres another approach thats much more effective.

What if I told you that you could experience 10 times the transformational benefits of intermittent fasting simply by going a little longer without food? For example, the most prominent benefits of fasting come after the body has fully switched fuel sources from food to body fat. This happens when the bodys food storage exhausts, which is typically after 24 hours of fasting. One of these benefits is autophagy, which literally means self-eating. During autophagy, the body recycles older, damaged cells and replaces them with newer, healthier ones. Extended fasting is the best way to induce autophagy and reduce ones chances of developing cancer. In addition, deep healing of the mind, body, and spirit is possible with fasts of three days or longer.

The modern world has a tendency to disconnect you from yourself. Even if youre personal growthdriven, the chips are stacked against you. In all likelihood, youre looking at a screen all day at work, multitasking for a good part of that time; and youre back on a screen each evening. On top of that, the voice inside your head talks incessantly about the past or the future. Even when youre sitting down and eating a meal, its hard to be fully present. Deep down, you know the part of you that seeks purpose isnt being nourished.

Youve tried meditation, yoga classes, and intermittent fasting. These give you temporary relief, but youre looking to go one layer deeperyoud like to find a practice that will trigger lasting personal transformation.

What youre looking for is right under your nose. By not eating for an extended period, you are reminded of your own mortality and the gift that is your life. Your bodys intrinsic wisdom already knows what to do, taking you through a metamorphosis as it switches fuel sources from food to fat. Deep insights about your relationships with food, survival, and yourself bubble to the surface. You come out of the experience transformed.

Transformational fasting is practiced by committing to a fast of three days or longer with the intention of personal transformation in the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of yourself.

To help you understand what transformational fasting is and is not, lets compare it with the most popular form of fasting today: intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting involves planned cycles between a period of fasting and one of eating. The fasting period is usually 24 hours or lessfor example, skipping breakfast several times per week. By contrast, transformational fasts are one-time fasts planned with a specific intention. During a transformational fast, one would only consume wateror water and noncaloric beveragesfor three days or longer. Intermittent and transformational fasts can both benefit your health. But a transformational fast will be more intense physically, emotionally, and spirituallyand can provide 10 times the benefits.

Transformational fasting enables you to let go of the distractions of the modern world and reconnect with yourself. Just as a snake sheds its skin, you will shed past identities that no longer serve you. A transformational fast is a gift you give to yourself, which can fill you with a sense of purpose you havent felt in years.

When preparing for a transformational fast, start by setting intentions around the areas you are seeking insights or healing in. For example:

• Reconnect with yourself: Do you use food to make negative feelings go away? If so, what lies beyond those feelings?
• Find your purpose: Do you want to identify your higher purpose and begin taking steps toward fulfilling it?
• Get healthy: Are there any illnesses troubling you that you would like to seek healing for or weight you would want to lose?

Ill show you exactly how to approach your fast with intention to magnify the benefits you gain from it. Ill then walk you through every step of the way to plan your own transformational fast and get the results you are looking for. Heres what this book will cover:

• How to plan your first transformational fast
• How to set an intention to transform the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of yourself
• How to fast safely while losing a half-pound of fat per day
• How to use fasting to cultivate mindfulness and reconnect with yourself
• How to use your fasting experience to transform your life into one filled with purpose

Youll also have access to a transformational fasting checklist, which you can print off to use as you plan your first transformational fast.

Four years ago, I was going through a challenging time in my life. I decided to make a 500-mile pilgrimage across Spain as a bridge to whatever was next for me. I came back from the experience feeling more connectedand more humanthan ever before. To keep that sense of connection, I needed a practice that mimicked going on a journey, like my pilgrimage experience. And thats when I discovered transformational fasting.

Ive been experimenting with transformational fasting ever since. After a four-day fast earlier this year, I experienced a surge of creative energy that I hadnt felt in a long time. I started writing a blog post about my experiences and ended up having much more to say than could fit into a single post. So I decided to write a book instead.